Indian military scientists are studying an 82-year-old who claims he has not had any food or drink for 70 years.

[Thunder_Gooch]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/7645857/Man-claims-to-have-had-no-food-or-drink-for-70-years.html

 

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi

Published: 11:02PM BST 28 Apr 2010

 

Indian patient Prahlad Jani (Mataji), who claims he has survived without food and water for more than seven decades Photo: AFP

 

 

 

Prahlad Jani is being held in isolation in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gurjarat, where he is being closely monitored by India's defence research organization, who believe he may have a genuine quality which could help save lives.

 

He has now spent six days without food or water under strict observation and doctors say his body has not yet shown any adverse effects from hunger or dehydration.

 

Mr Jani, who claims to have left home aged seven and lived as a wandering sadhu or holy man in Rajasthan, is regarded as a 'breatharian' who can live on a 'spiritual life-force' alone. He believes he is sustained by a goddess who pours an 'elixir' through a hole in his palate. His claims have been supported by an Indian doctor who specializes in studies of people who claim supernatural abilities, but he has also been dismissed by others as a "village fraud."

 

India's Defence Research Development Organisation, whose scientists develop drone aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles and new types of bombs. They believe Mr Prahlad could teach them to help soldiers survive longer without food, or disaster victims to hang on until help arrives.

 

"If his claims are verified, it will be a breakthrough in medical science," said Dr G Ilavazhagan, director of the Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences.

 

"We will be able to help save human lives during natural disasters, high altitude, sea journeys and other natural and human extremities. We can educate people about the survival techniques in adverse conditions with little food and water or nothing at all."

 

So far, Mr Prahlad appears to be standing up to scrutiny. He has not eaten or drunk any fluids in six days, and similarly has not passed urine or a stool in that time. He remains fit and healthy and shows no sign of lethargy. Doctors will continue observing him for 15 days in which time they would expect to see some muscle wastage, serious dehydration, weight loss,and fatigue followed by organ failure.

 

It is common in India for Jains and Hindus to fast, sometimes for up to eight days, without any adverse affects, as part of their religious worship. Most humans cannot survive without food for 50 days. The longest hunger strike recorded is 74 days.

 

According to Dr Sudhir Shah, who examined him in 2003, he went without food or water for ten days in which urine appeared to be reabsorbed by his body after forming in his bladder. Doubts were expressed about his claim after his weight fell slightly at the end of the trial.

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Bumpin'

[DaoChild]

We need to get him studied under western standards, assuming he first impresses the Indian scientists. Other parts of the world have notoriously low criteria for scientific studies.

[thelerner]

"They believe Mr Prahlad could teach them to help soldiers survive longer without food,"

 

 

Fantastic that's what we all want.

 

 

Maybe they could dissect him and figure out a way to make Bigu into a pill; skip that 40 years of training crap.

 

 

[dwai]

We need to get him studied under western standards, assuming he first impresses the Indian scientists. Other parts of the world have notoriously low criteria for scientific studies.

 

 

Scientific studies in India happen per standards of Scientific Inquiry...not Western Standards. In fact, even in the West, Scientific studies happen per Scientific Method and not a "Western Standard".

 

 

 

[effilang]

Prahlad Jani, a sadhu, spent ten days under strict observation by physicians in Ahmedabad, India, in 2003. The study was led by Dr Sudhir Shah, the same doctor who led the study of Hira Ratan Manek. Reportedly, during the observation, he was given only 100 millilitres of water a day to use as mouthwash, which was collected and measured after he used it, to make sure he hadn't consumed any. He was reported to enter Samadhi state of consciousness almost daily during meditation.

 

Throughout the observation, he passed no urine or stool, but doctors say urine appeared to form in the bladder, only to be reabsorbed. However, despite Jani's claim to have gone without food for decades, Jani was not engaged in strenuous exercise during the ten-day trial, and longer trials were not recorded under similarly strict observation. Further, his weight did drop slightly during the 10 days, casting some doubt on his claim to go indefinitely without food. Jani claims a goddess sustains him through amrit that filters down through a hole in his palate. The Indian Rationalist Association labels him a "village fraud".

 

On June 26, 2006, The Discovery Channel aired a documentary called "The Boy with Divine Powers" featuring a 5 minute interview with Prahlad Jani and Dr. Sudhir Shah.

 

As of April 22, 2010, new tests are being conducted on Prahlad Jani under surveillance of 35 doctors and researchers of Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Science (DIPAS)

Edited May 4, 2010 by effilang

[effilang]

[markern]

Scientific studies in India happen per standards of Scientific Inquiry...not Western Standards. In fact, even in the West, Scientific studies happen per Scientific Method and not a "Western Standard".

 

China has produced an enormous amount of qigong research that is more or less worthless by (western) scientific standards) other then as an indiaction that one should do more reserach with rigorous enough standards.

Edited May 7, 2010 by markern

[Thunder_Gooch]

Update

 

http://www.physorg.com/news192690076.html

 

'Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists

May 10, 2010 by Rajesh Joshi Prahlad Jani spent a fortnight in a hospital in Gujarat under constant surveillance from medics

 

 

Indian holy man Prahlad Jani speaks at a press conference at a hospital in Ahmedbad on May 6. Jani, who says he has spent seven decades without food or water, has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period.

 

An 83-year-old Indian holy man who says he has spent seven decades without food or water has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period.

 

Prahlad Jani spent a fortnight in a hospital in the western India state of Gujarat under constant surveillance from a team of 30 medics equipped with cameras and closed circuit television.

 

During the period, he neither ate nor drank and did not go to the toilet.

 

"We still do not know how he survives," neurologist Sudhir Shah told reporters after the end of the experiment. "It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is."

 

The long-haired and bearded yogi was sealed in a hospital in the city of Ahmedabad in a study initiated by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the state defence and military research institute.

 

The DRDO hopes that the findings, set to be released in greater detail in several months, could help soldiers survive without food and drink, assist astronauts or even save the lives of people trapped in natural disasters.

 

"(Jani's) only contact with any kind of fluid was during gargling and bathing periodically during the period," G. Ilavazahagan, director of India's Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), said in a statement.

 

Jani has since returned to his village near Ambaji in northern Gujarat where he will resume his routine of yoga and meditation. He says that he was blessed by a goddess at a young age, which gave him special powers.

 

During the 15-day observation, which ended on Thursday, the doctors took scans of Jani's organs, brain, and blood vessels, as well as doing tests on his heart, lungs and memory capacity.

 

"The reports were all in the pre-determined safety range through the observation period," Shah told reporters at a press conference last week.

 

Other results from DNA analysis, molecular biological studies and tests on his hormones, enzymes, energy metabolism and genes will take months to come through.

 

"If Jani does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one," said Shah.

 

"As medical practitioners we cannot shut our eyes to possibilities, to a source of energy other than calories."

 

© 2010 AFP

[gendao]

China has produced an enormous amount of qigong research that is more or less worthless by (western) scientific standards) other then as an indiaction that one should do more reserach with rigorous enough standards.

Lol, get real. If the West ever got a hold of this guy, they'd publically claim he's a fraud...while our black military secretly imprisons & studies him until they could determine his secrets for combat applications.

[RongzomFan]

This guy seems to be real, as opposed to Hira Manek.

 

Apparently there was a second study on Prahlad Jani that just finished recently as reported by MSN, BBC, Foxnews recently etc.

[markern]

Lol, get real. If the West ever got a hold of this guy, they'd publically claim he's a fraud...while our black military secretly imprisons & studies him until they could determine his secrets for combat applications.

 

Whatever you believe about secret government conspiracies and so forth studies done without control groups, very small samples and so forth are considered worthless for anything other than further research when it comes to ANYTHING studied scientifically in the west be that drugs, other types of treatment, psychological therapy or whatever and that is exactly the type of research the Chinese and Indians have been doing in this field. THey have produced tons of studies showing what can only be considered INTERESTING results that PROVE nothing

[dwai]

Whatever you believe about secret government conspiracies and so forth studies done without control groups, very small samples and so forth are considered worthless for anything other than further research when it comes to ANYTHING studied scientifically in the west be that drugs, other types of treatment, psychological therapy or whatever and that is exactly the type of research the Chinese and Indians have been doing in this field. THey have produced tons of studies showing what can only be considered INTERESTING results that PROVE nothing

 

It is going to be hard to create "control groups" out of one person. The Scientific Method calls for objectivity and most of what passes of as "Scientific evidence" in such cases are only statistical probabilities that phenomenon being studied is a valid one (as in not tampered with).

 

How about you telling us exactly how a "double blind study" can be performed on a subject such as Prahlad Jani and then see how it would be different from how the studies are being performed in India?

 

I don't know about the Scientific community in China, but those in India are very very smart, given that more than 40% of scientists in the West are from India.

[markern]

It is going to be hard to create "control groups" out of one person. The Scientific Method calls for objectivity and most of what passes of as "Scientific evidence" in such cases are only statistical probabilities that phenomenon being studied is a valid one (as in not tampered with).

 

How about you telling us exactly how a "double blind study" can be performed on a subject such as Prahlad Jani and then see how it would be different from how the studies are being performed in India?

 

I don't know about the Scientific community in China, but those in India are very very smart, given that more than 40% of scientists in the West are from India.

 

Of course I am not saying one should create a control group in this instance I use it as an example of what one in many cases need to do and which is way too often neglected in Indian and Chinese research. THe most important thing to do in this case is to keep him under such observation for a month or so to be absolutely certain it is not just the result a long training in fasting that makes his body tolerate better and react differently to lack of food but that he really has no need for food what so ever even for very long periods of time. 10 days as one of the studies was is too short but very intriguing.

 

Several Indian and chinese scientists, most maybe, readily admit the research in this area haven`t been up to a western standard and that they need to improve in that regard. I have read several articles were that has been discussed by indian and chinese scientists. I don`t remember the exact number, I think about a thousand or so, studies have been done one qigong showing beneficial effects yet very few of those are good enough to be considered proof of anything. That demonstrates a lack of regard for rigorous scientific protocol. THe reason that is now slowly changing is primarily that these studies get little respect and little publishing in the west for their lack of strict standards and that the indian and chinese scientists wants their studies accepted in the west.

 

More than 40% of the scientists in the west certainly is not from India. Please document it.

[yuanqi]

As Yogiraj Lahiree Mahasaya stated in one of His 26 diaries-

 

Through excellent Pranayama when a yogi goes beyond the Anahata OR the Omkara sound then he is free from all aspirations. In this aspiration free state, kinetic mind merges into the still mind. Then remaining in the state beyond body consciousness, food intake becomes redundant.

[dwai]

Of course I am not saying one should create a control group in this instance I use it as an example of what one in many cases need to do and which is way too often neglected in Indian and Chinese research. THe most important thing to do in this case is to keep him under such observation for a month or so to be absolutely certain it is not just the result a long training in fasting that makes his body tolerate better and react differently to lack of food but that he really has no need for food what so ever even for very long periods of time. 10 days as one of the studies was is too short but very intriguing.

 

Several Indian and chinese scientists, most maybe, readily admit the research in this area haven`t been up to a western standard and that they need to improve in that regard. I have read several articles were that has been discussed by indian and chinese scientists. I don`t remember the exact number, I think about a thousand or so, studies have been done one qigong showing beneficial effects yet very few of those are good enough to be considered proof of anything. That demonstrates a lack of regard for rigorous scientific protocol. THe reason that is now slowly changing is primarily that these studies get little respect and little publishing in the west for their lack of strict standards and that the indian and chinese scientists wants their studies accepted in the west.

 

More than 40% of the scientists in the west certainly is not from India. Please document it.

 

 

I was pretty close:

 

http://spectrum.ieee...s_at_nasa_are_i

 

and that was 2 years ago. Things might have changed since...

Edited May 19, 2010 by dwai

[RongzomFan]

The main problem with Prahlad Jani is the fact that his doctor also validated Hira Manek, which we now KNOW is a fraud.

 

So I think the doctor himself is a fraud. Where does that leave Prahlad Jani? I have no clue...

[nac]

We need to get him studied under western standards, assuming he first impresses the Indian scientists. Other parts of the world have notoriously low criteria for scientific studies.

Not India. ISRO operates the largest, most high-tech satellite in the Asia-Pacific region, including China and Japan. China produces a lot of worthless research, but west vs. rest of the world is a false dichotomy where scientific research is concerned. I think China is a special case here. Since the government throttles freedom of inquiry, a lot of people find themselves unable to apply one set of standards to society and a completely different one to scientific work, so they either end up in Laogai labor camps or doing bad science. No doubt there are exceptions.

[thelerner]

Let me throw this out. Taoist lore and literature is filled with advanced masters going into caves and meditating in a deathlike state for months, years or decades; leaving disciples to dust off and protect their bodies.

 

 

Fact or fiction??

 

 

Its wide spread and believed by so many advanced teachers like Chia, Daniel Reid, etc., that I'm willing to believe its possible, rare, but possible. What do you think?

 

 

 

Michael

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Let me throw this out. Taoist lore and literature is filled with advanced masters going into caves and meditating in a deathlike state for months, years or decades; leaving disciples to dust off and protect their bodies.

 

 

Fact or fiction??

 

 

Its wide spread and believed by so many advanced teachers like Chia, Daniel Reid, etc., that I'm willing to believe its possible, rare, but possible. What do you think?

 

 

 

Michael

 

 

I think it is definitely possible.