Prolonged Fasting -

How Is It Possible -

A Hypothesis

Dr. Sudhir V. Shah

This article was originally published in scientific index journal Gujarat Medical Journal - March 2001.

PROLONGED FASTING - HOW IS IT POSSIBLE - A HYPOTHESIS

INTRODUCTION:

Recently a historical and amazing incidence took place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. A gentleman called Shri Hira Ratan Manek(H.R.M.) aged 64 , a mechanical engineer residing at Calicut, originally belonging to Kutch., Gujarat, has just accomplished a remarkable record - a world record, by doing continuous fasting for 411 days, as per jain tradition, (i.e. taking only boiled water during daytime and just no other food or liquids). He had done similar jain fasting for 211 days in 1995-96. This time, he started fasting on 1.1.2000. The unique thing was, that this time he was under continuous day to day medical checking and elaborate medical testing - with a critical evaluation by a team of expert doctors, representing various fraternities of medical science including family physicians, physicians, cardiologist, neurologist, endocrinologist, surgeon, pathologists, genetician, radiologists, etc. Also from time to time several teams of physicists, chemists, biochemists, physiologists and several doctors from all different specialities from India as well as abroad have spent time to meet him, examine him. All of them have been impressed with the genuinity of fasting, but everybody is wondering how this has become possible. You will agree, that as per today’s scientific knowledge, this is just not possible and it is extremely difficult to explain this happening, even if the man is taken as superman or genetically a different human being. We now know of about at least 200 people living without food, on this earth.

The author of this hypothesis, was also part of the medical team and must have met and examined him several times during his unique fasting. The author also, like any scientist, had real sceptic behaviour towards this gentleman and had really taken this gentleman to toughest and most critical analytic check (keeping in a nursing home more than a month, isolating him in a cube, not allowing any of his relatives to stay with him, etc.) and all other doctors also had scrupulous checking. All of us are fully convinced about the genuinity and really are wonderstuck. Having satisfied fully with the genuinity, the team suddenly realized that the ball was inthe cot of doctors - as now they had to explain, how this gentleman could do this, and that too like a normal man he talks, moves around, meets people, gives lectures and talks intelligently and quite logically, i.e. all his systems are normal including cognition.

Ultimately, the job was left to the author to try to hypothesize something. The author had accepted it. But he realized that he was in deep waters. It's one of the most difficult tasks he had ever had in the past. Really speaking, this is a subject of occultism and spiritual science, and hence our experimental science had natural limitations. So the author has tried to evolve a hypothesis, which starts with logic, then available scientific knowledge is applied and ultimately again logic leading to “Speculative VISION” is applied. Hence, he does not claim that things presented here are all the way scientific, but he assures you a great experience, opening up “the dialogues” and assures that you will have a chance to examine several fantastic possibilities. Who knows truth may unfold itself in coming years, from these possibilities. The author has already received several queries from internet, after floating it on the same.