Nowadays, many educated people do not observe fasting on sacred days. This is due to the impact of the dark, vicious, materialistic forces. When the intellect develops a little, people begin to enter into arguments and unnecessary discussions. Intellect is a hindrance on the spiritual path. They who have not developed the heart but who have developed their intellect begin to doubt and question at everystep. They are led astray. They want a "why" and a "how" for everything. They want "scientific" explanations for all phenomena. Bhagwan is beyond proofs and presumptions. One has to approach religion and the scriptures with great faith, reverence and purity of heart. Then only are the secrets of religion revealed unto him like the apple in the palm of one's hand. Does anybody ask his mother to prove who is his father? Fasting will not tie you down or constrain you - try it and you will find it quite liberating.
Fasting controls passion. It checks the emotions. It controls the senses also. It is a great penance. It purifies the mind and the heart. It destroys a multitude of sins. Fasting controls the tongue in particular which is the deadliest enemy of man. Fasting overhauls the respiratory, circulatory, digestive and urinary systems. It destroys all the impurities of the body and all sorts of poisons. It eliminates uric acid deposits. Just as impure gold is rendered pure by melting it in the crucible again and again, so also this impure mind is renderedpurer by repeated fasting.
But, what we must not forget, is that fasting is not about torturing yourself! If you believe that by starving yourself your fast is far more superior than that person which is fasting and eating a banana to sustain themselves, then you are wrong! Our bodies are a temple. Our atma is that from the Parmatama. We would not desicrate a temple and strip it of its beauty. We would try and beautify it, purify it, for our Bhagwan lives within it. So, don't torture your temple which is your body. Listen to it, adapt to its needs for sustenance. In time, you will have the willpower to fast as the rishis did in our earlier yugas.
I had already emailed the full article to a friend of mine - who I am proud to say has started fasting, and keeps telling me how much better he feels. Its all about self disclipline. I fast regular on a Saturday in the name of my Pavansuta Hanumanji, and also each Ekadashi. I so look forward to these days - if you spoke to me on a Friday or the day before Ekadashi as to what I was doing the following day - you'll see nothing but a smile on my face, my eyes shining, and with pride I will tell you that I will be fasting. If my email changed one person's view's on this, will it change yours too?
Fasting controls passion. It checks the emotions. It controls the senses also. It is a great penance. It purifies the mind and the heart. It destroys a multitude of sins. Fasting controls the tongue in particular which is the deadliest enemy of man. Fasting overhauls the respiratory, circulatory, digestive and urinary systems. It destroys all the impurities of the body and all sorts of poisons. It eliminates uric acid deposits. Just as impure gold is rendered pure by melting it in the crucible again and again, so also this impure mind is renderedpurer by repeated fasting.
But, what we must not forget, is that fasting is not about torturing yourself! If you believe that by starving yourself your fast is far more superior than that person which is fasting and eating a banana to sustain themselves, then you are wrong! Our bodies are a temple. Our atma is that from the Parmatama. We would not desicrate a temple and strip it of its beauty. We would try and beautify it, purify it, for our Bhagwan lives within it. So, don't torture your temple which is your body. Listen to it, adapt to its needs for sustenance. In time, you will have the willpower to fast as the rishis did in our earlier yugas.
I had already emailed the full article to a friend of mine - who I am proud to say has started fasting, and keeps telling me how much better he feels. Its all about self disclipline. I fast regular on a Saturday in the name of my Pavansuta Hanumanji, and also each Ekadashi. I so look forward to these days - if you spoke to me on a Friday or the day before Ekadashi as to what I was doing the following day - you'll see nothing but a smile on my face, my eyes shining, and with pride I will tell you that I will be fasting. If my email changed one person's view's on this, will it change yours too?
No comments:
Post a Comment