“What did you have for lunch?” is the routine question that comes up everyday in the evening call (update) with mom. If I say I had some fruit juice, the immediate response from her would be, it’s not any religious day to fast :).
Let’s forget food for stomach for a while and take in a little food for thought!
We see people fasting on festive days and/or on special occasions. Why do they fast at all? To please God? He is the Giver, why would he ask us to starve? Or do people fast to create appetite (after fast)? Not really! And definitely not to distribute food among the poor, we do not have such good mind set.
Fast,”Upavasam” means to stay near (Upa-near, vasam-stay).So, Upavasam means staying in mental proximity with the Lord. If we just track our one day’s activities, most of our time and energy is spent in thinking about, collecting, preparing and eating food.Upavasam is a self-imposed discipline where we restrict ourselves from getting occupied with the thoughts of food. The free mind now entertains noble thoughts and stays in proximity with the Lord. Some people advice/suggest not to follow complete fasting, but consume food that doesn’t need much time for preparation, like fruits or fruit juices. This is in a way correct, for fasting should not make us weak, but should help us control our senses.
Our digestive system needs a break too.
Also the more we indulge the senses, the more demanding they would be. With fasting, we can control our senses, direct our minds to be poised at peace.
Fasting is thus a right exercise to develop will-power and a method to impose control over senses.
Our Vedas and epics stress on “Yuktha-aahara”, that is neither too less nor too much, but the right, pure, simple yet healthy diet even when not on fasting. Tell me, how many of us are not behind junk food ;)?
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3 comments:
There is some truth in what you say. But sometimes it is not possible to adhere to yuktahara. Then, suffering results.
Swami Vivekananda was one of the sufferers of not abiding by Yuktahara, in spite of preaching it elaborately.
VivekanandaYb.BlogSpot.Com
I dont agree with "...to develop will-power and a method to impose control over senses."
You dont 'develop' will-ppwer, you either have it or you dont.
Trying to "impose control" over your senses is a exercise in futility ... If whatever according to you is "bad-sense" then sensing that itself is bad ...
Humanely its not possible to free yourself from your senses ... Even saying you are free from so-n-so thought is in a way thinking about that thought ... Give some food for this thought ...
techinically speaking, its a way of blood sugar control, because in festival seasons and in thithi(shradda) we eat lots of sweet and other hard food, so to maintain the blood sugar level, we do fasting,
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