Physical Austerities, Self-Torture, Fasting and the Mastery of the Sexual Impulse

There is a considerable history within the religious and spiritual traditions of the world, of the use of various forms of self-inflicted physical suffering to restrain the basic sexual impulse. Part of this arises through an attempt at ‘disciplining’ the physical being to not stray from whatever the specific objective of the particular path happens to be. Another part arises through the dogma that sex is a ‘sin’ and the body is born ‘sinful’ and thus, needs to be punished. Yet another part comes through the vital nature’s desire for excitement, attention and action. If it cannot get it through sexual activity then it substitutes various forms of painful suppression as a sort of sado-masochistic alternative. And part of it comes through a sense of frustration at the inability of the mind and will to simply bring about compliance by the vital nature and the physical body.

Whatever the reasoning behind adopting any of these methods, the reality is simply that they do not actually succeed. The result tends to be weakening of the body and the focusing of the attention on the suppression of the sex-drive and the physical means being employed, rather than on the aspiration, the tuning of the consciousness to the spiritual force, and the strengthening and increasing the positive supportive action of the body, life and mind in the spiritual transformation. As we know, harsh suppression tends to increase the power of the force being suppressed, so that in the end, it can become even more aggressively powerful when it gets the opportunity to escape from the active conscious will that is suppressing it.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Hurting the flesh is no remedy for the sex-impulse; though it may be a temporary diversion. It is the vital and mostly the vital-physical that takes the sense-perception as pleasure or otherwise.”

“Reduction of diet has not usually a permanent effect. It may give a greater sense of physical or vital-physical purity, lighten the system and reduce certain kinds of tamas. But the sex-impulse can very well accommodate itself to a reduced diet. It is not by physical means but by a change in the consciousness that these things can be surmounted.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pp. 80-81

Fasting in the Sadhana of the Integral Yoga: Impact on Vital Energy and Physical Body

Fasting has often been utilized by spiritual and religious practitioners as a way of gaining some measure of control over the vital desires, cravings and urges, as well as a means for increasing the vital and mental energy available to them. In some cases, it has been used to induce altered states of awareness to help achieve vision and clarity of purpose by the seeker. At the same time, since much of the history of spiritual practice has been focused on liberation, and a virtual abandonment of life in the world, not much attention was being paid to the downsides of fasting, including weakening of the body, and upsetting of the nervous, vital and mental balance of the being. For a practitioner of the integral yoga, which aims at transformation of life rather than abandonment of life, this disregard of the negative aspects of fasting as a means of sadhana cannot be accepted.

The science of Ayurveda describes different ‘body types’ that have differing needs in order to maintain and restore their physical balance and well-being. Vata, Pitta and Kapha types therefore respond differently to any kind of dietary regimen, such as fasting. Kapha types, which tend to hold more body weight and bulk may benefit from moderate fasting, which may help them increase energy, burn off excess weight and maintain an optimal balance. On the other hand, Vata types, who already tend toward less body weight and a more ‘mobile’ nervous energy, are less able to sustain any form of fasting. The more they try to implement a fasting routine, the more chance they have of becoming imbalanced and exhibiting nervous reactions, or experiencing an inability to concentrate. Pitta types may get caught up in the process and overpower the body to achieve some goal or ambition, thus, potentially harming the body, the nervous envelope and the mental stability through excessive fasting.

For the spiritual seeker, it is useful to understand this dynamic of fasting in relation to body type and the forms of response the body and vital being give when subjected to any kind of fasting regimen, but particularly any of the more extreme forms of fasting.

For all body types, a reasonable approach is to maintain the balance and health of the body, and hold a strong foundation as the basis for the spiritual development. Instead of any form of vital grasping or mental ambition around achieving spiritual results, which may tend to accentuate attempts to ‘push’ the body, including the use of fasting, to gain new experiences and energies, a more moderate view that focuses on the spiritual aspiration and receptivity, and concurrently creates a solid basis to hold the energy that the divine Force brings into the being is a more useful approach for long-term development.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “It is a fact that by fasting, if the mind and the nerves are solid or the will-force dynamic, one can get for a time into a state of inner energy and receptivity which is alluring to the mind and the usual reactions of hunger, weakness, intestinal disturbance, etc., can be wholly avoided. But the body suffers by diminution and there can easily develop in the vital a morbid overstrained condition due to the inrush of more vital energy than the nervous system can assimilate or co-ordinate. Nervous people should avoid the temptation to fast, it is often accompanied or followed by delusions and a loss of balance. Especially if there is a motive of hunger-strike or that element comes in, fasting becomes perilous, for it is then an indulgence of a vital movement which may easily become a habit injurious and pernicious to the sadhana. Even if all these reactions are avoided, still there is no sufficient utility in fasting, since the higher energy and receptivity ought to come not by artificial or physical means but by intensity of the consciousness and strong will for the sadhana.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pg. 68

The Role of the Physical Body in the Spiritual Sadhana

A human birth is considered to be an important and valuable step in the growth of the soul and in the evolutionary development of consciousness in furtherance of the divine manifestation. It is not to be wasted. The traditions of India indicate that even the gods, who are static beings, would have to take birth in the body in order to evolve, change, transform and develop. Considered in this light, it becomes clear that abuse or weakening of the physical frame is counter-productive and not indicated as a path forward, particularly for those who take up the integral yoga, which aims to transform life, not abandon it.

There is a considerable ascetic tendency leading toward renunciation of the body based on long historical precedent in spiritual traditions throughout the world. This tendency developed due to the difficulty of overcoming the forces of vital desire in all its forms and manifestations and reactions, including greed, jealousy, envy, anger, lust, cravings, and passions that drive the being out of balance.

Sri Aurobindo proposes to transform not eliminate the vital being and thus, when it comes to dealing with the physical body, he recommends a balanced approach without craving, desire or avoidance. The body should be maintained, kept functional and in balance, even developed to reach its higher potentials, without the seeker falling into the other side of the issue by becoming attached and thereby grasping for physical results. To do this the seeker must overcome the limitations of both the materialist fixation on the external world and its manifestation as well as the limitations of the refusal of the ascetic to participate fully in the divine manifestation by seeking an escape from it.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “It is a mistake to neglect the body and let it waste away; the body is the means of the sadhana and should be maintained in good order. There should be no attachment to it, but no contempt or neglect either of the material part of our nature.”

“In this Yoga the aim is not only the union with the higher consciousness but the transformation (by its power) of the lower including the physical nature.”

“It is not necessary to have desire or greed of food in order to eat. The Yogi eats not out of desire, but to maintain the body.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pp. 67-68

Food, Fasting and Spiritual Development

It is tempting for a spiritual seeker to undertake some form of extreme fasting. The practice of fasting has been used since time immemorial all around the world to increase the vital force by reducing the ‘drag’ of the physical body and its operations around acquiring, preparing, eating and digesting food. Additionally, extreme fasting has been reported to help the seeker achieve various altered states of awareness, in what has been called a ‘vision quest’ in certain traditions. Fasting has also been used as a mechanism to interfere with the vital desire or craving for food or specific tastes, and it has been used by many traditions as a means of fixing the attention on the spiritual process and having the seeker learn how to rely on the Divine for his sustenance by whatever comes into the begging bowl that day during the time prescribed by the path for seeking nourishment for the body.

At the same time, there are limitations to the use of fasting and the imbalances it can create in the physical body, which, after all, is foundational for the life on earth and should be properly attended to in order to provide a solid support for the spiritual development. It should be noted that the Taittiriya Upanishad makes numerous references to the role that food plays in the spiritual practitioner’s sadhana: ‘Verily all sorts and races of creatures that have their refuge upon earth, are begotten from food; thereafter they live also by food and ’tis to food again that they return at the end and last. For food is the eldest of created things and therefore they name it the Green Stuff of the Universe. Verily they who worship the Eternal as food, attain the mastery of food to the uttermost… From food all creatures are born and being born they increase by food….’ and ‘Thou shalt not blame food; for that is thy commandment unto labour.’ ‘Thou shalt not reject food; for that too is the vow of thy labour.’ ‘Thou shalt increase and amass food; for that too is thy commandment unto labour.’ (translated by Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads, excerpted from Brahmanandavalli and Bhriguvalli). There are numerous further references that make it clear that food is both the physical substance and, at various levels of the being, the life-energy, the other vibrational energies that sustain and support our overall being in all its parts.

There may be benefits to short-term fasting on occasion. Recent nutritional science shows that refraining from eating for a certain number of hours in a day can be a positive benefit to the body. This is not the same as long-term or extreme fasting, which tends eventually to weaken the body, reduce its substance and strength for most individuals.

It is of course possible that certain individuals have found a way to nourish the body without intake of much food, yet that does not answer the general situation. Paramahansa Yogananda, in his Autobiography of a Yogi, reports meeting such an individual!

Until and unless an individual can make a transition to a method that supports and strengthens the physical body without the need of physical food intake, the seeker should work to find a suitable balance that avoids the extremes and provides the body what it needs without awakening greed for food, desire or craving.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The idea of giving up food is a wrong inspiration. You can go on with a small quantity of food, but not without food altogether, except for a comparatively short time. Remember what the Gita says, ‘Yoga is not for one who eats in excess nor for one who abstains from eating altogether.’ Vital energy is one thing — of that one can draw a great amount without food and often it increases with fasting; but physical substance, without which life loses its support, is of a different order.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pg. 67