Acharya Tulsi
Food is the basis of life. No living being in this world can remain alive without food. Food is not of course the ultimate purpose of life, but it is necessary for its maintenance. The food required by the child while it is still in the womb, is more than that required after birth. Only a third part of the food consumed by the mother is available to the child before its birth. If adequate nourishment is not available, it adversely affects the health and growth of the child.
There is no fixed rule about how much food to take and when. The normal practice has been to eat every third day, every second day, and once a day. Some people, thanks to their strong will- power, are able to increase this interval—they can live without food for 6-12 months. The order of food—taking in respect of goods depends upon their age-cycle. But the desire for food is active within them, too.
With the passage of time, the quality of food materials has been deteriorating. Their nutritive value and taste are not what they used to be. That is why we find a person nowadays feeling hungry just a little time after having taken meals. There was a time when most monks ate only once a day. In today's circumstances, taking food at least thrice a day seems to have become a necessity. Most householders observe no regularity in e matter of taking food. Tea, syrup, juice, etc. are taken many a time during the day. Some people cannot leave their bed until they are served tea in the morning. Only after taking bed-tea, do they feel strong enough to get up? In these circumstances, any talk of giving up food for life seems astonishing.
Those who have been ill for years, who have no strength left even to move about, and have been confined to bed for a long time, who are almost bereft of all hope of recovery, and round whose bedstead death seems to be hovering—even such chronic invalids would not hear of abstaining from food. Even those whose system would not accept any normal food, and who are being kept alive through infusions of glucose, oxygen and other life-saving drugs, stare in stony silence if someone talks of food- abstention. Until the last moment, man’s longing for life is so strong that he finds it impossible to turn away from the means of subsistence.
On the other hand we also come across people who grow averse to any kind of food-taking, and give up eating altogether. Healthy body, healthy mind, and healthy environment—there is no change in the outer circumstances. But something happens to the mind, some chemical change takes place and all desire for food comes to an end. Why does it happen like that? Medical science has no answer to this question. All parts of the body—the heart, the liver, the kidneys etc. function all right. The brain, too. The pulse is normal. There is no bodily symptom which calls for investigation or comment. And yet, all of a sudden, the man refuses to eat. The entreaties of the members of his family, fail to bring him round. The doctor’s advice cannot shake his determination. The man refuses to yield to any pressure, whatsoever. He develops such apathy to eating, that even if a god were to ask him to take food, he would not do so.
How a perfectly healthy human being, engaged in the normal routine of life, going about his work, eating and drinking, suddenly undergoes an inner change so as to abstain from and food altogether, is a matter of research. If some scientists work on this problem, and uncover certain facts hitherto unknown, it would be a great achievement in the field of religion, too. It is not that such events have only recently been reported for thrilling incidents of total food-abstention have occurred for thousands of years. They are happening in the present, and it does not seem possible to stop these from happening in the future.
Only recently on 3rd July, 1988, a woman of Ladnun accepted santhara after 25 days of uninterrupted meditation. She is 57 years old. For the past few years she had been experiencing difficulty in observing a fast even for a day. Till the morning of 10th May, she had no thought of undertaking santhara. She got some tea made, and it was while she was sipping her tea, something happened to her. She suddenly stopped drinking her tea, and resolved not to take any food for the rest of her life. The members of her family remonstrated with her, but to no effect. When asked why she wanted to die, she said, "who says I wish to die '? I'm not interested in food any more. That's all. l want to fulfil my life. I don’t want to lose a single minute. l am all for complete renunciation. l am in a state of perfect samadhi. I‘ve no trouble or pain of any kind. After relinquishing food, my meditation has grown deeper. My morale has gone up. I've no attachment to my family, nor to my husband, nor to my son. I have stood all the tests, and now I am assured of their cooperation and support. I have no desire to live, nor any wish to die, nor any fear of death. I wish to accept santhara so as to fulfil myself."
At the time of her accepting santhara, hundreds of people were present. Among them were some very learned and intelligent persons. Many questions were put to her. The steadfastness, the determination and the wisdom she displayed on the occasion were truly remarkable. How scientific and sane is the process which marks a turning point in one's life! And withal how natural! And how fascinating, too! Only very rare persons take such a bold step. Where from do they get the courage to do it, and how? The question awaits an answer still.
