Fasting advice

[Viraja]

How to observe fast for the whole day for beginners? The occasion is Ekadashi.

I am for one, a person who cannot abstain from food... very foody person. The sense of chronic hunger more towards later half of the day always left me feeling very sick.

Advice solicited.

 

[stvdv]

How to observe fast for the whole day for beginners? The occasion is Ekadashi.

I am for one, a person who cannot abstain from food... very foody person. The sense of chronic hunger more towards later half of the day always left me feeling very sick.

Advice solicited.

First step is to say "I can abstain from food". Saying "I cannot abstain from food" is like sabotaging your goal.

I am 10 kg underweight then it is a little more difficult to fast because there are no reserves. But if I eat 500 kcal extra day before then I manage.

So if you are underweight like me then fasting is not needed nor smart IMO. If it's emotional attachment then you will have to face your emotions.

The goal of fasting I think is to overcome attachment to desires. So not eating is a good challenge. Most people are addicted to filling mouth/stomach.

 

[Vinayaka]

Viraja, I think it depends on health some. People with certain medical conditions simply shouldn't be fasting. That said, most people can. My suggestion would be to try it with partial fasting first. Maybe juice, some sweet tea, of fruits alone. See how that goes. I haven't done it for years, but when we were younger we fasted fridays fir awhile, and I once did 6 days for Skanda Shashthi. I'm planning to try again one day soon. The last couple of times it brought on a migraine, (why I stopped)but I haven't had a nasty one of those in years, so who knows?

But you're right, that first afternoon is the hardest. It's very penance like. If it were me, I'd be looking for some real busy distractions, and then it would be like those 'accidental' fasts when you're just so busy you forget to eat.

Best wishes.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I gorge on potato chips the one day in the year that I fast, that is not cereal and some people think that is OK. I know of a few other options, but perhaps Vinayaka's advice is the best. I would not like to lead you to a wrong path.

 

[Viraja]

First step is to say "I can abstain from food". Saying "I cannot abstain from food" is like sabotaging your goal.

I am 10 kg underweight then it is a little more difficult to fast because there are no reserves. But if I eat 500 kcal extra day before then I manage.

So if you are underweight like me then fasting is not needed nor smart IMO. If it's emotional attachment then you will have to face your emotions.

The goal of fasting I think is to overcome attachment to desires. So not eating is a good challenge. Most people are addicted to filling mouth/stomach.

I especially concur with the last paragraph of yours, ji. Yes, because we voluntarily subject ourselves to suffering, some of our sins get annihilated.

What I tried to ask is specific to Ekadashi, how to slowly ingest or avoid specific foods, and how to bring one's hunger drive under control. I was especially interested in tales from seasoned fast veterans.

Your reply also has been helpful. Thanks.

 

[Viraja]

Viraja, I think it depends on health some. People with certain medical conditions simply shouldn't be fasting. That said, most people can. My suggestion would be to try it with partial fasting first. Maybe juice, some sweet tea, of fruits alone. See how that goes. I haven't done it for years, but when we were younger we fasted fridays fir awhile, and I once did 6 days for Skanda Shashthi. I'm planning to try again one day soon. The last couple of times it brought on a migraine, (why I stopped)but I haven't had a nasty one of those in years, so who knows?

But you're right, that first afternoon is the hardest. It's very penance like. If it were me, I'd be looking for some real busy distractions, and then it would be like those 'accidental' fasts when you're just so busy you forget to eat.

Best wishes.

Vinayaka ji, good advice! I had 2 slices pizza yesterday night. But still, at 4 am this morning when I woke up, I was too hungry. Had some tea with sugar and without milk extra hot and that curbed my appetite. Surprisingly though, never felt hungry till now after that! I thought I will break my fast this evening, but seems like I can continue till morning tomorrow. I wonder if eating that pizza yesterday was appropriate, feels like cheating to me. Some sites say Dashami night no dinner should be taken!

Thanks for the kind reply.

 

[Viraja]

I gorge on potato chips the one day in the year that I fast, that is not cereal and some people think that is OK. I know of a few other options, but perhaps Vinayaka's advice is the best. I would not like to lead you to a wrong path.

Ha ha... potato chips! May be for normal fasting for health purposes, not allowed in Ekadashi fasting I guess!

 

[stvdv]

I especially concur with the last paragraph of yours, ji. Yes, because we voluntarily subject ourselves to suffering, some of our sins get annihilated.

What I tried to ask is specific to Ekadashi, how to slowly ingest or avoid specific foods, and how to bring one's hunger drive under control. I was especially interested in tales from seasoned fast veterans.

Your reply also has been helpful. Thanks.

I am careful giving fasting advice, esp. reading you get very hungry + sick. Hence I thought of underweight/disease and then better not to fast.

Reading your reply you are not sick I think. You want to know how to bring one's hunger drive under control. I have done many month of fasting on only watermelon. My Master told me to do this fast to cure some bad diseases. I was allowed only watermelon after 14h. First 21 days were horrible. Hungry every minute of the day. And craving for all food except watermelon.

Day 21 was the shift. All craving was gone suddenly. I just wanted to eat my watermelon, nothing else. Then continuing the fast was more easy.

You should never do this of course, unless your doctor or guru tells you (even then better use common sense also). But I learned that food craving can be overcome easily. Just do not eat that specific food for 21 days. After three days the physical dependence is gone always with me. But it takes 21 days for the emotional/mental attachment to go. I also did the Shivambu practice. Took also 21 days to overcome the initial disgust.

If Ekadashi is about "not eating" certain foods, then you are really torturing yourself if you do it once a month. But then again, it's a good spiritual practice to become aware of your mind and emotions. But it would be much easier to give up that particular food for 1 year, then with Ekadashi it is easy not to eat that food. But then of course there is no challenge "not to eat it when you desire it"

Most trouble is in the mind. I used to have headaches my whole life (still have, but much less painful). I had a strange trick to get rid of it temporary. I really loved to do math. So I picked a big problem and was busy for many hours and no headache. So it is in many times "mind over body". The focus is important. When I stayed in the ashram of my Guru I did many fasts during festivals like Maha Shivaratri and Akhanda Bhajans. It was more easy because we were all singing for 12 or 24 hours. Again diverting the mind did the trick.

For me it worked best to offer my fasting to God. Doing it to please Him. I always got a lot of blessings from God (after a lot of emotional pain I went through). I even became addicted to "the Blessings" and overdoing the fasting. Then my Guru told me to stop fasting. My major lesson in life is the Buddhist "middle way"

Wish you "Happy Fasting" and afterwards "Happy Eating"
Namastee

 

[Devaki]

I rarely do full fast, like no food at all or even no food and no water, but I do generally stick to fruit/milk only for one-day occasions like Mahashivratri and I try to keep a more "relaxed" fast (no grains and stuff) during Navratri.

What helps me with the fasts where I do eat, but not certain stuff, is to get creative and try to recreate the food I would normally eat using "allowed" foods.
So during Navratri I would for example even make Pizza using buckwheat flour for the base and topping it with homemade paneer and tomato (which I know not everyone uses during fast), season with some black pepper and sendha namak, fairly edible and it looks like a pizza.

As for stricter fasts, I guess if you just really focus on why you are doing it, focus on god and on the reason you vowed to fast, keep up with like chanting and your pujas and whatever it is you do, that helps.
I also like to make sure that any foods or milk or whatever that I do consume was offered to god first, I feel that helps.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Surprisingly though, never felt hungry till now after that! I thought I will break my fast this evening, but seems like I can continue till morning tomorrow. I wonder if eating that pizza yesterday was appropriate, feels like cheating to me. Some sites say Dashami night no dinner should be taken.

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi fasts for both Navaratras and subsists only on lime water and fruit juice attending to all his official duties and (sometimes) heavy traveling, he has been doing it for the last 50 years. Leave that to veterans. A piece or two of pizza the night before or after is not against the general rules of the fasts.

Yeah, potatoes will not be allowed by the devout on Ekadashi, but I am not a theist, I am a Brahmavadin. My wife does not eat salted potoato chips on most fasts but those without salt and fried at home (I do not know if she would agree to the use of rock-salt).

Edited: If I fast, that means that the whole universe is on a fast. Am I not Brahman?

 

[Viraja]

I am sorry for the delayed response... stvdv ji, Devaki ji and Aup ji.

Fantastic replies! Very interesting reply stvdv ji, while Devaki ji had given nice suggestions for a partial fast. And as usual, Aup ji's reply was funny and thoughful. I am all in awe for Narendra Modiji for his fast.

(I tried to avoid going out a lot yesterday because I feared more activity would aggravate hunger.)

Thank you to all who replied!

My fast went well eventually. I think it is because of the pizza I had the day before dinner, never really felt too hungry... not even to the point of feeling uncomfortable. But then evening, I had fruits, milk and juice.

I have vowed to continue this Ekadashi fast going forth always. Your tips and insights would be very helpful to me.

Kind regards.