"Man claims to have had neither food or drink in 70 years"

[Horus_Risen]

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

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

This is certainly an interesting case if it is true. I've heard of yogis and fakirs doing extraordinary things, but this one takes the cake. Does anyone know of any similar cases throughout history?

 

[obyvatel]

I had read that story. There were similar incidents reported earlier where some hermit could live without regular food for a long time. Here is a wikipedia link for someone who allegedly gets energy from the Sun. He was allegedly studied by Nasa but Nasa denies it according to wikipedia.
What was interesting in the recent story was the military interest in Mr Jani's abilities. They immediately start thinking about how good it is going to be if we can harness these abilities to enable soldiers to survive in extreme conditions. Is this just very very narrow thinking or is this based upon some knowledge of the possibility of upcoming catastrophies? Well, either way it is typical narrow minded thinking. If such abilities/energy are authentic and can be harnessed and made accessible to public, it means a radical change in life and society as we know it - it will be a new world - one in which the military perhaps would not have much of a role to play.

 

[XPreNN]

I think I saw a piece about this man in a Discovery Channel documentary about Ram Bahadur Bomjon aka "Buddha Boy". I think it was called "the boy with divine powers" or something to that effect.

the term "sungazing" also comes to mind when reading this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungazing

 

[Renaissance]

There's a similar story of a sungazing 'guru' who had claimed to have done a similar thing in the following thread, but in the end was found out to be full of it: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=3077.0

 

[XPreNN]

Thanks for the link, looks like an interesting resource. Funny story: I first heard about sungazing from some random guy on a train haha

 

[Argonaut]

In The Holographic Universe, Michael Talbot mentions a Catholic mystic named Therese Neumann who stopped eating in 1922 and stopped drinking in 1926. She lived on nothing but one "communion wafer" a day until her death in 1962. From Wikipedia:

Inedia

From the years of 1922 until her death in 1962, Therese Neumann apparently consumed no food other than The Holy Eucharist, and claimed to have drunk no water from 1926 until her death.

In July 1927 a medical doctor and four Franciscan nurses kept a watch on her 24 hours a day for a two-week period. They confirmed that she had consumed nothing except for one consecrated sacred Host a day, and had suffered no ill effects, loss of weight, or dehydration. Montague Summers in the "Physical Phenomenon of Mysticism" speaks of her supernatural ability to survive for long periods without food or water. He supported this claim by citing an article about Therese Neumann in the January 5, 1940 "The Universe" which said the peasant woman refused German ration cards saying she had no need of food and drink.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therese_Neumann

 

[abstract]

Hmmm...this has piqued my interest.

I've simply never heard of this before in my life. I'm curious how it is physically possible for someone to live without nourishment of any kind.

There's not a lot of information to go on, as we currently have no in depth analysis of these phenomena.

Anyone wanna be a guinea pig? Just kidding.

It's true that all our energy on earth comes directly or indirectly from the sun, since the sun is what makes the plants grow, animals eat the plants, we eat the animals and the plants, but in the beginning their energy came from the sun.

How does this work? Could it be potentially that if your belief was strong enough, you could actually accomplish this feat?

Is there something genetic that has an effect? I know that when fasting your body reaches a point after a certain period of time where it

"realizes" that it is not going to recieve food, and all the processes of fasting begin, correct me if i'm wrong.

Are these people simply recycling something in their bodies? What about toxicity, all that stuff?

Again, i wish we had more information.

 

[Horus_Risen]

obyvatel - I also thought it was "interesting" that the Indian military was involved in studying this phenomenon, trying to unlock secrets that soldiers could use to survive in adverse conditions. As usual, there was no thought put towards how anyone starving in India, let alone the world, could benefit from such knowledge. This is of course assuming that whatever is occurring is firstly true, and secondly, applicable to anyone aside from rare individuals. Business as usual; those with power and influence trying to consolidate more of the same.

XPreNN and Los - Thanks for reminding me about sungazing. I hadn't even thought of linking that concept with the story of this guy. I was busy postulating what "the goddess" that allegedly nourishes this man might be. It could be that's how he interprets or envisions utilizing energy from the sun. There is a group of solar deities in Hindu mythology related to the Sun's energy, the Ādityas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aditya) Perhaps this man perceives his nourishment coming from one of them.

abstract - You said:

How does this work? Could it be potentially that if your belief was strong enough, you could actually accomplish this feat?

When I take this idea and combine it with the sungazing theory, the Hindu man's "goddess" story, and what Argonaut's said about the Catholic woman who ate nothing but one communion wafer a day for 40 years, it could be the unifying factor of all these types of scenarios. If people of differing belief systems all achieve pretty much the same feat, belief or faith themselves sure seem like the only common bonds.

Of course, without more solid evidence, this is all just speculation. At least it's fun. :)

 

[mkrnhr]

The story shows that it's good to make friends with a goddess LOL
Edit : But his "miracle" didn't prevent him from being a curiosity in a military hospital. The way of the fakir he took, and in the end of his life he didn't reach illumination, sad :(

 

[abstract]

The way of the fakir he took, and in the end of his life he didn't reach illumination, sad

As gurdjieff stated, it is all fine and good to be able to perform these amazing feats but the vast majority will die trying.

They attain nothing because there was no real work being done!

It is in my opinion,that living life for a singular purpose, is not unlike the behavior of a drug addict.

It's very impressive, yes, absolutely, but this is why we have the fourth way, so we don't have to kill ourselves

in the search for higher states of consciousness!

 

[Avi]

I would think inner silence is the key characteristic to accomplish such a feat. Interesting if true that the body becomes its own reclamation unit. Of course the case for fraudulence is possible, but then so is the feat I think, albeit speculation.

 

[XPreNN]

XPreNN and Los - Thanks for reminding me about sungazing. I hadn't even thought of linking that concept with the story of this guy. I was busy postulating what "the goddess" that allegedly nourishes this man might be.

What I remember from the docu I saw is him claiming to have some sort of 'paste' in the roof of his mouth, which he gets his nutrition from. From what I understood, he needs the sun to replenish the 'nutritional value' of this strange paste.
Perhaps he has some form of algae living in his mouth, which quickly multiply when exposed to sunlight?

Check this link on algae as a superfood/bio-fuel: http://www.greenprophet.com/2009/06/25/9988/michael-kagan-algaenesis/

Could this be a possibility?

 

[XPreNN]

To add to my previous post:

Some form of unknown biological symbiosis could perhaps be taking place.
There are plenty of fascinating examples of this:

- Worms that help fight hay fever and allergies: http://www.hayfeverexpert.co.uk/fighting-allergies-with-worms.html
- The algae as a superfood I mentioned earlier
- Mitochondria are believed to have evolved from symbiosis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion#Origin
- Toxoplasmosis
- etc.

I'm thinking some external structure is feeding these people, keeping them alive somehow. That would explain a biological mechanism.

Of course, there's always the possibility this is no "ordinary" mechanism...

 

[eliansito]

I remember reading a similar story in the book Autobiography of a Yogi.

The story went something like this, a young girl was always mocked in her village because of her voracious appetite and being eating all the time, after one specially embarassing occasion with a lady relative that scolded her she vowed not to eat anymore in his life and some being showed her a special breathing technique to go without food, she didn't eat ever since. (loosely explained from memory, it was a whole chapter).

One interesting point that caught my attention was the interview they made to her on her old age; upon the question of "do you ever have the desire to eat?" as she spent her days cooking...the reply was "I don't have any desire to eat nor craving for food otherwise that would mean I would have to eat of course"

She lived in a remote village of indian mountains and a picture, dates of meeting and name were displayed in the book too. Will look for the specific chapter and post here if I find it.

FWIW.
R

 

[rylek]

I've been following this story as well, interesting thoughts in this thread.

Maybe it would be something to ask the C's.