The Self, having in dreams enjoyed the pleasures of sense, gone hither and thither, experienced good and evil, hastens back to the state of waking from which he started. As a man passes from dream to wakefulness, so does he pass from this life to the next.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
Perceiving her son endowed with the characteristics of Vishnu, Devaki prayed: You are the Illuminator of all psycho-physical organisms, the indefinable Reality, which the Vedas declare as the unmanifest cause… When the universe is dissolved by force of Time, the gross elements are ultimately merged in ahankara (their cause)…
