Fasting on Fruits and Milk During Navaratri Sadhana

Fasting can be regular fasting or spiritual fasting. The difference lies in the intent. When one is fasting because one has no food to eat or one does not have time to eat or the situation does not permit one to eat, it is regular fasting. When one fasts with an intent to purify one's body and mind, to dive deeper within, worship God for a specific purpose, etc., it is called spiritual fasting. It is this fasting I am going to discuss here.

Spiritual literature of every major religion proclaim many benefits of spiritual fasting. In Hinduism fasting is called upabasa. Upabasa consists of two words, upa means near and basa means live. To do upabasa literally means to live near God. What this means is that when one does upabasa or spiritual fasting, one's mood is inward. One is closer to one's own being. One is closer to God.

Hindus regularly do spiritual fasting. They fast on the Hindu holy days such as Janmasthami, Rama Navami, Navaratri, Sivaratri, etc., on the Ekadashi day of every fortnight, on Sankrantis, etc.. If a particular Hindu wants to observe every Hindu holy day, then he would be easily fasting 1/3rd of the year.

I fast 9 days and 9 nights during Navaratri every year. In this article, I would like to describe how I do it. Hopefully it will benefit someone who has a desire to fast but lacks the courage. The first requirement of any fasting is the initial resolve to fast for a specific duration with very limited but specific food intake or even without any food and water intake. I have done fasting both with limited food intake as well as without any food and water. However, I have never done fasting for an extended period without food and water. As I indicated the most important requirement of a spiritual fasting is to make an initial resolve for fasting and knowing why you are doing it. Always consciously know the intent of fasting and remind yourself the intent as often as necessary.

In extended fasting, Day 1 through Day 3 is the hardest period. Mother Kali is worshipped through the first 3 days. The symbolism is that during the first three days the sadhak or practitioner is trying to overcome the most formidable of the demons that reside in Muladhara and Swadhithan chakras.

I take one glass of milk-shake made with milk, a banana, and some berries in the morning and the same in the evening. At lunch time, I take just fruits, typically a banana or an apple or both. I limit it to milk and fruits. In some years, I have added a few nuts to my milk shake.

When you are starting out on this fasting path, you will see that you might get hungry after a few hours. However, remind yourself of the resolve and why you are doing it. Pray to the divinity to give you strength to continue with it. In the evening, plan on a prayer session. My evenings consist of mantra japa, meditation, prayer, and recitation of Saptasati Chandi during Navaratri. You will see that you will derive energy from your resolve. Your resolve will get stronger by the day. You will be graced by the divinity for the divine purpose of your fasting. You will find that the second day is actually the hardest. Again, every time a desire for taking food other than the prescribed food comes to your mind, remind yourself of the resolve and pray to the divinity. I pray to Mother Durga, God in the form of Divine Mother. Ultimately the Bramhan in Hinduism is neither mother nor father. Brahman is beyond any modifications or attributes to have attibutes of a father or mother. However, I am attracted to the idea of worshipping God as the Mother.

Third day of fasting is hard but is easier than the second day. Once you survive the third day, you will find it progressively easier to carry out your fasting through all nine days. In fact toward the end you will feel as if you are not fasting anymore and can go on like that for a long time. The body readjusts to the food intake.

During this time, during the first two days, my entire alimentary canal is evacuated of any remaining dross. After the first three days, there is hardly a need to defecate as almost everything gets absorbed by the body. There is hardly any intestinal gas production and if at all any gas is produced is completely odorless. The body begins to attain a very pleasant smell. The body fluids do not smell. The body gets completely transformed and so is the mind during these nine days of fasting and devotion.

The first three days you may find some loss in physical energy but after the third day, you will see increase in both physical and mental energy. Your body will attain a divine glow. Your eyes will attain mystical charisma. You will develop a spiritual aura. You will develop charisma. You will definitely fee spiritual. The cares of the world are not going to bother you. The demons kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), mada (pride), matsarya (jealousy) will loose their strength with each passing day of fasting. Navaratri sadhana with fasting is far more superior compared to the same without fasting. You will attain tremendous spiritual progress.

You will loose weight on the milk and fruit fasting diet. I lose about 2 pounds each day. You will guaranteed loose anywhere from 12 to 20 pounds of weight in 9 days. The tenth day is called Bijaya Dasami or the Victory Tenth Day, when you declare victory over the demons from Divine Mother's grace. I break my fast on the 10th day after an elaborate Durga Puna or worship to Divine Mother in the form of Durga. Puja takes about 3.5 hours to 4 hours. I take prasad after the puja on the 10th day and that is the break of my Navaratri fast. I have been doing this for a number of years now. Fasting feels normal. It transforms my body and mind. I recommend fasting to everyone unless you have a physical condition which will not allow you to fast.