All religions exhort us to cleanse the heart of malice, greed, hate and anger. All religions hold out the gift of Grace as the prize for success in this cleaning process.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
Life is like a book with three chapters. Two are already written by God - Birth and Death. The chapter in the middle is empty; fill it with your smile, love and faith.
The guru cannot awaken you; all that he can do is to point out what is. The guru can give you words; he can give you an explanation, the symbols of the mind, but the symbol is not the real, and if you are caught in the symbol, you will never find the way.
