The Man Who Doesn’t Eat or Drink

The Man Who Doesn’t Eat or Drink

Researchers Find Miracles in Yogi’s Fasting

By Stephanie Lam

HUMAN MIRACLE: Prahlad Jani sits on a bed at Sterling hospital in Ahmedabad on Nov. 22, 2003. Scientific examinations have shown that yoga exercises have transformed his body. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The 84-year-old Indian yogi Prahlad Jani, who claims to have spent over 70 years without food or water, is being examined for the second time by scientists, who have found that his biology is indeed extraordinary.

Jani said he left home when he was 7 to live as a wandering monk, and was blessed by a goddess a year later. He claims that there is a hole in his palate through which his head drops nectar, giving him nutrition and enabling him to live without food or water.

“If his claims are verified, it will be a breakthrough in medical science,” said Dr. G. Ilavazhagan of India’s Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences in a news conference. “This may help in working out strategies for survival without food and water when it is not available; for example, in natural calamities, people face this situation. Similarly, our soldiers may also face this situation when they are left in the deserts or in forest or in high-altitude areas.”

In 2003, Jani was kept under surveillance for 10 days in Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, India. He did not bathe and was given only 100 milliliters (about 3 ounces) of water each day as mouthwash, which after his use was collected and measured to make sure that he didn’t drink any of it. 

Doctors found no deterioration in his health, although he lost weight slightly. It was found that urine formed in his bladder, but it was reabsorbed later.

Since April 22, Jani has returned to Sterling Hospital for further investigation by a team of 35 scientists from India’s Defense Research & Development Organization. Two 24-hour video cameras monitor his acts in his room, while another follows him when he goes out of the room.

The experiment will take 15–20 days and will involve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and blood tests, and other measurements of Jani’s brain and heart activity.

As of April 28, doctors have not found any aversive effects in his body from hunger or dehydration. It has been found that yoga exercises have caused Jani’s body to undergo a biological transformation and that his brain is in a state equivalent to that of a 25-year-old.

Dr. Sudhir Shah, a neurophysician involved in the study, called this a “miracle in the science.”

“A person can live without food and water for three, four, seven, to 12 days; and we have studied during fasting in the past that people have done fasting for 16 or 30 days, but they were taking water after eight days and certainly they pass urine—but this case is a unique phenomenon,” he said.

Without water, most people cannot survive for more than four days, and even with water, most people cannot survive without food for 50 days. The longest hunger strike known was of Terence MacSwiney, Ireland’s Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence. He went on a hunger strike while being detained by the British, and died after 74 days.

From The Epoch Times @ http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/researchers-find-miracles-in-yogis-fasting-34553.html

Early life

 

Born Chunriwala Mataji, Jani grew up in Charada village in Mehsana district.^[1] According to Jani, he left his home in Rajasthan at the age of seven, and went to live in the jungle.^[2]

At the age of 11, Jani underwent a religious experience and became a follower of the Hindu goddess Amba. From that time, he chose to dress as a female devotee of Amba, wearing a red sari-like garment, jewellery and crimson flowers in his shoulder-length hair.^[2] Jani is commonly known as Mataji ("[a manifestation of] The Great Mother"). Jani believes that the goddess provides him a liquid sustenance^[2] or water, which drops down through a hole in his palate, allowing him to live without food or water.^[1]

Since the 1970s, Jani has lived as a hermit in a cave in the rainforest near the Gujarati temple of Ambaji, awakening at 4am each day and spending most of his time meditating.^[2]

 

Investigations

 

Two observational studies of Jani have been conducted, one in 2003 and one in 2010, both involving Sudhir Shah, a neurologist at the Sterling Hospitals in Ahmedabad, India, who had studied people claiming to have exceptional spiritual abilities, including other fasters such as Hira Ratan Manek. In both cases the investigators confirmed Jani's ability to survive healthily without food and water during the testing periods, although neither study was submitted to a scientific journal.^[3] When questioned six days into the 2010 experiment, the DRDO spokesperson announced that the study's findings would be "confidential" until results were established,^[4] and a further official press release by the team stated that any inside analysis information may be disclosed only at the discretion of the principal investigator, DIPAS.^{[citation needed]} Uninvolved doctors and other critics have questioned the validity of the studies^[2][5][6] and stated their belief that, although people can survive for days without food or water, it is not possible to survive for years.^[6]

2003 tests

 

In 2003, Sudhir Shah and other physicians at Sterling Hospitals, Ahmedabad, India observed Jani for 10 days. He stayed in a sealed room and was given only 100 millilitres of water to use as mouthwash each day. Doctors say that he passed no urine or stool during the observation, but that urine appeared to form in the bladder.^[1] A hospital spokesperson said that Jani was physically normal, but noted that a hole in the palate was an abnormal condition.^[1] The fact that Jani's weight dropped slightly during the 10 days has cast some doubt on his claim to go indefinitely without food.^[7]

2010 tests

 

From 22 April until 6 May 2010, Prahlad Jani was again observed and tested by Sudhir Shah and a team of 35 researchers from the Indian Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), as well as other organizations.^{[8][9][2][10]} The director of DIPAS said that the results of the observations could "tremendously benefit mankind", as well as "soldiers, victims of calamities and astronauts", all of whom may have to survive without food or water for long spells.^[11] The tests were again conducted at Sterling Hospitals.^[12] Professor Anil Gupta of SRISTI,^[13] involved in monitoring the tests, described the team as being "intrigued" by Jani's kriyas apparently allowing him to control his body's physiological functions.^[14]

The team studied Jani with daily clinical examinations, blood tests, and scans. Round-the-clock surveillance was reportedly followed using multiple CCTV cameras and personal observation. The researchers say that Jani was taken out of the sealed room for tests and exposure to sun under continuous video recording.^[15] According to the researchers, Jani's only contact with any form of fluid was said to be during gargling and occasional bathing starting from the 5th day of observation, and the toilet in Jani's room was sealed to test his claim that he did not need to urinate or defecate.^[2]

After fifteen days of observation during which he reportedly did not eat, drink or go to the toilet, all medical tests on Jani were reported as normal^[15] and researchers described him as being in better health than someone half his age.^[2] The doctors reported that although the amount of liquid in Jani's bladder fluctuated and that Jani appeared "able to generate urine in his bladder",^[14] he did not pass urine. Based on Jani's reported levels of leptin and ghrelin, two appetite-related hormones, DRDO researchers posited that Jani may be demonstrating an extreme form of adaptation to starvation and water restriction.^[16]

In an update, DIPAS has stated that further studies are being conducted to get answers to questions such as how metabolic waste material is eliminated from his body, from where he gets his energy for sustenance, and how he maintains his hydration status.^[17]

It was declared in 2010 that further observations of Jani were planned.^[18][19]

 

Reactions

 

Dr. Michael Van Rooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, dismissed the observation results as "impossible", observing that the bodies of profoundly malnourished people quickly consume their own body's resources, resulting in liver failure, tachycardia and heart strain. A spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association remarked that the human body could survive on water alone, although not healthily, and that a person could not expect to meet their body's vitamin and mineral requirements without ingesting food.^[5] Nutrition researcher Peter Clifton also disagrees with study results. He accused the research team of "cheating" by allowing Jani to gargle and bathe, stating that a human of average weight would die after "15 to 20 days" without water.^[6] People who avoid food and water to emulate mystical figures often die.^[6] Sanal Edamaruku characterized the experiment as a farce for allowing Jani to move out of the CCTV cameras' field of view, claiming that video footage showed Jani was allowed to receive devotees and to leave the sealed test room for sunbathing. Edamaruku also said that the gargling and bathing activities were insufficiently monitored, and that he was denied access to the site where the tests were conducted in both 2003 and 2010.^[3] He accuses Jani of having "influential protectors" responsible for denying Edamaruku permission to inspect the project during its operation, despite having been invited to join the test during a live television broadcast.^[3] The Indian Rationalist Association stated that individuals making similar claims in the past have been exposed as frauds.^[2]

In September 2010, Dr Shah announced that scientists from Austria and Germany had offered to visit India to carry out further research on Jani, and scientists from the United States had also offered to join the research. Jani has expressed interest in cooperating in further investigations.^[20]

Television, video and public appearances

 

In 2006, The Discovery Channel aired a documentary called "The Boy with Divine Powers" featuring a five minute interview with Jani and Shah.^[21] In 2010, the Independent Television Network (ITN) posted an article and video featuring Prahlad Jani, commenting on the 2010 tests.^[22] In 2010 Prahlad Jani was featured in an Austrian documentary "Am Anfang war das Licht" (English title In the Beginning There Was Light).^[23][24]

In October 2010, the Italian television station Rai 2 broadcast a program named "Voyager" which presented an extensive report on Prahlad Jani and the tests.^[25][26]

As reported by DNA India, on 18 October 2011 Jani was a param pujya (master of ceremony) in a large shobha yatra performed near Gandhinagar (1000 paaths of goddess Durga were chanted).^[27]

What this yogi is doing has been done by yogis for millennia. It is an amazing feat in that it is real and it took this particular man an almost inconceivable amount of discipline to achieve. Our physicists are just beginning to skim the finest surface of understanding of our human potential.

This can be a real event where a person gains his energy from other sources which are not nutritional in the usual sense. A term sometimes used is “breathers” getting energy from the prana in the environment.

It may truly be an example of mind over matter. These are things that enligtened being have been doing since the beginning of time.

What Dr. Michael Van Rooyen says is based on the science as we know it now. I have personally witnessed the things in India that science CAN’T explain.

Dr. Van Rooyen knows some science based on physical laws of nature, but has no idea of the subtle laws of nature. He and the humanity has a long way to go before science and religion meet at one point.

I’m a biomedical scientist and this is absolutely absurd.

It’s true.

Not sure if this is true or not!...

Can you really trust these Indian military men?

You propose the Indian military is just lying? I wouldn’t claim to believe him but I’m also not so arrogant to say I understand how the universe works. It’s entirely possible that this could happen.

I love that sneaky yogi.

While it looks impossible, we being well educated should also try to see and validate logic. At the same time, there are still some not so well known facts in modern science. Science is evolving every single day. What meets the eye is not all that exists in this world. There have been yogis who have done some things that seems impossible to normal humans. There are some folks who have not had anything except fruits in their diet for many many years, no grains at all. So while we can call it bullshit, let’s be rational and demand proof, rather than getting carried away and being disrespectful if he’s a really a great yogi.

 

Statement Yogi Nils

 

Of course, many people doubt the truth. The pure facts speak clearly for it, however. The Yogi was examined two weeks of 30 doctors in an Indian hospital. He was observed night and day. The doctors confirmed the miracle. As a scientifically minded person for me it is clear from the facts. At the moment the facts speak for the Yogi. There are also many such cases, but they are investigated not so consistent. And there is the case of the Swiss holy Yogi St. Nicholas of Flüe, who had lived without food. It was at that time in the Middle Ages also doubted strongly. Then an official commission was formed, which was watching him for four weeks continuously. She came to the same results as the above Indian doctors Commission. I think we can trust both the Swiss and the Indian military doctors. And thirdly, there is the Karmapa, who confirmed in 1981 at the hospital in Chicago the existence of a higher dimension of consciousness, from which he could exceed the physical laws.

For me indicates the case of the Indian yogis out that the teachings of light body are true. Thereafter, an advanced yogi can dematerialize at his death his body. The Indian Yogi said, that he materializes energy from the higher dimension unto food and dematerialisiert his urine. When a person can dematerialize his urine, it is in principle possible to do the same with the whole body. I salute the spiritual abilities of the Indian yogi. I am very grateful to him that he has given our extremely materialistic thinking world such a clear proof of the truth of yoga. New is about Prahlad Jani Yogi that by the first time a team of scientists has clearly demonstrated the existence of a higher level of consciousness. We should live not only environmentally, but also spiritually. This is my message. That is the most important point.

For me the key to plausibility is that Yogi Prahlad Jani is not the only thoroughly studied case. There are also the yogini Giri Bala and the Swiss Holy Nicholas of Flüe. In addition, the Karmapa (Tibetan enlightened) was 1981 investigated in a hospital in Chicago by Western doctors. They confirmed his special abilities. And there is the discovery of quantum physicists that a higher cosmic dimension exists. God is the higher energy dimension, from which the Yogi relates his food.

Ultimately, the goal of yoga is not a life without eating or drinking. The most important point is to relate happiness, love, peace and strength from the higher energy dimension. The spiritual energy is known in yoga as light (Amrita, happiness energy). Then the Yogi lives in the light. He has light in himself and light around himself. In Christianity, one speaks of the Holy Spirit and to live in God. A life in God is a much happier life than a life without the love of God. I am a happiness philosopher. For me, the meaning of life is to be happy. This is at a high level only possible by a life in God, in the light or let’s call it enlightenment or holiness.

Enlightenment and profound inner happiness arises from the resolution of internal tension. Tension is caused by stress (anxiety, addiction). Every normal person has many layers of tension in himself. If he is released from the internal tension, inner well-being and happiness appears. The Light of God (the energy from the higher dimension) can not flow into the body and the soul (spirit) of a person, if he is too tensed. The more he purifies himself through physical and mental exercises, the more he can be filled with the happiness energy of God. This energy is a relatively independent substance (consciousness energy). It can be transmitted from an enlightened master to other people.

Yogini Giri Bala

 

Yogini Giri Bala

(Quotes from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda)

“‘I know Giri Bala well,’ Sthiti Babu told me. ‘She employs a certain yoga technique which enables her to live without eating. I was her close neighbor in Nawabganj near Ichapur. I made it a point to watch her closely; never did I find evidence that she was taking either food or drink. My interest finally mounted so high that I approached the Maharaja of Burdwan and asked him to conduct an investigation. Astounded at the story, he invited her to his palace. She agreed to a test and lived for two months locked up in a small section of his home. Later she returned for a palace visit of twenty days; and then for a third test of fifteen days. The Maharaja himself told me that these three rigorous scrutinies had convinced him beyond doubt of her non-eating state.’

Soon a short figure came into view in the doorway Giri Bala! She was swathed in a cloth of dull, goldish silk; in typically Indian fashion, she drew forward modestly and hesitatingly, peering slightly from beneath the upper fold of her swadeshi cloth. Her eyes glistened like smouldering embers in the shadow of her head piece; we were enamored by a most benevolent and kindly face, a face of realization and understanding, free from the taint of earthly attachment.

Finally we had recorded for posterity many photographs of the only woman in the world who is known to have lived without food or drink for over fifty years. Most motherly was Giri Bala’s expression as she stood before us, completely covered in the loose-flowing cloth, nothing of her body visible but her face with its downcast eyes.

The little saint seated herself cross-legged on the verandah. Though bearing the scars of age, she was not emaciated; her olive-colored skin had remained clear and healthy in tone.

“I love to cook and feed people.”

A strange pastime, I thought, for a non-eating saint!

“Tell me, Mother, from your own lipsdo you live without food?”

“That is true.” She was silent for a few moments; her next remark showed that she had been struggling with mental arithmetic. “From the age of twelve years four months down to my present age of sixty-eighta period of over fifty-six yearsI have not eaten food or taken liquids.”

“But you do eat something!” My tone held a note of remonstrance.

“Of course!” She smiled in swift understanding.

“Your nourishment derives from the finer energies of the air and sunlight, and from the cosmic power which recharges your body through the medulla oblongata.”

“Baba knows.” Again she acquiesced, her manner soothing and unemphatic.

“Mother, please tell me about your early life. It holds a deep interest for all of India, and even for our brothers and sisters beyond the seas.”

Giri Bala put aside her habitual reserve, relaxing into a conversational mood.

“So be it.” Her voice was low and firm. “I was born in these forest regions. My childhood was unremarkable save that I was possessed by an insatiable appetite. I had been betrothed in early years.

“‘Child,’ my mother often warned me, ‘try to control your greed. When the time comes for you to live among strangers in your husband’s family, what will they think of you if your days are spent in nothing but eating?’

“The calamity she had foreseen came to pass. I was only twelve when I joined my husband’s people in Nawabganj. My mother-in-law shamed me morning, noon, and night about my gluttonous habits.

“‘Lord,’ I prayed incessantly, ‘please send me a guru, one who can teach me to live by Thy light and not by food.’

“A divine ecstasy fell over me. Led by a beatific spell, I set out for the Nawabganj ghat on the Ganges. The morning sun pierced the waters; I purified myself in the Ganges, as though for a sacred initiation. As I left the river bank, my wet cloth around me, in the broad glare of day my master appeared!

“‘Dear little one,’ he said in a voice of loving compassion, ‘I am the guru sent here by God to fulfill your urgent prayer. From today you shall live by the astral light, your bodily atoms fed from the infinite current.’”

He initiated me into a kria technique which frees the body from dependence on the gross food of mortals. The technique includes the use of a certain mantra and a breathing exercise more difficult than the average person could perform.

I have never had any children; many years ago I became a widow. I sleep very little, as sleep and waking are the same to me. I meditate at night, attending to my domestic duties in the daytime. I slightly feel the change in climate from season to season. I have never been sick or experienced any disease. I feel only slight pain when accidentally injured. I have no bodily excretions. I can control my heart and breathing. I often see my guru as well as other great souls, in vision.

“Mother,” I said slowly, “what is the use of your having been singled out to live without eating?”

“To prove that man is Spirit.”

The saint sank into a deep meditative state. Her gaze was directed inward; the gentle depths of her eyes became expressionless. She gave a certain sigh, the prelude to the ecstatic breathless trance. For a time she had fled to the questionless realm, the heaven of inner joy.

From Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahlad_Jani
& http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Prahlad_Jani

Watch These Videos

The first 4 minutes 25 seconds feature Prahlad Jani.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNAZE2gaBY

This short video clip is taken from The Discovery Channel documentary ”The Boy with Divine Powers”. To view the entire documentary, use the links below.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v29clGMWU84

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndg_6eajjNM

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMwa4yZLL4

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNAZE2gaBY

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKBYaVlYKU

References

1.     ^ ^{a b c d} Rajeev Khanna (25 November 2003). "BBC NEWS". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-06-07.

2.     ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Rawstorne, Tom (7 May 2010). "The man who says he hasn't eaten or drunk for 70 years: Why are eminent doctors taking him seriously?". Daily Mail (London).

3.     ^ ^{a b c} Edamaruku, Sanal (18 May 2010). "India's man who lives on sunshine". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-08-25.

4.     ^ "DRDO watching man who hasn’t eaten 'in 70 yrs’". Indianexpress.com. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-09.

5.     ^ ^{a b} "Scientists Baffled by Prahlad Jani, Man Who Doesn't Eat or Drink". Abcnews.go.com. 01 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-17.

6.     ^ ^{a b c d} "Yogi beaten by bear necessities of life without food" Glenda Kwek, 14 May 2010, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia.

7.     ^ Nelson, Dean (28 April 2010). "Man claims to have had no food or drink for 70 years". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 11 November 2010.

8.     ^ Mirror, Ahmedabad. "Man who lives on air undergoes defence tests". Ahmedabadmirror.com. Retrieved 2010-08-04.

9.     ^ "Hermit Claims 70 Years Survival Without Food". Wusa9.com. Retrieved 2010-08-04.

10.                       ^ "Defence study on ascetic’s claim of surviving on air". Thaindian.com. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

11.                       ^ "Yogi sans food gives medical fraternity food for thought". Dnaindia.com. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-10.

12.                       ^ "Prahlad Jani Breaks a Record,No Food & Water for 74 years". Kerala365.com. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-17.

13.                       ^ SRISTI. "SRISTI official site". Sristi.org. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

14.                       ^ ^{a b} "Man survives without food, water for 65 yrs - India News - IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. 03 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-09.

15.                       ^ ^{a b} "Experts baffled as Mataji's medical reports are normal". Dnaindia.com. 07 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-04.

16.                       ^ Radha Sharma, TNN, 17 Jul 2010, 05.41am IST (17 July 2010). "Fast-hungry Mataji's claim endorsed". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2010-08-04.

17.                       ^ "Study proves Gujarat man's claim of living without food, water". Dnaindia.com. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

18.                       ^ Manas Dasgupta (09 May 2010). "DIPAS concludes observational study on ‘Mataji'". Thehindu.com. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

19.                       ^ "Tests on Gujarat’s miracle Yogi concludes,researchers amazed!". Deshgujarat.com. 06 May 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

20.                       ^ "Mataji to go under international scanner". In.com. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

21.                       ^ "The Boy with Divine Powers". Discovery Channel. 2006. Retrieved 2011-07-15.

22.                       ^ Indian hermit stuns doctors surviving without food http://itn.co.uk/a91d4f3a764a424d652db8d5d4b8661d.html

23.                       ^ "Am Anfang war das Licht". Kino-zeit.de. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-09.

24.                       ^ "Am Anfang war das Licht". Dw-world.de. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-09.

25.                       ^ "L'uomo che non mangia e non beve". Rai.it. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

26.                       ^ http://www.ilsussidiario.net/News/Programmi-e-ascolti-Tv/2010/10/13/VOYAGER-Anticipazioni-stasera-13-ottobre-2010-In-questa-puntata-Prahlad-Jani-l-uomo-che-non-mangia-e-beve-mai-21-05-Rai-Due/119435/ VOYAGER/ Anticipazioni stasera 13 ottobre 2010. In questa puntata Prahlad Jani l’uomo che non mangia e beve mai.

27.                       ^ http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_chandi-yagna-performed-near-gandhinagar_1600851 Chandi yagna performed near Gandhinagar

For more information about the abilities of yogis see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/yogic%20power 

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