Sunlight and Fasting Part 2

HRM was not the only person who decided upon such a plan.  It is evident from reading the scriptures that long periods of fasting in the desert or wilderness not only provided extended periods of time in direct sunlight, but walking and resting upon the energy filled soil.

Mikhael Aivanhov was a famed Hungarian teacher who advocated to his students that they must look into the sun. Certainly whole civilizations have given themselves to the worship of the sun. Rudolph Steiner (recent Western Spiritual Scientist and originator of Anthroposophy) taught that the Christ Being inhabited the Sun and spread His energy thus, from the sun to us.

Aurobindo taught that the sun was the seat of the Supermind energy, as quoted by Georges Van Vrekehm in Overman pg. 97 Rupa & Co. (2001); New Delhi: "It (the Mind) always vaguely remembers the fundamental Unity at its base; therefore it cannot but persistently try to recover that Unity, which is the clouded Sun behind all human strivings. It is that Sun, that Unity, the Supermind which upholds all existing things, even when they apparently seem to be separated or self-existent."

HRM decided to experiment cautiously. He also submitted himself to medical study as he began to look at the sun for seconds at a time, during the early dawn when the sun was weakest. He increased his ability little by little, until he was able to gaze for a full thirty minutes. At the same time he made it a point to walk the earth barefooted, the hot earth. His explanation is that not only was he able to absorb energy, the sun's energy, through the eyes (to have it energize the brain and the commanding endocrine glands such as the pineal and the pituitary) but also that he was able to draw force up from the earth and especially through the feet, where every organ of the body is represented in reflexology. He found that there is a North-South flow, the earth being the North, the sun being the South--and flowing through the central, governing vessel of the body. He made certain that he was followed by and advised by physicians, who constantly studied him.

When asked if he would be willing to give a year of his life to science, his answer was "Yes." Accordingly, he left his family (with their full consent) and was asked to fast for 365 days. However, because of certain indications in the Hindu literature, he felt that 411 days was a more auspicious time. And so the date was set.

In the beginning he lost 90 pounds, but no muscle tissue. He found himself to be progressively healthier, calmer, happier. Former disorders such as anxiety, fear, worry and self-occupation left him. Physical ailments were no longer present. He lived on water and sunlight alone.

His body looked so whole: slender, but graceful, firm, with smooth and elegant movements. He had a calmness about him that was also accompanied by a quiet self-assuredness.