The phenomenon of the paranormal

[Guest guest]

ShrIgrubhyo namaH

 

[Thesarus :Paranormal : unable to be explained or understood in

terms of scientific knowledge, telepathic, psychic, clairvoyant,

mystic, mystical.]

 

 

Is Indian scriptural lore occultist?

 

We come across instances very often in our scriptures where there is

a pronounced occurrence of supra-normal / super-natural / out-of-the-

normal display of events. Here is a typical case:

 

In the 11th chapter, 8th verse of the Bhagavadgita, we have Sri

Krishna say this:

 

divyam dadAmi te chakShuH…….

 

Krishna is responding to Arjuna's request for a Vishvarupa darshanam

(vision of the Lord's Universal Form) of the Lord. Krishna says:

Arjuna, you cannot expect to see this vision with these physical

eyes of yours. Hence, I shall grant you `divine eyes' out of My

Yoga shakti, Yogic Power.

 

Now, we have no evidence in the Gita (or elsewhere) that the Lord

performed any kind of surgical procedure on Arjuna to `transplant'

the divine eyes on to him. Yet, we find somehow the Lord `giving'

Arjuna the divine eyes and Arjuna `receiving' them and successfully

having the vision. Here is a clear case of a `mysterious' power

passing (shakti paat) from the Lord to Arjuna to enable the

visioning. This is commented upon by Acharya Shankara as follows:

 

(Gambhirananda)

 

//11.8 Tu, but; na sakyase, you are not able; drastum, to see; mam,

Me, who have assumed the Cosmic form; eva, merely; anena, with this

natural; sva-caksusa, eye of yours. However, dadami, I grant; te,

you; the divyam, supernatural; caksuh, eye, by which supernatural

eye you shall be able to see Pasya, behold with that; me, My, God's

aisvaram, divine; yogam, Yoga, i.e. the superabundance of the power

of Yoga [The power of accomplishing the impossible.-M.S.].//

 

 

This is not a singular case of the type. In this same context we

have the very Mahabharata war being relayed `live' to the blind King

Dhritarashtra by Sanjaya. It is said that Sanjaya was given

a `divine pair of eyes' to vision the war, fought at remote

Krukshetra, by none other than Veda Vyasa. Here too, we do not hear

about any surgical transplant procedure. Again, a case of shakti

paat.

 

Now, the two cases are to be concluded to be occultist in nature.

Lord Krishna and Veda Vyasa are Master Occultists. The entire

Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Bhagavata page after page,

episode after episode, chapter after chapter, abound in such cases.

 

Let us have a look at what Sri Shankara himself has to say about

such occurrences/phenomena. In the Brahmasutrabhashya on the Sutra

I.iii.8.26 he says:

 

//one and the same divine Self may at the same time appear in many

forms. After that it proceeds to show that these thirty-three gods

themselves are in reality contained in six, five, &c., and, finally,

by replying to the question, 'Who is the one god?' that Breath is

the one god, shows that the gods are all forms of Breath, and that

Breath, therefore, can at the same time appear in many forms.--

Smriti also has a similar statement, 'A Yogin, O hero of the

Bharatas, may, by his power, multiply his Self in many thousand

shapes, and in them walk about on the earth. In some he may enjoy

the objects, in others he may undergo dire penance, and, finally, he

may again retract them all, just as the sun retracts the multitude

of his rays.' If such Smriti passages as the above declare that even

Yogins, who have merely acquired various extraordinary powers, such

as subtlety of body, and the like, may animate several bodies at the

same time, how much more capable of such feats must the gods be, who

naturally possess all supernatural powers. The gods thus being able

to assume several shapes, a god may divide himself into many forms

and enter into relation with many sacrifices at the same time,

remaining all the while unseen by others, in consequence of his

power to render himself invisible.//

 

Again, in the Sutrabhashya IV.iv.7.17 we have:

 

//To this the Sûtra replies, 'Excepting the world-business.' With

the exception of the origination and so on of the world all other

lordly powers, as e.g. rendering one's self of atomic size, must

belong to the released.//

 

What is spoken of above by Sri Shankara is the `aShTa-siddhi' or

eight-fold powers known as aNimA, mahimA, garimA, etc.

 

We see in the Shankaravijayam, a work recounting the life of Acharya

Shankara, a number of such instances. (Incidentally, the

Shankaravijayam is held in great reverence by the Traditional

Shankara Mutts. The work is devoutly read and expounded during the

Shankara Jayanti celebrations annually.) Shankara's very life span

of thirty two years composed of two extensions that were granted to

him on the request of His mother. He is said to have `entered' the

body of King Amaruka for the purpose of answering questions posed by

Ubhaya Bharati, the wife of Mandana Mishra (Sureshwaracharya).

Shankara, upon reaching the abode of Guru Govindapada, was first

encountered by a spiteful Narmada river. Upon being appealed by

the inhabitants of the region, Shankara `calmed' the river

by `capturing' her fury into his Kamandalam. Such incidents abound

in His life. The `kanakadhAra', rain of golden berries is another

such incident. He had promised to be at His mother's bed side at

the time of her death. To keep up his word, Shankara, while in

Sringeri, sensed that His mother AryAmba's end was nearing. He

quickly reached Kaalady by resorting to a siddhi called `pAdukaa

siddhi' whereby without actually traveling the distance, one reaches

the place of destination.

 

What I would like to say from all the above is that the phenomenon

of the paranormal, the bizarre, the un-natural, is quite an integral

part of the Vedic/Vedantic, scriptural tradition.

 

A question arises as to why is this so. A simple answer would be:

 

We, ordinary mortals, in samsara, require the blessings and boons of

the Divinities. The Lord, as said in the Gita third chapter, has

arranged things in such a way that we offer our mite to the

Divinities and they in turn bless us with all the good things in

life. This extends even up to the spiritually good things as well.

Thus, we need a Lord Ganapathy to ward off our impediments. A Durga

to give us power. A Saraswati to grant us learning capability.

Indra to give strength to our limbs. Agni, Varuna and Vayu to give

us various other needs. In order to give us these, naturally they

have to be immensely powerful. They have acquired these powers by

dint of their sadhana, upaasana. The scheme of Saguna Brahman of

the Vedanta permits this kind of attaining promotions by ordinary

mortals and becoming divine beings. They are called `AdhikArika

puruShas', specially appointed by Ishwara to be the Guardian Angels

of the mortals. They assume positions like Surya, Vayu, etc. and

enjoy Lordship, although not equal to the Supreme Ishwara Himself.

They have tremendous powers, the siddhis, etc. Thus, their presence

is ordained by the Lord Ishwara Himself.

 

To conclude, there is nothing `odd' in some Mahatmas gaining such

siddhis which come naturally to them as a result of their Upaasana.

Sage Vidyaranya has said in the Panchadashi that Jnanis who have a

considerable quota of Upaasana to their credit get the power to

specially grace people. This is a result of their `tapas shakti'.

This is not some un-vedantic or extra-traditional phenomenon to be

shunned or looked down upon. They are very much a valid part of the

sampradaya. Only, their presence and manifestation are rare. Since

many Acharyas do not possess these powers, there arises a general

misconception that those who have these powers are occultists, etc.

This article is aimed at removing such misconceived notions. I am

no promoter of occultism nor am i a votary of miracle-mania.

 

With humble pranams to all sadhakas,

Subbu

Om Tat Sat

[Guest guest]

Subbu-ji! Sadar Pranaams !

 

i was delighted to read this post which also endorsed my views on

this subject of Siddhis and saints in an earlier post with a

different set of examples from Adi Shankara Bhagvadapada's life.

Yes ! In the ancient days , the munis , rishis and saints and sages

of India had paranormal powers ( siddhis and riddhis.) but most of

them , with the exception of a few ( like Durvasa Muni) used these

siddhis for only a good purpose - not to gain name , fame or

material gains. In fact , the third chapter of Patanjali's yoga

sutras oulines the methodolofy of acquiring these siddhis through

Yoga.

 

But in reality holy man will never us these yogic powers for the

downfall of another person. In fact, in tabtra shastra it is said if

one abuse these yogic shaktis acquired throughfintense yoga sadhana

they will result in one's downfall ! In fact, Swami Rama , on his

book on Himalayan Masters discourages the practice of such siddhis

and says they are obstcales in the path of enlightenment mY grandma

always used to discourage us from investing our faith and trust in

such 'Vibhuti' Saamiyyaars ( those so called saints who materialize

sacred ash in the air) just as she discouraged us from believing in

those wayside astrologers in india who practice 'kuruvi josyam' (

sparrow astrology whereby the sparrow will bring a tarot card and

read your future) . We need to stay away from such so called holy

men whp practice unholy tricks and pray on people's minds and invade

their pocketbooks! '

 

but, Deeksa is a different kettle of fish altogether - it is the

transmission of spiritual power from the guru to the sisya. This

shaktipat refers to the act of a guru or spiritual teacher

conferring a form of spiritual "power" or awakening on a

disciple/student. "Shakti" translates as energy and "pat" as touch.

Shaktipat can be carried out by the spiritually enlightened master

either by transmission of sacred word or mantra, a look, a thought

or by touch. The touch is usually given to the ajna chakra or third

eye of the disciple! This is quite a legitimate practice and has

nothing to do with occult science !

 

The Rest is Silence - if you know your Shakespeare!

 

Aum Shanti! Shanti! Shantihi!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "subrahmanian_v"

<subrahmanian_v wrote:

>

> ShrIgrubhyo namaH

>

> [Thesarus :Paranormal : unable to be explained or understood in

> terms of scientific knowledge, telepathic, psychic, clairvoyant,

> mystic, mystical.]Shakti pat is nothing but Guru's grace or

anugraham!

[Guest guest]

Dear Dhyanasaraswati-ji,Subbu-ji

 

Humble Namaskarams.

 

Let me at the very outset clarify that my use of the

world occult was not meant in the sense of something

to be "looked down upon", and certainly not in a

negative sense. In fact I said it works wonderfully

well for people who have shraddha in that.

 

There is no doubt that Bharatvarsha has the longest

most extensive tradition of "miracles" and exponents

well-versed in siddhis.

 

However what in my humble opinion separates us from

some of the other religions is our stress on dharma

and jnana, rather than on siddhis. In order to be

considered a "saint" for example in Christianity one

has to have demonstrated an actual performance of a

miracle with witnesses to support and corraborate this

- else Sainthood cannot be conferred on you. I read a

news story where followers of Mother Theresa were

trying to prove that a person was cured of sarcoma by

her in order that she may be considered a saint.

 

In our culture, performing miraculous acts is never

ever given much importance in judging a Mahatmas or

anyones place in history.

What Bhagwan Shankara is most revered for is not that

he could make gold coins fall on a devotee or any of

the other siddhis that he displayed but in his

systematic and thorough exposition of the Vedantic

truths. Similarly Vyasa is most known and has the

pride of place amongst all the wonderful divine Sages

that have graced our land not on account of any

siddhis that he displayed but on account of his

systematic work in classifying the Shurti into the

four vedas.

A powerful Sages like Vishwamitra has been known to

possess, or at least demonstrate, far greater siddhis

than anyone else - he was actually able to build a

separate svargaloka!- but it is Vyasa whom we adore,

and in particular pay obesience to by celebrating Guru

Purnima.

In todays age, we have Pujya Puttapurthi Saibaba - His

mahatmyam in my opinion is not in His ability to make

ashes appear in any remote location - but in the

beautiful message of vedanta and seva that He

tirelessly preaches. Of course for some people,

demonstartion of His siddhis may be more important for

them to develop shraddha or further strengthen what

may be a weak shraddha.

Siddhis have never received pride of place in our

culture. Ravana was accomplished in supernatural

siddhis but that didnt get him anywhere. All our

asuras were well-versed in siddhis.Bhagwan Rama on the

other hand never demonstarted any siddhis but is the

most revered God in our culture soley on his being the

very embodiment of dharma. Siddhis are in fact a

significant impediment to a person's spiritual

progress and the less attention we pay to it the

better.

With regards to Mahatmas who have the capacity to

bless us with these siddhis purely as a minor

byproduct of their spiritual prowess, what can one say

except that we are indeed supremely fortunate to be

blessed by their presence.

It may perhaps be more prudent for us, in praying to

these Mahatmas, to pray for Grace is helping us in our

selfefforts - mental and intellectual -than to focus

on the siddhis that they may choose to or not

demonstrate or expect or wish for a liberating sparsha

dikshapat from them.

Even though Krishna was able to show Arjuna a

vishwaroopa darshana he wasnt able to make a jnani out

of him until he finished his teaching in the 18th

chapter and made sure Arjuna understoof it - and in

fact the most crucial "mahavakya" portion of the Gita

occured only after that (ch 13-15). How easy it would

have been for Krishna, the Greatest Mayavee(controller

of Maya) of All, to simply touch Arjuna on his head!

 

Humble pranams

Hari OM

Shyam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--- dhyanasaraswati <dhyanasaraswati > wrote:

> i was delighted to read this post which also

> endorsed my views on

> this subject of Siddhis and saints in an earlier

> post with a

> different set of examples from Adi Shankara

> Bhagvadapada's life.

> This shaktipat refers to the act of a guru or >

spiritual teacher

> conferring a form of spiritual "power" or awakening

> on a

> disciple/student. "Shakti" translates as energy and

> "pat" as touch.

> Shaktipat can be carried out by the spiritually

> enlightened master

> either by transmission of sacred word or mantra, a

> look, a thought

> or by touch.

 

 

 

 

We have the perfect Group for you. Check out the handy changes to

()

[Guest guest]

Greetings Shyam-ji!

 

Thank you so much for your well documented response . i feel honored

that you find my posts worthy of a response. You are most gracious

and compassionate .

 

You write :

Shyam-ji , for some odd reason, the word 'Occultism' does have a

negative connotation- it is associated with Sorcery and Witchcraft

wheras the word 'siddhis ' do not have A similar negative

connotation - whether Siddhis are good or bad depends on the purpose

for which they are used.

 

You state :

 

(.Bhagwan Rama on the other hand never demonstarted any siddhis

but is the > most revered God in our culture soley on his being the

very embodiment of dharma. )

 

My response :

 

For instance , Sri Hanuman was well versed in all the ashta (eight)

siddhis - But Lord Hanuman used these siddhis only for good

purposes - Shyam-ji , you point out that Lord Rama was known for his

upholding of 'Dharma ' but his greatest devotee Hanuman was blessed

with the eight Siddhis and nine Ridhis which he employed only for

upholding 'Dharma' and to vanqish the evil demon Ravana!! It is not

for me to sing the glories OF Hanumanji who was the very embodiment

of compassion and devotion!

 

As far as Ravana is concerned he had earned the boon of immortality

from LORD SHIVA( being a great devotee of Lord Shiva)that no gods

can destroys him - Ravana in his arrogance thought that he need not

fear ordinary men or animals - it is for this reason Sri Mahavishnu

incarnated as an ordinary man as Sri RAMA THE KSHATRIYA KING - to

annihilarte Ravana . But in his Avatara as Lord KRISHNA , SRI VISHNU

WAS A POORNA AVATARA well versed in all 16 arts - including mystic

powers - He was God in human form - perfect and complete !

 

As far as Mother Teresa is concerned - her canonization was a mere

formality! To me , she was already a 'living' Saint giving 'hope and

new lease of life ' to the homeless and the hungry men and women of

Calcutta ! That is a 'miracle' for which she will be remembered for

lifetimes to come ! Ask any 'leper' in Calcutta , any day they will

bow down before the picture of Mother Teresa than EVEN MOTHER KALI.

the chosen deity of Bengalees !

 

Likewise i do not think Jesus was known so much for his miracles as

much as for his great teachings in the Bible!

 

Read this

 

 

Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

 

Shyamji, does this not sound like Hinduism's doctrine of Dharma and

Karma yoga ? ( JANA SEVA JANARDANA SEVA ; NARA SEVA NARAYANA SEVA)

 

Shyamji , you make a valid POINT about Adi shankara

bhagavdapada 's UNIQUE GIFT to Hindu philosophy .

 

you state

 

(What Bhagwan Shankara is most revered for is not that

he could make gold coins fall on a devotee or any of

the other siddhis that he displayed but in his

systematic and thorough exposition of the Vedantic

truths. )

 

Shyamji, True ! Shankara Bhagvadapada composed the Kanakadhara

stotram Praising Sri MAHALAKSHMI and thereby helped the poor brahmin

lady to obtain wealth in the shower of Golden AMLAKA FRUITS . bUT

THE Amlaka fruit in the palm of one's hands has another

significance - hastamlaka - This name comes from a well-known

metaphor. The words hastAmalaka and karatala-Amalaka are often used

in advaita writings, when the immediate knowledge of the Atman is

said to be grasped as if it were the gooseberry (Amalaka) fruit in

one's hand (hasta).

 

Can anyone eat a golden amalaka fruit ? it means the lady was

endowed with both material and spiritual wealth! Hiranmayee is both

Bhukti ( material enjoyment ) and mukthi ( liberation) pradaayini!

 

i would like to recall these two lines from a Dikshitir kriti where

the great Carnatic composer sings

 

"HiranyavarNaam Harineem Suvarna Rajathasrajaam ", Dikshitar hails

her in Pallavi as" HirNmayeem Lakshmeem ". Sri Suktham visualizes

Her with golden hue and adorned with jewelery made of Gold and

Silver (Sarvaalankhaara Bhooshithai). Dikshitar visulized Her as

being decked in Gold (Svarna Mayam/HiraNmayee), since his intent was

to relate to his wife's desire for the acquisition of a large

quantity of Golden Jewelery. He says that he always meditates on

Maha Lakshmi as HiraNmayee (HiraNmayeem Lakshmeem Sadhaa Bhajaami).

 

In the next line of the Pallavi, He expresses his resolve (Heena

Maanava Aasrayam Thyajaami) that he will not approach wealthy ones,

praise those and seek his fortune from those lowly ones. He states

that he rejects that route to acquire wealth to please his wife's

cravings for gold.

 

http://sadagopan.org/sb/sb8.htm - 74k - Cached

 

it is believed the inspiration for this beautiful compostion came

from Adi Shankara bhagvadapada's Kankadhara stavam !

 

it all depends on what a devotee wants to request from Mother

Lakshmi ! She is the treasurehouse of all forms of Wealth -

including spiritual wealth!

 

one last point - The great Mayeshwera Lord Krishna already opened

the ajna chakra of his disciple as in seen in sloka 8 , chapter 11

on vibhuti yoga as also explained by our subbuji!

 

"Thou art not indeed able to see Me with this thy eye alone ; I give

thee a divine eye ; behold My lordly Yoga. Me: putting on the

Universal Form. Thus: Prakrita, of prakriti, natural, (fleshy, of

the earth)· I give thee a divine eye. by which you will be able to

see Me. By that eye, behold My great miraculous power of Yoga, that

which belongs to me as lsvara: The Lords manifestation of the

Universal Form."

 

This is the shaktipat that Arjuna received from Lord Krishna! Now,

whether it was nayana deeksha , sparsha diksha or smaran diksha , i

do not know - i was not born then! Smile

 

love and regards

 

 

Hari Aum Tat Sat !

 

 

 

 

 

in

 

Dhyanasaraswati-ji,Subbu-ji

>

> Humble Namaskarams.

>

> Let me at the very outset clarify that my use of the

> world occult was not meant in the sense of something

> to be "looked down upon", and certainly not in a

> negative sense. In fact I said it works wonderfully

> well for people who have shraddha in that.

>

>