Survive without food and water- FOREVER!

Yes, surviving without food and water is not impossible if some cases are to be believed. Some of you might be aware of "Inedia" or "Breatharianism" where people believe that food and water are not necessary.

There have been many examples of people who have claimed it.- Jasmuheen (born Ellen Greve), Wiley Brooks, Hira Ratan Manek and the one case I am interested in- Prahlad Jani (also called Mataji) who claims he hasn't had anything for 70 years now and has never fallen ill!

Eastern mysticism and yogic practices are beyond medical science at present. Of course till something is proved, it cannot be believed but there have been many yogis(specially Hath Yoga) and others in India who have managed things which can only be called miracles because we don't yet know or understand it. The only difference is yoga ( not the usual thing prevalent in the west as just breathing, stretching etc) is an inner science of gaining complete mastery over your own system and the Science that we know, is external -it starts from the outside. That's the difference between the two at the moment and we don't know if they will meet.

But leaving these things at the moment, the case I want to talk about is Prahlad Jani who was recently in the news. He had spent ten days under strict observation by physicians in Ahmedabad, India, in 2003. He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance and during the observation, he was given only 100 millilitres of water a day to use as mouthwash, which was collected and measured after he used it, to make sure he hadn't consumed any. Throughout the observation, he passed no urine or stool, but doctors say urine appeared to form in the bladder, only to be reabsorbed. He was able to change the amount of urine in his body as asked  And at the end, he appeared to be fine mentally and physically. This also appeared in BBC news article.

They are now again doing a study on him to find out how this is possible for the human body and how it can help people specially soldiers or astronauts.

Now if this is really possible and if everyone is capable of learning or acquiring this art, just imagine what would happen to this world. No need for food and water or passing urine or stool. Can you imagine just what implications this has?

I am going to write about the same.

- First thing is since there is no need for food and water, people won't be dying of hunger and thirst or unclean water. According to UNICEF, 24,000 children die each day due to poverty. Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea. and 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.  Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.

- Suddenly there would be a huge drop in the death rate and people might only die of old age or organ failures or accidents and diseases not related to food, water and hygiene. Not even obesity because with food goes out the unhealthy eating habits and if the body is managing on its own, it won't go wrong. The basic reason to work would vanish. Basically the only thing that animals and even people are doing is- doing things to have access to food. Animals - by directly searching for food the whole day and people indirectly working for food.

- No one can say for sure whether this will be good or not. Even if not all at once, slowly if everyone becomes capable of it, there definitely would be some people who would not do any work and just sit and relax. There would be many too who just because they love food and eating so much, they will continue to eat. A major portion of the population would still eat food and drinks because that is a major source of joy for many to taste various kinds of food and drinks even though it is no longer a need. Many would work now only to be able to afford the comfort and conveniences and the luxuries.

- Farming would be affected surely and it would come down because you can never be sure of the demand in this case. Many might be eating for enjoyment but since it is not a need, they can stop anytime, and not that farmers would be too concerned either. People would just need good shelter to survive and that's it. The whole system of economy and everything would be altered. It would be a joy for the travellers. They would be able to go light, carrying just basic shelter and safety things and no food and water. Can you imagine how much water we will be able to save- and how much waste generated will come down. A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World! People will have basically nothing to do now and knowing the human mind, that would be very dangerous. We cannot even imagine what people would do having had this freedom. Having piled up so many weapons of all sorts, nuclear and otherwise, that is the thing people will play with and eventually destroy life faster. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen

There can be so many things if it happened, I have tried to highlight a few of them. On an individual level, it would be a blessing but if it happened to the whole mankind, it is a potential disaster!

What is your opinion?