In Indian religions, Siddhis (Sanskrit: सिद्धि siddhi; fulfillment, accomplishment) are material, paranormal, supernatural, or otherwise magical powers, abilities, and attainments that are the products of yogic advancement through sadhanas such as meditation and yoga. The term ṛddhi (Pali: iddhi, “psychic powers”) is often used interchangeably in Buddhism. Today we will take a deeper look at the mysterious and powerful Siddhis – psychic powers which can arise due to yoga practice e,g, Ashtanga Yoga. Siddha Spirituality of Swami Hardas Life System also is of the same opinion and hence has introduced some methods of achieving Siddhis on a long-term basis.

Meanings of Siddhi

Siddhi is a Sanskrit term that means accomplishments, attainments, success, and perfection.

Definition of Siddhi

Siddhis are spiritual, paranormal, supernatural, magical powers, abilities, and attainments that are the products of spiritual advancements through Sadhanas such as Yoga and Meditation. (Rddhi = psychic powers in Buddhism).

Superpowers

Capacities that everyone possesses

Classic yoga texts, such as Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, written about two thousand years ago, tell us in matter-of-fact terms that if you sit quietly, pay close attention to your mind, and practice this diligently, then you will gain supernormal powers. These advanced capacities, known as siddhis, are not regarded as magical; they’re ordinary capacities that everyone possesses. We’re just too distracted most of the time to be able to access them reliably.

The sage Patanjali also tells us that these siddhis can be attained by ingesting certain drugs, through contemplation of sacred symbols, repetition of mantras, ascetic practices, or through a fortuitous birth.

Powers gained with mantras

In the yogic tradition, powers gained through the use of mantras, amulets, or drugs are not regarded with as much respect or considered to be permanent, as those earned through dedicated meditative practice. The promise of these siddhi superpowers has little to do with traditional religious faith, divine intervention, or supernatural miracles.

Powers are not miracles

As Buddhist scholar, Alan Wallace says, “In Buddhism, these are not miracles in the sense of being supernatural events, any more than the discovery and amazing uses of lasers are miraculous— however they may appear to those ignorant of nature and potentials of light. Such contemplatives claim to have realized the nature and potentials of consciousness far beyond anything known in contemporary science. What may appear supernatural to a scientist or a layperson may seem perfectly natural to an advanced contemplative, much as certain technological advances may appear miraculous to a contemplative.”

Yogic wisdom describes many variations of the siddhis. Today we’d associate the elementary siddhis with garden-variety psychic phenomena. They include:

• Telepathy (mind-to-mind communication);
• Clairvoyance (gaining information about distant or hidden objects beyond the reach of the ordinary senses);
• Precognition (clairvoyance through time), and
• Psychokinesis (direct influence of matter by mind, also known as PK).

Brahma Pradhana Siddhi

There are widely known 8 types of Brahma Pradhana Siddhi (Divine attainments, classical accomplishments):

• Anima – Ability to reduce one’s own body to the minutest size and shape,
• Mahima – Ability to expand one’s own body to an infinitely large size,
• Garima – Ability to become infinitely heavy (develop heaviness to extreme levels in the body, such that one cannot be moved). God Sri Rama bestowed this Siddhi on God Hanuman,
• Laghima – Ability to become weightless (being light, able to float and fly). God Sri Rama bestowed this Siddhi on God Hanuman,
• Prapti – Ability to be anywhere else at one’s will,
• Prakamya – Ability to obtain whatever one desires to have,
• Ishatva – Ability to have supremacy over the nature, and
• Vashitva – Ability to control the natural forces.

Guna Pradhana Siddhi

There are 10 types of Guna Pradhana Siddhi (secondary attainments based on the predominant acquired quality) – From Bhagavata Purana:

• Anurmimattvam – Being undisturbed and unperturbed by bodily desires and wants like thirst, hunger, etc,
• Doora Shravana – Ability to hear sounds coming from far away, which cannot be perceived by normal ears,
• Doora Darshanam – Ability to see the things which are placed far away, from the reach of vision (normal visual field), which cannot be seen by normal eyes,
• Manojavah – Ability to travel to any place wherever the thought goes (astral projection, teleportation),
• Kaama Roopam – Ability to assume any form desired,
• Parakaya Pravesham – Ability to enter the body/bodies of other people,
• Svachanda Mrutyuh – Ability to die when one desires,
• Devanam Saha krida anudarshanam – Witnessing and participating with the Gods in their sports, games, recreational activities, and other pastimes,
• Yatha Sankalpa Samsiddhih – Ability to accomplish one’s determinations, and aspirations to perfection, and
• Ajna apratihata gatih – Orders being unimpeded.

Ways to open psychic abilities

By far the best way to gain psychic powers is to allow them to develop in you naturally as a result of your personal Spiritual practice. It’s far better to use your precious time and energy to grow Spiritually rather than to squander your limited resources chasing powers that you may never realize.

The story is told in India about a man who wasted 20 years of devout, intense practice trying to learn how to walk on water and failed. 20 years of intense meditation could get you to Samadhi.

Attaining and using psychic powers is a huge trap. You must devote time and energy to getting the power. Then, when you have your power, using it grows your pride and ego, stifling true Spiritual progress.

So, please, grow a strong, daily meditation and yoga practice with the ultimate goal of Samadhi firmly in mind. Then, when you incorporate psychic development exercises into your practice, the insights you get will be the right ones.

Your psychic abilities will start giving you answers about yourself –about the best way for you to live and practice.

Attaining the Siddhis

“The whole history of science shows us that whenever the educated and scientific men of any age have denied the facts of other investigators on a priori grounds of absurdity or impossibility, the deniers have always been wrong.” — Alfred Russell Wallace

The Yoga Sutras provide a taxonomy of supernormal mental powers and a means of obtaining them. 

Gentle chakra exercise

This chakra exercise will give you balanced growth.

Chanting each chakra’s sacred sound activates, cleanses, and grows your chakras. They become able to process greater amounts of psychic energy. Siddhis come naturally.

General instructions and cautions

The secret key to success is to vibrate your nose bone while chanting the sacred sounds. Send this vibration down to the chakra you’re working on. It’s this vibration that causes everything to happen.

• So the first sacred sound, Lam, is pronounced Lammmmmmmm… The first letters tell the vibration which chakra to go to while the vibration is created by the long Mmmmm…..
• Always begin at the bottom with Mooladhara and work up.
• Chant each chakra an equal number of times to keep growth balanced.
• Never practice this laying down.

Immediately after doing the exercise, lay down in Savasana, the Yoga Death Pose, for 20 minutes to allow your chakras to cool and stabilize.

Step by step instructions

• Use an upright meditation posture,
• Use abdominal breathing,
• Focus your attention on the red Mooladhara chakra,
• Gently and softly, chant Mooladhara’s sacred sound, Lam, 9 times while vibrating your nose bone,
• Go up to the next chakra and repeat, using that chakra’s sacred sound. The sacred sounds are listed next to each chakra, and
• When you’ve finished all 7 chakras, lay down in Savasana for 20 minutes.

Siddhis through Kundalini

Raising your Kundalini regularly may be the quickest way to activate your psychic abilities. Golden Kundalini energy floods your chakras, nadhis, and aura. You benefit 3 ways:

• You get vastly increased energy levels for daily living,
• Your entire energy system grows and expands. You become able to process more psychic energy. Abilities awaken, and
• Your Samskaras (blocks, veils) get released fast. These issues are what’s blocking your psychic development.

The Samskaras are:

• Past life karmas,
• Stored emotions,
• Past traumatic incidents, and
• False concepts and beliefs.

You can have the Siddhis –especially the lesser ones. The safe way to get them is to allow them to come naturally –as part of your overall spiritual growth that’s taking you to the ultimate goal of Samadhi.

Samkhya philosophy of 8 Siddhis

In the Samkhyakarika and Tattvasamasa, there are references to the attainment of eight siddhis by which “one becomes free of the pain of ignorance, one gains knowledge, and experiences bliss”. The eight siddhis hinted at by Kapila in the Tattvasamasa are, as explained in verse 51 of the Samkhyakarika:

• Uuha: based on the samskaras (karmic imprints) of previous births, the attainment of knowledge about the twenty-four tattvas gained by examining the determinable and indeterminable, conscious and non-conscious constituents of creation.
• Shabda: knowledge gained by associating with an enlightened person (Guru – upadesh).
• Addhyyan: knowledge gained through the study of the Vedas and other standard ancillary texts.
• Suhritprapti: knowledge gained from a kind-hearted person, while engaged in the spread of knowledge.
• Daan: knowledge gained regardless of one’s own needs while attending to the requirements of those engaged in the search for the highest truth.
• Aadhyaatmik dukkah-haan: freedom from pain, disappointment, etc. that may arise due to a lack of spiritual, metaphysical, mystic knowledge and experience.
• Aadhibhautik dukkah-haan: freedom from pain etc. arising from possessing and being attached to various materialistic gains.
• Aadhidaivik dukkha-haan: freedom from pain etc. caused by fate or due to reliance on fate.

It is believed that the attainment of these eight siddhis renders one free of the pain of ignorance, and gives one knowledge and bliss.

Hindu deities associated with gaining Siddhis

Ganesha, Hanuman, various forms of Devi, Vishnu, and various other deities are popularly seen as the keepers of siddhis, with the ability to grant them to the worshipper.

Ways to attain Ashta Siddhi safely

Acharya Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra treatise mentions the ways (methods) of attaining the supernatural powers i.e. Siddhis. Below mentioned are the ways of attaining Siddhis as per Patanjali:

Janma (by birth)

The children who are born to those parents who are spiritually high receive the powers of spirituality through birth owing to the womb they are born in and also as a part of the genetic trait (predisposition). Alternatively, it can be said that some people, by birth may have extraordinary powers to attain siddhi because of their attainments in their previous lives.

Aushadhi (medicine, herbs, drugs)

Miraculous and special powers (siddhi) can be attained by consuming some herbs and medicines.

Mantra (incantations)

Special powers can be attained by recitation (incantation) of mantras (sacred hymns which are powerful by nature). Such Mantras are found in Vedas.

Tapah (penance, self-discipline)

The clouds of ignorance in the mind are warded off by following penance and self-discipline. With this, one will be able to control the 5 elements of nature as and when he wishes to do. It is possible by un-perverted thinking. This will help in attaining siddhi.

Samadhi (oneness with consciousness)

One is granted extraordinary siddhi when he achieves oneness with consciousness.

The 21 Siddhi powers

Approximately twenty-five siddhis are listed in the third book of the Yoga Sutras. An exact number is difficult to pin down because the abilities may be interpreted in different ways, and there is some overlap. But it is possible to view all the siddhis as variations on three basic classes:

Siddhi III.17

Knowledge of the meaning of sounds produced by all beings, resulting from samyana on the “third ear,” or the concept of sound, words, or hearing. This may be interpreted as a form of clairvoyance, or telepathy that extends beyond human minds and includes animals, insects, and other species. More generally it is known as clairaudience.

Siddhi III.18

Knowledge of previous births and arising of future births, resulting from samyana on one’s latent or inherited tendencies. This is clairvoyance on an aspect of consciousness that does not arise from the body and is sustained after bodily death. A similar siddhi is described in Sadhana Pada II.39, translated as “When non-greed is confirmed, a thorough illumination of the how and why of one’s birth comes.”17 III.19–20. Knowledge of minds, resulting from samyama on one’s own mind or another’s mind, both of which from a holistic perspective is part of the universal mind. We now call this telepathy.

Siddhi III.21

The disappearance of the body from view is a result of looking at the body with the inner eye. This is sometimes translated as the power of invisibility because the Sanskrit aphorism contains words suggesting a “suspension of the coarse or limited projection of the body.” But it may also be interpreted as the ability to perceive aspects of the body that are beyond the limited scope of the ordinary senses. In other words, we could interpret this as clairvoyance, or perhaps as psychokinesis.

Siddhi III.22

Foreknowledge of birth, harm, or death, resulting from samyama on sequences of events in one’s past and present. This again is a form of clairvoyance.

Siddhi III.23

Loving-kindness in all, resulting from samyama on friendliness, compassion, or sympathetic joy. This can be interpreted to mean that when one is imbued with joy, that state may induce similar feelings in others. This may be interpreted as an unintentional or field-like form of psychokinesis.

Siddhi III.24

Extraordinary strength results from samyama on the concept of physical strength (the aphorism specifically mentions the strength of an elephant, which was undoubtedly the strongest creature in Patanjali’s world), but it might also include mental, moral, or spiritual strength. This could be interpreted as an exceptional form of mind-body control or as a mind-matter interaction effect. Swami Satchidananda sums up this siddhi with the comment, “You can lighten yourself; you can make yourself heavy. It’s all achieved by samyama. Do it; try it. Nice things will happen”

Siddhi III.25

Knowledge at a distance, resulting from samyama on the “inner light,” which in Western esoteric terms is known as the “subtle body” or the “light body.” This siddhi includes knowledge of hidden objects or clairvoyance.

Siddhi III.26

Knowledge of the outer universe, resulting from samyama on the solar principle, which could include the sun as a planetary body, or the concept of the solar plexus, one of the principal “subtle energy” centers or chakras in the human body. A more detailed translation of this siddhi would require a major diversion into esoteric yogic concepts where aspects of the human body, some physical and others more subtle, are mapped onto aspects of the cosmos. This arcane symbolism is outside the scope of the present book, so we may simply interpret this siddhi as clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems.

Siddhi III.27–28

Knowledge of the inner universe, resulting from samyama on the lunar or Chandra principle, or the “pole star.” As with the previous siddhi, to avoid diverting our attention to esoteric lore that is not within the capacity of science to evaluate, we will interpret this as clairvoyance of microscopic objects and systems.

Siddhi III.29

Knowledge of the composition and coordination of bodily energies, through samyama on the navel chakra or Manipura chakra. This siddhi may be interpreted as an exceptional mind-body connection, or as a self-healing ability.

Siddhi III.30

Liberation from hunger and thirst, through samyama on the throat. This siddhi is known as inedia within the Catholic tradition, or more popularly as breatharianism (living on breath alone, without food, and in extreme cases, without water).

Siddhi III.31

Exceptional stability, balance, or health, through samyama on the kurma nadi, the root of the tongue. This siddhi refers to mind-body knowledge leading to exceptional health or self-healing.

Siddhi III.32–36

The vision of higher beings, knowledge of everything that is knowable, knowing of the origins of all things, knowledge of the true self, through samyama on the crown of the head, intuition, the spiritual heart, the self, or the nature of existence. These siddhis are forms of refined clairvoyance.

Siddhi III.37

Siddhis may appear to be supernormal, but they are normal. This is not a description of a siddhi, but rather a caution to avoid regarding or attaining the siddhis as unnatural or supernormal, as that could become a distraction to sustaining and deepening samadhi.

Siddhi III.38

Influencing others. This siddhi suggests that a highly realized yogi who is adept with the previously described siddhis can not only know about others but also influence them. This is related to the concept of shaktipat, the ability to transmit spiritual energy to others through one’s gaze or presence.

In laboratory jargon, this phenomenon is known as “distant mental interactions with living systems.” It may be interpreted as a sort of field effect due to the rarified mental state that the yogi embodies, which acts like a radiating beacon that influences everyone in the vicinity. This siddhi is also related to a sutra described in the second book of the Yoga Sutras, Sadhana Pada. The translation of Sutra II.35 reads: “In the presence of one firmly established in nonviolence, all hostilities cease.”

Siddhi III.39 and 42

Levitation, through samyama on the feeling of lightness. This siddhi is said to allow the yogi to float, hover, fly, or walk on water. It could be interpreted as a highly advanced form of psychokinesis.

Siddhi III.40

Blazing radiance, through samyama on “inner fire,” or inner energy. This has been interpreted in several ways, as possession of exceptional charisma, as an exceptional digestive ability that would allow one to eat huge amounts of food or withstand toxic substances without harm, or as exceptional control of bodily energies. We will interpret it as an exceptional form of mind-body control.

Siddhi III.41

Clairaudience, through samyama on the area behind the ear. This siddhi allows one to hear the “conversations of the enlightened ones, the subtle mental conversations of others, the celestial music, and receive messages through the ether both awake or while asleep, as if they were spoken or whispered whether or not they exist through the medium of sound waves as such.” In other words, this is a refined form of clairvoyance or clairaudience.

Siddhi III.43

Freedom from bodily awareness and temporal attachments. This could be interpreted as a state of perception from out-of-the-body, or as a form of clairvoyance.

Siddhi III.44–45

Mastery over the elements, through samyama on the elements, enables manipulation of matter, including the size, appearance, and condition of the body. Variations of these abilities include the fulfillment of any desire, or to create or destroy material manifestations; a highly refined version of psychokinesis.

Siddhi III.46

Perfection of the body. This could be interpreted as a melding of exceptional mind-body control combined with psychokinesis. It would manifest in extreme cases as indefinite life extension, as incorruption of the body after physical death, perhaps as the “rainbow body” in Tibetan tradition, in which the corpse does not decay but rather slowly fades away and turns into colored lights.

This list covers Patanjali’s classic siddhis; many other variations of these superpowers can be found in mystical texts from other traditions. They include:

• Bilocation (the ability to simultaneously appear in more than one location);
• The ability to move very fast or cover great distances in a short time;
• Ability to stay comfortably warm in extremely cold temperatures;
• The ability to suspend breathing or hibernate indefinitely;
• Ability to bestow siddhis to others; and
• The ability not to be harmed by fire; and the ability to change the weather.

Danger

Before we begin our scientific examination of the Siddhis, it is noteworthy that Patanjali and others specifically highlighted the dangers of dwelling on the siddhis. Patanjali states in Sutra III.51 a warning that may be translated as:

Avoid invitations to display or identify with any accomplishments in yoga, including the siddhis, even if invited by a respected person, because this can reinforce one’s sense of separate self, leading to ego, pride, and arrogance, and this becomes an impediment toward further spiritual unfoldment. There are many ways that this trap can manifest. If personal pride or greed causes one to be seduced by the ever-present challenge of proving one’s abilities to skeptics, such as using psychic abilities to win a prize, then the power gained by that seduction is likely to corrupt the ethical restraints that are the very first lesson to learn on the eightfold path.

That “power corrupts” is an unavoidable truth in human affairs, and the consequences of the fall, in this case, are profound because the goal of achieving enlightenment, which requires far more discipline than simply developing clairvoyance, is lost. Even if one does not personally identify with an attained siddhi, and instead attributes it to one’s teacher or a particular lineage, the damage is done.

This means that from a scientific perspective it may be exceptionally difficult to find people who have achieved these rarified states and are willing to demonstrate them because paradoxically they have reached those states precisely because they have not demonstrated them in public. 

Fortunately, attaining Siddhis is not an all-or-nothing affair. They are not instant phase shifts that appear out of thin air, but rather they’re stable versions of weaker effects that some people can demonstrate some of the time. If this were not so, then science would never have learned anything about the siddhis.

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