Hari Om
Hello Folks,
any one knowledgable of why some one would fast for 40 days? why not 43 or 39?
I have just read that 15 days is the magic number, and not to go to 16. Not that I ever got past 2, or could do it, but for a householder there was no resson…
Any thoughts on this?
Hi Frank,
I think the 40 day fast comes from this and maybe other quotes of the bible:
Moses Exodus 34:28:
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
But I don’t think I would be able to fast that long.
Hey Louis and David… had my first sip of a meal today…Guinness… Well all I am going to say is it is an acquired taste 
Hari Om
[quote]Originally posted by weaver
Moses Exodus 34:28:{/quote]
Hello Weaver,
thanks for the note… yes, this is the ‘gold standard’ for fasting.
Now every thing I have read on this suggests the following: the ‘mind’ is nourished by food/earth, energy /prana by water, and speech made of agni/fire. The different food-stuffs we take in then nourish this parts. So, as time goes on during a fast and one does not eat, then the mind is therefore less crisp/alert and the memory fades. W/O water, energy fades and does vak or congruity of speech - that is, one gets drawn more into silence. So, Jesus’ 40-40 days and nights is truly remarkable.
So , I wonder why 40? I look ‘up’ and turn to some Jyotish info and come up empty handed for explanation. If it were 15 or 16 days, I can discern the meaning… 0r 30 days (a lunar month), but the 40 has me baffled for the spiritual reason. There must be more to it then meets the eye… Even if there were something to 10 X 4 perhaps??? just fishing for ideas.
Frank,
Here are some thorough discussions of the significance of 40 days:
http://www.creation-answers.com/forty.htm
http://www.oricom.ca/sdesr/nu40.htm
Hari Om
Hello Weaver,
way cool… 1 down 149 more questions to solve. this is really interesting from a jyotish perspective. In Vedic-Jyotish ( science of light) we use 360 to discern a year. So, 360/40 is 9.
Nine is very significant number, as it defines 9 grahas ( roughly planets, but really means that which holds/binds). As in this site you gave [thank you again <<< >>> ] its clear that 9 is signifcant too. I will leave it here for now, and go kick around a few more things on this site. Not many are Jyotish-interested, so I am just flapp’n my gum’s.
I think Weaver has cracked the case.
Some additional thoughts:
I think it was in Dr Fuhrman’s book on fasting that he said that 40 days is the maximum length a healthy person with normal fat deposits can fast without causing damage.
A professor of Hebrew religion I know believes that 40 days/years in the Hebrew scriptures was their code for “a long time.”
Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement
A must read for any fasters:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/pdf/howtolive100years.pdf
If the link ever dies, google or wiki Luigi Cornaro “Discourses on the sober life” (How to live 100 years)
Totally cool.
One thing that Luigi Cornaro (linked in the above post) claims is that fasting improves one’s singing voice. I’ve noticed on the days that I do fast that this seems to be the case. I hope Luigi is right that there’s a long term cumulative effect. That’d be cool! He says that due to fasting, his voice is better in his 80s than it was in his 30s.
My personal fasting update: I’ve been on and off eating every other day for the last few months. Right now, I’m following the eatQOD.com alternating day protocol by drinking tomato juice on my fasting days. My guess is that this might be more sustainable and easy than the strict fasting every other day.
www.quickfasting.com is a great site on fasting.