If a yoga-practising Hindu monk’s claims are true, he just marked a milestone birthday like no other: the big 120.
Swami Sivananda, a yogi living in India, was born on August 8, 1896, according to his passport.
Media reports say that Indian authorities can back up his claims, having confirmed Sivananda’s age via a temple register. Sivananda is applying to the Guinness World Records to verify his status as the oldest man to have ever lived.
The Guinness World Records currently recognizes Japan’s Jiroemon Kimura as the oldest man to have ever lived. Kimura died in June 2013 at 114 years old.
Sivananda, who has salt-and-pepper hair and few wrinkles, grew up impoverished in the eastern Indian city of Varanasi.
He told AFP he attributes his longevity to leading a disciplined and celibate life that consists of plain foods such as lentils and practising yoga each day.
“I avoid taking milk or fruits because I think these are fancy foods,” he told AFP. “In my childhood I slept many days on an empty stomach.”
Sivananda doesn’t appear to have any medical problems and still manages to live – and travel – independently.
He says people today are too focused on their material possessions.
“Earlier people were happy with fewer things,” he told AFP. “Nowadays people are unhappy, unhealthy and have become dishonest, which pains me a lot.
“I just want people to be happy, healthy and peaceful.”
In 1896 -- the year Sivananda was reportedly born – the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece and Wilfrid Laurier took office as Canada’s seventh prime minister.
