Miracles!!

[VEGANGELICA]

Do you believe in miracles?
What do you feel is the definition of a miracle?
Have you ever experienced or observed something you feel is a miracle, and what was it?

As someone who does not believe in the occurrence of miracles, which I define as events that defy natural law, I was amused to read a news report today that says a man claims to have survived 70 years without eating or drinking anything!

I was even more amused to read people's responses. So, this made me curious about other MusicBanter members' beliefs about miracles. I didn't see a miracle thread during a search (though this topic overlaps with the religion and the ghost threads). Apologies if a miracle thread already exists!

Here is part of the article:

Prahlad Jani, an 82-year-old Indian yogi, is making headlines by claims that for the past 70 years he has had nothing -- not one calorie -- to eat and not one drop of liquid to drink. To test his claims, Indian military doctors put him under round-the-clock observation during a two-week hospital stay that ended last week, news reports say. During that time he didn’t ingest any food or water – and remained perfectly healthy, the researchers said.

But that’s simply impossible, said Dr. Michael Van Rooyen an emergency physician at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an associate professor at the medical school, and the director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative – which focuses on aid to displaced populations who lack food and water.

"You can hold a lot of water in those yogi beards. A sneaky yogi for certain," he said. "He MUST take in water. The human body cannot survive without it."

70 years without eating? 'Starving yogi' says it's true - The Body Odd - msnbc.com

Some of my favorite responses that people gave:

Its completely impossible, unless that dude is some sort or alien, or ghost.

That is very impressive to go without food or water for 70 years straight.

Is he drinking his own urine?

obviously this scientist physician observer, Dr. Van Rooyen, is a disgrace to his profession because he is denying the basic scientific rule of observation--there are breatherators--my term may be wrong--who can subsist without eating or drinking--the good doctor should do thorough research and check it out

Breatherators!

[Arya Stark]

I'm interested in what people are going to say about this.
Miracles are an interesting thing.
But it's definitely not possible.
I like science. I believe in science.
Of course, I have hope for miracles sometimes.
But this is too much.

[Guybrush]

I don't believe in miracles and I don't believe I have ever witnessed one. My definition of one is basically the same as yours, Vegangelica .. This news is quite interesting though I think this is one sneaky yogi indeed. Maybe he carries bottled water somewhere in his body?

[Anteater]

Doing this before someone else does.

[Freebase Dali]

Breatherators?

[Janszoon]

I believe in miracles
Since you came along
You sexy thing

[bungalow]

i believe in miracles, but probably because i define them differently from you. for example, the spontaneous appearance of life on earth is "miraculous" even though it can be explained naturally. i don't think the fact that something can be explained scientifically precludes it from being miraculous.

[bungalow]

events that defy natural law i would characterize as supernatural.

[mr dave]

it's a miracle people still buy into these claims when they pop up every couple of years. what about the one about the kid in India that the Discovery channel recorded meditating for two weeks with no food or water?

as for the 'breatherator' thing, is anyone else at all surprised that googling that term doesn't actually return anything at all besides that one article?

while extraordinary, this is hardly the wildest claim i've ever read about yogis or people who practice high level meditation, and definitely not something i'd call a miracle (more like a metaphysical parlour trick). managing to survive for 10 days while being crushed by the rubble of a building following a natural disaster on the other hand, is most definitely what i'd call miraculous.

[right-track]

The closest thing I've seen to a miracle happened only last month.
My elder sister had severe stomach pains causing her to vomit and go into a seizure.
While she was in that state, she inhaled vomit onto her lungs.
At the hospital she went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing.
They resuscitated her, but she remained unconscious and was unable to breath unaided.
The doctors were about to put her on life support when she regained consciousness, but her condition was life threatening so they put her into an induced coma.
We were told that due to inhaling vomit onto the lungs the bacteria would cause an instant infection and along with the acid from her vomit she had suffered burns to the lungs.
We were then told that her chances of survival were none unless they operated to find the root cause. Namely, the pain which caused the vomiting and the subsequent seizure.
If there was a blockage, or a burst ulcer, finding the problem was vital to her already slim chances of survival. They gave her a 20% chance. Odds of 5 to 1 against.
They warned us however, that if the operation (which involved opening her up and physically checking her bowels) found nothing, then the added insult would probably give her less chance of surviving than the one she had if nothing was done.
Which as I've already pointed out earlier, were pretty much none to begin with.

After a quick family discussion we gave authorisation for the operation...they found nothing.

But, when they opened her up and removed her bowels for inspection they realised they were distended from the oxygen pumped into her by the paramedics.
The oxygen had to go somewhere because her lungs weren't responding at the time.
Removal of the bowels freed up space in the diaphragm and eased her breathing somewhat.
Consequently they made the decision not to close her back up, but to leave the incision open, covered with a plastic sheet, until they returned to normal.
The next 48 hours were crucial!
Things can't get any worse, right?

Wrong!

3 days later my father was admitted to the same hospital with breathing problems.
Now, my father had been ill for a long time. Some members here will know that he suffered from dementia, along with several other illnesses.
Dad had developed pneumonia and it wasn't looking good.

As my dad deteriorated, miraculously, my sister began to respond to the intensive care treatment.
The day my sister came off the ventilator was the day that my fathers breathing became shallow.
The day my sister was taken out of her induced coma was the day my father slipped into one.
It was as if Dad was slowly swapping places with my sister!

Sadly, my father died on St. George's day. Believe me, it was a blessing considering the quality of life he had over the previous 18 months.

My sister attended the funeral.