The Trigger
The clock was 6 minutes away from declaring the beginning of the next day, the day I had chosen to keep a fast. To set the record straight, I am not a religious person at all, I don’t visit temples or chant mantras. But desperate times call for desperate measures and when you are one of those few people who still hasn’t been placed as an intern, I call it desperate times. I know, what a nerd but it is what it is.
I live in a hostel and the food they serve is pathetic and I am habitual to being half famished the whole day and the only day my belly isn’t grumbling is when I am full with chicken. So I thought, this will be a cakewalk for me, I am used to it. Turns out the certainty of not eating the whole day made me a lot more anxious than the fact that every day I used to go to sleep empty stomach.
The Patience Test
I passed the first half of my day doing the normal chores and avoiding going to the mess. I searched on the internet the time of the sun set which would finally mean that I could eat. But the realization that I couldn’t eat chicken made me curse the time I decided to do this harrowing task.
All I could think about was fancy food and gourmets, fully knowing that I couldn’t eat anything except a ‘satvik’ home cooked meal. Even the movies I was watching weren’t kind enough to trim their “lunching” scenes.
The Aftermath
As soon as the sun gave me the thumbs up I gobbled up 3 bananas, hoping maybe it would stop or least slow down the hunger games that were being held in my flat belly. Nothing. This made me cranky.
I bought snacks for myself but with no intention of eating them and placed them in my friend’s custody, in case I break down and give in to my animalistic cravings.
God is witness to how I survived those 3 hours and as soon the next day technically began I tore open those packets of snacks.
The Realization
Once the hunger pangs were over and I was full, I started thinking clearly. In that moment I realised that fasting is not for religious purposes but spiritual. God doesn’t care if you eat or not. Nobody does. It is just a stepping stone in gaining complete control over your senses and fighting temptation. Both of which are necessary in attaining nirvana.
Food is important for our survival and our spiritual ancestors knew it. They observed fasts so that once a week or month there body could clean itself and they could learn to control their hunger.
Nothing is more powerful than a man who is in complete control of his body, a concept which is completely lost on our society. Temptations weaken a man and control strengthens him.
With this as my motto I decided, in future, to repeat this feat but not with all those religious rules like eating only home cooked meal or no non vegetarian food. I will do it to control my temptations and leash my demons.
As for the internship, yes, after 4 days I received the confirmation from a reputed company. What conspired it? I believe it’s my resume.
