Yoga and supernatural powers
Yoga is becoming increasingly popular as a balancing sport, and some exercises are in fact good for keeping the body fit. In ancient India, Yoga originally developed to prepare oneself mentally and physically for higher spiritual levels by hard discipline. However, side effects on the path of yoga have taken the place of the original goal – unity with the divine.
Through the process of self-mastery and concentration, supernatural abilities can arise, which are called “riddhis and siddhis”. The most well-known of these are, for example, clairvoyance and spiritual healing, but there are many more. They are all obstacles on the way to real spiritual progress. The few who had reached higher spiritual levels have always left these powers aside and warned against them, never using them to attract people.
Dr Harbhajan Singh explained this with the example of Bulleh Shah, an Indian mystic of the 18th century, whose poems are still very popular in Punjab today and are often sung:
Dr. Harbhajan Singh
“In the beginning, Bulleh Shah did Hatha Yoga. He had a lot of riddhis and siddhis at his disposal and started influencing people with these miraculous powers. One day, he met Inayat Shah, a Sufi-Saint, who was a gardener. What did Bulleh Shah do?
He applied riddhis and siddhis to bring a mango directly into his pocket only with his attention, without using his hands. This is one of the miraculous powers.
People were surprised how this was possible: “He is really a saint who can do such a thing!”, but Bulleh Shah was not a saint. He had only acquired some miraculous powers, and along with them, forces are working at one’s disposal which are invisible, which are astral. You simply tell them to do such things, and they will do it on behalf of you.
These powers are not responsible for what is done, but the one who is dictating it, who is influenced by these powers, he is affected.
So Bulleh Shah started creating these miraculous things, and when he did it, Inayat Shah came at once and caught hold of his hand. He said: “You are my thief.” He replied: “No, I am not a thief, I didn’t use my hands.”
Inayat Shah said: “No, this is nothing new to me. I did the same, and I gave it up long ago and I know the tentacles (negative side effects) and how to control them.” Then Bulleh Shah surrendered to his future Master: “Master, what then is spirituality? What is the way of life, how to get our heritage back?”
Inayat Shah told: “It is a child’s game you are playing. It is not spirituality. You can show your wisdom, but that is a false wisdom. It has no value in the eyes of the Saints. After all, what is the good of it? Nothing. You will be bewildered. And that will not take you from that this sphere (raise you into higher consciousness), and you remain a wavering mind in the wilderness.”
Then Bulleh Shah requested: “So how is that possible (to lead a spiritual life)?” Inayat Shah said: “Bulleh, you only need to divert the attention.” At that moment, Inayat Shah was planting saplings of onions. First he held them in a bundle and then planted them one by one into the field. He said: “It is a matter of transplanting from one field to another field. It is a matter of moving the attention away from one place and putting and fixing it at the very proper place.”
The field is there (at the Third Eye). What is that field? We are growing chillis. If we grow one seed of chilli, it grows hundreds of chillies there, but if we sow a mango in the same field, the mango tree will also yield hundreds of mangos. And now the sharpness of the chilli and the sweetness of the mango is growing in the same field. So, who has to differentiate? The one who is planting it. It is up to us whether we grow chillies for us or we grow mangos for us. It is man who has to differentiate.
