Posted 04.29.2010 at 5:39 pm
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India Seeks Super Soldiers
By tapping the techniques of a holy man who claims he's gone without food and water for 70 years, India's military research arm hopes to train soldiers to last longer on the battlefield.
India's Defense Research Development Organization thinks it may have found a new secret weapon: an 82-year-old holy man named Prahlad Jani. His tactical advantage: longevity. Jani claims via the UK's Telegraph that he has not consumed food or drink for 70 years, and military authorities are conducting a rigorous study to see if he's onto something they could use.
Skeptical? You should be. Medical science says -- and there's some variability here based on differences in metabolism, environment, etc. -- that after 3 to 5 days of fasting your glucose levels get seriously out of whack. If you're still hanging around at day 50, you're tougher than most. That's if you're drinking water. If not, "your body can survive a maximum of 3 days without the intake of water, assuming you are at sea level, at room temperature, and a relative humidity," says Bruce Zawalsky of the Boreal Wilderness Institute. That's a far cry from seven decades.
But Indian authorities seem to think Jani could be on to something, and they're trying to find out exactly what it is.
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Science, Clay Dillow, disaster relief, fasting, health, India, medicine, military, spiritual healthJani claims to have left home as a child, living in the streets of Rajasthan as a holy man who lives on spiritual force alone after being blessed by a goddess. He also claims that his body is supported by a hole in his palate, through which the goddess pours a spiritual potion that keeps his body ticking. Naturally he's been called both holy and a fraud, but the fact is he's still humming right along under strict medical observation.
Indian military agencies are interested less in Jani's tales of spiritual blessing and more in mental or physical techniques he could teach soldiers and civilians. They think he could help keep disaster victims hanging tough until help arrives (don't forget India has a large impoverished population that lives in a global neighborhood renowned for vicious monsoons) as well as keep troops in the field longer. From a special forces perspective, there's a certain luster to putting operatives in the field for extended periods without requiring a supply chain.
Indians are known to fast for up to a week at a time in observance of religious traditions, so Jani's six days certainly don't prove anything. In a similar 2003 trial he underwent a 10-day observation session in which independent sources confirmed he consumed no food or water. But those results were later placed in doubt, since Jani did lose a little bit of weight in the final days.
So is Jani a holy man, a natural anomaly, or neither? Safe money says there's some kind of hoax afoot here -- and we certainly don't think he's gone 70 years without food and water -- but all that really doesn't matter. If the man really does go a full 15 days without sustenance and doesn't show any signs of wear or tear, the Indian military may learn something valuable from him anyhow.
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Yeah right. I'd have to insist he be locked in seclusion without food and water for 7 days jsut to see for myself. No way a body can survive 70 years without nutrition.
Lu
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As far as not eating, couldn't there be a disorder where your body just produces fat non-stop, and enough of it that your body can use for nutrition. However, the water thing.. over my head. Regardless of if he fasts or not, the energy has to come from somewhere..maybe he's a robot from China?
I would really like to see a follow-up on this.
*Up next on Popsci....We find out Pig's actually can fly!!!*
I'm just waiting for the follow that reads "Indian Super-Faster Story a Hoax."
@Mescha. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING.
Even if your body produces fat non-stop, where are you going to get the substance to produce fat from, the air? This is a fake. Can't believe popsci is putting this on.
#1 reason why this is a fake.
Your body loses water over time because of exhalation which releases water vapour. Another way is to urinate and sweat. Obviously no one can hold it in for 70 years, therefore if you're constantly losing water without getting it back you're going to shrivel up.
#2 You need energy. Food gives you energy. No food. No energy. Once you run out of energy, you die. Kapeesh?
#3 The man stole food and ate it while no one's looking. Duh
Nvm, I take part of it back. The only way you can survive 70 years without eating or drinking is get the water and nutrients injected/transfused (forgot that word) into your blood stream. By the end of the first year your stomach would probably dissolves itself though
I hope it's true, but it sounds like a lot of "Hoouie" to me...
"He also claims that his body is supported by a hole in his palate, through which the goddess pours a spiritual potion that keeps his body ticking."
That's where he's stashing the White Castles.
Wow.. Religious people are SO SMART!
These Indian holy men often use large amounts of cannabis to get them in a religious frame of mind.
I think he has just forgotten that he has been eating and drinking for the last 70 years. He'll remember in a few days.
Actually, while the length of the claim is probably excessive, the interesting thing is that with the correct yoga of prana intake it is indeed possible to survive for great lenghths of time without either food or water.
To do so one must be able to slow down one's metabolism and to derive all nourishment from breathing alone. It is somewhat superhuman in that it is not an easy task to acquire such a skill. In some cases, - and let us assume for a moment that in this case it is not a hoax - this could be a gift - a divine gift - akin to any extraordinary uncommon talent or ability. The Indian army are not dunces if they seek to test it they know that there could be something in it. However, that might be akin to studying the young Mozart to hope to learn how to teach soldiers music...
Bears hybernate, fasting over long periods is not a hard thing to grasp. This is going to turn into the story of the levitating man with a crafty chair in his cape, or the immortal jellyfish. I'm sure 70 years 'fasting' is just a technicality. Like someone mentioned, he could be getting his nutrients intravenously from time to time.
@nhan, heh I was just thinking outside the box, I did mention he'd have to be getting energy from something. People have been know to draw 'energy' to the mind,soul,etc by meditating, who knows if this dude figured out how to use that energy physically. I'm not a biology major, or in any way proficient in this kind of matter so my idea is just a stab in the dark.
There's a lot of things we do not know, we can only offer explanations of what we see, and theorize what we can't.
No matter how much I'd like to see this man be debunked for science or curiosity, sometimes these things are better left untouched so people know what the word faith means without looking it up in the dictionary or google.
As J.B.S.Haldene wrote: "The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose".All things are possible in this universe and our capacities are just limited by our imagination. The same kind of thing was demonstrated by Hira Ratan Manek, under the supervision of neuro- physician and you can find the same on the google
Oh ye of little faith! If you ask mountain to move and fall in the sea, it would follow your order with glee………
He is probably holding food in his turbin, check that shit
He is probably holding food in his turbin, check that shit
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"To do so one must be able to slow down one's metabolism and to derive all nourishment from breathing alone." KAMAPRAJNA
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Dude... Yogis can certainly slow down their metabolisms as you indicated, but they're not "deriving nourishment" from the air they breathe... What nourishment they use comes from either body fat or muscle, if there's no body fat to use.
@drdivinescorpio Yeah, except he is total crap. The man speaks nonsense and every claim he has ever made has either been unsubstantiated or flat out denied by the sources he claims. The fact you buy into it only proves extremely gullibility and very little curiosity.
@Everyone else:
This article is second hand from the Telegraph, not PopSci went out of their way to make this article. Additionally it is very obvious he won't make it the full 15 days, and the numerous doubtful remarks in this article only back up the disbelieving tone by the writer. So quit it.
There are millions of people living below poverty line and there is very little support from others. If this man has claimed this at the age of 70, he is not trying to become a public figure. There are hundreds if not thousands of people like this who can live without food for more than 4 days in India. All the skepticism arises in those people who have not seen anything else other than your own routine.
You are living in your own well you little frog (Swami Vivekananda)
There are numerous examples of people who live solely on the vital energy, the prana, the life force or the Chi.
Some of the remarkable examples are: bretharian St. Nicholas of Flüe, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a 19th Century Breatharian, NunLouise Lateau (bretharian stigmatist), Tapasvi Ram Bahadur Bomjan (the bretharian Buddha Boy from Nepal), Jericho Sunfire (a Bretharian and personal fitness guru), Camila Castillos (a Breatharian Artist and Dancer), Henri Monfort (a breatharian Shaman), Joachim Werdin,Elitom Ben Yisrael, to name a few who thrive without food. You can google "suprememastertv breatharian" for more info.
Prahlad Jani is not the only one.
"It is a different level of consciousness that defies everything we have been taught. Similarly we have been taught by our parents that meat and dairy is essential for a healthy body. But now we are learning that this is not true. We are discovering that meat and dairy is bad for your health and the cause of many diseases. Breatharianism is beyond all of that."
~Be VEG, Go Green. Save our Planet.
Is it just me or does the guy holding the gun look like Great Tiger from the NES game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out?
"There are numerous examples of people who live solely on the vital energy, the prana, the life force or the Chi." beveg_gogreen
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There are numerous examples of people SAYING they lived solely on such imaginary stuff, but there are ZERO examples that have been confirmed by science. Put down the Koolaid.
read about this a while ago...said that although he was bereft of water and food for years, he could only go five days without any pussy!
Many of you are being biggoted or just plain silly.
In science it doesn't matter about some legendary myths about people or religious teachings. It certainly doesn't leave seemingly supernatural things up to some inexplicable deity.
Science is study, understanding, and truth. Seeing as Popular Science is a publication circling around SCIENCE then we best understand that they're not concerned with mysticism or hasty denouncements. This "bretharian" thing may have caused enough commotion to warrant a study. In all likely-hood the man simply has extraordinary efficient metabolic activities due to a rare gene, but we confirm the hypothesis with expirimentation, or in this case, observation.
@Jack Meoff - Hahaha! Greatest comment I've read on the internet in a long time. Well done.
@ Boliviar
Agree. While ti it theoritically possible, since it takes just one walnut to break the earth according to Einstein E=mc2.
But is it practically possible?
Metabolism can be slowed- And use the body ( Fat and Muscle) to keep it sustained through slow release.
I think the 70 years is bunkum....but even if this dude does it for 15 days that is awesome...Lets put Linsey Lohan on it.
Well, i recall reading about Therese Neumann (1898-1962) in Autobiography of a Yogi, where Paramahansa Yogananda writes:
| (3) From 1923 onward, Therese has abstained completely from food and drink, except for the daily swallowing of one small consecrated wafer.
I lived in India for 8 months and there was another "spiritual" claim back in the 1990s as well. That one was about a statue of Gannesh crying milk from the trunk of the statue. That PROVED to be a hoax, there was a tube coming from the inside of the statue that would leak milk from a gallon placed inside the statue. This is the same thing. In India, there are many false spiritual teachings and deceptions. There are over 10,000 gods in India that those people worship and follow. God means ONE, so go figure where they get 10,000. There is always a hoax involved when perception of the natural is presented as supernatural in India. With time, it will be revealed that there is deception going on here, it may also involve the testers. The body shuts down without water, period. Every body is different but 70 years?!?!?? I say lock him up in solitary jail room without food or water in a US prison and see how long before he knocks on the door asking for water. Three days? Four?
James
@Sacrieur Impossible, impossible is impossible. Our bodies are made up of mostly water that must be replenished in order for our cells to keep on living. You can't magically generate the amount of liquids the human body needs to daily to keep itself a float. If that was the case I'd turn my back on all biological studies ever done and embrace God by taking up the collar.
faith. a lot of science is theorized, unproven, or can be disproved, impossibility can only be claimed if we knew everything there is to know about the human body, we don't. I could care less if this dude fasted for 10+ years, if he lasts more then 2 weeks without significant damage that needs to be studied!
Trying to think about how this is possible, I know a good bit about cellular respiration and all, and I come up with a blank. Metabolically I would have to say that some humans would have a much greater endurance than is currently accepted, but probably no more than a week, week and a half without water, month without food (with water). No........... just no.
This reminds me of that Breatharian guy who says he has gone years without eating. He also says he has a Quarter Pounder with cheese once a week because he likes the taste.
are those Kevlar turbans?
Don't eat = die.
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@Bolivar: Science, as it stands today, can only comprehend a tiny portion of this mysterious universe. In fact, science thrives in solving the hidden mysteries of nature. It was only after a long time that people could accept Galieo's heliocentric theory that "Earth is NOT the center of the universe." It was not apparent to people until Newton found why an apple falls downward.
"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle." ~Albert Einstein
I strongly believe in discoveries of science but nevertheless, I also accept the vast number of mysteries that science has not be able to solve so far.
---
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@beveg_gogreen
I believe in faith, but this is taking faith to the extreme.
With most scientific theories, they have some logical evidence even if they are wrong.
Ex. The earth is round. Evidence; we took a picture of it.
Currently with our scientific knowledge, this is nearly impossible. Going 70 years without food, I can barely believe that. Going 70 years without water, impossible.
If it is possible, I'm Chuck Norris
P.S If Chi exists as an energy form, then it would only be possible to convert it to mass if you have a lot as in A LOT of it and who knows what matter you are making.
The key to this is who is the goddess:-) I remember seeing a BBC documentary of India where young girls are proclaimed "goddess for a year" or something along those lines. The girl is adored, and lavished with offerings, and the family is honored by having her chosen. The point is, a living person (designated as a god) attends to this holy mans needs. He claims he is being cared for by a goddess, and for all intents and purposes, he is not lying. I would be interested in reading a follow up to this story.
Im sorry i have seen and heard many crazy things but unless there is solid proof,i can't believe it... a good ha ha though
This story has disappeared. Looks like the fraud was discovered. So surprising!
i bet nobody here could go 70 hours without food or drink lol
anywho, why would they expect a man of peace to teach soldiers how to kill more people using less food?
Holy crap! I can barely go 70 minutes without food/water!
You gotta remember these Indian dudes think they are decendants from ancient warriors that were around long before apes mutated into humans (or whatever..not to get off the topic). These guys that flew around in planes (vimana) and used nukes and stuff millions of years ago as outlined in the Mahabarata epic....So occasionally theres stories from there of superhuman human feats that sounds weird and ridiculous to us but its them clutching at this idea of their ancestry - but i think we westerners dont get it. Sure its a fraud and then another story will come out...Old indian guy lifts up his own house on his head yada yada...
Instead of these stories we use crap movies - iron man woohoo - deflect this 120mm armor piercing round with your arm - wont have anything left but shoes (if that) momentum = m x v mfer.
FAIL. 70 years without a source of nutrition and thus energy? That would make him a perpetual motion machine. Such things are impossible.
FAIL. 70 years without a source of nutrition and thus energy? That would make him a perpetual motion machine. Such things are impossible.
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