Good morning friends. This is the second part of my article. I wish you are still following me here. Let me continue now ….
Fasting takes us beyond the carnal level of existence to the realm of the divine within. A better articulation of this dimension of fasting can be found in the Sanskrit term for fasting, upavas. Upa meaning ‘near’ and ‘Vaas’ means ‘to dwell’. Thus, fasting means to live or remain closer to God. It is not a negative act of abstaining but a positive step of obtaining God’s love.
Fasting is fuel for the soul that ignites faith and greater intimacy with God and thereby makes our lives happier and more joyful. Fasting has a social significance. It cannot be a mere self-fulfilling spiritual activity. The Bible is emphatic that true fasting is not just to abstain from food, to bow one’s head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes- “this rather is the fast I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, setting free the oppressed, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless” (Isaiah 58:6-7). M K Gandhi used fasting as a spiritual weapon to bring about social and political transformation. In India it is women, especially rural women, who fast more than men. They seem to gain tremendous inner strength and power to overcome suffering, alleviate the pain of others and thereby become life-givers. True fasting will remind us of the bounty we enjoy on a daily basis, and sensitize us to the reality of forced hunger thousands of people in our planet go through day after day. – The Times of India
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