Sanjeev Kumar Sharma
On the nine auspicious days of Navratras many people observe fasts and a majority of these do so because they believe that it is an important ritual to be performed these days as the same may invoke good omen.There are many categories of those observing Navratra fasts. Some have these for all the nine days of Navratras, some do it only for a single day, some on first and the last Navratra and some couples have fast for a single day believing that it may fetch the blessing of two fasts.
There might be some more beliefs in this regard while it is a fact that there is no hard rule under which all the people in Hindu community should observe fasts in Navratras.There is also another big class of people who even stop consuming onion and garlic during Navratras and to remain pious, they even maintain distance from those consuming non-vegetarian foods.Even one more class of devotees is there which observes fasts but consume certain items permitted in fasts in quantities more than their requirement while others, who are in fact very few in number, on fasts consume very limited things not more than what is necessarily required.We have seen that during the starting days of PM Modi as the head of our nation, he visited US where he only consumed water, tea and lemonade as he was observing Navratra fasts.
This act of our PM on one hand made the world aware about our rich culture and on the other hand it hit the mindset of those within India who remain busy in criticising our culture and rituals on one pretext or the other. Apart from this our youth was also highly moved with this small step of our PM as it left a big and deep impact on them and after this more and more people started fasting in Modi way.All the devotees on fasts wish to visit the shrines of the Goddess to pay obeisance where some other devotees and volunteers organise stalls and serve food to those visiting the shrines to pay obeisance while arrangements also remain there for special foods to those observing fasts.In fact, during Navratras, activities like fasting, serving the devotees, paying obeisance at shrines, organising Jagrans (functions involving recitation of devotional songs throughout the night), Kanya Pujan (worshipping little girls) etc remain mostly everywhere.There is no doubt that fasting gives a lot of health benefits and if done continuously for nine days in a proper way, the exercise may bring the blood sugar levels, uric acid, cholesterol etc to normal limits.
Observing fasts on Navratra days also invokes the feeling of devotion which stops negative thoughts and deeds from corrupting our mind and this in turn certainly improves our spiritual health along with the willpower and brings us close to God after which we feels as if we are resting in the lap of Almighty Eshwar (God). While with a healthy body we can perfectly accomplish various tasks, the good spiritual health will keep us positive, upright and there remains a truth that good spiritual health is an essential requirement for attaining enlightenment.
It is a known fact that in this materialistic world where almost all of us are in a mad race to remain ahead of others and in doing so many a times certain unethical and corrupt means are adopted by us which lowers us morally. Also lured by the decorated eatables at certain places, the taste prompts us to consume many irrelevant things which pushes us to certain problems which if ignored may lead to ailments or some critical diseases. At the time of birth, the Almighty God blesses us with a good physical body and a pious soul but as we grow up consuming adulterated and irrelevant things, our body gets polluted/filled with toxic things leading to one or the another type of ailment.
Also after remaining in company with wrong people, witnessing wrong developments, talking wrong things, thinking wrong and doing wrong deeds after falling prey to temptations or due to some other reason, the soul too gets polluted, disturbed and derailed.Fasting in Navratras brings a rare remedy for good health to our physical body and good spiritual boost for our soul.While on fasting if one meditates at least twice a day in morning and in the evening and consumes least, extraordinary and positive changes are then inevitable. From this we can confidently say that the very founders of Indian culture who started the practice of fasting during certain religious occasions like Navratras were certainly great thinkers and learned people of very high intellect.Navratras come twice a year giving us big opportunities to purify our body and soul by observing fasts in proper way. The proper way mentioned here means right way towards spirituality.
One should wake up much before sunrise, pray to God for blessing us with the wonderful day, take bath and sit for a few minutes to meditate and feel God everywhere around. Use of lemonade should be done at least twice during Navratras as this drink removes toxic substances from our body. Similarly, meditation in morning and evening further strengthens spirituality in us.So, the Navratras are very special days and we should make a proper use of these to get a good physical and spiritual health for a proper meaning to our lives.
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