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"According to the Tamil Lexicon "siddhi" means "realization", "success", "attainment", "final liberation." A siddhi is an accomplishment on the psychic plane. Siddhi may also mean mysticism in Tamil. In the Tevaram "siddhi" means "success" in attaining God. The real meaning of the word "siddhi"is best expressed by words as "attainment", or "accomplishment" connected with the super-physical worlds. In Zen Buddhism we come across the term "satori" which may be translated as "enlightenment" which is very near to the Hindu concept of "siddhi". Siddhi amounts to an actual surpassing of the human condition and may be likened to an "ontological mutation". In the words of Mircea Eliade, by attaining siddhi, "one is trying to break down the structures of the "profane" sensibility" to make way for extra sensory perception as well as an unbelievable control over the body." A siddhi, in short, is an effort directed to the "death of the profane man" and a state of consciousness cosmic in structure.
Traditionally siddhis are eight in number known as asta siddhi. Asta Siddhi is of three orders, two siddhis of knowledge (garima and prakamya), three siddhis of power (isitva,vasitva and kamavasayitva) and three siddhis of the body (anima, mahima and laghima). The Hindu thought generally recognises eight siddhis, though occasionally eighteen and twenty-four siddhis are also acknowledged. In the Uddhava Gita twenty-three siddhis are enumerated. The Tirumantiram speaks of sixty-four siddhis. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, sixty-eight siddhis are classified. In Jnanavettiyan-1500 and in Agasthiyar Jnanakaviyam-1000 mention is made of sixty-four siddhis. Verse 337 of Bogar Karpam 300 speaks of eighty-four siddhis. Saint Ramalinga Swamigal also says that there are sixty four siddhis.. In the Yogattava Upanisad we find certain details about siddhis. In Tamil literature a list of the siddhis is to be found in Paranjoti’s Tiruvilaiyadar Puranam, in Tayumanavar’s Tejomayanandam, and in Siddharganam, in Pambatticcittar’s songs, in Saint Ramalingam’s the Tiruvarutpa and Tirumular’s the Tirumantiram. It is said that one who has attainted siddhi "can hear the grass as it grows". Pambatticcittar and Tayumanavar have sung about the unlimited capabilities of the Siddhas. Siddhis emerge due to several causes.
It is unfortunate that siddhis have always been considered more a hindrance to spiritual development than as yogic attainments. Saint Ramalingam, who has discussed the siddhis in detail, refers to the attainment of siddhis as "pichu" or "childish play" (Pillai vilayattu). According to Patanjali siddhis are perfections in the waking state (vyutthana) but represent obstacles in the state of samadhi, and allows them no importance for the attainment of deliverance. Patanjali drew attention not only to the danger of exhibiting siddhis, but to the dangers that they present to the possessor; for the yogin is in danger of yielding to the temptation of magic, of being content to enjoy the siddhis instead of sticking to his spiritual task of obtaining final liberation. Pattinattar calls siddhi as "bitter sugarcane" (kasakkum karumbu) to indicate its dual nature. The desire for attracting popular notice through a display of siddhis shows immaturity. As Pambatticcittar says "those who have attained self realization will not exhibit it and those who have not attained self realization are those who exhibit it." But to the true Siddha, who is a genuine kundalini yogin, these siddhis are of immense value, for they indicate that he is in the process of deconditioning himself from the laws of nature and from karmic determinism forever and breaking down the structures of the profane sensibility. Siddhi expresses the quality of mystic experience attained by the Siddha. The real siddhi consists in inner conversion, an inner world of oneness, an entering into the stream of liberation. What is prohibited is not the attainment of the siddhis but their exhibition to others."
from:
Tamil Yoga Siddha Research Project:
The Basic Difficulties (Part 2)
By Dr. T. N. Ganapathy, Ph D
Director of the Tamil Siddha Yoga Research Project
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