Fasting

[asketikos]

Hi everyone

so . . . the topic of fasting (this seems like an appropriate forum)

how many of you fast?
what are your fasts like?
i typically fast each friday through monday

i'm interested in hearing what others do, if they include hot waters or teas, or certain mixtures . . . if they pray or meditate during the fast . . . how they deal socially with fasting, such as on outings w/ friends, or at social functions -- how do you explain the awkward -- "um, yeah i'm fasting"?

 

[Breathe]

For spiritual or mundane reasons?

I don't fast to reach God or anything. I don't think that is necessary, in fact, I think it makes it more difficult to get to God by doing such things.

However, I will fast. Rarely, but I need to start doing it more. Usually only for 24 hours as I don't like to go to extreme lengths. I'd like to try one a bit longer though. I treat fasting like I would a normal day, minus eating. I don't want fasting to become a main beacon of my spirituality after all.

I'll drink herbal teas, water and sometimes juice. No point in dehydrating myself.

Explain? Never had to. Wouldn't, either. Just say I am, so I can't. If they asked why, I'd say because I wanted to. I'm kind of anti-social though.

 

[asketikos]

Odion,

That's interesting. So if you don't fast for spiritual reasons, may I ask why you fast then? Have you ever fasted for more than 24 hours?

Can you tell me why you think it is more difficult to get to God by fasting? Because, personally, when I fast I feel closer to God.

 

[xkatz]

I'll drink herbal teas, water and sometimes juice.

As I suspected...

 

[Rainbow Mage]

To a Buddhist fasting can make a good discipline, but it should never be taken to the extreme to the point you suffer because of it. I fast on occasion, usually by skipping a few meals.

 

[asketikos]

To a Buddhist fasting can make a good discipline, but it should never be taken to the extreme to the point you suffer because of it. I fast on occasion, usually by skipping a few meals.

hi

can you eleborate? what do you mean by a few meals, like a full day, or just a few meals per day . . .

i agree w/ the discipline remark

when i first started fasting i had all of these strange hungers and cravings, and had to work hard on avoiding them and directing my attention on other matters, usually spiritual, when in that state, but now its a lot easier as i am used to it

as a Buddhist, aren't you always fasting kind of, because you don't eat meat and fish? or do you?

 

[asketikos]

For spiritual or mundane reasons?

I don't fast to reach God or anything. I don't think that is necessary, in fact, I think it makes it more difficult to get to God by doing such things.

However, I will fast. Rarely, but I need to start doing it more. Usually only for 24 hours as I don't like to go to extreme lengths. I'd like to try one a bit longer though. I treat fasting like I would a normal day, minus eating. I don't want fasting to become a main beacon of my spirituality after all.

I'll drink herbal teas, water and sometimes juice. No point in dehydrating myself.

Explain? Never had to. Wouldn't, either. Just say I am, so I can't. If they asked why, I'd say because I wanted to. I'm kind of anti-social though.

for spiritual reasons

 

[Rainbow Mage]

hi

can you eleborate? what do you mean by a few meals, like a full day, or just a few meals per day . . .

It varies by how I feel

i agree w/ the discipline remark

when i first started fasting i had all of these strange hungers and cravings, and had to work hard on avoiding them and directing my attention on other matters, usually spiritual, when in that state, but now its a lot easier as i am used to it

as a Buddhist, aren't you always fasting kind of, because you don't eat meat and fish? or do you?

A Buddhist can eat meat and fish, but they can't slaughter it themselves or attend a slaughter. This is because a Buddhist cannot be personally responsible for killing any living thing. The Buddha himself ate meat. However, I daresay in the ideal Buddhist world everyone would be vegetarian, because then no one would be slaughtering any meat.

 

[Breathe]

As I suspected...

Quiet you! Insult my herbal teas and I will.. um.. refuse to share them with you! :149:

That's interesting. So if you don't fast for spiritual reasons, may I ask why you fast then? Have you ever fasted for more than 24 hours?

I can't quite remember, but I think I have for 48 hours or so.

I fast for mundane reasons: not to become greedy, to clear my head, medical reasons if necessary, things like that - but to get close to God? I don't need to do such things to get close to God. To do that is to create a duality in my opinion, as if God is not already close to me.

Can you tell me why you think it is more difficult to get to God by fasting? Because, personally, when I fast I feel closer to God.

It can be hard to reach God on an empty stomach. When people are starving, they focus more on their bellies than the Supreme. It can also lead to severe denial of the body which is unproductive. My opinion only, though.

 

[TJ73]

I fast during Ramadan. From sunrise to sunset, nothing at all by mouth, not even water. I need to do it more often as well. It is cleansing to the body and I assume why Muslims are required to do so and encouraged to do it more. I am impressed by your ability to do so, asketikos, so often. May be I'll remain inspired.

 

[xkatz]

Quiet you! Insult my herbal teas and I will.. um.. refuse to share them with you! :149:

I don't even drink tea, fool.

 

[Breathe]

Them's fightin' words!

 

[asketikos]

everyone has their own specific fasting regime
typically drinking isn't considered fasting if you're doing it for less then 24 hours

but when i began my fasts i would sip on a glass of warm water throughout the day to keep hydrated

when i went on to 48 hours i didn't drink the first 24 and then sipped the warm glass between 24-48

but when i started my 3 day fasts over a year ago i just had one warm glass early sunday morning and another before i went to sleep sunday evening.

i think a lot of it is training your body, and being slow with it at first
because at first it will be very hungry

but you also dont' want to faint from dehydration! lol.

 

[asketikos]

I don't even drink tea, fool.

oh its not a contest
jk

but can you tell me your fasting regime, style
do you do it for spirituality or as odion says mundane reasons?

do you it for long periods or short ones?

 

[xkatz]

oh its not a contest
jk

I only fast on Yom Kippur really (which is only for about a day). It's for religious reasons of course.

 

[Gaura Priya]

I practice Baha'i fasting... which begins on the month of 'Ala / Loftiness, March 2nd, all the way to the month of Baha / Splendour, which is Naw-Ruz (March 21st). So that is a total fast of about nineteen days.

During this time, I do not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset, and I recite more Baha'i prayers (du'a) during this time. All fasting is done for nearness unto God.

Prayer for fasting:

Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by this Revelation whereby darkness hath been turned into light, through which the Frequented Fane hath been built, and the Written Tablet revealed, and the Outspread Roll uncovered, to send down upon me and upon them who are in my company that which will enable us to soar into the heavens of Thy transcendent glory, and will wash us from the stain of such doubts as have hindered the suspicious from entering into the tabernacle of Thy unity.

I am the one, O my Lord, who hath held fast the cord of Thy loving-kindness, and clung to the hem of Thy mercy and favors. Do Thou ordain for me and for my loved ones the good of this world and of the world to come. Supply them, then, with the Hidden Gift Thou didst ordain for the choicest among Thy creatures.

These are, O my Lord, the days in which Thou hast bidden Thy servants to observe the Fast. Blessed is he that observeth the Fast wholly for Thy sake and with absolute detachment from all things except Thee. Assist me and assist them, O my Lord, to obey Thee and to keep Thy precepts. Thou, verily, hast power to do what Thou choosest.

There is no God but Thee, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. All praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds.

-- Baha'u'llah

 

[asketikos]

I practice Baha'i fasting... which begins on the month of 'Ala / Loftiness, March 2nd, all the way to the month of Baha / Splendour, which is Naw-Ruz (March 21st). So that is a total fast of about nineteen days.

During this time, I do not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset, and I recite more Baha'i prayers (du'a) during this time. All fasting is done for nearness unto God.

Prayer for fasting:

This is interesting . . .

but do you eat and drink between sunset and sunrise? or do you completely not eat or drink for 19 days?

 

[MathewJames]

so . . . the topic of fasting (this seems like an appropriate forum)

how many of you fast?
what are your fasts like?
i typically fast each friday through monday

I have tried to fast but have never made it 24 hours. Maybe made 12 hours. It sounds like you have the disipline for it. I think the concept of 'learning to do without' is what it teaches. There are many things we can learn from suffering. I do not mean that fasting is suffering, but it is for me and I am not good with it. Apparantly I need to fast more. But as it relates to bringing one closer to a creator, all suffering brings us closer to the Truth.

 

[Gaura Priya]

This is interesting . . .

but do you eat and drink between sunset and sunrise? or do you completely not eat or drink for 19 days?

Yup, we can eat in the evening after sunset and the morning before the sunrise. The whole point of fasting is not how much we abstain from, but how much more are we dedicating to God.


I used to be a Vaishnava Hindu, and one would fast twice a month (every eleven days), called Ekadashi. On Ekadashi, one would fast from grains or beans on that day, and cook simply, and dedicate themselves to more prayer, chanting the names of Lord Vishnu, and being more focused on that day.

 

[asketikos]

ut as it relates to bringing one closer to a creator, all suffering brings us closer to the Truth.

That's a beautiful quote.