Varanasi, India. This ancient city, overlooking the sacred Ganges River, is one of the holiest in the Hindu religion. For thousands of years, worshippers have come to this site to perform meditation and prayer.
In ancient times, Hindu holy men, known as Swamis, were said to have used these rituals to attain eternal life. In Yoga Sutras, there's a whole chapter called Vibhuti Pada, where Patanjali explains how, by certain meditative practices, one can get these hours to extend the lifespan of a particular body. In India, you have a long history of holy people, Swamis, who've been able to figure out how the world works, how their body works, how the universe works, and are able to live very, very long periods of time.
You have Devaraja Baba, who died in 1990 and was believed to be 250 years old. Swami Trilinga, who died in 1887, believed to be 280 years old. If you would ask most Indians about long-lived yogis and Swamis, one of the names that will almost inevitably come up is that of Trilanga Swami.
And he was observed by not only many Indians in Benares, but also by the British authorities there in the late 19th century. So a lot of what he said and taught and did has been documented and recorded by many witnesses. They testify to his extraordinarily long life.
For many, it may be hard to believe that daily prayer and meditation can provide age-defying powers. But Hindu mystics aren't the only examples of people who are believed to have used the power of faith to live for hundreds of years. If we look at the Bible, we have these great stories of holy people who've lived tremendous amounts of time.
The Bible says Methuselah lives for 969 years. Noah lives for 950 years. Adam lives for 930 years.
So these are tremendous lifespans of people living, according to the biblical text, of almost 1,000 years. Many in modern times question, is this to be taken literally? Did people really live that long? And the answer from tradition is, yes, they did. This is nothing new.
This has very ancient foundations. Very well documented in the biblical traditions, but equally well known in traditions around the world. Regardless of the culture, there is many legends about the Taoist immortals or about the Tibetan immortals, as there are amongst the Hebraic immortals.
There's this idea that because these people are literally directly communicating with the divine, with God, are they given other instructions, are they given other secrets, are they given other kinds of hints that allow them to live much longer lives than we live? Is it really possible that those with a deeper spiritual connection to the divine age more slowly and can potentially develop the power to live hundreds of years? Perhaps the answer can be found by examining the Hindu swami who has performed meditation and prayer every morning, without fail, for over a hundred years. My name is Swami Sivamanda. I was born on the 8th of August, 1868.
I was born in Bangladesh. At 125 years old, Swami Sivamanda practices a strict daily regimen of meditation and exercise, which he credits as the reason for his incredible longevity. The practice is a sacred Hindu ritual known as Pranayama.
When such an advanced spiritual practitioner sits in meditation, what they are actually doing is obviously quietening the body, making it absolutely still. Then they are quietening the breath, that means slowing it down, even to the point of actually stopping sometimes. It's one of the teachings in Vedanta that by certain meditative practices, the lifespan of the swami or the monk is extended by the will of God, so that a person can remain as a sort of continuous living blessing to those around him.
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