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Aptavani-4
and you will bind karma of merit. These people have been fasting through countless lifetimes. The Lord has called it fasting without understanding. This is because all the fasts that you have done without the right awareness, have been done in vain!! You are more likely to succeed in doing penance if you sit with someone who does penance. The Self never eats; it is only the body that eats. You will only understand this after you realize what the Self is, and unless you do, you will never understand this.
The Lord said, that if you do just one single fast with pure applied awareness (upayog), you will accomplish your work. Since You have attained the knowledge of the Self, You will be able to fast with upayog (applied awareness) of the pure Self and therefore, your fast will be done with pure applied awareness (shuddha upayog). You have the 'main' thing (the Self) in Your hands; the kite's string is in Your hands. To stop it taking a dive, is in Your hands. If you can manage a single fast, then try it and see for yourself. Experience the 'taste' of it yourself! On a Sunday. When you do not have to go anywhere, you can do it then. On that day, you should not sleep. You cannot maintain awareness during sleep, now can you? This fast should be done with pure applied awareness (shuddha upayog). During this time, if you read or sing spiritual songs (pado) throughout the day, there will be inner and outer purity. Or else, use Dada's Five Agnas for support.
If you spend the entire day in shuddha upayog in this way, you will not even feel that you have fasted the whole day. You will only feel hungry, if you happen to slip away from upayog (awareness of the Self). You will be aware of the hunger, but You will not suffer its pangs. If you suffer the hunger, it means that you have lost the upayog. But 'to know' the hunger, is upayog. Many people feel very good on the day of their fast. They feel comfortable experience (shata vedaniya). Therefore, everything depends upon the belief.
