Excerpt from “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”, by Sri Swami Satchidananda:

Siddhis are born of practices performed in previous births, or by herbs, mantra repetition, asceticism or by samadhi.

Patanjali begins this [fourth and final] book by reviewing the methods by which the siddhis can be obtained by the Yoga practitioner. Some people attain the siddhis without even doing any practices in this life. They don’t know what they did to have these kinds of powers. That is the proof that they have done something in their past lives to merit such powers in this one. He also gives us some clues about the people who get some experiences through their LSD and marijuana. The so-called “grass” is an herb, is it not? Mushrooms could be considered herbs also.

Or siddhis come by the practice of mantra japa or by asceticism. Asceticism, or tapas, means accepting suffering willingly, thus exercising your will power and gaining control over the mind.

So, there are various ways of accomplishing the psychic powers. But normally it is recognized that all the others except Samadhi are not natural. For example, using herbs means including siddhis by the use of certain external stimuli. It’s not an “organic” siddhi. It may come and then fade away. So, siddhis should come in the regular process of Yoga, not through external stimuli.

Sanskrit:

Janmausadhi mantra tapah samadhijah siddhayah.

Janna = birth; ausadhi = herbs;

mantra = sacred speech, Vedic hymn, incantation;

tapah = consume or destroy by heat, purification by austerity, undergo penance, acceptance of sufferings;

samadhi = concentration of thoughts, intense contemplation on a particular object, absorption; jah = born, produced or caused by;

siddhayah = psychic powers, accomplishments, attainments.

 

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Namaste!

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This entire blog is copied verbatim from a poster hanging on the wall in our school, received several years ago for renewing a subscription to a yoga something-or-other. It’s the most concise description of yoga we’ve found yet. Enjoy. 😉

“Truth is like a great mirror shattered by time into ‘hundred thousand pieces’, which enables all who possess a small fragment to declare, ‘My Religion-Truth is the true one.’” – Sufi Gibrail Kham

[The author of the following is unknown; bonus points if you know who wrote it!]:

[YOGA’s ORIGINS]

From the Indus Valley where one of the greatest civilizations of pre-history was already developing in the 4th millennium B.C., there comes to us across the barriers of time the philosophical and religious teaching of Yoga, which condenses and exalts the highest spiritual aspirations of Humanity of all times and every land.

Yoga as we know it today is probably very different from the original Yoga of the Indus Valley, having been codified and subsequently modified over the millennia. The first known codification is to be BHAGAVAD GITA (c. 400 B.C.). Then, in 150 A.D., the “FIVE WAYS OF YOGA” were codified.

Yoga survives from the Sanskrit YUK =

meaning “unite” or “bind”, linguistically related to the Latin “Iungere” or “Iugum” (yoke). Yoga “binds” and “unites” the psychic powers and faculties, balancing and reinforcing them and increasing their power. [Can you spell “M I N D   C O N T R O L”?]

THE FIVE PATHS

The Five Paths, or Ways, relate to the principal aspects whereby man externalizes his inner nature (the Self). The conquest and aim of Yoga is the obtaining of a total vision of the Self and, this being similar to the All (Microcosm = Macrocosm), to arrive at the total vision of the Infinite.

1 Hata Yoga: HA = Sun, THA = Moon; [Hata is the] union of the two breaths, the right, Solar, positive and the left, Lunar, negative. Hata also means health. To attain SAMADHI (the state of ecstasy) through the Asanas (positions) and the Pranayama (rhythmic control of the breathing) and with the MUDRA (methods of enclosing the breathing into the body).

2 Raja Yoga: [see separate section below]

3 Karma Yoga: Karma = every action has its KARMAN, which will be a prize or a punishment in the chain of existence (SAMSARA). Yoga of action, deeds and work. Carrying out one’s duty with no expectation of reward. Part of Raja Yoga.

4 Jnana Yoga: [not defined herein]

5 Bhakti Yoga: [not defined herein]

All five Paths tend towards knowledge of the Divine Essence in Man, which can enable him to overcome all sub-divisions. The Five Paths themselves and all “divided” (or apparently divided) things in the Universe are one thing.

When the One Energy which forms and acts in the All is understood, the Universe and all Universes converge in one “Point” (BINDHU), where the very Essence of the All is concentrated. The “Point” becomes zero and is center – is the Infinite (that which lies outside the center is finite). [That last bit is deep!]

In Man, the Soul is the Infinite, while the body and all that surrounds it are finite.

RAJA YOGA

In Raja Yoga, the Asanas (positions) serve to eliminate psychic disturbances of the Physical Body, creating a psycho-physical balance which combats the mind’s inconstancy.

Asana: There are 84 hundred thousand Asanas “described” by Shiva. There are as many Asanas as there are living beings in the Universe. Their importance depends on their influence on the endocrine glands and the “Prana” and “Apana” currents.

While the Apana restrains the Prana in its upward impulse, the Prana restrains the Apana in its downward fall. The Apana is the assimilating energy which passes along the PINGALA (Sun) channel (Nadi) and emerges at the right nostril. The Prana is the energy which flows along the IDA (Lunar) channel (Nadi) and emerges at the left nostril.

The oscillations of the two energy forces create instability and restlessness. Some Yoga exercises serve to make the contents of the two lateral channels converge in the central one (SUSUMNA), thereby uniting the two energies, Apana and Prana.

[The author outlines the eight limbs, or practice portion of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras as follows:]

I. SADHANA = Preparatory basics. Discipline. Ascesis [the practice of intense self-discipline, typically for religious reasons].

A. BAHIRANGA SADHANA = Beginning of spiritual research and ascesis. Bahiranga = Exterior. That which belongs to the circle of exteriority:

1. YAMA (moral observation)

2. NIYAMA (rules of conduct)

3. ASANA (the positions)

B. ANTARANGA SADHANA = Interior research of the spirit. Antaranga = Interior. That which belongs to the circle of interiority:

4. PRANAYAMA (breathing exercises)

5. PRATYAHARA (restraining external temptations)

II. SAMYAMA = Yoga proper:

6. DHARANA (concentration)

7. DHYANA (meditation)

8. SAMADHI (union with God)

AHIMSA

 “A” = no. “Himsa” = violence. “Ahimsa” = Do not Harm.

 Violence arises from Fear, Ignorance and Selfishness.

 Only by freeing oneself from these ills, restraining them voluntarily by practicing Ahimsa, can one attain…

 ABHAYA (freedom from fear) and AKRODHA (freedom from Wrath).

Two of these people are my teachers.

It’s probably a good thing I’ve never met the other two – though, believe it or not, I can do what they can do [I just don’t look as good doing it!!]

But what I REALLY want to do is what my teachers do:

bring peace to millions

 

Yes; I have an enormous ego – but I have an even bigger heart.

Let me help the people you love feel better about themselves.

Meditation isn’t easy, but neither is suffering.

Thank you, Allan Dowds

The Marblehead School of Raja Yoga class schedule

Kurt – I didn’t know you attended Rutgers – though I knew you were smart!!

Edwyn F. Bryant is Professor of Religions of India at your alma mater. He’s my teacher – though he’d insist that I caveat that by admitting I don’t teach it in the classical manner in which he taught me!

I carry these texts to every class; the tome in the middle is Bryant’s. They represent different interpretations of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the 3,000 year-old, 200-line poem I teach, though “poem” is like calling the pyramids buildings (thought you’d appreciate that analogy!) or the Mona Lisa a painting!

These were written by four of my teachers: Amma, Bryant, Satichidananda (who’s text we use in class), and Swamij.com. It’s extremely helpful when trying to intuit the meaning of the sutras to read several interpretations – because everyone has their own!!

September class schedule

I’m a spiritual guide like a priest or rabbi, though my faith comes from Patanjali, father of Raja Yoga. I teach Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, a 3,000 year old, 200 line poem outlining the science of transcending the mind to experience consciousness (i.e., to become “enlightened”).

Patanjali’s poem has four parts. About halfway through the first part (sutra 1.20), he lists a sequence of energetic experiences you’re likely to have along the journey. Here’s what Edwyn F. Bryant*, says about this line of Patanjali’s poem [paraphrasing]:

FAITH – Vyasa [universally recognized as the original authoritative commentator on Patanjali’s work] states that faith sustains like a benevolent mother; it supports the yogi until the very end.

VIGOR – comes from deep faith, which the commentators take to be the pursuit of the eight limbs of yoga described in the second part of the poem; in other words, faith inspires an energetic pursuit of enlightenment.

MEMORY – vigor produces memory, which is understood by Vyasa to mean an undisturbed mind.

MEDITATION – a focused state of mind facilitates un-deviated concentration on an object.

DISCERNMENT – as a result of the complete absence of distraction in the final stage of meditation, discernment, the ability to see things as they really are, manifests. The ultimate act of discrimination is to realize the distinction between mind and consciousness: the latter [the Holy Grail of Patanjali’s poem] witnesses the former.

God bless, Allan

 

*source: Edwin F. Bryant’s “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: a new edition, translation, and commentary with insights from the traditional commentators”