Daria KHAZANOVA
Articles about Indian yoga who did not take food and water for 70 years reminded me of a similar story that I read in the book "Autobiography of a Yogi", written by the monk Paramahansa Yogananda. In one of the chapters, the monk describes a meeting with a yogini who has not eaten or drunk for over 56 years
This great yogini did not eat or drink for 56 years. Monk Paramahansa Yogananda outside her home in the Bengali village of Biur in 1936.
The book itself is quite curious, as it tells about various wonders of nature and the secrets of spiritual practices. The book provides examples of people with supernatural powers, such as: levitation, teleportation (movement in space in another dimension), the ability to never sleep, fragrant saints and others.
Giri Bala lived in the tiny village of Biuru, deep in the Bankura district of Bengal. It is interesting to note that the yogini, although she did not avoid loneliness (which corresponds to the position of an Indian widow), spent her life with family and friends. According to the yogini, she loved to cook food and treat people with it. When monk Yogananda asked if it was true that she didn’t eat or drink anything, the yogini replied: "From the age of twelve and four months until my present age of sixty-eight, about fifty-six years old, I did not eat or drink anything."
Once, a wealthy maharaja named Burdwana invited her to his palace to test her. Giri Bala agreed to be tested and remained locked up in a small section of the palace for two months. She later visited the palace again and stayed there for twenty days. Finally, the third trial lasted fifteen days. Maharaja himself stated that these three checks completely convinced him that she was not eating anything.
The yogini, at the request of the monk, spoke about her life. Since childhood, she has been incredibly gluttonous. At the age of 9 she was betrothed, and at the age of 12 she moved to her husband's house. For her gluttony, the mother-in-law constantly reproached the girl. According to her, it was a veiled blessing, because it prompted her to embark on the spiritual path. One morning, her mother-in-law was especially hard on Giri, and the girl said that she would never touch food again in her life. The girl prayed to God to help her, and soon after taking a bath in the Ganges River in broad daylight, her teacher materialized in front of her, who revealed to her that he had been sent by God. Guru initiated Giri into a certain technique, which includes a mantra and a breathing exercise. From that day on, she began to live at the expense of the astral light, and the atoms of her body absorbed energy from the stream of Infinity.
Giri Bala was widowed early, doing household chores during the day and meditating at night. She slept very little, since for her sleep and wakefulness were one and the same. According to her, she did not feel seasonal changes in the weather and was never sick. She could control the work of the heart and respiration. In visions, she often communicated with her guru and other great souls.
When asked why she did not want to share the secret of how to live without food and water, the yogini replied that the guru strictly forbade her to divulge this secret, because misfortune, hunger and disease are man-made karma, which, in the end, prompts a person to seek the true meaning of life.
Finally, the monk asked why she was chosen to be a person who lives without food. The yogini replied: “To show that a person is a spirit. Show that thanks to spiritual advancement, a person will gradually be able to live not by food, but by eternal Light."
