A 13-year-old girl in India took part in an extreme religious fast and died after over two months of not eating and having almost no sleep, according to reports. After calling off the fast, she fell into a coma and after two days, she died of cardiac arrest on Oct. 4.
The teen girl, Aradhana Samdariya left her parents who are well-off jewelers in Hyderabad and now facing charges of homicide. The other family members were also charged with the same case, USA Today reports.
The relatives would insist that it was Aradhana's own volition as part of a ritual in Jainism, which is an ancient Indian religion that believes in the "liberation and bliss" as a life's goal. Aradhana believes in harmlessness and renunciation and that it could be attained through your good connection with the universe.
The children rights group and others pointed that the young girl was misguided in her belief, whether it were the parents, relatives, or gurus suggested to be responsible for the incident. There are also reports saying that the teen girl did it to make her father's business more profitable.
This incident is being linked to the tragic fast that was spearheaded by Sweat Lodge Guru James Arthur Ray, who has once been under the limelight some seven years ago. The incident in a Ranch in Sedona Arizona in October 2009 involved a five-day spirit warrior retreat. Ray insisted the idea of "mind over matter," which lead to the death of two people and dozens hospitalized.
Fasting And Health
Fasting can have benefits and setbacks at the same time, according to Web MD. It can cause imbalance and flushing of important elements from the body, but it can also be helpful in some cases like when a person is about to undergo surgery or when a person has heart disease, arthritis and so forth. This means that there are a number of cases where fasting has to be done for important causes.
For hundreds of years, fasting has already been a way of treating diseases and a purification activity in religions like Christianity and Islam, as referred from the Bible and Quran. A study published in NCBI concludes that fasting indeed has beneficial effects in the body but careful considerations should be dealt with.
