Can he survive on only air? Breatharian mystic Prahlad Jani was observed two different times in a hospital around the clock, once for two weeks and he reportedly did not eat, drink or use the bathroom.
Prahlad Jani (Gujarati: પ્રહલાદ જાની), also known as Mataji or Chunriwala Mataji, (born 13 August 1929) is an Indian breatharian monk who claims to have lived without food and water since 1940. He says that the goddess Amba sustains him. (Wikipedia)
An Indian man has mystified a team of military doctors after he abstained from food and water for two weeks. Prahlad Jani, an 82-year-old yogi who claimed he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for 70 years , was observed by 30 medics in a hospital in the Indian state of Gujarat. He spent two weeks under constant surveillance in an area equipped with cameras and closed circuit television. During the 15-day period, which ended Thursday, Jani didn’t eat, drink or go to the toilet.
From AFP:
“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.”
“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.”
The study was done by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the state defense and military research institute. They hope to unlock the key to Jani’s mysterious ability so that others can benefit, such as soldiers in the field, astronauts in space, and victims trapped in natural disasters.
Doctors performed several tests on Jani’s heart, lungs and memory capacity and took scans of his organs, brain and blood vessels. Lab work will also be completed on his hormones, enzymes, energy metabolism and genes. The findings will be revealed in greater detail over the next several months.
Read more: Indian man survives without food and water, baffles doctors | National Post.
On the surface this feat would require many fundamental changes in known human biology and perhaps even changes to the laws of physics,.
Here’s more detail on the 2010 tests:
… 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 and researchers described him as being in better health than someone half his age. 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”, he did not pass urine.
At this point, I must admit that I don’t believe them. It’s too improbable. The article continues:
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. DIPAS stated in 2010 that further studies were planned, including investigations into how metabolic waste material is eliminated from Jani’s body, from where he gets his energy for sustenance, and how he maintains his hydration status. (Wikipedia)
Reclaiming Water
A physically healthy human produces about from 400 ml to 2 liters of urine per day. No human reabsorbs the water their kidneys filter into the bladder. The urinary tract (ureters, bladder and urethra) is lined by transitional epithelium known as “umbrella cells”, which are impermeable. When dehydrated, the kidneys are already working to do the best they can to conserve water, but some must be lost with the salts and other nitrogenous waste bodies must excrete to stay alive.
Could he have genetic mutations?
There are a lot of people in India, and plenty of genetic mutations, therefore, some often surprising. Let’s look at some background biology. Osmolality is the concentration of all particles in a fluid. Normal human urine concentration ranges from 50 to 1200 mOsm/kg, perhaps as high as 1400 mOsm/kg. There are mammals who can conserve even more water and will thus have a much higher total osmolality, which means more particles and less water loss to urine. Domestic cats beat humans at 3100 mOsm/kg, but a real mammal champ in this area is the Kangaroo Rat. The kangaroo rat Dipodomys merriami, is a desert rodent that concentrates its urine to more than 6,000 mOsmol/kg H2O water. (Source)
There are small mammals that live in dry environments. Mammalian xerocoles sweat much less than their non-desert counterparts. A kangaroo rat can live its entire life without ever having to drink, getting all the water needed from its food. Desert mammals have structurally different kidneys that make their urine as concentrated as possible and “some animals can scavenge back far more water than we can and hence dramatically reduce their insensible losses – to almost zero in fact.”
Interestingly, as a side note, there is a little known law of urination for all mammals:
… regardless of size, most mammals urinate for about the same amount of time (21 seconds), despite large differences in bladder volume, a phenomenon they term the “Law of Urination”. (Discover)
In 2003, a hospital spokesperson said that Jani was physically normal, but noted that a hole in the palate was an abnormal condition. A person who does not produce urine doesn’t fit the Western definition of physically normal, but if he had the kidneys of a Kangaroo Rat, he might be able to avoid urination.
Water from the air?
Perhaps he gets enough liquid into his throat through the abnormal hole in his pallet by just breathing? The BBC had the headline “Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians” about him in 2003. Note: A “fakir” is not a faker, but a holy man.
Mr Jani spends most of his time in a cave near the Ambaji temple in Gujarat state. … He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance. To help the doctors verify his claims, Mr Jani agreed to avoid bathing for his time in hospital. The only fluid he was allowed was a small amount of water, to use as mouthwash. One hundred millilitres of water were given to him, and then collected and measured in a beaker when he spat it out, to make sure none had been drunk. … He says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate. Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him. “He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this,” said Bhiku Prajapati, one of Mr Jani’s many followers. “A hole in the palate is an abnormal phenomenon,” says Dr Desai. – BBC
Could it be that this hole in his pallet feeds him water from his nasal cavity which, especially in any warm and humid conditions, (perhaps the cave where he lives,) acts as a solar still, causing condensation and water to form in his mouth, which he drinks? That could explain the ability to go without water.
The human body is roughly 60% water and it varies, but one source says a healthy adult male in a temperate climate needs about 3.7 liters of water per day to offset what is lost.
… a trap measuring 400 mm (16 in) in diameter by 300 mm (12 in) deep will only yield around 100 to 150 mL (3.4 to 5.1 US fl oz) per day.
A sea water solar still can produce more, even enough to survive considerably longer.
In 1952, the United States military developed a portable solar still… it was stated in magazine articles that on a good day 2.4 litres (2.5 US qt) of fresh water could be produced. On an overcast day, 1.4 litres (1.5 US qt) was produced. (Wikipedia)
Looking at the surface area required to obtain enough water for a child, it does not appear that any human nose could extract enough water.
The Watercone® is a simple device for solar seawater desalination (solar still) which is designed for cheap mass production beeing the first of its kind. The Watercone can desalinate up to 1-1,5 l per day, enough for a child to survive. (Watercone)
Nutrients from the air?
Just sitting still, being alive, our cells perform functions including respiration. This requires energy and nutrients. Could there ever be enough nutrients, fats, cabrohydrates and proteins in the air to sustain a person?
According to his words, when he was 11 years old (some journalists say at the age of 8) he met goddess Ambaji who gave him the power to survive without eating and drinking. According to Prahlad Jani, Ambaji created a sort of hole in his mouth and thanks to it, he can survive taking the necessary energy from a particular substance passing through that hole. – Perfettaletizia
Fascinating. I doubt it, but perhaps if his nasal cavity was colonized by microorganisms that make nutrients from the dust and moisture he takes in?
With as many as 5.1 million fungal species in the world, perhaps a colony living in his nose lives on air and light and in turn provides all he needs to live. Some mushrooms provide amazing health benefits, with anti-tumor, anti-inflammation and even nerve regeneration abilities, but I don’t know of fungus or other microorganism that provides complete nutrition for a human.
What could that be? If you could eat only one food, there is only one known choice: human milk.
No single vegetable or legume has all nine essential amino acids humans need to build the proteins that make up our muscles, Hattner said. That’s why most human cultures, without knowing anything about food chemistry, have developed diets centered on complementary veggies that, together, provide all nine. At first, without all the right amino acids, your hair starts to lighten in color and your fingernails get soft. Much worse, “your lean body mass suffers. That doesn’t just mean your muscles, but also your heart and your organs.” Eventually, your heart shrinks so much you die; this happens, on occasion, with extreme cases of anorexia nervosa. …Eating only one type of carbohydrate — just bread or pasta, for example — also causes organ failure, due to amino acid deficiency. On top of that, you’d get scurvy, a horrific disease brought on by lack of vitamin C, … Life as a “meat purist” would also be a dead-end. … most meats contain very few carbs — the easy-to-access packets of energy your body constantly requires to perform even the smallest tasks. “Without carbohydrates, you’re going to start to break down some of your muscle mass to get the energy,” Hattner said. Again, “muscle” doesn’t just mean your biceps. You’ll be eating your own heart, too.
… “The only food that provides all the nutrients that humans need is human milk,” … Technically, adults could survive on human milk, too, she said; the sticking point would be finding a woman who is willing to provide it (and enough of it). Lacking that option, the second-best choice would be mammalian milk, especially if it is fermented. “Yogurt, which is fermented milk, has a lot of bacteria that is good for the digestive tract,” Hattner said. (LiveSci)
Longest Time Without Food, Human Record
It requires constant energy for any maintain body temperature. A camel can survive for as long as 40 days without food or water, but a human has beaten that. There is a case where a human Bhagat Singh in 1929, survived a hunger strike which lasted for 116 days. This is good to know for perspective. That still may not be the record.
It seems that if you start out obese, and have a few supplements during fasting, you may survive even longer. The record seems to be 382 days in 1965 by a Scotsman, Mr Angus Barbieri (aka Mr. A B) according to several sites.
In one extreme case, a 456-pound man lasted an astonishing 382 days without eating any food, solid or liquid, ABC Science reported. Over the course of his year of starvation, the man dropped down to 180 pounds and was able to keep the weight off for five years. Although he did not eat food, he was monitored by doctors and received multivitamins and potassium and sodium supplements when his storages became too low.
(Source)
The only one food solution
What is the content of human milk? Its pretty complicated. Macronutrients (fats, carbs, proteins) add up to only about 13% of milk content.
Mature human milk contains 3%–5% fat, 0.8%–0.9% protein, 6.9%–7.2% carbohydrate calculated as lactose, and 0.2% mineral constituents expressed as ash. … Its energy content is 60–75 kcal/100 ml. Protein content is markedly higher and carbohydrate content lower in colostrum than in mature milk. Fat content does not vary consistently during lactation but exhibits large diurnal variations and increases during the course of each nursing. Race, age, parity, or diet do not greatly affect milk composition and there is no consistent compositional difference between milks from the two breasts unless one is infected. The principal proteins of human milk are a casein homologous to bovine beta-casein, alpha-lactalbumin, lactoferrin, immunoglobulin IgA, lysozyme, and serum albumin. Many enzymes and several “minor” proteins also occur. … The principal sugar of human milk is lactose but 30 or more oligosaccharides, all containing terminal Gal-(beta 1,4)-Glc and ranging from 3–14 saccharide units per molecule are also present. … Fatty acid composition of milk fat varies somewhat with the composition of diet, particularly the fatty acids which it supplies. (NIH)
Getting back to breatharians, inputs to make human milk or anything remotely like it are not available in the air, nor is there any microbe known which can manufacture anything like human milk.
Depending on the temperature and other factors, a person with no water can be expected to only survive from 2 to 10 days max. There was one case where a jailed man who was forgotten survived a few days longer than this, but he also may have licked condensation on the jail cell walls.
A solar still
If you ever need to drink your urine to survive, here is the civilized way: Make a cheap improvised solar still.
1) Dig a hole. 2) Pee in the hole. 3) Put the empty cup in the hole face up without any liquid getting in it. 4) Cover the hole with a plastic tarp and use a weight in the center so the evaporating liquid will run down the plastic and drop into the cup. See illustration above from SurvivorMag. Wait for evaporation and water collection. Then drink. To get the 3 L of water needed per day, just for drinking is probably going to require a lot more than one still, perhaps 30 of them and that’s a lot of plastic and a lot of work since they eventually become unusable and animals might distrub them.
Limitations of a solar still
Since the minerals in urine are too heavy to evaporate, this would result in drinkable (but still probably pretty gross!) water. You probably should practice this a few times pouring ordinary water into the hole to get the hang of it. This is not a long term strategy, it would only give you a few more days, because we normally all lose a lot of water in our breath and by sweating.
An extra day or two, at best. A healthy person’s urine is about 95 percent water and sterile, so in the short term it’s safe to drink and does replenish lost water. But the other 5 percent of urine comprises a diverse collection of waste products, including nitrogen, potassium, and calcium—and too much of these can cause problems. When you drink your own pee, all the stuff that your kidneys had attempted to excrete comes right back into your stomach, and much of it ends up back in your kidneys. After several days of this, your urine will become highly concentrated with dangerous waste products, and drinking it can cause symptoms similar to those brought on by total kidney failure. At that point, you’re doomed either way—from dehydration on the one hand or renal meltdown on the other. (Even if one could filter out most of the unwanted products in urine, the cycle would not be sustainable for long. In addition to what he or she pees out, the average human excretes about half a quart of water a day through sweating and exhaling.) …
(Slate)
Do not become a breatharian
All of this makes it clear that you should never try to go without food and water. People have died trying.
Inedia (Latin for ‘fasting‘) or breatharianism is the belief that it is possible for a person to live without consuming food, and in some cases water. Breatharians claim that food (and sometimes water) is not necessary for survival, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana, the vital life force in Hinduism. According to Ayurveda, sunlight is one of the main sources of prana, and some practitioners believe that it is possible for a person to survive on sunlight alone. The terms breatharianism or inedia may also refer to this philosophy when it is practiced as a lifestyle in place of a usual diet.
Breatharianism is considered a deadly pseudoscience by scientists and medical professionals, and several adherents of these practices have died from starvation or dehydration. It is an established fact that humans require food and water (nutrients) to survive.
Again, heed the warnings. Several people, like Australian breatharian Ellen Greve, have died trying to live only on sunlight. We aren’t built that way. There are real physical limitations in this reality. From the science perspective, who are too crazy tend to remove themselves from the gene pool. From the point of view of religion, it is, in nearly all religions, a spiritual harm to harm your body with any kind of physical abuse, including deprivation of basic needs. It isn’t your lack of faith that makes you need food and water.
Breatharian failure
Other’s have thought they can do this, survive on sunlight alone, because they had strong spiritual beliefs, but the result was that they died.
Police believe a woman found dead in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands may have starved herself as part of her religious beliefs. A diary belonging to Australian-born Verity Linn suggested she had been fasting to fulfill the rules of a ritual normally practised by Tibetan monks. … Ms Linn’s writing’s revealed she had practised “breatharianism” – a survival method which relies on light and taking only tiny amounts of food and liquid.
(BBC)
Magicians Tricks
From the stage/street magician stand point, if you were going to pull this off as a trick, you might sew nutritious paste or even water packets into your garment or in those beads he is wearing, but you’d need a nurse or other accomplice on the inside for certain things. Did he have any visitors come and hug him while under observation? No insult to Prahlad Jani intended, there is no indication that he has ever been a magician, just speculating.
We covered a lot, but hope you enjoyed this exploration of the breatharian topic. Enjoy the food and water that you have. They give you strength needed every day to experience the world.
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27 comments
Let’s see a 1-month test. Then we’ll know who’s a fakir and who’s a faker.
His daily routine also included bathing and gargling (!) There’s plenty of water in his environment, and that’s what he needs to stay alive during a 2-week fast. I read elsewhere that the weight of his gargling water was measured before and after gargling, but that’s not to say that the weights were equal or that he couldn’t have altered the measurement in some way.
This case proves mostly that Indian military doctors are easily fooled. James Randi or another experienced trickster would not be.
I know what he’s living on . Wishful thinking and gullibility 😉
Read carefully skeptics.
The article said he was “observed by 30 medics in a hospital in the Indian state of Gujarat.”
The yogi was under “constant [not part time] surveillance in an area equipped with cameras and closed circuit television.”
Sudhir Shah is a medical doctor whose specialty is neurology (no small task, because the training period or internship is about about 8 years above a medical degree, which is 4 years above a university degree – yes, even in India. This is especially true nowadays in a country where its elite [that includes doctors] that want so badly to be so “Western,” so it seems).
It doesn’t take much of search to find that Sudhir Shah is head of a department of neurology at a leading hospital in India, which means he ain’t no ordinary neurologist, if there is such a thing. And, the doctor is currently working for “India‚Äôs Defence Research and Development Organisation,” which probably means he’s funded in part either directly or indirectly from Western sources. And, that means he certainly doesn’t want to spoil his reputation with some far-fetched, crank comments about some yogi who can do some rather incredible things.
In other words, he’s trying to be objective as possible.
But, like all skeptics people have to say something to make things only as they can understand them.
Try some imagination and you might see the world as it really is .. or at least as others see it.
That’s funny I’ve never been accused of having a lack of imagination . Obviously you have no idea who your talking to 😉
You have got to be kidding . Are you saying you believe that there is a man who has not had anything to eat or drink since 1940 ? I have a wild imagination but I’m not ignorant . One can not survive without food and water for more than a short time . Their body will consume itself ! It is physically impossible . As in physics > a no no 😐
World as it really is ? Maybe if you give me the location of the world you are on I could project myself there and form an alternative reality aligned with your own 😉
10 days why 10 days ? Does that time span prove he has gone beyond the limits of possible survival ? No .
And we are supposed to believe that he can go without food or water but can’t go without mouthwash ? ;-/
I have a very open mind . But if some guy told me he flew to the sun and back with wax wings I’d be more than skeptical ;-/
Mirlen101
No, I’m not kidding.
First, try to understand what imagination is. If you think imagination has something to do with being “ignorant” or “intelligent,” you’re in the wrong ball park.
You’re listing facts that we all (including me) know, at least “know,” that is, in our normal, everyday world. We could also cite information about the necessity of water, calories, vitamins and minerals to survive, as “we know” reality to be …. supposedly.
No, I’m not a “New Age”r, but consider this. In our Western, scientific medicine, within last ten years or so, imagery (or visualization) has come to be understood as an important method in the process of healing (as it may also take place in conjunction with regular, more mundane therapeutic process). For example, a patient with a tumor is taught, following this method, to visualize the cells of his/her immune system to “attack” tumor cells.
Basically, the process of visualization is a process of using one’s imagination. It so happens that some people can do it better than others and just about any one can enhance his/her ability to imagine or visualize. It is not, however, a given ability, some people may, in fact, lose the ability especially as they get older.
Now, what has this method taught us? It taught us that we have more control over our bodies than the straight materialist cause and effect reality would allow us to believe.
Consider this. When you sense the world around you, you’re using your senses, but your senses are picking up instantaneously tons of sensory input; literally thousands of bits of information enter your head at once. Your sensory input is not your reality. What occurs is that higher cognitive functions inside your brain weed out, select and put things in order; this process is in part based on your memory, your past experiences, which includes what was previously learned as well as information that you picked tacitly etc. (In other words, your cultural perspective.)
Part of that process includes is your imagination (your creativity, if you like) and the limits we impose on ourselves are also the limits of our imagination … which in fact has no limits.
And, our imagination, of course, occurs in our “brain.” Although the brain is, indeed, anatomically a distinct structure within our cranium, it is not, by any stretch of the “imagination” an isolated organ. The brain (or better the “mind”) is very much part of our entire body. It is a controlling organ, master organ of the entire body. And it is through our nervous system that the brain manipulates the functions of almost every cell in our bodies, if not, it also works through our endocrine (glandular) system.
So, if you were open to the idea of the brain’s ability to extend, through its imaginative process, beyond the mundane, everyday reality, what this yogi does wouldn’t be, in fact, be so far fetched.
My understanding of the imaginative process (regardless of the fun things it may generate) is that it requires living brain cells, which, like all cells, perform a set of chemical reactions known as metabolism… moved the rest of this comment into the article.
On one hand we have someone that believes a man needs no food or water to survive for many years . And believes this because this man says it is so . And because a bunch of people observed it to be true ( for a two week period )
Then on the other side there I am . Who believes the scientific knowledge and experience of the history of this planet ( Earth ). That says ” nothing survives without fuel ! ”
I wonder which is true ;-/
BTW I’m a professional artist who lives by his imagination . I’m also an inventor . So I have material evidence of my imagination . Where’s yours ? Gullibility doesn’t count as imagination .
And just because you can imagine something doesn’t mean it is true .
Not gullible you say ;-/ Yes you are the essence of Gullibility . I can’t imagine anyone more gullible then a person who believes that one does not need food or water to survive 😐 Oh wait there goes my lack of imagination again ;-|
http://www.skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia90.html
I fully understand Ann and I agree with you, and so does Quantum Mechanics, some people are just stuck in the mundane.
At last the Sydney Morning Herald has an appropriately skeptical article:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/yogi-beaten-by-bear-necessities-of-life-without-food-20100514-v3fd.html
“So even though the yogi might be able to slow his metabolism right down so that it might only be 20 or 30 per cent of normal … there’s still going to be a point, about 100 to 120 days without food – and without water, it might be 24 days – that he’ll die.”
Ann committed some logical fallacies :-
– Appeal to authority: 2 paragraphs devoted to how great the chief observer is
– Ad-hominem criticism of skeptics as a class
– Assuming that because he wasn’t observed to eat or drink, that he didn’t eat or drink.
Let’s see more tests here. Not just one team. And longer tests: if he can go for 70 years without food nor drink, a month or two should be easy. The studies need to be documented and repeatable. Frankly, in this one we have very little information about how rigorously the study was conducted. There isn’t any information which would help us to eliminate fraud or collusion from the observers. Nor bias for that matter – are the researchers publicly skeptical, or do they have a hidden bias and they want the guy to succeed? Are double-blind techniques being used – for example, do they only test the Yogi’s urine, or do they have control samples too?
I suspect if you dig deeper you will find this is a study performed without the level of scientific rigour required to detect tricks of the kind that magicians routinely do. It’s well known that professional magicians like Uri Geller can fool regular run-of-the-mill scientific testers, and it often takes a trickster to expose a trickster.
This yogi dude is making a barefaced claim of something we know to be impossible. You cannot live without food or water, full stop. He’s got a lot of publicity from it, but any rigorous test will result in his death.
Yes, I did “Ad-hominem criticism of skeptics as a class” but it is not a fallacy, which you presuppose. Skeptics are, indeed, of a group opinion – quite unimaginative, I might add. But, it is like most people, unfortunately. If you live (not as a tourist) for a while in another culture, you might experience, what I’m talking about, another reality.
And, yes, I assumed “that because he wasn‚Äôt observed to eat or drink, that he didn‚Äôt eat or drink,” because I was taking the scientist’s word.
I didn’t want to imply, as some skeptics seem to want to do, that the neurologist/scientist was lying, ignorant or foolish.
But, to what “authority” are you referring? And what does this mean: “2 paragraphs devoted to how great the chief observer is”?
If what Prahlad Jani claims is true then he won’t mind if we just remove his digestive system 🙂 I mean he’s not using it anyway 😉 Maybe somebody else could use it 😉
most of the discussions are with in the box. if you think out of the box you may get the slight possibility of what is happening.
1. medical science always agree that the ability of brain is not explored fully. only 10% of the use of brain is understood yet.
2. like lay man energy source from log( would) very bulky. energy from oil/liquid gas is less bulky, think about the energy from nuclear power. but you need very sophisticated technology to tap the nuclear energy.
3. what if the Indian military is keeping the fine secrets to them selfs now?
You use all of your brain. That 10% thing is a myth. … I didn’t understand your 2nd point… Yes, the Indian military would be wise to keep their new breathairian technology under wraps. Why do you suppose they told us about this at all? Perhaps this is their version of super human technology like our remote viewing.
I visualise a Dumbo called “Mirlen101″… I feel sorry for you fellow, being so stuck in your own rigid beliefs, can’t be easy… not that you would know that, otherwise you’d change, if not instantly at least gradually, preferably before you die and become nothing but a shadow of the man you are now, which considering that you’re not much of a man but more of a negative ball bag makes me not feel sorry for you all of a sudden. May you carry on living in your own tiny little bubble of stupidity, if only mother-nature would allow it. On second thought… though I don‚Äôt want to, I feel compelled to give you a chance to get yourself out of your [crap] hole and so despite my initially aggravated by you self, I‚Äôm gonna direct you to a book called ‚ÄúThe Magus of Java‚Äù. I hope your dump arse doesn‚Äôt read it and if you do, I hope you treat it with the same attitude you got now about this Indian yogi, cos let‚Äôs face it, if everyone was enlightened there would be no challenge, so for now we need Dumbos like you.
On what do you base your higher intellect ? Do you have something to offer up as evidence to your superiority ? Your statements obviously don’t qualify .
Who’s the rigid one . You believe a man has gone without food or water for years . You can’t imagine that he and others may be deceiving . You are stuck with the assumption that this man and others have God like powers . No worldly knowledge can sway you in your belief that this man needs no sustenance except for the air he breaths and mouthwash . And that another can shoot fire from his hands , float in mid air , move objects without touching them and read minds ;-/
Boy you do have a wide open mind and vivid imagination ;-/ Good luck with that 😐
And you what? think your a Taoist ? I think you are reading the wrong book .
I do kind of envy you in one way . It was great being a child that believes in the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny 😉 I miss Santa 😉
Mirlen101, maybe, just maybe it’s the lack of your imagination to conceive such a notion as man living without food or water for years? Hmmm … “God like powers” …. interesting. Do you really think Gods ever needed food or water in the first place? To go without what they don’t even need in the first place seems kind’a silly, doesn’t it? But, you might say the guy has developed super-human abilities?
I don’t know , Jesus was caught drinking wine a lot 😉 The Greek Gods were always getting boozed up and gorging on this and that 😉
There you go with that imagination thing again ! I’d put my imagination against anyone’s any time 😉 I’ve never had anyone challenge me on imagination that would be just futile 😉
I can imagine someone not needing water or food . But to believe it is reality is just sillyness 😉
It’s an extraordinary claim, and it needs extraordinary evidence. Not a two-week hospital hotel visit with hot-tub and mouthwash. This is not a question of imagination; it is a question of a-priori acceptance of wild claims without supporting evidence.
You and I say “let’s see the evidence for this; prove that he did”; others here are willing to take this guy’s wild claims at face value and accuse us of lack of imagination for doubting it.
Amen 😉 I agree imagination has nothing to do with it . I think it’s funny how many think that “belief” is a quality unto itself ;-/
I read this in depth and it turns out that neurologist Sudhir Shah has had similar dealings in the past . He never allows outside skeptics into the test areas to investigate .He controls all testing and all the data that he was supposed to have . Which has never been made available to the public or any scientific organization . In fact only one blogger was said to have received the video . But where is this supposed video ? What good is it to have tests and video that no one seems to be able to see ? We just have a photo of a man sitting on a hospital bed ;-/
Even the results they claim to have don’t prove anything . According to the neurologist Sudhir Shah he lost a little weight over a two week period ;-/ Sounds like a so so diet plan to me ;-| But if he lost even a small amount of weight in a two week period his body would have consumed itself over the decades he proposes that he went without food or water .
All previous people to have had such claims have either died of starvation or been found to be frauds . Or have refused outside testing .It is easy to catch them if given the opportunity .Blood tests , X Rays etc.. by a unbiased facility over an extended period of time should be sufficient .
Often people with illogical beliefs when confronted with a counter opinion resort to fist shaking and hollow insults .To cover the fact that what they believe is unfounded. Ironic how often supposed religious spirituality so often leads to offensive antisocial behaviour .
Look “Mirlen 101″… there’s no point in arguing here because you‚Äôve got no proof in order to believe, even though you can’t show any proof as to why we shouldn’t believe. You ignorant dildo, just as I predicted you’re still a negative-ball-bag who’s unwilling to take a chill pill, barking left-right-centre, constantly on the defensive, full of unchangeable opinions like anyone gives a frack by now if you think you got a point to make… I suggest you watch some more documentaries read some more books and learn to be a bit more acceptant of reality before you start polluting the net with your pointless arguments again.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6736722752013377089&hl=en&emb=1#docid=2402679749575478867
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6736722752013377089&hl=en&emb=1#docid=-1560388108644561405
You could simply prove your point > stop eating ! 😉 I look forward to your permanent fasting 😉 You prove my point every time you open your mouth 😉 BTW how old are you 9 ? You can talk all you want about Santa’s existence .That still doesn’t make him real !
i think he has d capability to breathe in a way it was done by ancient yogis. they could last a breathe upto months……….
Yes.
But, we, the unaware and uninitiated, however, must be so very careful. Even though people with anorexia can appear to go for a long time without physical injury, anorexia is a dreadful disease that causes, in the end, irreversible physical injury. So, we must be very careful about even fasting and not eating.
[ Exclusive: I haven’t eaten for 6 years … Mirror (UK) 3-10-2006
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2006/10/03/exclusive-i-haven-t-eaten-for-6-years-but-lena-wanted-me-to-stay-alive-and-help-other-victims-115875-17859029/ ]
There’s world of difference between most of us and the extremely religious (although yoga itself is not a religion, but a lifestyle). Google “Therese Neumann,” another religious devotee, who did eat or drink from 1926 and 1962.
It never ceases to amaze me how generally intelligent people can be so naive ! People seem to want to believe in the unbelievable . Not matter how outlandish and impossible . It is not physically possible to survive without food for an extended time period ! End of story ! Your brain alone burns masses of calories ! Where do you think those calories come from ? FOOD ! Not air ! Air has no calories ! I don’t care how enlightened a person is . Eat nothing and you DIE ! Simple logic ! I think it’s absurd for people to believe that a person is running on no fuel as opposed to believing that they are making something up for their own benefit ! All the evidence in the world about the effects of not consuming fuel are thrown out the window and replaced with a belief in fantasy .I find that most people believe most of what they read on the Internet . No matter how ridiculous the information . They will continue to believe it even after the truth is presented to them .
Like I said previously (May 17th) it’s very easy to criticize this story. You really don’t need that much “intelligence” to do that.
In fact, it is so easy to criticize this news story that the question one should ask is, why was such a seemingly ridiculous story be even published, why was it allowed to hit the media? (Unless the department that did the research got into contact with the media, it would probably have never made into the news. Journalists don’t read much of what’s in medical journals, unless they’re told to do so by the research dept. that conducted a study.) Such a supposedly absurd story would do nothing but harm the reputation of the neurologist, who is the chief of his department, who conducted it.
The question that should answer is, if this story is a hoax, (and any idiot would quickly blurt out, yes it is!) why is a hoax? But, Christ, don’t speculate about it, that’s also easy to do. I could even dream up something. Don’t copy what other bloggers have speculated. Do some original research it. Now, that would be interesting.
Are you assuming we didn’t research this ?
If Sai Baba can pull out golden linggam from his mouth infront of million believers. This Yogi could pull out any tricks to convince people tht he can survive without water.
I cant believe people can buy this and arguing to convince others. I dont blame you all. You are the victims of failed science education.