Prabhupāda: In India Kṛṣṇa consciousness is cent percent spread. Every Indian, even if he is not Hindu, he is Kṛṣṇa conscious. There is one professor in Allahabad University. He is Mohammedan by religion, but he is a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. On the birthday of Kṛṣṇa he would fast the whole day, and he would write one article to some paper. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is heart and soul of every Indian. One may differ, one may not agree, or there are so many different classes of men, but Kṛṣṇa is known cent percent in India.
Fast (from food) (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"fast"
|"fasted"
|"fasts"
Notes from the compiler:
This page pertains to "fast" in the sense of abstaining from eating.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:
Yamunā: Fifteenth is the appearance day of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī.
Prabhupāda: Fifteenth is the appearance date? ? Oh, then we have to perform.
Haṁsadūta: What are we supposed to do? Fast?
Prabhupāda: We shall fast up till twelve and then offer puṣpāñjali and then chant, as far as we can supply.
Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:
Haṁsadūta: No, no, we won't take any prasādam today.(?) We are fasting till noon because it is the appearance day of our Guru Mahārāja's spiritual master.
Yamunā: Disappearance.
Haṁsadūta: Disappearance? Oh. We won't be taking anything at all. Nothing.
Prabhupāda: Up to twelve we don't take. Fast.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: ...tomorrow fasting.
Bob: Tomorrow's fasting?
Acyutānanda: Tomorrow we fast. Up until evening.
Prabhupāda: Up to evening.
Acyutānanda: Until the moon comes. Then we take ekādaśī or feast?
Prabhupāda: You can feast. Feast.
Acyutānanda: So we'll fast up until the rising of the moon and then take feast, full prasādam.
Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: You have surrendered to your spiritual master. His order is final. So even if you don't like, you have to do it. To please me. Even you don't like. Nobody likes to fast, but spiritual master says, "Today is fasting," so what can be done? (laughter) This is austerity. And disciple means who has voluntarily agreed to be disciplined by the spiritual master. That is austerity.
Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Just as all my disciples, they have not lost their individuality, but they have surrendered their individuality. That is required. Just like if a man does not use sex, does that mean he has become impotent? If he likes he can have, thousand times sex life, but he has voluntarily avoided it. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 9.59). Sometimes we fast, that does mean we are diseased. We voluntarily fast. It does not mean that I am not hungry, I cannot eat. But we voluntarily fast.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: So the one who is cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's not very much disturbed with fever. He knows that it has come, it will go automatically. If we fast for few days. There is a Bengali proverb, jvaranpar ketanadali palab...(?) If you receive one unwanted guest and fever, you don't give him eat. Then it will go away. Unwanted guest, if you do not give him food, he'll go away. Even a fever also, if you don't eat, it will go automatically. So after all, these things come and go.
Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: That is our śāstric injunction, that as soon as you see a sannyāsī, you must bow down. Otherwise, you should fast one day. It doesn't matter, I or you. This is the injunction of the śāstra, that sannyāsī is supposed to be the guru of the society. So one must bow down.
Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is just like the concept that if God is all-merciful, why He is so impartial, somebody making happy, somebody making suffering?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is mercifulness. Just like when doctor says, "You don't take anything today. You fast," that is mercy. That is mercy. It is good for him. By starving, he will be cured. That is mercy.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: The celebration is you have to fast day and night and four times offer worship to the Lord Śiva.
Dr. Patel: And drink bhang also.
Prabhupāda: No, no, that is not recommended. But they can do... They do all now...
Bhāgavata: So we should observe this festival, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Not necessarily.
Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:
Haihaya: If we have a world day every month, fasting world day. If we can fast, all the world can fast, all inhabitants of the world...
Prabhupāda: No, no, you cannot expect that the whole world will become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is not possible. You keep your standard. Don't be bewildered by these rascals. That is our proposal. We should not be misled by this rascal philosophy. We shall stick to our own philosophy. That is required.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of our best devotees, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he recently left our association. And one of the... I know the biggest reason is that he was fasting completely from almost all foods for thirty days.
Prabhupāda: But fasting is good. If one can fast, that is good. That is tapasya.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. But see, they read these books in addition.
Prabhupāda: Fasting is not bad. If one can fast, that is very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Total fast, you mean?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yadubara: I remember in Los Angeles...
Prabhupāda: That is great austerity.
Yadubara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you said that we should not fast more than one day.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I wanted to point out to you that the results...
Prabhupāda: No, artificial... Just like Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he was fasting, but he was not weak. That fasting. And he who will fast artificially and become weak, "I cannot work," that is not required. That is called markaṭa-vairāgya. If you fast and at the same time you do not become weak, then that is recommended. And after fasting you cannot do a flat, fall flat, then what is the use of fasting? Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was fasting, but he was taking thrice bathing and offering obeisances hundred times. His regular activities was not stopped. And he was taking every alternate day a little quantity of butter. That's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So we cannot imitate his position.
Prabhupāda: That is not possible. We have to work.
Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:
Devotee (1): You said that if we fast and we can't do our work and we become weak, than this is not so good.
Prabhupāda: This is not good, "not so" not, absolutely bad.
Devotee (1): So, our devotional service comes first?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (1): So if there is, let us say there is grain and rice being offered to the Deities, and one finds that if he eats this, his service is impaired. Like so many times I've seen, practically myself if I overeat grains in the summertime, I drive around doing my service and I'm falling asleep.
Prabhupāda: Then which foodstuff suits you?
Devotee (1): Fruits are more... they keep me more active.
Prabhupāda: So you take fruit. Fruit is also offered to the Deity. There are varieties of prasādam. So whichever suits, you can take. Anything artificial is bad.
Morning Walk -- July 3, 1975, Denver:
Brahmānanda: Fasting is one way of eliminating the disease without taking medicine.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is a Indian proverb that "Disease and unwanted guest, if you don't give food, they will go away." If some guest has come whom you do not want, don't give him food. Then he will go away. (laughter) Similarly, disease, if you fast, it will go away.
Morning Walk -- December 7, 1975, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: If a sannyāsī is not offered respect, the punishment is that he should fast one day. That is śāstric injunction.
Gunarnava: What is the punishment if one doesn't fast?
Prabhupāda: You must go to hell. (laughter)
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 11, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: So today, ekādaśī as usual, the Varāha-dvādaśī will be also observed and tomorrow breakfast.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Breakfast. Fast? No.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fasting tomorrow or...
Prabhupāda: No.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Regular...
Prabhupāda: Simply worshiping Varāhadeva. Keśava dhṛta-śūkara-rūpa, jaya jagadīśa hare. That take.
Jayapatākā: Between 8:50 and 10:00 we should break the fast.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- February 11, 1976, Mayapura:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...on your appearance day and Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī's and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Gaura Kiśora's we should observe half-day fast. I have a question that on all the other auspicious days, just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and others, should we also observe half-day fast?
Prabhupāda: It is... But if you cannot, that is another...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes because of the saṅkīrtana...
Prabhupāda: No, no. If you cannot, you can take.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And just sing some songs and praise.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Kīrtana is main thing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And if possible, then the fasting.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- February 11, 1976, Mayapura:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And if possible, then the fasting.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I see. (break) ...is up till sun...
Prabhupāda: Up till sunset. Lord Rāmacandra.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Also. And Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī?
Prabhupāda: Half.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Half day. (break)
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What kind of fast is that?
Prabhupāda: Balarāma? Half day. It is fifteen days before Janmāṣṭamī.
Morning Walk -- March 16, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: ..observing fast day today?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Up to?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Moonrise.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- June 7, 1976, Los Angeles:
Rāmeśvara: So I've been told that if one fasts on Bhīma-ekādaśī, that it is like fasting on all the ekādaśīs. Is that true?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Ekādaśī is meant for fasting, either Bhīma or Arjuna. But we cannot fast, therefore we have to take little fruits and.... Otherwise, ekādaśī means fasting.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If it is possible, should we go without eating at all?
Prabhupāda: Yes. But don't lie down and sleep.
Morning Walk -- June 7, 1976, Los Angeles:
Rāmeśvara: (in car) ...that in Kṛṣṇa consciousness fasting and feasting are the same.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: Could you explain that?
Prabhupāda: Fasting and feasting is the same?
Rāmeśvara: That what I, they told me.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for Kṛṣṇa. For Kṛṣṇa, you fast or feast, the same thing. Better fast. (laughter)
Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Up until he comes to this point. Not only this point, but up to this point. Eat as much as you like. We are not miser. You eat. As much you want I shall supply. But don't waste. Eat. Don't waste.
Hari-śauri: This morning you were saying that fasting is very good. (laughter)
Harikeśa: I was just thinking about that.
Prabhupāda: No. Not prasādam. I never said. No, those who want to eat... Fasting... One who has not developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for him fasting. And one who takes pleasure, "Oh, it is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, or Kṛṣṇa's food. I'll take." This is the idea. So we are not devotees, therefore we should first fast. And those who are devotees, they'll take as much as they like. I was telling fasting because I am not a devotee. (laughs) For me fasting is good. If I eat more-atyāhāraḥ. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca, ṣaḍbhir bhaktir praṇaśyati (NOI 2).
Morning Walk -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Vinode Bhave is not so important. There is government policy, something. Otherwise they could not care what Vinode Bhave said. It is... Don't think it is due to Vinode Bhave's request.
Dr. Patel: No, but that is what apparently...
Prabhupāda: What Vinode Bhave. There were so many agitation for stopping cow slaughter, big, big, Karpatraji and others, others...
Guest (4): One Śaṅkarācārya fasted seventy days.
Prabhupāda: Yes, so they didn't care. Now, all of a sudden, why this good sense? Vinode Bhave is not very important. There is some policy.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:
Prabhupāda: Whether I am in the clutches of māyā or not can be tested—whether I am sleeping more, whether I am eating more, whether I am more sexually inclined. He can test himself. And bhakti means vairāgya-vidyā, to conquer over these three things. So practice this. They are... To rise early in the morning and attend maṅgala-ārati is compulsory. It is part of this education, spiritual education. And not to eat more than necessary. Then you'll not sleep more. You'll find, if you observe fast, you won't feel sleepy.
Room Conversation -- April 10, 1977, Bombay:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think simply it is just weakness now. Due to not, you know, it is like a fast. You've been maintaining a fast now for nearly two months.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I like that. If there is no appetite, what is the use of forcibly eating? When appetite will come, we shall eat. Natural.
Room Conversation -- April 10, 1977, Bombay:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. Another thing I see on account of the fast. One of the reasons perhaps... One of the advantages of fasting is that the swelling is... Fasting cures diseases.
Prabhupāda: Diet treatment is very good.
Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And you should try to drink and eat whenever you have a little desire.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You shouldn't try to fast until death.
Prabhupāda: No. That is useless. Do you recommend that?
Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: As you are doing. Not fast. No... You shouldn't artificially fast or stop eating.
Prabhupāda: No, no. That is suicidal.
Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I asked you the other night if you would fast, that you should not fast until death. And you said, "No, no. That is suicidal."
Prabhupāda: Now I am puzzled.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Puzzled.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Puzzled. I mean, we are not able to let you go, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We are not strong enough. We want you to be with us. We need you longer.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, what can be done? You give me that preparation?
Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes devotees faint just from fasting one day. You have fasted for six months, Śrīla Prabhupāda. If you faint a little bit, it's not a sign of death.
Prabhupāda: No, no. I am welcoming death.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I know. That's the... That's why we're talk...
Bhavānanda: But we are not. We are not welcoming the idea of your death, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You say, "What is the harm?" There is no harm for you. Your return to Kṛṣṇa has been assured from your very birth.
Prabhupāda: So why not allow me to do that?
Bhavānanda: We are thinking of the harm for us and the rest of the world.
Prabhupāda: That depends on Kṛṣṇa. But for me, if you give me this facility—one parikrama, and then leave me to my fate—you'll give me... Because I am not eating, so keep me whole day as I am. But if you think that I have become burden, then...
| Page Title: | Fast (from food) (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika |
| Created: | 06 of Feb, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=31, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 31 |