Fasting and going back to life

Swami BV Parivrajak
august 2001



Remembering Krishna is a source of good fortune. And it is only with the aim to increase this remembrance that a devotee should accept fasting for his/her own purification.
The Sanskrit word for fasting is upavasa. Upa indicates nearness and vasa means ´to reside´. Hence, the literal meaning of upavasa is ¨to reside with the Lord¨.
Another reading of upavasa can also be ´going back to life´, withdrawing from sin and leading a good life (upa= going back, and vasa= life). In other words, all actions which are not good must be relinquished.
Both definitions suggest a spiritual concept of fasting. Not simply to abstain from food, but to search for divine communion with the Lord. Fasting not as an act of self-mortification, but as a joyful occasion, for one can give more time and energy to his devotional exercises and come closer to Krishna.

Ayurvedic view

Before examining the moral, religious, social and spiritual implications of fasting, let us consider Ayurveda's viewpoint. Ayurveda is the oldest medical science of mankind and embraces all aspects of well-being of the living creatures: physical, mental and spiritual. Life, ayus in Sanskrit, is a combination of body, sense organs, mind and soul. According to Ayurveda, health is not merely a state of freedom from disease. It is rather a state of uninterrupted physical, mental and spiritual happiness and fulfillment.
Aside from the observance of Ekadashi, Ayurveda authorizes fasting as a means of restoring one´s health. In the beginning of a disease or in an acute phase such as during fever, when one or more of the doshas have become imbalanced, it is the time to fast. The doshas are the three energy principles: vata, pitta and kapha.
Fasting, the Ayurveda explains, means to rest the doshas that have become spoiled. Taking heavy food at this time increases the strength of the spoiled doshas. This is known as ¨the dosha leaving its own seat¨. Fasting helps localize a spoiled dosha. Therefore, it is food for the dhatus and death for the doshas. The dhatus are the seven structural elements of the body: lymph, blood, muscle, fat, marrow, bone and semen.
Improper or excessive intake of food creates an imbalance which hampers the process of digestion. ´Am´, or undigested food, putrefies and becomes toxic, causing disturbance to one of the doshas. By abstaining from food, the ´am´ remaining in the stomach can become easily digested and the doshas regain their original balance. This is called ´sam niram cikitsa´, or the complexion of metabolism through fasting.
We should carefully note that fasting is never recommended for children, pregnant women and old people. Also, it should be avoided in case of extreme weakness, extreme hunger, fever due to injury, burns, drug poisoning (including heroin), tuberculosis, or by someone who is haunted by ghosts.

The right attitude

The benefits on health, derived by occasional fasts, are well known to the world at large. But only spiritual aspirants know about the spiritual advantages of fasting. Celibate monks or brahmacharis are aware that fasting weakens the sexual drive, at least temporarily. Complete fasting helps also to control sleep. As such, its application and practical value in spiritual life have an immense potential.
However, emphasis should be put on spiritual awareness if we want to derive any substantial benefit from fasting. No doubt, fasting can give a temporary relief to our body and mind, but spiritual benefits are not guaranteed.
Fasting can be even detrimental if we lack the right attitude of humility and tolerance. ¨When you fast,¨Lord Jesus said ¨don´t assume an air of sorrow just like the hypocrites, who contort their faces to show others that they are fasting. This is actually their own remuneration. You should rather wash your face and perfume your hair so that others will not think that you are fasting. Only your Divine Father who is invisible and secret will see and give you the proper reward for your act of devotion.¨
If our motivation is proper, fasting is a highly meritorious spiritual activity. Our aim should be only to make progress toward a virtuous life.

Removing sins

Abstaining from food provides a negative impetus as one can cleanse one´s conscience from the stench of sin. The Vedic Scriptures support this understanding in many ways.
In the Manu Samhita, which great spiritual authorities regard as the Law of Mankind, fasting is associated with atonement from sinful reactions. When describing the means adopted by the sages through which one can remove the burden of his/her sins, Manu enumerates different types of penances.
Through fasting, one can counteract an offensive mentality, such as disrespectful behaviour toward one´s own superiors. ¨One who does not show proper respect toward a brahmana or anyone of his seniors, by words or actions, shall bathe and fast during the remaining part of the day, and appease the person offended by reverential salutation.¨ (Manu samhita XI, 205)
The types of fast are various, each one different according to the gravity of the offense performed. Santapana, kricchra, ati-kricchra, tapta-kricchra, candrayana and paraka are just some of the fasts recommended for atonement.
If one diminishes one´s food daily by one mouthful during the dark half of the month and increases it in the same way during the bright half, and bathes daily at the time of sandhya (dawn, noon and sunset), is performing a lunar penance, or Chandrayana. The twelve days´ fast known as Paraka can remove any kind of guilt.

The unmanifested Vishnu

In our times, people are mostly uninformed about the Vedic injunctions and their benefits. Almost nobody is capable to endure fasting vows for spiritual upliftment. Vaishnavas, who follow in the footsteps of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, are a remarkable exception to this trend in that they faithfully observe the Ekadashi fast, which falls twice in a month, on the eleventh day of the waxing and waning moon.
Sri Chaitanya introduced the system of observing a fast on Ekadashi since the very beginning of His childhood. In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, it is said that one day the young Nimai fell down at the feet of His mother and requested her to give Him something in charity. His mother replied, ¨My dear son, I will give You whatever You want.¨ To this the Lord said, ¨My dear mother, please do not eat grains on Ekadashi.¨ (ekadashite anna na khaibe) Mother Shaci promised to follow the Ekadashi vrata, which she did regularly.
Sri Murari Gupta, a close associate of Sri Chaitanya, recorded in his Kadacha that, just before leaving for Jagannath Puri, Mahaprabhu instructed His followers on the importance of Ekadashi while at the house of Sri Advaitacharya.

yusmabhir atra kartavyam / sadaiva hari-kirttanam
vimatsair visheshena / jagare hari-vasare

Sri Chaitanya said, ¨You should always chant the name of Hari with a heart devoid of envy. Also, observe attentively Harivasara staying awake throughout the night.¨ (Kadacha 3.4.26)
Harivasara, which indicates the day of Lord Hari, is just another name for Ekadashi. Hari-bhakti-vilas (16.301) mentions that the personality of Ekadashi is an unmanifested form of Sri Vishnu on the earth (ya sa vishnoh para murtir avyaktaneka rupini sa kshipta manushe loke). Ekadashi is said to be equal to the Lord Himself. Srila Sanatana Goswami remarks, ¨One who strictly observes the Ekadashi fast, worships Sri Hari.¨ (Digdarshini-tika)
The Srimad-Bhagavatam (9.4.29) reports that it was with this aim in mind that the maha-bhagavat King Ambarish and his wife accepted the austerity of Ekadashi for a whole year. Ekadashi is meant for hari toshanam, the satisfaction of Sri Hari.
The Agni Purana tells us of both social and spiritual advantages which result from the observance of Ekadashi when it states that, ¨This vow will fetch food for the hungry and salvation for those who are in search of it.¨
Several Puranas give alarming warnings against the risk of breaking Ekadashi even only accidentally. The Skanda Purana admonishes that a person who eats grains on Ekadashi becomes a murderer of his mother, father, brother and spiritual master. According to Padma Purana, the personification of sin or papa purusha, was ordered to reside in food grains on Ekadashi day. Therefore, anyone who eats grains on Ekadashi becomes very sinful. Going one step further, the Narada Purana intimates not to eat at all on Ekadashi day.

varam shva-matrir gamanam varam gomansa bhakshanam
varam hatya surapanam na ekadashyantu bhojanam

¨Eating for sense pleasure on Ekadashi is worse than incest with one´s own mother, eating beef, committing murder or drinking liquor.¨

The ´fortunate´ rat

Ekadashi is a merciful expansion of the Supreme Lord for the personal purification of a devotee. The gracious influence of Ekadashi reaches not only human beings, but even animals and low creatures.
In the Kartika-mahatmya section of the Padma Purana, we find the story of a rat who lived in a Vishnu temple. The rat was eating the ghee from the extinguished ghee-wicks which were offered to the Lord. One day, being unbearably hungry, the rat tried to eat the ghee from a burning lamp. Somehow, the burning cotton-wick got stuck on its teeth. The poor creature began jumping in clockwise circles in front of the Deity. It caught on fire and finally died.
Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord accepted the helpless jumping of the rat as His worship and gave it a human body in its next life and liberation after that.
The same story, related in a verse of the Skanda Purana, reveals that the ´fortunate´ rat achieved the unexpected spiritual boon due to the influence of ajnata-sukriti, or devotional service performed without awareness on Ekadashi.

ekadashyam parer dattam dipam prajvalya mushika
manushyam durlabham prapya param gatim avapa sa

¨Once, on Ekadashi day, a rat accidentally offered a ghee lamp to Sri Vishnu that had already been offered by someone else. In this way, it achieved the human form, which is very rare, and ultimately reached the supreme destination.¨

The advent of Satyabhama

Srila Jiva Goswami has extolled the greatness of Ekadashi in his commentary on Bhakti sandarbha. Therein we find that once a brahmana´s daughter observed fasting very strictly on Ekadashi and during the Kartik month. As a result of her penance, she took birth as Satyabhama, one of Sri Krishna´s wives in Dvaraka.

padme kartika-mahatmye cha brahmana kanyayah
kartika vrata ekadashi vrata prabhavat
srimat satyabhamakhya-bhagavat preyasi pada praptir
api sruyate, kim bahuna?

From this verse we can infer that the inter-relation between Satyabhama Devi and Ekadashi is very intimate. By the mercy of Ekadashi, the simple daughter of a brahmana attained to the unparalleled position of Krishna´s consort and Queen of Dvaraka.
Srila Jiva Goswami has expressed his wonder about the extraordinary effect of the Ekadashi-vrata with the words ´kim bahuna?´ which mean ¨What more can be said about the glories of Ekadashi?¨

´Hungry´ yogis

While Ekadashi is highly recommended in the Vedic Scriptures, fasting for social or political reasons is strictly discouraged.
The Kularnava rahasya also advises that a disciple should not take fasting vows or perform other similar austerities with the view to surpass his own spiritual master. This would be certainly very offensive.
Besides, one should not torture one´s body with excessive fasts because this can create a mental unbalance. The material body requires food for its maintenance. This is unavoidable, for it is a fundamental need which has to be satisfied.
One must learn the ways of moderation and sobriety as Krishna Himself teaches in the Bhagavad-gita (6.16). Whoever wants to practice yoga (communion with the Lord) must avoid extremes such as eating too much or not eating at all, sleeping more than necessary or keeping awake all night. One should accept whatever is required to keep the body fit for Krishna´ service.
By accepting only the remnants of food offered to Krishna, a devotee is already ´fasting´, so to speak. To avoid any food which has been prepared with a mundane conscience is the best type of fasting. By taking consecrated food we approach the Lord through our tongue and gradually get purified. Moreover, the fasting days, as enjoined in the Scriptures, help the sadhakas to find the desired balance because usually neophytes eat excessively.
We can forget the whole world, but we never forget to eat, even for a single day! It is a victory for the soul if we can reduce or put aside our bodily demands even only for a short period of time.
Saints and yogis can easily transcend the demanding urge of hunger because they are ´hungry´ of spiritual realizations. Some of them apply successfully yogic techniques as the lady-saint Bala Giri demonstrated during her life. She went without food for more than fifty years. Scientists, theologians and the public in general studied her case in an attempt to reach a rational conclusion, but they failed. In the many interviews she had to answer, Bala Giri explained that the Lord wanted to teach through her that we are spirit souls and not the material body of flesh and bones. The famous kriya-yogi Paramahans Yogananda has narrated the unprecedented achievement of Bala Giri in his own autobiography.

Beyond rules

Finally there is another kind of fast, which is unconscious of the environment and without a tinge of calculation. It is the fruit of a highly emotional condition. This was, for instance, the spiritual frame of the Vrindavan Goswamis such as Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunath. These celebrated associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were the emblem of self-forgetfulness and divine surrender. We should not think, however, that they fasted and underwent austerities as ordinary sadhakas do. They simply forgot to eat due to their consuming absorption in the sublime intoxication of divine love.
Vows and rules lose meaning for an advanced devotee who sometimes becomes indifferent to his/her bodily needs. Being always ¨in touch with the Lord¨ (upavasa) through the divine service of guru and Krishna, he/she has already ¨gone back to life¨ (upavasa) having regained his/her original devotional temperament. Such a devoted person experiences the real life of the soul.
Ordinary people and beginners on the spiritual path are unable to understand the position and movements of such a surrendered devotee of the Lord. In the life of a siddha-mahatma, we can trace the spiritual zenith of upavasa, the perfect sublimation of a method which at first appears as negative and self-denial.
This is far beyond the capacities of a spiritual aspirant, and as such it should not be imitated. Only at a very advanced stage of God-realization, eating or fasting will not be any more a matter of concern.