Urban Yogee

Vibhuti
super powers

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Siddhi, or Vibhuti - as Vibhuti Padh, one of the four sections of Patanjali's yogasutras , are supernatural abilities obtained by advanced yogees.

There is no definitive consensus on the total number of such super powers that can be attained - there are the commonly known eight or Ashta Siddhis, the secondary ten, the six that hold you in the material realm, the lesser known most advanced nine, and so on.

Most of these siddhis and vibhutis break widely accepted laws of modern science and thus invite much skepticism. To draw an apt analogy, it is the equivalent of Neo dodging bullets and breaking other rules of reality in the Matrix - only that the Matrix here is our "real world"!! [Come to think of it, he does do this quasi-meditative posing before he bends the Matrix reality to his will. Neo is an Urban Yogee in the post apocalyptic world! :-)]

Patanjali has devoted one entire pada of the 4 padas of yogasutras to Vibhutis that can be gained on the path of yoga. He describes more than 2 dozen powers in detail. But he also takes great pains to point out that while these super powers are fanstastic and Godlike, they are yet only material and so worth nothing when compared to merging with the Cosmic Consciousness.

In fact, these vibhutis are a sort of final exam, so to speak, of one's Viveka and Vairagya. Many get waylaid by the mesmerising powers of Vibhuti and halt their yog at this point. Patanjali advises turning away/ rejecting these Vibhutis/ Siddhis in favour or merging one's Individual Consciousness with the Cosmic Consciousness.


Ashta Siddhis

These are main eight super powers a human can harness when he masters his own True Inner Self. These are according to the Puraanas.

1. Animaa
ability to shrink

Make one's self so subtle and small, down to the size of an atom or a particle.

2. Mahimaa
ability to expand

Expand one's self so much so as to extend beyond the plater or even the solar system, infinitely huge.

3. Garimaa
to become heavy

Increase one's mass/density to the point one weighs millions of times more, with no obvious external change.

4. Laghimaa
to become light

Decrease one's weight so much so as to become lighter than air. This siddhi gives the ability to walk on water.

5. Praaptee
teleportation

Ability to transport one's self to any part of material creation, across multiple dimensions.

6. Praakamyam
mind reading

Ability to read the minds and thoughts, acess memories nd knowledge of any living thing.

7. Ishitvam
diety like power over selected aspects of nature

Ability to become one of the Gods in Devalok (Heaven) with mastery over one aspect of nature, a particular element. Like Indra, God of Rain and Thunder or Pawan, Lord of the Air and Winds.

8. Vashitvam
godlike power to control all natural phenomena

Ability to mimic the Maker and have power over all material manifestations. This includes people, animals, natural phenomena, plants and natural elements.

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