Sadhu Haridas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sadhu Haridas (fl. 1837) was a hatha yogi and fakir of nineteenth-century India, famous for his reputed power to control his body completely using the power of his mind, employing the energies of kundalini. His most notable feat, carried out in 1837, was to survive burial underground, without food or water and with only a limited supply of oxygen, for forty days. This feat took place at the court of the Maharaja of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, at Lahore, India (now in Pakistan). Haridas was interred in the presence of the Maharaja, his whole court, and a number of French and English doctors. He adopted a sitting posture, and was covered over and sewn up in cerecloth. He was then placed inside a large wooden case, which was strongly riveted closed and sealed with the Maharaja’s own seal. The case was then lowered into a specially-constructed brick vault. Earth was piled upon the case, and a detachment of the Maharaja's guard was placed to keep watch over the vault; four sentries mounting guard over it by day, and eight by night. Forty days later, Haridas was disinterred in the presence of the Maharaja, his court, and the French and English doctors who had been previously present at his interment. His apparently lifeless body was washed with hot water, massaged, and ghee placed on his eyelids and tongue; in a short time, he had recovered. According to Claude Wade, the British Resident at the Maharaja's court: "From the time of the box being opened to the recovery of the voice, not more than half an hour could have elapsed; and in another half hour, the Fakir talked with myself and those about him freely, though feebly, like a sick person. Then we left him, convinced that there had been no fraud or collusion in the exhibition we had

References

• Garbe, Richard (1900). "On the voluntary trance of Indian fakirs.". The Monist 10: 481–500.
• Wade's account on WikiSource
• "Buried for Forty Days" (news article from the London Telegraph)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Haridas"

Categories: Yogis | Premature burials

‘Raja Gigi’ breaks 40-year world record

KUALA LUMPUR: Strongman V. Rathakrishnan, better known as Raja Gigi (Tooth King), completed a successful attempt at a new world record when he pulled a KTM Komuter train comprising six coaches and weighing 260.8 tonnes for a distance of 4.2m using his teeth and jaws yesterday. The feat has been certified by the Malaysia Book of Records and will be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records soon for certification as a world record. Rathakrishnan, 37, said he pulled the coaches a metre more than what he had set out to do (3.2m), and said the extra metre was motivated by the presence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who witnessed the event at the KTM Berhad (KTMB) station here yesterday. “I looked at the PM’s (Dr Mahathir) face a few times before I started pulling the coaches,” Strongman V. Rathakrishnan pulling a 260.8-tonne KTM Komuter train for several metres to enter his name in the record books in Kuala Lumpur Saturday “I focused my mind on pulling the train after looking at Dr Mahathir’s face and it didn’t seem a great effort to me when the coaches started inching away as I pulled the rope that was attached to the front Komuter car,” Also present were the Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Rathakrishnan dedicated his feat to Dr Mahathir, whom he said had inspired Malaysians to inculcate the Malaysia Boleh spirit. “My advice to Malaysians is never say I don’t want to and I cannot,” said Rathakrishnan, who had been training for 15 months with KTMB to break the world record set by a Belgian, Walter Arfeuille, whose record stands at 200.8 tonnes over 3m in the late 1960s. The event was organised by YZ Alliance Group and sponsored by KTMB and Tenaga Nasional Bhd. Rathakrishnan, who was presented the certificate by Dr Mahathir, said he promised the Prime Minister that he would attempt to break or set five other world records after this. The former personal bodyguard left his job to train for this feat. He regularly does jaw exercises, yoga, gym workouts, jogging and long-distance brisk walking and also attributes his fitness to a diet which comprises 90% vegetarian dishes. He also abstains from hot and spicy food and cold drinks. Previously he had also pulled a KTMB coach weighing 37.35 tonnes for a distance of 8.37m in Klang in 2001, lifted weights of 130kg from the floor using his teeth (also in 2001) and pulled a 10.8 tonne bus at the Tampin Train station about 10 years ago. “Next I probably want to use my teeth to keep a flying helicopter from pulling off the ground,” said Rathakrishnan, who is still single. YZ Alliance deputy group chief executive chairman Mohd Zamri Mohammad said Rathakrishnan had also been invited to London to attempt similar feats. Datuk Danny Ooi, chief executive officer of Malaysia Book of Records said Rathakrishnan’s world record would be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for certification along with over 20 record breaking feats by Malaysians.

45-year-old man performs yoga while floating in water

45-year-old Gopal Chandra Adak of Jhalalsi village in West Bengals Howrah District has mastered the art of performing difficult yoga postures while floating in water for hours uninterruptedly.

Howrah, Sept 30 : 45-year-old Gopal Chandra Adak of Jhalalsi village in West Bengal's Howrah District has mastered the art of performing difficult yoga postures while floating in water for hours uninterruptedly.

A shopkeeper by profession, Adak began practicing yoga at the age of ten. With floods inundating his village frequently, he initially tried floating in water and later took to practicing difficult yogic postures.

"I have learnt this myself. I have taken this up due to health reasons. It was also an effort for survival amidst all that water. I tried different yogic postures. I practiced for a long time," Adak said.

The practice turned into a passion with time and Adak started performing yoga in water for hours in the pond next to his shop.

Over the time Adak mastered the art and can now perform most complex postures from 'Padmasan' to 'Gomukhasan' with perfection.

Residents have started anticipating that one day they might see Adak walking on water.

"I find it amazing that he can do yoga in water. I think a time will come when we will see him walking on water. This is truly amazing," said Nirmal Majhi, a resident.

Initially, his friends, children and other villagers mocked at Adak. But later villagers were mesmerized by Adak's awe-inspiring performances.

Today, the water yogi is content with the fact that he is well known in his village and even outside. But now wants that his fame should travel far and wide. He aims to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

Adak has been reaping the benefits of practicing water yoga. He claims that he has had no health problems ever since he began practicing this difficult art.

The water yogi has become an inspiration for many people to take to water yoga as his efforts are attracting many into the fold of yoga.

The Fire Yogi of Tanjore

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The Fire Yogi is a 47 minute documentary exploring a Yogi who has the extraordinary ability to use a unique breathing technique to get into union with Fire. This documentary portrays a rare and unusual Fire Ritual performed by the Yogi and the subsequent chemical analysis of his clothing & physical tests that examine this supernatural phenomenon. The Yogi has performed this Fire Ritual for a total of 1000 days over the last 45 years. The Yogi, weighing a mere 94 pounds (43 kilos), has been able to survive on only two bananas and a mere glass of milk with a few drops of water twice a day for the last 28 years. Many aspects of the Yogi are on the edge of unbelievability, while at the same time highlighting the power and endurance of human mind, body and spirit.

Yogi Rambhauswami, the 63-year-old yogi, claims that in 1975 he stopped drinking more than a few drops of water each day, that two years later he began limiting his daily diet to a banana and a cup of milk, and that he sleeps only three hours each night. By all rights the Sanskrit scholar should be malnourished and dehydrated, but in director and producer Mike Vasan's documentary, he appears to be a relatively normal, if somewhat slender, senior citizen. Rambhauswami's real claim to fame, however, is his elaborate fire ritual.

The ritual begins with his taking a bath, then moving on to meditation, pranayama, and a ceremony honoring Ganesha. The fire portion of the ritual is conducted over a sunken pit, into which Rambhauswami offers rice, coconut, sugar cane, and gallons of ghee. As he's doing this, he goes into a deep meditative state. He enters the blaze and rolls around, protected by only a wool shawl, and remains there, in the fire, for up to 10 minutes at a time.

When Rambhau emerges from the flames, though, there's little evidence that he's just been charbroiled. Even his shawl is intact, its preservation credited to a protective aura. The shawl was later tested for fire retardant, and results showed that the material hadn't been treated.

Indian Yogi Subbayah Pullavar’s Levitation act

Indian Yogis performing acts of levitation have been documented as far back as 1884, but when a report and pictures were published in 1936 of Yogi Subbayah Pullavar, an Indian Guru, levitating for 4 minutes, a serious interest into Yogis and their power of levitation.

On 6 June 1936, Indian Yogi Subbayah Pullavar levitated for four minutes in front of 150 witnesses. He was in a state of deep trance and, once back on the ground, his limbs could not be unbent at first.

Yogi’s feat was publicly observed and photographed in an exhibition that occurred in South India. The Illustrated London News printed the story and photos which were taken from various angles by P. Y. Plunkett who was a witness present that day and scrutinized the entire event.

Yogi Pullavar’s assistants erected a small tent in an open area where Pullavar began by ritualistically pouring a circle of water around the perimeter of the tent. Shoes were not permitted within the area marked by the circle. Yogi Pullavar then entered the tent where he remained hidden from view for a few minutes, after which the attendants then removed the tent. Once revealed, Yogi Pullavar was seen suspended horizontally several feet above the ground. He was in a trance, lightly resting his hand on top of a cloth covered stick. He was in a trance, lightly resting his hand on top of a cloth covered stick.”

Finally, he slowly sank in a horizontal position to the ground. The entire process took an estimated five minutes to complete.

When the tent was again removed, Yogi Pullavar was lying on the ground, still in a deep trance. Volunteers were asked to try to bend Pullavar’s limbs. His arms and legs could not be bent from their locked position. Attendants had to splash water on Yogi Pullavar and rub him down for five minutes before he finally came out of his trance and was once again able to use his limbs.

Is it possible for human beings to levitate? Throughout history there have been many anecdotal accounts of people levitating. Many religions have their traditional stories of levitation. Milarepa, the great thirteenth century yogi of Tibet, is said to have had the ability to levitate. The Ninja of Japan also reportedly were able to levitate. Some of the best records of levitations are among Christian documents which indicate that over 200 Catholic Saints have been credited with levitating.

One of the more remarkable and documented accounts of levitation is of St. Joseph of Cupertino born in 1603 in Apulia, Italy. He was born in a stable, was not well educated, but yet was considered to be very wise. He fasted for 40 days 7 times a year and was able to communicate with animals. He is said to have achieved his ability to levitate after over two decades of intense spiritual practice. He levitated before hundreds of witnesses including one incident when he levitated several feet above the ground in front of Pope Urban VIII.

The Key To Lower Blood Pressure? How Your Breathing Affects

Could our breathing hold the secret to achieving lower blood pressure naturally? Many researchers think so and they have a growing amount of evidence to back them up. What’s more, these are not the claims of alternative health promoters or any of the other usual suspects but those of doctors and scientists published in peer-reviewed medical journals.

It seems that the close connection between our respiratory and circulatory systems, long recognized and used by ancient cultures, does have scientific validity. We know logically that our heartbeat and breathing rate increase in unison in response to physical demands or strong emotions such as fear, anger, or panic. What we’re not able to feel is the corresponding increase in our blood pressure. This is a natural response to stress in preparation for fight or flight.

We usually think in terms of our breathing following our heart rate/blood pressure as it goes up but why would the reverse not be true? Why would heart rate and blood pressure not follow breathing – and why not down as well as up?

There was no mystery in this for ancient peoples. You may have heard of the incredible feats of certain Indian yogis: their ability to slow their heartbeats to the point at which it appears to stop, for instance. This requires complete mastery of mind and body but there is one tool they use above all to accomplish this feat: their breathing.

The yogis have learned that slowing their breathing calms the heart, mind and nervous system. By reducing their respiratory rate to less than one breath per minute they are able to achieve a sort of “suspended animation”.

It takes a lifetime of discipline to reach this level but virtually anyone can learn to control their breathing within practical limits. Could this be of use to ordinary people to self-regulate their blood pressure? It was with this question in mind that researchers set out several years ago to find out if controlled breathing could be used to benefit the heart and blood pressure.

Their findings are promising, to say the least. A report in the April, 2001, Journal of Human Hypertension announced: "Breathing-control lowers blood pressure". The study, backed up by at least seven further clinical trials, concludes that short sessions of only 10 to 15 minutes a day of a therapeutic type of breathing is "an effective non-pharmacologic modality to reduce BP". In simple English, it works!

The method, known as "slow breathing", begins to reduce blood pressure at rates below 10 breaths per minute. A specific breathing pattern involving prolonged exhalation also plays an important role. Results improve as the breathing rate drops further but there is no need to become a yogi; maximum benefits are obtained at rates that almost everyone can achieve comfortably.

Using a simple method that guides breathing with the help of musical tones, people with no training were able to obtain impressive drops in blood pressure. The most successful have averaged reductions of 36 points systolic and 20 points diastolic. This is a phenomenal result that can only be equaled by a barrage of blood pressure medications. Average reductions across the board are a bit less but still very impressive.

Equally important is the surprising finding that the effects of slow breathing are cumulative. The reductions tend to be short-lived at first but build up over several weeks until they start to last around the clock. This makes slow breathing much more useful than simple relaxation, the effects of which are usually only temporary.

One other result may be more surprising still; a follow-up study showed that a massive 82% of resistant hypertensives – people who had failed to respond to other forms of treatment – responded positively to slow breathing. This result was published in the American Journal of Hypertension in June 2003. It indicates that slow breathing helps a broad range of people with high blood pressure, not just those whose hypertension may be caused by breathing problems, as many had believed.

With potential like this for many millions of hypertension sufferers you would expect slow breathing to spread like wildfire. After all, it offers so many advantages, not to mention additional benefits like stress and anxiety relief, with virtually no downside. Slow breathing has already helped thousands to avoid, reduce or eliminate potentially dangerous blood pressure medications.

Ironically, even with prestigious institutions like the Mayo Clinic and The American Heart Association have putting their influence behind the method, slow breathing has proved slow to catch on. It can appear difficult to learn and impractical. Luckily, new developments have emerged that allow virtually anybody to quickly and easily take advantage of this unique, totally natural method.

Discover more about using slow breathing to lower blood pressure, stress relief and much more.

Levitation் - Yogi Pullaver

From far back in history, the world has heard strange stories about Indian Yogi’s and their strange mystical abilities. People coming back from the Indian colony came with eye-witness reports of these mysterious feats. Perhaps the most widely reported one is that of levitation.

Is it possible for human beings to levitate? Don’t miss the video at the end of this article.

On the 6th June 1936, P.Y. Plunkett of the Illustrated London News, along with 150 other people witnessed the Yogi Pullaver levitate in the air for about 4 minutes. The feat took place on a sunny, clear day and in an open, unobscured area. Plunkett was permitted to photograph the proceedings.

The Yogi’s assistants set up a small tent in the open area and Pullavar ritualistically poured a circle of water around the perimeter of the tent. Adding to the religious overtones, shoes were not allowed inside the circle. Yogi Pullaver then entered the tent and after several minutes, his attendants removed the tent revealing the Yogi suspended horizontally in the air, several feet from the ground.

Pullaver appeared to be in a trance state and the only evidence of support was his outstretched hand resting on top of a cloth covered walking stick. Witnesses told that it was evident that the Yogi did not exert much pressure on the stick.

The audience was invited to see the spectacle from close up. Many photo’s were taken and they checked for strings, props or anything else which may be responsible for his suspension. they found nothing.

After four minutes, the attendants re-erected the tent around the Yogi. They said that this was to shield him as he made his descent. Plunkett reported that he could see the outline of the guru through the tent. He noted that the Yogi swayed gently for a short time before sinking slowly to a horizontal position on the ground.

When the tent was again removed, Yogi Pullaver was seen lying on the ground in a deep trance. Volunteers were then asked to try and bend his arms and legs. Plunckett reported that they were unable to do so as his limbs appeared to be locked into their positions.

After some minutes, the Yogi’s attendants began to revive him. First they threw cold water over him and then rubbed his limbs for about 5 minutes. Pullaver then came out of the trance and was once again able to move and walk around.

Other religions, including Christianity also have historical reports of levitation. Are they for real, or are they all just elaborate hoaxes? If such accounts of human levitation are true, then what enables a human being to counter the force of gravity and levitate?

Recently a video was released which purports to show how Yogi Pullaver and other Indian Yogi’s pull off their version of the levitation trick. Does it really explain it, or does it just point out a clever possibility? Well you can watch it and find out: