Table of Contents

March 2009 - Dadavani - English

EDITORIAL

Importance of fasting or under-eating for spiritual progress

Ego dissipated, became natural

What penance did Dada practice?

Who is the one that creates obstruction?

Scientific significance of fasting

Solution to break the bondage

Fasting with understanding

Fasting is the religion of the non-Self

What is the importance of such fasting?

Does the Self eat anything, does it have to fast?

True fast

Fasting with pure applied awareness

Real value of fasting done with pure awareness

Focused internal awareness at the time of fasting

Fast as per instruction of the enlightened master

The place of fast in Akram

Fast is helpful in following Agnas

Fast will decrease the intoxication of food

Fasting is helpful in decreasing the force of sexual impulses

Fast is useful only if one has self control

Wash away faults on the day of fasting

Fasting is to be rid of kashaya, not to create them

After pratikraman keep a fast as a punishment

Mind deceives you because of deceptive intent

If mind is out of control then you have to fast

Is fasting helpful to a spiritual aspirant?

Which one is better?

The importance of Agiyaras

Dada’s Agiyaras

Fast for only one day with pure awareness

Ayambil – a scientific thing

Penance of under-eating

Dada’s penance of under-eating

Practicing unodari is better than fasting

It is worth always practicing unodari

Practice unodari with discipline

Stomach will spoil from chronic overeating

Unodari with awareness

The best of all

Unodari can be maintained by chewing a lot

The Lord said to this is fasting in vain

Overeating causes dullness

Adjustment at the time of eating

All those interferences are of the belief

Analysis of meal intake through experience

Finally the goal of following the agna only

www.dadabhagwan.org

March 2009 - Dadavani - English

Importance of fasting or under-eating for spiritual progress

EDITORIAL

There is a purpose behind every act in the life. If the purpose behind the action is one of exact understanding, then it will definitely bring forth the desired result. Due to lack of right understanding many of the rituals performed today are not productive with complete benefit. In our society, fasting, unodari—eating less food than what one has appetite for; agiyaras—fasting on the eleventh day of the lunar cycle; ayambil—eating only one type of food once a day; or ektana—taking food only once in a day; have become part of religious rituals. But one question arises in all this, namely are these religious vows being undertaken and followed through with right understanding? Have we ever known the real goal and reason for undertaking a vow? People are doing it, so let us do it too and this is what the Lord calls a ‘dhor laanghan—fasting in vain’.

In our scriptures and purana—a group of 18 important Hindu texts, special importance is given to fasting for its spiritual and health benefits. Such penances done with the intent of spiritual progress or for the attainment of the Self are definitely fruitful however one cannot experience the Self. Through such penance, one’s awareness can increase, one can earn merit karma and one can attain physical comforts. However one can attain the Self if he attains the knowledge of the Self—Self-realization. Otherwise no matter how much one goes through austerity and denial for the body, if one does not have ‘Gnan—Self-knowledge’ then it is meaningless for the purpose of spiritual endeavor.

In Ayurveda the importance of fasting and restricted food intake is not less, but it should be done with right understanding. By fasting the waste of the body burns, body remains healthy, awareness increases and this awareness is helpful in practicing celibacy and one can practice religious rituals in a better way. That is why it is said that ‘one should fast according to Gnani’s instruction for spiritual progress and for physical health one should fast according to doctor’s instruction then that penance done through fasting can be helpful to yield desired fruit.

What is the importance of fasting and unodari? The correct understanding regarding who, when and how one should put this in to practice can be attained here through the enlightening words of the Gnani Purush. The intention behind compiling this Dadavani is such that everybody can understand this in detail. This is not a discipline or an agna order. It is considered appropriate to put it into practice only after getting solutions of one’s own question from direct satsang with the Gnani.

If we follow the exact understanding on upawas, unodari, and food intake according to absolutely revered Dadashri, then it will be definitely fruitful and as a result deluded running after food, gluttony for variegated tastes, and loss of physical health due to excess and irregular diet, spiritual apathy and unawareness arising due to over eating, will be prevented. The seeker will become free from the obstructing forces, and thus maintain the awareness in the spiritual path to moksha. That is the only ardent desire.

~Deepak Desai

(Pg.2)

Importance of fasting or under-eating for spiritual progress

Ego dissipated, became natural

Questioner: The Gnan manifested within You in 1958 at Surat railway station. In the few hours preceding that event, did you have any inkling that something might happen?

Dadashri: I had finished chauvihar (no food or water must be consumed until sunrise the next day) in the train and one gentleman used to serve me,he got down at the Surat railway station to clean the dirty dishes. I was sitting on a bench. And all of sudden, ‘this—the total Self-realization’ unfolded for me. That gentleman did not say or mention anything and ‘this’ finished, and later I understood.

Questioner: So now should you be doing a little more than you used to do before Gnan?

Dadashri: No, all that was done through the ego of doership. No, there is no need for all these things—fasting at all. None of this matters at all. Why had the Lord advised any restrictions in nutrition and diet? He has said, that the diet, which does not flourish the pudgal the non-Self complex and does not create any kashayas: anger-pride-deceit-greed, is to be taken. So the Lord has not restricted the eating of this daal lentil, rice and vegetables.

What penance did Dada practice?

Questioner: How much prior spiritual practices did you do for the Atmagnan—Self-knowledge that manifested within you?

Dadashri: This is the result of sadhana spiritual endeavor from infinite lives. And I had done sadhana in this life too.

Questioner: Did you follow any religious vows, upawas fasting or other rituals?

Dadashri: I have not fasted in my whole life. I am constantly doing the penance of under-eating unodari. This is my discovery. Constantly under-eating is the same as fasting forever. Otherwise if one commenced doing penances of all twelve kinds, when would he accomplish them?

My prakruti—the non-Self complex of mind, speech and body, is verily such that I was not able to do one fast, not only that even if I had to forgo one meal I would have trouble. So I would not do that either, since I knew that my prakruti is such. So until Gnan manifested within me in 1958, I used to do whatever was possible. When I came to know that Tirthankara Lord has said to drink boiled water, I began drinking boiled water. So I used to carry a bottle of boiled water to my business. And I used to practice chauvihar – I would eat and drink before sunset. And I would not eat root bulb vegetables (onions, potatoes, garlic etc). I followed these three practices. I was not able to do other things.

(Pg.3)

All that ceased after manifestation of this Gnan. Thereafter everything happens as it unfolds udaya, according to circumstance. ‘We—the Gnani Purush and the fully enlightened Self within’ do not have such bhaav inner intent that we should do or not to do anything in any way.

If it was true that fasting upawas leads to Gnan—Self-realization then there are many who fast for up to eighty days! On the contrary, it has only led to spread of ignorance.

Who is the one that creates obstruction?

Questioner: Our Atma—the Self is the Parmatma—the Supreme Self. So in these practices of making the body suffer through fasts and atthai—fasting for eight days continuously, to attain the Self—the Absolute Self; to what extent is there any truth in it?

Dadashri: Even if one were to turn his body into a skeleton, he would not attain the Self. To attain Atma—the Self, one has to know the knowledge of the Self, what is Atma that Gnan—knowledge one has to know. If you know the knowledge of the Self then you can get the solution. If you do fasting, atthais, no matter what kind of penance you do, if you go through physical penance, if you turn the body into just skin and bones, even then you cannot gain anything. One can attain material comforts by such ascetic practice.

So it is not wrong to do the fasting or atthai fasting for eight days on paryushan—yearly time of atonementfor Jains.Every person should fast. If you feel that you have ajagruti unawareness at the time of listening satsang then one or two fasts can be beneficial.

Questioner: Does fasting help in the progress of spiritual practice?

Dadashri: For the progress in spiritual practice one should fast with understanding.It is a fault to fast with one’s own understanding. One should fast under the instruction of the Gnani Purush. One should ask the Gnani Purush for the spiritual practice and one should ask a doctor for the physical health.

Questioner: In every religion they ask to do the fasting, so for what reason is fasting required in religion?

Dadashri: One is not aware of ‘Who am I?’ He is simply unaware—ajagrut and unconscious! That is why he has to fast. One is unaware with open eyes. Every living being, people in the whole world, saints-spiritual preceptors, everybody are unaware with open eyes. Fasting awakens awareness, to open the eyes just a bit within, otherwise when one eats food, it keeps changing into alcohol (intoxication due to consumption of food – alcohol) and he remains continuously intoxicated. Food makes a human unconscious-unaware beybhaan and one becomes conscious-aware bhaan through fasting.

Questioner: The Manipura chakra (one of the six esoteric energy centers in the subtle body) exists at the navel level. By fasting veils are removed at that location, and as a result, one experiences divine bliss- happiness. Is it the reason for fasting?

(Pg.4)

Dadashri: That fasting is all right. One can know by fasting; one is able to know the source of happiness, whether it is arising from the pudgal the non-Self complex of mind, speech and body or from some other source.

Scientific significance of fasting

Questioner: What is the importance of fasting in our life?

Dadashri: If you fast then whatever food has not been digested will be burnt off and you can maintain jagruti awareness. You can fast when there is a physical difficulty, or if vikar sexual passions arise, then it can burn some passions and by burning these vikar a person can remain steady. One becomes unsteady because of passion. But there should be a limit for the fasting. It will not work if one does as many fasts he wants. One has to see both his physical body and proportion. One has to see his physical health, how his body’s constitution is, and how many fasts are worth doing. People do fasting without any reason and there it is meaningless.

Questioner: The true meaning of a fast is to take less food or abstain from eating. But is it beneficial if the fasting is associated with intake of some satvik food which by its constituents promotes total well being and harmony within?

Dadashri: There is nothing better than totally abstinence from eating. And instead of taking a little satvik food, it is better to eat once (necessary enough) and drink as much water you want to drink.Apart form this, you should not drink tea or put some other food in your mouth.You should eat only once. Whatever you want to eat but eat simple food. Food in itself is an intoxicant. Regardless of the kind of food it is, it is intoxicating; people take pleasure of its intoxication. Through fasting, the intoxication is reduced, however if fasting does not support one’s awareness, then it is all done in vain. It helps keep the body healthy, it helps keep the mind healthy but that is all. But then later one will fall asleep, he cannot stay awake because sooner or later he has no choice but to eat. But with enlightenment, once a person has been completely awakened there is no problem if he eats and drinks. There is no impediment thereafter.

So once clean your body thus. By any means cleanse your body by doing one to two upawas fasts. But how should one fast? It should be pure. One can drink a little water only.

Solution to break the bondage

You feed this body everyday. If you do not feed it for just one day, it will become clean, the mind will stay healthy, everything will remain healthy; fasting is not detrimental. However, it is not necessary for the one who wants to go to moksha. Fasting has a helpful role but one should not become attached to, and become inflexibly stuck on fasting. For liberation you only need to know this much: ask yourself ‘Am I in bondage?’ Then you should have knowledge of, ‘How was the bondage created? How can I become free of this bondage? How can it be broken?’ You should look for answers to these questions.

To break the bondage you have to

(Pg.5)

ask the one who has become free, ‘Sir, if you have become free then I will sit with you otherwise I will not benefit if I waste my time. I am in bondage and if you are too, then how can we see eye to eye?’ Have you found anyone who has told you that he has become free?

Questioner: I have found your satsang, have I not?

Dadashri: Very well then ‘we’ are telling you that ‘we’ have become free. So if you want liberation, then come here. There are no fees for that and in the Lords’ path that there is no such thing as fees. The Gnani Purush who has no beggary for money, no beggary for fame, no beggary for disciples, is free from any desire and is free from any sexual inclination conveys the path of the Lord. He is someone who has no need for any worldly thing. When this happens, that is when the status of Gnani Purush is bestowed upon him.

Fasting with understanding

Here people fast and along with that they create kashayas: anger, pride, deceit and greed. If you want to do kashayas, then don’t fast and if you want to fast then don’t do kashayas. Do such a fast where artadhyan—that which hurts the self only or raudradhyan—that which hurts the self and others; does not happen. Instead on the day one is not fasting, if he does not get any food until two in the afternoon, he will create all kind of commotion, and he will yell and complain. The ‘ bhammarado spinning top—the one who creates subtle cause karma in past life, and suffers their effect in current life, thus spinning life after life ’ becomes agitated and keeps jumping and complains ‘it is typical of this town to not have a restaurant!’ The correct approach here is that, this is the time he should exercise caution. Hey you! If you fast according to the instructions of the Vitarag Lords, then your mind will not jump around and harass you. And during a wedding feast, he will say ‘I am fasting today’ this is what has become of people today. People have no bhaan sense-awareness of when they should be fasting and when not. Allow the inner heat of penance tapa to rise by fasting when you do not get anything to eat or when you have to eat what you do not like. In fact your plate of food will naturally present itself before you, when the time comes; that is the natural order. And the day you do not get anything to eat, then understand and accept that you may not be able to eat on time and so you can fast. Instead what these businessmen do when they are hungry, they will go to a restaurant, they take the trouble to climb the stairs and then they comment, ‘this place is dirty. These people are dirty’, they do kashaya and leave. Everything is there for you; your food and all the spices. There is so much of it that one can get tired of it. But why is it that it does not come in front of you? It is because you have brought so many antaray obstacles with you. A thirty-two variety meal can be at your disposal. But people have brought so many obstacles with them that they cannot even get khichadee rice and lentil mixture-with pure ghee.

This whole path of the vitarag is the path of labhalabha—profit and loss. Do not expend even five cents in the path of religion without a good cause if

(Pg.6)

you can help it. A person will go around telling everyone how many days he has been fasting and then when his son comes near him, he fights with him, ‘why didn’t you go to the shop today?’ Hey you! Are you going to tie your shop to a cannon? Why don’t you do your fasting in peace? The son may say, ‘I was not able to go to the shop today.’ And so the father starts a row with him. On the other hand the mother has been fasting and is sitting in another room and when she hears a glass breaking, she will call out, ‘what is going on? What broke?’ Dear old woman, your soul broke! Her chit—that which goes outside the body and visualizes scenes, a combination of prior knowledge and ‘vision’—wanders off to where the glass breaks. All these are nothing but losses people incur.

Fasting is the religion of the non-Self

Washing, bathing, feeding and fasting this body, all these are prakrut non-Self complex of mind speech and body—religion dharma. These relative activities—dharma have no meaningful base or assurance, because they are beyond one’s own authority, realm, or independent control.

Without taking a purgative one gets diarrhea and without taking an anti-diarrheal medicine the diarrhea stops. This is how the prakruti is.

People have to take whatever food ahaar suits them. Everyone has to take whatever food suits his prakruti. If the food of penance suits you then take it and if it does not, then don’t. Penance tapa too is food. Nevertheless, if you have indigestion, then you should fast. There is no connection between God and food. What need does the Soul have for fasting? Here people fast and then they claim they are doing it for their Soul. The Soul counters, ‘how are you obliging me by doing this?’ So if you feel you want to take on the penance of fasting, then do so.

What is the importance of such fasting?

Questioner: On the day of my fasting, the moment I wake up I feel it would be good if someone were to do my work for me.

Dadashri: Instead of having such beggarliness it is better not to take on the penance of fasting. The Lord has not said to become dependant instead of becoming independent.

Questioner: On the day of fasting, when the mind dwells on a particular food item that I like, and I ask for it to be kept aside for me to be taken after the fast, is that a wrong doing on my part?

Dadashri: Instead in all this, the one who is the eater eats, then is done with it and becomes free and the one who resists the eating becomes bound. The latter is bound with-incurs the mistake called bandhan bondage. The former one eats and forgets, and the one who says ‘I will eat tomorrow’ despite not eating remains stuck in it and that is why he becomes liable for bondage. Therefore, when this joothanu deceitful step comes into fruition he will be in a form of a four-legged animal. This is what ‘we’ call ‘insanity in religion.’ Hey you! You are taking on such a tremendous liability.

(Pg.7)

When you say, ‘I will eat tomorrow’ it means you have the pantry on your mind; you are in the lingering meditation dhyan of ‘the food is in the pantry and I will eat it tomorrow.’ Now tell me what this meditation will not accomplish? It will change two legs into four. With two legs you kept falling and so now you will have four, this way at least you will not fall!

Does the Self eat anything, does it have to fast?

So one will have to understand all this, won’t one? Will such baseless thing work? One keeps enforcing the falsehood! Never has been a day when ‘You—the Self’ have eaten anything, so what kind of upawas fast are you doing? Have You ever eaten anything?

Questioner: Which food you are talking about eating? What are you talking about eating?

Dadashri: All this food that you are eating.

Questioner: We do eat food.

Dadashri: Yes, that is why you are the eater and therefore you are eating. You have become the eater.

Have ‘We’ ever eaten? ‘We’ have never eaten. This young man here also says, ‘he has never eaten’.

You are ‘Chandubhai—the relative self,’ therefore you believe the ‘foreign’ (par – the non-Self) as the ‘home’ (swa – the Self). You are in foreign and you believe that to be home. ‘This is verily my home and I will verily die, and I am verily alive and save me.’ That location has changed for these people here who have taken Gnan. For you too, it is the foreign—the non-Self that eats and it gets blamed on the home—the Self.

So I will make ‘You’ the non-eater too. Alas! As long as you are the eater, the fasts have to be undertaken.

Questioner: Please hurry up and do it quickly.

Dadashri: Shall I tell you a story about ‘doing it quickly’? A young man had come from America. He was shown about twenty to twenty-five girls but he refused to marry any one of them. So his poor father got tired. Later at Dadar Railway Station, when the son was introduced to a young woman, he became very happy. This man told her parents, ‘I am pleased. Get us married right now.’ And the father of the young man too understood that he is acting crazy, what does it mean ‘get us married right away?’ How can one arrange an instant marriage at the railway station? The son said ‘get us married right here and here only.’ So everybody explained to him, ‘look, if you will act crazy like this then we will not give you this bride. Don’t we need to decide a muhoort time for doing auspicious work? Is it possible to do it right now?’

True fast

Questioner: How can one do a true fast?

Dadashri: Truefast? That you have to decide from the night before, that you will fast from the morning. You should not look for anything to eat after making a decision of fasting. You should not drink water. The way you are awake during the day you have to stay awake

(Pg.8)

at night and you should not give any food to the senses. You should not feed the eyes; you should not feed the ears. What food do people give to the eyes? When newspaper comes, the eyes get the food. Does a newspaper become the food for eyes or not? It is considered the food for both eyes. You should not feed the ears. You should not listen to the radio or the tape record.

Questioner: So on that day I should not go to work, is that so?

Dadashri: If it is possible, it is better if you do not go to work. You should do such a fast on a holiday only. But if you do such a true fast then a very beautiful upawas—remain above, fast can happen. On that day one should remain silent, one should refrain from talking. One is only allowed to use bathroom and toilet, everything else should be on hold.

Questioner: If one fasts according to this then his chit (subtle component of vision and knowledge in the inner functioning instrument called antahkaran) would remain in eating and drinking only, would it not?

Dadashri: No, not like that, it is just that you feel that way from now. However the inner environment is such that it will make a safe side. You will feel hungry within and afterwards it will stop. But you will feel peace. You will have bliss. You will find out if you try once. So it should not become such that your mind would remain in a plate of food. It will remain for a little while then it will stop. Thereafter the mind will stay wherever you want it to.

Questioner: Can I do japa (repeat a sacred mantra or name) and kirtan (singing the glory of God) on that day?

Dadashri: You may do everything. Only thing is that you are not to talk with people about worldly things. You may talk everything about the Self. You may read Aptavani also.

Questioner: Can we do vyavahar worldly interaction with the wife and the children on the day of the fast or not?

Dadashri: You should not. You should stay as if you are a guest on that day. You should not give trouble to your family members. If they are eating then you should let them eat or do whatever they are doing. You should not give them any orders. You should behave as if you are a guest. You should keep chanting a mantra—a phrase or a sentence that stills the mind, or do something next, then third thing, or keep doing japa.

Fasting with pure applied awareness

Questioner: Should one decide the limit of fasting through his own experience or according to someone else’s instructions?

Dadashri: One should decide through one’s own (self) experience, but people do not fast through self-experience.One does fasts out of rivalry.They fast because of competition. This person did four so I will do eight. Fasting is not a matter of a racecourse. A fast is not a racecourse thing. One should fast according to one’s own energy but there should not be a racecourse.

Questioner: What is it when people fast for three days, nine days, one month,

(Pg.9)

or three months?

Dadashri: Fasting is a good thing but fasting is for those who have eaten too much. Why should the poor people who eat rationed food fast? The Lord has not said anything wrong when he said to fast. He said, ‘You may fast but if at the final conclusion taaran of the fasting if you do not find the Soul, that fasting was in vain.’ If there is no realization of the Soul—the Self at the end of the fasting period, then you will acquire worldly comforts; you will get merit karma for that. Here people have fasted for countless past lives. The Lord has called it fasting without understanding because without the right awareness, all one’s fasting is done in vain. If you sit with the one who does penance, then you will be able to do penance without fail. The Self never eats, only the body eats. You can only understand this after you realize the Self; otherwise you can never understand this. The Lord has said that if you do fasting with applied awareness upayoga, then your work will be successful.

Here you have attained the knowledge of your Self. Therefore you are able to fast with the applied awareness of the pure Self; your fasting will happen with pure applied awareness shuddha upayoga. You have the main thing (the Soul) in Your hand; the string of the kite is in your hands. The control to prevent the kite from taking a dive is in your hands. If you are able to fast just once, go ahead and see if you can. Then experience the ‘taste’ of it! You can do it on a Sunday when you don’t have to go anywhere. On that day you should not sleep. You cannot maintain awareness during sleep, can you? And this fasting has to be done with the use of pure applied awareness. During that time if you read or sing our pado spiritual songs—arati all day long, there will be purity outside and within otherwise take the support of My five Agnas. In this manner, if you should spend the entire day in pure applied awareness, then you will not even feel that you spent the whole day fasting. If feelings of hunger come recurrently, it is because You have slipped in the awareness as the Self, and the applied awareness of the pure Self. ‘The hunger is there,’ will be known janvoo by You but You will not suffer vedavoo the hunger. Suffering the hunger is the loss of pure applied awareness upayoga and ‘knowing’ the hunger is the pure applied awareness. Many people feel very good on the day of their fast. They feel shata vedaniya comfortable suffering. Therefore, everything depends upon the belief.

‘Shuddha upayogi ne samtadhari, gnan dhyan manohari,

Karma kalank ko door nivari, jiva vare shivnari.’

‘The one with shuddha upayoga, is poised in the Self, His knowledge and meditation captivates the mind, Aloof he remains from the binding of karma, Becomes he the Absolute (Shiva).’

The Lord has said that if a person were to fast for just one day in pure applied awareness shuddha upayoga, it will generate an entire year’s worth of pure applied awareness for him.

In order to fast you have to put the lock on the night before, not take any food or drink. Before going to bed, you

(Pg.10)

have to make a firm decision that you are going to fast with pure awareness the following day. You will be able to maintain awareness of ‘I am pure Soul’ after you take My permission; you will also be able to abide by the five Agnas. In this manner if one is able to put a lock on his mouth for thirty-six hours, he will acquire awareness for a whole year. The Lord has said that if a person who is not Self-realized does a fast, he will reap the benefit of having quite a few diseases eradicated.

Many people fast to take part in the procession—celebrating the courage of those who have fasted. Hey you! We can see your ribs so why are you fasting? Fasting is of use for someone who is overweight. The fasting the Lord spoke of is not wrong; it is very beautiful but to whom was he referring? If you fast with the awareness as the Self that I have given You, then You will reap the benefits the Lord has spoken of. Fasting was advocated for people of the past because they had clean and pure milk and ghee. Everything they ate was unadulterated, unlike the food of today. As it is, the wretched mortals of today are starving, so what need do they have to fast? Where is the stamina and strength in people today? You can even see their ribs! There is no problem if one wants to fast two or three times.

Real value of fasting done with pure awareness

Questioner: Recently the president of America told someone that people in India can stay without eating for two to three months. So he was saying that we should visit India. And in addition he said that nobody is able to fast in America.

Dadashri: In America they cannot stay without eating, how can they? Here in India people know that there is energy in air, energy exists in everything. One can live even with this energy, we cannot afford but we can live with this. Now people in America cannot stay without eating because they cannot tolerate discomfort. People in India can tolerate this, since they have very strong ego. The ego baton is very heavy. They get pride and fame so they would fast for many days. However in America they cannot fast even for five days, it is not their job. One needs to have tremendous ego to fast.

The Lord had said that if you fast only one day with pure awareness as the Self then it is worth fasting equivalent to millions times. What is the fault of the body? What is the fault of this poor thing? In all of these, the one that is without any fault is this body.

Questioner: One can bind merit karma punyai by fasting, is that true?

Dadashri: But what kind of fast?

Questioner: The fast in which one refrains from eating. The fasting that is done now a day in religion.

Dadashri: Who said that one binds merit karma?

Questioner: Scripture writers have written and our intellect did the thinking.

Dadashri: One should fast as per agna instruction.

It does not work if you follow the agna of someone who is not qualified.

(Pg.11)

You need someone who is qualified. Do you need a qualified person or not? This is because the one who is giving instruction should be a samkity established in right belief and vision; he should be at the fourth gunthanu stage of spiritual development.

Focused internal awareness at the time of fasting

Having made the body fast, we should remain in our own upayoga focused awareness.

What is the meaning of fasting? To be in upayoga focused awareness. This fasting is not done to kill yourself with hunger. When one is fasting, all the trash burns the body becomes healthy. It is better to do one or two fasts. If you do more fasts than necessary, then disease will creep in.

What happens during fasting? The waste that has been solidified—accumulated in the body gets burnt. On the day of fasting, if you do not speak too much then the rubbish stock of speech will burn and the mind will continue doing beautiful pratikraman the whole day. It will continue to do variety of things so other all trash will also continue to burn. So fast is very helpful. You should fast once a week on a Sunday. You should not fast two days together otherwise you may invite disease. You will feel so much bliss on the day of fast.

Questioner: What is the reason of feeling a totally different kind of bliss on the night of the fast?

Dadashri: When you do not take the happiness from outside then inner happiness will arise for sure. You take happiness from outside that is why inner happiness does not manifest.

Questioner: If one tries to take pleasure from food then everything else becomes tasteless.

Dadashri: What else is left in other things? The problem is of this tongue only, isn’t it? The parigraha acquisitiveness of the taste and woman: these two are the problems, aren’t they? There is not any other problem, is there? Out of five sense pleasures the ear, what does it matter if one listens or does not listen? People love to see so much through their eyes however you do not have that problem. No objects of pleasure left for you to enjoy through eyes, are there? You are not going to watch movies, are you?

Questioner: No, Dada.

Fast as per instruction of the enlightened master

Questioner: What is a fast done with awareness?

Dadashri: If someone is Self-realized and you fast as per his guidance, then that is a fast done with awareness. At the moment, I am an enlightened person with full awareness, if you fast according to My instructions, then that fast is regarded as a fast with awareness.

Questioner: If I want to fast, should I ask for your agna instructions and or permission, before I do so?

Dadashri: I do not give people agna to fast. However, if you want to, then you should make the decision to do so, take My agna and then proceed. Through the agna and the energy of my words (vachanbud), your work will be done.

(Pg.12)

Questioner: If Dada is not here in Bombay and I want to fast, should I take the agna from your picture?

Dadashri: Yes, if you take the agna first and then proceed, there is no problem. If you call me, I will be present but you don’t know how to call me!

The place of fast in Akram

Questioner: What if the mahatmas who have attained Self-realization practice fasting?

Dadashri: It will help them a lot. By fasting just one day, they will get the benefit for the full year; however they have to maintain a lot of awareness.

I have a prakruti of pitta (one of the three composite mixture of dominant characteristics of the non-Self according to Ayurveda), so I cannot even fast for one day. Now what is the need of this to us? We have become Atma—the Self. Now all this is of the non-Self, of the foreign department so why should we bother so much for this foreign department? Only the one who wants to take a vow of celibacy has to go through this trouble otherwise everything is included in this ‘five sentences’ the five Agnas. These five sentences are such that, saiyam parinaam absence of kashayas: anger-pride-deceit-greed, remain continuously. The saiyam—restraint in kashaya—people of the world keep, is not considered saiyam at all. That is called vyavahar relative saiyam, it is ego-based external control of kashaya, and it is such that other people can see in vyavahar worldly interaction. However ours in Akram path is true saiyam. But people will not acknowledge this as saiyam. This is because You have nischaya saiyam—You are the Self, the Self is never in kashaya. Nischaya saiyam is the cause of moksha liberation and vyavahar saiyam is the cause of sansar worldly life, although it can help to bind higher merit karma.

Fast is helpful in following Agnas

Questioner: Dada, you are saying that the Agnas are very simple and straightforward, that is correct, but is it easy to remain continuously in the first and second Agnas?

Dadashri: There is no problem in staying in the Agnas, but try to fast and then see whether you can stay in Agna or not. This is because you start dozing the moment you eat food.

‘We’ just say that you have not attained this science in any life; now that You have attained this, preserve it. This is Akram—step-less path to Self-realization, and it is such a science that you can attain Atmagnan within an hour. This science is such that you will never experience ashanti loss of peace. You can remain in samadhi (state of being in equanimity despite the presence of ongoing mental, physical or externally induced difficulties) constantly. And if you cannot, then ask me where it obstructs you, then I will tell You to press an appropriate point.

Fast will decrease the intoxication of food

Human beings are constantly in the unconscious abhanata, beybhaan Self-ignorant state. He has verily that same old vision—‘I am Chandulal’. Before the intoxication of food of the last meal

(Pg.13)

goes down, he starts eating rice-lentil-vegetable and rotli (bread), and it is converted into a form of alcohol again. If one fasts for five to seven days, then the alcohol will reduce or stop, then he will realize and find out. Then he will get awareness.

That is why the Lord suggested fasting. However the people of this kaal current era of the time cycle will fast and go to sleep during the day time and will continue to become angry towards people. The fasting should be done with the pure awareness.

Fasting is helpful in decreasing the force of sexual impulses

Vishaya sexual indulgence is open beastliness. It is enough if You win this. So you should resolve in your mind everyday that ‘only once I want to triumph over this, nothing else’. And nowadays it is possible to win this. Everybody can win under the grace and guidance of this Dada. If ever there is an occasion for a severe testing of your resolve of brahmacharya, if there is strong sexual attraction and inclination, then one should fast two to three times. When the force of unfolding karma is very strong, fasting can stop them.

Questioner: If we fast then will those forces of sexuality decrease?

Dadashri: All forces will stop. All this is the force of food only. This fault (of sexuality) must never occur. This can destroy everything of infinite lives, this can ruin everything, therefore it is more than enough if you won this much (Dadashri is discussing this in connection with those who have taken up the vow of celibacy).

Fast is useful only if one has self control

Questioner: Is it a fact that if one fasts then his inner inclinations vruttis would remain under control?

Dadashri: Yes, one’s inclinations would remain under control. However it depends on his saiyam control over sensual pleasures-self control, it depends on one’s sanskar (culture; also effects in current life of causes done in past life).

Questioner: One has to build his sanskar culture, because what if one has not brought anything from his past life?

Dadashri: No. But he may have brought saiyam self control over senses, with him (from past life) so when he is fasting at that time even if you show him jalebi (sweet golden crisp fried rings made from gram flour, sugar, ghee, saffron etc; anything that is tempting, sexual temptations and tendency) and other dishes his chit will not go over there, we have people like that too.

Questioner: So can he get some awareness through satsang?

Dadashri: Yes, if he stays in satsang then he can bring about closure. The solution is only satsang, satsang and satsang.

Wash away faults on the day of fasting

Questioner: Why should one fast on a Sunday?

Dadashri: It is to oppose and confront sexuality. You do not want sexuality to arise in front of you (you

(Pg.14)

fast so your stomach will remain hungry-empty and you will not have intoxication of food. So you will not have dozing and you can maintain awareness. Vruttis inclination can remain in control.); therefore the moment one becomes opposed to sexuality, he becomes a nirvishayi without sexuality. I make all these boys (who have desire to remain celibate) confront sexuality because they cannot let go of sexuality vishaya. These are all melons; these are all spineless rotting cucumbers of Kaliyug. They cannot let go of anything, leave alone sexuality, and therefore you have to find some bold means, do you not?

It is a big thing to hold and attain saiyam sexual continence, control over sexual inclinations. Holding and not slipping dharan from saiyam will be possible through the agna of the Gnani. This path is not of vyavahar saiyam external closure of sexual interactions and sexuality. This is a Gnan Marg—path of knowledge. Here ‘we’ are making you practice celibacy in thoughts, speech and acts by giving you agna. By being in the agna, saiyam disinclination towards sexual pleasure—happens.

That is why ‘we’ are telling the one who has committed sexual faults that if sexual faults have happened, then fast with this understanding on a Sunday and during the entire day keep thinking on those faults and keep washing them off, repeatedly. Do samayik (to ‘see’ specific mistakes with focused awareness as the Self), pratikraman and praschyatap repentance. If one does this according to agna then all the faults will decrease!

Fasting is to be rid of kashaya, not to create them

This deha body complex has been formed and attained, so that deha the non-Self complex must have brought forth everything of it into this life from the past life, no? It must have brought the hisaab the account of karma along, no? There is no desire to grow a beard, even then it happens. So will there not be bread for it? This world is such that even for a moment if this prakruti—the formed non-Self complex revolts, then the lights will be shut off even as Your eyes are open! So therefore, the light is on, so why will the bread not come? Vyavasthit scientific circumstantial evidence is such that it has brought everything of yours. Therefore there is nothing like worry or stress.

Yet you should not depend on vyavasthit. You should make vyavasthit sit over you. If you sit on-depend upon vyavasthit then problems may arise. You should not recall vyavasthit. On the day you do not get anything to eat, on that day fast with deep devotion to the agna of what has been said by the Vitarag Lord. Here on the other hand, on the day one gets food, he says, ‘I am fasting today.’ On another day when there is some shortage and he gets served some items, he does kashaya, ‘where did you get this food from? This cold left over bread and all this?’ So then if you want to do kashaya then don’t fast and if you want to fast then don’t do kashaya. You do not have to fast to do kashaya, you have to fast to get rid of kashaya.

After pratikraman keep a fast as a punishment

(Pg.15)

The vision—the sexual look—that happened in the last life is the reason why the sexual vision associated with attraction, takes place in this life. Despite the sexual vision that has happened, even if you do not want to look, the mind will be dragged-pulled there. Therefore this is happening because of a prior life karma account and in such situations you can become free by doing pratikraman. Again when sexual vision arises then you need to do pratikraman again. If you do pratikraman like this for a hundred times or so then you can become free. Some become free by doing five pratikramans and some become free by doing a single pratikraman.

Questioner: In spite of doing pratikraman the mind gets pulled over there, then it is sheer weakness only, isn’t it? Or is it a deceptive intent? Or are the mind-intellect-chit-ego deceiving the self?

Dadashri: In spite of doing pratikraman if it happens then it is vyavasthit. Yet if it becomes excessive then you should fast and take a punishment for that, this is called shooting the exact target. When you shoot a bullet and it hits at the exact spot; that is called a shot.Karma will not be bound through this. So when a mistake occurs again there you have to do pratikraman and along with this you should take such other punishment. When the food that the mind likes is being served, give it less than what it wants; fill in less than the demand signal from the stomach unodari. You should give punishment like this.

Mind deceives you because of deceptive intent

If you remain in ‘our’ Agnas then you can easily earn the grace. Dada does not want to take or give anything. If you remain in Agnas then ‘we’ know that you have shined in the grace and abidance of the Agnas.

This is a deceptive intent. Intent is verily wrong. If someone has been starving for five to seven days, will he go to fight? No, why? His mind would have been dissolved. That is how it is vishaya sexuality. When the mind dissolves, all the heat is gone and one becomes cold as ice!

Questioner: But Dada, on the day I fast I feel that I cannot even handle a scooter properly.

Dadashri: This is all called pleading and protecting. Here you do not have to argue. This is called protection. Here you should not protect.

Questioner: No, I am not doing protection, but I am opening it up in front of you.

Dadashri: But all this is called protection. Here, in this matter, you should not protect. Is anyone going to put you in jail here? Later then it gets fixed in your mind that now that I fasted, that is why this has happened, or it will happen like this and it will happen like that, and then it will happen. Upawas fast can give you lot of energy. This is just that the mind deceives you, is taking you on the wrong path.

If mind is out of control then you have to fast

Therefore, change the method in

(Pg.16)

such a way that your suffering is reduced and the inner happiness will increase because as the external entanglements increase, inner happiness will be reduced.

It is also confirmed that this neighbor does not know anything, right? And You are the Knower. The neighbor does not know about the headache. ‘You’ are the knower and therefore you say, ‘I know the head is hurting. Be patient and it will go down soon.’ Then pat his shoulder. You have to take care of the neighbor, do you not? Feed him well with good and tasty food. Tell him, ‘Have a meal and go to sleep.’ Why must you punish the stomach for someone else’s crime?

Questioner: Who is that someone else here?

Dadashri: The entire fault lies with the mind. The stomach has to starve because of the restlessness of the mind. Here the mind is the culprit and the stomach is the victim. The fault is of the mind and yet people punish their stomachs. The mind gets out of control when it sees sweets and pastries, then it create indigestion in the stomach. Then the next day because of an upset stomach, he has to fast. Then he will fast in the name of religion or whatever else. He has to fast, does he not?

Is fasting helpful to a spiritual aspirant?

Questioner: Maun–silence, alpaahar –eating minimally and little, unodari–inadequate filling of the stomach, ekantvaas– living in solitude, are these tools helpful or not?

Dadashri: These are helpful for sure. These are helpful tools for the spiritual aspirant.

Questioner: Maun – upawas are these tools helpful for peace of mind?

Dadashri: These are good for peace of mind. By practicing silence mental energy will increase a little. Fasting increases the energy and strength of the body and the power of the will. All these are beneficial. You should do whatever suits you.

Which one is better?

Questioner: Is it better to fast or is it better to give to charity?

Dadashri: To give to charity means to sow seeds in the field. You will reap the fruits if you will sow seeds in the field.And by fasting, awareness will increase inside. But the Lord has said to do fasting according to one’s own ability.

The importance of Agiyaras

Questioner: What is the importance of doing this agiyaras?

Dadashri: Doing agiyaras is also a science.What is called agiyaras? The five sense organs of knowledge gnanendriya, the five organs of action karmendriya and the mind makes eleven components – you have to keep all these under control for one day. However a wife will scold her husband on the day of agiyaras -fasting on the 11th day of the lunar fortnight- that ‘you did not bring this and you did not bring that’. How can you call that an agiyaras? One will not attain religion by doing agiyaras this way. If one does one agiyaras after taking ‘our’ agna then he does not have to do another at all.

If a person does Dada’s agiyaras

(Pg.17)

just once, he can attain salvation. It has to be done just once in Dada’s name.

Dada’s Agiyaras

Questioner: How should we do Dada’s agiyaras?

Dadashri: The five sense organs of knowledge gnanendriya, the five organs of action karmendriya and the mind that makes eleven components – You do not give them any nourishment. The (senses) eyes, ears, mouth- taste, nose-smell and touch are sense organs of knowledge and the hands, feet, excretion, urination and eating are effect actions and the mind is the eleventh component; for one day You do not give them any ‘food’. The ears are going to hear anyway but You should not go to listen. The eyes will see but you should not get up to investigate what is going on. The whole day, you should not do anything; you should not feed the mind at all.

Questioner: Can I move about?

Dadashri: No. You cannot do anything.

Questioner: Can I sleep?

Dadashri: You can lie down.

Questioner: What if I feel sleepy?

Dadashri: Then you should get up. The entire duration of twenty-four hours have to be spent in awareness. If you do just one agiyaras like this, the Soul will become completely separate.

Questioner: This is difficult to do.

Dadashri: If you make the nischaya (a firm decision) to do so, you will be able to.

Questioner: I understand about the five organs of action and the fives senses of knowledge but what about the mind Dada? It just keeps wandering, does it not?

Dadashri: Let it roam. You should not give it any food, keep it unfed. Then whether it jumps about or settles down, you should not give it any food. Do not feed your hands. Do not feed your eyes. On that day, you should sit and you should not feed your legs. Sit with a book and just keep saying ‘Dada’, but do not say it out loud. The reciting of Dada’s name will take place in the mind. If you do one such agiyaras, you will acquire the complete benefit. Generally when people do agiyaras, they eat moriyo (special grain), ladoo, puri fried in ghee, kadhee, vegetables of all kind; on the contrary they eat more on that day!

Questioner: So when does agiyaras commence? Do I have to start from morning till the next day morning?

Dadashri: That is all, that is all.

Questioner: Am I not to sleep the night before?

Dadashri: You may sleep the night before.

Questioner: Do I have to sleep after midnight?

Dadashri: After 10 PM you may go to sleep whenever you want to.

Questioner: Do we have to keep maun maintain silence -refrain from speaking- on that day? We cannot say anything, can we?

(Pg.18)

Dadashri: No, of course you cannot speak. You cannot feed all of them. You have to starve the mind too. You just have to keep ‘seeing’ what the mind is thinking. If ‘You’ become tanmayakar merged with the mind (Tan + may + akar = tan body, - man mind, - akar shape – to become the mind and the body) then You fed the mind. Within a day you will win over the mind. Only one brave man came about who wanted to do Dada’s agiyaras. Hey you, where did you find about this agiyaras? He said, ‘it is written in the book. I will not leave now.’ I had not given any agna. He came and started telling me that it is written in the book. ‘I want to do agiyaras.’ Hey, how will you do it? He did agiyaras and he attained tremendous energy. It is a wonder, isn’t it? How can such thing happen! If one does this agiyaras, then he does not have to repeat this agiyaras for whole life. In this other agiyaras (where people fast as per religious ritual), which flour they cook puri from?

Questioner: From rajagaro (a kind of grain used on the days of fasting – Amaranthus paniculatus) flour.

Dadashri: Is that made from rajagaro flour? And how about shiro (sweet dish usually made from wheat flour, clarified butter and sugar or jaggery)?

Questioner: Shiro they make from the flour of shingoda (tonic fruit of water plant).

Dadashri: And what kind of rice do they cook?

Questioner: They cook rice of moriyo (kind of grain-from the plant Brassica alba, growing without regular cultivation).

Dadashri: They cook moriyo and kadhee. Instead, you get better food on that day than everyday.

Fast for only one day with pure awareness

Now such karma will unfold for you. Such karma will unfold that you will be able to fast with only one meal a day ektana. But you should do according to how the karma unfolds. You should not do anything forcefully.

You should fast if such karma unfolds. And then you should keep the awareness of pure Soul. The Lord has said that if you fast only one day with the pure awareness as the Self then you can attain salvation.

Ayambil – a scientific thing

Questioner: What is the result of doing penance, fasting and ayambil?

Dadashri: It purifies the body and the mind. It also improves speech a little and sometimes it even ruins it! After eating good food if you ask someone to speak, he may not and on a full stomach he will exhibit his inner turmoil!

Questioner: How old is the practice of ayambil – does it date back to the time of Lord Mahavir?

Dadashri: Ayambil is a science. It comes from the time Lord Rushabhdev. It is not for the purpose of progressing towards the Self-Soul, it is for the purpose of the body. It is to keep the body healthy.

(Pg.19)

Anyone who has toxicity in the body or does not keep well should do ayambil. It should be done systematically. In it one eats only one thing, only one type of grain only. It is very precise and correct. From the ‘palace’ of the Tirthankara Lord, this is the only ‘room’ that has remained true. (Of the many knowledge based guidance bodha that the Lord Rushabhdev had given this is the one matter that has been preserved and is being followed even now).

Questioner: The rituals they perform, the rosary beads etc., is all that correct?

Dadashri: There is no connection with ayambil and those rituals. That is something completely different. Ayambil means to eat only one product only one time a day and to keep reciting the mantras of the Lord, that is all. Even if a person is not reciting the Lord’s mantra but eats only one kind of food one time a day, that is still considered as ayambil. The Muslims too can do it. It is a big physical penance to eat just one kind of food. Ayambil will destroy many different types of toxins in the body; it is the best method. It is a scientific discovery of the Tirthankara Lords. That is why I tell all the Jains that they are so fortunate to have retained this science. Even today people eat just one food crop and maintain their health. Many diseases of the skin are destroyed by ayambil. It is beneficial for patchy whitening of the skin -vitiligo- as well.

Questioner: Many people have practiced ayambil for years and years, what is the benefit in that?

Dadashri: Ayambil is only beneficial if it is practiced for a certain period of time. If it is practiced for an extensive period of time, it can be detrimental. It will create lack of vitamins and other nutrients. Everything needs to be done within normality.

The Lord has said to eat food having six major tastes with leisure. This one has only one flavor! The Lord had said that, ‘brother, eat a meal having six flavors.’ The prakruti the body complex is made up of six flavors. Is it (ayambil) a permanent thing to do ayambil?

All the devotees would admire that bapji (ascetics, devotees call them with respect), is practicing ayambil everyday. And bapji will also think in his mind that I will do ayambil everyday because I will earn respect. Hey you! Can you do ayambil everyday? This prakruti is made up of six juices (tastes). Six juices must go in the body. However people are intelligent, so they will say ‘I do not like bitter’. So then they have to drink bitter medicine.

What happens by doing this fasting is that swaad taste becomes kshayopsham dies gradually. When taste becomes kshayopsham then day by day taste starts to decrease. So they do all this things to win over senses of taste. Furthermore, if one does a true ayambil then all kinds of serious diseases are eradicated. If one does a true ayambil then toxic diseases are eradicated. Yes, the Lord has introduced a live thing in ayambil. (It is being followed for a million years).

Questioner: How is the true ayambil?

(Pg.20)

Dadashri: You can eat only once a day. You can eat only one kind of food, not any other kind.

Questioner: That too without salt?

Dadashri: If you add salt then you are adding a second thing. Either you eat only salt or eat only rice.

Questioner: If I eat only salt then will it not do?

Dadashri: Yes, who says no if you eat salt? Who eats salt? These people eat two to three things together. These people are not eating one thing. They eat three things together.

How is it going to be palatable? Different kinds of people are there. However these people eat moong—green lentils and flat bread. In ayambil one is asked to eat only one type of food.

Penance of under-eating

Questioner: What should I do if I am not able to fast in order to progress in the path towards liberation; what other alternative is there?

Dadashri: Do unodari (practice of under-eating; eating and drinking less than the demand from the stomach).

Questioner: What does unodari mean?

Dadashri: If you eat four rotlis (flat unleavened wheat bread), then first you start with eating three, then two; that is called unodari. This ‘pot’ -stomach is not meant to be filled to the brim!

Questioner: If a person does not eat adequately, then how will he exert the effort towards practicing religion?

Dadashri: With unodari – with under-eating – if you feel hungry then you should eat. The Lord has not said to endeavor towards religion on an empty starving stomach. By under-eating one will not be subject to dozing and slumbering sluggishness. Under-eating is the best thing to do. Divide your meal in four: keep two parts for rotli and vegetables, one part for water and one part vacant for air to move around. Otherwise awareness will be lost for sure. True unodari is when the awareness is not affected. You should fast when you have been overeating and get indigestion. However fasting is not mandatory.

Unodari means you know the limit that today you are very hungry so will be able to eat three ladoos (sweet ball). So you should reduce one ladoo. Sometimes you know that you will be able to eat two ladoos then at that time you should eat one and one quarter. You can understand the proportion so you should decrease, you should keep the stomach inadequately filled. Otherwise whole day you will feel the dozing. Basically people are sleeping with open eyes in the world and in addition they get dozing because of overeating. Jagruti awareness and this dozing, how can these two go along? Therefore there is no other penance tapa like unodari. The Lord has shown a most beautiful way: keep the stomach unfulfilled (25 percent empty). If someone generally eats eight ladoos, then he should eat five. If he was eating one ladoo everyday and says, ‘I am eating only one ladoo.’ Then also it does not work. He should eat three-fourth part of one ladoo. The Vitarag Lords have said

(Pg.21)

each and every sentence very wisely, and they can be beneficial to the world.

Dada’s penance of under-eating

If they tell me that I have to be awake until three o’clock in the morning, ‘please eat a little,’ then I would eat rotlo and milk. Because there is an empty space, nothing you can find, quite empty. I take two rotla, but how big were they? The size of one rotlo is as big as one puri. Even puri is little bigger than this and how much milk? How much gram it would be? The milk would be a hundred and twenty-five or a hundred and fifty grams.

I am taking milk since three days. Normally I do not take milk at all. Since two years I have not taken milk at all. No milk, no ghee, nothing. All this aafro uneasiness is because of milk and ghee only. Do you know how many times this Dada ate?

Questioner: No.

Dadashri: I ate breakfast in the morning, then I ate lunch, then again I had a little snack in the afternoon, drank tea, milk and rotlo at night, even now I am eating a little bit. Dada is eating five times and then says, ‘unodari tapa!’ How can you say this is unodari tapa?

Questioner: Even then it is unodari tapa, isn’t it?

Dadashri: Other person cannot eat at all. He will not like food at all, how will he like again? How many times do you eat?

Questioner: Two times. Once in a while I take breakfast in the morning.

Dadashri: It will not be convenient to you. You finish your account at fixed time (every time you eat full meal) and I would see first and then I would take everything. I know that too that all these people have scheduled time.

Questioner: Now I eat less food.

Dadashri: It is better if you eat less.

Practicing unodari is better than fasting

I have always practiced the penance of eating less food than needed for a full stomach, in the two meal times of the day. Eating less helps maintain constant awareness. The Soul is not the eater, but the body is the eater and if the body complex—pudgal becomes big like a buffalo, its increased energy can suppress the energy of the Self.

Questioner: What is the connection between unodari and celibacy?

Dadashri: One can have more awareness by practicing unodari. The increased awareness will maintain brahmacharya celibacy in thoughts, words and acts. Unodari is better than fasting; however one should keep bhaav deep inner intent that ‘I should practice unodari’ and he should chew the food a lot. If someone is eating two ladoos, he should eat one during the time it takes him to finish two. So it will take same time but he will eat less food. The feeling that ‘I ate’ will be there, and one will get the benefit of practicing unodari. Chewing the food many times gives very good benefits.

It is worth always practicing unodari

Questioner: When I feel like

(Pg.22)

practicing unodari that is the time I happen to overeat.

Dadashri: The practice of unodari must be continuous. The awareness of the Self will not stay without practicing unodari. The food which you eat is verily an intoxicant. The food which you eat, turns into alcohol and then the whole day you will feel intoxicated and when you remain intoxicated, your awareness will stop.

Questioner: Two to four hours after eating I feel hungry and the mind will ask for other things.

Dadashri: But you should eat such food that will not make you hungry. You should not take fatty—weight increasing foods like milk, ghee (purified butter) and oil. You may eat lentils-rice-kadhee, these foods are not so much fatty.

Practice unodari with discipline

Questioner: I practice unodari, but I feel hungry two to three hours later. And then I feel like putting something in the stomach, whatever I find.

Dadashri: So when you are alone you will take a mouthful morsel. That is the only thing you need to watch out for. It should be such that no matter how much food is left here even then you should not touch it if you are alone. You should eat at regular time only, except that, you should not touch anything in between. It is meaningless to eat without any scheduled time. It is all meaningless. The tongue will also feel the temptation through this, then what is left? Then you will incur insolvency. Everything (all varieties of food) is laid down here even then ‘we’ would not touch anything. Once you touch the food and put it in your mouth then you will start eating automatically. Even if you touch it! You just have to decide that you do not want to touch, and then it will settle. Otherwise the nature of the pudgal is such that if a person was asked to sit for a meal, and if it is getting little late for serving rice then he will put his hand in daal lentil soup, he will put his hand in the vegetable portion and he will keep eating. He will just keep putting his hand in food and continue to eat as if it is a big grinding-mill. Hey you, sit quietly until the rice is served, but he cannot sit quietly. He will put his hand in the daal and if not he will continue to lick chutney with his finger. Even reputed mill-owners would do this! The nature of pudgal is such. It is not the fault of these people in this. If one learns to maintain this rule-discipline then he can get his work done.

‘We’ do not fast, but ‘we’ can follow the rule and discipline. We would take just a little food and then we would stop. Now she brings dhokla—spongy yellow spice cakes, ‘we’ can eat four times more than this, and ‘we’ like them too, but ‘we’ would not eat.

Questioner: So can one maintain that discipline on the basis of jagruti awareness?

Dadashri: Everybody has jagruti awareness but the ‘one’ who is colored and wallowing in taste cannot remain in control. It is difficult for ‘him’ to control. The more ‘he—the subtler ego’ lets go and becomes the Self, the greater will be ‘his’ control.

(Pg.23)

Stomach will spoil from chronic overeating

I asked one gentleman, ‘you are so strong, what is your diet?’ Then he replied, ‘Dada, I eat one rotli (thin wheat bread) and this much rice.’ I said, ‘but how come your body is so strong?’ Then he says, ‘I cannot eat anything more, and I do not eat either.’

The more you eat, the more this body will be habituated to. It does not get ground in the right manner within. Once the stomach is swollen and if you do not feed it then you will feel hungry. Overeating swells the stomach. So a lot of gas will get filled in the swollen stomach. Then it will hurt.

Unodari with awareness

If you want to decide then pick unodari. You can have awareness whole day if you practice unodari. What happens when one does the fast is that the next day he will overeat again. The small bag-stomach gets empty during the fast and then he will fill up the bag-stomach until it becomes a big bag.

What does unodari inadequate filling mean? As and while it is burning with hunger within, one places food within. You should continue to feed along with burning and then you will have constant awareness. I can eat even if I want to eat now. If someone asks me, ‘let’s go eat’ then I will eat.

Questioner: Yes, you can eat. Because you place in just a little.

Dadashri: I can eat one rotlo (thick bread prepared by patting dough with the hand, usually made with millet) and milk.

Questioner: Having decided ‘I want to place in the right amount,’ I maintain the awareness. Is this the method of maintaining awareness in all other work of the day?

Dadashri: Maintaining that focused awareness upayoga is verily awareness jagruti.

The best of all

Questioner: To quit one thing will increase awareness so I quit eating ice-cream.

Dadashri: You should keep an exception for once in a while.

If you do not keep exception in the rule then insistence will arise. And this insistence again is poison.

Questioner: Right. So I should stop eating outside. And I must not eat ice-cream.

Dadashri: You should not eat outside at all. You can eat ice-cream just once in two to three months, not everyday.

Questioner: That too I should not eat because I desire. I can eat when the ice-cream comes naturally like this.

Dadashri: If it comes naturally, that means you may get many times naturally. But it is not like that. You can eat once in three months, two to three times in twelve months. Exception! You had once today, now one to two more times left. You should not hold on to anything such that it becomes an inflexible insistence.

Questioner: Yes, yes, now I understood that properly.

(Pg.24)

Dadashri: And there are lots of things, eat varieties of vegetables and lentil. What is the best of all? Eat but eat very little, however you do not have awareness so you are overeating.

Questioner: That is it exactly, it happens just like that.

Dadashri: So you decide all this. You have to resolve that ‘I do not want to eat’. Otherwise why will you have such need?

Unodari can be maintained by chewing a lot

Questioner: This unodari incomplete filling of the stomach is very good, so for this do I need to eat less food?

Dadashri: Yes, what I ate just now is called unodari. I can eat twice as much if I want to.

Questioner: My mind will shout verily at the time of eating. At the time of eating it will tell me, ‘take some more, take some more.’ It will shout only. It will be only looking for something to eat.

Dadashri: If the mind says what ‘we’ say then it is good. Then ‘we’ have the authority and the realm in the home of this body. You mean to say I have no control over anything in this body? Then the reply will come, ‘I cannot control the body. I have no authority.’ Then I countered, ‘when you are giving a lecture and if the mind says, ‘I want to go toilet’, why don’t you go there? During that lecture you shut off forcefully, don’t you?’

Questioner: You said it right. It is true. It is correct; over there he will shut off everything by any means. That means one has the energy to exercise authority and control.

Dadashri: The energy is abundantly present. Only the intent is deceptive. Why is ‘he—the inner one’ not raising an objection in the matter of the visit to the toilet for emptying the bladder? What if that place goes away? Let go of it; leave it alone, the mind may scream a lot. Then you will slowly say, ‘whatever will happen, it will happen, don’t shout.’

This man says, ‘if I eat less then my stomach remains empty.’ Then I said, ‘chew while you eat, then your stomach will be full.’ If you chew food a lot then food will swell up within. One person eats this much khichadee—rice and lentil preparation, and another person eats just a little khichadee. The one who eats just a little khichadee but he chews a lot will have same result—benefit like the one who eats a lot.

Questioner: That is correct.

Dadashri: So we chew food a lot until it turns like basundee (sweet dish of boiled milk) and then we send it into the stomach. It will become basundee and it will even taste so good. It will taste very good.

Did you understand? I will chew food until it turns runny like basundee and then I will let that juice go in the stomach.

Questioner: The theory is such that one should chew one morsel forty times. So the food should become watery like liquid. There is an English aphorism, chew water, drink food.

Dadashri: I let the food become like

(Pg.25)

basundee and then I let it go in stomach.

The Lord said to this is fasting in vain

If we ask him, ‘are you starving because you are sick?’ Then he says, ‘I am doing penance.’ If we ask, ‘how many days will you stay hungry?’ Then he will say, ‘four days.’ So then by doing penance would you be hot (angry) or cold (calm)? But mooah (The one who is dying, this word used by Dadashri to alert a person), he will stay angry only. And he will get so angry that children would think that ‘it would be better if I do not have father’. The Lord had said that if your stomach is hurting or if you have indigestion then eat one to two times. If you overeat then that is poison and if you will not eat then that is also poison. That is why the Lord had said to practice unodari tapa—penance of under-eating.The penance that arises from eating less is accomplished thus: if you normally eat four chapattis everyday, then start eating three and eat less rice; then you do not need to do the penance. You need to fill the stomach just enough to survive. It is a fault to suffer from excess food related results in the stomach. If you had doodhpak—sweet milk and rice dish and if you were asked to read some religious book in satsang, so later when you try to read this book lying in a bed you will doze off. You cannot eat so much that you become drowsy.

The Lord has called the fasting without awareness and starving for many days as dhor laanghan the useless fasts of animals. But one goes through bodily discomforts so it will surely reap fruits. One will get devgati—a life in the celestial world. If you enjoy the food with gusto then you will reap the fruit for that too. The Lord has said to remain in normality. The lord has said, ‘Walk the natural path,’ but no one understood the talk of the Lord at all and people are practicing penance without understanding.

Overeating causes dullness

Laziness pramaad will decrease as the amount of food intake decreases and the intellect flourishes. In the old times, tea was not the option so people used to eat so much food that they would become like an ox. Intellect will become like a buffalo (blunt). Yet they used to work very hard. They would work very hard to fulfill their assigned duties. Intellect becomes blunt by overeating and subtlety would dissipate.

Adjustment at the time of eating

Questioner: I am not hungry even then I end up eating, what kind of hunger is that?

Dadashri: You eat for the taste, not for hunger. You are hungry for the taste.

Questioner: Yes, I am hungry for the taste. Then I end up overeating. I eat in spite of the fact that I am not hungry, is it called the hunger of mind?

Dadashri: That’s it, that is the hunger for the taste.

Questioner: For the taste?

Dadashri: I was not hungry and yet I ate in the afternoon. The mind was saying that that if I will eat at night then it will be difficult, instead eat some now. I ate on that account even though I was not hungry. It depends on circumstances

(Pg.26)

like that. It occurs because of some account. Most of the time people eat for the taste only.

Questioner: We would not have such calculations at all. We would not have such awareness that it will become difficult.

Dadashri: No, you would not have such account at all. You do not have such awareness at all, do you?

All those interferences are of the belief

Questioner: If I eat according to what the mind dictates then at the time of going to bed I feel that I have eaten three times more. And if I eat less then I feel that I am getting hungry.

Dadashri: But do you not go to sleep?

Questioner: I go to sleep for an hour or half an hour after lunch but two to three hours later I feel that I am hungry since I had eaten less food.

Dadashri: What do you mean you get hungry?

Questioner: I feel I ate less. I feel my stomach is empty. I feel I am hungry. It stays in my mind that I have eaten just a little food.

Dadashri: But then what happens? Do you die in the morning?

Questioner: I feel like I have weakness. I feel that I might need to eat something.

Dadashri: You should eat. You should eat two pieces of dates and drink water. You should pamper the mind by any means. You ate so much from the beginning that is why it happens like this.

Analysis of meal intake through experience

Today I did not have anything that I like to eat. I just took some vegetables. I do not like buttermilk so I had taken a little.

Questioner: A thought just came to me, that you are eating just this little now, then you will remember at night, will you not? Would you feel that you are hungry?

Dadashri: The feeling would come for sure. I will experience that what happened and what did not happen. But what am I going to lose in that?

Questioner: ‘Yes, it would not kill us.’

He—referring to file one—has experienced that when he eats less then at night it will say, ‘I am having problem, I feel hungry, it says like that.’ So if it experiences for two to four days or for a week, and once the confirmative test has happened then I know that I will not have any effect after a week.

Dadashri: You will not feel anything after two to three days. One becomes weak and restless for no reason. Nothing stays after two days. Nothing will stay thereafter it is the law. One ate less, was very hungry at night, could not sleep until two o’clock and then sleep came, and in then upon awakening the stomach feels full.

Questioner: I do not have a problem in the morning. After dinner at night I have a problem for few hours. After getting up in the morning I feel that I do not have any problem.

Dadashri: Oh, the stomach would be full. There is so much hunger at two o’clock in the night, one feels the burning pangs of hunger, and then gets tired and goes to sleep and in the morning the stomach feels full. Gas forms inside, what happens in a balloon? If you do not get to eat sometime then it will become gas.

Questioner: That is right, it happens exactly like that.

Finally the goal of following the agna only

Questioner: Dada, many times I still happen to eat little extra. But pratikraman does happen.

Dadashri: There is no problem in that.

Questioner: I am doing pratikraman in this way that, ‘O Dear Dada Bhagwan, that discipline of unodari that I have taken has not been followed, and for that, I am asking for forgiveness.’ Is it all right if I do it that way?

Dadashri: That means You are stuck to this discipline only and the body has gone not been in discipline. The fact that we make him to do pratikraman definitely proves that we are stuck to the discipline. You want to abide by Agna. That decision must not deviate.

~Jai Sat Chit Anand