http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm

Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians

By Rajeev Khanna
BBC correspondent in Ahmedabad


Doctors and experts are baffled by an Indian hermit who claims not to have eaten or drunk anything for several decades - but is still in perfect health.

Mr Prahlad Jani under surveillance in hospital

Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

During that time, he did not consume anything and "neither did he pass urine or stool", according to the hospital's deputy superintendent, Dr Dinesh Desai.

Yet he is in fine mental and physical fettle, say doctors.

Most people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.

Followers of Indian holy men and ascetics have often ascribed extraordinary powers to them, but such powers are seldom subject to scientific inspection.

Mouthwash

"A series of tests conducted on him show his body mechanism is that of a normal person," said Dr Desai.

Mr Jani spends most of his time in a cave near the Ambaji temple in Gujarat state.

He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this

Bhiku Prajapati, Mr Jani's devotee

He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance.

To help the doctors verify his claims, Mr Jani agreed to avoid bathing for his time in hospital.

The only fluid he was allowed was a small amount of water, to use as mouthwash.

One hundred millilitres of water were given to him, and then collected and measured in a beaker when he spat it out, to make sure none had been drunk.

Thank goddess

A statement from Ahmedabad's Association of Physicians says that despite no water entering his body, urine nonetheless appeared to form in his bladder - only to be re-absorbed by the bladder walls.


Hungry for blessings: Mr Jani receives a devotee in hospital

At the end of his confinement, doctors noted no deterioration in his condition, other than a slight drop in his weight.

"I feel no need for food and water," says Mr Jani, who claims he was blessed by a goddess at the age of eight and has lived in caves ever since.

He grew up in Charod village in Mehsana district and wears the dress of a devotee of the goddess Ambaji - a red sari-like garment, nose ring, bangles and crimson flowers in the hair.

He also wears the vermilion "tika" mark on his forehead, more often seen on married Hindu women.

His followers call him "mataji" or goddess.

More tests

He says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate.

Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him.

"He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this," said Bhiku Prajapati, one of Mr Jani's many followers.

"A hole in the palate is an abnormal phenomenon," says Dr Desai.

His colleague, Dr Urman Dhruv, told the BBC a full medical report is being prepared on Mr Jani's 10 days under observation.

Doctors say they cannot verify his claim to have not eaten or drunk for decades - but by observing his feat under laboratory conditions, they hope to learn more about the human body.

It is likely that doctors will want to examine Mr Jani again in order to solve the medical mystery he has presented them with.

From: http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa071601a.htm

What You Need to Know About...
Telekinesis

Here's a primer on telekinesis (or psychokinesis) - what it is, remarkable stories of those who have it, how it might work... and how you can test and develop your powers.

Whoever believes in psychokinesis, please raise my hand.

Psychokinesis (PK) - sometimes referred to as telekinesis or mind over matter - is the ability to move things or otherwise affect the property of things with the power of the mind. Of psychic abilities, true psychokinesis is one of the rarest. Few have been able to demonstrate this ability, and even those demonstrations are highly contested by the skeptics.

Do people have psychokinetic powers? Do you? Is there a way you can test and develop your PK abilities?

Case studies

Here are brief outlines of some people who have demonstrated remarkable PK abilities:

Stanislawa Tomczyk. Born in Poland, Tomczyk came to the attention of investigators when it was reported that startling poltergeist-like activity occurred spontaneously around her. She could control some telekinetic feats, but only under hypnosis. In this hypnotic state, Tomczyk took on a personality that called itself "Little Stasia" who could levitate small objects when Tomczyk placed her hands on either side of them. In the early 1900s, one investigator, Julien Ochorowicz, watched these levitations at very close range and observed something like fine threads emanating from her palms and fingers, although they were examined carefully before the experiment. And it didn't seem to be a trick. "When the medium separates her hands," Ochorowicz observed, "the thread gets thinner and disappears; it gives the same sensation as a spider's web. If it is cut with scissors, its continuity is immediately restored." In 1910, Tomczyk was tested by a group of scientists at the Physical Laboratory in Warsaw where she produced remarkable physical phenomena under strict test conditions.

Nina Kulagina. One of the most celebrated and scrutinized psychics to claim psychokinetic powers was Nina Kulagina, a Russian woman who discovered her abilities while attempting to develop other psychic powers. Reportedly, she has demonstrated her powers by mentally moving a wide range of nonmagnetic objects, including matches, bread, large crystal bowls, clock pendulums, a cigar tube and a salt shaker among other things. Some of these demonstrations have been captured on film. The skeptics contend, of course, that her abilities would not stand up to scientific testing, and that she may be nothing more that a clever magician.

Uri Geller. Geller is one of the most well-known "psychics" who has publicly demonstrated feats of psychokinesis: spoon and key bending have become almost synonymous with Geller's name. Although many skeptics and magicians consider his metal-bending performances nothing more than adroit sleight-of-hand, Geller has allegedly shown that he can manifest the effects over great distances and in multiple locations. On a British radio show in 1973, after demonstrating key bending to the astonishment of the host, Geller invited the listening audience to participate. Just minutes later, phone calls began pouring into the radio station from listeners all over the UK reporting that knives, forks, spoons, keys and nails began to bend and twist spontaneously. Watches and clocks that had not run in years began to work. It was an event whose success surprised even Geller and thrust him into the spotlight.

Some magicians may be able to duplicate some of these effects, but there may be legitimacy to this telekinetic phenomenon. In April, 2001, University of Arizona psychology professor Gary Schwartz conducted a "spoon-bending party" at which about 60 students were able to bend spoons and forks, with varying degrees of success, seemingly with the power of their minds. (Do you want to try it yourself? Here's How to Host a Spoon-Bending Party.)

Poltergeist Activity

Some researchers contend that the most common form of psychokinesis is one that is not consciously intended. Poltergeist activity, they suggest, might be caused by the subconscious of people under stress, emotional turmoil or even hormonal peaks. Without conscious effort, these people cause china to fly off shelves, objects to break or loud rappings to emanate from their houses' walls, among other effects.

In the same way, PK might also be responsible for phenomena experienced at séances. Table tilting, knockings and levitation might not be caused by contact with spirits, but by the minds of the participants. And, yes, many, many séances have been hoaxed over the years, but if you think the paranormal phenomena documented at some séances is not real, read the article How To Create a Ghost.

How Does It Work?

How psychokinesis works is unknown for certain, but many parapsychologists think that it is a demonstration of the physical influence of a person's brain on the physical world.

Robert L. Shacklett at Speculations about PK says that laboratory tests demonstrate that "the release of relatively large amounts of physical energy can be triggered by thought power." And this power can move or influence things, essentially, because cosmologically we are all connected to everything else. "'Thought' takes place at a different level than the physical (call it 'mind') but interacts with the physical through a weak coupling between physical energy and a more subtle energy form," he says. "The physical level operates in accordance with natural law except at the times when thought interacts with it."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Everyone has the potential to be able to be telekinetic. Telekinesis is created by higher levels of consciousness. The energy to move or bend an object is created by a person's thoughts created by their subconscious mind."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


How remains the puzzle. But there are theories:

Some researchers suspect there might be a quantum connection. Unpredictable, often bizarre effects have been documented in the world of subatomic particles, ruled by the perplexing laws of quantum mechanics. Are our minds capable of directing subatomic particles and energies in a way that results in PK phenomena?
One theory is that psychokinesis is the manipulation of a sort of human "magnetic field" around the body, which can be concentrated in a specific area. For this to work, they say, you must be able to relax completely and focus your attention without distraction.
Another speculation is that mediums or participants in a séance are able to coalesce sound or heat waves within a room to form coherent energy which can then be directed at an object, such as a table, causing it to move.
Although the "how" of PK remains unknown, research and experimentation on this fascinating phenomenon continues in respected research labs around the world. (Go here for a brief history of psychokinetic research.)

Developing and Testing Your Psychokinetic Powers

Can anyone have powers of telekinesis?

"Everyone has the potential to be able to be telekinetic," says Deja Allison at Telekinesis on Crystalinks. "Telekinesis is created by higher levels of consciousness. It cannot be created by 'wishing it' to happen on the physical level. The energy to move or bend an object is created by a person's thoughts created by their subconscious mind."

Several websites suggest ways that you might be able to develop or strengthen powers of psychokinesis. Using Psychological Telekinesis says meditation and a kind of chanting, which they provide, can help train your mind for the task, even though they offer no proof of any kind that it really works.

Mario Varvoglis, Ph.D., author of PSI Explorer, suggests that the best way to begin testing psychokinetic powers is not by trying to move a table or even a matchbook. Varvoglis says it's much better to see if you can influence movement on a microscopic level - micro-PK. Micro-PK has been tested for years with such devices as random number generators, in which the subject tries to influence the random outcome of the machine in a way that is much greater than chance. Some of the most interesting tests of this kind are being conducted at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Laboratory (PEAR) laboratory at Princeton University - and their results show that some people really can influence the computerized random number generators with the power of their minds. Varvoglis provides a similar test on his PSI Explorer CD-ROM.

Spirit Online offers this seven-step method of improving your PK:

Meditate daily for half an hour, 15 minutes if your schedule is too busy.
Attempt PK at least once a day, twice if possible. Give yourself a good 30-60 minutes to try it.
Focus on one method for at least a week; if it shows no results, switch methods.
Be at ease; instead of taking it too seriously, think of it as an experiment, a game. If you try too hard you'll just end up frustrating yourself and you'll get nowhere.
Don't give up.
Don't tell yourself you can't do it, because you can.
BELIEVE!
This site also provides instructions for a few tests you can set up and conduct at home.

There are a few online experiments where you can test your psychokinetic abilities:

Online Psychokinesis Experiment provides three different tests in which can try to move a red line on a colored bell curve, try to influence the appearance of a randomly generated shape, or try to influence the position of a blue circle on the screen.
RetroPsychoKinesis Experiments Online also offers three tests: the same bell curve test as above, a clock face that you try to manipulate, and a pendulum whose swing you try to influence.
If you succeed at demonstrating psychokinesis, be sure to let me know.