Key idea of the Yoga Sūtras
siddhi · powers
Extraordinary powers that come with practice, and become obstacles if pursued.
Siddhi means accomplishment or power, and Book III, the Vibhūti Pāda, is named for them. From 3.16 on, saṃyama on one object after another brings knowledge of past and future, of other minds and of former births, the strength of an elephant, invisibility, movement through space, and mastery of the elements and the senses (3.16–3.48). Powers also come from birth, herbs, mantras, discipline or absorption (4.1), and Book II attaches them to the restraints and observances (2.35–2.45). Then Patañjali sets them in their place. They are obstacles to absorption, though powers to the outward-turned mind (3.37). Non-attachment even to sovereignty over all states and knowledge of all leads to liberation (3.49–3.50), and a yogi invited by those in high places should not be drawn in or flattered (3.51). Vyāsa adds that the powers were brought into the discussion as means of purifying the mind; strictly, it is knowledge that removes not-seeing (on 3.55).
Vyāsa
“As being the means of purifying the sattva, both the supremacy (aiśvarya) proceeding from concentration and the [intuitive] knowledge have been introduced-into-the-discussion. But strictly speaking the [intuitive] knowledge represses not-sight (adarśana).”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya in J. H. Woods' translation (1914), p. 295.
How it has been read
The tradition has generally taken the powers as real. Some modern readers treat them as symbolic or psychological. Either way Patañjali's emphasis is clear: the powers are never the goal (3.37, 3.50).
A common misreading
Siddhis are sometimes advertised as the point of advanced practice. Patañjali calls them obstacles to absorption (3.37) and makes non-attachment to them the step before liberation (3.50).
Where the text defines it
- 3.16 Saṃyama on the three transformations gives knowledge of past and future.
- 3.37 These are obstacles to absorption, though powers to the outward-turned mind.
- 3.45 From that come the power to become minute and the other powers, perfection of the body, and freedom from obstruction by the properties of the elements.
- 3.50 By non-attachment even to that, as the seeds of fault wear away, comes liberation.
- 3.51 When invited by those in high places, do not be drawn in or flattered, for unwanted consequences may return.
- 4.1 Powers come from birth, herbs, mantras, discipline or absorption.