--- In [email protected], "Llundrub" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Anyone who has read Patanjali knows that he warns not to become
caught up in the sidhis. I thought everyone knew that. I have been
knowing it since I read Vivekanandas commentary on the Yoga Sutras
when I was thirteen.
*************
Because it takes such a long time in a degraded environment to
experience the full value of any of the Siddhis (people have been
practicing the flying Siddhi since 1975 and are still only hopping),
the warnings that you refer to, in the Srimad Bhagavatam and other
texts, are not operative at the present time, although they would
certainly apply in one of the "Golden Ages" ("Satyuga" in Sanskrit)
in human history when fulfillment of the Siddhis happens quickly
because people live life at much higher levels of intelligence and
happiness. One can practice the Siddhis as a means of purification
(Maharishi has said that practicing TM dissolves stress, but the
Siddhis smash stress) without worrying about being distracted from
the path of gaining full awareness -- since MMY started teaching the
Siddhis in the 70s, people have been doing them for nearly 30 years
without full accomplishment of the flying sutra.
In any event, if you wish to continue to enjoy your current style of
life, you should realize that the publicity value of the flying sutra
alone far outweighs any concern about the possible effect of being
distracted from seeking enlightenment by being able to travel around
the universe at will (the ultimate expression of the flying sutra).
The world is gearing up to fight all sorts of ugly wars, atomic,
biological, chemical, cyber , and unless a lot of people start TM now
and start living a little more intelligently, the world will descend
into chaos and talk about living a life of love and devotion will be
swept away by turmoil.
As soon as the TM movement presents somebody levitating or flying on
the evening news, millions and millions of people are going to start
TM, and transform the world from war, poverty, disease and so on to a
much better quality of life.
It also says in the Srimad Bhagavatam that in this disordered epoch
(called the "Kaliyuga" in Sanskrit), the only thing one can do is to
chant "Hare Krishna," and this is ordinarily the case in the Kaliyuga
(said to have begun about 5100 years ago) -- life is so chaotic that
one can only shout and pray to God, because the bearers of the divine
message about how to live life in fullness by expanding awareness (to
the point where one could move themselves or mountains through the
air at will) are either killed outright or ignored or simply
misunderstood.
This failure to listen to the message of full awareness has its
consequences. The story goes that one day, feeling hungry, Jesus
Christ approached a fig tree, and not finding any fruit on it, cursed
it and it withered away. It's considered old-fashioned to see disease
and disaster as a message from God, but I see the 1000 shocks that
natural flesh is heir to as a act of kindness rather than a mere
pointless curse, to encourage people to give up their pathetic and
stupid lives and enjoy the power of unlimited intelligence that is
their birthright.
As Maharishi says in the SBAL :
There is no greater kindness than the kindness of nature, which only
moves one way to bring fulfillment of evolution and life to all these
things in all their states of evolution, under all circumstances.
When a man, because of some misdeeds, seems to be punished by nature
and suffers for it, this also is the manifestation of the kindness
and helpfulness of nature. If a child has smeared mud on himself, his
mother will wipe the mud off. Even if the process of wiping off the
mud is not liked by the child, it is good for him because the mud
could harm his skin. The child, however, does not understand the
injury that the mud would cause him and rebels against his mother's
efforts. ("How to make full use of the almighty power of nature")
It is the greatness of Maharishi's teacher, Guru Dev, that has
allowed mankind to help themselves instead of just praying to God for
help. Since you are practicing TM and not just chanting "Hare
Krishna" as advised by the Bhagavatam, I think you should also
realize that the scriptural warnings about the Siddhis are not
operative now. There is now a window of opportunity in the sorry
history of human society over the last 5000 years, a window created
by Guru Dev, who enabled Maharishi to bring knowledge of an effective
meditation technique to the world.
Bob Brigante
http://geocities.com/bbrigante/spiritual.html
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