The yogic tradition has long nurtured stories about highly advanced Yogis meditating for weeks, months, even years on end without any food or water. While these stories convey feats that are seemingly impossible according to science, the stories have persisted over thousands of years, with some retellings featuring Yogis accomplishing truly remarkable feats. But how many of those feats are simply the stuff of myth or legend, and how many of them might be actually possible? And if it is possible to go for such long periods without food or water, how? During a Youth & Truth Event at Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Sadhguru responds to a question about these topics.
Sadhguru: “For this you’ll have to bend your mind a little bit because it’s not in your textbook like this. There is something called as Dhyanalinga. So this person went and sat in Dhyanalinga at seven o’clock in the morning. She did not move till 3:00 PM. Eight hours. She didn’t realize that she is sitting that long. So, what happens in the system, that’s what you’re asking?”
“See, right now, I am speaking…if you check my pulse, it’s somewhere around 55-58. If I simply sit quietly, it will drop below 40. Now this is at ease. So, the amount of energy it consumes is very low. You know this, 20 percent of the energy in the body is consumed by our brain. So, if you keep your mind in a certain way, the amount of extra energy that you have is enormous because you’re not unnecessarily consuming.”
“So physiologically, psychologically, energy wise, if you bring friction free function of your system, metabolism will drop, and you will function very efficiently because when you want to pitch it up you have a whole range to pitch it up. When you want to lower it, it’s there. Right now, the range that most people are carrying is very, very small. If you push them into activity, they will get totally tired out. If they have nothing to do, they will freak. So, in this condition it will not go down. Now, everything that you consume is higher simply because you are at a higher RPM, that’s all. We can… within three days we can teach you a simple form of meditation which will bring down your metabolism by approximately twenty-four percent. This is the highest drop that you can have in conscious states of meditativeness. If metabolism drops beyond that, you will not have any sense of body. It is from this that a Yogi is sitting. See, if you sit here for three hours, you know you need to get up. Body knows. So, someone is sitting for hours or days because there is no sense of body.”
“Why there is no sense of body is not only because of drop in metabolism, it is also the intensity of your energy which is not biological energy. Another dimension of energy is fully intense. Once it pervades the entire body, you have no sense of body. Simply because how identified you are with your physiological process determines these things to start with. But there is also sadhana. There is also certain work to be done with your system. So, everybody may not be willing to do that level of sadhana, but everybody must do some sadhana. What the hell you do is not my concern, but whatever the hell you’re doing you must do it well, isn’t it? That’s very important for a human being, that we must do it well.”
“So, for this it’s very, very important that your own body and your own mind is not an impediment. Your body, your mind, should hold you up all the time. If that happens, your dependence on the outside will come down, and also water is not always consumed through the mouth. Body consumes water in so many ways. If you activate the system in a certain way, it consumes energy. See, right now, you’re eating food, drinking water, breathing air, everything for what, to generate energy. But science has clearly proved to you there’s enough energy everywhere. So, if you’re able to take in energy as it is, if you’re able to imbibe energy… “How is this possible?”
“The word “Yoga” means just this. The word “Yoga” means you’re beginning to obliterate the boundaries of your individuality. Did you blow soap bubbles? You’ve got this big bubble, I got that big bubble. This is my bubble. Poop it went. Now I don’t say this is my air, that is your air. Life is just like this. This is a living cosmos. You captured some, I captured some. How much you capture will determine the significance and the quality of your existence.”
“Only if you capture a huge amount of life within you, then if you simply if you sit here also it’s too fantastic. When it is like that, whether you open your eyes, close your eyes, whether you do something, you don’t do something, it doesn’t really make a difference to you. Only then, you will live in the world as not being a vested interest, because what you do and do not do, what happens to you or does not happen to you, does not determine the quality of your life.”
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