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Fasting in the Sadhana of the Integral Yoga: Impact on Vital Energy and Physical Body · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Fasting has often been utilized by spiritual and religious
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  practitioners as a way of gaining some measure of control
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  over the vital desires, cravings, and urges, as well as
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  a means for increasing the vital and mental energy available to
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  them. In some cases, it has been used
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  to induce altered states of awareness to help achieve vision
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  and clarity of purpose by the seeker.
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  At the same time, since much of the history of spiritual
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  practice has been focused on liberation and a virtual
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  abandonment of life in the world, not much attention was
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  being paid to the downsides of fasting, including weakening of
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  the body and upsetting of the nervous, vital and mental
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  balance of the being. For a practitioner of the
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  integral yoga, which aims at transformation of life rather
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  than abandonment of life, this disregard of the negative
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  aspects of fasting as a means of sadhna cannot be accepted.
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  The science of Ayurveda describes different body types
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  that have differing needs in order to maintain and restore
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  their physical balance and well-being.
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  Wata, Pitta, and Kappa types therefore respond differently to
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  any kind of dietary regimen, such as fasting.
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  Kappa types, which tend to hold more body weight and bulk, may
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  benefit from moderate fasting, which may help them increase
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  energy, burn off excess weight, and maintain an optimal balance.
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  On the other hand, Wata types, who already tend toward less
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  body weight and a more mobile nervous energy, are less able to
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  sustain any form of fasting. The more they try to implement a
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  fasting routine, the more chance they have of becoming imbalanced
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  and exhibiting nervous reactions or experiencing an inability to
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  concentrate. Pitta types may get caught up in
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  the process and overpower the body to achieve some goal or
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  ambition, thus potentially harming the body, the nervous
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  envelope and the mental stability through excessive
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  fasting. For the spiritual seeker, it is
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  useful to understand this dynamic of fasting in relation
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  to body type and the forms of response the body and vital
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  being give when subjected to any kind of fasting regimen, but
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  particularly any of the more extreme forms of fasting.
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  For all body types, a reasonable approach is to maintain the
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  balance and health of the body and holding a strong foundation
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  as the basis for the spiritual development.
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  Instead of any form of vital grasping or mental ambition
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  around achieving spiritual results, which may tend to
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  accentuate attempts to push the body, including the use of
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  fasting to gain new experiences and energies.
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  A more moderate view that focuses on the spiritual
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  aspiration and receptivity and concurrently creates a solid
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  basis to hold the energy that the divine force brings into the
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  being is a more useful approach for long term development,
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  Srioro Bindu observes quote. It is a fact that by fasting, if
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  the mind and the nerves are solid or the will force dynamic,
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  one can get for a time into a state of inner energy and
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  receptivity which is alluring to the mind.
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  And the usual reactions of hunger, weakness, intestinal
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  disturbance, et cetera, can be wholly avoided.
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  But the body suffers by diminution and there can easily
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  develop in the vital A morbid over strain condition due to the
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  inrush of more vital energy than the nervous system can
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  assimilate or coordinate. Nervous people should avoid the
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  temptation to fast. It is often accompanied or
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  followed by delusions and a loss of balance, Especially if
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  there's a motive of hunger strike or that element comes in.
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  Fasting becomes perilous, for it is then an indulgence of a vital
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  movement which may easily become a habit injurious and pernicious
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  to the sadhna. Even if all these reactions are
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  avoided, still there is no sufficient utility in fasting,
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  since the higher energy and receptivity ought to come not by
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  artificial or physical means, but by intensity of the
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  consciousness and strong will for the sadhna.
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  End Quote Reference Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga,
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  Chapter 4. Desire Food Sex page 68.