Influence of Feces

Yogeshwarananda instructed that I explain the hidden influence of feces. He said that if feces is not promptly evacuated, its retention produces a sluggish mood which negatively affects the moods and actions of the body. That energy is subtle, so subtle, that it may not be noticed even by a yogi who practices regularly. It will shift a yogi’s priorities where he becomes lackadaisical and loses focus on the spiritual practice and on social duties which he should comply with promptly.

Patanjali warned about the sleep vritti as an obstruction for yoga practice. When waste lingers in the body, specifically in the colon and/or rectum, it produces a dulling force which influences the person to neglect certain duties which if completed would accelerate practice.

The physical body has a maximum lifespan. A yogi should construct his lifestyle in consideration that nothing should be done which will reduce the duration of the body, but one should also act in a way which will not increase the illness capacity of the body, such that there should be no action which would reduce the body’s healthy condition. Retaining feces instead of promptly evacuating it, will reduce the health and increase the sick condition potential of the body.

This also has a dulling stupefying influence on the subtle form, which is unwanted and which will cause the yogi to reside on a lower astral plane hereafter. Not a day should pass where a yogi does not check to be sure that there is prompt evacuation. This is a vital part of yoga practice.