Vegetarian Cuisine
A JUICE FAST – Serves your body
Ingredients:
Raw fresh vegetable or fruit juice
Raw vegetable or fruit juices are a good way of detoxifying the body.
“Raw, freshly made vegetable or fruit juices are very good for those who suffer from chronic ailments. Do not think these raw juices are like drugs to cure ailments. They are rather the most vital rebuilding and regenerating foods the the body can use for cellular construction. The raw fruits and vegetables are the storehouses of nature’s energy to nourish the starved cells of the body. When one intends to fast for a week only use freshly made juices. One can drink several liters of juice a day. At times one can feel discomfort from fasting on raw juices, usually because of the stirring up of poisons accumulated in the body system, which nature is anxious to eliminate. Energy and vigor return when the toxin is eliminated.” – Sw. Vishnu-devananda – CIBY
When and How long to Fast –
If you are new to fasting, it is best to begin with a short fast. Fasting on a regular basis helps keep the body and mind healthy. Even beginners may safely fast for 1-3 days without the guidance of an expert. Pick a time when you can be quiet, perhaps on a weekend. Choose to do the fast on your own or in a group. One day fasting each week maintains good health and mental resolve. Weekend fasts are recommended several times a year, especially at the times when the seasons are changing. Long fasts of a week of more give great spiritual strength. After the third day, you will likely find your hunger disappears, then fast until your normal hunger returns. Live satvically during your fast. Read divine books. Enjoy peaceful walks in Nature.
More information and recipes on fasting can be found in the Sivananda Yoga Cookbook – p.154.
This recipe is an edited contribution for the Sivananda Gurugram, sourced from The Yoga Cookbook: “Food for Body and Mind – Recipes from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres” – 1999.
Enrich your blood through Japa, Kirtan, Meditation, Sattva, Pranayama, Asanas, tomatoes, grapes, spinach, pure air and sunlight. – Sri Swami Sivananda
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Glossary
TYAGA – renunciation; giving up with generosity what one could probably have kept
There are three kinds of Tyāga – Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika. Whereas acts of sacrifice, charity and penance, the purifiers of wise men, must be performed without attachment and hope of award.
Renunciation of physical objects is no renunciation at all. The real Tyaga (renunciation) consists in the renunciation of egoism (Ahankara). If you can renounce this Ahankara, you have renounced everything else in the world. If the subtle Ahankara is given up, Dehadhyasa (identification with the body) automatically goes away.
Hope and anticipation are the opposite of Vairagya and Tyaga. They fatten the mind. To be perfectly hopeless is a very high state for a philosopher. It is a very bad state for worldlings. They always say with contempt: “He is a hopeless man.” Worldlings and philosophers move towards diametrically opposite poles.
The mind is the all-in-all and its mastery leads to the renunciation of all. Chitta-Tyaga alone constitutes the renunciation of all. True renunciation lies in the abnegation of the mind. It consists in renouncing all desires and egoism and not world-existence. Through such a mental abnegation, you will be able to free yourself from all pain. Then will come immortality in life or enjoyment of the infinite delight of existence free from ego, founded on oneness of all in Brahman.
You must renounce the Tyagabhimana also. The Tyagabhimana is very deep-rooted. You must renounce the idea, “I have renounced everything.”
Everything happens for a reason. Develop faith that you will understand everything and see the bigger picture in due time. – Sri Swami Sivananda