Yoga man survives without food or drink baffles scientists

Funny how the article so clearly points out it's "Satan's magic" that allowed him to go without food or water for two weeks. What about Jesus' 40 days in the desert- was that Satan's work too?
 
jmpet said:
Funny how the article so clearly points out it's "Satan's magic" that allowed him to go without food or water for two weeks. What about Jesus' 40 days in the desert- was that Satan's work too?
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Jesus was a mushroom.
 
Didn't this same story pop up here a few months ago? Or has someone else now claimed to have done the same thing?

Does he breathe? If so, why? His body does not convert chemical energy into heat and kinetic energy the way ours does, by metabolizing food. Therefore he has no reason to inhale oxygen as a resource, and he produces no carbon dioxide to exhale as waste.

Does he use photosynthesis? If his skin is not green then he can't be doing it with chlorophyll the way plants do. In any case, photosynthesis does not produce a lot of energy so it's hard to understand how he can move around, rather than sitting mute and motionless in one exact position, growing slowly larger, like a plant.

If he's put in a dark room for a couple of days, does he go into hibernation?

If he consumes no food or water, then he can't possibly be producing urine and feces, so he should never have to go use the Little Yogi's Room.

There are so many ways to test a claim like this. The fact that no one seems to be doing it is very strong evidence that the whole thing is a hoax and quite a few people are in on it--including, almost certainly, the reporters.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
Didn't this same story pop up here a few months ago? Or has someone else now claimed to have done the same thing?
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Presumably the same guy. He's been making the rounds with these claims for many years, including two supervised medical experiments in 2003 and this year (each of which lasted for 2 weeks). He claims not to have ingested food or drink for some 70 years now.

Fraggle Rocker said:
If he consumes no food or water, then he can't possibly be producing urine and feces, so he should never have to go use the Little Yogi's Room.
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Indeed, he was not observed to do so during either of the two-week experiments.

Fraggle Rocker said:
There are so many ways to test a claim like this. The fact that no one seems to be doing it is very strong evidence that the whole thing is a hoax and quite a few people are in on it--including, almost certainly, the reporters.
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Again, there have been multiple controlled tests conducted by medical doctors. Of course I'm still highly skeptical, but this is beyond the stage of mere reporting claims - there are weeks-long experiments with closed-circuit TV monitoring and so on. There's more to this than a simple news hoax, anyway. Either these doctors are in on it, or he's found a way to game them as well.
 
MacGyver1968 said:
You should be careful about the sources you get your information from. This same website claims that this golf shot in the practice round of the 2009 Masters was Vijay Singh using satanic powers.
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That site is absolutely hilarious, by the way. It reads like an Onion satire of a Christian fundamentalist newspaper...
 
quadraphonics said:
There's more to this than a simple news hoax, anyway. Either these doctors are in on it, or he's found a way to game them as well.
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Occam's Razor: "Test the simplest explanation first, and save yourself a lot of time in case it's right."

The simplest explanation--in India, a country that uses corruption for fuel?--is that everybody is in on it.

There was an article in the Washington Post a couple of months ago about India's nascent bomb-sniffing dog program. The officer in charge said, "I love these dogs. They are the true patriotic Indians. Unlike the rest of the force, they can't be bribed."
 
They say with yoga you can learn to absorb 'Prana' from oxygen and light. We actually do that (we absorb vitamins from the Sun light, and we absorb many elements from the air), but in smaller ammounts.
Although I'm skeptical about this one (its not impossible), 'cause this is usually associated with a purely meditative state. If you plan to survive on air and light, then you should consider not moving much, or not moving at all.

PS: The process of thoughts is a big energy spender for the body-mind.
 
Wisdom_Seeker said:
They say with yoga you can learn to absorb 'Prana' from oxygen and light. We actually do that (we absorb vitamins from the Sun light, and we absorb many elements from the air), but in smaller amounts.
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But we have specific metabolic processes for that, and they are well understood. BTW, we do not "absorb vitamins from sunlight." The ultraviolet component of the solar spectrum acts as a catalyst on a certain type of cholesterol in human skin, causing a biochemical reaction that generates Vitamin D as one of its products. It is only the solar energy that is absorbed by the skin, not matter. The only part of our body that absorbs a significant quantity of matter directly from the air is our lungs, where we extract oxygen molecules, but which can also absorb other vapors such as herbal essences including nicotine and other psychoactive drugs. The tissue lining our nasal passages is also capable of absorbing chemicals from the air directly into the bloodstream, but in tiny amounts. These are the pheromones that trigger our sense of smell, and a few other psychoactive drugs such as opium can also get in via this route.
The process of thoughts is a big energy spender for the body-mind.
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Not specifically energy, but the brain requires an enormous amount of protein for maintenance. Humans evolved into full-time carnivores for this precise reason. The vegetarian diet of all the other species of Great Apes, such as the gorilla, does not provide enough protein to support our massive brain. We became the planet's apex predator (we eat both bears and sharks) because our big brains gave us the intelligence to hunt large animals; and the protein we get from their meat supports the big brains.

This is also why dogs have smaller brains than wolves (although they are two subspecies of the same species). Wolves are predators like humans, but since dogs volunteered to join us in creating and maintaining civilization, they have become scavengers, so their diet contains less protein than the wolf diet.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
BTW, we do not "absorb vitamins from sunlight." The ultraviolet component of the solar spectrum acts as a catalyst on a certain type of cholesterol in human skin, causing a biochemical reaction that generates Vitamin D as one of its products. It is only the solar energy that is absorbed by the skin, not matter. The only part of our body that absorbs a significant quantity of matter directly from the air is our lungs, where we extract oxygen molecules, but which can also absorb other vapors such as herbal essences including nicotine and other psychoactive drugs. The tissue lining our nasal passages is also capable of absorbing chemicals from the air directly into the bloodstream, but in tiny amounts.
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You are like a bible of facts dude.

Fraggle Rocker said:
The vegetarian diet of all the other species of Great Apes, such as the gorilla, does not provide enough protein to support our massive brain. We became the planet's apex predator (we eat both bears and sharks) because our big brains gave us the intelligence to hunt large animals; and the protein we get from their meat supports the big brains.

This is also why dogs have smaller brains than wolves (although they are two subspecies of the same species). Wolves are predators like humans, but since dogs volunteered to join us in creating and maintaining civilization, they have become scavengers, so their diet contains less protein than the wolf diet.
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I guess I'm in trouble then, being a vegetarian and all
 
IndianCurry2010 said:
I suspect its a hoax as india as people have gathered is a corrupt country. Scientists will say anything for backhand payments.
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Suspicious claims like this are made all over the world, all the time, probably just as much in the USA as in India. Sometimes "credible" media get sucked in (for silly, incredulous reasons) and then that helps convince many others, who in turn convince yet more people still. You might want to check out the James Randi Educational Foundation, they specialize in the investigation and/or debunking of these kinds of claims.

On an interesting note, barefoot firewalking was viewed with skepticism in the scientific community until investigators such as James Randi himself were able to verify that it's real. Now that it's been thoroughly studied, the phenomenon is well-understood and doesn't contradict anything we know about physics and heat, and in fact the world record for longest firewalk is now held by physicists (advice for those who think it has something to do with meditation: don't try it on a hot metal sheet).

As Fraggle Rocker points out, being able to get our nutrients from the sun would violate many known principles of physics, chemistry and biology, so if the scientific community had any reason not to laugh at this stuff, they'd be studying it to death right now.
 
I've personally gone without food for nearly 45 days in an experiment in 2001. I lost a third of my bodyweight and had to spend most of my time in bed as I was very weak. I couldn't have done this without liquids though the no-food rule was very strict and even soup was not allowed.
towards the end of this peroid, I was quite delusional, and was suffering audiovisual hallucinations. Doctors overseeing me were convinced I would suffer irreversable organ damage after 45 days and I was then given drugs to stimulate my apatite seeing as my system was no longer responding to normal stimulae.
Recovery was rapid once my digestive system was re-initialized, with an intake of about 5000Kcal/day.
During the experiment, ordinary tasks became increasingly more difficult both as a cognative and physical effort. As a result of this experience, I would suggest that after 40 days, death is a very real possibility without a great deal of help, medically and physically.
It is entirely possible that this person genuinely believes he is being sustained by magick as there is a peculiar phase when the apatite is gone, but enough energy remains to feel reasonably fit and well. This period could easily be mistaken for a divine experience as it seems to defy reason. However this period does not last long, about 10 days, then starvation proper begins to set in. A positive mental atitude will significantly alter the abitlity to function, but even this cannot last beyond what becomes physically unsupportable.
The programme originally began out of suicidal ideation, but then evolved into an experiment with the influence of the medical staff. I was in a special psyke unit at the time with 24/7 medical facilities. I quit in the end due to repeated requests from family and friends. I wouldn't reccommend anybody else attempting this as it is fairly dangerous. I think 40 days would be the limit for most people, with rapidly diminishing functionality then onwards. Without energy to function / collect and process food, death would be an increasingly likely outcome.
 
ULTRA said:
I've personally gone without food for nearly 45 days in an experiment in 2001. I lost a third of my bodyweight and had to spend most of my time in bed as I was very weak. I couldn't have done this without liquids though the no-food rule was very strict and even soup was not allowed.
towards the end of this peroid, I was quite delusional, and was suffering audiovisual hallucinations. Doctors overseeing me were convinced I would suffer irreversable organ damage after 45 days and I was then given drugs to stimulate my apatite seeing as my system was no longer responding to normal stimulae.
Recovery was rapid once my digestive system was re-initialized, with an intake of about 5000Kcal/day.
During the experiment, ordinary tasks became increasingly more difficult both as a cognative and physical effort. As a result of this experience, I would suggest that after 40 days, death is a very real possibility without a great deal of help, medically and physically.
It is entirely possible that this person genuinely believes he is being sustained by magick as there is a peculiar phase when the apatite is gone, but enough energy remains to feel reasonably fit and well. This period could easily be mistaken for a divine experience as it seems to defy reason. However this period does not last long, about 10 days, then starvation proper begins to set in. A positive mental atitude will significantly alter the abitlity to function, but even this cannot last beyond what becomes physically unsupportable.
The programme originally began out of suicidal ideation, but then evolved into an experiment with the influence of the medical staff. I was in a special psyke unit at the time with 24/7 medical facilities. I quit in the end due to repeated requests from family and friends. I wouldn't reccommend anybody else attempting this as it is fairly dangerous. I think 40 days would be the limit for most people, with rapidly diminishing functionality then onwards. Without energy to function / collect and process food, death would be an increasingly likely outcome.
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Thanks for sharing your experience, ULTRA.

What was your bodyweight and muscle/fat distribution beforehand?
What fluids could you drink? I'm guessing you must have at least had sugars and salts, and possibly some fats (eg milk) to last so long?
What were your bowel motions like?

I'm studying medicine, and this is fascinating stuff for me.
 
IndianCurry2010 said:
I am rather skeptical about this..

(URL posting not allowed even in quotes till 20 or greater posts here so no URL repetition here... so no exact quote. :( )

If this is true why havent the americans got involved in this project ? surely they can see what opportunties can be gained from this ?

I suspect its a hoax as india as people have gathered is a corrupt country. Scientists will say anything for backhand payments.
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With Yoga one can attain a state wherein a human being can survive just on breaths but it is quite rare to perform by anyone in today's world for it requires a lot of practice, knowledge and a perfect balance of mental state.

CptBork said:
Suspicious claims like this are made all over the world, all the time, probably just as much in the USA as in India. Sometimes "credible" media get sucked in (for silly, incredulous reasons) and then that helps convince many others, who in turn convince yet more people still. You might want to check out the (same above given url posting issue repeats here.), they specialize in the investigation and/or debunking of these kinds of claims.

On an interesting note, barefoot firewalking was viewed with skepticism in the scientific community until investigators such as James Randi himself were able to verify that it's real. Now that it's been thoroughly studied, the phenomenon is well-understood and doesn't contradict anything we know about physics and heat, and in fact the world record for longest firewalk is now held by physicists (advice for those who think it has something to do with meditation: don't try it on a hot metal sheet).

As Fraggle Rocker points out, being able to get our nutrients from the sun would violate many known principles of physics, chemistry and biology, so if the scientific community had any reason not to laugh at this stuff, they'd be studying it to death right now.
Click to expand...

I agree with the given points completely.
 
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