The types of fasts that I am aware of are mentioned below -
Health Fasts- With health fasts, one usually has intakes of fresh juice, fruits for a period of time to cleanse the body from all the toxins that had built up in it. This is a way of giving some “time-out” to our internal digestive organs which are really over-worked with the junk food, odd hours of eating, stress that we usually have.
Then, there are people(from the entertainment/fashion world) who stretch this beyond limits.
Prime examples of this are actresses/models/wags(Kareena / Victoria Beckham to name a few) who are or have been obsessed with “size-zero”. Anorexic and weak looking – are the side-effects…
Spiritual Fasts – Almost all the religions in this world have given significance to spiritual fasts –the Navratri fast, Ramazan fast,the Lent fast and so on.
For the spiritual fasts, it is a path to control the senses, desires and provide you an opportunity to connect to God. In a spiritual fast, you have a “time-out” from the strong desire of eating rich and tasty food. It is a matter of controlling that desire and channelize your thoughts towards “food for the soul”.
It helps in establishing a harmonious relationship between the body and the soul. This is thought to be imperative for the well- being of a human being as it nourishes both his/her physical and spiritual demands.
Fasting is not only a part of worship, but a great instrument for self-discipline too. It is a training of the mind and the body to endure and harden up against all hardships, to persevere under difficulties and not give up
Again, keeping spiritual fasts is not about only eating simple food throughout the day, it is also about the way you think, conduct and act. It is the time to introspect and search for the right path towards attaining spiritual balance that the mind and the soul desires.
A Non-Violent Protest
From a matter of dietary control, fasting has come to be a handy tool of societal control. It is a non-violent form of protest. A hunger strike can draw attention to a grievance and can bring about an emendation or redress. It is interesting to note that it was Mahatma Gandhi who used fasting to capture people's attention.
Mahatma Gandhi then and Anna Hazare now have also used the process of fasting as a medium to highlight their concern/viewpoint to the public in general.This is a way to bring in awareness on an issue that needs immediate attention of the administration and the public. People who have dedicated their lives to the cause of building a strong nation,improving people’s quality of life and society in general have used fasting as a means to give impetus to such movements.
Fellow-Feeling
Finally, the pangs of hunger that one experiences during fasting make one think and extend one's sympathy towards the destitute who often go without food. In this context, fasting functions as a societal gain wherein people share with each other a fellow feeling. Fasting provides an opportunity for the privileged to give food-grains to the less privileged and alleviate their distress, at least for the moment.
My views – Fasts are something that a man has created for himself because he has not been successful in managing his health – physical and spiritual.
My question is - Can we lead the life of a person who has no desires and is content with what he has? Who is that person? That person according to me is called – A Happy Person!!
Its human nature to desire more, acquire more, spend more, then worry more and then again desire more, acquire more…this is a vicious cycle that weakens your health. This cycle needs to be broken. Who will break it? It is we who have to identify this cycle within ourselves and then get enough courage, strength and the will to break this cycle.
Then, will we still require to fast?? I don’t think the answer is YES..
