Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras
I had practised the TM-Sidhi program – the most important aspect to my life. In the early days I would often ask him when we would start ‘flying’, to which he would give an ambiguous answer. Years later, those who practise the ‘flying technique’ are still only hopping like a frog. Once I saw Punditt Maharaj on a regular basis, my own spiritual experiences intensified and accelerated. But he rarely took an interest in my spiritual experiences.
The TM-Sidhi program was taking three hours twice a day at the TM Centre where I lived. My circumstances changed, and very soon I was visiting Punditt Maharaj daily. The length of visits increased, so that I would spend the afternoon sitting in his tiny office on Brighton seafront, not saying very much.
Siddhis are spontaneous and natural; as the Yoga Sutras are a practical manual on spiritual magic. It is being in a high spiritual state, in a pure state of consciousness that gives the spiritual powers. Established in Being, perform Action, as the Bhagavad Gita says. The Yoga Sutras do not tell the Aspirant how to do the Siddhis any more than it shows how to do pranayama or hatha yoga or samyama. Once the siddhis is natural and effortless, in the waking dreaming or sleeping state, the real purpose of the Yoga Sutras begins. The siddhis are an interregnum on the path.
Patanjali does not describe the techniques — they are incomprehensible from the viewpoint of lower consciousness. When consciousness is at the right level, the siddhis can be activated, and it is only after several years while the physiology is prepared for the arduous and difficult experience of continual awareness of the Transcendent or Ghayb, that the work of Patanjali can be continued.
The Flying Technique revisited
In this light, I looked again at the ‘flying sutra’. The flying technique is not about lifting the body off the ground, floating around in the lotus position. Maharishi would want to promote the technique as such because it would make brilliant television, and give physical proof of his brilliance. Unfortunately, Maharishi’s followers have never had the real talent to achieve such a thing. I did the flying technique, and I hopped around like a frog on the foam with everybody else. I never did manage to float, even for a nanosecond. Looking at the sutra today, I see a different interpretation of the technique — the purpose is to transform the body into Akasha so one can visit anywhere in the universes (note the plurality). This suggests something told to me by some Governors while I was on ‘work-study’ at Mentmore Towers. Maharishi had a secret agenda, the Galactic Ambassadors, who would communicate with Spirits and entities in other universes. There was only rumour, but the technique of transformation of internal awareness externalised for publicity purposes. Understanding this difference casts light on the failure of Maharishi’s organisation to bring peace on earth — an ideal I still aspire to.
In the West, while magicians desire the powers of the Spirits, they are terrified of being ensnared by the same Spirits, for good reason. It is the achievement of higher states of consciousness that result in the emergence of those powers, which then have to be transcended. Although the siddhis are available to me at any time, it is the other techniques I use, hinted at in the Yoga Sutras that are far more important. The fact that commentators rarely discuss those other techniques suggests that they may not be in such a greater state of consciousness as you may think.
Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras
I had practised the TM-Sidhi program – the most important aspect to my life. In the early days I would often ask him when we would start ‘flying’, to which he would give a suitably ambiguous answer. Over twenty years later, those who practise the ‘flying technique’ are still only hopping like a frog. Once I started to see him on a regular basis, my own spiritual experiences intensified and accelerated, but from an early time, he rarely took an interest in my spiritual experiences, and he began to make it difficult for me to practise the Siddhis.
The TM-Sidhi program was taking three hours twice a day at the TM Centre where I lived. This was fine when I was seeing him for maybe half an hour several times a week, but my circumstances changed, and very soon I was visiting daily The length of visits increased, so that I would spend the afternoon sitting in his tiny office on Brighton seafront, not saying very much.
When in higher states of consciousness the ability to do Siddhis is spontaneous and natural, however that is not the aim, as the Yoga Sutras are a practical manual on spiritual magic. The last two words are significant here, as it is being in a high spiritual state, in a pure state of consciousness that gives the spiritual powers. Established in Being, perform Action, as the Bhagavad Gita says. The Yoga Sutras do not tell the Aspirant how to do the Siddhis any more than it shows how to do pranayama or hatha yoga or samyama. However, once the technique of using the siddhis is natural and effortless, and can be performed at any hour of the day, whether in the waking dreaming or sleeping state (and yes, sometimes inebriated…), the real purpose of the Yoga Sutras begins. The siddhis are merely an interregnum on the path.
Patanjali does not describe the techniques — they are incomprehensible from the viewpoint of lower consciousness. When consciousness is at the right level, the siddhis can be activated, and it is only after several years while the physiology is prepared for the arduous and difficult experience of continual awareness of the Transcendent or Ghayb, that the work of Patanjali can be continued.
The Flying Technique revisited
In this light, I looked again at the ‘flying sutra’. The flying technique is not about physically lifting the body off the ground, floating around in the lotus position. Maharishi would want to promote the technique as such because it would make brilliant television, and give physical proof of his brilliance. Unfortunately, Maharishi’s followers have never had the real talent to achieve such a thing. I did the flying technique, and I regularly hopped around like a frog on the foam with everybody else. I never did manage to float, even for a nanosecond. Looking at the sutra today, I see an entirely different interpretation of the technique — the purpose is to transform the body into Akasha so one can visit anywhere in the universes (note the plurality). This suggests something that was told to me by some Governors while I was on ‘work-study’ at Mentmore Towers. Maharishi apparently had a secret agenda, the Galactic Ambassadors, who would communicate with Spirits and entities in other universes. There was only rumour, but the technique of transformation of internal awareness externalised for publicity purposes. Understanding this difference casts light on the failure of Maharishi’s organisation to bring peace on earth — an ideal I still aspire to.
In the West, while magicians desire the powers of the Spirits, they are simultaneously terrified of being ensnared by the same Spirits, for good reason. It is the achievement of higher states of consciousness that eventually result in the emergence of those powers, which then have to be transcended. Although the siddhis are available to me at any time, it is the other techniques I use, hinted at in the Yoga Sutras that are far more important. The fact that commentators rarely discuss those other techniques suggests that they may not be in such a greater state of consciousness as you may think.