Anti Aging -Tat Wale Baba Youthful at Age 85

Vincent J. Daczynski
It was March 30, 1969. I was at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram, attending a course to become a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation program. The ashram was located on a hill overlooking the Ganges, just about a kilometer below the retreat of Tat Wale Baba. News quickly spread that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had invited "the wise man of the mountains," Tat Wale Baba, to come visit us that afternoon. By mid-afternoon several ochre-robed men made their way toward the lecture hall. Along with them was Tat Wale Baba, a muscular golden-brown-skinned Adonis. Also walking along with them were Maharishis course participants. Tat Wale Baba's features were much like that of an American Indian. He was naked except for an ochre loin cloth which was held around his waist with a brass chain. His black braided hair flowed down his back and was so long that, were it not carried by an attendant, it would have trailed along the ground. He exuded a radiant aura as he took a majestic cross-legged position on a small platform that was covered with a deerskin. Maharishi and the others took their seats and we all waited anxiously to hear Sri Tat Wale Baba speak. Tat Wale Baba began his discourse in unstrained, forceful Hindi, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi translated. As he spoke I saw a dynamic, youthful man who appeared no older than in his mid-thirties, yet he was said to be about 120 years old. The exact date of Tat Wale Baba's birth is not known. Tat Wale Baba was born of spiritual parents who were middle-class farmers in Punjab, India. Tat Wale Baba received little formal education, spending most of his early childhood assisting his parents with farm work. At about the age of eight or nine years Tat Wale Baba's innate spiritual nature led him to begin meditating. This he did ardently whenever time permitted between chores. As he grew into his teenage years Tat Wale Baba took on a mesomorphic stature. Because of his physical prowess his friends encouraged him to join the Army, which he did. He did not like military life. Therefore, after just two months of military service he left and sought the reclusive, sadhu life-style for himself. His search for a guru to guide him was fulfilled when he met Sri Jagannath Dasji at Ayodhya. This guru named him Sri Mahavir Dash Ji. However, later, when Tat Wale Baba started wearing jute people called him Tat Wale, meaning "one who wears jute." The sobriquet stuck. Tat Wale Baba lived at the ashram with his guru for about three months during which time he was initiated into Raja Yoga. He then left in search of a reclusive retreat for himself. He was intutively led to Manikut mountain where he came upon an old, emaciated man with very long gata (hair) living in a secluded cave. Tat Wale Baba approached the man and was invited to sit and talk. At the conclusion of their talk the old man left saying that his time was finished, and that he was going to the Himalayas to take mahasamadhi. He left the cave for Tat Wale Baba to occupy. The cave was conveniently located near a fresh water spring. Tat Wale Baba lived off kandamulo leaves and roots, and fruits he found in the ambient forest. He preferred spending time in long meditations instead of doing asanas. His schedule of meditating was from 2:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. From 10:00 a.m. until noon he would eat and rest. Then, from noon until 4:00 p.m. he would again meditate. He would exercise for about two hours, until 6:00 p.m. For exercise he usually took long walks of about ten kilometers, collected firewood, and worked hard at expanding the dimensions of his cave. People coming into the forest to gather leaves and sticks for sale in Rishikesh occasionally spotted Tat Wale Baba emerging from his retreat. Word soon spread that a yogi was taking long periods of silence in a cave. As a result, pilgrims began to come by the hundreds to try to visit Tat Wale Baba. Because of the demand for his time he altered his schedule to include some visitor time.

Tat Wale Baba had a cobra for a pet. He regularly fed it milk from a cup. The cobra liked to stay in the cave where Tat Wale Baba meditated. Tat Wale Baba is said to have contacted the King of the Cobras and asked that no cobra harm any of the people passing through the nearby jungle foothills. It is said that there have been no accounts of people being bitten by cobras in the area since then. Tat Wale Baba was credited with performing miracles. There were three couples that could not bear children. Each couple came to see Tat Wale Baba, and from his blessings each had a child born to them. He also gave pilgrims darshan, performed healings, and gave spiritual guidance. Further, Tat Wale Baba predicted his own death. He said that he would be shot to death. He said that a rogue, who was very jealous of him, and living nearby in the forest, would sneak up and shoot him in the back. He told this to his closest disciple on June 22, 1971, several years before he took his mahasamadhi. Also, just two days before he was shot, Tat Wale Baba reminded his disciple of this prediction. On December 2, 1974, as he went to take his bath at 4:00 a.m., Sri Tat Wale Baba was murdered by a crazy gunman. He was killed by a man operating a small ashram near Tat Wale Babas cave. No known records exist of Tat Wale Babas age. However, a man who was a classmate of Tat Wale Baba's in elementary school, and who had seen Tat Wale Baba later in life, commented that Tat Wale Baba had stopped aging when he was about thirty-five years old. By assuming that Tat Wale Baba was of equal age as this classmate, Tat Wale Baba's year of birth was about 1890. That would place Tat Wale Baba's age at about eighty-five years when he was killed. Had he not been killed perhaps he would have lived to his rumored age of 120. What gave Tat Wale Baba his youthfulness and stopped his aging at mid-life? Perhaps research done on long-term meditators provides a hint. According to a study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience 16 (1): 5358, 1982, the longer people had been meditating the lower their biological age became as compared with their chronological age (as measured by blood pressure, and visual and auditory performance). As a group, long-term meditators who had been practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique for more than 5 years were physiologically 12 years younger than their chronological age. Short-term Transcendental Meditators were physiologically 5 years younger than their chronological age. The study controlled for the effects of diet and exercise. Another study, which researched elderly meditators, was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57(6): 950-964, (1989). It reported that people in their eighties showed a marked improvement rather than deterioration in their mental and physical health and well-being over a three year period of practicing Transcendental Meditation. Benefits for the meditating elderly included: reversal of aging; increased longevity; increased cognitive flexibility (including increased learning ability and greater perceptual flexibility); increased word fluency; improvements in self-reported measures of behavioral flexibility and aging; greater sense of well-being; improved mental health; and reduction of blood pressure to more ideal levels. Since Tat Wale Baba was an advanced meditator who spent most of his time in extended deep meditation, this may explain how he retained his youthfulness. (This Chapter was excerpted from the free online photo biography about Sri Tat Wale Baba. To read the complete story about one of Indians greatest yogis please visit Tat Wale Baba.)
Note: Swami Shankardasji is the caretaker of the Tat Wale Baba ashram. He asks that if anyone has a voice recording of Tat Wale Baba to kindly mail him a copy:

Swami Shankardasji Sri Tat Wale Baba Ashram Bhut Nath Gufa Post Swargashram Rishikesh 249304 Upprakand, India

Amazing Longevity-Devraha Baba 250+ Years Old

Vincent J. Daczynski
"And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died," from Genesis 5:5. According to the Bible subsequent progeny lived for hundreds of years, with some in excess of nine hundred years. Are biblical references to a long life span allegorical or statistical facts? Todays human with an average life span under eighty years may have difficulty comprehending how a human could live so long. But, perhaps a life span into the hundreds of years is not that far-fetched. What if sometime in the future medical science was able to eliminate most diseases, what then would cause people to die? Accidents and wars aside, how old could old age be? How long could the life span of a human be? Hundreds of years? Why not? Much research has been done and is being done on aging and how to prevent it. Some observations and theories have evolved. One observation has been that animals with a slow metabolism tend to live longer than animals with a fast metabolism. Shrews, for example, have a fast metabolism. They live only a year or two. Turtles have a slow metabolism. The giant tortoise lives nearly 200 years. Studies done on meditators have proven that metabolism slows down during meditation; heart rate and breathing slows down. Results of a study measuring the physiological differences between subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation and just simply taking rest were reported in American Psychologist 42: 879881, 1987. The article stated that Transcendental Meditation produced a significant increase in basal skin resistance compared to eyes-closed rest, indicating profound relaxation. Deep rest and relaxation were also indicated by greater decreases in respiration rates and plasma lactate levels compared to ordinary rest. The implication is that practicing meditation may extend one's life span. Another theory suggests that hormones play a role in the aging process. In 1989, at Veterans Administration hospitals in Milwaukee and Chicago, a study indicated that a growth hormone produced in the pituitary gland plays a critical part in aging. As one ages, production of the growth hormone declines. Injections of a synthetic version of the growth hormone were given to a small group of men aged 60 and over. There was a dramatic reversal of some signs of aging. The injections increased muscle mass, reduced excess fat, and thickened skin. But, when the injections stopped, the men's new strength decreased and signs of aging returned. Also, older people have reduced levels of estrogen, testosterone, melatonin, thymosin, and DHEA; reductions of which also have an effect on aging. Still another theory of aging is the free-radical theory. According to this theory, free radicals, which occur during the natural course of metabolism, also act randomly and indiscriminately to damage cell components. Free radicals are chemical compounds that possess one or more unshared electrons as part of their structural configurations. To become stable they aggressively seek out another electron with which to pair. In so doing they attack molecules, such as lipids, proteins and DNA which make up the cell's membrane. Cells have an internal defense system of creating antioxidants to fight against the harmful effects of free radicals. However, their defense mechanism is insufficient to prevent the damage caused by the actions of free radicals over a cell's lifetime. This cumulative cellular damage may contribute to the aging process. Pharmacologists demonstrated that by augmenting the cell's antioxidant defenses with certain synthetic enzymes they were able to reduce the action of free radicals, and thereby lessen cellular damage that the free radicals caused. By administering synthetic enzymes to worms the pharmacologists were able to extend the average life span of worms by 44%. Using this same pharmacological intervention on humans may lengthen the human life span as well. Caloric restriction is another approach scientists have discovered which extends longevity. Researchers studied the effects of reducing food intake by 30% to 70% on a variety of life forms, from yeast to mammals. The researchers found that they were able to increase the life span of various creatures up to 40%. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied yeast and found that when the energy of a cell drops off (which occurs under conditions of caloric restriction) an enzyme called Sir2 is activated. When activated, Sir2 causes a cell's genes within its chromosomes to be silenced. This reduces the production of extrachromosomal DNA circles, or Ecs. Ecs

are toxic to cells and decrease longevity in yeast; they self-replicate, accumulate, and compete with the yeast's genome for vital enzymes and other cellular materials. For this reason reducing Ecs results in extending the life span of yeast. Since Sir2 has been found in humans, the research findings on yeast appear to be applicable to the human aging process as well. What if a person does not eat at all, but is able to switch his body metabolism into living directly off of sunshine, can he prolong his life? Recent studies made on behalf of NASA, as well as other prior scientific research studies, have proven that humans can live without food. They do not understand why or how, only that it is possible for humans to do so. One such recorded case is of Giri Bala, a woman who had not eaten for 56 years. Here is a dialogue between of Paramahansa Yogananda and Giri Bala, excerpted from Yogananda's book, Autobiography of a Yogi. "Are you never tempted to eat?" "If I felt a craving for food, I would have to eat." Simply yet regally she stated this axiomatic truth, one known too well by a world revolving around three meals a day! "But you do eat something!" My tone held a note of remonstrance. "Of course!" She smiled in swift understanding. "Your nourishment derives from the finer energies of the air and sunlight, and from the cosmic power which recharges your body through the medulla oblongata" "Mother," I asked, "why don't you teach others the method of living without food?" My ambitious hopes for the world's starving millions were quickly shattered. "No." She shook her head. "I was strictly commanded by my guru not to divulge the secret. It is not his wish to tamper with God's drama of creation. The farmers would not thank me if I taught many people to live without eating! The luscious fruits would lie uselessly on the ground. It appears that misery, starvation, and disease are whips of our karma which ultimately drive us to seek the true meaning of life." "Mother," I said slowly, "what is the use of your having been singled out to live without eating?" "To prove that man is Spirit." Her face lit with wisdom. "To demonstrate that by divine advancement he can gradually learn to live by the Eternal Light and not by food." Yogananda's book also refers to Christian saints not taking food. It states, Among Christian Saints who lived without eating may be mentioned St. Lidwina of Schiedam, Blessed Elizabeth of Rent, St. Catherine of Siena, Dominica Lazarri, Blessed Angela of Feligno, and the 19th century Louise Lateau. St. Nicholas of Flue (Bruder Klaus, the 15th century hermit whose impassioned plea for union saved the Swiss Confederation) was an abstainer from food for twenty years. If a person were able to draw his required energy from cosmic sources he would eliminate the toxic fallout (free radicals and Ecs) that occurs from eating food, and this would help him prolong his life span. And, if the person practiced meditation and lived a relaxed lifestyle (thus lowering his metabolism), and also practiced yoga postures (stimulating his endocrine system), his life span would surely be prolonged. Taking these three factors together, it should be possible for a person living such a lifestyle to extend his life span dramatically.

An Indian saint named Devraha Baba, who passed away in 1989, was a yogi who lived just such a lifestyle. Devraha Baba was from the spiritual heritage of the Avatar Ramanandacharya, and lived beside the Yamuna river in Mathura. He lived on a 12-foot-high wooden platform where he usually remained stark naked. He never ate food. He only drank water from the Yamuna river. He claimed he could be in two places simultaneously (a siddhi described in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras). He was observed to have stayed underwater unaided for half an hour. He always radiated love. He was a Premaswarupa, an incarnation of love. He gave darshan (spiritual blessing) to devotees who came to pay homage. Many came to visit this great illustrious saint. People came from all over India and from all walks of life. He was a favorite among India's senior politicians, and was visited by Mrs. Indira and Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. Ministers, saints, yogis, priests, rich and poor all came for Baba's darshan. It was rumored that Devraha Baba claimed that he had lived for over 700 years. Until I can substantiate this rumor I need to consider it just a rumor. Nevertheless, I make mention of this rumor because Devraha Baba's family tree records place his age to be at least 250 years when he took mahasamadhi (relinquished his body) in 1989. If he was able to live to be 250, then it is possible that he lived for 700 years as well. Baba was called, "The Ageless Yogi." Devraha Baba gained mastery over the khecheri state of yoga whereby he was able to control his hunger and the time of his death. Dr. Rajendra Prashad, who was the first president of India, verified Devraha Baba's old age. He said that he personally attests to Devraha Baba being at least 150 years old. He said that when he was 73 years old, his father took him to see Baba, who was a very old man, and that his father already had known Baba for many years before that. An Allahabad High Court Barrister had stated that seven generations of his family had sat at the feet of Devraha Baba. Incidentally, Devraha Baba had predicted the time of his death five years in advance. Since Giri Bala's interview with Yogananda, the world has undergone an exponential awakening in consciousness and science. The ancient teachings of the Rishis, which heretofore have been kept secret and only shared with the closest of disciples, now are readily available to everyone. As more people begin meditation practices and learn to tap their inner cosmic energies, and as medical science moves towards eradicating all diseases, it is conceivable that the human life span will be extended by decades if not by centuries. || Back || To Chapter 8 Website Content 2004 by Vincent J. Daczynski. All Rights Reserve