Fasting: Starving the Mind of Thoughts

Sri Annamalai Swami

Q: Is fasting beneficial? I have heard that thoughts diminish when one restricts one's food.

AS: This may happen, but one should be careful not to take it to extreme lengths. Bhagavan said that sattvic food in moderate quantities was the best external aid for sadhaks. Starving oneself will not produce long term benefits. Bhagavan also advised that we should starve the mind of thoughts rather than starve the body of food. We need to keep the body in good health in order to do good sadhana. Depriving it of food and making it weak is not a step in the right direction.

One of Bhagavan's devotees, Lakshman Sharma, was a great advocate of naturopathy and fasting. He was a good devotee who wrote an excellent commentary on Ulladu Narpadu. Bhagavan gave him many lessons on this work, and Lakshman Sharma's commentary incorporated the explanations that Bhagavan himself gave.

During the 1940s a boy of about twenty years of age came from London. A bomb blast had affected his hearing. Lakshman Sharma wanted to treat him through naturopathy. Usually this involves going on a fast, although there are several other aspects to the treatment as well. The boy was put on a fast of several days, but unfortunately in this case there was no improvement. The fasting treatment was extended but the boy became weaker and weaker. Eventually, he became so weak, he died. Right until the end the boy was expecting that this treatment would cure him, but in the end it brought his death.

These treatments have to be taken carefully. There are many people who will not be benefited by them.

Q: So we should make sure that we eat regularly?

AS: We should not force ourselves to eat if we are not hungry. Eat food when you feel hungry. Food always tastes better if you have an appetite for it. Eating food at times directed by others is far less satisfactory. If we take food at times when we have an appetite for it, we won't get sick. This is not just my advice. Avvayar, a great Tamil saint, gave this advice in one of her poems, and Thiruvalluvar, another of our great poet-saints, wrote, "If you take your food only when your are hungry, you won't get sick. If you live like this, you will never have to go out in search of medicine."