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'Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists

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'Starving yogi' astounds Indian scientists

May 10 01:23 PM US/Eastern

 

 

Indian holy man Prahlad Jani speaks at a press conference at a hospital in ...

 

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."

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There exists a documentary (surely in German language - else: I do not know) about it: Am Anfang war das Licht - www.amanfangwardaslicht.at

(In the beginning was the light)

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I remember coming across this story a while ago and as much as I like to keep an open mind concerning the abilities of human beings, it is a rather difficult idea to accept fully without some verifiable data concerning this. It reminds me of the breatharians who write about how to live off of energy alone or the sun-gazers who live off of sunlight. Are any/all of these things possible? I believe anything is possible, but there are some things that are more difficult than others to attain and this may be one of those things. Does anyone know of the scientific study original papers on this particular example?

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In my teen years, i read many stories of indian yogis performing various feats that are considered as miracles, by humans of this age/time. I discounted them as folklore and village gossip. After all, i was smart and knew better than others - or, so i told myself, for a long time. Life, time and age taught me humility with a stick that was lot harder than my school teacher's stick.

 

Sooner or later, science is bound to catch up and explore the higher potential of humans. But, i fear for the day when we "scientizise" the entire neuro-chemical reactions that is the mind, and declare that science has solved all puzzles that were once considered miracles - i fear for the day when "brute science" throws out humanity and consciousness - for when that is gone, can we survive much longer as humans ? Hopefully our race can survive, if not as humans, but not as animals.

 

Read the stories of others, to see that he is not the only one:

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Prahlad_Jani

https://www.psiram.com/en/index.php/Prahlad_Jani

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I came across  this  article, and this seems to top all others, in terms of what a yogi is capable of performing....

http://buddha.nimmersoft.dk/rechungpa1.htm

 

Of course, having lived in asia, i know that there are literally millions of fake yogis  for every single genuine one.  The problem is almost all the genuinely enlightened yogis  live  in seclusion, in india;  or, atleast,  they tend  to avoid  the  huge  crowds that sorround the fake ones.  Watch the conflicting reports on  buddha boy,  on youtube.  It is actually  pretty easy to tell the fake ones (especially if one is sensitive enough with a stable mind and the mind is tuned to spirituality already).

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Interesting.. I have had an experience in meditation where for several minutes I didn't feel the need to breathe. Makes me think that yogi's state is attainable, in theory.

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Interesting.. I have had an experience in meditation where for several minutes I didn't feel the need to breathe. Makes me think that yogi's state is attainable, in theory.

It is normal to be able to control breathing.  It depends on your genes and physiology. For an amazing illustration of breath control,  google  "free diving record in deep sea",  and look at videos of people who do not breath for unbeleivable amount of time.  During meditation, the stillness of mind creates less demands on energy required to sustain body; oxygen is needed in less amounts, reducing the amount that lungs need to take in, to sustain the body.  During deep meditation, there is also a tendency to forget/unfocus/unthink   the fact that you are actually breathing (in very low low amounts).

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