Upavasa

Upavasa is an exercise of restraining all activities. The word upavasa is widely applied for therapeutic fasting. However, practicing upavasa includes many other abstaining measures. Upavasa is one of the spiritual therapies and a type of langhana (that which produces lightness of the body) therapy[Cha.Sa. SutraSthana 22/18].Upavasa is a religious and spiritual practice in many countries of South East Asia region. Greek physician Hippocrates has said “Continuous intake of food without the elimination of waste materials from the body is deleterious to one’s health and fasting is the best natural remedy.”.Indian sages practiced upavasa to gain more spiritual powers. ‘Ekadashi (Eleventh day after full moon and new moon)’ Upavasa,Shivaratri Upavasa,ChatpujaUpavasa etc. are traditionally followed as religious practices.There are different type of upavasathat may be compared with calorie restriction. It includes lowering 30-40 percent of usual calorie consumption, while maintaining all the necessary nutrients and vitamins to support life.This article describes the concepts and practices of upavasa in detail.

Contributors

Section/Chapter/topic	Concepts& Practices /Upavasa
Authors	Bhojani M. K. 1, AcharyaRashmi Rekha 1 Deepankar Rahul1
Reviewer	Basisht G.2,
Editor	Deole Y.S.3
Affiliations	1 Department of Sharir Kriya, All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi, India 2Rheumatologist, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. 3Department ofKayachikitsa, G.J.Patel Institute of Ayurvedic Studies and Research, New Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India
Correspondence emails	meera.samhita@aiia.gov.in, carakasamhita@gmail.com
Publisher	Charak Samhita Research, Training and Development Centre, I.T.R.A., Jamnagar, India
Date of publication:	November 29, 2022
DOI	10.47468/CSNE.2022.e01.s09.119

Etymology

The Sanskrit word ‘Upavasa’ is derived from verb ‘vasa’ (dhatu meaning to dwell or to stay) and ‘ghnya’ pratyaya.It starts with prefix ‘Upa’ (upa+vas+ghnya), meaning towards, near to, by the side of.Thus, the word ‘upavasa’ means to abide by a state of abstinence and abstain from food.
Upavasa means “to sit or stay near (the God or divinity)”, to maintainGod in close proximity to your heart and mind. Upavasa has an inbuilt orientation of divine therapy.In a therapeutic sense, it can be considered as staying near oneself or giving rest to the agni(GodVaishwanara).

Definition

• Ahoratrabhojanaabhava: Lack of food for the whole day and night.
• Sarvabhogavivarjana: Abstaining from every single delight of senses, mind, and body.
• In general, upavasa denotes abiding in a state of abstinence and one should refrain from food and other psychological tendencies like desires(ichcha), anger(krodha), grief(shoka), greed(lobha), fascination(moha) etc.

Synonyms

• Upavasa
• Upasa
• Aupavasa
• Anasana
• Laghubhojana
• Bhojanaparityaga
• Upavastam
• Uposhitam
• Uposhanam
• Auopavratam
• Vrata
• Vratopavasa

Types

Generally