Scrollmate

It’s October month – the festive season in India. One such beautiful day, I was fasting until the moon rises. Four days after, there was another fasting festival. Children start noticing family culture, rituals, and traditions when they grow up. That day, my inquisitive 9-year-old son raised a question to me, “Mumma, why do you need to celebrate festivals by keeping yourself hungry for an almost entire day?” I understood his emotions for me. I felt warm to see the amount of care he was showing for me. Moreover, I was impressed that he was curious to understand the logic behind the fasting festivals.

Let me explain a little more about what fasting means. Fasting in Hindi means, “Upvaas”, which is made from Up + Vaas. That means residing near to someone. Since we are talking about spirituality here, it means residing near to the supreme soul. I believe, on fasting days, the general idea is to keep your focus away from food, so that you could get more time to focus on the supreme soul.

It has become our tradition to offer some offerings or worship, hoping to achieve something in return from God on fasting festivals (also in other festivals). This is where I don’t agree. It is okay to offer God out of your pure heart, without expecting anything in return. There should not be any conditions associated with those offerings or worship! We should be thankful for what we have received from Him.

To me, fasting on festive days doesn’t mean keeping yourself hungry or thirsty. It means increasing your inner strength. It means increasing your self-awareness and consciousness. In this world, we get too attached to things. Let me make it clearer. In our daily life, we get ourselves attached to some things consciously or subconsciously. Sooner, they become part of our daily habits. For example, few have a habit of eating ice cream daily before going to bed. Few cannot live without eating daily junk food. Few cannot live without screaming at people while driving. Few cannot live without watching television or having too much screen time. Few cannot stop thinking negatively about themselves. Few cannot live without playing video games or whatnot. We all want to eliminate that one habit from our life, but that is deeply rooted in our system. We often say, “We try hard but cannot!” But my friends, there is nothing, we cannot do!  This is what fasting means for me. Let me explain to you how.

Fasting means, leaving one such habit for that day, which your mind always used to say, “I cannot …”, not necessarily food or water. Fasting day can be the initial day, the very first day to start the “I can…”.

Thanks

Mridulika