Fasting

[Guest guest]

Manish Tandon wrote:

 

>

>

> like I said before, there cannot be any cleansing benefit from a no-water

fast.

> The fact that some of us are not able to do a full fast on every ekAdashi and

> hence do a water/juice fast cannot be used as a shield in this regard.

> Ultimately

> we are all supposed to do a complete fast on ekAdashi-s and that does not

> help in cleansing because there is nothing to " flush " the system.

>

 

Manish,

We seem to be splitting hairs here. It is not correct to say that

complete fast without water will not help in cleansing. Toxins are still

expelled. Water makes it easier to " flush " the toxins. Toxins are expelled in

either case in different

degrees of ease.

 

>

>

>

> As far as the reactions like headace and nausea when fasting, they have more

> to do with the kind of lifestyle one has and not so much the toxins in the

body.

> If you lead an active (sporting) life, fasting will always be difficult.

 

These appear to be generalizations without any formal study . People are

different. Dr. Bragg and others have proved that majority of the people with

practice, can do fasting and do their daily activities. You may not be able to

jog 3-4 miles

on ekAdashi day while doing the fasting, but that is not the point of ekAdashi

day. Average person can do regular activities like going to work and doing

other normal activities.

 

While a 4-5 day complete fast is possible with practice, a 30 day complete

 

> fast is not. It is a miracle. An average person will die within 8-10 days of a

> complete fast, someone experienced in fasting will survive 10-15 days

> but not while doing day to day activities. Mukund told me it is his sister who

> did this fast and I have no doubts about it but at the same time I am not

> willing

> to accept that she accomplished it without the special grace of Sri Hari and

> Vayu. I doubt if that is the case for Dr. Bragg.

 

I am sure God's grace will be there for all spiritual people who undertake

special austerities. People in other cultures do similar fasts. There are

records of Christian monks doing 40 day fasts once a year. These feats are very

very difficult,

but not miracles.

 

I compare this (doing 30 day fasting) to climbing Everest without oxygen.

Both are very difficult things. You can get into trouble if you are not

prepared. Not many people can do this. It requires lot of courage, will power

and practice. But

they are not miracles.

 

Summarizing, your position is that ekAdashi should only be done with

spiritual things in mind. There are little or no health benefits with ekAdashi.

It seems to cause more health problems than benefits.

 

I agree with your first statement that ekAdashi should be done with

spiritual goals in mind. I say that there are substantial health benefits of

ekAdashi that have been documented in many places. I agree that there will be

initial discomforts

when one starts doing ekAdashi. According to the literature, this is because

most of us have bad habits in eating. Most of us abuse our digestive system by

eating too much, eating improper foods , eating at wrong times etc. When the

digestive

system gets a rest on ekAdashi day lot of the toxins come out.

 

I suggest that people read literatue on their own and experiment on their

own and come to judgement about this.

 

There are a number of people who do complete fasting on this list. I

request them to post their experiences of how they got started doing the

ekadashi, how long did take for them to transition to complete fasting, what

were the initial

discomforts and do they see any benefits. YOU WILL INSPIRE others to do the

fasting by sharing your experiences. Even if we one person by these discussions,

it is worth it.

 

visNureva vijignasaH ..

 

 

 

>

> regards,

> Manish

 

Regards,

Vasu

 

 

 

--

=================================

Vasu Murthy

Bell Atlantic Global Networks

web page: members.xoom.com/vmurthy

vmurthy

==================================

[Guest guest]

Vasu Murthy wrote:

>

> Manish,

> We seem to be splitting hairs here. It is not correct to say that

complete fast

> without water will not help in cleansing. Toxins are still expelled. Water

makes it

> easier to " flush " the toxins. Toxins are expelled in either case in different

> degrees of ease.

 

Vasu,

 

I covered that in response to Raghavendra Rachuri. Yes toxins will be

expelled in both cases but without a clear medium like water, you may

not survive a full-fledged cleaning. Also, there will be very little cleaning,

if any, with a one-day nirjala fast unless you drink 1/2 gallon of water

before going to bed on dashami.

 

> These appear to be generalizations without any formal study . People are

> different. Dr. Bragg and others have proved that majority of the people with

> practice, can do fasting and do their daily activities. You may not be able

to

> jog 3-4 miles on ekAdashi day while doing the fasting, but that is not the

point

> of ekAdashi day. Average person can do regular activities like going to work

> and doing other normal activities.

 

First of all, " average person " and " normal activities " are too abstract terms.

Perhaps what you have in mind is an Indian married person's lifestyle

which involves very little in the name of sports. I would rather not express

my opinion on that here as it is not relevant to this forum. Doing ekAdashi

properly means having just one meal on dashami and dwAdashi. That will

disrupt your " normal activities " (normal according to my definition) for a

good 3-4 days twice a month.

 

> Summarizing, your position is that ekAdashi should only be done with

spiritual

> things in mind. There are little or no health benefits with ekAdashi. It seems

to

> cause more health problems than benefits.

 

The first 2 statements are all I am trying to say. The 3rd statement is not.

It does cause a disruption in " normal activities " tho.

 

regards,

Manish