Scientific Secrets of Jainism

Author(s): Nandighoshvijay
Publisher: Research Institute of Scientific Secrets from Indian Oriental Scriptures Ahmedabad

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Scientific Secrets of Jainism
Fast is a distinct type of penance of Jainism. This penance is chiefly of two types: 1.Tivihāra Upavāsa means taking only boiled water during the day time. 2. Cauvihāra Upavāsa means nothing can be taken as food and water also are abstained from. According to the Jain tradition a fast begins in the evening of the previous day and it is completed in the morning of the next day. It means that a fast is of thirty-six hours in all. In the fast of the Jain tradition, tea, milk, cofee, fruits, sweets made of condensed milk or dry fruits as in fasts of other traditions are not taken nor is it a symbolic fasts of 12 hours from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. observed in order to realise some political object. Such a symbolic fast is begun after a full breakfast in the morning and after the end of the fast in the evening a full dinner is taken. But in Tivihāra Upavāsa of the Jain tradition, only boiled water is taken from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A Cauvihāra Upavāsa is complete abstainment for full 36 hours from the evening of the previous day to the morning of the next day and not a single drop of water is taken i.e. water is also fully abstained from.
There are only three necessities of life, food, water and air. It is necessary to take needed wholesome food regularly in order to keep the body fit. If less food is taken or no food is taken, the body becomes weaker and weaker and in the long run it becomes unable to do other activities. For digestion of food, water is very indispensable. The body contains 75 to 80 % water. If water is reduced in body on account of passing tools or vomitting, blood-pressure fast begins to decrease and the body becomes uneasy. One has, therefore, to take glucose-water etc., to prevent dehydration. Water is also, therefore, very indispensable for subsistence of life. Oxygen is very indispensable for process of metabolism. By combustion of fat and sugar through oxygen, we get necessary energy. Oxygen is taken from air through breathing. Air contains nearly 20 % oxygen. Not even for a few minutes can a human being nor any living being nor even a plant live without air. Without water one can live for some hours and without food one can live for some days. Form the scientific view-point, a fast of many days can, therefore, be observed by taking only water and no food. Without taking any food or water, a fast can be observed only for four or five days and not for a longer period.
Besides being a means of self-purification and self-control, a fast is a means of purification of the body and of control of internal activities of body. By observing a fast one disposes of the internal solid waste of the body. Bile,