Here are the reasons why rest is best

This year's Nobel Prize in Medicine has gone to a Japanese scientist Dr Yoshinori Ohsumi for his research on Autophagy.

Autophagy — an Intracellular Recycling System that otherwise means 'eating self'. In other words, it is the process by which the human body eats its own damaged cells and unused proteins. It is a natural process and also occurs in cases of starvation. The failure of autophagy is a major reasons for accumulation of damaged cells, which leads to various diseases in the body. Autophagy is important to prevent/fight cancer and also plays a vital role in degrading and 'consuming' cells infected by bacteria and viruses.

There's a connection between Autophagy and Ekadashi, (fasting once a fortnight). Many of us religiously follow this practice to this day, as a penance for spiritual progress without knowing the biological and therapeutic benefits of this practice. Through this process of fasting induced autophagy, our body repairs its damaged and degenerated cells or uses up the proteins of these cells for its survival.

Every religion emphasis fasting, and with over 25 years of practice in Naturopathy, I cannot emphasise enough on the importance of fasting in Indian philosophy. Langhanam Paramaushadam means 'rest is the best medicine' (rest = fasting); Upavasa (up + vasa) 'up' means near and 'vasa' means stay- it means staying together. The human body has five different bodies called koshas in Sanskrit: Annamaya kosha, Pranamaya kosha, Manomaya kosha, Vijnananamaya kosha and Anandamaya kosha. When all these five bodies come together it is called Samadhi (blissfulness). Except for Manomaya kosha, the other four koshas are always together; only Manomaya kosha (mind) is the wandering one and which dominates the other koshas bringing asantulan (imbalance). So, a realignment is needed to achieve santulan (balance).

Ancient Indian astrological science informs us that the 11th day of the lunar cycle (according to the position of moon, the Hindu calendar marks its progression from full moon to a new moon as divided into 15 equal arcs. Each arc measures one lunar day). The universe has all energy forces, which comes to the centre, and complete our shortfall of the koshas we lack. This can make you dosha mukta (free from imbalance).

During last Ekadashi on 29 December, we celebrated this centredness. It is said that our concentration is diverted in ten different directions (East, West, North, South, North east, North west, South east, South west, and Up and Down), to bring our attention to one centre point that is called Ekadashi. The practice of fasting, encouraged on this day shouldn't be just at a physical level. Since we believe that Annataari, Annahaari, Annanirahankaari, which means 'food can save your life, can take your life as well', as a balanced aahar (aa + haar) is most needed. Aa means 'body', haar means 'whatever comes to the body'. The feast of Ekadashi advises us to pay attention to this balance in the form of: Kaval aahar –food for the body, rom aahar –food for the mind and Sushumna aahar –food for the soul. Shareera maadhyama katusaadhanam means the journey of life is possible only through physical body. A day in a fortnight spent in prayer and divine contemplation is a tonic for the mind and soul, while the practice of fasting ensures that the body heals and rejuvenates itself.

Clearly, our ancient sages believed in a process of holistic healing of both the body and the mind. They were able to, quite remarkably, connect the yearning for spiritual progress in a human being with the biological necessity of the human body. One cannot, but marvel at their wisdom and deep scientific understanding of the body and the mind. We may forget and ignore our glorious past, but with every research by the world scholars, the magnanimity of our civilization is opening before the present day humanity.