ASCETICISM

The ascetic Gotama… avoids watching dancing, singing, music shows. He abstains from using garlands, perfumes, cosmetics, ornaments and adornments…       – Digha Nikaya

In ancient Greece athletic training used to be called aksesis. The purpose of that exercise was to strengthen the body in order to derive its full potential. When religion came to the fore cultures developed similar exercises for strengthening the spirit. That is how the ascetic dimension of spiritual life emerged in the West.

There are several motivations for asceticism. One comes from the thesis in all religions that the human being has two separate components: body and spirit which complement sometimes, but are in conflict at other times. The cravings of the body bind it to the needs and enjoyments of the spirit in its terrestrial sojourn in a physical body. The pull of the spirit is to draw the experiencing body to the transcendental realm from which it sprang. Thus there is often a tug between flesh and spirit.

 Related to this is the belief that depriving the body of its customary instinctive demands will enhance its spiritual potential. Voluntary denial of and abstinence from the body’s needs is what constitutes asceticism. Thus, in every religious framework there are ways and days for the practice and display of ascetic behavior whose goal is to express mildly or with severity one’s allegiance to one’s vision of something beyond.

Another motivating belief for ascetic modes is that by practicing asceticism one will slowly acquire a spiritual power that is superior by far to the strength and stamina that the power from physical might, material wealth, and mundane power can give. This point is conveyed tersely through the words of the Kshatria sage Vishvamitra of Indic lore who once declared, Dhik kshatraya balam, brahma thejo balam balam!: Fie unto the might of the warrior (physical power)! Brahmic (spiritual) strength alone is true strength. Per the Balakanda (of the Ramayana) the kshatria sage retreated to extraordinarily ascetic life to attain full spiritual stature.

Fasting in various ways is standard ascetic gesture in most religions. Thus, traditional Hindus may fast on ekádashi, Jews for ta’anith, Catholics for Ash Wednesday, Muslims for Ramadan, and Protestants may fast on a day of their choice. But associated with these is also the conviction that occasional self-deprivation is not enough for spiritual life.

Undergoing voluntary physical pain on oneself is also regarded as a mark of devotion to the Divine. The implication, explicit or implicit, is that God applauds, appreciates, and admires self-inflicted suffering. There is no theological explanation or proof for this attribute of God. True or not, this appraisal of God has given rise to a variety of religious practices involving infliction of pain on oneself..

In Judaism there is the Day of Atonement. Fasting and penance are aids to prayer or expressions of remorse. E. L. Edelstein points out that “the prophets emphasize over and over again the fact that fasting and mortification of body by themselves do not please God. They are justified only if they help change man’s moral actions.”

In some Christian traditions there is the belief that asceticism is a re-enactment of what Christian martyrs had suffered. Just as sharing food outdoors in a picnic is a re-living of how our distant ancestors used to eat, the ascetic is actually remembering the pains that martyrs underwent centuries ago. Their voluntary act was in effect an imitation of Christ (imitatio Christi). Thus, asceticism was not seen as something to please God, but as an expression of gratitude for the unimaginable suffering in Christ’s crucifixion for the benefit of humanity. In later centuries asceticism simply became an act of sacrifice for God. It is often in this spirit that many pilgrims did (and do) their knee-walking on Holy Thursday.

 Mark the Ascetic and Francis of Assisi were among the galaxy of renunciants in the Catholic tradition, as Ramana Maharishi and Sri Aurobindo were in the Indic. But Saint Jerome warned that one should not imagine oneself to have become perfect by abstinence. To him abstinence was an aid to achieving spiritual perfection. Likewise, the Buddha is said to have described the practice of mortification as “painful, ignoble, and profitless.”

In the Islamic world asceticism is popular mainly among Sufis. Its painful variety may be seen during Muharram when Shia Muslims practice self-flagellation (tatbir) as a mode of mourning the death the of the founder of their sect: grandson of the Prophet.

Ascetic practice ranges from skipping dinner periodically to undergoing excruciating procedures as spiritual exercise. So in the religious framework whoever fasts and abstains on prescribed days and months gets that much closer to the God of their choice. That is why asceticism of one kind or another is practiced by Greeks and Romans, Jews and Christians, Buddhists and Hindus, Sufi-Muslims and Confucian priests: in short, by every caste and creed, race and religion that ardently seeks God, Truth, or higher knowledge.

In Judea and the Egyptian desert, on the Gangetic  plain  and the banks of Kaveri, during Easter and Muharram, men have chained themselves, rolled on stony roads, lashed themselves to bleeding, pierced their faces, all in the name of God and spirituality that might strike outsiders to the system as grotesque, gruesome, needlessly cruel and mindlessly masochistic.

One may write off asceticism by saying that the God-gene in humans inclines some well meaning and decent people to act in ways that they may not adopt in more sober moods. More often than not, it is the result of falling under the religious spell.

In any event, one must understand that ascetic acts are among the myriad ways that have transformative effects on people. They bring an inner fulfillment that reading scriptures and reciting chants seldom do. To inflict pain on oneself with a vision of the Almighty in mind is certainly far better than inflicting pain of others while proclaiming the greatness of God.

So we honor and respect devout ascetics in the monasteries and ashrams of various traditions as also those that practice asceticism in more modes ways as part of their religious life.