Fasting is a basic law in the world’s major religions. The manner of observance, of course, differs such as the timing of the year, the duration, and certain accompanying rituals. Nowadays more and more people are realizing the value of fasting both for spiritual and physical reasons. Ordinarily people fast on religious occasions. In Hinduism, besides the month of Karthik, devotees fast during Navratris and Shivratris, the Chath puja and Karva Chauth. In Christianity there is the Lent, and Catholics also fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In Judaism the days of fasting are Yom Kippur, Tisha B’av, Fast of Esther, Fast of Gedalia, the 17th of Tammuz, and the 10th of Tevet.

A majority of Buddhists practice some periods of fasting, usually on full-moon days and other holidays. Jains observe what is known as the “Ratri Bhojan Tyag,” in which they do not eat anything after sunset, some abstain from water during this time as well. Members of the Latter-day Saint movement, the Mormons, fast on the first Sunday of each month. In Islam there is the whole month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk, for it is believed that this was the month when the Holy Qur’an was revealed. In the Bahá’i Faith, during the last month of the Bahá’i calendar called “Loftiness”, the followers abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset each day for 19 days. Fasting is Nature’s curative agent.

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It can restore health where everything else has failed. It gives Nature a chance to cleanse the system. Fasting implies total abstinence from all food, both liquid and solid. Therefore, taking of fruit juice or any other drink goes against the rule of fasting. However, some religious communities allow consumption of water to drive away weakness, while some others even forbid drinking water. The degree of austerity may differ but the important principle to remember is that for a normally healthy person the occasional fast is most beneficial.

Because fasting is giving up food when there is no real hunger, to eliminate poison and accumulated filth from the system and to allow Nature to do its work of healing vigorously and satisfactorily. Through fasting one removes diseases and regains perfect health, vigour and vitality. Prana is vivified by fasting. Lifespark is rekindled by fasting. It should be noted that fasting is not starvation. In starvation there is hunger. If you fill your stomach with food when there is no hunger, it is a physiological sin. You are going against Nature and you will be penalized.

Therefore, even when one is not fasting, it is wise to exercise moderation. Do not overeat. You will stay healthy and happy. Fasting is a vitalizing agent. It fills the system with new vigour and vitality. It purifies and galvanizes the prana or the pranamaya kosa (vital sheath) and makes the mind serene and calm. It fills the mind with sattva or purity. The individual becomes inclined to give more time to prayer and meditation. Fasting helps to control one’s sensual desires. Fasting gives rest to one’s otherwise overworked digestive organs. The undigested food gets digested.

The digestive juices which were poor qualitatively and quantitatively regain their normal condition. It has been observed that persons who fast become healthier because energy is conserved. The energy diverted for digestion, assimilation and elimination is saved. The conserved energy builds better health. Returning to the religious viewpoint, the Bahá’i Writings states that fasting is “essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul… Fasting is symbolic and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires.”

It is highly recommended for those in good health. There are some exemptions such as the travellers, those who are ill, women who are pregnant, menstruating women, those engaged in heavy labour and persons above 70 years of age. As a divine ordinance, the period of fasting is for developing self-control, mindfulness, and devoting one’s thoughts and energies to practices which rejuvenate one’s spiritual powers. There are special prayers and mantras that further reinforce our spiritual energies and attract blessings and bounties of the Almighty Creator.

Interestingly, Mahatma Gandhi, a deeply spiritual person utilized the power of fasting to resolve many conflict situations or injustices that were being meted out by the colonial powers during the freedom struggle of our country. It is hoped that a better understanding of the virtue of fasting accompanied by prayer and meditation would strengthen the spirit of harmony among varying religious communities and produce a greater consciousness of global interdependence and heightened longing for compassion and peace, vitally needed in a world so full of hatred and violence.

(The writer is a social worker, independent researcher and an active promoter of the Interfaith Movement.)