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FASTING –<br />
ITS MEANING, ITS PURPOSE<br />
A fast is: A fast is not:<br />
About God About food<br />
A time of reflection A time of hunger<br />
For peace of the body, For pakoras and<br />
mind and spirit puris<br />
A day of discipline A diet<br />
To purify you To frustrate you<br />
Today, fasting has become a great trend across the world.<br />
In any bookstore you will find volumes of literature extolling<br />
one fast or another. There are juice fasts, water fasts,<br />
fruit fasts, etc. Fasting is frequently heralded as the “miracle<br />
weight loss” for those who have tried all else without success.<br />
A True Fast<br />
A true fast, undertaken with understanding and discipline<br />
has the ability to restore all systems of the body. The nervous,<br />
circulatory, digestive, respiratory and reproductive<br />
systems are all regenerated. The toxins and impurities in<br />
our blood and tissues are eliminated and our system<br />
becomes rejuvenated. The majority of all today’s terminal<br />
illnesses are rooted in over-consumption, and a fast is<br />
a way of purifying our bodies from an excess of not only<br />
food but also preservatives, chemicals and toxins.<br />
A fast also is one of the best ways of controlling our mind<br />
and senses. Fasts have been used for millennia to subdue<br />
passion, anger and lust. They allow us to withdraw our<br />
senses from the outside world and become refocused on<br />
our own divine nature and our connection to God. Additionally,<br />
during this period of sadhana, austerity, and<br />
restraint one realizes that one is truly the master of one’s<br />
body, not vice versa.<br />
Unfortunately today, so many people in the Indian community<br />
seem to have forgotten much of the purpose of a<br />
fast. Today, you will see people with plates overflowing<br />
with puris and pakoras who say they are fasting. There<br />
are phalahari chapatis, saboodana kichari and so many<br />
other hearty foods that we barely even notice it is a fast. I<br />
have heard that there is even a recipe for phalahari pizza<br />
dough!<br />
On the one hand, it is wonderful to see such a proliferation<br />
of the idea of phalahar, and I am glad to see that<br />
observing weekly fasts, or fasts on Ekadashi are rituals<br />
which have not been lost as we enter the 21<br />
. DROPS DROPS OF OF OF NECTAR NECTAR NECTAR 60 DROPS DROPS OF OF NECTAR NECTAR . 61<br />
st Connection with the Divine.<br />
However, while fasting is certainly of great health benefit,<br />
to define it merely as a type of “diet” is to undermine one<br />
of the oldest and most sacred spiritual practices. Fasting<br />
has been used for millennia by the rishis, saints and sages<br />
in order to purify their bodies, minds and souls and to bring<br />
every cell of their bodies into connection with the divine.<br />
century.