Tag Archives: Ayurvedic fasting

Is it possible to live without food, water and even air?

How Energy Affects Different Layers of Existence

In the above video, Daaji, my meditation teacher, talks about different layers of existence. According to ancient yogic science, we have five layers of existence. And energy feeds all of these layers differently. We all know about hybrid cars. Hybrid cars can run on liquid fuel and electricity. Also, there can be multiple options of energy – coal, solar energy, wind energy etc.

Here is an interesting thing – any liquid fuel (petrol or diesel) produces energy through combustion. Combustion releases some power, but more amount of heat and worse – poisonous gases. This is similar to the way our bodies process the food.

Annamaya Kosha

The first layer is called annamaya kosha. This layer absorbs the energy from food and passes it to other layers. Most of us live on the basis of gross energy absorbed by annamaya kosha. And therefore, people dependent solely on food for survival, live out their lives stuck in this kosha. This kosha is like a diesel or petrol car. It takes in material fuel and gives out smoke. Compared to other kosha, this is the most basic and most primitive mode of survival. However, dependency on this kosha is only the first step towards a subtler life.

Pranamaya kosha

The second layer is called Pranamaya kosha. This is the subtle energy of the body governed by prana vayu or the air. This is also called Chi in Chinese spiritual tradition. In primitive stages of spiritual development, this kosha receives its energy from the lower kosha – annamaya kosha. However, in a more developed state, pranamaya kosha can sustain life without food and even water! This state is like an electric car, that is directly connected to the pure source of energy.

In the Daoist  tradition as mentioned earlier, bigu is the art of surviving only on air and yes, it is possible! This concept is called Breatherianism and many people are actively following, it across the world. In the Vedic tradition, it is mentioned as the stage of pranayama. This is a stage when a person can survive only on the air. So, in the stage of pranayama we are supposed to master the art of living on the air and establish our existence in our energy body.  

Thesis on Bigu

Here is another person has survived on air for 60 years – Prahlad Jani

Still another way to charge up your body without eating anything is sun gazing. And no wonder, all of the ancient civilizations worshipped the sun. Probably, it was more of a subtle scientific mode of feeding than anything religious. For more information on sun gazing, please watch the following video. Besides, there is a lot more information available on –

https://www.lightdocumentary.com/breatharian-meals.html

About

Manomaya Kosha

The third is the manomaya kosha. This is the mental layer that governs the functioning of the mind, the sensory organs and the dreams. This layer is the basis of the our interconnectedness. The miracles of telepathy, prophetic visions and super-natural sensory powers emerge from this layer.

This layer is more powerful than both annamaya and pranamaya kosha. Vedic literature mentions sages who stopped breathing as a part of their penance. It is believed that Guru Nanak stayed under water for 3 days and came out of the river – alive! I hope that some day we are able to experiment on this concept. If this is true, leave apart food, and water, you might not even need air to survive.

However, powers of manomaya kosha can turn against us if not managed properly! In an under-developed state, this layer can get affected by the negative vibrations. According to Ayurveda, there are two fields of diseases – mana (mind) and sharir (body). And the mana or the mind is the primary factor for getting sick. And therefore, it is important to preserve manomaya kosha against wrong or negative thoughts.

The disease might start in the body and reach to the mind (psoriasis leading to depression) or start with the mind and reach the mind(skin allergy triggered by stress). If you have a weak body but a strong mind, you will not fall sick. But if you have a weak mind, then even a strong body, good nutrition and loads of health supplements will not be able to help you.

According to my understanding, when the mind is affected, its negativity spirals down to reflect in the form of a metabolic loophole. This metabolic loophole invites and incubates various disease causing factors. And that is why a depressed, tensed, angry or anxious person has all the doors open for diseases. This helps me to understand why those happy and content little slum children don’t fall sick!

So basically, annamaya, pranamaya and manomaya kosha are subject to imbalance. But they can be healed by the higher absolute sources.

Vigyanamaya Kosha

The fourth kosha vigyanamaya kosha or the wisdom body is the seat of intellect or Buddhi. This is the kosha responsible for personal entity, and therefore ego. It is beyond mana or the emotional mind. It is beyond beliefs, thoughts, emotions, prejudices and all the mental fog created by them.  Vigyanamaya kosha is the layer of discretion, where imagination dissolves and we come face to face with reality.

As far as I understand, this is the seat of pure energy. So, if you are stable in this kosha, you are beyond a car, you are electricity itself!

All the supernatural healing powers descend from this kosha.

Rice experiment 

Water has memory II – Prof. Bernd Kroeplin Water research Germany

WATER, Thank you, I hate you, Your stupid, and Ignore

Anandamaya Kosha

Writing anything about this kosha will be dishonest as only an experienced person should elaborate on this topic. I hope to know more about it. As of now, I have this information that this is the seat of complete bliss.

I am writing all this not because I have any spiritual experiences. However, I am floating these thoughts so that someone who really knows might get back to me :). May we all grow together through sharing!

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Ekadashi Fasting: Amazing Effects in Dental Problems

Recently, one of my relatives who has extremely bad teeth, tried Ekadashi fasting. He had a terrible toothache for past few days and there was no dentist to treat his condition because of corona lock-down. Every night, his tooth would pain terribly.

So, he decided to give a break to eating and went for Ekadashi zero food, zero water fasting this month on 18th (18th May 2020).

Very surprising, the toothache stopped. And he did not take any pain killer or any other medicines. He also did not make any other kind of dietary or lifestyle change. We can attribute it to not eating anything the whole day. And so there was no food stuck in his cavities that might cause pain. However, the tooth did not ache even the next day when he started eating food, and for few days after that. It started aching again on 23rd May 2020.

And this got me to think about our dental problems in a different way. probably, our digestive system is the source of all our disorders, even the dental ones.

Digestive system is the source of all the body fluids, including the saliva. And saliva is the fluid that creates the oral environment. Now, we know that all body fluids share some basic features. For example, if the digested juice is acidic in nature , everything right from blood to urine will turn more acidic. No wonder, what goes inside, makes the body.

And wrong food can turn all the body fluids slightly more acidic than normal. And we can imagine what can happen if our saliva is slightly more acidic than normal on a regular basis.

Normally, the food stuck in teeth gets softened and slips out after some time, along with saliva. Tongue also helps to clean the teeth. However, what if the environment around teeth is not healthy?

Acidic environment in the oral cavity can weaken the gums, cause mouth ulcers, help the germs to thrive and thus trigger rapid tooth decay. And probably that’s why we see that some people rapidly develop tooth problems, whereas many others do well even without a strict dental hygiene.

A few decades back, a lot of Indian had bright white teeth,without use of any tooth brush or tooth paste. However, they used to fast regularly, used neem twig as brush(and this twig provided both natural bristles and a bitter tooth cleaning solution). Besides, the overall quantity of sugar in the food was very low.

Sugar in our food does not affect our teeth that much by getting stuck on them. I personally believe that what sugar does to the overall body fluids is more important. It creates a rapid sugar surge that takes some effort on body’s part to control. Very frequent sugar surges tire out the pancreas and promote rapid decay across the body, including the teeth. Probably, that’s why dental problems are far more severe in case of diabetics!

If all of the above logic is correct teeth health is directly related to gut health. Probably, it is impossible to have healthy teeth , if your gut is not healthy. And therefore a dentist should also prescribe a healthy diet and lifestyle to keep the digestion healthy, because that’s the root of all dental problems.

Most of the women experience rapid tooth decay during pregnancy. Probably, it is because they eat all kinds of things, that too in a huge amount. This abnormal diet puts an extra pressure on the digestive system. And it gets derailed. The toxins thus produced due to under-digested food alter the composition of saliva and thus accelerate tooth decay.

So, now I believe that dry fasting for 24 hours can actually bring back not only your digestion, but also all body fluids to a completely balanced state. It definitely helps to remove excess sugar from all the body fluids, but also deep cleanse the body tissues and rejuvenate them! And if we do not spoil its effects by random eating afterwards, monthly Ekadashi dry fasting can extrapolate and multiply the health benefits exponentially.

The above explanation looks logical. However, I have no experimental proof for the above hypotheses. Anyways, I look forward to conduct some experiments on this concept in future. If you already have similar experiences or are doing some kind of related research I will be more than happy to know about it, please share!

May all of us achieve the ultimate aim of human life through shared wisdom!

Fast Health! Through Ayurvedic Fasting

Photo by Vegan Liftz on Pexels.com

Fast your way to Health

We can prevent all disorders by nipping the buds of diseases. And this can happen through fasting. Besides, it is really important for us to detox today as we are eating all kinds of chemicals along with the food.

According to Ayurveda, we all have a unique body type or body constitution. It is called Prakrati (the nature of the body). Prakruti is made up of a combination of 3 dosha (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha). This combination is different for each person, for example for one it might be Vata, Pitta, Kapha or Vata-pitta, or kapha-vata etc. Dosha are basically physiological systems that run the body. Because of this different combination of Dosha, each body reacts differently to the external stimuli.

Therefore anything that suits one person might not be equally good for the other. Similarly, the procedure of fasting also cannot be same for everyone. The best for you cannot be general, it has to be unique like the way you are!

Fasting comes under a broad range of Ayurvedic treatment approach called “Langhan”. Langhan is a Sanskrit word which means “the process which makes something light or small”. It is similar to the Sanskrit word “Laghu” or small/light. Langhan is basically used to remove excess fat, mucus, toxins or any undesirable material from the body. Langhan is a wide term, it includes many tools like exercise, internal cleansing, sunbath, use of digestives etc. Fasting is one of the tools used for the process of langhan (detoxfying or lightening the body).

Not too Fast!

This is a general guideline regarding prohibition of fasting. The two sutra to be understood here are –

1). Nothing is good all the time,

2) Any kind of excess is never beneficial.

Following people should avoid fasting without medical supervision.

  • Person with severe mental or physical trauma
  • Person involved in hard manual labour
  • Person involved in active military service
  • Person working in night shift
  • Emaciated
  • Weak or debilitated person
  • Very old
  • Very young (children)
  • Person suffering from Vata diseases like joint pain, body pain, migraine etc.
  • Pregnant women
  • Lactating women

Apart from the above stated people, there are certain conditions in which no should observe zero food / zero water fast–

  • During long journeys
  • In extremely hot or extremely cold climate
  • During medical treatment
  • During panchkarma
  • During recuperation period

However, once you get habituated to fasting, most of these rules might not be applicable to you.

Fasting from the scratch!

The Fast Observer

If you have never fasted or are uncomfortable with the idea of fasting, you should have a slow graduation from no fast to regular fasting.

Ideally you should start with one meal fast. You can also start with the fruits and milk fast if you are fond of fruits.

The type of fasting depends on your lifestyle as well –

  • If you are a person who is involved in work of high manual labour, for example if you are an athlete, you have minimum requirement for fasting. Your body metabolism is fast enough to drive away all the toxins at a break-neck speed. However, regular detox from intermitent fasting is like a provident fund that you use in your later less active years.
  • If you are a person with medium manual labour, you can choose any kind of fasting.
  • Fasting is excellent for people with low manual work and high mental engagement. Benefits of fasting (link to previous article).

Fasting also depends on your stamina or your body strength –

  • If you are a thin, weak or emaciated person, ideally you should not observe zero food fast. However, fruits and milk fasting can help in the case of anorexia (lack of hunger). This kind of fasting will ignite the digestive system and help you to actually gain weight!
  • If you are a person with moderate or good stamina, you can go for any kind of fasting. However, you should ensure that your body has enough time to accomodate fasting and gain best benefits from it.
  • If you are a person with vata disease, fasting like zero food fasting can actually aggravate the disorders, as fasting increases the Vata dosha.

Fasting: Timing and Cycle

Ideally, you should make a convenient routine of fasting, instead of practicing random fasting. According to this research, Cyclic fasting has the maximum benefits. You can start with one day fast, once in a fortnight and then gradually proceed to the 3 days or 9 days continous fasting.

Seasonal Fasting

The best time to fast is the Varsha or the rainy season. The digestive system is at its worst and there are chances of more digestive problems. Fasting during rains helps to prevent severe blows to a weakened digestive system. And therefore, it also prevents the aggravation of diseases. It preserves the natural immunity.

Interestingly, most of the fasting festivals like Parivarjan Parva of Jains, Ramadan, or the Navratri fasting, all are celebrated near to the rainy season! Sharvan somvara or solah somvaar vrata (fasting for 16 Mondays during the 4 months of rainy season) is a traditional Hindu festival that is obersved during the rains. These festivals help to preserve our metabolic balance during seasonal changes.

Varsha Ritucharya

Best time for zero food fasting

Zero food Fasting should be observed during the spring as it is the season for Kapha prakop or vitiation. Kapha causes excess mucus, congestion, slow digestion, sluggishness and heaviness in the body. This is the season that invites cold and cough, seasonal flu, conjunctivitis, indigestion etc. Cyclic zero food fasting is an excellent preventive measure for this season.

Worst time for zero food fasting

The worst time to fast is the Hemant or the mid-winter season, when it is really chilly. During cold climate, body maintains the body temperature by heat produced during digestion. Digestive fire is the strongest during this time, which if left unfed, will burn down the body tissues. It is important to avoid zero food fasting or any kind of fasting during this time, unless medically advised.

Extreme summer is also not a great time to plan an intensive fasting if you are not habituated to it.

Light fasting on fruits, milk or single meal is ideal for summers. In summer, the body wants to loose heat. Therefore the digestion is slowed in order to prevent the heat production. Once you get used to it, summer is a great time for water based fasting. Infact, eating without hunger is more detrimental during summers and rains than in any other season.

There is a special mango fasting that can help you detox completely – Amrakalpa

For more details on Ritucharya (Ayurvedic protocol of different seasons), please see – Ritucharya for 6 Seasons

The Most Important Step In Ayurvedic Treatment

In this series, I would soon publish some more articles and videos. Thanks for reading.