The Fasting Path

"What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner" Gandhi

Among my family members and the wider Indian-HIndu spiritual community that I have grown up in, fasting is a common practice. Fasting does not connote food-free days. Fasting days are days when you give up your favorite food or you eat more simple/spartan food. My mom is vegetarian twice a week - on Fridays and Saturdays. These days are dedicated to God. She stays away from meat and eats simply to honor the divine. Nothing extreme but done consistently over more than 45 years of her life. I have other friends who eat only milk and fruits on certain important days on the Hindu religious calendar. Yet others who eat only one meal in the evening and do not drink even water from 5am (start of fast) to 8pm (breaking fast). Both the start of the fast and the breaking of fast is done with God as witness. By offering the fast to the Lord via prayer. I have never done a full fast. I am sure I will one day when I feel ready. But a few years ago I started to be vegetarian on Tuesdays (for Durga) and Fridays. I feel that it has been very good for me. It has taught me discipline, self-control and to be more mindful of what I eat. I also have learnt to enjoy vegetarian food. When I abstain from meat on these days I am reminded of the divine, both within as well as the higher power above.

Recently I picked up "Stephen Buhner's The Fasting Path." This book discusses how fasting makes one more spiritually attuned. He discusses the spiritual, emotional and physiological aspects of fasting. In particular it increases one's sensitivity to the sacred world and allowed the fasting person to regain a sense of orientation and purpose. During deep fasting the rational mind is left behind and a different intelligence, located in the heart, is activated. The heart is a deeper organ of perception and it allows one to develop a new sight - that enables us to see the divine in many things. Solo retreat into the wilderness and fasting is common in many ancient cultures including Buddhist, HIndus, Christians and Native Americans. This allows the souls to detoxify and strip the inessentials away, making the essential more luminous. Our path and purpose if life become clearer.

Buhner also discusses how to open up the heart as an organ of perception during the fast. First he says set your intention for the fast. Carry this intention at the forefront of your mind while you fast. This focus is important otherwise one gets nothing out of this fast except hunger and thirst. There is no new insight, no deeper acceptance of your victories and failures, no great clarity on the path ahead. So marrying intention with fasting is critical for self renewal and an increased maturity and strength of character. I feel it is best to do fasts incrementally but consistently so that they become a pleasant and valuable opportunities for self-growth and reflection.