[FairfieldLife] Once again, killing time... : /

[cardemaister]

Why is it, that some sour grapes svaamiis think
Patañjali advises people not to practise siddhis?
The reason might well be that the Sanskrit skills
of many of them are not too good.

As many of us know, the original suutra goes
like this:

te samaadhaav upasargaa(,) vyutthaane siddhayaH.

If ones linguistic intuition is weak, one might
actually read that as a warning against practising
siddhis. But Patañjali in fact refers only
to the refined senses mentioned in the previous
suutra:

tataH *praatibha*-shraavaNa...

The clue(?) for interpreting that suutra is to make
it clear for oneself, what is the antecedent of 
the pronoun 'te'(they).

We are not sure, but we guess, that when Patañjali
uses pronouns like that, they usually refer to the
previous suutra. At least Vyaasa in his Yoga-suutra-bhaaSya
makes it rather clear what he thinks is the antecedent
of that pronoun. Sez Vyaasa:

te praatibhaadayaH (*praatibha*-aadayaH: praatibha, etc.)
 samaahita-cittasyotpadyamaanaa...

To paraphrase kRSNa's last words in the Giitaa:

iti matir mama...  ;)

Re: [FairfieldLife] Once again, killing time... : /

[Vaj]

On Jun 4, 2007, at 2:55 AM, cardemaister wrote:


Why is it, that some sour grapes svaamiis think
Patañjali advises people not to practise siddhis?
The reason might well be that the Sanskrit skills
of many of them are not too good.



The more likely reason is the almost universal insistence that  
siddhis are impediments to spiritual growth from numerous scriptures  
and sages.


The jivanmuktiviveka, the primary text on enlightenment in the  
Shankaracharya tradition is an excellent example because  
Shankaracharya Vidyaranya gives us numerous quotes from sages  
explaining this. Swami Brahmananda Saraswati shares the opinion.


The basic reason often given is that cultivation of siddhis thru  
samyama causes one to become vyuthana or outward and attached to  
the outer world.


The more precise, yogic reason has to do with *where* the siddhis  
manifest in the subtle body. The siddhis, these perfections, all  
relate to various petals or dalas in the sahasara-chakra. Normally,  
in the process of spiritual unfoldment as shakti awakens and unfolds,  
these dalas are activated as a side effect of that unfoldment.  
However, when the siddhis are cultivated directly, as in the TM sidhi  
pogram, what it can do in some people is force the kundalini-shakti  
up the vajra or saraswati nadi, diverting it from the sushumna, the  
central samadhic channel of unification. In such a case one cannot  
access bindu, the point of return for the shakti. Instead the shakti  
remains trapped in ascending nadis which do not culminate in an  
experience of unity or unification. Thus the student is left in a  
sort of limbo.


Some disreputable pseudo-masters will even utilize this fact to make  
dependent, slave-like students who hang around waiting and waiting.

[FairfieldLife] Once again, killing time.

[tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlis]

Vaj writes:snipped
The basic reason often given is that cultivation of siddhis thru  
samyama causes one to become vyuthana or outward and attached to  
the outer world.

Tom T
The Sutras of Patanjali are a description not a prescription as so
many have supposed. Read them after thirty years of practice and
recognize how much of what is presented is now your day to day
experience. Tom T