New Realities recorded on November 13, 2007
Summary
In this episode of New Realities, host Alan Steinfeld interviews Hira Ratan Manek about the practice of sungazing. Manek claims that looking at the sun during safe hours can activate the pineal gland, heal physical and mental ailments, and eventually eliminate the need for traditional food. He shares stories of his encounters with spiritual figures like Babaji and The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, emphasizing that true spiritual awakening comes from within and that the sun acts as a direct source of cosmic energy.
Transcript
Alan Steinfeld
Welcome to New Realities with Alan Steinfeld. Each week I bring people to this program that I feel are really at the cutting edge of a new spiritual revolution. That is a revolution of the body, mind, and spirit. And we are moving into more accelerated times. And part of the ancient ways are coming back to us. Part of the old technologies and our natural organic way of being is being remembered. Remembered by the spirit. And someone who has really devoted his life to this ancient and modern way is my guest tonight. His name is Hira Ratan Manek, or HRM. He’s from India, from Kerala, India, and he has really developed the practice of sungazing. And he claims the sun will heal all if you look at it at the right time of day, an hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise. And it is the healing component for our whole body, and mind, and spirit. And the other side effect of that is that you can start to detach from eating food. So you can actually live on sunlight. So we’ll be talking about that. We’ll be talking about his history. And this amazing gift of the sun. Thank you, Hira, for being here. The first question I will ask you is this development of this technology, how did it come to you? Talk to us.
Hira Ratan Manek
It’s an ancient practice. I just got hints from some of the people. And then I analyzed, went through old texts of different cultures. And then applied my mind and found a protocol. And so it has become a science now.
Alan Steinfeld
Give us a little foundation on the protocol.
Hira Ratan Manek
It is, you have to gaze at the sun during safe hours of the sun. Within one hour of sunrise or within one hour before sunset, or whenever ultraviolet index of the sun is less than two. And start by ten seconds, and every day go on increasing little by little. You can be regular, you can be irregular. And light that enters through the eye and reaches the brain activates the brain. And efficiency of the brain gets raised. And as the brain becomes more efficient, our health improves.
Alan Steinfeld
And then it’s a progress. You say you do it for 270 days, which is the period of the womb. And after 270 days, increasing ten seconds at a time up to 45 minutes maximum, we have that sunlight infused. We’re fully charged, man, he says. And then what exactly does that do to the brain? Talk about the pineal pituitary system.
Hira Ratan Manek
The brain has important endocrine glands, the neurons, the cells in the brain, the pineal gland, the pituitary, hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala, and also the seven chakras are represented in the brain. So it is the energy that brain is lacking that we are having all these problems. And by sungazing, the light from the sun through the eye reaches the brain. It charges all parts of the brain, and all endocrine glands get strengthened, especially the pineal. Our soul sits in the pineal gland. And if that gets strengthened, the soul can remain there longer. So aging span increases. Pituitary is governing the brain. So brain remains stronger. Hypothalamus is for hunger and satiety. So man can hibernate. Thalamus, different emotions originate. And from non-toxic elements, it becomes non-toxic, thoughts we get. And amygdala makes all different beams of light coming through two eyes into one laser. And that laser becomes a nectar or elixir for life. So this, in a way, sungazing charges systematically and medically the entire brain.
Alan Steinfeld
Another benefit is this what we talked about, no food. So you’ve been studied by medical universities. And what did they conclude? Go over the studies.
Hira Ratan Manek
I have been studied thrice by different doctors. Once for 211 days only on water in India. Again, a major observation was done in India for 411 days. And third observation was done in the United States at Philadelphia by doctors and scientists interested from a group of Thomas Jefferson and Penn Universities. And they all say this is possible. But they are still unable to give out the explanation how body can survive. But the simple explanation is that solar radiation is the original food of humanity. What we eat is a secondary source. So if the human body can receive sunlight directly, we can survive.
Alan Steinfeld
That’s amazing. But they… So you’re saying that they can… They know that they studied you. They know it’s possible. They don’t have any explanation to how.
Hira Ratan Manek
It is very difficult to give explanation because the mainstream medical science still is against the sunlight. So they are all afraid to come out in the open. But slowly things are getting better. And they have started, many doctors have started accepting the fact that sunlight is the source of energy and body can sustain on it.
Alan Steinfeld
How do they prove it?
Hira Ratan Manek
Proving is only when lot of other people also come in the field. And that is what is happening. We can get the science established.
Alan Steinfeld
But what, how do you explain it? Tell me how you explain it.
Hira Ratan Manek
I explain it because the body requires energy. Instead of drawing energy from the traditional food, we are drawing energy directly from the sun. In the past, a lot of people have done. Edgar Cayce also writes in his books, our ancestors lived on sunlight in the past. Day is not far off when again we live on sunlight. So what was the missing links, that I only revived it. It is not at all impossible for anyone to live on sunlight.
Alan Steinfeld
But then let me ask you, if it was part of our original structure, what is the purpose of the digestive system?
Hira Ratan Manek
The purpose of digestive system is for so many other things. In ancient days, we hear the people are moving from one planet to another planet by their own body, being lifted, levitated and all those things. So all our body parts are meant for some other purposes and not for food. Somehow or other, mistakenly, we have gone on the food side. But once food disappears and all system gets cleansed, man will have a lot of other powers.
Alan Steinfeld
So it’s these other powers that ultimately we’re interested in because we need the sunlight to be a vehicle. Because we have the divinity within us. So part of what is so amazing about what you’re doing is that you are showing us a new way, a new paradigm for living. I think it’s very important. And I think you’ve had help along the way. It seems like you’ve met some of the great masters of our time. You want to talk about first of all, you’re meeting with the Mother of Aurobindo’s ashram. And then you met Babaji. And then you’re from the hometown of Amma. Why is it you just keep running into these high spiritual masters?
Hira Ratan Manek
I am not running to meet them. Accidentally I have met them.
Alan Steinfeld
Oh, they ran into you.
Hira Ratan Manek
Yes. It was a coincidence, whatever you can call it. But I never attempted to reach at them. It was just by mere chance that I met all these people and I still go on meeting a lot of people.
Alan Steinfeld
Tell us how you got to Aurobindo’s ashram.
Hira Ratan Manek
It was accidentally in 1962, I went for my shipping work. And there I happened to have an audience with the Mother. And Mother was the first person to hint me at the powers of the sun. She gave me the literature written by Aurobindo. And that is how I am in this field now.
Alan Steinfeld
So you met the Mother of Aurobindo’s ashram in Pondicherry, who was a French woman who attained a beautiful state of enlightenment. An awakening, and she left her family in France. She left everything and she went to live with Aurobindo at the ashram and became what is known as The Mother. Beautiful, beautiful woman and beautiful being. And you happen to meet… that’s a very… you’re one of the few people who have met her. And she gave you a hint about this living on sunlight. So what did she say? And where, how did you take it from what she said to you to this next stage?
Hira Ratan Manek
She just hinted me that the books written by Aurobindo on sunlight and also the ancient practices, how people made use of it. And they were happy. They lived even without food, without any problems, without diseases, and how everyone had total health of mind, body, and spirit. And that was the beginning of my entering into this sungazing practice, and finding more and more truth hidden in it. And this is now the world knows what the sungazing does for the human health.
Alan Steinfeld
But how did you make that first step? Was it… Were you scared? Afraid to make…
Hira Ratan Manek
No, I was not at all scared. I was a little curious only. And so something after reading for nearly 30 years on different cultures, I got the courage and then started sungazing. I was not at all scared of the thing.
Alan Steinfeld
So you just started doing it and you developed the protocol. How would you… how did you develop this protocol? How did you know that 45 minutes was the maximum time that we should stare?
Hira Ratan Manek
This is all ancient practices. That’s what I said that I have never discovered it. They… practices are in tit and bit spread over different cultures and all. So I applied my mind and linked them into it. And I have not invented or anything. That is what I openly, very openly say that I have just revived an age-old practice. And ancient age people were doing similar practices. It was just for me to apply my mind and know its understanding and then revive it. That’s what I have done.
Alan Steinfeld
Great. Beautiful. Beautiful. So you say never look at the moon. You say don’t do the moon gazing.
Hira Ratan Manek
Moon gazing doesn’t help at all. Moon gazing doesn’t help at all. Because we have the word lunatic and we know the effects of moon are very bad. And only just for relaxation or some enjoyment, you can do it sometimes. But you never get positive energy from the moon.
Alan Steinfeld
So the moon is a reverse effect. Do not… you don’t do this same practice with the moon because it will have a negative effect. So when you started doing this, you said you were… before you started doing it, you were depressed. You were manic. And this healed everything for you. That’s beautiful. And the other thing I want to just talk to you briefly about is this… you meeting with Babaji. Tell me what the circumstances of the real Babaji was.
Hira Ratan Manek
I accidentally met Babaji on March 4, 1995. It was somewhere in Rishikesh in the Himalayas. And I just… there were a lot of other people also with me. And he blessed me. There were very few people blessed on that day. And that was the first meeting. Then again in December 20, 1998, I happened to see Babaji at the same place. But that time, there was no other further blessings or anything. Just I had a glimpses of the Babaji.
Alan Steinfeld
So what was he blessing you for? Was he blessing you for this work you’re doing?
Hira Ratan Manek
Yes. He was blessing for the work that I am doing. And because of his blessings, I believe my work is spreading all over the world.
Alan Steinfeld
Tell me a little bit what Babaji was like. What did he look like? What was the feeling around him?
Hira Ratan Manek
Babaji was in serenity. He was totally calm. He similarly looked like the picture in the Yogananda’s autobiography. But a little older, in Autobiography of a Yogi, he looks very young. Here the eyes, hands, and everything were in a similar position. The eyes, especially the eyes, looking towards the sky. But he looks a little older. That was the only difference. But atmosphere in and around him was very peaceful and calm.
Alan Steinfeld
And how old is he?
Hira Ratan Manek
According to the local people, he may be between 400, 450 years.
Alan Steinfeld
Does he come back and forth interdimensional?
Hira Ratan Manek
No, he is more or less stationed at the same place. A lot of people see him.
Alan Steinfeld
And exactly where is that exactly?
Hira Ratan Manek
Oh, it is exactly eight kilometers from Rishikesh on a road to the Himalayan city of Badrinath. And a lot of people go and see him.
Alan Steinfeld
But talk to me, he’s an immortal. Talk to me about immortality. How did you describe…
Hira Ratan Manek
Immortality comes as the science says. It refers to the pineal gland. If pineal gland gets charged with the sunlight, immortality comes. That was the practice in the ancient days. That is what Babaji was doing. And that is what is now science is agreeing to it.
Alan Steinfeld
How can we charge our pineal gland?
Hira Ratan Manek
It’s only through sungazing. The easiest method is through sungazing. In ancient days, the pineal gland was charged by drilling a hole when baby was born. That practice was in Peru. But nowadays, we cannot drill a small hole. Anyone is born because it will be considered as an inhuman practice. But through sungazing, we can definitely do it.
Alan Steinfeld
But babies have that open when they’re born anyway. The bones haven’t quite come together, the fontanelle.
Hira Ratan Manek
No, but that was the practice in ancient days. It is very difficult for us to explain why it was being done, but it is believed it was done just to charge the pineal gland.
Alan Steinfeld
Do you believe, ok, we’re… how are you doing on time? Ok, let’s keep going. Do you believe that we are evolving the human race or is the sun the same? People say we’re moving into a new time. A new acceleration. Do you believe that whole thing?
Hira Ratan Manek
I don’t believe sun is the same from so many years. It goes on, it will go on. This is some researches are bringing out some stories just for the sake of saying… to exhibit to the world that they are doing research. There are scientists from many countries who are challenging the ozone theory, the warming up of the earth, the global warming, etc. So there are some climatic changes, it’s a cyclical thing. Every 10, 15 years it goes on. We need not get scared on that.
Alan Steinfeld
One other thing I wanted to ask you was, you’re also from Kerala, which is the home of Ayurvedic medicine. And Amma. What is your connection with Amma, the hugging saint?
Hira Ratan Manek
No, I have no connection except that she belongs to my same place. We meet sometimes, that’s all. We know each other. We have no other connection. She is doing her job. I’m doing my job.
Alan Steinfeld
What do you think of her job?
Hira Ratan Manek
I do not make comments on what other people are doing, but she has a lot of followers. And so everything she’s spreading good messages, I’m also spreading good messages for human welfare. Both are doing work for human welfare.
Alan Steinfeld
Okay, I understand that. But in this new time, this new epoch, you’re saying really we don’t need any gurus because the sun is our main source of teaching and energy. Talk a little bit about that and we’ll wrap it up.
Hira Ratan Manek
Guru system, I am not in favor of it because guru is within us. Nobody can help us, they can only guide us. As long as you cling to the feet of somebody and feel that he can salvage you, we will be nowhere. So I am not in favor of guru system at all. I just say guru is within us, awaken the guru, the capacities that are within us. So I have no guru, and I do not want to be guru of anyone.
Alan Steinfeld
What about enlightenment? Tell me about enlightenment.
Hira Ratan Manek
Enlightenment… you are put on a road to enlightenment through sungazing because it is the brain that activates and when brain opens out 100%, it is enlightenment.
Alan Steinfeld
And Kundalini?
Hira Ratan Manek
Kundalini also get awakened. The chakras also get awakened. Everything happens in a silent way and a peaceful way.
Alan Steinfeld
Okay, well just… so is there anything now, you’ve developed this technology, you’re living, you’re traveling all over the world, you’re spreading this beautiful knowledge. Is there anything you want for yourself? What do you want to do?
Hira Ratan Manek
No, I am… I do not want anything for myself. My mission is human welfare and world peace. And that is going ahead, and that is what my traveling… I go ahead with that.
Alan Steinfeld
Nothing else left… Where are you off to? Where are you traveling to?
Hira Ratan Manek
Doesn’t… Nothing stops. Whenever people call me, I go to places and give lectures.
Alan Steinfeld
Where are you going next?
Hira Ratan Manek
Next I’m going to India and I will be traveling in India and Far Eastern countries. And then…
Alan Steinfeld
And I come back…
Hira Ratan Manek
And I come back to the United States in the month of last week of May or first week of June.
Alan Steinfeld
And you just give teaching to us.
Hira Ratan Manek
Yes, same thing. I just give lectures. That is my job. It’s the simplest practice. It’s only two hours. Anyone can hear me lecture, question, answers, and gets to the practice.
Alan Steinfeld
Are you still sungazing?
Hira Ratan Manek
Oh yeah, I do sungazing whenever possible. But it’s not a must for me, but still I do it because I like the sun.
Alan Steinfeld
And you’re not drinking eating food.
Hira Ratan Manek
I don’t… take solid foods, but I do take liquids, pure liquids.
Alan Steinfeld
And but mostly you get your energy from the sun.
Hira Ratan Manek
Oh yes, definitely. It is from the sun.
Alan Steinfeld
Is it best to be naked if you have a sun?
Hira Ratan Manek
Yeah, it is… if it is possible, when the warmness of the sun… when sun is mild, it is better to have less clothes, better to be naked and warm the body, then you can get rid of a lot of diseases.
Alan Steinfeld
And the Gayatri mantra, is that important or not?
Hira Ratan Manek
Mantras are not so important. While doing it is a practice. Mantras only suggest what to do and so Gayatri mantra also suggests to activate the brain. And chanting of Gayatri mantra does not help by itself unless you practice it in your day-to-day life.
Alan Steinfeld
So mantras are sciences. They’re sound vibrations.
Hira Ratan Manek
Yes, mantras are science, sound vibrations. Science of sound vibration. Also we can call it as formulas of science. In every mantra, the science is hidden.
Alan Steinfeld
But we don’t need it if we have the sun.
Hira Ratan Manek
Yes, definitely if sun is there, we don’t require any other thing. The mantras or anything.
Alan Steinfeld
But why do we need the mantras then?
Hira Ratan Manek
Mantras are just to convey you the science hidden in it. They are just formulas. When you get the results, then you don’t require the formula afterwards. So mantras are just to hint at how things can be reached.
Alan Steinfeld
And yantras, what’s a yantra?
Hira Ratan Manek
Yantras are the instruments that are used. For now for sun you use crystals, you use prisms, you use pyramids, they are all the yantras. The external mediums are known as yantras in the oriental languages.
Alan Steinfeld
And tantra?
Hira Ratan Manek
Tantra is how well you receive it. You receive it properly.
Alan Steinfeld
Oh, so there is yoga.
Hira Ratan Manek
Yeah, that is all… It’s a human psychology. If you are mentally weak to accept sun directly, then indirectly you accept it.
Alan Steinfeld
And salts? Do we need salt at all? Special salts?
Hira Ratan Manek
No, I don’t think, there are so many things going on. People take special salts and all those things. But once sun is with you, you don’t require anything else.
Alan Steinfeld
But how long can the human being live?
Hira Ratan Manek
It can live as long as it wishes. That is how there were people living with long lives in ancient days.
Alan Steinfeld
How long?
Hira Ratan Manek
It can, it depends on you. There are records showing people live for 5000 years, 7000 years in the past. All those possibilities are there. And it’s only when you wish, you die. Otherwise you can continuously go on living.
Alan Steinfeld
How long do you want to be here?
Hira Ratan Manek
As long as my mission goes on. I wish to live. Things are to be seen, how things develop. And I think I will live longer, much longer than what people live now.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, you’re doing a great mission and I think it’s very important what you’re spreading around the planet. Taking people… if they could take a chance, if they will just go out, from what I hear from Hira is start with 10 seconds staring at the setting sun or the rising sun. And increase every day by 10 seconds. And maximum will get you in 9 months to 45 minutes. And that’s the maximum you need, 270 days. And you have the sun in you, you have that regenerated charge of energy in you. It is worth taking the risk. You have nothing to lose. It’s free. It’s free. Do you just want to outline just briefly what happens in the first 3 months and then next 3 months?
Hira Ratan Manek
When you start sungazing, first 2 months your health of your eye improves, better vision, diseases of the eye go away. By third month you are getting perfect mental health. By sixth month, you are getting liberated from all physical problems, the diseases. And at 9 months, you all start living without traditional food, and you get spiritual health also.
Alan Steinfeld
It’s great stuff and I’m interested in what people’s experiences are if they go out and do that. I think I will do it myself. I recommend people getting in touch with me and giving me some feedback. I’ll post it on my website, newrealities.com or newrealities.tv. You can email me also at newrealities@earthlink.net. Please give your website and information about you.
Hira Ratan Manek
My website is solarhealing.com and my email ID hira_ratan_manek@yahoo.com. And I reply all emails regularly.
Alan Steinfeld
Okay, I think any closing words? Because I think you have been blessed with this work in the world. So it’s like, why you, you think? Why you?
Hira Ratan Manek
It is because God’s order that I am working. So it’s all I’m doing for human welfare and world peace.
Alan Steinfeld
But why specifically asked to do this, why you? Why do they speak to you?
Hira Ratan Manek
That it depends… some things, some special energies do come to some and we do not know why things happen. It’s a very difficult question to be answered.
Alan Steinfeld
Thank you so much Hira for all the work you’re doing. And your website is sungazing…
Hira Ratan Manek
Solarhealing.com.
Alan Steinfeld
Solarhealing.com. Please look that up. I think this is truly amazing technology. I’m gonna say goodnight. This is a bit of an abbreviated New Realities show. Look for me next week a half an hour earlier at 7 p.m. California time, 10 p.m. New York time. This is New Realities with Alan Steinfeld. And I welcome all your emails at newrealities@earthlink.net and definitely check out my website about events around the city and the country, newrealities.com. Thank you all for listening. And you can put out that music in the background, Seth. And we will say goodnight for now. Thank you all for listening. Thank you Hira for being a guest.