What is the importance of Austerities and Fasts in our Hindu Vedic culture!

Tapas activates the “Tejas” or fire element in the
mind and body, which bestows inner strength, sharp mind and the capacity to
achieve any desired situation and overcome any difficulty in life.

Instead of trying to avoid any form of pain at all
means, which is what the mind usually does, the Yogi takes upon himself some
challenge to become stronger.

Tapas can be especially powerful to counteract any
negative influence from Saturn or to strength the Mars or Sun energies if weak
on the birth chart.

The most recommended Tapas are:

 Doing service to the poor, the sick, the personal
teacher or the wise people, refrain from pleasures that are not healthy and
make the mind scattered and attached, observing a pure simple moderated diet,
occasional fasts, keeping silence or only speaking what is absolutely necessary
and beneficial, getting up early in the morning to do Yoga, meditation or other
spiritual practices, assuming and maintaining a steady posture without movement
for meditation, sleeping on a hard bed, sitting on the floor.

One of the highest (and most difficult, but
recommended) tapas is: “Bear insult and injury”, not responding with aggression
or negativity towards an offender, not identifying with the ego.

But tapas donot mean torturing the body by extreme
or “masochist” means, which harm the physical body. Some people cut, burn,
beat, pierce their bodies. This kind of extreme Tapas is considered as
“Tamasic” or born out of ignorance and delusion.

The Bhagavad Gita clearly explains that:

  

“Worship of God, the brahmanas, the teachers, the
wise, purity, straightforwardness, celibacy and non-injury are called the
austerities of the body”

“Speech which causes no excitement, which is
truthful, pleasant and beneficial and the study of the Vedas are called
austerity of speech”

Serenity of mind, good heartedness, self-control,
purity of nature, this is called mental austerity”

The austerity which is practiced with the object of
gaining good reputation, honour and worship, and with hypocrisy is here said to
be of a “rejasic”, unstable and transitory” “That austerity which is practiced
out of a foolish notion, with self-torture or for the purpose of destroying
another is declared to be “Tamasic” or ignorant”. Fasting is regarded as an
efficient way of physical, mental, spiritual and karmic purification.

During fasting the toxins from the body are
released and that allows the negativity of the mind to be released too. The
mind and will power becomes strong. Karmic debts can be purified too.

The prana or vital force usually occupied in
digesting the food can be engaged in healing the body and flowing to the higher
chakras during fasting.

When there is an afflicting planet on the birth
chart, or during a difficult “Dasa”, planetary period or difficult transit of
that planet, the austerities and fast should be perform on at least the whole
day of the week ruled by the planet for at least 6 consecutive weeks.

 Fasts: Vrat is one of the most significant, simple, facile
and a traditional way of rectification of various kinds of maladies. The
Sanskrit word `vrata’ denotes `religious vow’. It is one of the most widely
used words in the Hindu religious and ritualistic literature. Derived from the
verbal root `vrn’ (`to choose’), it signifies a set of rules and discipline.
Hence `Vrata’ means performance of any ritual voluntarily over a particular
period of time. The purpose is to propitiate a deity and secure from it what
the performer wants. This whole process, however, should be undertaken with a
sankalpa (Resolution) or religious resolve, on an auspicious day and time fixed
as per the dictates of the Hindu religious almanacs called panjika.

Vrata in the Puranas

1. Puranas denote
various types of vratas. In all the Purans there is mention of Fasts and how
they are performed. Purans have categorized the fasts in following manner.

2. `Kayika-vrata’. It
is a vrata pertaining to the body. The stress is on physical austerity like fasting,
remaining sleepless, taking baths and such other restraining activity in
connection with one’s body.

3. `Vachika-vrata’or
vrata pertaining to speech. Here much importance is given to speaking the truth
and reciting the scriptures, both being a function of the organ of speech.

4. `Manasa-vrata’ or
vrata pertaining to the mind. The emphasis here is on controlling the mind, by
controlling the passions and prejudices that arise in it.

5. Payovrata – is the
vrata or penance observed by goddess Aditi to propitiate Lord Vishnu. This
vrata is discussed in detail in the Bhagavata Purana.

Time based Vrata: There are vratas again based on time. A vrata to be
performed just for a dina or day is a `dina-vrata’. One lasting for a vaara or
a paksha (week or fortnight) is a `vaara-vrata’ or a `paksha-vrata’ as the case
may be. One to be undertaken on a particular tithi (a day according to the lunar
calendar) or when a particular nakshatra (asterism) is on the ascendant, is
respectively called a `tithi-vrata’ or `nakshatra-vrata’. Most of the vratas
now in vogue are based on the tithis of the lunar calendar.

Based on deity: Another classification is according to the deity
(an aspect of God) worshipped; for instance, Swarna-gauri-vrata is dedicated to
Gauri, another name of Parvati Devi. Likewise Vara-siddhi-vinayaka-vrata is for
propitiation of Lord Ganesha or Satya-narayana-vrata to Vishnu known as
Satyanarayana.

Impact on society: Who are the persons eligible to perform a vrata?
Anyone who has faith in it and wishes to perform it as per the rules, even if
the person be a mleccha (alien)! During the Vedic period sacrifices were
strictly restricted to the men of the three upper castes called dvijas meaning
twice-born. The doors of the vratas were thrown open to one and all during
bhakti movement, thus bringing ritualistic Hinduism to especially the lower
castes and women. They had been denied that privilege for centuries.
Historically speaking, this might have been a master-stroke devised by the
liberal-minded religious leaders of the Hindu society to prevent the exodus of
their flock to the Jaina and Buddhist folds, which were singularly free from
the labyrinth of rituals and offered a simple religion of ethical conduct for
the common public.

Dr. Shanker Adawal

www.ShankerAdawal.com