Many of you probably remember the story of Hira Ratan Manek floating around the web over a year ago. If not, Hira is the 64 year old Indian engineer that had supposedly astounded NASA scientists when they verified that Manek spent 130 days surviving only on water.
According to that earlier article his wife, Vimla, said: “Every evening he looks at the sun for one hour without batting an eyelid. It is his main food. Occasionally he takes coffee, tea or some other liquid.”
Since then Mr. Manek was supposed to have come over to the U.S. to be studied by NASA more carefully. Not so said NASA spokesperson Delores Beasely in June. “We have no record of him being involved with us. We have checked with all offices doing related research at centers such as Johnson, Marshall and Ames.”
Okay, am I the only one that smells a conspiracy afoot? A guy that can survive for 130 days without food and was supposedly being studied by a federal agency is now missing? The word “super-soldier” comes to mind. But seriously…does anyone know where Manek might be?
This is my homeboy.
Solar Healing Center One Purlieu Place, Suite 110 Winter Park, FL 32792 PH: 407.657.7032 FX: 407.657.9579
http://www.solarhealing.com/
HRM can be reached in yahoo group on sungazing
I saw him give a presentation this weekend in Ashland, Oregon. He is presenting this coming Saturday 9/18/04, at Earthdance in Laytonville, California. He’s very much alive and well, and it’s apparently been 9 years since he ate any food. This is not a unique occurrance.
Dear Shri Manek, To day I attended your ” Solar Glazing Talk” at Durga Mandir. I am very impressed with your knowledge and experience on Solar Glazing. After I came home, I opned your WEB PAGE. And I went to “GOOGLE.COM and found response(datedJuly 2003) from NASA about you claim of ” The third was for NASA for 130 days in US in 2002″ Copy of that response, I have attached with this e-mail. Would you please respond to this matter ? I will appreciate your quick response in this matter.
Thank you very much.
NASA: We have no record of Hira Ratan Manek
In a number of news items and web pages, it is claimed that Indian mechanic Hira Ratan Manek has replaced food with sunlight in his diet, and that NASA has confirmed his claims.
However, NASA says it has no knowledge about the guy whatsoever.
After a thorough check with all its scientific officers and regional offices throughout the US over two days, a NASA spokesperson has denied it had invited Hira Ratan Manek in any official capacity, or that it has anything to do with him.
Recent news reports had stated that Manek, a 64-year-old mechanical engineer, who claims he has not eaten in eight years and lives on water and solar energy, had been invited by NASA to New York to show them how it was done.
However, NASA spokesperson Dolores Beasley said she had no idea why press reports had claimed that NASA had invited Manek. “No one checked with us,” said Dolores, public affairs officer for biological and physical research.
“We have no record of him being involved with us. We have checked with all offices doing related research at centers such as Johnson, Marshall and Ames.”
The above article was put on the web after I wrote about the story. Still, as I wrote, it was a very obvious hoax. Thanks to an awake reader for telling me about this news item in comments.
[Edited by admin for excessive cut ‘n paste]
Hi All,
Hira (HRM) can be found at both http://www.solarhealing.com and at http://forums.lifemysteries.com (the forum)
Hira posts replies to questions on the forum, even in the midst of his travels across the US, England, and India.
He has not vashished in the least. You just don’t know where to find him!
For the past 2 years scientists at his Solar Healing Center have been studying volunteer Sungazers. Recently, feeling confident of the data they have collected and reviewed over this 2 year timeframe, the scientists have submitted proposals to NASA and NIH. There is much more going on in the world of Sungazing than you realize.
All you have to do to find out what’s going on is to get onto life mysteries and ASK him for yourself!
Janet Life Mysteries Moderator
Nine years is a very long time to go with food. But it doesn’t feel “long” in any way. I’ve gradually and chronically deprived myself and has gone without food for 25 years, three months, and eighteen days without eating any solid food now, and I feel younger in every way that I ever have. Feeding from the sun and from rich earth is the way.
utter b.s. jain jain. if you have any sort of understanding of the human body, you should know that there are no solar panels built anywhere on us to take in solar energy as a viable energy source. 25 years? i’d like some evidence instead of posting lies.
After hearing about his work from a family member, i decided to check the HRM’s website out. As i was reading, i came across the following:
“We can create a rainbow anytime we want – go to the garden, just observe below a source of flowing water as the sun moves above. There you will see the rainbow. Eye can receive the entire spectrum of the sunlight. ItÂ’s like having a glass window.”
As a student learning basic physics, even i know that any transparent medium with a refractive index denser than that of air will result in the dispersion of white light as it passes through it, hence creating a “rainbow”.
There is nothing mystical about this. The only thing mystical is how people actually believe that this is some miraculous phenomenon!
As for not eating for and living on the sun and water, it is well known that the body can go into a “starvation mode” and survive on the fat of the body. Plus i don’t think much energy would be expended by sitting around gazing at the sun.
I appreciate that he is trying to help people but there is such a thing as giving people false hope.
I think we need to take into consideration several things and not focus on HRM himself but what he and other people who have made these claims/ experiences are trying to accomplish. One focus is really historically based validation, and the other is what we know to be true about the human body. There is lots of ancient and not so ancient literature out there so lets skip to the body! The Pineal Gland and the hypothalymus and the eyes are linked together through the retinohypothalimac tract. The inner most portion of the brain – the Pineal Gland, is a very interesting “photo receptive” organ/system. In my research I tried to vear away from any material that even seemd esoteric, unfortuantely I could not seperate the “Third Eye” from my search as every piece of info always attached this attribute to the Pineal gland. The Pineal controls circadian rythyms which is what controls a human’s natural day/night cycle (also check serotonin and melatonin production). I have also found research indicating serotonin was some how used in LSD, which also has to do with the Pineal (pineal producing effectively small amounts of LSD) and likely dreaming along with meditative states/alpha waves and higher planes of being. Exposure to UV below 2 is considered to be safe and healthy. Further, seasonal depression is linked to not enough UV! This is a very condensed version of the complexity of these systems. Beyond that, the bigger picture is really about compassion for mankind. Nothing wrong with that!! Also note HRM/Solar Healing center is not for profit, and freely gives “free” advice and information on this subject which really adds to the credibility.
That is certainly true. The human body possesses no solar panels. It does, however, possess eyes. As we all know, eyes gather light from the world around us and then our brains turn that light into tangible, understandable information. They convert light into things that are actually useful to us. And through a series of chemical reactions within the brain that light can be used in the same way plants use it–to actually energize the human body.
Very true. I thought exactly the same thing when I read the website. Simple physics.
Also accurate. Sailors adrift on the ocean had their bodies succumb to starvation, and they reached the point where their bodies were actually assimilating themselves in order to stay alive–that is, their bodies began converting themselves into energy for sustained functionality. Course, there’s only so much energy already stored in the human body. Once that energy runs out . . . the body dies.
Nope. Sure wouldn’t. Not if that’s the only thing you did all day. If you were doing other things though, additional energy would be used up.
And yes, I think that over estimating gains can be harmful. Too much hype will kill anything. Consider the numerous movies, books, computer games, products, etc, that have been utterly knocked off the playing field because of hype.
Yes. All of these things are valid arguments. Ultimately, however, they are simple non-sequitors. They bear little relation to the true question:
Can a person live off of sunlight and water alone?
Perhaps it would be much, much more productive to approach such a question with an open mind, rather than seeking from the start to disprove peripheral statements around it–such actions have little or no value. From the posts the two of you made, neither of you even got close to the heart of the matter. Your posts have both amounted to little more than wind to blow away the seeds of knowledge of those who might seriously consider this possibility.
Instead of automatically moving to criticize anything new or strange, why don’t you put the techniques into practice and find out what would happen? Conduct the experiment on a personal level. Find out what happens. Don’t cut others off from this possibility simply because you’re too lazy to try new things yourself.
Until you personally put HRM’s technique in practice you are not in any way an authority on the subject. You are speaking merely from your own limited experience, and worse than simply taking no stance on the subject, you’re indicating that you won’t even experiment on it yourself, and so prevent the sincere but uneducated from attempting this themselves. Until you actually put it into practice and conduct the experiment, and find out one way or another, it’s my opinion that you should just keep your mouth closed, rather than trying to repel others from something you know nothing of yourself.
As for me, now that I am aware of the existence of this possibility I intend to conduct the experiment myself, and perhaps I will return here in nine months with my own personal results, so I can know something myself. Why not do the same?
I’m not trying to be harsh about this. I simply see absolutely no reason to reject anything out of hand, no matter how far-fetched or strange it might sound.