In general, people will question all these regulations. They will not understand. They understand that fasting is restraining yourself from some food for one day, one week or one month. Or you eat a lot in the morning, not eating during the day and then you eat again during the night. That is why fasting is not the correct translation of Upavāsa. Fasting is an important part of Upavāsa. When you discipline yourself with food and drink, it will help your mind to become calm, improve concentration, relax you and bring you closer to God. That is why fasting is needed. When you fast, your mind and body will be calmer. It will not become lazy, but calm and fresh. Your mind will be stable and peaceful, and your soul will be stable.
When you remember God, do meditation and pray, your mind and body will give attention to what you are doing; prayer, meditation, etc. That is the importance of fasting. When you fast, many bad thoughts will go away. Your body will get rid of all diseases. A great number of bacteria will die. When you fast, fast according to the proper rules and regulations. The real fasting will be from morning till the next morning. That is only if you want to do real fasting for one day.
In Bali we celebrate Nyepi on the 7th of March. We fast from morning till the next morning. We eat and drink nothing. We don’t even swallow our own saliva. That is only if you do the strict fasting. By doing Upavāsa, it will help your body to become healthier and stronger.
Nowadays, people pay most attention to their bodies. A little attention goes to the mind and barely any attention for the benefit of the soul. Fasting is mostly done for the benefit of the body. It’s not bad to fast for the body. It’s actually very good. Everybody should do that. However, Upavāsa does not mean to fast for the body.
When you go on a diet, your face will look good, you will look more handsome, more beautiful, you will be healthier, you will be stronger, and your soul will be purified. You will lose weight and fat, which is the cause of many diseases. So, fasting for the body is not bad. Everybody should follow this. We just need to understand that it is not only for the body.
Fasting is for the soul and to bring ourselves closer to God. In this modern life, everybody is busy. You have no time. Even no time for organising your food. Actually, there is time, you just need to be disciplined and to organise your food well. People will ignore this and take refuge in claiming that they are too busy. We can organise our food. Even when we are the busiest people.
We give no attention to organising our food well. When you manage your food well, according to the benefit of your health, according to the peace of mind or spirituality, your mind will be relaxed, calm, steady and you can do your daily work or work in the office better.
You will not become tense so easily. That is also the benefit of Upavāsa. Nowadays, you see children eating very unhealthy food and drinks everywhere in the world. The taste of that unhealthy food is good. I like the taste, you like it as well. Once in a while, it’s okay to eat that. However, if you eat that type of food daily, and feeding it to your children, you are increasing the chance of having to take them to the hospital later on. Lots of children got operated in their stomachs because tumors were found.
Fasting will help people avoid many diseases. It is a must for everybody to fast even if you are not doing it for spiritual purposes. It is important to fast when it comes to the body. Also, many foods cause you to not only become ill but also become weak. Your body will become weak. Even though you are eating and drinking you will still become weak when you eat unhealthy food. You will be affected mentally and become spiritually blocked. Certain food and drinks will block you from spirituality. You will not be able to understand the importance of spirituality due to certain foods entering your body. So be careful with certain food and drinks.
Upavāsa does not only consist of food and drinks. That is only the base of Upavāsa. Good food and good drinks will help you do your spiritual practice in a more focused way. After food, cleanliness, and purity follow. That is the base of spirituality.
If you are a special soul, or Nitya-siddha (liberated soul), there is no need to take a bath wearing clean clothes, etc. The external environment will not disturb you. You are a good and perfect soul. There is no need to practice meditation. The soul is and has always been spiritually aware and awake from the very beginning. Materialistic things cannot touch your soul.
