Natural Way of Living

The Substitute for Fasting

2012-01-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

In the past few months I have not tried fasting. Ever since I changed my profession, I hardly got an opportunity to fast. These days I am seriously learning, practicing and teaching yoga to a handful of people. As a result, I hardly got an opportunity to get on with fasting. There is another reason for me to quit fasting. I learned from some of the ancient yoga texts and Guruji BKS Iyengar has also mentioned in many of his writings “that yoga is not for him who gorges too much and also not for him who starves himself.” According to hatha yoga pradeepika, a yogi is not supposed to starve himself by fasting.

Before quitting the fasting practice immediately, I wanted to make sure that fasting which gave me so many benefits before; why not benefit the yogis? So I kept on fasting once in a week along with my yoga practice. I had no problems at all for the first few months. In fact, it helped me in repairing my body and relieving my pains from the practice of yoga.

As my practice intensified, I began to experience fatigue, body aches and lack of strength in performing some of the balancing and inverting asanas, where you need some energy and power to perform. I then gave up weekly fasting. I gradually began to gain strength and power to practice my asanas. As you all know that fasting is meant to cleanse and repair our internal body. Soon I realized that asanas are not only cleansing and repairing my anatomical body but also my physiological body. After following Dr. Raju’s natural way of living I found myself light and healthy but after adapting yoga in my life seriously I gained robust health and I hardly remember of getting any symptom of sickness in the last couple of years. With the blessings of Guruji Shri BKS Iyengar and Dr. M.S. Raju I am going well in my life and also taking the teachings of these two Legends to the people in my own possible way.

I always had a question in my mind about Dr. Raju. He is been traveling throughout the state to teach the natural way of living to the people of Andhra Pradesh. Where does he get the time to fast and how be him going to manage the fast while traveling and talking for hours? I then revised his books called dasa pustakalu hoping for an answer. Dasa Pustakalu is a set of ten handbooks which every household should maintain at home, in which he has written many of his personal experiences along with misconceptions about natural lifestyle and explanations related to them. Revising these gems called Dasa Pustakalu did not disappoint me. I got the answer looking for. Here it is:

During his childhood Dr. Raju used to get sick very often. In spite of using medicines he used to get sick frequently. In the year 1985 he learned about the practice of Lankanam – the fasting unto recovery and ever since he followed this practice whenever he falls sick. He used to recover from fever in a very short span of time than ever before without spending a single rupee. He then began to eat rich, natural, whole, unprocessed and raw foods which kept him away from doctors for months and years. From the year 1992 he began to practice fasting every Saturday and from the year 1994 he began to eat 25% cooked food without oil, salt and 75% raw uncooked food. From the year 1997 onwards he began to eat his dinner before sunset. This cleanses the body in day to day basis therefore he happened to end the weekly practice of fasting. To understand this you need to go back to my previous posts on fasting and recollect the duties performed by our body and how fasting helps our body to perform those duties effectively and how this dinner before sunset substitutes fasting.

Some of the ancient yoga texts say that your food should be according to the rise and fall of the Sun as the energy from Sun stimulates the Jattharaagni-the fire to digest food in our body. You need to have a light breakfast and dinner in the morning and in the evening as the Jattharaagni will be low during those times due to mild sunrays. Low Jattharaagni will hamper digestion if you eat heavy food. As the Sun is at the peak in the mid day, it is advised to take heavy meal in the Lunch. High Jattharaagni will help digest any sort of food during this time. Today we have forgotten this very law of nature and inviting all sorts of diseases and disorders.

Dr. M.S. Raju in his book ‘water and you’ explained the duties of our body in a simple and clear manner. Page 12 ‘water and you’ says that the body has two duties to perform – the day duty and the night duty. The body remains healthy as long as it is performing these duties effectively. If these duties are interchanged the body loses health and life expectancy is reduced. It suffers from diseases.

1. Day Duty: The body discharges two types of functions during the day. The first is to digest food, transport this digested food to the cells, convert it into energy and move the waste material to the excretory system. The second function is to produce millions of new cells in the body against the millions of cells that die every day.

2. Night Duty: The body discharges two types of functions during the night. Firstly, the waste material produced during the day through consumption of food is purged to a certain extent through excretory system in the form of fasces, urine, sweat and carbon dioxide during the day. The cells purge the remaining waste material during the night. Secondly, many cells in our body get diseased everyday. The body repairs them. Likewise the body protects us from injuries, wounds and ill health.

If the body has to perform these functions effectively the body needs sufficient water, space and enough rest. Now let us assess what amount of water, space and rest we are providing to our body. Let us analyze what an average individual does in his day to day life and how his body bears the brunt.

1. Morning Activity: Let us assume that an average individual wakes up at 7AM. Immediately after brushing the teeth he needs coffee or tea. Some time later say around 7-30 AM or 8AM he needs breakfast.

2. Afternoon Activity: He then gets back to his work and around 12PM or 1PM again he will have some lunch.

3. Evening Activity: By the evening he finishes his work around 5PM or 6PM and would like to have some tea and snacks.

4. Night Activity: Finally at night he will have his dinner around 8PM or 9PM and go to bed at around 10PM or 11PM.

Now let us analyze the duties performed by our body in respect to our activities in detail.

The tea or coffee consumed around 7-15AM will at least take 15-20 minutes to digest; say it got digested by 7-20AM. Now it has to convert this into energy and supply it the cells and carryout the waste to excretory system. By the time it begins its work the breakfast comes in at 7-30AM. Now it has to digest this again. The breakfast is obviously heavier than the tea or coffee and it will consume more time to digest. Gone are the days where people used to follow the sun rays in the eating schedules. The kind of stuff we eat in our breakfast today easily consumes 2 to 3 hours of time to digest the food. Say, by 11-30AM it finishes up the digestion. By the time the body begins its other function of converting the food into energy, transporting it to the cells and sending the waste to the excretory system, there comes the Lunch at around 12PM or 1PM. The Lunch obviously is heavier than the breakfast. It may take around 3 to 4 hours to digest. Let us assume that it got digested by 4PM. Do we let the body perform other functions at least now? No! We don’t! There comes the snack in the evening at 5PM or 6PM. And what we have in snacks? All sort of junk that is available in the market. It again takes 1 or 2 hours to digest. BY the time the digestion is finished it is the time for a dinner at 9PM or 10 PM. Are we going to eat light dinner? No! We eat tummy full of stuff leisurely sitting with family members at night as everyone is available at home. These days’ people in metro cities are eating less in the noon as they feel dull which hampers their performance at work and gorging full of their tummies at night as there won’t be any work apart from sleeping. It takes another 4 to 5 hours to digest the food.

Majority of you might agree that you get a sound sleep at late night around 1AM or 2AM and some even say that they get sound sleep early in the morning hours at 4AM. That is because your digestive system stops functioning at that time. It completes the morning duty and starts performing the night duty when you are completely at rest.

We have forgotten the very basic nature of our creation. We humans are day predators. We hunt for food in the day and rest at night. The body needs 24 hours to perform its two duties – 12 hours in the day and 12 hours in the night. If your day begins at 7AM, you must allow your body to finish its day duty by 7PM. Because of our unnatural lifestyle we are over straining our body in performing the day duty by 6 to 7 hours and under performing the night duty by same length of time.

The body does most of its cleansing, repairing and healing work during its night duty. It will be around 2PM the body finishes its day duty. The night duty begins thereon. It continues smoothly as long as we are at sleep. The trouble begins from the moment we wake up. As soon as we wake up the cycle rolls on with tea at 7-15AM and the body thereby stops its night duty underperformed by 7 hours. The fortunate thing is that the body does not continue its night duty as it does with the day duty. Had it performed the night duty like its day duty one would die immediately due to indigestion? But if this continued for long anyway would lead to serious health hazards, as we see millions of people suffering from various lifestyle disorders.

Here we are analyzing the problems the body of an average individual is facing due to his lifestyle. This analysis based assuming the consumption of normal food. The teas and coffees taken in between, sweets, deep fried oily food and snack with lots of creams, butters, spices etc are exception. You can imagine the rest.

There some people who intentionally follow this lifestyle but there are also some people who do due to lack of choice. For those who are willing to compensate this over strain on body but their schedule of work or nature of work do not allow them to change their lifestyle drastically can follow a weekly fasting schedule as recommended by Dr. Raju.

Now let us briefly try to understand how fasting compensates that over strain and how it helps the body to balance the day and night duty effectively. Please go through fasting Dr. Raju’s way in order understand the process of fasting. When you fast in Dr. Raju’s way, suppose you have decided to fast on Saturday, the fasting begins from Friday night after dinner and ends with breakfast on Sunday morning. The night duty of the body begins at around 2PM on Friday and it goes on till 7AM on Sunday. As you have not consumed any food there is no day duty for the body. Therefore it continues its cleansing and repairing work. It does the night duty continuously for 30 hours in the period of fasting. How many hours your body is under performing in 6 days? 42 hours in a period of 6 days. By fasting once in a week you are compensating the load of 72% (30 hours) on your body. Isn’t it wonderful? Believe me, biweekly fasting is a boon to your health.

There are many people like me who cannot undertake fasting biweekly due to various reasons. If you make little changes in your lifestyle and discharge your daily activities as given below, then that will substitute the benefits of fasting. Your body will get ample time to perform its functions effectively on day to day basis without needing a fast. Here is the schedule:

1. Morning Activity: Try to wake up at 4-30 or 5AM early in the morning. Drink 1 or 1.5 liters of water, clean your bowels and exercise for at least an hour. People who cannot exercise can take a walk for an hour or two. By 6-30AM or 7AM have a glass of vegetable juice made up of any of these veggies like carrots, beetroots, cucumber, tomatoes, coriander leaves etc. It takes not more than 20 minutes to get digested and you will get ample enzymes that are useful to the body from them. You can have your regular breakfast by 7-30AM or 8AM as usual. Eat light breakfast without oil, ghee, cheese etc. so that the food gets digested easily.

2. Afternoon Activity: Have your regular lunch at 12-30PM or 1PM. Many people are used to eating fast food items in the day as that would save the time and keep you light. But that’s not right. Eat well enough in the lunch as your digestive power is at peak.

3. Evening Activity: Get back home and eat a light dinner before Sunset by 6-30PM as the digestive power is mild during that time. Prefer to end up with fruits in dinner.

Do not play your mouth in eating objects apart from this schedule. No snacks, no teas, no coffees, no juices, no soft drinks etc. in between. Water is the only exception. You can drink 2 glasses of water every hour or two maintaining a gap of half an hour before meals and 2 hours after meals.

Let us now analyze how our body discharges the duties with this schedule:

The vegetable juice taken at 6-30AM will be digested by 6-50AM and the breakfast taken at around 7-30AM will be digested by 8-30AM or 9AM. Moreover the morning exercises assist in digesting the food quickly as it raises the digestive power. Your body will have enough time to perform rest of the functions before lunch.

The lunch taken at 12-30PM or 1PM will be digested by around 3PM. Here again the body has enough time to perform rest of its day duty.

If you finish your dinner by 6-30PM with light food, it might be digested by 9PM. The body was resting at around 2AM under the normal activities. How many hours you saved with this schedule? Around 5 hours a day! How many hours it is going to be in a week? It is about 35 hours a week. Even if you have taken some heavy food couple of times in a week still you are compensating 30 hours which is equivalent to a weekly fasting.

I still have problems in following this schedule. I have no time to take vegetable juice in the morning as my yoga class is scheduled at 5-30AM to 7-30AM. After taking up the class I prefer to practice for 2 – 3 hours in the morning. Sometimes I end up drinking a glass of milk or juice half an hour before practice. I begin my practice at around 8-30AM till 11-30AM and will have my lunch around 12-30PM or 1PM.

I again have my class from 4 PM onwards. Therefore I cannot finish my dinner before Sunset. My dinner time is around 8PM – 8-30PM. I have no choice in this case. Moreover my appetite is high as my work involves physical exertion and I have only 2 meals a day. Therefore I cannot tend to have small meals at night. I slip into sound sleep by 10PM and wake up at 4-30AM without a miss. I have been following this routine for quite some time now and enjoying my life as never before.

In conclusion I would like to make it clear that fasting once a week is good for people involved in sedentary work. For people who needs excess physical exertion in their work it is not required. You can just follow the other alternatives to cleanse and repair your body. You must understand that the self uses the body to make the journey of life. You must always take care of your body as you take care of your vehicle. If you ignore the vehicle of your life called the body then the soul will dump you. Live healthy and let others live the same way.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Keep watching the space for more updates.

Dr. Mantena's Light on Fasting

2011-03-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

I have been regularly posting updates on the super medicine called fasting from quite some time now. In my previous update “Fasting Dr. Mantena’s Way” I tried to explain some of the queries that come across me from the readers and at the same time mentioned certain tips and suggestions to be followed during fasting. I hope many of your doubts might have been clarified in that post. Still there are certain issues that are to be looked into while practicing a fast. There is a wonderful CD of Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju called “Lankanam Parama Aushadham”. You can find this CD from any of the franchisees of Dr. M.S. Raju or you can log on to www.manthenasatyanarayanaraju.org to order the CD’s online. Unfortunately the CD is available only in Telugu.

Dr. Raju has explained all the facts and concerns of fasting in that CD in great detail. In the mean time let us try to throw some light on fasting by Dr. Manthena Satyanarayana Raju.

Who and When to Fast?

You might have so far learned many facts on fasting through my previous blogs. But still many of you might be in dilemma whether or not to begin fasting. When and how do I begin fasting? Do I really need fasting to cleanse my body? Is it safe to fast without proper guidance?” These sorts of questions might be bothering most of you. Here is the solution for all such queries in Dr. Mantena’s Light on Fasting.

It is discussed in most of my previous blogs that a regular fasting is very healthy for our body and therefore one should fast at regular basis and how the Indian ancestors embedded this great science of fasting in our customs and traditions. We often send our vehicles to the garage or service stations for repairs and maintenance at regular intervals. We are very concerned about the vehicles that carry us to the destination of our work. But are we that concerned about ‘the body’ – the vehicle that carries us to the destination of our life? Hold a hand on your heart and ask yourself “do I equally love ‘the body - the vehicle of life’ as the way I do with the vehicle of machine?” Fasting at regular intervals cleanse and repairs the body similar to the way our vehicles are serviced at regular intervals. Long fasting is like repairing the engine of your vehicles. Smaller repairs can be done by any amateur mechanic or service person but when the engine gets repaired it has to be done by a specialized technician or mechanic in a well equipped service station. Similarly, you can undertake smaller repairs like single day fasting on your own at home without any risk. For serious engine like repairs to your body or longer fasting, your experience isn’t going to get enough. You need the experienced and specialized team of doctors at your disposal. Nature Cure Ashrams and hospitals are best for such fasts. Please do not repeat fasting for more than 1 day at home on your own. It is not advisable. You might feel it easy and comfortable but do not undertake longer fasts without proper guidance. Let us now try to learn who should fast, when to undertake fasting and for how many days:

(1) Fasting once in a week: All those individuals who are obese, all the office goers and businessmen who work in shelter under the fans, air conditioners and air coolers, all those who have bad body odors, all those who eat their dinner at late hours of 10PM - 11PM, all those foodies who enjoy non-vegetarian food must fast once in a week in order to repair and clean their body internally. According to Dr. Raju Sunday is the best day for fasting. Fasting on Sundays reap number of benefits. People tend to eat more junk on Sundays and holidays as they either cook vast varieties of food at home or go out for lunch or dinner. If you fast on Sundays you get away with the junk that might have gone in your stomach thereby saving your time and money. At the same time women at home get relieved of their cooking and cleaning work. Ultimately the body gets enough rest to repair and cleanse the inner system. If you are fasting on Sunday, please don’t stay awake till midnight 11PM or 11-30PM on Saturday and eat all the stuff you might have ate on Sundays. Eat seasonal fruits on every Saturday at 5PM - 6PM as dinner. No further eating please. People in India especially the south; don’t call it a dinner if they don’t finish it up with rice. The fruits get digested by 7PM to 8PM and the body begins its night duty of cleaning and repairing from 8PM onwards on Saturday itself which is very beneficial. Continue fasting on Sunday as described in my previous blogs and take your usual vegetable juices and sprouts in the breakfast on Monday. People with high calories can remain on fruit juices and fruits throughout the day in breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do according to your convenience.

(2) Fasting once in a Fortnight: All those who work hard in the sunlight, wind and dust to earn their livelihood, people who are lean and weak, children and individuals aged above 60 can fast every ekadasi (11^th day of the month) or twice a month.

(3) Fasting the next day after Festival and other Ceremonies: Indians do not need a reason to celebrate. No country in the world might have had so many festivals and ceremonies than India. Out of the lot we have some major festivities once in a while during the year. The major the festival, the bigger is the list of dishes, desserts and cuisine. The women of India leave no stone unturned to cook all varieties of delicacies to please their men and children. No individual would like to let the opportunity to eat so many delicacies go. Therefore they eat everything that is offered and end up suffering in the next day or the day after from all sorts of indigestion and gastric troubles. Therefore, every individual is advised to fast the next day after such festivities and functions like marriages or birth days or anniversaries etc. The way you clean your house after the festivals, marriages and other functions clean your body by fasting.

(4) Other Occasions: Whenever you feel uneasy, unhealthy, sick, unwilling to eat, suffer from gastric and digestive disorders etc. remain on fast without a second thought. Don’t eat forcefully and spoil your body. Give rest to your body by fasting and all your worries are looked after by the body.

Who should not fast?

Now let us look into the other side of the coin and learn who should not fast? All those people who are suffering from diabetes especially those who are on insulin, those who are addicted to coffee and tea (till they sacrifice them and overcome headaches), those who consume medicines for certain ailments, those who are very feeble and weak, those who have very low in blood, feeding mothers, those who often feel dizzy are not advised to fast. All these people are first advised to follow the dietary regimen of Dr. M.S. Raju; improve their condition and can try fasting when they have gained good health and confidence.

I tried to bring in few more facts about fasting through this post. I hope this will help you in practicing the healthy way of living. Keep fasting and keep watching the space for more updates.

Natural Remedy for Warts

2011-02-19T03:03:00.000-08:00

Sometime back my wife suffered a lot with wart on the sole of her feet. She took all kinds of medicines and bandages available in the market. Being a professional teacher she requires standing the whole day on her feet. She experienced a horrible time those days for about 6 months. One fine day I was watching Dr. Yelchuri Venkateswara Rao’s (a famous Ayurvedic Doctor) program on TV found a solution for the problem. I advised the tip to my wife to follow and after following Dr. Yelchuri’s tip she completely relieved from the problem in a fortnight’s time. It showed signs of improvement in a couple of days itself which boosted her confidence and faith. In no time she was fully cured and always thankful to Dr. Yelchuri for that.

She then asked me to write about this in my blog. I was just reluctant for sometime as I was engaged in teaching yoga to my students and other work. Today I came across a request from Ms. Shweta Yamsani in Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju’s fan page that I started on facebook some time back to interact with people following Dr. Raju’s Natural Way of Living. Instead of replying Ms. Shweta alone at the fan page I thought a blog post would help more people like her looking for the solution. Let us now try to understand what warts are? What are the types of warts? And the natural remedy for removal of warts in detail:

What are Warts?

Warts also known as common warts are the local growth in the skin that is caused by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection. Although they are considered to be contagious, it is very common for just one family member to have them. In addition they affect just one part of the body such as hands or the feet without spreading over time to other areas.

What are the types of Warts?

(1) Dome Shaped Warts: There is the familiar type of dome shaped warts on the backs of fingers, toes and knees.

(2) Plantar Warts: Plantar warts are different from most other warts. They tend to be flat and cause the buildup of callus (that has to be peeled away before the plantar wart itself can be seen. Plantar warts may attack blood vessels deep in the skin. They can be quite painful. Plantar warts are caused by human Papilloma virus (HPV) type 1 and tend to affect teenagers.

By Contrast, common warts on the skin of the fingers and hands appear as little mounds overgrown skin with a rough dry surface. They do not as a rule grow down much and they do not tend to hurt. They are usually caused by HPV types 2 and 4 and by preference affect young children before their teens. To avoid plantar warts, a child should be taught never to wear someone else’s shoes. If a child gets plantar warts, they should be treated by a doctor. Plantar warts can be far more of a problem than common warts.

(3) Plane Warts: Flat (plane) warts may arise on the face, legs and other parts of the body, often in large numbers.

(4) Periungal Warts: These warts are found around or under the nails

(5) Filiform Warts: These warts typically appear as a single long stalk, often on the face.

Natural Remedy to Cure Warts:

Not all the above types of warts are painful. Some kind of warts hurt you while some others don’t. Filiform warts are commonly found in many people over their eyelids, nose, face and neck area. I haven’t seen people complaining about pain with these warts. While other types of warts are painful and need to be treated. You can either go for Allopathic treatment where they apply certain acidic lotions initially and if require cut the affected part which is quite hurting. I personally believe this should be the last source of action.

You can try the below mentioned treatment method suggested by Dr. Yelchuri during a TV program. I am a firm believer of the great Osho’s principle “Preach only after you experience and not on mere beliefs as all beliefs are false because the belief of you might not be a belief for other.” It worked for my wife and hope that works for you too. Therefore try it, experience it and share your experience with others.

The method of remedy is quite simple and inexpensive. You can easily afford and accomplish it without any side effects. You need a banana, a piece of Aloe Vera and a bandage for this treatment.

(1) Cut the affected part of your wart slightly on the day one and wash it with lukewarm water.

(2) Take a banana and peel off its skin. We always eat the banana and throw the skin considering it as useless. Ayurveda has recognized its medicinal values way before and recommended for various ailments. Scratch the inner layer of the banana skin (the thread like white layer) and keep it a side.

(3) Now take a piece of Aloe Vera and extract the gel removing the out layer of the plant. A piece of 1 or 2 inches of Aloe Vera is sufficient.

(4) Now mix the Aloe Vera gel and the extracted banana skin with your palm and apply over the affected part and tie a bandage or cloth.

Note: This has to be done every day before sleep for 8 -15 days and you will see the difference in no time. You can even continue the process further if needed. If this hasn’t worked out try some other sources.

I hope this will resolve your problem. Do send in your feedback and keep watching the space for more updates.

Fasting Dr. Mantena's Way

2011-02-08T05:04:00.001-08:00

A lot is discussed about fasting through my previous updates. I also mentioned how crucial is the role played by Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju in reviving this age old medical science of fasting. There are still many doubts, misconceptions and misinterpretations on the science of fasting. This particular update is an attempt to wipe out all such doubts and misconceptions about fasting.

As discussed in the previous blogs, Fasting means resting the entire digestive system for a whole day and saving the energy that is used for digesting the meals, converting the digested food into energy and transporting that energy to each and every cell of the body. At the same time saving the energy by resting ourselves without working. The body thus, utilizes the energy saved by fasting to clean and repair itself from junk and infections formed within.

Fasting is getting blamed for the mistakes committed by certain people as they are performing the fast without knowing the true meaning, purpose and procedure. Fasting performed in improper manner will not help the cause in any way. The True meaning, purpose and method of fasting have changed with the time. Earlier people used to fast exactly the same way they were taught by the elders with sincere dedication and commitment. Today’s generation is about fusion. They change everything and anything in the name of fusion. Today, fasting has become a subject of fun due to some of these practices by certain people. There are certain people who skip meals for the entire day burning their intestines with hunger and eat the full quota of skipped meals at night and claim fasting. While some other people drink all sorts of fluids like juices, coffee and tea etc. and claim of fasting. There are also some other people who eat fruits, coconuts, tiffins and snacks in the name of fasting. While some others, eat their normal breakfast and lunch skipping the dinner in the name of fasting. In this way, some people eat once, some eat twice, while some consume fluids during the fast and say that fasting is doing no good to them. Any food that is taken during the fast has to be digested and the body needs energy to digest. When the energy required for cleaning and repairing the body remains in the stomach for digestion, how can it be a fasting? Fasting-means giving complete rest to the entire digestive system. You might ask, if nothing is taken don’t you get dizzy? You don’t! Our body is a treasure house of nutritive substances. These nutritive substances are stored in various parts of the body. According to Dr. Hiren Parekh, a healthy body can easily survive for about 3 months, without any outside food, on the strength of its stored fat, bone marrow, sugar, tissue fluids, lactic liquids, minerals and vitamins. When we abstain from food, the body uses these substances only. When this store of substances is depleted, the weight of the body goes down. All the nutritive substances like proteins, fats, sugar, minerals and vitamins are enough in our blood, bile, bone marrow, liver and muscles. As long as these substances are present in the body, we will have no difficulty whatsoever in fasting. This process is called Autolysis. The stored nutrients in the blood and bile reach the living cells which use them. Glycogen and Live Starch remain in the Liver and are later transformed into sugar and supplied to the cells. These substances are completely balanced. Its proof lies in the absence of beriberi, any skin disease, rickets, scurvy etc. Even during a long term fasting, a remarkable improvement is observed in rickets and metabolism of calcium during fasting. Red blood capsules are found to increase in case of anemia.

It has been proved with many experiments on animals and humans, that the living cells of the body become more active during fasting. The fat cells go on declining at first. The stored food elements in the body are used up before the nutritive elements of brain, muscles, hearts and lungs are used. Then proteins, sugar, fats, minerals and vitamins are needed. It is the function of the living cells to preserve them, reach them at proper places and do utilize them. It is a great surprise to observe the changes going on in the body during fasting. There is great co-operation in the work of depletion and replenishment of the wear and tear of the vital organs of the body is done by less important organs. Our own body is the deciding force for the duration of the fasting period, without causing any harm.

Role of Honey in Fasting:

A complete rest has to be observed during fasting. Unlike the animals, the man cannot sit unmoved for long. Therefore he needs some energy to keep him going. What would that be? It should be a drink that gives you the energy and at the time do not need to get digested. It has to reach the blood cells directly without disturbing the digestive system of your body. The only energy food that reaches the blood cells without digesting is “Honey”. Honey is easily absorbed into the bloodstream within 10-15 minutes of time and provides you instant energy. You can use honey as the only source of energy during fasting as it requires no digestion. You can take 200-250gms of honey during the fast.

Apart from energizing, honey also plays a crucial role in soothing the nervous system of our body during a fast. According to Dr. Raju, our body needs 2400 calories per day for working normally. Out of these 2400 calories, 800 calories are utilized by our brain cells. When the brain cells do not get these 800 calories, they tend to trouble you and when your brain starts troubling, you might get severe headache and shivering. 250gms of honey contains 800-850 calories of energy. Therefore consuming 250gms of honey during fast pleases the brain cells and avoid the tensions. I have received several comments and emails through my blog saying that many get severe and unbearable headaches during the fast in spite of serving honey. My wife was one of such people who suffered severe headaches during the fast. Initially I was not sure about the reason behind that. I thought maybe she has some problem in her head. One day I personally experienced the intensity of pain she used to receive while fasting. Only then I realized the reason behind this. So here is the answer and solution for all those who feel such headaches during fasting. The reason for such pain during fast is the stress on the brain. My wife is a teacher and you all know how straining a teacher’s job is. So keep yourselves away from thinking, talking and all those work requiring the use of brain cells on a large scale during fast. I bet this will relieve your problem. Another reason could be the chilled weather conditions. Drink lukewarm water during winter and rainy season during fast.

Fasting Method:

I had already mentioned this in my previous update “Fasting a Super Medicine”. I received many replies on the post asking various questions. Taking all those questions into consideration, this update is an attempt to answer all those queries. Before beginning the procedure it is very essential to know the importance of water in fasting Dr. Mantena’s Way. According to Dr. Raju and as well as Dr. Hiren Parekh, fasting without food is easy but fasting without water is dangerous. Whether you feel thirsty or not, you need to drink water in all situations. As said before, fasting repairs the wear and tear of the body as well as provides rest to all parts of the body. The digestive system, the skeletal system, circulatory systems, respiratory systems and the nervous systems etc. get sufficient rest during fasting. The more we eat, more effort is required to digest it by our organs. When we eat less, the digestive organs get some time to relax. When we fast without taking food, they fully relax. When we fast, the muscles of the face, the stomach, the intestines, liver, pancreas, heart and arteries etc. are free from their routine work and they get rest. This is not difficult to understand. Excepting the fluid secreting organs, the other organs have to work less to excrete the waste matter. The process of breathing slows down, the circulatory system has to work less and thus, all the organs of our body get a good opportunity to rest during fasting.

Fasting removes the waste from our body. Fasting removes many toxic matters from the body. It is concluded by many doctors that a complete fasting for 3 days helps removing so much of toxins from the body, which otherwise could not have happened even after consuming 100 bottles of blood purifying medicines. Water plays a vital role in carrying out all these functions. Therefore, according to Dr. Raju whether you drink honey or not, it is essential to drink water. Here is the exact procedure described by Dr. Raju to follow a fasting routine safely and securely.

(1) Drink 1 to 1.5 liters of water as usual as soon as you wake up and try to complete the bowel movement.

(2) An hour later, drink another 1 liter of water and try to attend the bowel movement again. It is better to have the intestines empty. Those who suffer from free bowel movement can take up enema. Others don’t need enema.

(3) You can take another half or a liter of water after one hour from the second installment of water.

(4) Some people especially the aged ones might feel dizzy drinking this much of water and attending the nature calls frequently. Such people can skip the third installment of water.

(5) Begin your first glass of honey lemon water at 9AM or 10AM. Take a big glass of water and add 4 tbsp of honey with 1 lemon. Stir well and drink. The sour flavor of the Lemon kills the desire for food and the Vitamin C present in it increases the immunity system assisting in better repairs of the body. After drinking the juice gargle your mouth well to safeguard your teeth as there is a risk of forming the germs in the teeth due to sweetness of honey. I also read in an article by famous Yogini Indira Devi that lemon juice weakens the teeth. You might notice some sticky feeling in your teeth after drinking lemon water. I am not sure how far they are going to affect but I believe prevention is better than cure.

(6) After 1 ½ hours say 10-30AM drink 1 or 2 glasses of water.

(7) At 11AM drink Honey Lemon Water

(8) At 12-30PM drink 1 or 2 glasses of Water

(9) At 1PM drink Honey Lemon Water

(10) At 2-30PM drink 1 or 2 glasses of Water

(11) At 3PM drink Honey Lemon Water

(12) At 4-30PM drink 1 or 2 glasses of Water

(13) 5PM drink Honey Lemon Water

(14) 6-30PM drink 1 or 2 glasses of Water

(16) Stop drinking water by 6-30PM or 7PM. If you drink water after seven you might be deprived of sleep at nights due to frequent urination. However, you can lick some honey or drink honey lemon juice with less water even after 7PM if you find yourself dizzy or hungry.

Tips and Suggestions:

Please note and follow some of these instructions and suggestions carefully while fasting:

(1) Do not exercise or practice Asanas during fasting, as it does not serve the purpose of saving energy by fasting. You can though practice some easy pranayamas that soothes the nervous system.

(2) Prefer to stay at a silent place away from sound pollution and do not talk much during fast as that might cause headache.

(3) Keep away from artificial coolers, fans and air conditioners during fast.

(4) Do not consume very cold water. Drink normal or lukewarm water. The body has to spend energy to convert the cold water into body temperature that is 30 degree Celsius. You might also get frequent hiccups and headache with cold water.

(5) Gargle your Mouth properly with water after drinking the honey lemon water.

(6) Make the Honey Lemon Water instantly before drinking. Do not make them in advance and store in a bottle. Doing so will spoil the juice and make it useless. For those whom it is not possible to make the honey-lemon water instantly can lick 4 tbsp of honey on their palm and drink water.

(7) Try to massage your skin during fast as that will help in cleaning the skin cells as well.

(8) Men should bath twice in the morning and at night with cold water. Women can take cold water bath in the morning only.

(9) Try to rest more as far as possible during fast.

(10) Avoid watching television particularly at night because that makes you unstable.

(11) Sometimes you might experience nausea or vomiting in the initial days of fasting. It is because the body is used to produce bile juice till now. It keeps on producing the bile even in fasting for a few days till it get used to it. The bile present in the stomach produces nausea and vomiting sensation.

(12) You might feel hungry at the end of the day if you are new to fasting. This is a false hunger. The real hunger is felt after few days of fasting. Most people unable to control their craving for food end up eating something or the other at the end of the day or during night. Do not repeat this mistake because all the effort and pain you have put throughout the day goes in vain if you eat up at the end of the day. There won’t be any use in doing so. One has to have a strong will power to overcome this. Once you are able to control, you will be deriving full benefits of fasting.

(13) Some people eat sweets and prasadams offered at the temples or at home after puja. Don’t even take the prasadams. The God will not punish you. If you do, your body will for sure.

(14) Try to read some good books, involve yourself in spiritual practices and meditation etc.

(15) Avoid smoking during the fast as it will not serve the purpose of fasting.

(16) People suffering from Hypertension and Diabetes should fast in an expert advice or guidance of doctors and nurses.

(17) Obese, Asthmatics and Arthritis patients should consume ginger honey water instead of honey lemon water. Take 3 liters of water; add ½ spoons of dry ginger powder and boil till the water reduces to 1 liter. Take half glass of water; add 3 tbsp of honey along with 100ml. ginger water every alternate hour described above. This ginger water helps in reducing the fats as well as mucus produced in the body.

(18) Women should not fast during Pregnancy and Lactation.

(19) People with any form of severe diseases should practice this in expert guidance at the Ashrams of Naturopathy.

(20) Avoid all sorts of medicines during the fast. Taking pills during fast might make you dizzy and weak.

(21) Try to sleep early after sunset.

(22) Last but not the least, it is very essential to know the methodology of breaking the fast, which if not done properly will be harmful to the body. Due to continuous fasting the body gets acclimatized with no food intake and all of a sudden if you take large amount of food in breakfast, the body might form more phlegm and mucus. It has to be done in a systematic way. Break your fast with liquid, semi liquid and solid food. Take any kind of fruit juice in the morning, fruits and sprouts at lunch and then phulkas at dinner. This is strictly recommended for people fasting for long days say 10 or 20 days.

Many ask me “how long can anybody fast?” It all depends on the person and cause of the fasting. I know a person who had been treated in Nature Cure Hospital at Balkampet, Hyderabad completely on liquids for 18 days for his obesity. Longer fasts are to be strictly undertaken at an expert guidance of doctors. Healthy persons can take up 3 days of fast on honey lemon water safely. Some people might try to fast longer without expert guidance for longer periods especially those who are obese with an intention to get slimmer at the earliest. Such acts are not recommended. Always remember the difference between fasting and starving. Fasting is an art and science of cleansing and repairing the internal organs of the body. Starving on the other hand is the process of malnutrition of the body. Fasting once a week or a month is highly recommended for good health and happiness.

This is it for today. I hope many of your doubts are clarified through this blogpost regarding the fasting in Dr. Mantena’s way. Keep watching the space for more updates

The Need for Fasting

2011-01-23T01:30:00.001-08:00

Upavasam or Fasting is an inseparable part of our Indian culture and tradition from millions of years. Many of our generation do not know the true meaning and purpose of Upavasam. We simply follow it as a ritual that is coming as a part of our culture and tradition from different generations. The meaning, purpose and the methods of following Upavasam too have changed along with the change in generation. It had changed so much that is being written off by the current generation as a mere superstitious cultural practice. Thanks to Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju who has revived this age old practice of Upavasam which is at the brisk of death. He has been doing a wonderful job in preaching the true meaning, purpose and methods of fasting over a period of time. As told in my previous blogs he is a great Orator and Teacher. His teachings are quite interesting and inspiring. He presented this age old science of fasting in a very simple, sensible and very convincing manner that inspired millions of people across the state of Andhra Pradesh and across the world to follow.

Before going deep into the discussion of Upavasam, it is quite essential to understand the duties of our body first. As discussed in the previous blogs, according to Dr. Raju, the humans are day predators. We eat, wander and work during the day and sleep at night. Based on this nature of our body, it performs 2 types of duties 1) The day duty and 2) the night duty.

(1) Day Duty: It performs two major functions during the day duty. Since we eat food in the day, the first function of our body is to digest the food we ate, convert the digested food into Energy and to supply the generated Energy to our body in order to make us work. And the second function is to produce billions of new cells that die every day.

(2) Night Duty: It again performs two major functions during the night duty. The first function is to clear the pollution that was formed by eating food, drinking water, breathing air and the pollution that was created during the metabolism of our cells within the body. And the second function is to repair the infected and injured cells of our body.

If we observe the secret of health in animal beings, we might find that the animals perform their duties perfectly by eating and wandering for 12 hours during the day and relaxing the other 12 hours during the night and vice versa by the night predators. They are totally following the dharma of their body and thus they are healthy. This is not happening in our case. Unless the body completes the day duty, the body doesn’t start the night duty. We are not only eating, working and wandering the whole day but also doing the same till midnight 10PM to 11PM. Moreover, instead of eating fruits and raw vegetable salads we are eating all sorts of junk and heavy food that is cooked in oil, masalas and spices. Worsening the situation further we began to reverse the dharma of our body by working at nights and sleeping during the day. By the time the food gets digested, it will be 4AM to 5AM. The body then begins the night duty of repairing and cleaning which should have begun at 8PM to 10PM the previous night. By the time it finishes 2 0r 3 hours of work; we again wake up and begin our work of eating and moving. Unlike the day duty the body can’t wait to finish the night duty. It has to stop the cleaning and repairing job midway to start the day duty again. The waste material accumulated throughout the day remains in the body converting it into a garbage bin. If you don’t clean your house don’t the mosquitoes, flies, insects and dust etc. accumulate and make your house dirty and stinky? Similarly, if you don’t clean your body, the waste accumulates inside the body paving way for bacteria and virus cells. When these cells grow in number the body sometimes tries to clean them up by stopping you from eating and moving. It first makes your tongue bitter and kills your hunger along with making you dizzy in order to keep you away from eating and moving. In this way it tries to keep you without food for couple of days in order to finish the task of cleaning and repairing. Accordingly it cleanses and repairs the body if you listen to its call and avoid eating and moving for a couple of days. If you don’t listen to its call, it leaves you on your own for suffering.

Upavasam:

Upavasam is a Sanskrit word. Upa means ‘with’ and vasam means ‘staying’ combined together “staying with”. The word Upavasam has a great health and spiritual significance. Upavasam literally means staying oneself with the Universal Self. Our Indian ancestors are wise enough to embed this great science of fasting in our culture for the benefit of the entire mankind. India is highly regarded as the Spiritual Land of Yogis, Saints and Sages from its origin. These yogis, saints and sages were highly honored for their knowledge and wisdom by the people of India during those days. Those great intellectuals introduced Upavasam or fasting to the common civil society with a motto of providing good health and spiritual development among them in the name of Punya or virtue. They believed, only the God and Punya are the two things people surrender to. Therefore they said, “If you fast the entire day and night without food, you will gain punya and the God is also going to get pleased with you.” Therefore they selected some of the auspicious days like Saturday, Ekadasi, Siva Ratri etc. for Upasam. The list of auspicious days grew as the people began to believe this custom. Later, the custom of Upavasam was added to some other rituals related to marriages, deaths, Pujas and other traditional ceremonies. A great secret is hidden in introducing these practices in our culture.

(1) By keeping a fast for the entire day and night, we are allowing our body to clean the waste that is accumulated due to our metabolism.

(2) When the body is clean, the mind remains calm and focused. A focused mind is what we required to grow spiritually. Yogis, Saints and Sages believed that God is found only through meditation. He is found within self. Therefore, they don’t look upwards in the sky or somewhere else for the God. They used to sit, close their eyes and meditate to attain the Universal Bliss. In a poverty ridden country like India, where the majority of population has to struggle for their livelihood, it was not easy to make them meditate. People were suffering from all sorts of miseries and sorrows in life. One can convince a person or group of persons to meditate to eradicate their sorrows. But to convince a large section of the society it was a daunting task. Therefore they had to take support of the Universal force called ‘God’ in order to make the entire community fast at least for a few number of days in a year.

(3) There is a custom in India where people fast on certain auspicious occasions and festivals in the name of God. For example, during Varah Lakshmi Puja and Satyanarayana Vratham etc. upavasam is maintained. The reason for fasting during such occasions is that your concentration stands still on ‘God’ thereby you sit along with the God with total focus. If you fill your stomach with food while performing the rituals of puja your body becomes lazy, you lack concentration and your mind gets distracted from the ritual and might feel sleepy. It is not sure whether one gains the punya or the God is pleased for your puja; one thing is sure that your body is going to get pleased and cleaned if you maintain upavasam throughout the day. The ritual of puja is meant only to focus your concentration away from food and other work on a single target called God throughout the day, thereby serving the purpose of cleansing your inner body. It is said that God lives where there is purity and cleanliness. Since the Yogis believe that the Paramata or the Supreme Soul resides within our body, it is therefore emphasized to keep it pure and clean. It is this reason Upavasam has gained spiritual significance.

(4) There is a custom in India, whenever a person dies in a family; the entire members of the family remain on fast for 11 or 13 days. During these 13 days people remain on a single meal of fruits and the food that is cooked without salt, oil, masala and spices. And they follow a ritual of single meal as mentioned above every year for 16 days and arrange a mass meal program called ‘Pind daan’ feeding large number of people according to their individual capacities. There is a general belief in the Hindu Religion that by doing so the souls of their forefathers are pleased and they bless them from Heavens. Whether the Souls of forefathers bless you or not but your body do bless you if this ritual is followed. There lies a great secret of health and a serious thought is applied in it by the wisest ancestors of India. We all owe a lot to those wise men who embedded such a rich ritual in our custom. Hats Off to their foresight and Wisdom. When a person in a family dies, the entire family is surrounded by the shadow of miseries and sorrow. Whenever a person is in grief, misery or sorrow, his brain releases some kind of hormones that blocks your activities within the body. You don’t feel hungry, you don’t feel active, you don’t like to work, and you don’t like to talk. You just want to sit alone and cry. Cry… cry and cry till the last drop of tear dries. The body will be in no position to respond. In this kind of situation, if you eat food; can the body digest? Never..! It is not going to digest. The members of the family do not want to eat as they know what their body wants. But can the visitors who been there to console and pay homage to the body let you sit without eating? Never…! They try to console you by offering a glass of water or a piece of fruit or handful of meals along with a few words of condolences and courage. You have to eat unwillingly in order to obey their wishes. But the body is in no mood to obey your orders during such instances. It takes time for the body to get into normalcy. That is the reason why they are asked to remain on fast for 13 days on single meals. This ritual has been introduced by our wisest ancestors with a great foresight. They hadn’t stopped over there. They very well knew that we might forget this grief and sorrow in no time and eat all sorts of junk thereafter and damage our health. Another 16 days of fasting ritual is introduced to check our health in the name of remembering the forefathers and having a single meal for 16 days seeking their blessings from the heavens. We are gaining two important benefits with this ritual. Firstly, you are giving an ample time to the body for cleaning and repairing work by skipping 2 times of meals a day. Secondly, you are serving the needy people by arranging a mass feeding. You are again deriving two benefits here by providing free meals to the people. First of all you are gaining your health by avoiding two meals a day and secondly, you are getting good wishes and blessings of the people who have come there to eat the food. You don’t have to borrow money from others to feed the needy. You are asked to feed from the food that is saved by you from skipping meals twice a day for 16 days. What the forefathers might have blessed you if at all they could have? They might have blessed you to live longer, live healthy and live happy. This is what you get by following this ritual. You get healthy, happy and live longer.

(5) There is another custom in India especially in the South, where the entire members of the bride and groom family remain on fast during the entire marriage ceremony. The reason again is the same. In earlier days marriages are held for 5 long days. Each day a different ritual is to be performed. There involves lot of work for these members until the ceremony ends. If you fill your stomach with food it is obviously not possible to work actively and effectively. Moreover there is every possibility of food poising and getting sick. 5 day marriages are no more seen now but you can still notice that the family members of the bride and groom eat at the end of the ceremony by finishing all the rituals.

If you follow these age old gem like rituals you might grow spiritually as well you become healthy. Whether you fast in the name of God or Punya or you fast without these you will be benefited without any doubt. Rest in the form of Upavasam is the necessity of the body and these rituals are the opportunities. Try to grab these opportunities and fast on the traditional occasions like every ekadasi, vaikunta ekadasi, sivaratri etc. and serve your body.

How many people of this generation fast on these days? Rarely any! The junk we eat is far more than our ancestors have had. Even then they followed those rituals sincerely and lived happy and healthy. We simply ignore them as superstitious customs. There is an urgent need to explore those hidden secrets of our customs and share the knowledge and wisdom of our great ancestors on a large scale to safeguard these rich rituals. Dr. Raju has done a great job in this regards. He not only revived the age old custom of fasting but he has given new life to it.

In my next update I will be providing you few more information on fasting and the exact method of fasting by Dr. M.S. Raju.

Keep watching the space for more updates.

Fasting - The Father of All Medicines

2011-01-19T02:31:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the month of July’2010 I posted a blog “Fasting – A Super Medicine” followed by a series of other updates on fasting providing some vital information. Recently I have come across some of the speeches of Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju on fasting. It was so inspiring and informative that I immediately felt to make another addition on the subject. After listening to his lessons on fasting I realized that Fasting is not only a Super Medicine but also the Father of All Medicines.

I never get tired of speaking about the charisma this man Dr. Raju has. He has inspired millions of people with his deeds. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest Orators and Teachers Andhra Pradesh has ever produced. Unfortunately his lessons are limited to Telugu speaking people. This blog is an attempt to take his message to the rest of the world. Hopefully, I will be doing justice to this daunting task. It is really an honor and privilege to work in the path of Dr. Raju. Another unique feature of Dr. Raju is the way he presents the subject. He makes things appear very simple and easy. Biological Science was always a tough subject that never excited me from my school days. It is because of Dr. Raju’s simple teaching methods I am able to understand and follow this much. There is no big deal in explaining the subject to the literates. Explaining a subject like biology to illiterates in simple terms and making them understand is what matters. And Dr. Raju has mastered this very art of making the subject understood by one and all with ease.

Before knowing why fasting is called the father of all medicines, Let us now try to understand our body in a simple manner. Our body is just like a Kingdom. As people in the Kingdom, our body has 100 trillion cells. Similar to the way Army, Navy, Air force and Police exist in a kingdom for the external and internal security of the kingdom; our body too possesses a strong defense mechanism in the form different glands that protect our cells from external and internal threats. Similar to the way anti-social elements disturb the law and order of the kingdom from time to time, the bacteria and viruses try to disturb the peace of our body. Depending upon the type of threat the respective department of a defense mechanism takes charge and protects the Kingdom. The same thing happens within the body. Depending upon the type of a threat the glands of our immunity system responds accordingly. War like situation is called an Emergency in the kingdom and Fever or Illness in the body.

Whenever the body falls sick, it demands some co-operation from us. It says, there is an emergency situation within the body that has to be sorted out immediately. Therefore, stop eating anything and lay down unmoved without being involved in any kind of work in order to accomplish the task immediately. If we listen to the call of our body and rest quietly unmoved without eating food, it saves 75% of our energy and utilizes the same in fighting against the virus or bacteria that has caused the trouble. Our body exactly knows which part is infected, which type of bacteria or virus is responsible for the infection, where and how many of them are hidden in the body. The Medical Science has developed tremendously in the recent years. Innumerable diagnostic methods are invented to diagnose the patients. But sometimes, even these advanced diagnostic tools fail to identify the type and the place of viruses infected in the body; but the body never fails. It knows exactly what’s in there. Whatever the type of infection that has formed the minute body cells are always ready for counter attack. The body drives the army of antibodies on the enemies with more vigor and enthusiasm on ‘Lankanam or Fasting unto recovery’ than in a normal situation as it saves 75% of the body energy. The body instantly produces the antibodies depending upon the number and type of virus or bacteria that has intruded. The unique feature of these antibodies is that they kill only the bacteria that are harmful to the body. They do no harm to the friendly bacteria of our body. If you use the antibiotic it definitely kills the harmful bacteria and viruses but at the same time it also kills the healthy cells and friendly bacteria of our body. Exactly the same way, the civilians including men, women, children etc. were killed along with soldiers when the Americans bombarded on Iraq during Iraq-America War of Gulf. On the other hand when you do ‘Lankanam or Fasting unto recovery’, the body saves 75% of the energy as discussed above and utilizes the same in producing healthy antibodies to combat intruded bacteria and viruses without killing our body cells. This battle by antibodies of our body is like the battle of Ahimsa by Mahatma Gandhi against the British Empire during the Independence movement of India without killing the civilians. The antibodies born during ‘Lankanam or Fasting unto recovery’ remains in the body and stay ready to kill those type of infections, bacteria and viruses as and when they enter our body again. They guard our body against such viruses at alert and see that previous trouble to our body is not repeated again. For example, Taliban attacked Pentagon and Twin Towers on 11^th of September 2001. Till then the American Security Agencies have no idea of such attacks. After that they realized such threats and maintained a strict vigil and foiled any such attempts by the terrorists on their terrain. Similarly the cells of our body guard us all the time from such intrusions. Regular fasting increases the immunity system of our body. On the other hand it is a well known fact that regular use of antibiotics reduces the immunity system of our body. No medicine in the world except fasting is called the father of all medicines. All the medicines in the world are made up of a substance. The only medicine produced by the body is not of a substance. There is no living being on this Earth that hasn’t taken this medicine of Lankanam or fasting unto recovery. All living beings utilize their antibodies to protect themselves of diseases. Let us learn from animals and try to live healthy and happy.

Ever since I began writing on Lankanam, I have been getting a common question from most of the visitors to my blog. They ask, “The human immunity system differs from person to person and therefore, is it not risky to do Lankanam for people like the kids and aged ones who has low levels of immunity system?”

First of all, I request one and all to go through all the topics of my blog on fasting in previous updates section. I suppose that will answer all your worries. Secondly, Lankanam if you understand properly is an attempt to listen to the call of our body and give an opportunity to rectify the problem on its own. The body tries all its best to counter the problem it is facing inside. When it fails to cope with issue, there is nothing wrong in taking the medical aid. Listen to your body carefully. It will let you know whenever it needs help. You will realize when you need help. Start Lankanam for minor problems first viz., cold, cough, viral fevers etc. Suppose if you were caught up with Jaundice, Typhoid, Malaria, Chikungunya etc. your body might not tackle it straight away. Try to give it a chance for 1 or 2 days by fasting on honey and lemon in the manner prescribed in my previous post ‘fasting a super medicine’. If you see any improvement continue for the third day and if you got still better fast for another day till you recover totally. If any time you find the situation getting worse, consult a doctor. It might be day one, two or three. Listen to the call of your body and seek external help of doctors if needed. This is the way to start safely and gradually. There is nothing wrong in consulting a doctor and taking medicines. Neither Dr. M.S. Raju nor I are against the modern medical science. The only intention is to educate people about this great Science of fasting which is a very crucial part of natural way of living.

I hope you liked and enjoyed this art. Keep watching the space for more updates…!

The hidden Science of Fasting in Curing Diseases

2010-11-23T03:48:00.001-08:00

In my previous blogs, I tried to focus on Lankanam – The Fasting unto recovery and its invention. So far we have learned fasting as a super medicine and its ability to cure diseases. Like every one of you I have also doubted the benefits of fasting until I experienced the benefits myself personally. I thoroughly practiced fasting when I was sick on quite a few occasions and practically experienced the benefits of fasting. Only then, I began promoting this wonderful natural ailment of fasting.

As discussed in my previous posts, Lankanam or fasting unto recovery is neither invented by me nor Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju. But Dr. Raju to the best of my knowledge is the person who is responsible for its revival in modern society. He has done a great job in promoting the hidden Science of Fasting in curing diseases. The educated community had already written off benefits of fasting as superstition. It is Dr. Raju’s intense research and scientific explanation through his programs and campaigns all over the state of Andhra Pradesh, fasting has revived. He is a gifted speaker. The way he explains the subject is quite convincing and commanding. In one of the conversation with Subrath Mohanthy from Cuttuck who is also a beneficiary of Natural Way of Living said that we the people of Andhra Pradesh are quite lucky to have a person like Dr. Raju. In fact, the entire mankind benefited by him is lucky to have him on this Earth. If he wouldn’t have there, I wouldn’t have written this blog and Subrath and many others wouldn’t have been benefited through my blog. When I reckon the efforts of Dr. Raju, I remember a few lines of Robin Sharma – the leadership expert and the author of the Monk who sold his Ferrari, “The Love and affection towards fellow humans is like the Rent we pay for finding a place on this beautiful Earth.” And who is paying better rent than Dr. Raju? According to Osho “The God is neither a noun nor a pronoun. It is a verb – an action! It is the truth! It is the brightness!” Dr. Raju makes this statement true. I have received so many comments on my blogs blessing and praising Dr. Raju for his efforts. He is a Messiah for those suffering from various forms of diseases. A single candle is essential to lighten up the entire room. He is the power house that is generating so much energy to lighten up different houses across the world. He might be situated at a far distant place; his preaching are spreading across the globe and lightening up the lives of people suffering from various diseases.

Dr. Raju through his Campaigns, books and programs on TV, has been intensively involved in educating people about the oldest form of medical science called fasting and its energies in curing all sorts of diseases. Let us try to focus on what Dr. Raju has to say on the hidden secrets of fasting in curing diseases. Does burning our stomach without food really help curing diseases? Let us raise the curtains now:

If our body comes across any trouble, it tries to resolve the issue on its own. This tendency has come to our body naturally by birth. If our body hasn’t done this job we would have died way back. In fact, we are not the one to die. It is the body the dies. The body needs additional energy to save itself from the trouble that has come to it. Excess energy of our body is utilized in digesting the food we eat and the work we do. The body spends 75% of our total energy in completing these two tasks. Whenever the body lands in trouble it try to save this 75% of energy and utilize in completing the task of saving itself from the trouble by making a master plan. If the man usually eats and move around for his work during trouble, it cannot complete the task. Therefore it creates a master plan and makes the man sit at home without eating and moving out to work. The implementation of master plan begins from the tongue. If the saliva tastes sweet as usual, the man would definitely eat all sorts of foods. The body thus, takes the first precaution by making the tongue dry and bitter by releasing some sort of enzyme in order to kill the desire to eat. If we are active, we might move around and work usually. The body thus, takes the second precaution by creating dizziness and aches all over the body and makes you feel tired, week and feeble in order to make you sit or lay at one place without moving. In this way the body tries to save the energy and utilize it with full force in the task of defending itself from trouble. Until the task of defense is completed we neither feel like eating nor moving. This is the dharma of our body. Any of you got these symptoms? You cannot deny it by saying no. Every human goes through this situation. Though it is another fact that you might have ate and moved around during these symptoms. Just imagine once! For whose benefit the body is doing all this? All its effort is to make you feel convenient. Is it asking you to borrow some energy from the President of America? Is it asking you to climb hills and jump down the valley to get the energy? Nope! The entire energy to carry out the defense mechanism is within me. I can get rid of the trouble myself. If you sit quite without moving, that is enough for me. I will take care of the rest – says the body. Can’t you listen to this little request of your body for some time? So far it has allowed you to eat all sorts of food and do all sorts of work. Have you ever thanked this wonderful body? In spite of that it has done its duty silently without any complaint. But today, when the body is in trouble it asks you to help by keeping yourself quite without eating and moving. If we listen to this request of our body we always remain healthy and happy. You don’t need any education, intelligence and medical sciences to listen to the call of your body. In fact, these are the hurdles in listening to the call of our body. There are some doctors who always criticize the benefits of fasting. Does anyone get cured off the diseases by burning the stomach by fasting? They simply write off by calling it a mere superstition and unscientific method. They forget this is the Science of Nature. They also forget, way before the invention of Medical Science and even before the birth of the term Science, this Science of curing diseases by fasting had born. That is the Natural Science of the Science of Nature. No one can change the rules of this Science. This Science will save all the living beings as long as they live. The animals are still following this science and living without any disease. At the end, I would like to conclude that “those who believe this Science will live healthy like animals and those who don’t will suffer like humans with all sorts of diseases and sorrows.”

Don’t forget to keep watching the space for more updates….!

Invention of Lankanam - The Fasting unto recovery

2010-11-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons for my blogging on Natural Way of Living is that I often forget things I have learned by listening or reading to someone. To follow a good practice you always need a guide or inspirer. When I look back to my journey of natural living I used to watch each and every episode of Dr. Raju’s program on TV. I used to feel sad on missing his episodes because each and every episode used to have bundles of information to learn. My success in this journey of natural living is the result of inspiration I derived from watching him daily on TV. I later got busy in my schedule and totally lost the opportunity to watch his programs on TV. I used to make notes on paper during his program for reference and these very notes today took the form of a blog “Natural Way of Living”.

I refer my own articles again and again for reference and every time I find something new to learn. I again picked up the handbooks of Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju for reference as a substitute for his program on TV. It has some vital information on Lankanam – the fasting till recovery. If you are a regular viewer of my blog you might have already read my previous post “fasting – a super medicine”, where it is said that fasting is blended in our culture by our ancestors way back in India. Let us now try to find who really invented Lankanam – the fasting unto recovery. Is it a Man or anybody else? Let us find in the words of Dr. Raju:

We know to drink water when thirsty. Whenever the body feels the need of water it signals us in the form us thirst and we drink water accordingly. In this case all the animals behave the same way as we does. No one else has to tell us to drink water on being thirsty. Neither we need to seek anyone’s permission to drink water nor need we to consult a doctor for advice. Similarly when we feel hungry, the body signals us in the form of hunger. We are serving the need of the body by eating food. Animals too follow the same pattern. When the body feels tired it lets us know and we obey its request by taking rest. Animals too follow the same pattern again. In all the above three causes we and the animals are behaving in the same manner. With this we can learn that whatever the type of body, the dharma or the principle of the body is one for all. Let us try to assess the fourth thing. Whenever the body doesn’t feel good, doesn’t feel hungry, the stomach becomes sensitive, feel like having a fever, the body pleads to take rest giving a break to your food. In the process it kills your hunger and makes your tongue bitter so that the food doesn’t taste you anymore. It stops the production of digestive gases and other enzymes. It declares emergency situation to fight the infection or disease out. It is because of this emergency within our body everything looks dull and boring for us during fever. We initially try to obey the orders of the body and remain on bed without eating food. After sometime what we do? We inform our condition to our Mother, Father, Husband, Wife or any other member of our family. What they do? They ask you to eat food for the time being and take you to the doctor later on. Ignoring the dharma of body you tend to eat food either because it’s already late or you fear of dizziness or because the cooked food might go waste or others are eating before you. Here we behave against the dharma of body and finally surrender our body to the doctor.

Let us see what 8.4 millions of other living beings do in such a situation. The moment the animals learn that their body is not feeling well, they immediately stop eating and takes rest. What is the need for them to wander if there is no need for food? Therefore, they rest as long as their body demands without food. Unlike us they don’t take any suggestions from their Mother, Father, Brothers and Friends to take rest and stop food when they are ill. They simply obey the dharma of their body and take rest without food till they recover. As there is an old proverb in India “Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah” (Protect the dharma and dharma protects you); their dharma protects them. Until the body gets normal and do not demand food they remain in this position. They are sincerely obeying the dharma of body by not providing food and taking rest whenever they feel ill till they recover back. In this way, the animals are protecting their health since their evolution without any fail. They haven’t taught this dharma of body to their kids. The dharma of body comes genetically to every living being on Earth. Similar to the animals this wisdom has come to human beings too since its evolution. The Humans too have respected and followed this dharma for ages uninterruptedly. “Lankanam – The fasting until recovery” is not the invention of humans. The man has no credits in invention except naming it. Lankanam was invented way before the evolution of humans. It is in existence from the moment the living beings were transformed in the form of body. Water for thirst, Food for hunger, Rest for Tiredness and Lankanam for the Disease are the four major dharmas of our body. This Lankanam does not belong to a single Person, a single Religion, a single Caste, a single Creed, a single Nation, a single Nature Cure or any other form of medicines but it belongs to every single living being with a body. It is not a superstition. It is neither invented by our illiterate ancestors nor the literate modern scientists and doctors. It is the result of natural awareness that comes to our body by birth. It is the invention of the One who created millions of living beings on Earth as a boon to their health. It is a boon to all the living beings including humans or else it’s a doom.

Success Story of Subrath Mohanty in Natural Way of Living

2010-11-06T03:34:00.001-07:00

Today’s update is about Mr. Subrat Mohanty who hails from Cuttak, Orissa, India. I come across him couple of weeks ago on a social networking site face book. When he told me the journey of his natural living it made me really excited and happy for him. He is a true and dedicated follower of natural way of living. After learning his success story, I realised that his story might inspire many more people who are trying all sorts of things to reduce their weight spending lots of money with no results. I took up the opportunity and requested Mr. Mohanty to send couple of his photographs along with his experiences on the journey to natural way of living. It is happy that my blog is reaching to a large section of people across the world. I have been receiving lot of accolades from various people over the period of time. But this one from Mr. Mohanty was really heartening one. Lakhs of people might have read my blog, Thousands of people might have liked it, Hundreds of people might have tried to follow the natural lifestyle but only a few might have followed it with sheer dedication. Mr. Subrath Mohanty is one among those few who followed the natural way of living with sheer dedication and reaped the benefits of it.

Obeying my request Mr. Mohanty took pain to send 2 of his photographs belonging to the past and present along with his story. Today’s blog post is totally dedicated to this inspirational follower of Natural way of living called Subrath Mohanty. See what he has to say on his own words:

Dear Mr. Ram,

I am extremely sorry for sending the photographs & detailed story so late due to some unavoidable reasons. Here is my journey on natural life style.

Few days ago I was over 80 kilos of weight with 36” of waist size. I was very uncomfortable with protruded belly. I desperately needed to reduce weight & for this I tried many methods from consuming Dr. Tea to using slimming belts, but all proved to be futile. Then I switched to Baba Ramdev’s pranayamas & asanas. I downloaded almost all videos of Baba Ramdev from youtube & started practicing. But it was not that easy as I had a bad habit of going late to the bed & waking late in the morning. Also I could not get sound sleep at night. But I could not wait to change my bad habit & decided to practice the pranayamas as such & let the habit be changed gradually. I started practicing from May 25. Initially I practiced the pranayamas for half an hour in the morning & evening, two times a day & exercised on a twister. Gradually I increased the timing. To get quick results I practiced pranayamas with much speed which was not good. Especially I used to practice Kapalbhati rapidly & increased the timing from 10 min to 15, then 30 min & then sometimes to 45 min, even 1 hour. For this I could not even get time to consume my breakfast & go for the lunch directly & dinner in the night & nothing in between. After one month I shed 2 kilos & 2 inches. In the following month I retained almost the same status. But here the problem started. Due to rapid practice, I got chest pain & had to go for a check up. But there was no problem. I stopped pranayam for 3 – 4 days & started again moderately. Luckily while searching on google about obesity, I came across Mr. Ram Godar’s blog & read the article “Fasting – A Super Medicine” & got to know the importance of fasting in not only to reduce weight but it’s usefulness for good health. I got interest towards natural life style. I started weekly fasting from July 25. Here I had to go for a battle with my wife to convince her, but failed to convince other family members. They criticized me, but I was strong on my will. I started weekly fasting on Sundays. With weekly fasting, pranayam & food discipline, my weight reduced to 73 kilos in a month. Maintaining food discipline was not easy for me as I reside in a joint family. My family members are reluctant to natural life style & are habituated in oily, spicy & junk foods & they didn’t encourage me. This is the problem when one starts to put on a good habit like natural life style. Not only family members, but most people who know you will try to pull you back. But this will not bother you if you stand strong on will-power & dedication. Fortunately I have already given up non-veg food for 11 years unlike other members of my family & was not a slave of tea, coffee much before than that. I gradually got more information on natural life style from Mr. Ram’s blog. I started eating boiled vegetable curry, fruits, sprouted peas, salads, soaked nuts with cooperation of my wife. I stopped eating roadside foods, cool drinks, ice-creams which I had occasionally earlier. But I am yet to completely adopt Dr. Raju’s alternate healthy cooking system. I used to drink water after one hour of eating food when I started pranayam, as it is recommended by Baba Ramdev. But I was yet to know about the technique of water consumption as strictly prescribed by Dr. Mantena Satyanarayan Raju. This system is a boon to the mankind & those who have followed this system can realize the benefits & I am the fortunate one. After reading about this from Ram’s blog, I started this regime from Aug 23. Luckily, drinking so much water especially in the morning was not a problem for me, as previously I had the habit of drinking more water but not in a disciplined manner as taught by Dr. Raju. My previous bad habit of late waking was gone, as I got sound sleep at night. I used to ablate twice in a day when I started practicing paranayam, but got to know the importance of free ablation from Dr. Raju’s teachings. For the first time, I ablated twice in the morning & thrice in a day. In the first week of consuming 5-6 liters of water a day, I got the benefits. Though I put on the habit of ablating thrice a day, but having free ablation 3 times was not always easy for me. I developed the practice & got excellent results. In fact this is an art & one has to practice it. Eating fruits, raw & boiled vegetables helps in moving the bowels & good bowel movement is very necessary for maintaining good health. My wife was suffering from low blood pressure. I helped her to put on the habit of drinking more water in a systematic manner. It helped her & her blood pressure comes to normal. Even she gave up the habit of consuming tea & non-veg food. With exercise, food discipline, weekly fasting & consuming 5-6 liters of water a day my health improved drastically. Fungal infections in few places of my body, dryness of skin, gum problem, cold, and indigestion were completely gone. Once I got some infection in my right ear. I don’t know how I got this, but it became serious & started running & it was difficult to chew food. Instead of running to the doctor, I continued as usual with fasting, drinking more water & eating healhy food with boiled & raw vegetables. In few days, it disappeared in such a way that as if nothing had happened. Now my weight is 64-65 kilos with 30-31” waist size. I am consuming 6-7 liters of water a day now. I don’t feel weak at all, moreover I feel lighter & more energetic. Now when my family members & friends look at me, are getting surprised to see such a change in my appearance in such a short span of time. They are appreciating me for my efforts & results, but they find it difficult to adopt this as this requires dedication & strong will power. One of my friends with protruded belly is now practicing weekly fasting, but has no dedication for food discipline & consuming water in a systematic manner. One must be serious towards natural life style. Strong will-power & dedication are very necessary. Some people complain that family & social constraints are the main hurdles in maintaining a healthy life style. In fact, many hurdles come when one adopts a good path. But if one has will power & dedication, hurdles will not bother. Hurdles will come & go, but once our body becomes slave of diseases, it will be very difficult to recover. Of course it is not easy to overcome the constraints. I have to also compromise in few occasions but never compromised with my will-power. Also some people say that they have not time for all these things. They have time to run after material pleasure, eating junk foods, but don’t have time for real happiness. Health is real wealth. Even a little effort towards natural life style with dedication helps much. I am very much thankful to Mr. Ram Godar. Apart from his blog, I have also got many valuable tips, advices for me & my wife personally from him through facebook & followed them. Luckily I have also got some of the books of Dr. Mantena Satyanarayan Raju on internet. His teachings should be spread so that people will be aware about natural life style & get more & more benefits. Mr. Ram Godar is doing a great job for taking Dr. Raju's teachings to the masses.

At the end, I would like to thank Mr. Mohanty to make this blog page possible. I would also like to appreciate Mr. Mohanty for his writing skills. Like him, his writing too is inspirational. I hope this article inspire many people to come into the path of Natural Way of Living. Keep watching the space till next updates.

We, Our Body and the Mistakes we Commit

2010-11-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

Of late, I have come across a series of 10 handbooks tiitled “Dasapustakalu” written by Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju. I have got them from his franchise at Sanjeev Reddy Nagar, near Umesh Chandra Statue, Hyderabad. They are available at all the sponsored suppliers of Dr. Raju across the state of Andhra Pradesh at a very reasonable rate of Rs. 2/- each. Check the listings in Dr. Raju’s website for details www.mantenasatyanarayanaraju.com. These books contain very vital heath tips and precautions apart from some of the experiences of Dr. Raju over the years on health matters. They are quite affordable and worth having it in every household. So please go for them.

Today, I have decided to share very important information from one of those books. It is an attempt to understand the relationship between ‘you’ and the ’body’ and the mistakes you commit every day. If you apply little wisdom, you can understand that ‘you’ and the ‘body’ are two different entities. Your birth implies the emergence of thyself on Earth in the form of physical body. Your death implies the exit of thyself from the physical body. Notable factor is that thyself and the body lives together as one till survival. It is an undeniable fact that there is no life without body. Similarly the birth and death are not in our hands. But the life in between these two is absolutely in our hands. So if this life continues with good health and happiness or with ill-health and sorrow; then we are solely responsible for that and not the body. Any difficulty to our body is the sole result of our mistakes. Since, our body is a vehicle we travel the journey of life, it has to run according to our will. Similarly if we wish to drive it without any problem then we need to listen to its issues and concerns as well. Only then the journey of life ends on a happy note. But we are committing a great mistake by ignoring the issues and concerns of our body. We are totally neglecting the core needs of our body. That is why we have been suffering from all sorts of diseases and disorders. We are loading it with all our likes and dislikes but never listening to its complaints.

The body of every living being is like an automatic machine. The body has the strength, capacity and capability of repairing itself by birth. If this mystic strength, capacity and capability of our body have to function effectively and efficiently, we have to listen to its core issues and behave accordingly. Out of 8.4 million living beings on Earth, how many of them visit a doctor to protect their health? What type of blood tests and X-rays they conduct for diagnosis? Just imagine what might be the secret of their health? The secret formula of their health is undoubtedly ‘following the dharma of their body’. They act and behave according to the nature of their body. Human beings too followed the same dharma of body for millions of years in the past and lead a healthy lifestyle without diseases and the aid of doctors. In spite of so many doctors, medicines and medical sciences why aren’t we able to gain total health? We have learned to give an opportunity to the doctor to cure a disease but unfortunately we haven’t learned to give an opportunity to our body before a doctor to cure the disease. Many people in fact do not know the self healing capacity of our body. The vehicle created by a Man cannot repair itself. Since it has been created by a Man, it has to be repaired by him. Is the human body created by a Man? Since it is not been created by a Man, it has some kind of supernatural and mysterious automatic healing mechanism that is out of reach of our wisdom and knowledge. This automatic mechanism always works for the repairs and maintenance of the body. Every disease is cured by this self healing mechanism of our body if we do not trouble it often with our unhealthy habits and practices.

We often trouble our body knowingly or unknowingly in different ways. For example, we don’t drink water when the body needs it. Instead we drink when we like to drink. We don’t eat food when the body feels hungry. Instead we eat according to our convenience and time table. The trend is worst in metro cities across the world. People eat late nights when the body needs rest. It has to carry out the digestive function at the time when it badly needs the rest. When the body is ready to excrete the waste early in the morning, they sleep during that hour holding the waste within. Whenever the diseases and viruses intrude our body, it immediately declares emergency and increases the body temperature and bitters our tongue. Neglecting the request of our body to give rest and opportunity to fight them out, we rush to the doctors and take medicines. With that our body stops performing its natural duty. In this way the regular use of medicines gradually reduces the immunity strength of our body. Our immunity system strengthens if we provide the first opportunity to our body to fight the diseases. We must first realize that our body is a great doctor and must provide the first opportunity to heal the disease. There is nothing wrong in taking the aid of medicines and doctors if our body fails to cure the disease. We must try to live according to the demands of our body but not against its wishes.

The winter season is on. Many of us might suffer from small infections and diseases like cold, cough, sore throat and all sorts of flu. This is the right time to check our immunity system. Let us give an opportunity to the body first in healing these little problems we often face during winter. Let’s follow Lankanam or fasting till recovery as prescribed in my previous post “fasting a super medicine” and see whether we can beat the disease on our own. Also refer another of my blog post “my first lankanam experience” for further reference. If we see no improvement in the condition, let us visit a doctor for help. People of old ages and those suffering from chronic diseases and disorders are required to practice Lankanam under expert guidance of Naturopath doctors or at their Ashrams under medical supervision.

I hope you like this article. Keep watching the space for more updates.

Dassera Fasting Fun

2010-10-22T02:57:00.001-07:00

You might find the title ‘Dassera Fasting Fun’ little awkward in this health related blog post ‘Natural Way of Living’. As mentioned in my previous blog post, we (me and my wife) have been fasting once a week for a few months now. We initially began our fasting on Saturdays and after 7 weeks we have decided to fast on Sundays. This was our fifth Sunday on fasting. We might move on to Monday fasting after finishing another 2 Sundays. In this way we have planned our fasting cycle, though we are not sure how many weeks, months or years we go. As of now we are having fun and enjoying the benefits of fasting. Every Indian understands the prominence of fasting as it is deeply embedded in our culture. Fasting is usually associated with religious customs in Hindu tradition of India. We have been following a practice of fasting on certain auspicious days from ages. Indians believe, fasting on certain festivals and auspicious days of the month gives them the ‘punya – the fruits of good deeds’.

There are many misconceptions regarding the fasting in certain community of people especially the educated community. People feel that fasting means a foolish effort to make one weak. It is a superstition that fasting gives you ‘Punya’. Many people write-off the benefits of the age old custom of fasting as a mere superstition of our illiterate ancestors without any knowledge.

Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju has done a great job over the years in promoting the benefits of fasting and equally raising the curtains over misconceptions of fasting.

According to Dr. Raju, our ancestors who embedded the custom of fasting in our culture were not the fools. They were in fact, the power houses of knowledge and wisdom. Millions of years ago, there were no comforts of science and technology that we are enjoying today. Every individual has to work real hard, dawn to desk to earn his bread for the day. In such a situation, if anybody asks a person to follow a weekly fasting for the betterment of his health, would he suppose to fast? Definitely not! They hadn’t suggested weekly fasting for such people. They were asked to fast until they recover, only when they feel sick which is popularly known as Lankanam. For all those, whose work involves less or no physical effort, are asked to keep on fast every weekend or every ‘eka dasi - every 11^th day of the month’. Making a few people follow this practice was not a big deal but to make every individual in the country to follow this practice of good health is a daunting task. If you ask anybody to follow any practice for a good health; he is definitely not going to follow you. With a great vision and wisdom of knowledge they embedded this practice of fasting in our culture adding sanctity towards God. It is because of their foresight we are still following those healthy practices in the name of Punya. Millions of years had gone and another million might go, but let me tell you these practices of good health are going to stay. That is the power of their wisdom and foresight. It is not sure whether this practice of fasting is going to guarantee any Punya but it surely guarantees a good health.

For those who think fasting makes one weak. Here is the answer of Dr. Raju. According to Dr. Raju fasting means giving a complete break to the inner organs of the body especially the digestive organs like stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, gall bladder and the Liver. “How do you feel the next morning when you go to the office after enjoying a holiday on Sunday? Do you feel energetic or you feel weak?” You definitely feel energetic because you had a rest yesterday. The similar thing happens with your body when you give rest for the day. Fast one day on honey-lemon water as per the instructions of natural living and experience the difference or find the experiences of a person fasting regularly. You are going to have the feeling of rebirth the next morning after fast. Such will be the level of energy during the next day of your fasting, even though you hadn’t consumed any food for the last 24 hours. All your cells are charged up enjoying a rest during your fast. Such is the effect of fasting. Fasting doesn’t make you weak. It instead makes you strong by saving the energy that would have used for digesting all the junk food you consumed. Our body uses energy for digesting all kinds of junk we put in throughout the day. It also uses the energy to excrete the unwanted junk deposited through food. Fasting is a boon to our liver because it is the most functioning organ of our body. It has tons of other functions without our intervention. When we fast, it works on its self repair and maintenance program. Repair and maintenance of the liver means; increase in the span of our life and overall health condition. For more on fasting, please refer my earlier blog post “Fasting – A Super Medicine”.

One must always remember that every tasty food is a burden to your body. Nothing in this creation is going to last long if loaded with more capacity than required. This is the very reason that the life span of modern man is declining at a rapid pace. The average life span of a man has reduced from 100 years to 70 years. There is no surprise if it further goes down by 50 years in the generations to come. Our forefathers used to eat all those tasty food occasionally on festivals and marriage ceremonies. Today the lifestyle especially in the metro cities has totally changed. Every day is a festival here, thanks to the increasing number of eatery chains in the city. This lifestyle in major cities is resulting in the increasing number of lifestyle disorders at an early age. This is where Dr. Raju has declared his battle against the odd eating habits of city people. Of late, he has been seen promoting a fasting practice on Sundays and other festive holidays, as people tend to eat more junk during these days.

As told earlier we have been fasting for quite some time now and having great fun. Though we are not intended to follow fasting on Sundays and holidays for ever, we firmly decided to stay on fast even on festivals if they fall in our schedule. We did that before on Vinayaka Chaviti, the festival of Lord Ganesha and also happened to be the festival of Ramadan for Muslim friends and brothers. But staying on fast on Dassera day was a kind of challenge. Dassera is one of the Grand festivals of India. It is celebrated over a period of 10 days and 10^th day being Dassera is celebrated all over by sacrificing goats to the Goddess Durga. Dassera means joy and happiness. We usually visit every elder of our relatives on the Dassera day and seek their blessings. People from all works of life and places gather at the eldest member of the family for seeking his blessings. After a series of blessings, meetings and gup-shups, they end up with a feast of non-vegetarian dishes, alcohol, songs, dances and fun.

My wife was getting nervous a day before, to face them on fasting. She was worried because people never let an opportunity to insult you. We were already infamous as grass eaters in the circle. She was actually planning the ways to face them and explain their queries way before one week. She looked quite frustrated and was getting irritated over me for being so calm and negligent. I very well knew that future plans are not going to work when you are to engage with many people around. Therefore, I asked her to hold her nerves and be calm and take things as they come. The dawn of Dassera finally arrived. It was the Pranayama and Meditation time as we don’t practice asanas on the day of fasting. I asked my wife to focus on the moment and concentrate on the present practice of Pranayama and Meditation and leave the rest on time. We had a wonderful session of Pranayama and Meditation which lasted for 2 hours. The mind was still, calm and focused. Now it was time to visit my parents first for seeking their blessings.

We had our first glass of honey-lemon juice and began our journey to my parents. All our brothers and sister gathered and sought blessings from parents and elders. We then moved to my in-law’s house and sought their blessings. Surprisingly, none of our parents had offered to eat. I actually expected some sort of lecture from my father and father-in-law for fasting on a festival like Dassera. But none of them had their complaints. We were happy that they have now realized the importance of fasting which is a vital part of natural living. So far it all ended well. The real challenge was to come here on. We were to visit one of our Uncle who is the eldest member of our family and lot of people from different places are supposed to gather at him.

On reaching him, we realized his house is full of visitors as expected. People thronged in from different parts of the city to seek his blessings. Virtually the house was so crowded that we didn’t find a seat. Most of the faces in the crowd were known ones but believe me they couldn’t recognize me for some time. One of them even asked my wife, “Your husband hasn’t come?’, where as I was standing by her side. She pointed me with a big smile on her face. I was the center of attraction in the crowd out there. All those who knew me or had seen me last Dassera began to glare at me. I looked around and said to myself, “come on Ram! You are going to be flooded with questions. Get ready!”

A lady came close to me and asked, “Are you alright?, I mean, I know you are following natural way of living since you told me last Dassera and you have lost some kilos of weight by then. But you look too slim and weak this time. Seriously, is everything OK with your health? This is too much and it’s unbelievable that a man can reduce this much and be healthy. She had been repeatedly asking whether I am seriously healthy? For a moment, I was short of words for her doubts on my health. I know, I have to answer her convincingly and at the same time I need not try to prove that I am healthy. By the time I began my reply, a person in the group shouted, “these dieting and all sort of things are rubbish; which are meant to spoil the health. Look at him; how healthy was he last time and how weak he is now? Stop this nonsense thing immediately and eat healthy”. Another voice raised asking, “brother you were fine with big and healthy personality before, what was the need to do all this?” I can understand about dieting but you are doing too much. Don’t spoil your health. Start eating immediately.” This way everyone in the crowd began to give their opinions and suggestions. Everyone was talking as if I am not at all eating and fasting all the 365 days. During all the conversation, I remained a mere spectator listening to their program. Most of them were drunk and against my lifestyle. I realized, none of them are going to listen my version and any effort to explain them will fall in deaf ears.

After all the discussion, we took the blessings of our uncle and all other elders of the family. He then offered me a plate of snacks. I actually wanted to tell him that I was on fast but again I thought that might spark another debate, which I didn’t wanted at that time and therefore, I picked up the plate quietly. Looked here and there for a while and smartly passed on the snacks to a kid by my side. The kid was happy with my gesture and I was happy for his rescue act. We then got back to our home bidding adieu to a memorable Dassera Fun.

The good thing was that in spite of so many questions and people making fun of my lifestyle I hadn’t lost my cool. Moreover, it boosted my moral. We felt happy that we deserved to be true disciples of Dr. Raju at least for one day.

When we got back home, I got a doubt and asked my wife. Tulsi, How do you think Dr. Raju is going to arrange his son’s wedding ceremony? He is so health conscious that he designed a new form of cooking called healthy cooking without using oil, ghee, masala, salt, spices etc. for the benefit of society. What type of food u think is he going to offer his relatives and visitors? Will he provide the natural healthy food he is been teaching all the time? Or will he provide the usual food that is cooked in the community? Or will he provide both types of foods? My wife started scratching her head and said, ‘both’.

Great people always has to face such tough things in life as Mahatma Gandhi did with his son. Well… let us leave the question on time and Dr. Raju himself.

This is it for now. Keep watching the space for more updates.

Dr. Mantena's Natural Remedy for Lifestyle Disorders

2010-10-15T00:02:00.001-07:00

Of late I have been coming across people, regularly seeking remedies for lifestyle disorders like Diabetes, Constipation, Piles, Hemorrhoids, obesity and other gastric, digestive and intestinal problems. In my observation these diseases are not just life threatening but also very expensive. People across the world are spending lots and lots of money on these disorders. Unable to bear the increasing medical bills people have begun to live with these disorders suffering throughout their life. I am not sure whether it is true; but I observed people in the west are more prone to these disorders.

Few days ago, I have come across a NRI from Boston, MA, USA on social networking site facebook; according whom getting an appointment of a doctor in the US is a daunting task as they are quite busy with large number of patients. If anyone in India or any other parts of the world is asked, “which country is well sophisticated in medical science?” You get the answer “America” without a second thought. Despite the advancement of medical science in America, it has failed to regulate the increasing number of patients. The scenario is no different in India. If you look at the number of hospitals and clinics in India in the recent past; it has grown up to a great extent. You have big corporate hospitals and clinics in every nook and corner of the cities in India. They are prospering at a very rapid pace. No matter how sophisticated is the medical science today; it can neither prevent nor eradicate the disease from its roots. It can only assist or help you in your cause. As already mentioned in my previous blogs that Medicines and Doctors do not cure diseases, they just assist or help our body to cure diseases. It is our body that fights and cures the diseases. According to Andreas Moritz – an internationally famous medical intuitive and practitioner of Naturopathy and Ayurveda, bacteria and viruses are not the one to be blamed for infections and diseases; it is the environment that is created within our body is to be blamed. These bacteria and viruses are unavoidable. They are everywhere and in everybody. The same virus might be in someone else' body at the same time but it troubles you and not him. The reason is quite simple, his environment within the body is clean and healthy which enables his active cells to kill those bacteria immediately on intrusion.

I often notice, people compare their state of health with others. For example, a friend of mine Mr. Srinivas has approached me to teach asanas and diet routine to get rid of his disorders. He was suffering from belching stomach, obesity and constipation. When I told him to follow some of the natural diet routines he asked me a question. He has a friend called Raja Lingam who usually eats large quantity of food especially non-vegetarian. Why is he still slim and problem free; whereas he is suffering from all sorts of disorders in his early 30s? Another of my friend Mr. Naseer feels that there are other people who eat plenty of non-vegetarian food and still they are healthy without any issues; whereas he is suffering from the lifestyle disorders, though he is eating moderately. Many people like these, don’t realize that when you have a problem, it is within you. Instead of comparing your status with others you should take your own initiative to get rid of these issue. There might be many factors that differentiate you from others. The major three factors are: (1) Genes (2) Lifestyle and (3) Environment. You can do nothing with genes that are inherited to you with certain disorders. But you can do a lot with lifestyle changes. Majority of diseases or disorders in humans are lifestyle disorders.

Irrespective of the geographical boundaries the mankind is suffering from the common issue of lifestyle disorders. Unless a person realizes the strength of a human body and try to eradicate the diseases or disorders from their roots, they are not going to get relieved. Unless we collectively make an effort to bring a change in our lifestyles, the mankind cannot get away with these sorrows. No matter another million hospitals come into existence; the root cause cannot be eradicated. This is where Dr. M.S. Raju is working so hard for the past 20 years in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He is like a messenger of God for those who relieved from suffering. It is really less whatever is written or talked about this great man. He took up the mission to change the lifestyle of people so deep rooted in the culture for so many years. As Gandhiji said, every great movement has to begin with a single step and this true karma yogi Dr. Raju has singly begun his journey of educating people to change their lifestyles 20 years ago. Today the seeds sown by Dr Raju have grown into a chain of Mega Trees giving fruits to the entire society. Dr. Raju all through these years tried to take us back to the roots where we belong. Our ancestors especially the Indian ancestors were quite intelligent and wise. They spent many years on study of human body and remember without these modern technology. They gifted us every possible thing to live healthy and happy. They inserted those healthy habits deep into the roots of our culture. Today with the development of science and technology we have learned that vegetables have plenty of nutrition in them. We often discuss everyday about the healthiest foods in the world. Today in every news paper, you find column analyzing the nutritional values of different fruits and vegetables. They say eating so and so vegetable will give you so and so nutrition and so and so fruit or vegetable is good for so and so organ of your body and blah…blah…blah…! Just imagine what technology our ancestors might have used to find the nutritional value of a food? How they might have picked which vegetable is good for the heart, liver, kidneys, blood etc. etc. Out of millions of fruits, plants and vegetables, how those few plants, fruits and vegetables were picked up by our ancestors and included in our kitchen? Every one of us, including all those doctors and scientists who analyze the nutrition of these plants, vegetables and fruits are eating the same thing suggested by ancestors.

With the change of time and working environment, the lifestyle in India especially after the Liberation of market in mid 90’s has changed. The whole junk food centers opened up creating all sorts of health hazards. When I say junk food it is to the body and not to the tongue. Always remember that a Tongue’s delight is body’s demise. We are addicted to these attractive eateries which delight the tongue but disrupt the other major organs of the body. Better late than never, I was enlightened by the teachings of Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju and changed my entire lifestyle. I realized that I must eat only the food that is liked by each and every 100 trillion cells of my body and not just the taste buds of my tongue. It is not easy to follow Dr. Raju’s Natural Way of Living if you are perfectly healthy. It is not because you can’t follow but because people around you cannot let you follow. I had a real hard time with my parents, friends, relatives and everyone who knows me. When I began eating all these sprouts, half boiled vegetables, fruits, and juices avoiding the usual food, they termed me either crazy or sick.

Very recently, one of my friends Mr. Arif told me that I am torturing my body by eating those stuff. He feels that my eating of phulkas (Indian whole grain bread), vegetables, fruits and dry nuts by eliminating the oil, ghee, spices, sugar etc. is a kind of torture to my body. I really pray for my friend to realize the fact before his body cracks down internally. I want him to realize that it is not me but he is torturing his own body with all those kind of food that is not meant for his body. Before you eat anything just remember that your body is not a garbage bin to throw every dirty object in it. It is your responsibility to keep it neat and clean. People spend hours in cleaning and decorating the external body but none is concerned about the cleanliness of inner body. Inner cleanliness reflects your personality. Inner body is the shelter of our soul. A cleaner soul gives mental peace and happiness and happy and peaceful mind always keep you fit and healthy.

And when it comes to my parents and in-laws they feel that they have spent their life time eating meat, ghee and all that stuff and still they are healthy. In fact, they are healthy because of that kind of food. I totally agree that consuming meat and ghee gives you energy and strength because of the high fat content in it. That was okay for them because in those days they used to work really hard to earn their livelihood. Whatever they consumed is to burn out without any scope for fat deposits in their body. Where is the effort now? We need fats for the maintenance of bones and generating extra energy but how often we move our limbs?

According to Dr. Raju, Fat deposits are like money in the bank. The more you transact, the better is your progress. Stagnant money is useless; in fact a burden. Similarly, the more you work that fast the fats burn and provide energy making you stronger. Where were the motor cycles, cars and buses in those days? They used to walk many a mile everyday in search of their livelihood. We are no match in their comparison. We cannot be like them no matter how hard we try.

The success mantra of healthy living of our ancestors is to work hard and eat healthy in the available circumstances. Dr. Mantena Satyanarayana Raju has designed a wonderful routine of things to be done in order to get rid of almost all sorts of disorders and diseases naturally and prevent any sort of such disorders in future if you don’t have any right now. This routine is studied and designed by Dr. Raju based on the knowledge and experiences of ancestors and molded for the people living in the modern society. Try to include these practices into your daily routine in order to stay fit and healthy.

(1) Rise around 5 A.M. in the morning. Lot of importance is given in Indian culture to wake up early. 4-30 A.M. to 5-30 A.M is considered as “divya samay - the divine timing” as the entire Gods move around you in the morning at this hour. The Idea is to make you wake up that early and have the wonderful breeze of pranic energy or life energy during these hours. Lots of prana flow during these hours of the time. Robin Sharma in one of his books mentioned that joining the 5 ‘O’ Clock club will change your life. Therefore wake up and see the difference. Seriously include this in your lifestyle and see the difference.

(2) As soon as you wake up fill your mouth with water and sprinkle water on your eyes for 10-15 times. This is a wonderful practice taught by Baba Ramdev-the yoga guru. It does wonders to your eyes. Practicing this will relieve you from frequent headaches, migraine and issues related to your sight. It is practically proven as boon for students and people who work on computers for hours.

(3) Drink 1 – 1 ½ liters of water in one go or two. Initially some people find it difficult to drink this much of water. Their body is not used to it. To begin with drink ½ liter of water and after one week you can go for one liter. Some people even feel a vomiting sensation in the beginning. Don’t panic if you vomit. Gently make your body get used to it. Water at this hour is to flush your intestines. It is a natural enema. Many of us use buckets of water to cleanse our outer body but never bothered to clean our inner body by drinking some liters of water. Drinking 1 to 1 ½ liters of water puts pressure on intestines and help in the free bowel movement.

(4) After drinking water concentrate on the intestines and walk around for a while and then visit the toilet. Concentration on intestines does wonders. We often see people spending lot of time in the toilet reading newspapers and smoking cigars. They take time to ablate because their concentration is on some other thing. For people with constipation, walking around with concentration on intestines help their cause to a great extent. The result won’t be immediate but as you follow this practice for a week or two you are going to see the difference.

(5) Half an hour later, start any exercise, yoga, walking, jogging etc. for at least 20 minutes. I recommend 1 hour of intense workout of any form for healthy people and 20-30 minutes of moderate workout for people of old ages and suffering from diseases. Asana and Pranayama are very desirable for people suffering from diseases. Remember the golden rule of ancestors no workout no food. If you want to eat well then move your limbs and sweat it out. Unless you workout you are not going to have a healthy life, no matter how nutritious food you eat. According to the great maestro of yoga Dr. BKS Iyengar, “the modern man had stuck to his sofa. He wakes up from bed and lands on sofa for tea, from sofa to dining chair for breakfast, dining chair to car or motor cycle seat to office, again from car seat to the office chair and vice versa. Where is the physical exerting? How is he going to gain health if such is the lifestyle?” If not all but many of us are like what Dr. Iyengar had mentioned. Many of the people living in metro cities say, they are so busy that they do not have time to do exercises. They have time for everything and everybody but have no time for the self. There is nothing ridiculous than this. You must remember one thing “If you don’t take your time for physical exercises now then you won’t have much time for the future.” Therefore be late than never. Realize this mantra and start moving your limbs.

(6) Drink 1 or 1 ½ liters of water again 10 minutes after your exercises. You might get another nature call to attend. I mean the bowel movement. This liter of water is good for people suffering from constipation. This soothes the intestines and improves its condition.

(7) Have your bath and freshen up for your vegetable juice if people suffering from constipation, hemorrhoids, piles, diabetes, high cholesterol etc. Healthy people can have their breakfast now.

(8)Have your vegetable juice with Tomato, Carrot, Beetroot, Kheera (cucumber), Bottle Gourd, Snake Gourd, Bitter Gourd etc. You can combine any one or two of the first 4 vegetables but never make the juices by combining vegetables of gourd family. Please make sure you wash all the vegetables very well and also taste a piece of snake and bottle gourd before you make the juice. Because some of these gourds (1 in a million) tastes bitter and when you notice that please avoid such gourds. These gourds (1 in a million) releases some kind of toxins due to various germinating factors like infertile soil, lack of water, sunlight and air etc. Keep these precautions in mind every time you make the vegetable juice. Remember and make sure you drink each sip gently and slowly before gulping in order to mix your saliva in every sip. Drink pleasantly as you drink your fruit juice.

(9) Have a gap of at least half an hour for breakfast.

(a) Make a habit of taking breakfast of sprouted moong beans or green grams, cow pea, chickpea etc. and soaked nuts like groundnut, almonds, cashew etc. No need to soak the nuts till they sprout. Just soak in the night and use it in the morning. Soak green grams, cow pea and chickpea for 6 – 8 hours and sprout it in a sprout maker or cloth till they sprout to 1 or 1 ½ inches. The longer the sprout, the better the nutrition and lesser the gas trouble. I need to mention one point here, due to high amount of proteins in sprouts; you might feel slight trouble in your stomach with gas. Making larger sprouts and chewing well is the key here. The better you chew the sprouts, the lesser is the gas trouble. You must remember to eat handful of these sprouts and nuts. It won’t be easy to eat sprouts initially because again your body is not used to this kind of food; it has to be made adaptable. It might take 15-20 days to get adaptable. Keep patience and self belief. You are going to love this after a few days because you have already begun reaping the benefits of this superstar food by then.

(b) Do not drink water till 2 hours after breakfast. This is because our food is digested by the most powerful concentrated hydrochloric acid and other gastric juices in our stomach. When you drink water the concentration of these acids and juices weakens and hinders our digestion process. Our body needs to produce further acids to digest the food. These excess acids and gases results in belching and other gastric disorders. Some people doubt that we need water to digest. They need not worry because we get enough water from the food we cooked, or even raw fruits and vegetables have enough water in them to help digestion apart from the digestive gases and acids which are again in liquid form.

(c) 2 hours after your breakfast have a glass or two of water. In this way drink 1 or 1 ½ liters of water before your lunch. Remember again drink water 30 minutes before lunch and 2 hours after lunch.

(d) Have 2-3 Phulkas made of whole wheat or ragi and lots of vegetable curry or salad, or 2 servings of Rice (Brown Rice or Pounded Rice or unpolished rice) with curry (salad or boiled vegetables). You may use onions, lime juice, green chilly etc. for taste. You may have curd if required. The mantra is to eat more vegetable salad and curry and less phulka or rice. You need to fill your stomach more than 60% in order to quench your hunger. If you eat more vegetables curry than rice or phulka, you never suffer from constipation or any other intestinal disorders. All the vegetables are rich in fiber source. Fiber acts as a mop or broom stick in our body which cleanses the intestines and blood vessels. Eating more vegetables also cleanses the blockages in arteries and veins. People suffering from digestive and intestinal disorders should strictly avoid animal food because they contain zero fiber. Please note all the animal foods like goat, fish, chicken, milk, chocolates, creams etc. contains cholesterol which we need not take externally. Our liver looks after the production of cholesterol that is required for the body. Therefore don’t bother to take them in. Excess cholesterol reaches the bloodstream and clogs the arteries and veins resulting in high blood pressure, paralysis and heart attacks.

(e) Drink again 1 or 2 liters of water 2 hours after the lunch in small installments of a glass or two. Many people give a skip to drink this installment of water here as they pay no attention to it. It is very essential to maintain enough fluids in our body for proper functioning of nervous system.

(f) You must stop drinking water by 6 P.M. or 6-30 P.M. This is because if you drink water in the late evening or night you need to attend the urinal during the late nights disturbing your sleep. Your body doesn’t need any more water at nights because the temperature of your body cools down with the weather. More importantly we have supplemented enough amount water in the day when the weather is hot.

(g) Dr. Raju is intensively promoting the practice of having the dinner by sunset. This practice is usually followed in rural areas of India from millions of years. This practice has lot to do with good health. We often see people in rural areas of India, Nepal and China are quite healthier than those in urban areas. If you eat early by 7 P.M. the food gets digested by 9 P.M. and you get a sound sleep throughout the night. This again gives rest to your entire body and mind. There are lots of other benefits of eating early in the evening which I will try to bring in my further updates.

(h) If you are a worker who is engaged in heavy physical work then you can have your quota of rice and vegetables without oil, ghee, masala, spices, salt etc. For people working in offices who needs less physical effort and more mental effort have to eat phulkas again with more amount of vegetable curry as mentioned above. People who work late or those with diabetes, arthritis or any digestive problems can have stomach full of seasonal fruits available in the market as dinner.

(i) Those who feel thirsty can have ½ glass of water before sleeping that is at 9 P.M. or 9-30 P.M.

Note: People who are overweight or having arthritis/joint pains should replace rice with phulkas, or Still Better, Have Fruit Dinner (say 2-3 bananas + 2 guavas, or 2-3 mangoes, etc. - up to 1/2 kg fruits OK for dinner). If overweight, take less soaked groundnuts and fresh coconut pieces in breakfast. But they need not starve to become lean. Eat more vegetables and fruits, less rice/wheat, Avoid MOSS - Spices, Oil, Salt and Sugar completely in their food.

I would like to conclude with the slogan of Dr. M.S. Raju: We are humans and every human commits a mistake. Let’s forget about the past and change our present to make a memorable future. I hope this article inspires many to join Dr. Mantena’s Natural Way of Living which is for the better, healthy and happy future. Those who follow this never get prone to lifestyle disorders and those who were already suffering from any of these diseases or disorders can get rid of their problems by following this lifestyle. Follow and let others follow. Keep watching the space for more updates.