4 of 15

Write now Article Tools

Fasting has been practiced for millenniums by assorted cultures and religions, all with the intention of getting closer to Godhead. Hinduism has a long history of fasting and uses it very extensively. Fasting is primarily done on religious holidays, such as Shiva's birthday and preformed by women, though men fast as well. Fasting is done in order to cleanse the body, deprive of the body of physical gratification, and to make the person fasting more sympathetic towards his fellow man through the pains that hunger causes.

Thus, one should look at fasting as an exercise in discipline and a promotion of spiritual courage an detachment from the physical world. Though not all fasting is for ascetic purposes in the Hinduism, in fact, some is done merely our of tradition. For instance Monday (the day of Shiva) is the day women fast and Tuesday (day of Hanuman) is the day men fast. Anniversaries are also observed through fasting, as well as festivals and fasting is practiced every monthly by women during the full moon. These observances seem trivial to the Westerner, who is more interested in the ascetic and scientific aspects than the cultural aspect of fasting.
The practice of fasting has always been encouraged by the Ayurvedic medical system, which considers fasting a way of detoxifying the body and preventing people from going insane. Western medical science has found that fasting (not in excess and on a healthy-bodied adult) reduces the lipid content in blood and helps our organs reduce the waste the builds up inside of them over time. In his classic essay on religious experiences and psychedelics, "Heaven and Hell", Aldous Huxley described the many ways people have achieved union with the divine; one of the methods he described was fasting, which deprives the body and brain of sugars, and thus makes one more prone to having a mystical revelation because one has slowed down the efficiency of his cognitive machinery and deprived the faculties of the brain that are solely concerned with survival. It is in this state of mind that one begins to view the world in a spiritual light, because one has deprived himself of a thing needed to sustain life. Fasting imbues the value of discipline onto its practitioners, because it forces one to tolerate the pains of hunger. The slaying of the ego, and in turn the illusionary world or Maya, is the ultimate goal of ascetic practices such as fasting. And, in the present day, science has confirmed that such practices can indeed alter one's consciousness and create a more welcoming mental environment for mystical insight and self-realization.

Learn more about this author, Proteus Peppermann.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Fasting in Hinduism?
We want to hear your view. Write now!