Fasting and Prayer

[Gauracandra]

I was reading an article on a Christian site about fasting and prayer. I don't think many Christians observe fasts (none that I've known do it on any regular basis) but this denomination does.

 

Anyways the writer made an interesting point that fasting and prayer go hand and hand. If all you do is fast, then you only go hungry. The fasting helps to lessen the hold on the material body. But lessening the hold on matter doesn't mean we strengthen our hold on spirit.

 

So in this person's view fasting is only beneficial if it is accompanied by prayer or a focus on spiritual matters. Personally I have always found that I get the best results from chanting during those times I fast.

 

Personalities like Jesus for instance fasted for 40 days with prayer. Afterwards he was tempted by the devil. But even though physically weakened, the fasting and prayer strengthened his spirit and he was able to turn away from all the riches of the world offered.

 

I'd be curious about any thoughts regarding fasting and prayer.

 

Gauracandra

[JRdd]

I got a grand realisation about fasting when I was about twenty, that played a significant part in disenchanting me with various unfocused (as in lacking higher taste) processes and hankering to find Krsna.

 

Inspired by The Essene Gospel of Peace, I went on a determinded fast that went on for nine days. I hardly even drank water, at all, and this was in the middle of the summer, living outside in the Santa Cruz mountains. An older man (asbout thirty--ancient!) man who looked exactly like Jesus came to the mountain a few days into this fast, and enchanted me with all the spiritual things he had to say during those days, acting as a kind of guru during the remainder of the fast. I mean to me he was Jesus, and everyone else seemed to respect him too. One thing he said to me, as I decided to end the fast, because nothing happened, was that fasting in itself wouldn't bring one enlightenment. I was saddened by this frank statement, which I was also realising experientially. I felt that I had wasted nine days. I didn't know how to find whatever it was I was looking for.

 

I found out what I was looking for when I met Srila Prabhupada's books. And then I remembered too what my questions were.

 

[i wonder if this man ever took up chanting Hare Krsna, even joined an ashrama or something. HiIs name was John Anderson and he was from Texas, Houston I think, but I lost his address shortly after he left on the last day of my fast. Does anyone know this man? Has his name changed? Just curious.]

 

JR

[atma]

That's why ekadasis are so important in our line. At least twice a month we have the chance to do some austerity through fasting or at least not eat grains and chant more in that day. We try to focus more in spiritual matters that day.

[talasiga]

Drowning Hunger

 

It is dangerous

To pray and fast on water

Unless one is prepared

To float with the Current.....

 

 

 

 

------------------

talasiga@hotmail.com

[Gauracandra]

Yes, ekadasi is important. Unfortunately I usually wake up, eat a bowl of cereal and THEN remember its ekadasi I suck.... Anyways theres always Bhima Ekadasi to help me through.

 

Gauracandra

[valaya]

Originally posted by talasiga:

Drowning Hunger

 

It is dangerous

To pray and fast on water

Unless one is prepared

To float with the Current.....

 

 

Careful though, you wouldn't want to get flushed! RR

 

 

[dasanudas]

Originally posted by Gauracandra:

I was reading an article on a Christian site about fasting and prayer. I don't think many Christians observe fasts (none that I've known do it on any regular basis) but this denomination does.

 

Anyways the writer made an interesting point that fasting and prayer go hand and hand. If all you do is fast, then you only go hungry. The fasting helps to lessen the hold on the material body. But lessening the hold on matter doesn't mean we strengthen our hold on spirit.

 

So in this person's view fasting is only beneficial if it is accompanied by prayer or a focus on spiritual matters. Personally I have always found that I get the best results from chanting during those times I fast.

 

Personalities like Jesus for instance fasted for 40 days with prayer. Afterwards he was tempted by the devil. But even though physically weakened, the fasting and prayer strengthened his spirit and he was able to turn away from all the riches of the world offered.

 

I'd be curious about any thoughts regarding fasting and prayer.

 

Gauracandra

Another very relevant thread here Prabhu,

It's true fasting for spiritual sacrifice and purification can be very beneficial.

And it states somewhere in the Bible I think, that the only way to atone for sin is thru these two activities. Unfortunately many use fasting merely for material gain, the extreme of this we find in Hiranya kasipu or was it the other one. Anyway obviously we find both Jesus and Buddha must have used it for the right end as their teachings have ended up influencing a vast percentage of the world population.

I too like JRdd got inspired by the essene Gospel of Peace and did many regular cleansing fasts and eliminated some rather abominable stow-aways in this 'bag a' pus' to coin Maitreyas apt description of the body. Eliminating some truly horrid parasites including tape worms etc.which most people are host to. The Gospel of Peace claims Jesus used this process to heal people who have extremely misused their bodies. I can see this is possible and many years back I have helped many turn their health around, guiding them thru supervised fasting, enemas, American Indian sweat lodges, meditation and chanting in a wholistic approach to healing.

I always aimed at longer fasts, but my will usually caved in around 10 to 14 days. But about 7 days will see some positive results if exercised correctly. But actually a healthy well balanced body need only take a vacation from the incessant digestive labor periodically, say every 6 months.

A natural setting is more conducive to fasting but not essential.

I had a friend, arather extreme personality whofasted for 40 days once, and I admit that this made him even more extreme, And coincidentally as JRdd mentioned, this person also looked like the image of Jesus as we know it (always wondered how the artists knew what he looked like)unfortunately he went so far out no one could understand him anymore, he had many visions, spoke in tongues and haiku like parables not unlike Jesus non-stop,It became a fine line between spiritual madness and mental insanity. As I understand it, this can be very dangerous. I lost interest in him when he took his best friends wife and became obsessed with sex, from one extreme to the other. But he left a very deep impression on me for years.

I just recently saw a show on protesters in Turkey doing prolonged fasting to death, at a certain point after 7 weeks they start losing it up top, some sooner than others. Then the body starts eating itself. This may well be why only ekadasi fasting is recomended in our line, which is about all I can handle these days anyway.

Have to admit at first when I heard Srila Prabhupad state you can chant, dance and feast your way back to God I was a little sceptical, but over the last 30 years I'm learning to see the wisdom of his advice, even tho I may be a slow starter.

While we're around the subject I think Siddhaswarupananda Prabhu in his earlier Yoga days, before he came to KC, did a very prolonged fast, I heard over forty days but I'm not sure, maybe someone close to him can elaborate. Enough of this fasting talk, time to honor prasad.

 

[Gauracandra]

I think you have to be real careful with the fasting. The longest I've ever fasted was for 3 days. One devotee I know went through a major fast. But he consumed one thing. Basically it was maple syrup with lemon juice and water (I think, if I remember correctly). He said that combination helped keep the energy level up, but still purge the system, without it getting overloaded with food.

 

Any recommendations on how to approach a safe, sensible fast? I'm not about to go 40 days without my pasta

 

Gauracandra

[Guest guest]

Grapes. Organic if you can find/afford them.

 

Called the Grape Cure.

[dasanudas]

Grapejuice is great, keeps energy up, but if your bod is getting on don't O D on 'em, they are radical. Not too sweet and not too sour, watered to your hearts tolerance If you feel heartache add more water too much sugar can really spin the older bodies and for sure watch the chemicals on them or you may do more damage then good.

[talasiga]

Originally posted by Gauracandra:

Any recommendations on how to approach a safe, sensible fast?

 

I would recommend reading

"Rational Fasting" by Professor Arnold Ehret

Ehret Literature Publishing Co.

Beaumont, California 92223.

 

(There is a website under that name also)

 

.

.

.

flush talasiga@hotmail.com

 

 

[JRdd]

I agree about grape fasting. I did it for eight days until the smell of maha brought me out of it. Before that, everything started smelling like mashed potatoes, my heater, the cars, everything almost. Anyway I got so much energy while on that fast. Yes make sure to get organic. In lieu of organic, soak and wash the grapes really really well. Have plenty on hand, for you can't eat too many (you CAN drink too much juice--but the whole fruits are another matter). Make sure to eat skins and also on some of them eat some seeds. Ths is important to help keep the machinery working right. (sorry cant remembr the techs of this) A thirty day fast is said to cure ANYthing--even cancer--as long as it's not too late. This is the easiest kind of fast I ever did. The hardest part was all the grape puns we committed. Isn't this grape? I am so grapeful! This fast is graping on my nerves. Etc etc.

[JRdd]

Originally posted by talasiga:

I would recommend reading

"Rational Fasting" by Professor Arnold Ehret

Ehret Literature Publishing Co.

Beaumont, California 92223.

 

(There is a website under that name also)

 

Funnny title for a book by Ehret. Guess I took it to his extremes with the fruitarian thing. One of the side effects or so-called bonuses: women stop bleeding every month. Doesn't sound too sound to me. But I did it for a while just before I joined the feasting religion.

 

(edited for editing errors)

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by JRdd (edited 09-20-2001).]

[mahak]

Me. Im a doughnutatarian, but I personally think honey nut cheerios are the king of all foodstuffs.

 

JRdd, I knew Santa Cruz Jesus too, in the park above Steamer Lane, he lived in Bonnie Dhune. His eyes were so clear, his aura was soo vibrant, but he died when he was twenty nine, hung himself in front of the redondo beach police station.

 

Jogger Jim Fixx died running, Adele Davis had a heart attack just when her "Eat to Live" book made NY Times bestseller. Ewell Gibbons died when he ate a jerusalem Artichoke that turned out to be belladonna (pure Srtychnine).

 

Ekadasi is not so much about fasting as it is meditation, and other foods are heartily taken. Other fast days are compensated by the great feasts that follow (Gaura Purnima, Janmastami, Vyasa Puja), there is no physical benefit from such fasts because devotees naturally stuff themselves silly on such so-called fast days.

 

Im going on another doughnut fast.

 

mad mahax

 

PS try blueberries in honey nut cheerios, drowned in half and half. The ultimate preparation for their lordships.

[talasiga]

Originally posted by JRdd:

Funnny title for a book by Ehret. Guess I took it to his extremes with the fruitarian thing.

 

The principles for fasting practice

set out in Ehret's treatise (early 1900's)

are not extremist at all.

Whatever one may think of his

other opinions and claims

the fasting procedure advice is sound

tried and tested

and continues to serve as a classic reference

for many leading health practitioners

to the present time.

"The Grape Cure" treatise by Johanna Brandt

appears consistent with the principles

set out by Professor Ehret.

 

Prof Ehret presents a rationale and

1. advises how to prepare for the fast.

2. advises how to break a fast and the days following a fast.

3. does not predetermine the length of a fast - this depends on the condition of the person and the experience during the fast in each individual case.

4. does not support the "fanatic" long water fast.

5. advises on appropriateness of nutrition during fasts (whether water, fruit juice, vegetable juice) depending on the condition and the experience of the patient in each individual case.

 

I think it is best read

in conjunction with his book

"Mucusless Diet Healing System".

 

 

 

[JRdd]

Yes that mucusless one is the one I read. And actually I do have a lot of respect for Ehret. I was young, you know. So much wiser now.... But I'm with Mahak, though mostly I just meditate on doughnuts, wish I could be that focused on Krsna. I myself would prefer fasting on malpuras with strawberries (or blueberries).

 

One time in LA, Jadurani, who was quite frail, went on a fast (I think as per Bernard Jensen, who a lot of devotees were seeing at the time), and she was so weak she was being carried to the temple programs. Srila Prabhupada came, and he said such fasting is too extreme. I wonder if anyone has quotes for this. I seem to remember he said not more than three days. Course that too woudl depend on the kind of fast one would be doing.

 

I was living in Laguna Beach around that time, and the whole temple did without grains, except those who imbibed on Sundays (you can bet I was one of them). We lived on oranges, apples, dates, carrot/apple/celery juice, lettuce, and either sour cream or curd. I wasn't used to it and used to bake yams to supplement. Whenever one wanted to do a watermelon fast they were to inform the bhoga runner in time to bring back a few big ones.

 

Ekadasis there were wonderful. We would fast til about one I think, and in the meantime take the Gaura Nitai Deities out on a palanquin and chant up and down the beach. People loved it.

[talasiga]

Originally posted by Gauracandra:

I have always found that I get the best results from chanting during those times I fast.

 

I would venture to say

that the "results" are always there

One may tend to discern them more readily

under certain conditions.

With respect

 

------------------

talasiga@hotmail.com

[dasanudas]

Only devotees can turn a fasting thread

into a feasting thread

[JRdd]

Yeah well for once you can't blame me for starting it. It was the doughnutboy.

 

Mahak, was this the same Jesus, he lived at Lorna Doone you say? did you know him as John Anderson? Tell me when you knew him. Very intriguing, and also sad to think of him ending like that. That would have been right around the time he left then, for I remember him being about that age. (I thought even 23 was ancient, then, honestly!! I can imagine him becoming a devotee next life. This one I'm thinking of was actually very humble and said a lot of good and down-to-earth things, and spoke so much as if he carried the energy and messages of Jesus. Sound like the same guy? I think he was only on our mountain about a week, and I think I was the only one there really spending time with him. Did you know of Olive Springs Road, outside Soquel? Our little meadow where we held moon festivities was the very epicentre of the big 1989 earthquake. Wonder if our paths crossed back then....

[talasiga]

Stuck in the past ?

Honeysuckle fast !

[JRdd]

Not stuck

in THAT muck

but your advice

is still wise

 

I'm gonna go searching for that nectar now....

 

[talasiga]

FAST SHOTS

 

So you think you're so wise ?

I'll see you at sunrise !

 

 

 

[JRdd]

Will you be the one with the pot of nectar?

 

[This message has been edited by JRdd (edited 09-20-2001).]

[JRdd]

Actually i just saw your email, don't usually go to that box. Never mind, you seem to have an atittude toward me and I don't expect any nectar..

[talasiga]

Originally posted by JRdd:

Actually i just saw your email, don't usually go to that box. Never mind, you seem to have an atittude toward me and I don't expect any nectar..

It is not appropriate to discuss private e-mails publicly

but, seeing as you have breached the etiquette,

let me just confirm that the substantial issue

in my private and civil e-mail,

that has any relevance for public purvey,

is that:

 

I do not want you to publish any of my

poems or other writings on your homepage

at this point in time. (As the author,

I am entitled to withold consent and

my exercise of my unfettered legal rights

are neither diminished nor enhanced

by any perceived or expressed attitude

underpinning the exercise of them).

 

_____

 

BTW, getting back to this thread:

 

It may well be the black buck

in your dreams who will bring

you the future honeysuckle -

I am too busy preparing for my

"voice dialogue" at sunrise.....

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by talasiga (edited 09-21-2001).]