The Boy With Divine Powers — Discovery Channel Documentary
2008. november 17. 57
0:00:02.847,0:00:07.982
Nepal, the birthplace of Buddhism,
0:00:08.049,0:00:10.362
a magical and mysterious land in which legends
0:00:10.397,0:00:13.291
such as the fabled Shangri-La and the elusive Yeti
0:00:13.326,0:00:16.697
have dominated cultures for generations.
0:00:18.000,0:00:21.760
But a new story has emerged,
0:00:23.787,0:00:26.534
one that is being seen as a modern miracle,
0:00:26.569,0:00:30.498
something only possible through the spiritual power of Buddhism.
0:00:30.533,0:00:35.653
It's a phenomena that people draw great pride and inspiration from here. (Keithe D. Lesile, Writer)
0:00:35.688,0:00:37.956
Ram Bomjan, a fifteen year old boy
0:00:38.068,0:00:39.883
has been meditating in the dense jungle
0:00:39.918,0:00:43.196
without food or water for ten months.
0:00:43.571,0:00:46.730
He hasn't eaten anything.
0:00:47.000,0:00:49.021
Not even water?
0:00:49.100,0:00:50.522
No.
0:00:50.557,0:00:53.864
Many suggest he is a physiological and cognitive freak
0:00:53.899,0:00:55.804
with such immense power of mind over matter
0:00:55.839,0:00:58.134
it could change the way we look at modern science
0:00:58.169,0:01:00.122
and medicine forever.
0:01:00.485,0:01:02.136
If he has truly gone without food and water,
0:01:02.171,0:01:04.638
it is difficult to explain on a purely scientific basis
0:01:04.673,0:01:06.988
and you would have to bring in spirituality here. (Dr. Prativa Pandey, Travel Medical Centre, Kathmandu)
0:01:07.023,0:01:11.608
As millions of pilgrims flock to the site, we will explore the truth.
0:01:11.643,0:01:14.904
To see that in the middle of Nepal, in the middle of all, with crowds around,
0:01:14.939,0:01:18.304
that's very very special and very questioning of course. (Jerome Edou, Writer and Buddhist Scholar)
0:01:18.339,0:01:21.144
Is he the second coming, Buddha reincarnate
0:01:21.179,0:01:23.031
or is this something far more sinister?
0:01:23.066,0:01:25.324
An elaborate hoax in which a young boy is being
0:01:25.359,0:01:29.829
starved to death before our very eyes for profit?
0:01:35.617,0:01:39.835
Many people fast for religious or health reasons for short periods of time
0:01:39.870,0:01:42.182
but they never reject all sustenance.
0:01:42.217,0:01:45.273
The longest a person can go without food
0:01:45.308,0:01:47.443
has been documented as being around 2 1/2 months
0:01:47.478,0:01:49.805
before you die of starvation.
0:01:50.363,0:01:53.117
In an open environment breathing normally
0:01:53.152,0:01:56.522
with warm air surrounding you without any fluid at all,
0:01:56.557,0:01:59.480
you would last four, perhaps five, days. (Catherine Collins, Dietician)
0:01:59.515,0:02:04.258
Ram Bomjan has not eaten and, more importantly, not drunk anything for ten months.
0:02:04.293,0:02:06.576
By filming him continuously over the next four days,
0:02:06.611,0:02:08.647
we will investigate this phenomenon
0:02:08.682,0:02:12.232
and discover whether a human being can live without food and water.
0:02:12.267,0:02:16.192
It would be impossible to meditate for that long without food and water.
0:02:16.227,0:02:20.460
I studied similar cases in the past and this is possible. (Dr. Sudhir V. Shah, Director of Neurosciences)
0:02:20.495,0:02:22.809
Through his deep meditation
0:02:22.844,0:02:25.918
he has gone into an hibernating state
0:02:25.953,0:02:29.241
and he is living on spiritual energy. (Lucy-Ann Prideaux, Nutritionist)
0:02:29.276,0:02:31.337
I can't accept that,
0:02:31.372,0:02:35.601
it goes against what I know about how the body works, about the nutrition that you need.
0:02:35.636,0:02:39.111
He is getting food and he is getting fluid from somewhere.
0:02:39.712,0:02:42.328
Ram has never been scientifically tested.
0:02:42.363,0:02:46.174
He sits undisturbed, as millions watch his every move.
0:02:46.209,0:02:49.978
If he did the same thing in Birmingham or in Baltimore,
0:02:50.013,0:02:54.453
I am not sure that society would perceive him in the same way.
0:02:54.488,0:02:56.662
Why isn't he in school, why isn't he getting a job,
0:02:56.697,0:02:58.841
he should be doing something.
0:02:58.876,0:03:02.281
Nepal is a country relatively untouched by the global market,
0:03:02.316,0:03:06.045
where 90% are devout Hindus and 10% Buddhists.
0:03:06.080,0:03:08.667
I think it is a great story for Nepal,
0:03:08.702,0:03:11.314
I mean, I think it comes at a right time.
0:03:11.349,0:03:14.138
Nepal is in a state of political turmoil,
0:03:20.022,0:03:24.872
so I think it's very interesting that, all of a sudden, there is this
0:03:24.907,0:03:28.793
birth of a myth in front of our eyes, you know, just starting.
0:03:28.828,0:03:33.243
Nepal faces a stark desolate reality without its religious beliefs.
0:03:33.482,0:03:36.086
I don't know if the story of Ram Bahadur Bomjan
0:03:36.121,0:03:39.031
appeals to a certain consciousness now
0:03:39.066,0:03:43.122
looking for some saint, some figure,
0:03:43.157,0:03:46.107
someone who can perform miracles
0:03:46.142,0:03:50.469
at a time when life seems so torturing and broken and uncertain.
0:03:50.504,0:03:54.205
As science progresses, it pushes God further and further out.
0:03:54.240,0:03:58.107
And where science hasn't yet encroached, you will find God. (Dr. John Leach, Psychology Lecturer, Lancaster University)
0:03:58.142,0:04:01.120
Ram began meditating in May 2005.
0:04:01.155,0:04:04.881
By November the remarkable story heads the press worldwide.
0:04:04.916,0:04:07.304
Newspapers claim fake,
0:04:07.339,0:04:09.939
government officials say that the boy's local supporters
0:04:09.974,0:04:12.601
have received around 4000 pounds in donations.
0:04:14.254,0:04:17.044
Up until now no film crew has been allowed to get close.
0:04:17.079,0:04:21.767
We will attempt to be the first to obtain proof of the claims of the Buddha boy.
0:04:21.802,0:04:25.459
With fierce loyalty, his followers hide him at certain times of the day.
0:04:25.494,0:04:26.847
This has drawn suspicion.
0:04:26.882,0:04:29.753
But who are these followers and what are their motives?
0:04:29.788,0:04:33.176
What has happened is that, because of the people who started coming in,
0:04:33.211,0:04:37.426
it has turned into a kind of a circus. (Kunda Dixit, Editor Nepali Times)
0:04:37.501,0:04:40.585
Soon roads become nothing but dirt tracks.
0:04:41.425,0:04:44.618
After travelling more that twelve hours from Kathmandu,
0:04:44.653,0:04:47.674
the last forty kilometers through dense jungle,
0:04:47.709,0:04:51.394
suddenly a gate manned by sentries bars the way any further.
0:04:51.429,0:04:55.533
And we are diverted into a bustling temporary city of hawkers,
0:04:55.568,0:04:59.888
fast food sellers and a bus park in the middle of nowhere.
0:05:02.183,0:05:05.449
Previously we used to farm only but now there are jobs available,
0:05:05.484,0:05:08.058
there is good income.
0:05:08.119,0:05:12.481
Amazingly ten months ago, there was nothing here but jungle.
0:05:12.516,0:05:17.286
ever since the boy began his meditation.
0:05:17.321,0:05:20.061
There is a kind of economic desperation which
0:05:20.096,0:05:25.329
perhaps a phenomenon like this will attract people.
0:05:25.364,0:05:30.198
I used to run a restaurant in the city, but this one makes much more money.
0:05:30.233,0:05:34.133
After walking five kilometers from the temporary city with the throngs of devotees,
0:05:34.168,0:05:36.131
we are confronted by crowds twenty deep
0:05:36.166,0:05:39.785
and the boy surrounded by a series of barbed wire fences.
0:05:39.820,0:05:43.355
We have to fight our way through just to get a glimpse from the fifty meter fence.
0:06:03.867,0:06:06.546
People have come from far and wide.
0:06:06.581,0:06:08.860
Many have walked for days.
0:06:08.895,0:06:13.997
Some give offerings, others pray or give donations.
0:06:15.958,0:06:18.222
We need to get closer than the fence is allowing us
0:06:18.257,0:06:22.019
and soon realize Ram's eldest brother is running the site.
0:06:23.107,0:06:25.505
Ganga Jeet Bomjan leads the committee;
0:06:25.540,0:06:27.407
an eighteen strong self-appointed group
0:06:27.442,0:06:29.063
set up to protect the boy's welfare
0:06:29.098,0:06:32.973
and it will be his decision if we are allowed to film.
0:06:34.007,0:06:38.357
Today I am busy, maybe tomorrow is a good day.
0:06:38.392,0:06:42.280
Finally he lets us to film inside the fifty meter boundary.
0:06:49.078,0:06:50.869
Unfortunately just as we reached a second fence
0:06:50.904,0:06:53.013
at a distance of twenty five meter from the boy,
0:06:53.048,0:06:55.662
we are stopped from going any further.
0:06:55.697,0:06:58.515
So it is here we start recording.
0:06:58.582,0:07:02.694
By the end of our first day Ram has not moved a muscle
0:07:02.729,0:07:06.024
since we began filming eight hours previously.
0:07:06.059,0:07:10.171
If you wanted to prove that he really wasn't taking any fluid at all,
0:07:10.206,0:07:15.992
you would have to film continuously for at least four to five days.
0:07:16.027,0:07:18.627
At 10 pm we are moved back to the fifty meter fence,
0:07:18.662,0:07:22.283
too far away for our infrared cameras to pick out the boy.
0:07:22.318,0:07:25.419
Without water even under reasonably good conditions
0:07:25.454,0:07:28.257
you're talking about lasting no more than about four days.
0:07:28.292,0:07:30.496
He is trapped behind the gate padlocked by the brother.
0:07:30.531,0:07:35.258
He has the only key; it is the only access in or out.
0:07:35.293,0:07:37.633
By staying at the site and continually filming
0:07:37.668,0:07:38.966
we hope to find some clues
0:07:39.001,0:07:41.849
to Buddha boy's remarkable claim.
0:07:46.499,0:07:50.525
In Nepal, Ram Bomjan, a fifteen year old boy has been meditating
0:07:50.560,0:07:53.477
in the hollow of a tree for ten months.
0:07:54.537,0:07:57.127
He plans to continue for six years.
0:07:57.162,0:07:59.643
I do know the case of a medical student (James Scott, Survivor),
0:07:59.678,0:08:02.659
he did survive without food for something like forty three days but
0:08:02.694,0:08:05.701
he was able to survive on snow.
0:08:05.736,0:08:09.963
So far his supporters claim he has not eaten or drunk anything.
0:08:10.806,0:08:13.818
I get the feeling this is going to be slightly different than some of the other
0:08:13.853,0:08:15.913
Hindu scams that have happened,
0:08:15.948,0:08:17.976
some of these are not genuine holy men,
0:08:18.011,0:08:20.648
they have long beards and then they smear themselves in ashes
0:08:20.683,0:08:24.176
and then they would be in cohorts with the local villagers.
0:08:24.211,0:08:27.500
This one, I think, will carry on a bit.
0:08:27.535,0:08:31.092
We are into our second day 27 hours into filming;
0:08:31.127,0:08:34.506
still not enough to prove that this is a miracle or a scam.
0:08:35.222,0:08:38.216
To find out the truth we're staying on site day and night
0:08:38.251,0:08:41.031
to film continuously for another 69 hours,
0:08:41.066,0:08:44.069
as this is the time it takes for an average human being to die
0:08:44.161,0:08:45.606
without any water.
0:08:45.641,0:08:47.825
And seventy percent of the body is water,
0:08:47.860,0:08:51.892
without it, it would affect every physical functioning of the body.
0:08:52.023,0:08:53.828
By day two you start to cannibalize
0:08:53.863,0:08:56.135
the stores of protein that you have.
0:08:56.170,0:08:58.402
I will say, from day two your skin is going to get rough,
0:08:56.437,0:09:00.570
cracks appearing at the corner of the lips,
0:09:00.805,0:09:05.799
and skin will lose its color and the brightness and the elasticity.
0:09:05.834,0:09:08.261
So far we have not seen any of these physical changes
0:09:08.296,0:09:10.004
in the boy's appearance.
0:09:10.244,0:09:13.372
He is surviving on nourishment.
0:09:13.407,0:09:18.170
The question is what kind of nourishment?
0:09:18.205,0:09:20.889
We can't, as westerners, tap into
0:09:20.924,0:09:24.435
using spiritual force, spiritual energy for nourishment.
0:09:24.470,0:09:26.919
That's the key here.
0:09:34.425,0:09:38.122
Every morning an army of hawkers move in selling Buddha boy's merchandise
0:09:38.157,0:09:42.211
including brochures, photo albums and DVDs.
0:09:43.599,0:09:47.295
We started selling these CDs a month ago when we were allowed to do so.
0:09:49.224,0:09:53.339
Many of the sellers and pilgrims think he is the reincarnation of Buddha.
0:09:53.374,0:09:59.067
His dream has been to gain the Buddha's knowledge and spread the light of peace.
0:09:59.102,0:10:01.231
The similarities are uncanny.
0:10:01.266,0:10:05.166
Siddhartha the Buddha was born a mere hundred and fifty miles away
0:10:05.201,0:10:07.660
to a mother with the same name, Maya Devi.
0:10:07.695,0:10:11.523
Both chose to meditate for six years under the same type of tree
0:10:11.558,0:10:14.439
and follow a life of abstinence [note 1].
0:10:14.474,0:10:17.245
Buddha eventually found enlightenment through meditation
0:10:17.280,0:10:20.613
and that is what Ram is trying to achieve.
0:10:22.022,0:10:24.769
You can see a light coming from the top of his head
0:10:24.804,0:10:26.745
and sometimes from his forehead.
0:10:26.780,0:10:29.939
Many of the stories circulating at the site are probably just gossip,
0:10:29.974,0:10:34.138
but they all feed the myth and the growing aura of the boy.
0:10:34.173,0:10:38.304
One story that started the legend was a poisonous snake biting on two separate occasions.
0:10:39.557,0:10:44.457
I saw him after the snake bite and he looked very pale.
0:10:44.492,0:10:48.399
Cobras and vipers are common to the area and their bite is fatal.
0:10:48.434,0:10:52.919
Incredibly Ram required no medical attention from the bites.
0:10:52.954,0:10:56.027
Because of his meditation
0:10:56.062,0:10:59.674
his fluid eliminated the poison. (Bhikkhu Maitri, Founder, International Buddhist Society)
0:11:00.778,0:11:07.179
I heard about it. Some saw the blood but no one saw the snake.
0:11:07.214,0:11:12.975
He was sweating there and with the sweating his poison was gone.
0:11:13.010,0:11:17.713
The boy himself does seem to have some spiritual powers.
0:11:17.748,0:11:22.878
If we were bitten by a snake, we would already be gone.
0:11:22.913,0:11:26.639
Just because of his meditation, pure meditation, he is alive.
0:11:26.674,0:11:30.349
You know you could question if you don't believe in these things
0:11:30.384,0:11:33.954
but the people seem to, his family seems to have faith in it
0:11:33.989,0:11:36.002
so we have to sort of recognize that.
0:11:36.037,0:11:39.701
True or not it is apparent that Ram Bomjan is putting himself in danger
0:11:39.736,0:11:42.146
not only by refusing sustenance
0:11:42.358,0:11:45.692
but also by sitting exposed to the elements and wild life.
0:11:45.727,0:11:49.536
This fatalistic attitude to death is very common in Asia.
0:11:49.571,0:11:53.843
At this time you know he lacks calories, he lacks proteins, he lacks vitamins,
0:11:53.878,0:11:57.730
and he lacks water so he would be susceptible to illnesses.
0:11:57.765,0:12:01.716
He's got no ability to maintain any immune response or to support any immune response
0:12:01.751,0:12:07.703
and it does increase his risk of dying from an acute infection.
0:12:11.960,0:12:16.942
This lack of fear in dying is reflected in the way Nepalese conduct their funeral rituals.
0:12:16.977,0:12:22.084
In the west they are private sad affairs, but there is openness here.
0:12:22.119,0:12:26.465
An acceptance that sees death as part of the cycle of life.
0:12:28.771,0:12:33.385
Many put their bodies through extremes as they think it's their mission in life.
0:12:33.420,0:12:37.006
There are many stories about these Rishi Munis
0:12:37.041,0:12:40.720
and these great sages in the past.
0:12:40.755,0:12:44.883
Some of them could live without food and water
0:12:44.918,0:12:48.563
for many years, not many months. (Dinesh Raj Bhuju, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology)
0:12:48.598,0:12:54.266
In modern literature "Geripala" the non- eating saint survived without food and water for sixty six years,
0:12:54.301,0:12:56.632
the longest time on record.
0:12:56.667,0:12:58.436
Today there are many that claim extreme fasting
0:12:59.471,0:13:03.490
from Pilot Baba, who survived under water for five days without breathing,
0:13:03.525,0:13:07.120
to Yogi Mata who buried herself alive for seventy two hours.
0:13:07.155,0:13:11.437
Even in Buddhist philosophy, there are people like that.
0:13:11.920,0:13:14.777
Five hours into the second day of watching Ram
0:13:14.812,0:13:17.113
detained at the twenty five meter fence,
0:13:17.148,0:13:22.012
a chance arises to try to find some answers to this extreme fasting phenomenon.
0:13:22.047,0:13:26.455
Lama Lekshey, grand master from India runs several monasteries around the world.
0:13:26.490,0:13:29.751
It was at one of these that Ram was taught meditation.
0:13:29.786,0:13:32.048
The lama has come to check on his pupil
0:13:32.083,0:13:35.005
and allows us to follow him into the inner sanctum.
0:13:35.040,0:13:40.566
The boy belongs to Kegyu Buddhist
0:13:40.601,0:13:44.822
which is in India in Himanchhal Pradesh and that monastery belongs
0:13:44.857,0:13:47.860
to the Shakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. (Lama Jamyang Lekshey, Shakya Tibetan Monastery)
0:13:47.895,0:13:51.153
Very little is known of Shakya, one of the four Buddhist traditions.
0:13:51.188,0:13:54.910
Its leaders keep their teachings a closely guarded secret.
0:13:54.995,0:13:59.386
Buddha's teaching or our practice is not for your fame,
0:13:59.421,0:14:03.530
not for your reputation, not to collect so many disciples.
0:14:03.565,0:14:07.026
We usually don't expose much.
0:14:15.263,0:14:20.150
We have another meditator; he has been doing this for the last thirty years.
0:14:20.185,0:14:24.028
Today his hairs are so long that he can't stretch down so he put them to
0:14:24.063,0:14:30.224
small bag hanged up behind and then put all the hairs into that.
0:14:36.430,0:14:39.584
To endure solitary existence in extreme conditions,
0:14:45.105,0:14:47.621
obviously, if he is genuine,
0:14:47.656,0:14:50.712
he has to use some yogic techniques
0:14:50.747,0:14:55.580
like feeding on the air, feeding on the breath.
0:14:55.615,0:15:00.143
There are other techniques where you use stone,
0:15:00.178,0:15:02.020
a little stone that you put in your mouth
0:15:02.055,0:15:03.614
and you feed on the stone.
0:15:03.649,0:15:05.213
There are all those stories,
0:15:07.474,0:15:09.639
they are documented in the literature, Buddhist literature.
0:15:09.715,0:15:15.083
To understand what type of yogic techniques Ram is practicing from Shakya tradition of teaching,
0:15:15.118,0:15:17.683
the Lama sits and stares at the boy.
0:15:17.718,0:15:22.914
I am amazed by the immense intensity of his determination.
0:15:22.949,0:15:26.285
He told his mother that he was going to sit there for six years and reach Buddhahood
0:15:26.320,0:15:30.892
which is very rare, I mean nobody says that.
0:15:30.927,0:15:33.124
They sit facing each other for more than an hour
0:15:33.159,0:15:36.164
and what seems to turn into a meditation duel,
0:15:36.199,0:15:40.135
sweat starts to fall from Ram's face despite a lack of movement
0:15:40.170,0:15:43.695
and an air temperature of only fifteen degree centigrade [59 °F].
0:15:44.721,0:15:48.250
To suddenly start pouring sweat from the face is a very strange phenomenon,
0:15:48.285,0:15:52.568
he is managing to control his body's physiological process
0:15:52.603,0:15:54.969
which no one has demonstrated before.
0:15:55.004,0:15:57.787
It is not something you ever see in western society
0:15:57.822,0:16:02.202
and how that's been controlled is beyond my level of knowledge.
0:16:02.237,0:16:04.394
When he was sitting down,
0:16:04.429,0:16:06.991
I was doing my meditation;
0:16:07.026,0:16:10.211
actually I was competing
0:16:10.246,0:16:12.100
and you know that the sweat came down.
0:16:12.135,0:16:14.881
Why did he sweat?
0:16:14.916,0:16:18.386
Oh, no it's a secret thing, I don't want to tell you right now.
0:16:18.627,0:16:23.150
In ancient Buddhist texts it is written there is yogic technique called "Tummo"
0:16:23.185,0:16:26.755
which increases the body temperature under intensive meditation,
0:16:26.790,0:16:29.085
sweating is a side effect.
0:16:29.120,0:16:33.106
The question is a young boy like that, you know, how he has mastered these kinds of techniques.
0:16:33.141,0:16:36.424
Obviously he has not practiced a long time in caves,
0:16:36.459,0:16:40.610
or in solitude, or in a monastery, so he is very rare.
0:16:40.645,0:16:43.249
Especially nowadays to hear somebody is doing it
0:16:43.284,0:16:47.324
in front of everybody like that, I mean totally live.
0:16:55.380,0:16:57.947
To understand how Ram learned the practice of Tummo
0:16:57.982,0:17:00.643
and continue to survive without food and water,
0:17:00.678,0:17:04.691
we must look into his past and his first visit to Lumbini,
0:17:04.726,0:17:06.331
the birth place of Buddha.
0:17:06.366,0:17:08.386
These places are the power point,
0:17:08.421,0:17:12.646
if you are staying here with faith, devotion and with the mindfulness
0:17:12.681,0:17:15.788
definitely that energy will do something
0:17:15.823,0:17:19.674
for your brain and to your physical body.
0:17:19.709,0:17:23.634
Definitely a boy like that, you know, who is so much devoted
0:17:23.669,0:17:26.077
and sitting for almost seven or eight months
0:17:26.112,0:17:28.752
and meditating in a jungle, you know,
0:17:28.787,0:17:33.318
definitely I believe that he was very much inspired
0:17:33.353,0:17:38.520
maybe got some power, that's possible. (Basanta Bidari, archaeologist and writer)
0:17:48.248,0:17:51.395
After Lumbini, Ram chose to study at the secret Tibetan monastery
0:17:51.430,0:17:53.275
near Dehradun, India.
0:17:53.310,0:17:57.853
Ten thousand feet up in the Himalayan Mountains and cut off from civilization.
0:17:57.888,0:17:59.886
There are many examples of monks practicing
0:17:59.921,0:18:03.422
Tummo intensive meditation in the hills nearby.
0:18:03.457,0:18:09.042
Ram sort of gravitated towards this monastery and at that moment,
0:18:09.077,0:18:14.057
I think it was 2002 or 2003 that he came;
0:18:14.092,0:18:17.103
he sort of like his own recognition. (Seren Tan, Sponsor, Kyegu Monastery)
0:18:19.998,0:18:22.154
Well he is too different.
0:18:22.189,0:18:24.340
Why is he too different?
0:18:24.375,0:18:30.242
It's like something different to the other monks.
0:18:30.277,0:18:32.887
Tummo is a particular form of Tibetan meditation
0:18:32.922,0:18:36.436
where the exponents are capable of withstanding
0:18:36.471,0:18:38.986
extremely harsh conditions with very little food,
0:18:39.021,0:18:42.005
very little water and very little clothing.
0:18:42.040,0:18:46.787
Some Lamas are doing meditation in the icy Himalayas,
0:18:46.822,0:18:50.011
from their body they bring the heat
0:18:50.046,0:18:54.045
so same way maybe he has done that.
0:18:54.080,0:18:57.074
American scientists tested the theory in 1982.
0:18:57.109,0:19:00.694
Monks were soaked in sheets of cold water,
0:19:00.729,0:19:04.411
forty five minutes later steam began rising through the cloth.
0:19:04.446,0:19:06.714
Some of the studies I have been doing, show that
0:19:06.914,0:19:09.568
even novices using Tibetan chanting
0:19:09.603,0:19:11.946
can increase their tolerance to cold press of pain
0:19:11.981,0:19:14.629
by a hundred percent or more.
0:19:19.018,0:19:23.032
But imagine he can do this for hours and hours and days on end,
0:19:23.067,0:19:25.815
extremely special skill.
0:19:26.001,0:19:28.517
But he learnt extra also.
0:19:30.467,0:19:31.844
Extra, you mean he learnt extra hours in the classroom?
0:19:32.417,0:19:34.468
Not classroom, in his room like homework.
0:19:34.503,0:19:39.539
He is doing what they call an absorption kind of meditation,
0:19:39.574,0:19:43.853
you train your mind to switch off.
0:19:43.888,0:19:47.389
The idea of meditation is to concentrate on your mind,
0:19:47.424,0:19:51.430
to observe your mind in perfect equanimity,
0:19:51.465,0:19:54.563
even though I am sure he is aware of what is going on at the same time
0:19:54.598,0:19:59.022
he keeps his concentration on his meditation,
0:19:59.057,0:20:02.048
that's why he is so strong, that's why he is so impressive.
0:20:02.083,0:20:05.502
So I truly believe he is a Buddha from the past life
0:20:06.603,0:20:10.264
and coming to this life time at a young age.
0:20:10.299,0:20:14.314
Well you know research has confirmed that with meditation
0:20:14.349,0:20:17.630
you lower your heart rate, you lower your cardiac output
0:20:17.665,0:20:19.625
and you also slow down breathing
0:20:19.660,0:20:22.694
so you really lower your metabolism to a level that
0:20:22.729,0:20:26.577
much less food can really sustain you
0:20:26.612,0:20:30.176
but starving for seven to eight months that has not really been looked at.
0:20:31.147,0:20:34.074
Scientists will think if you don't drink and eat
0:20:34.109,0:20:36.688
it is something but it is not for the Buddhist,
0:20:36.723,0:20:39.396
it is nothing to surprise.
0:20:39.431,0:20:42.337
Buddhists always think that you can change anything
0:20:42.372,0:20:45.159
if you can control your mind.
0:20:45.194,0:20:47.060
On returning from the monastery in India,
0:20:47.095,0:20:49.435
Ram spent an unhappy five months at home
0:20:49.470,0:20:51.832
before leaving to meditate in the jungle.
0:20:51.867,0:20:53.918
His meditation was disturbed many times
0:20:51.832,0:20:56.614
before fences were setup to protect him.
0:20:59.773,0:21:01.954
Suddenly our filming is short cut again
0:21:01.989,0:21:04.287
as the brother catches us within the inner fence;
0:21:04.322,0:21:06.214
he fears we got too close.
0:21:06.249,0:21:08.550
His followers escort us from the area.
0:21:21.922,0:21:26.349
It is only now we noticed the full scale of the operation that protects the boy.
0:21:26.384,0:21:28.634
Dozens of disciples pace the perimeter,
0:21:28.669,0:21:31.315
others are hard at work building new fences,
0:21:31.350,0:21:34.355
sweeping and moving on the throngs of devotees,
0:21:34.390,0:21:37.519
there must be forty on duty at any one time.
0:21:42.747,0:21:45.929
Ram's brother has created a fortress around the boy.
0:21:45.964,0:21:50.084
He lives in constant fear that someone will one day break the meditation.
0:21:54.260,0:21:57.254
Despite his hostility the brother unexpectedly offers
0:21:57.289,0:21:59.559
to take us to the village where Ram once lived,
0:22:00.445,0:22:03.341
allowing a camera to be left at the site to continue filming
0:22:03.376,0:22:05.670
to prove Ram doesn't move.
0:22:05.705,0:22:08.188
This is my house.
0:22:09.103,0:22:12.940
There are nine children altogether living in the modest family home.
0:22:12.975,0:22:14.882
This is kitchen rooms.
0:22:16.105,0:22:18.985
Looking around, it appears life hasn't changed a great deal
0:22:19.020,0:22:21.049
since Ram began meditating.
0:22:21.084,0:22:23.559
Reports have said that donation money from the site
0:22:23.594,0:22:26.536
is going into the pockets of brother and his followers.
0:22:27.117,0:22:28.875
But there is little evidence to suggest
0:22:28.910,0:22:31.633
that the family are benefiting.
0:22:35.735,0:22:38.285
We don't use this money for domestic expenses
0:22:38.320,0:22:40.610
but deposit it into a bank account.
0:22:42.385,0:22:45.480
Obviously, once we deducted the running cost of the site,
0:22:45.515,0:22:47.460
like food and other such requirements
0:22:49.451,0:22:50.060
for the volunteers and the committee...
0:22:51.409,0:22:53.400
Obviously I feel some pain;
0:22:53.435,0:22:56.532
he has spent a long time in the jungle alone.
0:22:57.735,0:23:00.702
It rained for two months at first,
0:23:00.737,0:23:03.985
I feared he might die. (Maya Devi Bomjan, Ram's mother)
0:23:05.038,0:23:07.142
I asked him to join a monastery
0:23:07.177,0:23:10.918
and was even going to spend two hundred or three hundred rupees on it;
0:23:10.953,0:23:13.971
he refused, saying it was impossible for the teachers
0:23:14.006,0:23:17.172
to give him that level of education he needs.
0:23:18.745,0:23:22.735
He wanted God Himself to be his guru.
0:23:28.723,0:23:31.370
Just ten months ago, Ganga Jeet Bomjan was a farmer
0:23:31.405,0:23:36.356
working in the land in the village like generations before him.
0:23:36.391,0:23:38.840
Now he has a big responsibility
0:23:38.875,0:23:43.234
running a flourishing business looking after Nepal's biggest tourist attraction,
0:23:43.356,0:23:45.962
one that is growing every day.
0:23:48.483,0:23:51.157
Thousands have even flocked to see him and in the three hours
0:23:51.192,0:23:55.460
we've been at the house three hundred and fifty monks turned up to pay homage.
0:23:55.495,0:23:59.717
Ordinary fifteen year old boys are not wise like he is.
0:23:59.752,0:24:02.785
He is special, he is a god himself.
0:24:03.641,0:24:08.875
All souls have god within them but he is a real god. (Guru Ganshagar)
0:24:08.910,0:24:12.176
The brother seems to enjoy the power
0:24:12.211,0:24:16.079
holding calls, giving press interviews, and speaking to visitors.
0:24:16.114,0:24:20.861
Scam or not, what Ganga Jeet Bomjan has done is pretty remarkable,
0:24:20.896,0:24:25.270
turning around what was an impoverished part of the country and uniting its local people,
0:24:27.087,0:24:30.117
but how long can his authority remain unchallenged?
0:24:30.129,0:24:32.955
The committee seems to be growing by the day,
0:24:32.990,0:24:35.140
people getting fired, people coming in,
0:24:35.175,0:24:37.574
organized chaos.
0:24:37.609,0:24:40.107
They all want the slice of the pie.
0:24:43.552,0:24:45.612
Ram Bomjan has been sitting under a tree
0:24:45.647,0:24:47.608
in the jungle of southern Nepal.
0:24:47.643,0:24:52.038
His supporters claim without food or water for ten months.
0:24:52.073,0:24:56.318
Forty eight hours ago we started filming continuously day and night.
0:24:56.353,0:24:59.092
Just what should his body being going through?
0:24:59.127,0:25:02.151
By day three you stop producing urine,
0:25:02.186,0:25:04.357
the person's blood pressure will fall
0:25:04.392,0:25:07.982
because there is not enough fluid in the system to maintain the circulation.
0:25:08.017,0:25:10.424
His cheeks would really start to get hollow;
0:25:10.459,0:25:13.608
your skin is going to get rough and it would crack more easily,
0:25:13.643,0:25:15.071
it would bleed more easily
0:25:15.106,0:25:17.900
especially if someone is sitting in the environment
0:25:17.935,0:25:20.395
and not really protected from the elements
0:25:20.430,0:25:22.883
you know the rain, the sun and the cold weather.
0:25:22.918,0:25:25.021
Ram still looks exactly the same
0:25:25.056,0:25:29.097
We haven't witnessed him move, eat or drink anything since our arrival.
0:25:29.132,0:25:31.832
But strangely we have seen him sweating profusely,
0:25:31.867,0:25:34.238
an indication he is practicing Tummo,
0:25:34.273,0:25:36.632
an ancient form of meditation.
0:25:36.667,0:25:38.995
Could this yogic technique explain how he is managing
0:25:39.030,0:25:41.619
to survive and stay so healthy?
0:25:41.742,0:25:43.912
Through the power of his mind
0:25:43.947,0:25:47.720
he has been successful in physically lowering
0:25:47.755,0:25:51.385
his whole metabolic state, so therefore his requirements
0:25:51.420,0:25:54.156
are also going to drop-drop-drop
0:25:54.191,0:25:59.848
to two to three hundred calories, in energy terms, a day.
0:25:59.867,0:26:02.901
He would have been taking some nutrition from somewhere.
0:26:03.218,0:26:04.473
Perhaps it was tree sap,
0:26:04.508,0:26:07.349
he would be getting sugars from that and that would modify fast,
0:26:07.384,0:26:09.148
that would protect some of his protein stores.
0:26:09.175,0:26:12.887
I think he is practicing a type of ancient yogic exercises
0:26:12.922,0:26:16.730
where you can feed on one breath,
0:26:16.765,0:26:20.999
or feed on the element in the air.
0:26:21.146,0:26:23.264
The bark of the Pipal tree that Ram sits under
0:26:23.299,0:26:25.850
can have a powerful healing effect on skin complaints
0:26:25.885,0:26:28.530
such as a physical signs of dehydration.
0:26:28.565,0:26:30.431
However its sap is poisonous
0:26:30.466,0:26:32.223
and its berries, while edible,
0:26:32.258,0:26:34.457
only appear for two months of the year.
0:26:34.492,0:26:36.805
He must be surviving on something else.
0:26:36.840,0:26:39.286
So far, we have not seen anything to suggest
0:26:39.321,0:26:41.620
he is being fed or allowed to leave the site;
0:26:41.655,0:26:44.796
there is only one way out and that is where we observe from.
0:26:45.041,0:26:47.910
We are not the only one doing the investigation.
0:26:47.945,0:26:50.345
Ram Bhakta Gurung and his science team
0:26:50.445,0:26:52.964
have been doing independent research for the government
0:26:52.999,0:26:55.755
and have been observing Buddha boy for six days.
0:26:57.578,0:27:00.510
Even there is from morning to evening
0:27:00.545,0:27:03.674
like this meditation, it is not normal.
0:27:03.709,0:27:07.129
Overnight the temperature reaches a low of three degrees centigrade [37.4 ?F],
0:27:07.164,0:27:09.508
the coldest night yet, since our arrival.
0:27:09.543,0:27:12.339
The investigators and security shiver under blankets
0:27:12.374,0:27:16.550
but Ram is wearing just a thin cloth.
0:27:16.595,0:27:20.073
What you should see on a cold evening is if he is physically shivering.
0:27:20.080,0:27:22.010
So, if he isn't shivering,
0:27:22.045,0:27:24.918
he is managing to suppress the natural urge
0:27:24.953,0:27:26.903
to maintain his body temperature
0:27:26.938,0:27:29.528
at thirty six point eight degree centigrade.
0:27:29.563,0:27:31.684
This is more evidence to suggest Ram is doing
0:27:31.719,0:27:34.851
the yogic technique of intense Tummo meditation,
0:27:34.886,0:27:36.850
generating his own body heat
0:27:36.885,0:27:40.591
and preventing the onset of hypothermia.
0:27:40.626,0:27:42.960
At six in the morning we rush into the enclosure,
0:27:42.995,0:27:46.026
someone claims there is a blue light coming from his head,
0:27:46.426,0:27:47.724
we cannot see it.
0:27:48.588,0:27:51.301
How is Ram surviving without moving?
0:27:51.336,0:27:53.679
There are theories about surviving of the environment
0:27:53.714,0:27:56.497
but everything is just conjecture, nothing is fact...
0:27:56.698,0:27:58.173
Until now.
0:27:58.208,0:28:00.509
A scientific break through claiming evidence to
0:28:00.544,0:28:03.325
suggest that extreme fasting may indeed be possible
0:28:03.360,0:28:06.532
has just reached us from another part of the world.
0:28:11.163,0:28:13.561
A doctor in Ahmedabad, India
0:28:13.596,0:28:16.746
contacted us, after witnessing the boy on television.
0:28:16.781,0:28:19.081
He says that his team has made a discovery
0:28:19.116,0:28:22.144
that can finally solve so many questions.
0:28:22.179,0:28:25.222
I was really fascinated to see the boy
0:28:25.257,0:28:28.087
who is fasting for six to eight months
0:28:28.122,0:28:32.520
and that is not at all really so exciting to me
0:28:32.555,0:28:34.840
because I studied similar cases in the past
0:28:34.875,0:28:38.219
and I can understand that this is possible.
0:28:38.254,0:28:41.775
Dr. Shah's most famous case is Prahlad Jaani
0:28:41.810,0:28:45.031
a holy man who claims he hasn't eaten or drunk anything
0:28:45.066,0:28:47.104
since he was twelve.
0:28:47.139,0:28:49.795
I haven't eaten anything not even now
0:28:49.830,0:28:52.991
even though I am eighty years old.
0:28:53.026,0:28:56.060
That made me really quite excited because
0:28:56.095,0:28:58.940
I knew that this is something
0:28:58.975,0:29:04.332
going to change the feeling of medical world.
0:29:04.367,0:29:08.583
Although I walk hundred, two hundred kilometers in the jungle,
0:29:08.618,0:29:13.004
I never sweat nor feet tired or sleepy.
0:29:14.260,0:29:18.982
I can meditate for three, eight or twelve hours or even months.
0:29:21.782,0:29:24.880
Prahlad Jaani recently spent ten days in observation,
0:29:24.915,0:29:27.864
watched and filmed twenty four hours a day.
0:29:27.899,0:29:30.262
Minute to minute, second to second
0:29:30.297,0:29:33.207
and he was kept in a cabin which was sealed from outside,
0:29:33.242,0:29:35.141
the bathroom was sealed.
0:29:35.176,0:29:38.612
One of my assistants would remain with him
0:29:38.647,0:29:41.691
all throughout twenty four hours with changing duty.
0:29:41.726,0:29:43.802
Doctors would come throughout the day
0:29:43.837,0:29:47.435
at different times, which were not be told to him
0:29:47.470,0:29:51.366
and we made sure that nothing could go wrong
0:29:51.401,0:29:53.715
in the sense medical world should know
0:29:53.750,0:29:56.563
that was not a single report.
0:29:59.057,0:30:02.056
They took blood samples from me three times a day,
0:30:02.091,0:30:04.433
morning, afternoon and evening.
0:30:04.468,0:30:07.885
They checked my kidney, brain and put machines all over my body.
0:30:11.799,0:30:15.502
They were trying to find out which factors made my body work.
0:30:15.537,0:30:18.840
They put machines inside my body also.
0:30:19.504,0:30:21.464
He wasn't given any food or water
0:30:21.499,0:30:23.197
and even when he was allowed to take a bath
0:30:23.611,0:30:25.537
the quantity of water was measured before and after
0:30:25.572,0:30:27.448
to make sure nothing was lost.
0:30:27.483,0:30:32.853
As I said after ten days the parameters were all normal,
0:30:32.888,0:30:35.669
we studied his hematology
0:30:35.704,0:30:39.902
and whatever studies we could think of, we could do it.
0:30:39.937,0:30:43.501
I will live up to approximately one thousand to five thousand
0:30:43.536,0:30:47.135
may be even ten thousand years with this kind of body.
0:30:47.170,0:30:50.385
That there was no food or water given to this man,
0:30:50.395,0:30:53.040
that he did not pass urine or stool.
0:30:53.075,0:30:55.607
He did not even dribble urine.
0:30:55.642,0:30:58.520
After few hours the urine would appear,
0:30:58.555,0:31:01.997
some fluid would appear in the bladder and again it would disappear.
0:31:03.901,0:31:05.842
It is possible to modify fluid intakes
0:31:05.877,0:31:08.721
so you produce a very small amout of urine each day.
0:31:08.756,0:31:11.974
And if he is covered with a cloth the chances are that he could urinate
0:31:12.009,0:31:14.998
and it would evaporate from the ground or soak into the ground
0:31:15.033,0:31:17.285
without anyone noticing.
0:31:18.022,0:31:20.097
Modern medicine tells us that an average human
0:31:20.132,0:31:23.357
can only survive for four days without water.
0:31:23.389,0:31:28.283
While confined, Prahlad Jaani incredibly lasted 10 days under observation.
0:31:28.318,0:31:32.962
Dr. Shah has a theory on how he is managing to survive without food or fluid.
0:31:32.997,0:31:36.289
He feels the holy man is feeding off of the sun.
0:31:38.108,0:31:41.254
He used to do solar gazing,
0:31:41.289,0:31:46.249
he says that you have to go to a flat ground
0:31:46.284,0:31:50.142
and barefooted and just look at the sun.
0:31:50.177,0:31:52.765
Its impossible for us to generate
0:31:52.865,0:31:55.910
heat or light energy from looking at the sun,
0:31:55.945,0:31:58.253
almost like in the act of photosynthesis
0:31:58.288,0:32:01.098
which is the process by which plants generate their energy supply
0:32:01.133,0:32:05.280
and this is absolutely impossible for a human being to do.
0:32:05.315,0:32:08.220
On the first day, you will look for five seconds
0:32:08.255,0:32:10.429
but without blinking your eyes.
0:32:10.464,0:32:12.911
Every few days you will increase few seconds
0:32:12.946,0:32:16.213
and maybe after a month you come to a minute or so.
0:32:16.248,0:32:20.346
In fact, staring at the sun would damage the retina of the eye.
0:32:20.381,0:32:23.679
A scientist from America also examined him several times
0:32:23.714,0:32:28.484
opthalmic system and he found nothing abnormal.
0:32:28.519,0:32:31.741
The sun transmits energy through a hole in the holy man's throat
0:32:31.776,0:32:35.524
producing a sticky solid lump that he can redigest.
0:32:38.794,0:32:42.825
The rest he claims refills the chakra power points in his body.
0:32:42.950,0:32:45.689
It is not a miracle, it is supernatural.
0:32:45.724,0:32:47.453
Could these results provide the answers
0:32:47.488,0:32:50.956
to how the boy is surviving without food and water?
0:32:52.866,0:32:55.576
Unfortunately we cannot take Ram to a lab.
0:32:55.611,0:32:58.783
For us to have any chance of replicating doctor’s findings,
0:32:58.818,0:33:00.486
we must head back to Nepal
0:33:00.521,0:33:02.671
and set up once again from the beginning
0:33:02.706,0:33:07.108
for four days and four nights of continuous recording and observation.
0:33:07.143,0:33:09.480
However when we get back to the site,
0:33:09.515,0:33:12.078
we are met with a very different scenario.
0:33:12.113,0:33:14.768
While we were away fifty nine people witnessed
0:33:14.803,0:33:17.425
Ram spontaneously burst into flames
0:33:17.460,0:33:20.212
as fire erupted from his chest.
0:33:25.595,0:33:27.888
On the fifth of January, Wednesday [Thursday]
0:33:27.923,0:33:31.143
around eight o' clock we saw a fire coming from him.
0:33:31.178,0:33:33.713
He stood and threw the cloth in front of him
0:33:33.748,0:33:36.769
and was naked in the middle of burning fire.
0:33:36.804,0:33:38.991
And then after some time, in a very soft voice
0:33:39.026,0:33:41.112
he called for his brother.
0:33:41.147,0:33:43.678
He asked for a red robe to be thrown over him.
0:33:43.713,0:33:45.812
He wrapped the cloth over his body and he said,
0:33:45.847,0:33:47.917
let him concentrate on his meditation
0:33:48.080,0:33:50.668
and do not disturb him.
0:33:52.584,0:33:54.354
Over the past three hundred years
0:33:54.389,0:33:55.998
there have been more than two hundred reports
0:33:56.149,0:33:58.420
of spontaneous combustion [note 2];
0:33:58.760,0:34:01.677
the burning of a body without an identifiable ignition source.
0:34:01.712,0:34:04.720
Its cause is an unsolved mystery.
0:34:04.755,0:34:07.742
However looking at previous evidence of Ram's sweating
0:34:07.945,0:34:10.068
and assuming he can control and increase
0:34:10.111,0:34:12.774
his body temperature through Tumo meditation,
0:34:12.921,0:34:15.468
maybe this is an extreme demonstration of his power
0:34:16.335,0:34:20.043
or just an increasingly elaborate hoax to gain more publicity.
0:34:21.730,0:34:24.383
After just a week away security has tightened
0:34:24.418,0:34:27.958
and the brother seems a deflated figure.
0:34:27.799,0:34:31.138
When he starts making about twenty thousand rupees a day from this
0:34:31.173,0:34:32.923
and there is money involved,
0:34:32.958,0:34:35.094
this is Nepal. There are going to be fights,
0:34:35.129,0:34:38.066
it would be unnatural if the committee had not
0:34:38.101,0:34:39.645
started bickering about it yet.
0:34:39.680,0:34:42.700
The committee seems to have evolved and doubled in size,
0:34:42.735,0:34:45.052
and it is not clear who is in charge.
0:34:47.820,0:34:50.670
There are many voices, all challenging for superiority.
0:34:59.420,0:35:01.818
The family probably would feel left out about this
0:35:01.853,0:35:05.167
and probably feel like their son's original purpose
0:35:05.202,0:35:07.170
has been defeated by all this money making
0:35:07.550,0:35:09.113
and that it's very unbuddha like
0:35:13.631,0:35:15.614
There seems to be a split within the committee
0:35:15.649,0:35:18.555
as to whether or not we are to be allowed to continue.
0:35:18.590,0:35:20.764
In fact the government response has been interesting,
0:35:21.065,0:35:22.848
you know, originally they said, well, we're gonna test the boy,
0:35:23.281,0:35:25.367
the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
0:35:25.682,0:35:28.436
is gonna go and take blood samples and do a DNA test
0:35:28.647,0:35:31.368
and I don't know why DNA. But they haven't done it yet.
0:35:31.641,0:35:33.430
The government of Nepal requested us
0:35:33.465,0:35:37.141
to visit that site and observe what was happening.
0:35:37.144,0:35:42.661
We went very close by and we observed very minutely.
0:35:42.696,0:35:46.180
His body almost dead, you know,
0:35:46.215,0:35:48.842
only the head part is alive.
0:35:48.877,0:35:52.176
We are concerned about the way of meditation without having
0:35:52.276,0:35:57.056
any food and drinks and next to that the propaganda. (Dr. Naresh Man Bajrachary, Kathmandu University)
0:35:57.460,0:36:00.774
Face colour was red like blood colour.
0:36:00.809,0:36:03.170
It is important to test on the boy,
0:36:03.281,0:36:06.173
if we want to know the truth.
0:36:06.208,0:36:08.127
The reports sent to the government states
0:36:09.537,0:36:11.117
to complete his meditation
0:36:11.176,0:36:12.975
and not to be tested scientifically.
0:36:13.895,0:36:19.158
Whatever he is doing there, it is his personal right.
0:36:19.193,0:36:22.013
There's not even been an effort to try to regulate the income
0:36:22.149,0:36:24.967
or see who is getting what and try to see if it is not being scamed
0:36:25.002,0:36:27.411
and people are not being cheated.
0:36:27.446,0:36:31.412
There's no official oversite over this whole thing.
0:36:31.447,0:36:34.407
So, its happening in this sort of, you know,
0:36:34.442,0:36:37.763
Wild West kind of jungle setting.
0:36:38.016,0:36:40.137
Another film crew has also arrived.
0:36:40.286,0:36:41.670
They have even more difficulty than us
0:36:41.937,0:36:43.487
and fail to get close to the boy.
0:36:43.839,0:36:46.233
If you are making documentary, people are never knowing
0:36:46.268,0:36:49.013
if you are acting also on the political parts
0:36:49.048,0:36:53.906
sometimes it also can be very difficult,
0:36:53.941,0:36:57.394
very dangerous also to shoot here with a camera. (Jurgen Schunk, Journalist)
0:36:59.159,0:37:01.670
Nepal is in the grip of a long raging civil war;
0:37:01.705,0:37:04.886
eleven thousand people have died in the last nine years.
0:37:04.921,0:37:08.165
The ruling royals are holding elections in the next few days
0:37:08.200,0:37:09.652
but violence has escalated
0:37:09.687,0:37:12.436
as the Maoist people's movement tries to take over
0:37:12.471,0:37:15.912
and some believe the Maoist guerillas have been seen in the area.
0:37:15.947,0:37:19.437
The Maoists are more acting in the villages
0:37:19.522,0:37:22.321
whereas for the army it's more difficult to reach
0:37:22.356,0:37:24.950
and more difficult to fight against them.
0:37:24.985,0:37:26.883
Everybody is speaking in Nepal you know
0:37:26.918,0:37:29.021
the Maoists are speaking, the political parties are speaking
0:37:29.056,0:37:32.806
and this guy just sits there like a silent prophet.
0:37:32.892,0:37:35.874
Eventually we are allowed to film
0:37:35.909,0:37:38.439
but under close inspection from the committee.
0:37:42.298,0:37:46.111
We reset our cameras to record the next four days and nights
0:37:46.146,0:37:50.442
the length of time it takes for a human to die without fluid.
0:37:54.625,0:37:57.659
This is the only way we can prove if he is genuine or not.
0:37:57.694,0:38:00.525
After forty eight hours of continuous observation
0:38:00.560,0:38:03.053
Ram still hasn't moved.
0:38:03.088,0:38:04.988
What is almost unbelievable is the fact that this child
0:38:05.023,0:38:07.226
manages to stay in the same position
0:38:07.261,0:38:10.144
during waking hours and sleeping hours.
0:38:10.179,0:38:14.125
Try sitting for thirty minutes or an hour, three hours
0:38:14.160,0:38:16.304
not moving just concentrating.
0:38:16.339,0:38:19.164
And within twenty four to thirty six hours where the skin surface
0:38:19.199,0:38:21.683
reaches the contact point of where you're sitting,
0:38:21.718,0:38:23.873
you will get damaged in that skin area.
0:38:24.055,0:38:25.960
And formation of what we know in the western world
0:38:25.995,0:38:27.253
as called a pressure sore.
0:38:27.288,0:38:29.292
It is the most challenging thing he is dealing with,
0:38:29.327,0:38:31.384
incredible.
0:38:31.419,0:38:35.072
A few hours later he begins fidgeting and jerking.
0:38:35.107,0:38:36.847
What you would probably notice if you scrutinize
0:38:36.882,0:38:38.527
your footage very carefully,
0:38:38.562,0:38:40.827
it's that there are very small changes,
0:38:40.862,0:38:44.240
with that he is shifting balance, maybe,
0:38:40.862,0:38:44.240
from one buttock to another
0:38:44.275,0:38:46.130
to relief pressure points and allow the blood
0:38:46.165,0:38:48.425
to flow back to that tissue.
0:38:56.429,0:38:58.785
As the sun sets, sixty hours into filming,
0:38:58.820,0:39:01.099
and the committee takes a tighter strangle hold.
0:39:01.134,0:39:03.047
We find ourselves back with the family
0:39:03.082,0:39:05.397
whose devotion for Ram remains undiminished.
0:39:07.785,0:39:09.996
There are many that have devoted their life to be in his presence.
0:39:10.031,0:39:13.290
Some have never been home since arriving.
0:39:13.325,0:39:16.897
Please stay here a couple of days and feel for yourself,
0:39:16.932,0:39:18.536
it's wonderful.
0:39:22.581,0:39:26.477
We have lived here eating only once a day for many months.
0:39:27.218,0:39:30.006
I will stay here till my death.
0:39:33.364,0:39:35.222
The relaxed environment suddenly changes
0:39:35.257,0:39:36.628
when words goes through the camp,
0:39:36.801,0:39:38.531
there is a tiger loose in the site.
0:39:39.159,0:39:41.169
Is it for real or rather the committee
0:39:41.204,0:39:43.813
creating more hype around the boy?
0:39:44.541,0:39:45.974
The jackal was just over there,
0:39:46.009,0:39:47.986
the tiger was a little further away.
0:39:49.504,0:39:52.496
Chaos reigns as many fear for the safety of Ram.
0:39:52.531,0:39:55.846
I understand the Nepali sense of the miracle of him,
0:39:55.881,0:39:58.899
not having taken food not drinking,
0:39:58.934,0:40:01.571
but for me those are not the important issues.
0:40:01.606,0:40:03.121
You know whether he eats or drinks,
0:40:03.293,0:40:04.762
I hope he stays healthy.
0:40:05.458,0:40:08.071
After a thorough search tiger prints are discovered.
0:40:08.106,0:40:11.483
We realized how vulnerable the boy really is.
0:40:13.928,0:40:17.259
We wonder if Ram is the innocent victim in this spectacle.
0:40:18.805,0:40:21.364
After fifty eight hours, life continues as normal
0:40:21.399,0:40:25.643
donation boxes are filled, and the crowds start to arrive.
0:40:26.630,0:40:30.453
Ram appears to show no classic signs of degeneration through fluid loss.
0:40:30.488,0:40:32.921
But a closer look at our footage might help us understand
0:40:32.956,0:40:35.240
his physical and mental health.
0:40:35.275,0:40:39.049
He looks unwell, if you saw this individual sat
0:40:39.084,0:40:44.118
against a wall in London, you would be very concerned about how he looks.
0:40:44.153,0:40:46.026
As life passes him by,
0:40:46.061,0:40:49.148
Ram just sits calmly meditating.
0:40:49.183,0:40:52.226
There is a swelling in his neck, but whether that represents a goitre
0:40:52.261,0:40:55.910
or an underactive thyroid, it's very difficult to say.
0:40:57.082,0:40:59.274
Having a severely under active thyroid
0:40:59.309,0:41:01.737
would mean that your metabolic state is incredibly low
0:41:01.896,0:41:04.428
which means that you can survive for a very long time
0:41:04.463,0:41:06.760
without food and fluid.
0:41:06.998,0:41:11.019
It almost looks like you can see the ribs showing through
0:41:11.054,0:41:13.550
and that would represent quite advanced starvation
0:41:13.676,0:41:16.055
and you start to waste away the muscles
0:41:16.090,0:41:18.336
between the lungs, between the rib cages.
0:41:18.358,0:41:21.379
Probably sat in that position well away from individuals
0:41:21.414,0:41:23.657
is the safest thing for him in order to prevent
0:41:23.692,0:41:25.968
an infection that would ultimately kill him.
0:41:26.003,0:41:27.996
Is Ram now a victim of his own success
0:41:28.031,0:41:30.304
being slowly starved to death for profit?
0:41:31.110,0:41:32.580
Only time will tell.
0:41:32.615,0:41:36.266
This could turn out to be a very sad story.
0:41:48.557,0:41:50.810
We have been observing Ram Bomjan continuously
0:41:50.845,0:41:53.153
in the jungle of Nepal for eighty six hours.
0:41:53.188,0:41:56.423
In that time we have not seen him take any food or fluid
0:41:56.458,0:41:58.570
or show any signs of dehydration...
0:41:58.605,0:42:01.611
An average human should be just a few hours from death.
0:42:01.646,0:42:04.578
With a prolonged deficiency of food and water,
0:42:04.613,0:42:06.720
your brain is going to lack the glucose,
0:42:06.820,0:42:09.329
you are not going to have enough fluid in your system.
0:42:09.364,0:42:12.675
As he progresses without those fluids he becomes delirious.
0:42:15.832,0:42:18.740
On day four, that confusion will get worse, you start fidgeting,
0:42:18.775,0:42:21.130
your body is going into kidney failure,
0:42:21.165,0:42:24.054
and ultimately the person dies of dehydration.
0:42:24.089,0:42:27.222
To rule out foul play within the secure inner enclosure,
0:42:27.257,0:42:29.700
we defy the committee and enlist Prem Lama,
0:42:29.735,0:42:32.296
Ram's oldest friend and caretaker, to take a closer look.
0:42:35.151,0:42:37.440
In the beginning, he used to walk around this tree
0:42:37.507,0:42:39.670
in the morning chanting mantras.
0:42:39.705,0:42:41.879
After that he meditated for three months
0:42:41.914,0:42:45.166
before going into the deep trance that he is in today.
0:42:45.201,0:42:47.089
After a thorough search inside the tree
0:42:47.124,0:42:49.363
and the ground area surrounding Ram,
0:42:49.398,0:42:50.985
there is nothing suspicious,
0:42:51.020,0:42:53.417
no food pipes buried or supplies hidden.
0:42:53.452,0:42:56.446
Are people there creating a scam for us to believe in.
0:42:56.751,0:42:59.761
I hope not it would be an elaborate scam to do that.
0:42:59.861,0:43:02.323
Surely if it was a scam someone within the committee
0:43:02.358,0:43:04.215
would have let on, told the papers,
0:43:04.250,0:43:06.310
weakened for the money.
0:43:06.345,0:43:09.220
The people in this area, they don't tell lies.
0:43:09.255,0:43:12.902
They tell truth, that is also the proof. (Deepak Limbu, local science teacher)
0:43:12.937,0:43:15.085
After ninety six hours of filming
0:43:15.120,0:43:17.468
Ram has defied modern science
0:43:17.503,0:43:20.608
by continuing his meditation and remaining alive.
0:43:20.832,0:43:23.775
Many of the pilgrims at the site are from a scientific background
0:43:23.810,0:43:25.522
and they are torn by what they see.
0:43:25.557,0:43:28.598
Is he a miracle or a myth?
0:43:28.633,0:43:32.547
We must prove this. Science has to be re-written. Modern medicine does not work here.
0:43:32.647,0:43:35.131
We cannot say that science is a failure…
0:43:35.231,0:43:41.513
But whatever science has invented so far is not sufficient.
0:43:41.774,0:43:43.840
We have all religions built around miracles,
0:43:43.875,0:43:46.596
Jesus rose from the grave. Millions of people believe that.
0:43:46.671,0:43:48.884
That's the centre and core of their religion.
0:43:48.919,0:43:50.937
Are we saying in another culture it's not possible?
0:43:50.972,0:43:53.412
Everything is possible.
0:43:53.447,0:43:59.071
It is unknown how he is meditating. Modern medicine says that within 72 hours…
0:43:59.106,0:44:03.925
if you do not drink water, your kidney fails…
0:44:03.960,0:44:09.356
but medical science is still not fully knowledgeable about this.
0:44:09.391,0:44:12.640
Prolonged fasting is not as simple as we understand.
0:44:12.675,0:44:16.655
We all should explore the benefits of this kind of fasting.
0:44:16.690,0:44:19.957
The debate of science and spirituality will always continue
0:44:19.992,0:44:23.414
and so too the tug of war between those who have Ram's best interest
0:44:23.449,0:44:26.161
at heart and those who want to make a quick buck.
0:44:26.196,0:44:28.597
It's very difficult when you have that belief
0:44:28.632,0:44:31.000
in an individual that has transcended
0:44:31.035,0:44:34.057
on the normal biological needs of food and fluid.
0:44:34.092,0:44:37.924
It's very hard to reject that if you truly believe it.
0:44:37.959,0:44:39.743
Maybe the brother knows the answer.
0:44:39.778,0:44:41.925
He has the key to the inner sanctum.
0:44:41.960,0:44:44.476
He is the only one allowed to speak to Ram.
0:44:44.511,0:44:47.192
He will continue to empty the donation boxes,
0:44:47.227,0:44:50.214
reaping the rewards while the truth remains unresolved.
0:44:50.249,0:44:55.562
The media people should not create confusion.
0:44:55.597,0:44:57.992
He will show the truth himself.
0:44:58.027,0:45:00.863
Despite the isolation, he has created a commodity,
0:45:00.898,0:45:03.384
a celebrity icon for the whole of Nepal.
0:45:03.419,0:45:05.988
Surely everyone is a winner in this situation.
0:45:06.023,0:45:09.305
After six years he will bring the proof to the world.
0:45:09.340,0:45:11.338
He will tell the truth by himself.
0:45:11.373,0:45:13.954
I am this, I will do this and I want to get this
0:45:13.989,0:45:15.783
I have appealed to all the people in the world
0:45:15.818,0:45:18.470
not to talk and say bad things about him.
0:45:23.043,0:45:24.942
No one really knows what Ram is thinking,
0:45:24.977,0:45:27.523
how he is surviving or if he is Buddha,
0:45:27.558,0:45:29.602
and so it turned out.
0:45:29.637,0:45:33.410
March the 13, 2006, events took a turn no one could have anticipated,
0:45:34.348,0:45:35.624
Ram disappeared [March 11, 2006].
0:45:35.659,0:45:38.173
Some reports suggest he has gone deeper into the jungle
0:45:38.208,0:45:40.049
to continue his meditation in peace,
0:45:40.084,0:45:41.383
undisturbed.
0:45:41.418,0:45:43.278
Other reports are more sinister,
0:45:43.313,0:45:45.649
claiming that he has been kidnapped.
0:45:49.297,0:45:52.129
Perhaps Ram has decided against being a scientific miracle
0:45:56.908,0:45:59.377
The once thriving bazaar and bus park is deserted,
0:45:59.412,0:46:01.416
the fences broken.
0:46:01.451,0:46:03.369
And the only trace of Ram is a red robe
0:46:03.404,0:46:07.305
lying discarded in the hollow of a tree.
0:46:09.108,0:46:11.782
He has not been seen since.
0:46:13.044,0:46:18.644
[1] Information on the Buddha is not completely accurate here.
0:46:18.679,0:46:26.528
[2] The presented picture of the monk self-immolating is not a picture of spontaneous combustion
Nepal, the birthplace of Buddhism,
0:00:08.049,0:00:10.362
a magical and mysterious land in which legends
0:00:10.397,0:00:13.291
such as the fabled Shangri-La and the elusive Yeti
0:00:13.326,0:00:16.697
have dominated cultures for generations.
0:00:18.000,0:00:21.760
But a new story has emerged,
0:00:23.787,0:00:26.534
one that is being seen as a modern miracle,
0:00:26.569,0:00:30.498
something only possible through the spiritual power of Buddhism.
0:00:30.533,0:00:35.653
It's a phenomena that people draw great pride and inspiration from here. (Keithe D. Lesile, Writer)
0:00:35.688,0:00:37.956
Ram Bomjan, a fifteen year old boy
0:00:38.068,0:00:39.883
has been meditating in the dense jungle
0:00:39.918,0:00:43.196
without food or water for ten months.
0:00:43.571,0:00:46.730
He hasn't eaten anything.
0:00:47.000,0:00:49.021
Not even water?
0:00:49.100,0:00:50.522
No.
0:00:50.557,0:00:53.864
Many suggest he is a physiological and cognitive freak
0:00:53.899,0:00:55.804
with such immense power of mind over matter
0:00:55.839,0:00:58.134
it could change the way we look at modern science
0:00:58.169,0:01:00.122
and medicine forever.
0:01:00.485,0:01:02.136
If he has truly gone without food and water,
0:01:02.171,0:01:04.638
it is difficult to explain on a purely scientific basis
0:01:04.673,0:01:06.988
and you would have to bring in spirituality here. (Dr. Prativa Pandey, Travel Medical Centre, Kathmandu)
0:01:07.023,0:01:11.608
As millions of pilgrims flock to the site, we will explore the truth.
0:01:11.643,0:01:14.904
To see that in the middle of Nepal, in the middle of all, with crowds around,
0:01:14.939,0:01:18.304
that's very very special and very questioning of course. (Jerome Edou, Writer and Buddhist Scholar)
0:01:18.339,0:01:21.144
Is he the second coming, Buddha reincarnate
0:01:21.179,0:01:23.031
or is this something far more sinister?
0:01:23.066,0:01:25.324
An elaborate hoax in which a young boy is being
0:01:25.359,0:01:29.829
starved to death before our very eyes for profit?
0:01:35.617,0:01:39.835
Many people fast for religious or health reasons for short periods of time
0:01:39.870,0:01:42.182
but they never reject all sustenance.
0:01:42.217,0:01:45.273
The longest a person can go without food
0:01:45.308,0:01:47.443
has been documented as being around 2 1/2 months
0:01:47.478,0:01:49.805
before you die of starvation.
0:01:50.363,0:01:53.117
In an open environment breathing normally
0:01:53.152,0:01:56.522
with warm air surrounding you without any fluid at all,
0:01:56.557,0:01:59.480
you would last four, perhaps five, days. (Catherine Collins, Dietician)
0:01:59.515,0:02:04.258
Ram Bomjan has not eaten and, more importantly, not drunk anything for ten months.
0:02:04.293,0:02:06.576
By filming him continuously over the next four days,
0:02:06.611,0:02:08.647
we will investigate this phenomenon
0:02:08.682,0:02:12.232
and discover whether a human being can live without food and water.
0:02:12.267,0:02:16.192
It would be impossible to meditate for that long without food and water.
0:02:16.227,0:02:20.460
I studied similar cases in the past and this is possible. (Dr. Sudhir V. Shah, Director of Neurosciences)
0:02:20.495,0:02:22.809
Through his deep meditation
0:02:22.844,0:02:25.918
he has gone into an hibernating state
0:02:25.953,0:02:29.241
and he is living on spiritual energy. (Lucy-Ann Prideaux, Nutritionist)
0:02:29.276,0:02:31.337
I can't accept that,
0:02:31.372,0:02:35.601
it goes against what I know about how the body works, about the nutrition that you need.
0:02:35.636,0:02:39.111
He is getting food and he is getting fluid from somewhere.
0:02:39.712,0:02:42.328
Ram has never been scientifically tested.
0:02:42.363,0:02:46.174
He sits undisturbed, as millions watch his every move.
0:02:46.209,0:02:49.978
If he did the same thing in Birmingham or in Baltimore,
0:02:50.013,0:02:54.453
I am not sure that society would perceive him in the same way.
0:02:54.488,0:02:56.662
Why isn't he in school, why isn't he getting a job,
0:02:56.697,0:02:58.841
he should be doing something.
0:02:58.876,0:03:02.281
Nepal is a country relatively untouched by the global market,
0:03:02.316,0:03:06.045
where 90% are devout Hindus and 10% Buddhists.
0:03:06.080,0:03:08.667
I think it is a great story for Nepal,
0:03:08.702,0:03:11.314
I mean, I think it comes at a right time.
0:03:11.349,0:03:14.138
Nepal is in a state of political turmoil,
0:03:20.022,0:03:24.872
so I think it's very interesting that, all of a sudden, there is this
0:03:24.907,0:03:28.793
birth of a myth in front of our eyes, you know, just starting.
0:03:28.828,0:03:33.243
Nepal faces a stark desolate reality without its religious beliefs.
0:03:33.482,0:03:36.086
I don't know if the story of Ram Bahadur Bomjan
0:03:36.121,0:03:39.031
appeals to a certain consciousness now
0:03:39.066,0:03:43.122
looking for some saint, some figure,
0:03:43.157,0:03:46.107
someone who can perform miracles
0:03:46.142,0:03:50.469
at a time when life seems so torturing and broken and uncertain.
0:03:50.504,0:03:54.205
As science progresses, it pushes God further and further out.
0:03:54.240,0:03:58.107
And where science hasn't yet encroached, you will find God. (Dr. John Leach, Psychology Lecturer, Lancaster University)
0:03:58.142,0:04:01.120
Ram began meditating in May 2005.
0:04:01.155,0:04:04.881
By November the remarkable story heads the press worldwide.
0:04:04.916,0:04:07.304
Newspapers claim fake,
0:04:07.339,0:04:09.939
government officials say that the boy's local supporters
0:04:09.974,0:04:12.601
have received around 4000 pounds in donations.
0:04:14.254,0:04:17.044
Up until now no film crew has been allowed to get close.
0:04:17.079,0:04:21.767
We will attempt to be the first to obtain proof of the claims of the Buddha boy.
0:04:21.802,0:04:25.459
With fierce loyalty, his followers hide him at certain times of the day.
0:04:25.494,0:04:26.847
This has drawn suspicion.
0:04:26.882,0:04:29.753
But who are these followers and what are their motives?
0:04:29.788,0:04:33.176
What has happened is that, because of the people who started coming in,
0:04:33.211,0:04:37.426
it has turned into a kind of a circus. (Kunda Dixit, Editor Nepali Times)
0:04:37.501,0:04:40.585
Soon roads become nothing but dirt tracks.
0:04:41.425,0:04:44.618
After travelling more that twelve hours from Kathmandu,
0:04:44.653,0:04:47.674
the last forty kilometers through dense jungle,
0:04:47.709,0:04:51.394
suddenly a gate manned by sentries bars the way any further.
0:04:51.429,0:04:55.533
And we are diverted into a bustling temporary city of hawkers,
0:04:55.568,0:04:59.888
fast food sellers and a bus park in the middle of nowhere.
0:05:02.183,0:05:05.449
Previously we used to farm only but now there are jobs available,
0:05:05.484,0:05:08.058
there is good income.
0:05:08.119,0:05:12.481
Amazingly ten months ago, there was nothing here but jungle.
0:05:12.516,0:05:17.286
ever since the boy began his meditation.
0:05:17.321,0:05:20.061
There is a kind of economic desperation which
0:05:20.096,0:05:25.329
perhaps a phenomenon like this will attract people.
0:05:25.364,0:05:30.198
I used to run a restaurant in the city, but this one makes much more money.
0:05:30.233,0:05:34.133
After walking five kilometers from the temporary city with the throngs of devotees,
0:05:34.168,0:05:36.131
we are confronted by crowds twenty deep
0:05:36.166,0:05:39.785
and the boy surrounded by a series of barbed wire fences.
0:05:39.820,0:05:43.355
We have to fight our way through just to get a glimpse from the fifty meter fence.
0:06:03.867,0:06:06.546
People have come from far and wide.
0:06:06.581,0:06:08.860
Many have walked for days.
0:06:08.895,0:06:13.997
Some give offerings, others pray or give donations.
0:06:15.958,0:06:18.222
We need to get closer than the fence is allowing us
0:06:18.257,0:06:22.019
and soon realize Ram's eldest brother is running the site.
0:06:23.107,0:06:25.505
Ganga Jeet Bomjan leads the committee;
0:06:25.540,0:06:27.407
an eighteen strong self-appointed group
0:06:27.442,0:06:29.063
set up to protect the boy's welfare
0:06:29.098,0:06:32.973
and it will be his decision if we are allowed to film.
0:06:34.007,0:06:38.357
Today I am busy, maybe tomorrow is a good day.
0:06:38.392,0:06:42.280
Finally he lets us to film inside the fifty meter boundary.
0:06:49.078,0:06:50.869
Unfortunately just as we reached a second fence
0:06:50.904,0:06:53.013
at a distance of twenty five meter from the boy,
0:06:53.048,0:06:55.662
we are stopped from going any further.
0:06:55.697,0:06:58.515
So it is here we start recording.
0:06:58.582,0:07:02.694
By the end of our first day Ram has not moved a muscle
0:07:02.729,0:07:06.024
since we began filming eight hours previously.
0:07:06.059,0:07:10.171
If you wanted to prove that he really wasn't taking any fluid at all,
0:07:10.206,0:07:15.992
you would have to film continuously for at least four to five days.
0:07:16.027,0:07:18.627
At 10 pm we are moved back to the fifty meter fence,
0:07:18.662,0:07:22.283
too far away for our infrared cameras to pick out the boy.
0:07:22.318,0:07:25.419
Without water even under reasonably good conditions
0:07:25.454,0:07:28.257
you're talking about lasting no more than about four days.
0:07:28.292,0:07:30.496
He is trapped behind the gate padlocked by the brother.
0:07:30.531,0:07:35.258
He has the only key; it is the only access in or out.
0:07:35.293,0:07:37.633
By staying at the site and continually filming
0:07:37.668,0:07:38.966
we hope to find some clues
0:07:39.001,0:07:41.849
to Buddha boy's remarkable claim.
0:07:46.499,0:07:50.525
In Nepal, Ram Bomjan, a fifteen year old boy has been meditating
0:07:50.560,0:07:53.477
in the hollow of a tree for ten months.
0:07:54.537,0:07:57.127
He plans to continue for six years.
0:07:57.162,0:07:59.643
I do know the case of a medical student (James Scott, Survivor),
0:07:59.678,0:08:02.659
he did survive without food for something like forty three days but
0:08:02.694,0:08:05.701
he was able to survive on snow.
0:08:05.736,0:08:09.963
So far his supporters claim he has not eaten or drunk anything.
0:08:10.806,0:08:13.818
I get the feeling this is going to be slightly different than some of the other
0:08:13.853,0:08:15.913
Hindu scams that have happened,
0:08:15.948,0:08:17.976
some of these are not genuine holy men,
0:08:18.011,0:08:20.648
they have long beards and then they smear themselves in ashes
0:08:20.683,0:08:24.176
and then they would be in cohorts with the local villagers.
0:08:24.211,0:08:27.500
This one, I think, will carry on a bit.
0:08:27.535,0:08:31.092
We are into our second day 27 hours into filming;
0:08:31.127,0:08:34.506
still not enough to prove that this is a miracle or a scam.
0:08:35.222,0:08:38.216
To find out the truth we're staying on site day and night
0:08:38.251,0:08:41.031
to film continuously for another 69 hours,
0:08:41.066,0:08:44.069
as this is the time it takes for an average human being to die
0:08:44.161,0:08:45.606
without any water.
0:08:45.641,0:08:47.825
And seventy percent of the body is water,
0:08:47.860,0:08:51.892
without it, it would affect every physical functioning of the body.
0:08:52.023,0:08:53.828
By day two you start to cannibalize
0:08:53.863,0:08:56.135
the stores of protein that you have.
0:08:56.170,0:08:58.402
I will say, from day two your skin is going to get rough,
0:08:56.437,0:09:00.570
cracks appearing at the corner of the lips,
0:09:00.805,0:09:05.799
and skin will lose its color and the brightness and the elasticity.
0:09:05.834,0:09:08.261
So far we have not seen any of these physical changes
0:09:08.296,0:09:10.004
in the boy's appearance.
0:09:10.244,0:09:13.372
He is surviving on nourishment.
0:09:13.407,0:09:18.170
The question is what kind of nourishment?
0:09:18.205,0:09:20.889
We can't, as westerners, tap into
0:09:20.924,0:09:24.435
using spiritual force, spiritual energy for nourishment.
0:09:24.470,0:09:26.919
That's the key here.
0:09:34.425,0:09:38.122
Every morning an army of hawkers move in selling Buddha boy's merchandise
0:09:38.157,0:09:42.211
including brochures, photo albums and DVDs.
0:09:43.599,0:09:47.295
We started selling these CDs a month ago when we were allowed to do so.
0:09:49.224,0:09:53.339
Many of the sellers and pilgrims think he is the reincarnation of Buddha.
0:09:53.374,0:09:59.067
His dream has been to gain the Buddha's knowledge and spread the light of peace.
0:09:59.102,0:10:01.231
The similarities are uncanny.
0:10:01.266,0:10:05.166
Siddhartha the Buddha was born a mere hundred and fifty miles away
0:10:05.201,0:10:07.660
to a mother with the same name, Maya Devi.
0:10:07.695,0:10:11.523
Both chose to meditate for six years under the same type of tree
0:10:11.558,0:10:14.439
and follow a life of abstinence [note 1].
0:10:14.474,0:10:17.245
Buddha eventually found enlightenment through meditation
0:10:17.280,0:10:20.613
and that is what Ram is trying to achieve.
0:10:22.022,0:10:24.769
You can see a light coming from the top of his head
0:10:24.804,0:10:26.745
and sometimes from his forehead.
0:10:26.780,0:10:29.939
Many of the stories circulating at the site are probably just gossip,
0:10:29.974,0:10:34.138
but they all feed the myth and the growing aura of the boy.
0:10:34.173,0:10:38.304
One story that started the legend was a poisonous snake biting on two separate occasions.
0:10:39.557,0:10:44.457
I saw him after the snake bite and he looked very pale.
0:10:44.492,0:10:48.399
Cobras and vipers are common to the area and their bite is fatal.
0:10:48.434,0:10:52.919
Incredibly Ram required no medical attention from the bites.
0:10:52.954,0:10:56.027
Because of his meditation
0:10:56.062,0:10:59.674
his fluid eliminated the poison. (Bhikkhu Maitri, Founder, International Buddhist Society)
0:11:00.778,0:11:07.179
I heard about it. Some saw the blood but no one saw the snake.
0:11:07.214,0:11:12.975
He was sweating there and with the sweating his poison was gone.
0:11:13.010,0:11:17.713
The boy himself does seem to have some spiritual powers.
0:11:17.748,0:11:22.878
If we were bitten by a snake, we would already be gone.
0:11:22.913,0:11:26.639
Just because of his meditation, pure meditation, he is alive.
0:11:26.674,0:11:30.349
You know you could question if you don't believe in these things
0:11:30.384,0:11:33.954
but the people seem to, his family seems to have faith in it
0:11:33.989,0:11:36.002
so we have to sort of recognize that.
0:11:36.037,0:11:39.701
True or not it is apparent that Ram Bomjan is putting himself in danger
0:11:39.736,0:11:42.146
not only by refusing sustenance
0:11:42.358,0:11:45.692
but also by sitting exposed to the elements and wild life.
0:11:45.727,0:11:49.536
This fatalistic attitude to death is very common in Asia.
0:11:49.571,0:11:53.843
At this time you know he lacks calories, he lacks proteins, he lacks vitamins,
0:11:53.878,0:11:57.730
and he lacks water so he would be susceptible to illnesses.
0:11:57.765,0:12:01.716
He's got no ability to maintain any immune response or to support any immune response
0:12:01.751,0:12:07.703
and it does increase his risk of dying from an acute infection.
0:12:11.960,0:12:16.942
This lack of fear in dying is reflected in the way Nepalese conduct their funeral rituals.
0:12:16.977,0:12:22.084
In the west they are private sad affairs, but there is openness here.
0:12:22.119,0:12:26.465
An acceptance that sees death as part of the cycle of life.
0:12:28.771,0:12:33.385
Many put their bodies through extremes as they think it's their mission in life.
0:12:33.420,0:12:37.006
There are many stories about these Rishi Munis
0:12:37.041,0:12:40.720
and these great sages in the past.
0:12:40.755,0:12:44.883
Some of them could live without food and water
0:12:44.918,0:12:48.563
for many years, not many months. (Dinesh Raj Bhuju, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology)
0:12:48.598,0:12:54.266
In modern literature "Geripala" the non- eating saint survived without food and water for sixty six years,
0:12:54.301,0:12:56.632
the longest time on record.
0:12:56.667,0:12:58.436
Today there are many that claim extreme fasting
0:12:59.471,0:13:03.490
from Pilot Baba, who survived under water for five days without breathing,
0:13:03.525,0:13:07.120
to Yogi Mata who buried herself alive for seventy two hours.
0:13:07.155,0:13:11.437
Even in Buddhist philosophy, there are people like that.
0:13:11.920,0:13:14.777
Five hours into the second day of watching Ram
0:13:14.812,0:13:17.113
detained at the twenty five meter fence,
0:13:17.148,0:13:22.012
a chance arises to try to find some answers to this extreme fasting phenomenon.
0:13:22.047,0:13:26.455
Lama Lekshey, grand master from India runs several monasteries around the world.
0:13:26.490,0:13:29.751
It was at one of these that Ram was taught meditation.
0:13:29.786,0:13:32.048
The lama has come to check on his pupil
0:13:32.083,0:13:35.005
and allows us to follow him into the inner sanctum.
0:13:35.040,0:13:40.566
The boy belongs to Kegyu Buddhist
0:13:40.601,0:13:44.822
which is in India in Himanchhal Pradesh and that monastery belongs
0:13:44.857,0:13:47.860
to the Shakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. (Lama Jamyang Lekshey, Shakya Tibetan Monastery)
0:13:47.895,0:13:51.153
Very little is known of Shakya, one of the four Buddhist traditions.
0:13:51.188,0:13:54.910
Its leaders keep their teachings a closely guarded secret.
0:13:54.995,0:13:59.386
Buddha's teaching or our practice is not for your fame,
0:13:59.421,0:14:03.530
not for your reputation, not to collect so many disciples.
0:14:03.565,0:14:07.026
We usually don't expose much.
0:14:15.263,0:14:20.150
We have another meditator; he has been doing this for the last thirty years.
0:14:20.185,0:14:24.028
Today his hairs are so long that he can't stretch down so he put them to
0:14:24.063,0:14:30.224
small bag hanged up behind and then put all the hairs into that.
0:14:36.430,0:14:39.584
To endure solitary existence in extreme conditions,
0:14:45.105,0:14:47.621
obviously, if he is genuine,
0:14:47.656,0:14:50.712
he has to use some yogic techniques
0:14:50.747,0:14:55.580
like feeding on the air, feeding on the breath.
0:14:55.615,0:15:00.143
There are other techniques where you use stone,
0:15:00.178,0:15:02.020
a little stone that you put in your mouth
0:15:02.055,0:15:03.614
and you feed on the stone.
0:15:03.649,0:15:05.213
There are all those stories,
0:15:07.474,0:15:09.639
they are documented in the literature, Buddhist literature.
0:15:09.715,0:15:15.083
To understand what type of yogic techniques Ram is practicing from Shakya tradition of teaching,
0:15:15.118,0:15:17.683
the Lama sits and stares at the boy.
0:15:17.718,0:15:22.914
I am amazed by the immense intensity of his determination.
0:15:22.949,0:15:26.285
He told his mother that he was going to sit there for six years and reach Buddhahood
0:15:26.320,0:15:30.892
which is very rare, I mean nobody says that.
0:15:30.927,0:15:33.124
They sit facing each other for more than an hour
0:15:33.159,0:15:36.164
and what seems to turn into a meditation duel,
0:15:36.199,0:15:40.135
sweat starts to fall from Ram's face despite a lack of movement
0:15:40.170,0:15:43.695
and an air temperature of only fifteen degree centigrade [59 °F].
0:15:44.721,0:15:48.250
To suddenly start pouring sweat from the face is a very strange phenomenon,
0:15:48.285,0:15:52.568
he is managing to control his body's physiological process
0:15:52.603,0:15:54.969
which no one has demonstrated before.
0:15:55.004,0:15:57.787
It is not something you ever see in western society
0:15:57.822,0:16:02.202
and how that's been controlled is beyond my level of knowledge.
0:16:02.237,0:16:04.394
When he was sitting down,
0:16:04.429,0:16:06.991
I was doing my meditation;
0:16:07.026,0:16:10.211
actually I was competing
0:16:10.246,0:16:12.100
and you know that the sweat came down.
0:16:12.135,0:16:14.881
Why did he sweat?
0:16:14.916,0:16:18.386
Oh, no it's a secret thing, I don't want to tell you right now.
0:16:18.627,0:16:23.150
In ancient Buddhist texts it is written there is yogic technique called "Tummo"
0:16:23.185,0:16:26.755
which increases the body temperature under intensive meditation,
0:16:26.790,0:16:29.085
sweating is a side effect.
0:16:29.120,0:16:33.106
The question is a young boy like that, you know, how he has mastered these kinds of techniques.
0:16:33.141,0:16:36.424
Obviously he has not practiced a long time in caves,
0:16:36.459,0:16:40.610
or in solitude, or in a monastery, so he is very rare.
0:16:40.645,0:16:43.249
Especially nowadays to hear somebody is doing it
0:16:43.284,0:16:47.324
in front of everybody like that, I mean totally live.
0:16:55.380,0:16:57.947
To understand how Ram learned the practice of Tummo
0:16:57.982,0:17:00.643
and continue to survive without food and water,
0:17:00.678,0:17:04.691
we must look into his past and his first visit to Lumbini,
0:17:04.726,0:17:06.331
the birth place of Buddha.
0:17:06.366,0:17:08.386
These places are the power point,
0:17:08.421,0:17:12.646
if you are staying here with faith, devotion and with the mindfulness
0:17:12.681,0:17:15.788
definitely that energy will do something
0:17:15.823,0:17:19.674
for your brain and to your physical body.
0:17:19.709,0:17:23.634
Definitely a boy like that, you know, who is so much devoted
0:17:23.669,0:17:26.077
and sitting for almost seven or eight months
0:17:26.112,0:17:28.752
and meditating in a jungle, you know,
0:17:28.787,0:17:33.318
definitely I believe that he was very much inspired
0:17:33.353,0:17:38.520
maybe got some power, that's possible. (Basanta Bidari, archaeologist and writer)
0:17:48.248,0:17:51.395
After Lumbini, Ram chose to study at the secret Tibetan monastery
0:17:51.430,0:17:53.275
near Dehradun, India.
0:17:53.310,0:17:57.853
Ten thousand feet up in the Himalayan Mountains and cut off from civilization.
0:17:57.888,0:17:59.886
There are many examples of monks practicing
0:17:59.921,0:18:03.422
Tummo intensive meditation in the hills nearby.
0:18:03.457,0:18:09.042
Ram sort of gravitated towards this monastery and at that moment,
0:18:09.077,0:18:14.057
I think it was 2002 or 2003 that he came;
0:18:14.092,0:18:17.103
he sort of like his own recognition. (Seren Tan, Sponsor, Kyegu Monastery)
0:18:19.998,0:18:22.154
Well he is too different.
0:18:22.189,0:18:24.340
Why is he too different?
0:18:24.375,0:18:30.242
It's like something different to the other monks.
0:18:30.277,0:18:32.887
Tummo is a particular form of Tibetan meditation
0:18:32.922,0:18:36.436
where the exponents are capable of withstanding
0:18:36.471,0:18:38.986
extremely harsh conditions with very little food,
0:18:39.021,0:18:42.005
very little water and very little clothing.
0:18:42.040,0:18:46.787
Some Lamas are doing meditation in the icy Himalayas,
0:18:46.822,0:18:50.011
from their body they bring the heat
0:18:50.046,0:18:54.045
so same way maybe he has done that.
0:18:54.080,0:18:57.074
American scientists tested the theory in 1982.
0:18:57.109,0:19:00.694
Monks were soaked in sheets of cold water,
0:19:00.729,0:19:04.411
forty five minutes later steam began rising through the cloth.
0:19:04.446,0:19:06.714
Some of the studies I have been doing, show that
0:19:06.914,0:19:09.568
even novices using Tibetan chanting
0:19:09.603,0:19:11.946
can increase their tolerance to cold press of pain
0:19:11.981,0:19:14.629
by a hundred percent or more.
0:19:19.018,0:19:23.032
But imagine he can do this for hours and hours and days on end,
0:19:23.067,0:19:25.815
extremely special skill.
0:19:26.001,0:19:28.517
But he learnt extra also.
0:19:30.467,0:19:31.844
Extra, you mean he learnt extra hours in the classroom?
0:19:32.417,0:19:34.468
Not classroom, in his room like homework.
0:19:34.503,0:19:39.539
He is doing what they call an absorption kind of meditation,
0:19:39.574,0:19:43.853
you train your mind to switch off.
0:19:43.888,0:19:47.389
The idea of meditation is to concentrate on your mind,
0:19:47.424,0:19:51.430
to observe your mind in perfect equanimity,
0:19:51.465,0:19:54.563
even though I am sure he is aware of what is going on at the same time
0:19:54.598,0:19:59.022
he keeps his concentration on his meditation,
0:19:59.057,0:20:02.048
that's why he is so strong, that's why he is so impressive.
0:20:02.083,0:20:05.502
So I truly believe he is a Buddha from the past life
0:20:06.603,0:20:10.264
and coming to this life time at a young age.
0:20:10.299,0:20:14.314
Well you know research has confirmed that with meditation
0:20:14.349,0:20:17.630
you lower your heart rate, you lower your cardiac output
0:20:17.665,0:20:19.625
and you also slow down breathing
0:20:19.660,0:20:22.694
so you really lower your metabolism to a level that
0:20:22.729,0:20:26.577
much less food can really sustain you
0:20:26.612,0:20:30.176
but starving for seven to eight months that has not really been looked at.
0:20:31.147,0:20:34.074
Scientists will think if you don't drink and eat
0:20:34.109,0:20:36.688
it is something but it is not for the Buddhist,
0:20:36.723,0:20:39.396
it is nothing to surprise.
0:20:39.431,0:20:42.337
Buddhists always think that you can change anything
0:20:42.372,0:20:45.159
if you can control your mind.
0:20:45.194,0:20:47.060
On returning from the monastery in India,
0:20:47.095,0:20:49.435
Ram spent an unhappy five months at home
0:20:49.470,0:20:51.832
before leaving to meditate in the jungle.
0:20:51.867,0:20:53.918
His meditation was disturbed many times
0:20:51.832,0:20:56.614
before fences were setup to protect him.
0:20:59.773,0:21:01.954
Suddenly our filming is short cut again
0:21:01.989,0:21:04.287
as the brother catches us within the inner fence;
0:21:04.322,0:21:06.214
he fears we got too close.
0:21:06.249,0:21:08.550
His followers escort us from the area.
0:21:21.922,0:21:26.349
It is only now we noticed the full scale of the operation that protects the boy.
0:21:26.384,0:21:28.634
Dozens of disciples pace the perimeter,
0:21:28.669,0:21:31.315
others are hard at work building new fences,
0:21:31.350,0:21:34.355
sweeping and moving on the throngs of devotees,
0:21:34.390,0:21:37.519
there must be forty on duty at any one time.
0:21:42.747,0:21:45.929
Ram's brother has created a fortress around the boy.
0:21:45.964,0:21:50.084
He lives in constant fear that someone will one day break the meditation.
0:21:54.260,0:21:57.254
Despite his hostility the brother unexpectedly offers
0:21:57.289,0:21:59.559
to take us to the village where Ram once lived,
0:22:00.445,0:22:03.341
allowing a camera to be left at the site to continue filming
0:22:03.376,0:22:05.670
to prove Ram doesn't move.
0:22:05.705,0:22:08.188
This is my house.
0:22:09.103,0:22:12.940
There are nine children altogether living in the modest family home.
0:22:12.975,0:22:14.882
This is kitchen rooms.
0:22:16.105,0:22:18.985
Looking around, it appears life hasn't changed a great deal
0:22:19.020,0:22:21.049
since Ram began meditating.
0:22:21.084,0:22:23.559
Reports have said that donation money from the site
0:22:23.594,0:22:26.536
is going into the pockets of brother and his followers.
0:22:27.117,0:22:28.875
But there is little evidence to suggest
0:22:28.910,0:22:31.633
that the family are benefiting.
0:22:35.735,0:22:38.285
We don't use this money for domestic expenses
0:22:38.320,0:22:40.610
but deposit it into a bank account.
0:22:42.385,0:22:45.480
Obviously, once we deducted the running cost of the site,
0:22:45.515,0:22:47.460
like food and other such requirements
0:22:49.451,0:22:50.060
for the volunteers and the committee...
0:22:51.409,0:22:53.400
Obviously I feel some pain;
0:22:53.435,0:22:56.532
he has spent a long time in the jungle alone.
0:22:57.735,0:23:00.702
It rained for two months at first,
0:23:00.737,0:23:03.985
I feared he might die. (Maya Devi Bomjan, Ram's mother)
0:23:05.038,0:23:07.142
I asked him to join a monastery
0:23:07.177,0:23:10.918
and was even going to spend two hundred or three hundred rupees on it;
0:23:10.953,0:23:13.971
he refused, saying it was impossible for the teachers
0:23:14.006,0:23:17.172
to give him that level of education he needs.
0:23:18.745,0:23:22.735
He wanted God Himself to be his guru.
0:23:28.723,0:23:31.370
Just ten months ago, Ganga Jeet Bomjan was a farmer
0:23:31.405,0:23:36.356
working in the land in the village like generations before him.
0:23:36.391,0:23:38.840
Now he has a big responsibility
0:23:38.875,0:23:43.234
running a flourishing business looking after Nepal's biggest tourist attraction,
0:23:43.356,0:23:45.962
one that is growing every day.
0:23:48.483,0:23:51.157
Thousands have even flocked to see him and in the three hours
0:23:51.192,0:23:55.460
we've been at the house three hundred and fifty monks turned up to pay homage.
0:23:55.495,0:23:59.717
Ordinary fifteen year old boys are not wise like he is.
0:23:59.752,0:24:02.785
He is special, he is a god himself.
0:24:03.641,0:24:08.875
All souls have god within them but he is a real god. (Guru Ganshagar)
0:24:08.910,0:24:12.176
The brother seems to enjoy the power
0:24:12.211,0:24:16.079
holding calls, giving press interviews, and speaking to visitors.
0:24:16.114,0:24:20.861
Scam or not, what Ganga Jeet Bomjan has done is pretty remarkable,
0:24:20.896,0:24:25.270
turning around what was an impoverished part of the country and uniting its local people,
0:24:27.087,0:24:30.117
but how long can his authority remain unchallenged?
0:24:30.129,0:24:32.955
The committee seems to be growing by the day,
0:24:32.990,0:24:35.140
people getting fired, people coming in,
0:24:35.175,0:24:37.574
organized chaos.
0:24:37.609,0:24:40.107
They all want the slice of the pie.
0:24:43.552,0:24:45.612
Ram Bomjan has been sitting under a tree
0:24:45.647,0:24:47.608
in the jungle of southern Nepal.
0:24:47.643,0:24:52.038
His supporters claim without food or water for ten months.
0:24:52.073,0:24:56.318
Forty eight hours ago we started filming continuously day and night.
0:24:56.353,0:24:59.092
Just what should his body being going through?
0:24:59.127,0:25:02.151
By day three you stop producing urine,
0:25:02.186,0:25:04.357
the person's blood pressure will fall
0:25:04.392,0:25:07.982
because there is not enough fluid in the system to maintain the circulation.
0:25:08.017,0:25:10.424
His cheeks would really start to get hollow;
0:25:10.459,0:25:13.608
your skin is going to get rough and it would crack more easily,
0:25:13.643,0:25:15.071
it would bleed more easily
0:25:15.106,0:25:17.900
especially if someone is sitting in the environment
0:25:17.935,0:25:20.395
and not really protected from the elements
0:25:20.430,0:25:22.883
you know the rain, the sun and the cold weather.
0:25:22.918,0:25:25.021
Ram still looks exactly the same
0:25:25.056,0:25:29.097
We haven't witnessed him move, eat or drink anything since our arrival.
0:25:29.132,0:25:31.832
But strangely we have seen him sweating profusely,
0:25:31.867,0:25:34.238
an indication he is practicing Tummo,
0:25:34.273,0:25:36.632
an ancient form of meditation.
0:25:36.667,0:25:38.995
Could this yogic technique explain how he is managing
0:25:39.030,0:25:41.619
to survive and stay so healthy?
0:25:41.742,0:25:43.912
Through the power of his mind
0:25:43.947,0:25:47.720
he has been successful in physically lowering
0:25:47.755,0:25:51.385
his whole metabolic state, so therefore his requirements
0:25:51.420,0:25:54.156
are also going to drop-drop-drop
0:25:54.191,0:25:59.848
to two to three hundred calories, in energy terms, a day.
0:25:59.867,0:26:02.901
He would have been taking some nutrition from somewhere.
0:26:03.218,0:26:04.473
Perhaps it was tree sap,
0:26:04.508,0:26:07.349
he would be getting sugars from that and that would modify fast,
0:26:07.384,0:26:09.148
that would protect some of his protein stores.
0:26:09.175,0:26:12.887
I think he is practicing a type of ancient yogic exercises
0:26:12.922,0:26:16.730
where you can feed on one breath,
0:26:16.765,0:26:20.999
or feed on the element in the air.
0:26:21.146,0:26:23.264
The bark of the Pipal tree that Ram sits under
0:26:23.299,0:26:25.850
can have a powerful healing effect on skin complaints
0:26:25.885,0:26:28.530
such as a physical signs of dehydration.
0:26:28.565,0:26:30.431
However its sap is poisonous
0:26:30.466,0:26:32.223
and its berries, while edible,
0:26:32.258,0:26:34.457
only appear for two months of the year.
0:26:34.492,0:26:36.805
He must be surviving on something else.
0:26:36.840,0:26:39.286
So far, we have not seen anything to suggest
0:26:39.321,0:26:41.620
he is being fed or allowed to leave the site;
0:26:41.655,0:26:44.796
there is only one way out and that is where we observe from.
0:26:45.041,0:26:47.910
We are not the only one doing the investigation.
0:26:47.945,0:26:50.345
Ram Bhakta Gurung and his science team
0:26:50.445,0:26:52.964
have been doing independent research for the government
0:26:52.999,0:26:55.755
and have been observing Buddha boy for six days.
0:26:57.578,0:27:00.510
Even there is from morning to evening
0:27:00.545,0:27:03.674
like this meditation, it is not normal.
0:27:03.709,0:27:07.129
Overnight the temperature reaches a low of three degrees centigrade [37.4 ?F],
0:27:07.164,0:27:09.508
the coldest night yet, since our arrival.
0:27:09.543,0:27:12.339
The investigators and security shiver under blankets
0:27:12.374,0:27:16.550
but Ram is wearing just a thin cloth.
0:27:16.595,0:27:20.073
What you should see on a cold evening is if he is physically shivering.
0:27:20.080,0:27:22.010
So, if he isn't shivering,
0:27:22.045,0:27:24.918
he is managing to suppress the natural urge
0:27:24.953,0:27:26.903
to maintain his body temperature
0:27:26.938,0:27:29.528
at thirty six point eight degree centigrade.
0:27:29.563,0:27:31.684
This is more evidence to suggest Ram is doing
0:27:31.719,0:27:34.851
the yogic technique of intense Tummo meditation,
0:27:34.886,0:27:36.850
generating his own body heat
0:27:36.885,0:27:40.591
and preventing the onset of hypothermia.
0:27:40.626,0:27:42.960
At six in the morning we rush into the enclosure,
0:27:42.995,0:27:46.026
someone claims there is a blue light coming from his head,
0:27:46.426,0:27:47.724
we cannot see it.
0:27:48.588,0:27:51.301
How is Ram surviving without moving?
0:27:51.336,0:27:53.679
There are theories about surviving of the environment
0:27:53.714,0:27:56.497
but everything is just conjecture, nothing is fact...
0:27:56.698,0:27:58.173
Until now.
0:27:58.208,0:28:00.509
A scientific break through claiming evidence to
0:28:00.544,0:28:03.325
suggest that extreme fasting may indeed be possible
0:28:03.360,0:28:06.532
has just reached us from another part of the world.
0:28:11.163,0:28:13.561
A doctor in Ahmedabad, India
0:28:13.596,0:28:16.746
contacted us, after witnessing the boy on television.
0:28:16.781,0:28:19.081
He says that his team has made a discovery
0:28:19.116,0:28:22.144
that can finally solve so many questions.
0:28:22.179,0:28:25.222
I was really fascinated to see the boy
0:28:25.257,0:28:28.087
who is fasting for six to eight months
0:28:28.122,0:28:32.520
and that is not at all really so exciting to me
0:28:32.555,0:28:34.840
because I studied similar cases in the past
0:28:34.875,0:28:38.219
and I can understand that this is possible.
0:28:38.254,0:28:41.775
Dr. Shah's most famous case is Prahlad Jaani
0:28:41.810,0:28:45.031
a holy man who claims he hasn't eaten or drunk anything
0:28:45.066,0:28:47.104
since he was twelve.
0:28:47.139,0:28:49.795
I haven't eaten anything not even now
0:28:49.830,0:28:52.991
even though I am eighty years old.
0:28:53.026,0:28:56.060
That made me really quite excited because
0:28:56.095,0:28:58.940
I knew that this is something
0:28:58.975,0:29:04.332
going to change the feeling of medical world.
0:29:04.367,0:29:08.583
Although I walk hundred, two hundred kilometers in the jungle,
0:29:08.618,0:29:13.004
I never sweat nor feet tired or sleepy.
0:29:14.260,0:29:18.982
I can meditate for three, eight or twelve hours or even months.
0:29:21.782,0:29:24.880
Prahlad Jaani recently spent ten days in observation,
0:29:24.915,0:29:27.864
watched and filmed twenty four hours a day.
0:29:27.899,0:29:30.262
Minute to minute, second to second
0:29:30.297,0:29:33.207
and he was kept in a cabin which was sealed from outside,
0:29:33.242,0:29:35.141
the bathroom was sealed.
0:29:35.176,0:29:38.612
One of my assistants would remain with him
0:29:38.647,0:29:41.691
all throughout twenty four hours with changing duty.
0:29:41.726,0:29:43.802
Doctors would come throughout the day
0:29:43.837,0:29:47.435
at different times, which were not be told to him
0:29:47.470,0:29:51.366
and we made sure that nothing could go wrong
0:29:51.401,0:29:53.715
in the sense medical world should know
0:29:53.750,0:29:56.563
that was not a single report.
0:29:59.057,0:30:02.056
They took blood samples from me three times a day,
0:30:02.091,0:30:04.433
morning, afternoon and evening.
0:30:04.468,0:30:07.885
They checked my kidney, brain and put machines all over my body.
0:30:11.799,0:30:15.502
They were trying to find out which factors made my body work.
0:30:15.537,0:30:18.840
They put machines inside my body also.
0:30:19.504,0:30:21.464
He wasn't given any food or water
0:30:21.499,0:30:23.197
and even when he was allowed to take a bath
0:30:23.611,0:30:25.537
the quantity of water was measured before and after
0:30:25.572,0:30:27.448
to make sure nothing was lost.
0:30:27.483,0:30:32.853
As I said after ten days the parameters were all normal,
0:30:32.888,0:30:35.669
we studied his hematology
0:30:35.704,0:30:39.902
and whatever studies we could think of, we could do it.
0:30:39.937,0:30:43.501
I will live up to approximately one thousand to five thousand
0:30:43.536,0:30:47.135
may be even ten thousand years with this kind of body.
0:30:47.170,0:30:50.385
That there was no food or water given to this man,
0:30:50.395,0:30:53.040
that he did not pass urine or stool.
0:30:53.075,0:30:55.607
He did not even dribble urine.
0:30:55.642,0:30:58.520
After few hours the urine would appear,
0:30:58.555,0:31:01.997
some fluid would appear in the bladder and again it would disappear.
0:31:03.901,0:31:05.842
It is possible to modify fluid intakes
0:31:05.877,0:31:08.721
so you produce a very small amout of urine each day.
0:31:08.756,0:31:11.974
And if he is covered with a cloth the chances are that he could urinate
0:31:12.009,0:31:14.998
and it would evaporate from the ground or soak into the ground
0:31:15.033,0:31:17.285
without anyone noticing.
0:31:18.022,0:31:20.097
Modern medicine tells us that an average human
0:31:20.132,0:31:23.357
can only survive for four days without water.
0:31:23.389,0:31:28.283
While confined, Prahlad Jaani incredibly lasted 10 days under observation.
0:31:28.318,0:31:32.962
Dr. Shah has a theory on how he is managing to survive without food or fluid.
0:31:32.997,0:31:36.289
He feels the holy man is feeding off of the sun.
0:31:38.108,0:31:41.254
He used to do solar gazing,
0:31:41.289,0:31:46.249
he says that you have to go to a flat ground
0:31:46.284,0:31:50.142
and barefooted and just look at the sun.
0:31:50.177,0:31:52.765
Its impossible for us to generate
0:31:52.865,0:31:55.910
heat or light energy from looking at the sun,
0:31:55.945,0:31:58.253
almost like in the act of photosynthesis
0:31:58.288,0:32:01.098
which is the process by which plants generate their energy supply
0:32:01.133,0:32:05.280
and this is absolutely impossible for a human being to do.
0:32:05.315,0:32:08.220
On the first day, you will look for five seconds
0:32:08.255,0:32:10.429
but without blinking your eyes.
0:32:10.464,0:32:12.911
Every few days you will increase few seconds
0:32:12.946,0:32:16.213
and maybe after a month you come to a minute or so.
0:32:16.248,0:32:20.346
In fact, staring at the sun would damage the retina of the eye.
0:32:20.381,0:32:23.679
A scientist from America also examined him several times
0:32:23.714,0:32:28.484
opthalmic system and he found nothing abnormal.
0:32:28.519,0:32:31.741
The sun transmits energy through a hole in the holy man's throat
0:32:31.776,0:32:35.524
producing a sticky solid lump that he can redigest.
0:32:38.794,0:32:42.825
The rest he claims refills the chakra power points in his body.
0:32:42.950,0:32:45.689
It is not a miracle, it is supernatural.
0:32:45.724,0:32:47.453
Could these results provide the answers
0:32:47.488,0:32:50.956
to how the boy is surviving without food and water?
0:32:52.866,0:32:55.576
Unfortunately we cannot take Ram to a lab.
0:32:55.611,0:32:58.783
For us to have any chance of replicating doctor’s findings,
0:32:58.818,0:33:00.486
we must head back to Nepal
0:33:00.521,0:33:02.671
and set up once again from the beginning
0:33:02.706,0:33:07.108
for four days and four nights of continuous recording and observation.
0:33:07.143,0:33:09.480
However when we get back to the site,
0:33:09.515,0:33:12.078
we are met with a very different scenario.
0:33:12.113,0:33:14.768
While we were away fifty nine people witnessed
0:33:14.803,0:33:17.425
Ram spontaneously burst into flames
0:33:17.460,0:33:20.212
as fire erupted from his chest.
0:33:25.595,0:33:27.888
On the fifth of January, Wednesday [Thursday]
0:33:27.923,0:33:31.143
around eight o' clock we saw a fire coming from him.
0:33:31.178,0:33:33.713
He stood and threw the cloth in front of him
0:33:33.748,0:33:36.769
and was naked in the middle of burning fire.
0:33:36.804,0:33:38.991
And then after some time, in a very soft voice
0:33:39.026,0:33:41.112
he called for his brother.
0:33:41.147,0:33:43.678
He asked for a red robe to be thrown over him.
0:33:43.713,0:33:45.812
He wrapped the cloth over his body and he said,
0:33:45.847,0:33:47.917
let him concentrate on his meditation
0:33:48.080,0:33:50.668
and do not disturb him.
0:33:52.584,0:33:54.354
Over the past three hundred years
0:33:54.389,0:33:55.998
there have been more than two hundred reports
0:33:56.149,0:33:58.420
of spontaneous combustion [note 2];
0:33:58.760,0:34:01.677
the burning of a body without an identifiable ignition source.
0:34:01.712,0:34:04.720
Its cause is an unsolved mystery.
0:34:04.755,0:34:07.742
However looking at previous evidence of Ram's sweating
0:34:07.945,0:34:10.068
and assuming he can control and increase
0:34:10.111,0:34:12.774
his body temperature through Tumo meditation,
0:34:12.921,0:34:15.468
maybe this is an extreme demonstration of his power
0:34:16.335,0:34:20.043
or just an increasingly elaborate hoax to gain more publicity.
0:34:21.730,0:34:24.383
After just a week away security has tightened
0:34:24.418,0:34:27.958
and the brother seems a deflated figure.
0:34:27.799,0:34:31.138
When he starts making about twenty thousand rupees a day from this
0:34:31.173,0:34:32.923
and there is money involved,
0:34:32.958,0:34:35.094
this is Nepal. There are going to be fights,
0:34:35.129,0:34:38.066
it would be unnatural if the committee had not
0:34:38.101,0:34:39.645
started bickering about it yet.
0:34:39.680,0:34:42.700
The committee seems to have evolved and doubled in size,
0:34:42.735,0:34:45.052
and it is not clear who is in charge.
0:34:47.820,0:34:50.670
There are many voices, all challenging for superiority.
0:34:59.420,0:35:01.818
The family probably would feel left out about this
0:35:01.853,0:35:05.167
and probably feel like their son's original purpose
0:35:05.202,0:35:07.170
has been defeated by all this money making
0:35:07.550,0:35:09.113
and that it's very unbuddha like
0:35:13.631,0:35:15.614
There seems to be a split within the committee
0:35:15.649,0:35:18.555
as to whether or not we are to be allowed to continue.
0:35:18.590,0:35:20.764
In fact the government response has been interesting,
0:35:21.065,0:35:22.848
you know, originally they said, well, we're gonna test the boy,
0:35:23.281,0:35:25.367
the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
0:35:25.682,0:35:28.436
is gonna go and take blood samples and do a DNA test
0:35:28.647,0:35:31.368
and I don't know why DNA. But they haven't done it yet.
0:35:31.641,0:35:33.430
The government of Nepal requested us
0:35:33.465,0:35:37.141
to visit that site and observe what was happening.
0:35:37.144,0:35:42.661
We went very close by and we observed very minutely.
0:35:42.696,0:35:46.180
His body almost dead, you know,
0:35:46.215,0:35:48.842
only the head part is alive.
0:35:48.877,0:35:52.176
We are concerned about the way of meditation without having
0:35:52.276,0:35:57.056
any food and drinks and next to that the propaganda. (Dr. Naresh Man Bajrachary, Kathmandu University)
0:35:57.460,0:36:00.774
Face colour was red like blood colour.
0:36:00.809,0:36:03.170
It is important to test on the boy,
0:36:03.281,0:36:06.173
if we want to know the truth.
0:36:06.208,0:36:08.127
The reports sent to the government states
0:36:09.537,0:36:11.117
to complete his meditation
0:36:11.176,0:36:12.975
and not to be tested scientifically.
0:36:13.895,0:36:19.158
Whatever he is doing there, it is his personal right.
0:36:19.193,0:36:22.013
There's not even been an effort to try to regulate the income
0:36:22.149,0:36:24.967
or see who is getting what and try to see if it is not being scamed
0:36:25.002,0:36:27.411
and people are not being cheated.
0:36:27.446,0:36:31.412
There's no official oversite over this whole thing.
0:36:31.447,0:36:34.407
So, its happening in this sort of, you know,
0:36:34.442,0:36:37.763
Wild West kind of jungle setting.
0:36:38.016,0:36:40.137
Another film crew has also arrived.
0:36:40.286,0:36:41.670
They have even more difficulty than us
0:36:41.937,0:36:43.487
and fail to get close to the boy.
0:36:43.839,0:36:46.233
If you are making documentary, people are never knowing
0:36:46.268,0:36:49.013
if you are acting also on the political parts
0:36:49.048,0:36:53.906
sometimes it also can be very difficult,
0:36:53.941,0:36:57.394
very dangerous also to shoot here with a camera. (Jurgen Schunk, Journalist)
0:36:59.159,0:37:01.670
Nepal is in the grip of a long raging civil war;
0:37:01.705,0:37:04.886
eleven thousand people have died in the last nine years.
0:37:04.921,0:37:08.165
The ruling royals are holding elections in the next few days
0:37:08.200,0:37:09.652
but violence has escalated
0:37:09.687,0:37:12.436
as the Maoist people's movement tries to take over
0:37:12.471,0:37:15.912
and some believe the Maoist guerillas have been seen in the area.
0:37:15.947,0:37:19.437
The Maoists are more acting in the villages
0:37:19.522,0:37:22.321
whereas for the army it's more difficult to reach
0:37:22.356,0:37:24.950
and more difficult to fight against them.
0:37:24.985,0:37:26.883
Everybody is speaking in Nepal you know
0:37:26.918,0:37:29.021
the Maoists are speaking, the political parties are speaking
0:37:29.056,0:37:32.806
and this guy just sits there like a silent prophet.
0:37:32.892,0:37:35.874
Eventually we are allowed to film
0:37:35.909,0:37:38.439
but under close inspection from the committee.
0:37:42.298,0:37:46.111
We reset our cameras to record the next four days and nights
0:37:46.146,0:37:50.442
the length of time it takes for a human to die without fluid.
0:37:54.625,0:37:57.659
This is the only way we can prove if he is genuine or not.
0:37:57.694,0:38:00.525
After forty eight hours of continuous observation
0:38:00.560,0:38:03.053
Ram still hasn't moved.
0:38:03.088,0:38:04.988
What is almost unbelievable is the fact that this child
0:38:05.023,0:38:07.226
manages to stay in the same position
0:38:07.261,0:38:10.144
during waking hours and sleeping hours.
0:38:10.179,0:38:14.125
Try sitting for thirty minutes or an hour, three hours
0:38:14.160,0:38:16.304
not moving just concentrating.
0:38:16.339,0:38:19.164
And within twenty four to thirty six hours where the skin surface
0:38:19.199,0:38:21.683
reaches the contact point of where you're sitting,
0:38:21.718,0:38:23.873
you will get damaged in that skin area.
0:38:24.055,0:38:25.960
And formation of what we know in the western world
0:38:25.995,0:38:27.253
as called a pressure sore.
0:38:27.288,0:38:29.292
It is the most challenging thing he is dealing with,
0:38:29.327,0:38:31.384
incredible.
0:38:31.419,0:38:35.072
A few hours later he begins fidgeting and jerking.
0:38:35.107,0:38:36.847
What you would probably notice if you scrutinize
0:38:36.882,0:38:38.527
your footage very carefully,
0:38:38.562,0:38:40.827
it's that there are very small changes,
0:38:40.862,0:38:44.240
with that he is shifting balance, maybe,
0:38:40.862,0:38:44.240
from one buttock to another
0:38:44.275,0:38:46.130
to relief pressure points and allow the blood
0:38:46.165,0:38:48.425
to flow back to that tissue.
0:38:56.429,0:38:58.785
As the sun sets, sixty hours into filming,
0:38:58.820,0:39:01.099
and the committee takes a tighter strangle hold.
0:39:01.134,0:39:03.047
We find ourselves back with the family
0:39:03.082,0:39:05.397
whose devotion for Ram remains undiminished.
0:39:07.785,0:39:09.996
There are many that have devoted their life to be in his presence.
0:39:10.031,0:39:13.290
Some have never been home since arriving.
0:39:13.325,0:39:16.897
Please stay here a couple of days and feel for yourself,
0:39:16.932,0:39:18.536
it's wonderful.
0:39:22.581,0:39:26.477
We have lived here eating only once a day for many months.
0:39:27.218,0:39:30.006
I will stay here till my death.
0:39:33.364,0:39:35.222
The relaxed environment suddenly changes
0:39:35.257,0:39:36.628
when words goes through the camp,
0:39:36.801,0:39:38.531
there is a tiger loose in the site.
0:39:39.159,0:39:41.169
Is it for real or rather the committee
0:39:41.204,0:39:43.813
creating more hype around the boy?
0:39:44.541,0:39:45.974
The jackal was just over there,
0:39:46.009,0:39:47.986
the tiger was a little further away.
0:39:49.504,0:39:52.496
Chaos reigns as many fear for the safety of Ram.
0:39:52.531,0:39:55.846
I understand the Nepali sense of the miracle of him,
0:39:55.881,0:39:58.899
not having taken food not drinking,
0:39:58.934,0:40:01.571
but for me those are not the important issues.
0:40:01.606,0:40:03.121
You know whether he eats or drinks,
0:40:03.293,0:40:04.762
I hope he stays healthy.
0:40:05.458,0:40:08.071
After a thorough search tiger prints are discovered.
0:40:08.106,0:40:11.483
We realized how vulnerable the boy really is.
0:40:13.928,0:40:17.259
We wonder if Ram is the innocent victim in this spectacle.
0:40:18.805,0:40:21.364
After fifty eight hours, life continues as normal
0:40:21.399,0:40:25.643
donation boxes are filled, and the crowds start to arrive.
0:40:26.630,0:40:30.453
Ram appears to show no classic signs of degeneration through fluid loss.
0:40:30.488,0:40:32.921
But a closer look at our footage might help us understand
0:40:32.956,0:40:35.240
his physical and mental health.
0:40:35.275,0:40:39.049
He looks unwell, if you saw this individual sat
0:40:39.084,0:40:44.118
against a wall in London, you would be very concerned about how he looks.
0:40:44.153,0:40:46.026
As life passes him by,
0:40:46.061,0:40:49.148
Ram just sits calmly meditating.
0:40:49.183,0:40:52.226
There is a swelling in his neck, but whether that represents a goitre
0:40:52.261,0:40:55.910
or an underactive thyroid, it's very difficult to say.
0:40:57.082,0:40:59.274
Having a severely under active thyroid
0:40:59.309,0:41:01.737
would mean that your metabolic state is incredibly low
0:41:01.896,0:41:04.428
which means that you can survive for a very long time
0:41:04.463,0:41:06.760
without food and fluid.
0:41:06.998,0:41:11.019
It almost looks like you can see the ribs showing through
0:41:11.054,0:41:13.550
and that would represent quite advanced starvation
0:41:13.676,0:41:16.055
and you start to waste away the muscles
0:41:16.090,0:41:18.336
between the lungs, between the rib cages.
0:41:18.358,0:41:21.379
Probably sat in that position well away from individuals
0:41:21.414,0:41:23.657
is the safest thing for him in order to prevent
0:41:23.692,0:41:25.968
an infection that would ultimately kill him.
0:41:26.003,0:41:27.996
Is Ram now a victim of his own success
0:41:28.031,0:41:30.304
being slowly starved to death for profit?
0:41:31.110,0:41:32.580
Only time will tell.
0:41:32.615,0:41:36.266
This could turn out to be a very sad story.
0:41:48.557,0:41:50.810
We have been observing Ram Bomjan continuously
0:41:50.845,0:41:53.153
in the jungle of Nepal for eighty six hours.
0:41:53.188,0:41:56.423
In that time we have not seen him take any food or fluid
0:41:56.458,0:41:58.570
or show any signs of dehydration...
0:41:58.605,0:42:01.611
An average human should be just a few hours from death.
0:42:01.646,0:42:04.578
With a prolonged deficiency of food and water,
0:42:04.613,0:42:06.720
your brain is going to lack the glucose,
0:42:06.820,0:42:09.329
you are not going to have enough fluid in your system.
0:42:09.364,0:42:12.675
As he progresses without those fluids he becomes delirious.
0:42:15.832,0:42:18.740
On day four, that confusion will get worse, you start fidgeting,
0:42:18.775,0:42:21.130
your body is going into kidney failure,
0:42:21.165,0:42:24.054
and ultimately the person dies of dehydration.
0:42:24.089,0:42:27.222
To rule out foul play within the secure inner enclosure,
0:42:27.257,0:42:29.700
we defy the committee and enlist Prem Lama,
0:42:29.735,0:42:32.296
Ram's oldest friend and caretaker, to take a closer look.
0:42:35.151,0:42:37.440
In the beginning, he used to walk around this tree
0:42:37.507,0:42:39.670
in the morning chanting mantras.
0:42:39.705,0:42:41.879
After that he meditated for three months
0:42:41.914,0:42:45.166
before going into the deep trance that he is in today.
0:42:45.201,0:42:47.089
After a thorough search inside the tree
0:42:47.124,0:42:49.363
and the ground area surrounding Ram,
0:42:49.398,0:42:50.985
there is nothing suspicious,
0:42:51.020,0:42:53.417
no food pipes buried or supplies hidden.
0:42:53.452,0:42:56.446
Are people there creating a scam for us to believe in.
0:42:56.751,0:42:59.761
I hope not it would be an elaborate scam to do that.
0:42:59.861,0:43:02.323
Surely if it was a scam someone within the committee
0:43:02.358,0:43:04.215
would have let on, told the papers,
0:43:04.250,0:43:06.310
weakened for the money.
0:43:06.345,0:43:09.220
The people in this area, they don't tell lies.
0:43:09.255,0:43:12.902
They tell truth, that is also the proof. (Deepak Limbu, local science teacher)
0:43:12.937,0:43:15.085
After ninety six hours of filming
0:43:15.120,0:43:17.468
Ram has defied modern science
0:43:17.503,0:43:20.608
by continuing his meditation and remaining alive.
0:43:20.832,0:43:23.775
Many of the pilgrims at the site are from a scientific background
0:43:23.810,0:43:25.522
and they are torn by what they see.
0:43:25.557,0:43:28.598
Is he a miracle or a myth?
0:43:28.633,0:43:32.547
We must prove this. Science has to be re-written. Modern medicine does not work here.
0:43:32.647,0:43:35.131
We cannot say that science is a failure…
0:43:35.231,0:43:41.513
But whatever science has invented so far is not sufficient.
0:43:41.774,0:43:43.840
We have all religions built around miracles,
0:43:43.875,0:43:46.596
Jesus rose from the grave. Millions of people believe that.
0:43:46.671,0:43:48.884
That's the centre and core of their religion.
0:43:48.919,0:43:50.937
Are we saying in another culture it's not possible?
0:43:50.972,0:43:53.412
Everything is possible.
0:43:53.447,0:43:59.071
It is unknown how he is meditating. Modern medicine says that within 72 hours…
0:43:59.106,0:44:03.925
if you do not drink water, your kidney fails…
0:44:03.960,0:44:09.356
but medical science is still not fully knowledgeable about this.
0:44:09.391,0:44:12.640
Prolonged fasting is not as simple as we understand.
0:44:12.675,0:44:16.655
We all should explore the benefits of this kind of fasting.
0:44:16.690,0:44:19.957
The debate of science and spirituality will always continue
0:44:19.992,0:44:23.414
and so too the tug of war between those who have Ram's best interest
0:44:23.449,0:44:26.161
at heart and those who want to make a quick buck.
0:44:26.196,0:44:28.597
It's very difficult when you have that belief
0:44:28.632,0:44:31.000
in an individual that has transcended
0:44:31.035,0:44:34.057
on the normal biological needs of food and fluid.
0:44:34.092,0:44:37.924
It's very hard to reject that if you truly believe it.
0:44:37.959,0:44:39.743
Maybe the brother knows the answer.
0:44:39.778,0:44:41.925
He has the key to the inner sanctum.
0:44:41.960,0:44:44.476
He is the only one allowed to speak to Ram.
0:44:44.511,0:44:47.192
He will continue to empty the donation boxes,
0:44:47.227,0:44:50.214
reaping the rewards while the truth remains unresolved.
0:44:50.249,0:44:55.562
The media people should not create confusion.
0:44:55.597,0:44:57.992
He will show the truth himself.
0:44:58.027,0:45:00.863
Despite the isolation, he has created a commodity,
0:45:00.898,0:45:03.384
a celebrity icon for the whole of Nepal.
0:45:03.419,0:45:05.988
Surely everyone is a winner in this situation.
0:45:06.023,0:45:09.305
After six years he will bring the proof to the world.
0:45:09.340,0:45:11.338
He will tell the truth by himself.
0:45:11.373,0:45:13.954
I am this, I will do this and I want to get this
0:45:13.989,0:45:15.783
I have appealed to all the people in the world
0:45:15.818,0:45:18.470
not to talk and say bad things about him.
0:45:23.043,0:45:24.942
No one really knows what Ram is thinking,
0:45:24.977,0:45:27.523
how he is surviving or if he is Buddha,
0:45:27.558,0:45:29.602
and so it turned out.
0:45:29.637,0:45:33.410
March the 13, 2006, events took a turn no one could have anticipated,
0:45:34.348,0:45:35.624
Ram disappeared [March 11, 2006].
0:45:35.659,0:45:38.173
Some reports suggest he has gone deeper into the jungle
0:45:38.208,0:45:40.049
to continue his meditation in peace,
0:45:40.084,0:45:41.383
undisturbed.
0:45:41.418,0:45:43.278
Other reports are more sinister,
0:45:43.313,0:45:45.649
claiming that he has been kidnapped.
0:45:49.297,0:45:52.129
Perhaps Ram has decided against being a scientific miracle
0:45:56.908,0:45:59.377
The once thriving bazaar and bus park is deserted,
0:45:59.412,0:46:01.416
the fences broken.
0:46:01.451,0:46:03.369
And the only trace of Ram is a red robe
0:46:03.404,0:46:07.305
lying discarded in the hollow of a tree.
0:46:09.108,0:46:11.782
He has not been seen since.
0:46:13.044,0:46:18.644
[1] Information on the Buddha is not completely accurate here.
0:46:18.679,0:46:26.528
[2] The presented picture of the monk self-immolating is not a picture of spontaneous combustion
