Fast: Remaining near the Lord

The word used for fast in Sanskrit is “upavāsa,” which is the combination of two words: upa and vāsa. ‘upa’ means near, the proximity and ‘vāsa’ means dwelling, staying or abode. Thus the word Upavāsa means, staying near or dwelling near.

Where we need to stay near? In the religious sense, we need to stay near the Lord. To stay near the Lord one needs to be worthy of it. One becomes worthy by purifying himself. The purity comes by abstaining not just food, but also those things which malign the divine nature of human beings.

Why do we fast? In the traditional religious understanding says, we fast to keep the ‘harmony’ (R̟ta). Harmony, not only of the nature, but harmony of the self as well. Only when I keep the harmony of my ‘self’ I will be able to keep the harmony of ‘other selves.’ Thus for the religious, fasting and penance go together. We realize that we are sinners and therefore we need  repentance. Just repenting is not enough, but we need to do some repair work as well. That is, repair the loss we committed by our ‘commission’ and ‘omission.’ Scientifically, this sounds well. At times our body needs some diet. It needs rest from food intake, the high calorie food to low calorie food, from non-vegetarian to vegetarian food, from enormous junk burgers to simple ‘dal-chawal’ (simple food - rice and dal)

The question is how then we are to fast? We have hundreds of examples in the Bible where people fasted and did their penance by tearing off their clothes, wearing sack clothes, sprinkling ashes on their body, and praying the Psalms of Mercy. Again Jesus tells us, ‘When you fast, apply oil in your head, do not show your gloomy face…’ I think, the key to fast is here, “Let your right hand not know what your left hand is doing.” When I am fasting and praying let it be not a show, but be an expression of my deeper inner self. Let my act bring closer to my God and help me to “Remain near the Lord.”

In the Bhagavad Gītā Krishna tells Arjuna, do not work looking for fruit (chapter 2, verse 47), rather work for the ‘lokasaṁgraha’ (chapter 3, verse 20, 25), the welfare of the worlds. Our fast should be like this, for the wellbeing of others (‘kalyān̟kāri.’). We see in the Indian freedom struggle, Gandhi underwent a lot of ‘upavasa satyāgrahas’ for the welfare of the country. This kind of fast is an inspiration from the Gītā. Fast, thus becomes, ‘kalyān̟kāri.’ Religiously speaking, our fast can be ‘kalyān̟kāri’ provided we offer our fasting and penance for a good cause and make it emancipatory or liberating. Thus, it becomes a spiritual act.

The Church officially instructs us to fast on two special occasions: ‘Ash Wednesday’ and ‘Good Friday’ (see can. 1249-1253 for details about this in the Code of Canon Law).  At the same she also recommends all the Fridays for this. However, fast on the ordinary Fridays is not obligatory. 

We see in the society, there are people who abstain from illegal-practices, alcohol, drugs, sensual things, throughout forty days of Lent. It is not bad, very good and commendable. However, what is bad is this: in spite of controlling for forty days, on the very next day, they fully ‘yield’ to it as if nothing has happened to them. We need to congratulate those people who really have given up those things after forty days. Encourage them. At the same time, need to sympathize with those who could not come out of their bondage. Can we say, for these ‘weak conscious people’ those forty days were, ‘days near the Lord?’

Along with the fast what church recommends is abstinence. Abstinence from meat and other food items as prescribed by the Conference of Bishops in a particular region. For some people, meat is very common and they have to abstain from this. For the people living in the coastal sea areas, fish is very common and they need to abstain from this. For the people who do not even have a proper meal, can they not eat meat if they happen to get one day? Therefore, what is important thing to be noted here is, not what is to be eaten but the ‘spirit of the Lent’, the spirit of ‘staying near the Lord.’ If a person is sex crazy, let him deny this for some time and see the difficulty of being abstaining and make the sufferings as emancipatory. If a person is glutton, let him abstain from eating for a day or two and offer that ‘pain’ as ‘salvific.’ In today’s E-world people are addicted to internet, facebook, whatsapp,  twitter, mobiles and messages, i-pods, i-pads, songs, DJ, pokemongo type of games, etc. Such people need to abstain from this, at least during the days of ‘obligation’. I have heard people saying “what will I do, I will be mad…,” when there was a news about the closure of Facebook. This is just one example where we need to abstain. Every time you feel the ‘temptation’ to get in, you are reminded of your emancipatory ideal and you are near the Lord.


Finally, Fasting time is a time to remind oneself about one’s shortcomings, ill-feelings, difficulties, unworthiness etc. When I experience this dryness within me, it should remind me that world too needs liberation from such things. Let me begin the welfare of the world not from others, but from me.

let me conclude in the words of Pope Francis:

Fast from HURTING WORDS and say KIND WORDS

Fast from SADNESS and be filled with GRATITUDE

Fast from ANGER and be filled with PATIENCE

Fast from PESSIMISM and be filled with HOPE

Fast from worries and TRUST IN GOD

Fast from COMPLAINTS and contemplate SIMPLICITY

Fast from PRESSURES and PRAYERFUL

Fast from BITTERNESS and fill you heart with JOY

Fast from SELFISHNESS and be COMPASSIONATE to others

Fast from GRUDGES and be RECONCILED

Fast from WORDS and be SILENT so that you can listen

Learning from Monkeys the Ideal of Fasting and Abstaining 

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta