Miraculous or Fraud?

This indian Holy man was tested by scientists for a period of over 15 days. The thing that makes this interesting, but perhaps not quite complete proof is the claim of this man that he can sustain himself by simply taking in the sun. When I first read this, I was extremely skeptical. I am willing to grant a lot of things, but the idea of living without food or water--- it's very hard for me to imagine it, yet the interesting thing is that over a period of 15 days, even though urine formed, it was reabsorbed. Furthermore, even after over 15 days, his body exhibited no signs of serious stress, which would be expected for someone fasting this long. Aside from losing a very small amount of weight, he was measured to be perfectly healthy. Now this study has only been carried out twice, and though it doesn't prove anything to me (I think he would need to be monitored continuously with cameras for at least two months to establish such claims), I would like to know what thoughts the Skeptiko community has concerning this phenomenon.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2010-05-starving-yogi-astounds-indian-scientists.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm

If this is indeed true, the implications are simply astonishing. The possibility to completely eliminate the need for wasting resources as well as completely ending world hunger would be a true possibility.
 
I don't know. This is not really news to anyone who has looked into the feats reported from the sub-continent since the times of Blavatsky and Gurdjieff.

I worked for Reed-Elsevier who churn out websites in different verticals to sell advertising space to niche industries. I remember the pit of interns and recent grads churning out 5 to 6 paper thin articles a day to drive traffic to sites like the one you posted.

These science websites that report on "new" discoveries seem shallower than the Habsburg gene pool.

Yes, it is quite amazing. No, I don't think it needs to be validated by science when the living history of Tibbetian monks and their feats is proof enough of the primacy of mind over the physical body.
 
Yes, I am quite aware of the literature that has documented the amazing levels of self-control exhibited by Yogis, such as surviving in a sealed off oxygen-deprived environment, but what interests me about this case, in particular, is the idea of not needing food. It seems impossible, even by the standards of parapsychology or mind over matter studies.
 
It would seem to violate the laws of thermodynamics, the idea of energy in=energy out.
Maybe ψ does break the laws of thermodynamics, but another way to look at it is that normal reality ceases to be a closed system. In an open system it is easy for things to gain energy (e.g. from sunlight) or lose entropy as when someone tidies their house.

I always think it helps to determine the facts about cases like this, before theorising about them. Remember that there is a long tradition of yogis being able to do this.

David
 
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