Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov = The Monk Who's Body Defied Death

He remained in Siberia, and in 1927 he announced it was time for his passing. He asked the lamas to join him in meditation and begin funeral rites, and he died while meditating in the lotus position at the age of 75. In accordance with his will, the Khambo Lama's body was buried in a wooden box sitting upright in the lotus position.

Interestingly, Itigilov's testament also requested that monks exhume his body after a period of some years. This was done once in 1955 and again in 1973, after some difficulty in locating the body. Both times they found the body perfectly preserved and still sitting upright (which a dead body cannot normally do for more than two weeks). The monks did not publicize the astonishing phenemon due to the anti-religion policies of the Communist government.


The body of Dasha-Dorzho Itigilov was transferred to Ivolginksy Datsan and publicly unveiled for the first time in September 2002, 75 years after his death in 1927. His body has decayed slightly since its exhumation but still remains in a state of preservation that baffles scientists and draws believers by the thousands.

In November 2004, Professor Viktor Zvyagin of the Federal Center of Forensic Medicine examined Itigilov's body in Ivolginsk and conducted analyses of hair, skin and nail specimens in Moscow. He concluded that Itigilov's body was in the condition of someone who had died 36 hours ago. "In my years of practice I have encountered quite a few instances of preserved bodies, but those were either the result of mummification" or extreme environmental conditions, Zvyagin said. "But this is something different, and for me, incomprehensible. It's a phenomenon that calls for the most detailed research."

www.chaitanya-monks.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 17-2-2010 by IntastellaBurst]

I came across a story I had not heard before, and thought it would be a nice change to post something truly paranormal for once.

it's amazing when you consider most body's decompose in just a few years, .... this guy's body has been in a preserved state for over 80 years !!!

although monks have seemed to acheive a mastery over life, i think it is exactly this, " life" that they are missing out on. Whats the point of being incarnated to devote your life to the spiritual.

it's kind of like a kid getting dropped off at summer camp who keeps trying to walk home.

just a thought.

cool. is there any way anyone can get a bigger picture of him? I want to get a close look at the condition of the body

While I can see where you're coming from, personally I find that it's more like being blindfolded in a room and either staying where you are or exploring the room. It's a choice, and it may or may not make a difference, but I find it to be an interesting and gratifying thing.

Plus, sometimes it can give you some needed knowledge.

reply to post by Totalstranger


yeah, i tried looking for more, .... but i had two choices, ... one from the left side, or one from the right.

plus I suck at putting up pics to begin with.

Originally posted by IntastellaBurst


I came across a story I had not heard before, and thought it would be a nice change to post something truly paranormal for once.

it's amazing when you consider most body's decompose in just a few years, .... this guy's body has been in a preserved state for over 80 years !!!

although monks have seemed to acheive a mastery over life, i think it is exactly this, " life" that they are missing out on. Whats the point of being incarnated to devote your life to the spiritual.

it's kind of like a kid getting dropped off at summer camp who keeps trying to walk home.

just a thought.

Indeed.

Aint it fun?

To me, meaning is where you look for it. I can meditate and be at total piece and think at some spiritual core that its life itself and the ambition to evolve that causes me to "suffer". There is a something deffinately fulfilling and euphoric about being balanced and zened out, but it never lasts for me.. as it fades I begin to take on personality traits or imbalances, and then I begin to live life again.

Its sort of a back and forth. I personally want to both come to some deep peace and understanding while also transcending my limitations so I can live a more hmm.. complicated life, doesn't seem so relaxing eh ? I love developing my character, to me this is the drive in my life so it seems to go hand and hand with this meditative self-awareness. I find myself asking.. everyone wants to ascend the spiritual ladder but that is an ambitious desire in itself, so could the answer me that they need to just get off the ladder itself, escape the wheel of karma? I imagine these guys who sit on their ass and meditate all day are actually doing a lot on a different level, or just staying suspended. So my question is, once you reach enlightenment, where do you go next? do it all over again? It seems natural to me to keep experiencing life, as if they were thoughts, expressions. Damn, i'm trying to simplify this view point.

Well to put it simply. Because of meditation I live a much more exciting and rewarding life outside of those moments of meditation, though the self-awareness never stops really, i just see the meditation as a tool to relax, filter and balance. I find it equally constructive to just think for hours on end, i can't do that in meditation because I go into a deep void. Meditation for me seems more like.. maintenance? and sort of a reality check, you gather yourself and things just seem more clear.

But I feel much more alive now. That to be in the definition of self-awareness, that life itself is not a state but a LEVEL that can experienced deeper. What you do with it is entirely up to you.

Thats a cool story, with pictures. That's pretty sweet. Debunk that! The expected answer would be "Lies.. all lies.. get a grip, this isn't possible." ha

its funny what kind of flakey image people may give people who meditate, call them new agers, and they typically like to agree with each other, you'd even think its a religion. As for me personally I hate getting stuck with terminology and try to keep an open mind, as to let everything spill out it seems while retaining an objective opinion of what I observe.

I can't speak for everyone, but seeing how i've developed because of meditation, its kind of funny... but I bet an 80 year old woman who's had a life of meditation has more balls and discipline then a lot of people.

To remove your fears and insecurities, your limitations, and to find some sense of worth and then develop your capabilities. Seems like the ideal chemistry to live a more exciting life.

Well according to this spiritual people are basically only brain damaged .

www.foxnews.com...

reply to post by thedeadtruth



I won't even go there. People avoid meditation like the plague but studies have shown what exactly it does for the mind and brain.

I do admit i've taken a few hard hits to the head. Is having an open-mind brain damage? So open that everything that enters spills out yet is remembered and processed objectively?

You know usually when I feel at my peak where wisdom and understanding comes naturally its accompanied by a burning and dizzying sensation in the top of my head and pressure in the 3rd eye region. So who knows right? But my question is why is my opinion USEFUL to other people? Who do they think its wise? I'm open to the possibility of being insane, but if i may boost myself for once, why do I blurt crap that has people going wow, thats profound.

But it must be brain damage fox news, right there with the acai berry scam ads on their page. lol.

I admit some religious people seem friggin' crazy and with a few screws missing but I respect their choices and beliefs. That being said, the only thing I've ever wanted was an open mind, wisdom, truth, something unpolluted by biased views. If there was any spiritual experience that came out of it, it was just a natural direction. I started agnostic if not atheist, so I guess that last hit to the head at the punk rock show put me in this monkly direction.

Jokes aside, a friend of mine had her brain studied by a university and she never told me which one and i don't speak with her anymore, but they said her brain used different then usual pathways. I'd like to get my brain scanned someday but I think this article is forgetting some other studies of meditation, like all of them.

I can say this, before I was "spiritual".. i was incompetent, cowardly, impatient, insecure, unfocused, the list goes on. If everything i am is within my brain as some like to believe, then my brain must have become more efficient thats all i'm saying. So whether it has a some damage or not, it makes up for it and continues to do so.

[edit on 17-2-2010 by CavemanDD]

He may have been buried covered in salt, either intentionally or unintentionally. It would explain how it managed to not decay so quickly.

Interestingly it says: "As of 2005, Itigilov's body was kept outdoors, in contact with other people, without preserving any temperature or humidity regimens."
I wish we could get some recent photos of the body.

reply to post by IntastellaBurst


Really cool stuff - I haven't seen this before.

I think I understand what you're saying here OP. - that to take on such a life, that the monk is actually denying himself of 'life' (?)
However I'll give you an analogy that makes a lot of sense to me. A personal trainer once said to me:
"People often say to me [when trying to lose weight] that they don't want to deny themselves of the food that they love. But what are they denying themselves of? McDonalds? KFC? Cheesy pasta? Junk, junk, junk. That isn't what food is about."

I think you can apply this to meditation and the spiritual. What if this man wasn't denying himself anything.

What if he already had it all - no junk.

Who knows how deep you can go?




[edit on 17/2/2010 by Netties Hermit]

with the annual average temperature about 0 °C

I'd say he is frozen stiff. Siberia is mostly frozen tundra with some temperate forest in the south but only in summer.

lowest recorded temperature is minus 71.2* Celsius

oops>>>>

[edit on 17/2/10 by spearhead]

Originally posted by IntastellaBurst


I came across a story I had not heard before, and thought it would be a nice change to post something truly paranormal for once.

it's amazing when you consider most body's decompose in just a few years, .... this guy's body has been in a preserved state for over 80 years !!!

although monks have seemed to acheive a mastery over life, i think it is exactly this, " life" that they are missing out on. Whats the point of being incarnated to devote your life to the spiritual.

it's kind of like a kid getting dropped off at summer camp who keeps trying to walk home.

just a thought.

well...before you really say anything on it, you should truelly understand what the VOW they are taking entitles.
Most monk's, make a vow to COME BACK, reincarnate in hopes to help man and all sentient beings be FREE of this constant struggle...and realize there true Buddha nature. To break free of reincarnation, and find there divine selves.
...so why do it?
well the answer is quite simple...
SOME people think of more than just themselves

Originally posted by CavemanDD
its funny what kind of flakey image people may give people who meditate, call them new agers, and they typically like to agree with each other, you'd even think its a religion. As for me personally I hate getting stuck with terminology and try to keep an open mind, as to let everything spill out it seems while retaining an objective opinion of what I observe.

I can't speak for everyone, but seeing how i've developed because of meditation, its kind of funny... but I bet an 80 year old woman who's had a life of meditation has more balls and discipline then a lot of people.

To remove your fears and insecurities, your limitations, and to find some sense of worth and then develop your capabilities. Seems like the ideal chemistry to live a more exciting life.

Well said...i think the simple truth is that MOST PEOPLE, can sadly go no longer than 3 mins in meditation. MOST PEOPLE can hardly muster up the strength to QUITE there mind, for more than a few seconds. Let alone for hours on end. lol
and as u said...to go as far as removing your fears/insecurities is a whole nother ball game

Fascinating article, just wish there were more/bigger pics. Fascinating how he is so well preserved, but I agree it is probably due in part to the conditions of weather and soil.

reply to post by kaskade


I do understand buddhism, and have studied it along with many other practices, ..... I used meditation as a technique to spur my first Out of Body Experience.

when I see the universe, I dont see this, Karmic Debt that they speak of, I think we only reincarnate because we choose to.

I have immersed myself in the quest for the meaning of life, .... and I have realized,..... were already doing what were supposed to do, ... for better or worse, for our strengths and flaws, .... we are perfect beings as we are, ... in an infallible system.

but thats just what ive seen.

reply to post by IntastellaBurst




The way I look at karma is kind of confusing. I think to myself, that maybe in some way these karmatic debts are like neglected cells of my body that are ill. I just feel like if I sort out all these external things that it will do something internally. It's not like i lose sleep over this, quite the contrary, its just a calling really. That sense of karma is strong, that sense of "I need to do this for some reason."

I don't think its like a system of feeling like you owe anything but to me it seems more like established connections that are still a part of you and they want to be balanced out. "enlightenment for all beings" or whatever the Buddha said.

But I have mixed ideas about it, because despite what some people think about all this philosophy, i may try to grasp certain concepts but i try not to get over my head and just go with what I can work with. That being said.. i almost think if this idea of infinity is the case of all things, then it doesn't really matter what I do. Like I used to question why the Buddha just sat on his ass.. and to me I'm thinking.. maybe if this guy stretches his awareness further out he can balance it as if its a part of him, at least in his own perspective of reality, which could be all that really matters. The possibilty for things to be just too flexible is what I think about. I feel like people, things are all part of what i am, am I am part of them.. sort of like collecting thoughts and bringing them together, finding other personalities in your mind. Each person and thing represents like a dream sign, i wonder if I am that way to them as well. I kind of look at like.. if I was to evolve and stretch out and suddenly the space I occupied was more advanced, more peaceful, then it seems like as I evolve that the whole universe goes with me, as those other layers just may be conditional to the observer.

At any case I don't think it is detrimental to try and "save" everybody because not everyone wants that anyway. And besides, i've had experiences that have taken me way outside what I perceived as my identity and I kind of think everything is a creative thought form, and this is just a game, and everyone is fine, and they are all one mind and observing themselves through the experience of life.

It just doesn't seem that important to me, this karma thing, outside of the sense of sorting out some stuff that's part of you and conflicting with your growth, like holding onto a bad memory from childhood that once it is addressed you feel much better etc.

People have their doubts about re-incarnation and honestly I don't care, frankly I can't see it being any other way because it makes too much sense other then entering the "great blackness". The universe as an equation just makes more sense to me this way. I'm not afraid to die, not because of some faith, because i don't care and really see it as a non-issue either way, but I know everyone is in some way afraid to LIVE. And they ask "why can't I remember past lives?".. the answer to me is.. we'd go insane with ATTACHMENT.. guilt.. desire.. all the things we experienced, it would be an overload. People have a hard enough time with their current life, drowning the memories with booze. Imagine... infinite? but lets be fair and just say 10 000.. if not.. 3.. deal with all those un-addressed thoughts.

Meditation can bring out some strange thoughts, that feel like memories, or something of familiarity and unaddressed issues.

Karma seems like removing these things so we can live with ourselves again. Of course you could just ignore it and live a basic and dismissive life, but for some people that's not enough, the whole.. self-awareness thing is an addictive calling and the effects can lead to a way cooler life that's for sure. To not be limited by thoughts of "i am not that kind of guy.".. to remove your doubts and fears and limitations and expand your whole sense of being alive.

I look at these monk guys as possibly like being in school too. I think about it.. if i am re-incarnated, I think I was probably a monk before, but i'm not a monk now, and i think about it, and the idea of that kind of structure makes me feel trapped. It seems like a university you're in your whole life. That's just how I feel about it. I have little interest in doing what they do for my whole life, but I am interested in what they do, just in my own way.

That's interesting; on the linked page it says people believe the body has healing powers and place things like crutches around it as symbols. How odd, perhaps it has some sort of corrective radiation or something to allow cells to continue to reproduce post-mordum. What if the mind set he was in when he died affected how his body was preserved? Thinking back to the "thought has mass without momentum like radio waves" theory, perhaps when he died his brain was giving off "heal" and has been ever since... I wonder if anyone else has ever died in this mind state?

reply to post by CavemanDD


You are well on your way my friend.

do not worry if it all doesnt make sense, we should never stop asking questions, .... once we think we know it all our spiritual develpment ceases, and we become slaves to our faith.

I beleive this is a disease of this age, so many people blindly accepting the faith presented to them. Many religions are a culmination of spiritual knowledge trapped in time. spirituality has not ceased to grow, ... peoples ability to grasp it has, in most cases.

Our development should only be limited by our imagination.

mediation has its benefits, but one should not search so much as to lose a foothold in this world.

I enjoy becoming lost in life, only then does it feel so real, and every time I have an out of body experience or moment of clarity I remember who I am, who we are, and what everything is. Only to forget it again.

As amazing as the other side is.... I take comfort in knowing it will always be there, and I am always a part of it, .... for now I try to make best of who I am here, and carry out my function to its greatest, ..... so when i look back I can tell myself, " ya know what, that was a good run".

spiritual practices can help you understand the nature of things.... but only living will help you know them.