In our tradition of Sanatana Dharma, the laws of the spiritual world like karma, principle of punarjanma- mrutyu (death-rebirth) are unchanging with time. But the rules/social conventions/laws of any human community or nation need to change with the passage of time. This distinction between perpetual principles-"Shruti" and ephemeral man-made rules-"Smruti" is unique to the Dharmic Tradition of religions. The religions which do not acknowledge this dichotomy of Life, end up in a mess trying to reconcile modern day living with outdated medieval practices- a spectre of the past which haunts a large area of the middle-east till date.
In Sanatana Dharma, we need to enunciate new Smrutis or update the existing ones with changing times. My suggestion in that direction is that we need to reinvent our Dharmic fasts. The purpose of 'Upvaas' is to take the mind away from distractions including food and detoxify/purify the body through light meals, chanting of mantras, meditation and raise the energy level of the consciousness. In ancient times I presume, getting rid of the distraction of food aka "taste" and meditation were good enough to make the mind take a break. But in the modern day life distractions abound like Television, cellphones followed by the endless enumeration of electronic gadgets. If a modern day Smrutis were ever to be written, the modern day 'Upavaas' should include avoiding or at least limiting the exposure to these along with moderation in food.
Unplug the telly, Switch off your mobile phone (or at least turn off cellphone-data), do not use your laptop (unless absolutely necessary), lock away the rest of your electronic distractions, eat light, exercise, do some pranayama , meditate - and feel healthier, happier and -in a word- Great !
This is my idea of an 'e-upavaas'! It made me realize that the sky won't fall, the earth won't implode and my existence won't be threatened if I did not "Check Whatsapp" nor share some irrelevant piece of personal information about my day to complete strangers on the internet in the form of a 'Status Update'! Phew! What a relief! :)
Shaantam Bhavatu!
Best,
Prabhav M
