Fast and Abstinence: Being in Touch with the Reality

The concept, ‘fast’ is common for every culture, religion and tradition. Even the science does approve ‘fasting’ as a diet for a healthy living. Ordinarily, ‘fast’ means “abstaining from food.” Both the Germanic root word “fæste” and the Old English “fæst” means “to hold firmly,” or “to have firm control of oneself.” The word used in Sanskrit language is “upavāsa,” which is the combination of two words: upa and vāsa. ‘Upa’ means near, the proximity and ‘vāsa’ means dwelling, staying or abode. Thus, the word upavāsa or fast means, firmly staying near or firmly dwelling near.

Phenomenologically speaking, one is asked to stay near when one has gone far away or at least there is a tendency to go away from the desired place. In a religious sense, it is staying in the divine abode. During the time of fast one needs to be rooted firmly in the presence of the Lord or firmly follow the precepts of the Lord in letter and spirit. It may be either one is far away from the Lord or the person has a repeated tendency to go away from the Lord. To stay near the Lord, one needs to be worthy of it. Worthiness comes from one’s purification. The purity comes by abstaining that which does not suit the very being of the person or from the impure life lived. This means, it is not only abstaining from food, but also from those things which malign the very divine nature of the creation, in particular the human being.

Why do we fast? The traditional religious answer is to keep the ‘cosmic harmony’ (ṛta)–of self and nature. Every self is a miniature cosmos (microcosm) and it has a deeper relationship with the macrocosm. The well-being of the individual is the well-being of the cosmos, that is, the harmony of the self is the harmony of the other. Therefore, to keep the macrocosm in order, the harmony of microcosm is crucial. The cosmic degradation that we see today is due to the unhealthy behaviour of certain individuals and structures. It is not possible to undo all the harm that is caused so far, but a further danger can be averted or lessened by performing a certain a divine ritual called the ‘upavāsa.’ The same thing applies to a religious life also.  

In the Bhagavad Gītā Krishna tells Arjuna, “do not work looking for the fruit.” Fruit will certainly follow depending on the work performed (chapter 2, verse 47), rather work for the ‘lokasaṁgraha’ (chapter 3, verse 20, 25), the welfare of the worlds. The word ‘worlds’ refers to both transcendental and material world. In other words, it is the welfare of whole cosmos. Fast should be performed for the well-being (‘kalyāṇakāri’). During the Indian freedom struggle, Gandhiji performed several ‘upavāsa satyāgrahas’ for the welfare of the country. This kind of fast is an inspiration from the Gītā. Fast, thus becomes ‘kalyāṇakāri.’ Religiously, fast can be ‘kalyāṇakāri’ provided it is done in the spirit of ‘upavāsa.’ Then it becomes an emancipatory act or a spiritual act.

Pope Francis speaks about the things one need to fast, and inculcate the certain practices that makes someone ‘humane.’ In his words:

Fast from HURTING WORDS and say KIND WORDS

Fast from SADNESS and be filled with GRATITUDE

Fast from ANGER and be filled with PATIENCE

Fast from PESSIMISM and be filled with HOPE

Fast from worries and TRUST IN GOD

Fast from COMPLAINTS and contemplate SIMPLICITY

Fast from PRESSURES and PRAYERFUL

Fast from BITTERNESS and fill you heart with JOY

Fast from SELFISHNESS and be COMPASSIONATE to others

Fast from GRUDGES and be RECONCILED

Fast from WORDS and be SILENT so that you can listen.

Thus, fast, true to its etymology, is not just restricting a kind of food intake, but practicing more of human values that create a just and humane world to live by. Of course, the prime aspect of fast is giving up of food and luxuries. But it is not just giving up of these things for a day or certain duration, but what has been saved by doing such noble task is to be dispensed for the welfare–the good of the last, the least and the lost. If not, any amount of fast and abstinence will not bring ‘kalyāṇa.’

For the Christians, the official Church instructs fasting on two special occasions: the ‘Ash Wednesday’ and the ‘Good Friday’ (the Code of Canon Law, nos. 1249-1253). At the same time, the Church also recommends fast on all the Fridays of the Lent and even other ordinary Fridays, but it is not obligatory. However, the Church strongly recommends abstinence from several luxurious and pompous practices during the Lenten time. The money thus saved is collected and used against the world hunger and disease. Several individuals too perform acts of charity according to their capacity. Islam religion also performs such acts with utmost devotion and care during their period of fast. 

Fasting is not done for the sake of doing an act of charity. The act of charity is the reparation for the harm done due to one’s sins of commission and omission. Sin of commission is the sin incurred by the willfully committed wrong act. On the other hand, sin of omission is the sin incurred by not doing what is supposed to have done. In this way, one has gone away from the divine or willfully has chosen not to be part of the cosmic unity. To exist in the world, there is no other way but to exist in relationship and that too necessarily with nature, God and human beings. One is doing a greater harm if does not take care of the other.  Not taking care is not assisting in the welfare. This amounts to the sin of omission. We have been receiving a lot of love and care from the world, nature, God and humans. In fact, we are indebted to them. Therefore, the reparation is must for every individual, be it religious or non-religious.

What makes us to realize this truth during the fast? As it is said in the beginning, fast is ‘staying near the Lord’. Just as a drowning person experiences the need for breathing air, so too, the person in fast experiences the hunger. Only when one is deprived of the luxury one is living with experiences the contrary. The person who has not experienced the poverty can never understand the plight of the poor. Most of the welfare schemes go unaddressed due to this fact. Therefore, such people need a humbling experience which fasting can provide.

There is ample time to reflect, meditate and pray during the Lenten season. Bible says, “When you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). It is also said, “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others” (Matthew 6:16). Therefore, prayer and fasting–as two sides of a coin–is to be done with utmost devotion and love. The fast finds its conclusion at the performance of a noble deed. Therefore, upav­āsa can be called a ‘bhakti-karma-samuccaya’–a combination of devotion and action in equal proportion leading to the liberation.

Fasting can be much more than associating with food, evil thoughts and bad habits. It can be saying a categorical “NO” to injustice, and a categorical “YES” to an act of selfless service to the needy. An act of omission is more dangerous than an act of commission. Often we keep quiet or do not act or speak when injustice is done to an innocent person. By not raising voice against the injustice, we are actually committing injustice. We come across several occasions to ‘fast’ against injustice and ‘celebrate’ justice by means of our ‘Yes’ to justice. This is nothing but staying near (upa-vāsa) to the ‘truth.’

While performing the self-evaluation, one will find the areas and causes of one’s own alienation from the Reality. The alienation is due to the pollution, the pollution from within and without. The within pollution is due to our lust, anger, envy, jealousy, indifference, pride, greed, gluttony, wrath and sloth. These result in our external alienation from the reality causing environmental degradation, destruction of the forest and minerals, air pollution, radiation pollution, etc. Greed for ‘having more’ instead of ‘being more’ caring is destroying the cosmic unity. Anger and pride are resulting in war-like situations in the society. At times our culture and education instead of uniting the people is becoming the cause of divisions. We find humanity is at stake. Therefore, we need to reconcile both with humanity and world. Only a heart-felt reconciliation can heal the opened wounds and build a livable world. This is the upavāsa ritual that the entire humanity must perform time and again. Therefore, to be worthy, the devotee must reconcile those unbecoming areas of life and begin anew with renewed vigour, as Jesus said, “leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24).

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta