46.Fast: The Redemption from the “Moha” (Attachment)

Chapter- 46

Fast: The Redemption from the “Moha”(Attachment)
A ‘shravak’ asked Maharaj Shri, “What are the advan­tages of fast?”

“Redemption of the body from the “Moha” (attachment)”, Achharya Shri replied.

While fasting, weakness in the body and the trouble caused by hunger is natural, but just as the redemption from moha starts, all these troubles gradually fade. In fact the root of the troubles lies in the feeling of attachment.

Senses do not rush to passions during fast. When the sense of moha faints, the power of the self awakens.

Achharya Shri Shanti Sagar ji had contextually mentioned two actual events with reference to infatuation of the moha dur­ing his religious discourses, which are quoted here.

A female monkey has comparatively more attachment caused by affections towards her young one. Once, a baby of a female monkey died. She kept on embracing the dead young one to her breast. Achharya Shri saw that some male monkeys snatched the dead baby forcibly and consigned it to the river.

How does the second incident manifest the conception of attachment to the body?

A female monkey along with her baby jumped into an empty water tank. After sometime when water began to flow in it, she held the baby on her shoulder to save it from drowning. When the level of water began to rise she kept lifting him to the upper side of her body till the water came to the level of her neck. But when she herself was about to drown because of the risen water she pressed down the young one under her feet and stood It is the sense of attachment to ones own body. Fast abates this sense of attachment to life. As much as we get deeply in­volved in recollecting supreme souls (Arihant, Siddha, Achharya, Upadhyaya and Sarv-Sadhu), we feel inexpressible peace and the body pain shall disappear.