{"id":34126,"date":"2017-01-18T19:54:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/?p=34126"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:25:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T11:25:16","slug":"sutra-1-40-eight-supreme-siddhis-of-yoga-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/sutra-1-40-eight-supreme-siddhis-of-yoga-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Sutra 1.40. Eight Supreme Siddhis of Yoga Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"
The next line of Yoga Sutra (1.40) dwells on siddhis \u2013 at least this is what most of modern commentators think \u2013 so I shall give my brief note on this disturbing issue, all the more so as some readers have already become restless in anticipation of this theme. Let me also remind that there\u2019s been an article<\/a> on my blog dealing with yoga\u2019 view on siddhis that was based on the report made by Dominik Wujastyk.<\/div>\n
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Now, they traditionally distinguish between supreme siddhis (or mahasiddhis) and minor siddhis \u2013 the whole of the rest.<\/div>\n
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The list of 8 supreme siddhis that can be attained by a practitioner is drawn in both early as well as late yoga texts. This is a well-known information: even Amarakosha \u2013 the major Sanskrit thesaurus \u2013 has it given on its first page, while most of texts on yoga also consider this to be conventional issue giving no list details yet introducing it as \u201canimaadi\u201d \u2013 anima (the first siddhi) and so on (adi).\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
So, the said siddhis are:<\/div>\n
a\u1e47im\u0101;\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
mahima;<\/b><\/div>\n
garima;\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
\n
laghima;\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
pr\u0101pti;<\/b><\/div>\n
pr\u0101k\u0101mya;<\/b><\/div>\n
i\u1e63i\u1e6dva;\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
va\u015bitva.<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Unfortunately, classical texts provide neither their comprehensive descriptions nor instances – maybe once again because of this subject being obvious to ancient authors. This has resulted in significant mystification of mahasiddhis\u2019 understanding in pseudo-yoga environment. Let me draw the example from Wikipedia:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
“In Hinduism eight siddhis (Ashta Siddhi) or Eight great perfections (mahasiddhi) are known:[7]<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n
a\u1e47im\u0101: reducing one’s body even to the size of an atom;<\/i><\/div>\n
mahima: expanding one’s body to an infinitely large size;\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
garima: becoming infinitely heavy;\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
laghima: becoming almost weightless;\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
pr\u0101pti: having unrestricted access to all places;\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
pr\u0101k\u0101mya: realizing whatever one desires;\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
i\u1e63i\u1e6dva: possessing absolute lordship;\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
va\u015bitva: the power to subjugate all[8]<\/a>…”<\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The 21st century of course turns the feasibility of miracles that go beyond the laws of physics into a thing unbelievable. Yet the refined pundits of ancient times \u2013 i.e., the sutras author and commentators \u2013 were also not the ones who could have been mislead by such a nonsense. On the other hand, one wouldn\u2019t want to vulgarize yoga by suggesting this to be description of psychedelic experience. However one can easily understand what mahasiddhis actually are when withdrawing from parlour mysticism and na\u00efve thinking and taking sound arrangement and rational nature of yoga as a consideration basis.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The first four words have been formed out of the adjectives \u201csmall\u201d, \u201cbig\u201d, \u201clight\u201d, \u201cheavy\u201d by adding the \u2013iman suffix. Thus gariman is weightiness, laghiman is being not heavy, ease, and so on. And they never imply these are physical qualities meant. Moreover, suffixes of the second four always generate words with abstract meaning. Therefore, if we accept siddhis to be a description of not physical yet psychical abilities, the design of the picture shall become quite logical.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A\u1e47im\u0101n<\/b> is the ability of \u201czooming in\u201d, that is, going deeper into details. The opposite of this siddhi shall be superficiality, glancing through.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Mahiman<\/b> is what we now call the \u201cmagnitude\u201d of a person and the breadth of his vision.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Gariman<\/b> is the ability to create significance and value (for instance, the skill of persuasive speaking and being a force).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Laghiman<\/b> stands for easiness, the abilities of \u201cliving and leaving no traces\u201d as they would call it in Tao tradition, without \u201cbullying\u201d others.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pr\u0101pti<\/b> (\u201cattainability\u201d) is the skill of strategic thinking aimed at achieving long-term objectives.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pr\u0101k\u0101mya<\/b> is being aware of one\u2019s desires and following them.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Va\u015bitva<\/b> stems from va\u015ba \u2013 the [imperative] will (that is, having influence on people) and thus corresponds to one\u2019s ability of controlling other people\u2019 will. It is what we would call \u201cpower of influence\u201d or \u201ccharisma\u201d.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u1e63i\u1e6dva<\/b> is the will as self-control<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
All of the said is quite realistic though attained through of considerable effort. And I understand this comes as disappointment for those dreaming about levitation and walking on water. But they shall anyhow get this when facing hard reality)).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next line of Yoga Sutra (1.40) dwells on siddhis \u2013 at least this is what most of modern commentators think \u2013 so I shall give my brief note on this disturbing issue, all the more so as some readers have already become restless in anticipation of this theme. Let me also remind that there\u2019s… Continue reading Sutra 1.40. Eight Supreme Siddhis of Yoga Tradition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[683],"class_list":["post-34126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yoga-sutra-en","tag-siddhi-en","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}