In my previous post, I ended by asking what would have to be true if Prahlad Jani truly and honestly abstained from food AND water for 70 years.
Well, first we shall examine his claims:
- He hasn't eaten since he was 11 years old.
- He receives nutrition from a secretion in his pallet by the divine power of a deity.
- He never passes stool.
- He never passes urine.
So based on these claims then, what would have to be true? These are some of my thoughts, which could be wrong. But I think they are worth considering:
- If Jani has any teeth left, they would probably be special teeth. And if he has no teeth, then the loss of his teeth raises questions in my opinion.
If he hasn't eaten since he was 11 years old, his teeth will be hardly used. A dental examination might show his teeth to be different from most other adults. I'm assuming he has some of his teeth still. If not, then why did he lose them? Malnutrition? Poor dental hygiene? An unspoken point behind researching the claims of a 70 year fast is that Jani is in good health despite his food abstinence. His teeth might be able to tell us a lot.
- One way or another, he receives nutrition. The source of his auto-generating nutrition should be verifiable.
We can take a swab of the hole in his pallet and analyze the juicy goodness found in those claimed secretions that he has. He isn't truly living by air alone. He says so himself (whether he knows it or not) by claiming that the goddess he worships drips a sort of elixir down his throat to keep him sustained. If there's no juicy goodness in his throat, then he is sustained by other means and misunderstands his own method of survival.
Or maybe his auto-nutrition comes from the sun or simply breathing as others have claimed.
Or, perhaps he's made fraudulent claims.
Either way, some source of nutrition has to be going on in his body. The proper tests should be able to ferret out the source.
- He cannot have symptoms of starvation since he is nourished somehow.
Since he actually does receive nutrition somehow, his body mustn't auto-digest. So, weight loss should be negligible. The guy looks so skinny that he doesn't seem to have any more weight to lose. But other signs of malnourishment might manifest themselves if he were kept under longer periods of observation. He should be kept for a month or more under strict observation before we get too excited about the last two studies published concerning his feats of fasting.
- He produces at least some waste.
Jani's bladder does produce urine. Producing urine highly suggests he produces some sort of waste from his nutrition source. Why doesn't he pass it then? Testing his urine would be very interesting, too. And why does he have bowel gas? The tasty treats dripping in the back of his throat don't produce stool? This stuff must be pure goodness! Even his urine is nutritious and gets reabsorbed by his body!
These are just a few ideas I have after some thought about his claims.
And what would have to be true if he's lying?
- He will pass waste, eventually.
Someone needs to analyze his bath water.
- He will sneak off into the jungle and eat some leaves off the trees or something. He'll stoop down at a nearby brook and slurp up some H2O when he thinks no one is watching.
Someone simply needs to stalk him with a camera for a bit. They might just be rewarded by catching him coming out of the jungle with a big ol' slurppy cup from Seven-Eleven.
Or maybe he'll get caught coming out of the jungle turnin' up a 40 oz. of Mad Dog 20/20.
- He won't have any verifiable signs of auto-generating his own nutrition
I think this point hurts the two studies. They didn't do any invasive procedures such as taking blood samples and such. All they did was monitor Jani. If he greased the right palms, someone could have slipped him something to eat and drink if the observation methods weren't strict enough to prevent an inside job. He sat in ICU for 24 hours before the observations began. He could have made some deals or gulped down some water before the testing began.
Anyhow. Jani claims he's nourished. Signs of that need to exist and I think can be easily verified by some blood tests and some microscope slides.
At the time of writing this, I haven't heard if someone has caught Jani contradicting his claims. Nor have I heard any scientific hypothesis that explains why he seemed to endure a 10 day and 15 day fast without passing any waste.
I don't believe Jani based on his word. And I'm not too confident in the study so far. I've been lied to in my life too often to simply accept their claims without some hard proof.
Until then, I maintain that Jani is a lying about his 70 year fast, but maybe has the uncanny ability to fast longer than the average human because of his meditation techniques.
Otherwise, I need to start worshiping Jani's deity, huh?
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