Fasting or as we know Upavasa has a broad definition. Whatever lifestyle we maintain in our day to day life we have to change in a regular time interval to make our body and soul healthy. You may notice that how busy and pressured lifestyle we are living. We use tamashika foods like spicy, non veg dishes every day. And also take tea, coffee, soft drinks and hard drinks also. Spent hours and hours in those activities by which we loose our inner peace.
Many people take Upavasa in another sense. Just taking the satwik aahars on a particular day is not an Upavasa. They don’t know actually, why we need to do fasting? For it we have to first understand about our body and why it needs fasting. In the body’s natural cycle something called board (Mandal) which means that in every 40 to 48 days, the body goes through a particular cycle. And in between these days there are 3 days (in interval of 11 to 14 days) when the body does not need any food. And in these 3 days anyone can live pleasantly. If you have any pet animal, then most of time you may mark one thing between them that they don’t eat anything on a specific day. Actually, they also go through that natural cycle of the body. But we are not so much conscious that we can identify that special day. That’s why for everyone’s attention a day fixed as per Hindu calendar i.e. Ekadashi. If you are from other religion you can mark a specific day on the calendar and you can follow it.
So use that particular day not only to clean your body internally, but also from outside. Try to live a simple life. Do some mediation. Just live a different life which can fill freshness and insert energy both inside your body and soul. In this way you can experience the greater dimension of Life by fasting.