Fasting For Health Part-III

Fasting an Ancient Practice

Fasting has been practiced in all countries from the most ancient times. In early times fasting was used in connection with religion for moral, mental and spiritual purification. It was also practiced by all the people of the lower cultures in which it was supported by the rudimentary science which takes the form of magical lore, as well as by a variety of crude religious beliefs. 

The Christian ‘Lent’ is paralleled by the Mohamedan Fast of ‘Ramzan’. The Hindu and the Jain ascetics practiced severe fasting in conjunction with numerous other austerities. Primitive ‘Buddhism’ is in favour of moderation rather than extreme self-deprivation, but in practice in its various developed forms; the religion covers a considerable amount of fasting especially in Tibet. The higher Taoism of China and Confucianism enjoin periods of strict abstinence.

It should not however be understood that in India fasting was practiced only under religious superstition. The therapeutic effects of the fast were also greatly recognized. It was used for the prevention and cures of various ailments and was endorsed by writers on medicine and surgery. From the point of view of health it will be highly beneficial to fast at least once a fortnight. Many Hindus take only one mill a day during the rainy season. This is a practice based upon the soundest hygienic principles. For when the air is dump and the sky cloudy the digestive organs are weaker than usual, and hence there should be a reduction in the quantity of food.

There are several kinds of fasts in Hindu religion. Cereals, beans and pulses are prohibited in almost all fasts while no restriction is placed upon fruits, vegetables and milk – the continued use of a large amount of cereals being regarded as the cause of unhealthy accumulations in the body. A fast is known as “Chandrayan Vrata” in which the faster daily diminishes one morsel of food with the waning digit of the moon till he comes to ‘Amavasya’ when he takes nothing because the moon is not visible. Then he begins his food with one morsel and increases it daily by one morsel till the arrival of full moon. Thus a complete course is finished during the period of four weeks. Fast is also recommended during the period of a ‘Solar Eclipse’. The association of fast with the non-appearance of sun is a matter of great hygienic value. Light of the sun being the source of all vital energy the vital power of our system are naturally at a low ebb when that light is screened from us. Consequently the system is ill equipped for digesting and assimilating food. The Jains follow the same principle in talking their evening meals before sunset.

Fasting For Health Part-II

The question of proper nourishment is of the very first importance because the other two functions are closely connected with it. Eating anything because it tastes nice is not exactly what the body needs. For the sake of gratifying the palate we go on stuffing in every sort of food, time in and time out, whether the stomach requires it or not. Over-eating is the great curse of humanity and this alone is responsible for many of the ills from which man suffers. The disgruntled man who declares peevishly that he is “Fed up”, generally speaks the literal truth. At the same time it must also be admitted that an average person is not entirely to blame for not paying attention to correct diet. It is ‘Society’ that often insists that every one shall overeat and over-drink. People consider it unsocial to eat a little and dub the one who resorts to a fast as cranky. It should be remembered that when more food is put into the body than is required by it, the stomach is unable to cope with it and consequently it passes it down into the small intestine in an undigested and fermented condition. There too, the intestinal juices are unable to act properly on the fermenting mass and hence it is further pushed down into the colon unabsorbed and mal-assimilated. This putrid matter clogs the colon, begins to decay there and generates toxins. The toxins thus produced pass into the blood stream through the walls of the colon, causing toxemia and defective circulation – the root cause of most of the ailments of man.

The common attempt of a Doctor is to suppress the symptoms which the body begins to show on account of the presence of effete matter in the system by administering medicines. He does not try to find out the real cause of the disease and remove it. He labours under the false idea that disease is something which can be “caught” or which enters into the body from outside, and therefore, he uses various drugs such as purgatives, emetics, diaphoretics etc. Strictly speaking, the drugs do not ‘act’ upon the living body, the body ‘reacts’ against the drugs. Some drugs are more readily expelled through the bowels, some through the kidneys, some through the skin. But, in the process of eliminating drugs, much of the vital activity is expended and the system becomes quite prostrate, so that the after-effects of drugging prove to be more harmful than the disease itself. Sometimes there is a temporary relapse but the disease reasserts itself in an aggravated form after some time and refuses to yield to any process of cure.

Human ailments can only be removed by building health and not by doctoring symptoms of the so-called disease. Healing is a physiological process, inherent in the body economy. No substitute can perform the work. The only scientific treatment is that which removes all morbid obstructions from the body, purifies the blood and thereby helps every organ of the body to function properly and normally.

Foremost among the methods of purification stands fasting, which of late years has become quite popular. “Fasting” is the only method by means of which the body is cleared of its corruption, in as much as fasting permits the effete material already contained to be disposed of, and at the same time allows no introduction of new material into the body. We ought to stop food when the system has not sufficient power to eliminate the food poisons. Digestion and assimilation of food require a great deal of energy, and when the energy at the disposal of the body is used in that direction, there is not sufficient energy left for the elimination of poison which causes disease. When we fast that energy is diverted from functions of digestion and assimilation and is used by the self-healing principle in the system towards house-cleaning and elimination of disease matter.

Fasting For Health Part - I

You will hardly find one in a thousand who does not constantly complain of something wrong with this system. Why should it be so? The Doctors may locate the cause of the trouble elswhere, but the plain fact is that almost all bodily ills have their origin in the wrong habits of living, among which, abuse of the stomach stands foremost. Over-eating, use of unnatural foods as are invariably served at dinners, hotels, resturants and other places of enjoyment, and lack of excercise, not only derange the digestive system but choke up the body with poisonous matter, giving rise to all sorts of ills. Evidently, the treatement should consist in stopping all clogging foods and ridding the body of the disease matter, already present in it. The right way to accomplish this is to 'fast the disease matter out', as animals do when they are ill.

It is a pity that, under the influence of modern civilization, the people of India have discarded this natural method of cure which was so strongly advocated by the ancient healers of their country. In west on the other hand, the method has been brought to the forefront by the efforts of eminent naturopaths and there has grown up a large literature on the subject. It is time we should also revive the old practice.

I have written this bolgg in which I have tried to present the subject in an understandable form. If the perusal of the blog induces even a small fraction of the suffering humanity to try the fasting cure and thereby regain their normal health, I shall consider my efforts amply rewarded.

What is Disease and How Fasting Helps Remove Disease – 

Disease is nothing else but an effort of the body to expel from the system the waste matter which has accumulated owing to a long continued unnatural mode of living. Disease is then, a curative process, a process of purification and a remedial action. It is the normal ‘reaction’ of the body to an unfavorable environment. Internal Obstructions are lodged in the system in the form of filth – toxins or waste matter. They depress and hinder healthy action or normal physiology. The entire system rebels against the presence of this foreign mass, and the Vital Force, under the control of the Law of Life, strives to save the body by struggling with might and main to remove the dangerous accumulations. The human body is composed of millions and millions of tiny cells, each little cell being an individual life by itself, absorbing food, eliminating, functioning, growing, reproducing and dying. There are different groups of cells of different kinds such as the muscular cel’s, the fatty cells, the body cells, and so on. The health of the body depends on the health of each individual cell, and in order that each individual cell should function properly, it must have food – proper food and nourishment, secondly, it must have proper drainage, and i.e. it must be able to get rid of the residue left after the assimilation of food. The third necessity of the cell is the proper supply of nerve force. It is the nerve force going along myriads of nerves to different parts of the body, to different tissues, and to each individual cell, which gives these cells, and consequently the organs, the power to function properly – the power to absorb food and to eliminate the waste matters which are produced as a result of the absorption of food. A disturbance in any of the three requirements of the cell, feeding drainage and nerve supply of them ensures good health.