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An Exploration of the Credibility of Siddhis with Links to Resources
The relationship to shamanism and hallucinogenic drugs
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This page offers an examination of Siddhis- the supernatural powers allegedly manifested by legendary Arhats, mahasattvas and Tathagata and claimed to various degree by some of the most revered rishis as well as certain modern day yogin and gurus.
Certain effects are said to appear spontaneously during the episode of Nirvikalpa Samadhi such as the hair standing on edge, both hyper and hypometabolic changes as in body temperature, and the complete cessation of breathing and heart beat. Credibility issues arise with other claims purporting that some Nivikalpa episodes have lasted days or even weeks. Buddhist Yoga Sutras define the 68 siddhis that the fully realized arhat attains however even the Buddha disparaged showing off
supernatural powers he possessed. It would appear that the long history of accounts of siddhis miracle stories fit a scriptural paradigm and thereby serve to provide evidential proof for the truth of the sutra.
Mo-shan Liao-jan was a Ch'an nun- a master of the Buddhist Tathagatagarbha tradition. Her position was that she had no interest in supernatural power, because it had nothing to do with Enlightenment.
The ashram environment represented the ideal culture for genetic tradition to mutate, as whatever innovations the satguru proposed became assimilated into doctrine by devoted disciples. The atmosphere of spiritual passion that can take hold of both guru and disciple can cause the entire community to be enveloped in a quasi-rapturous state where psychic phenomena of all variety and mystery can manifest- and become incorporated into the satguru's legend.
A class of psychic events as example is that of the stigmata of Christian nuns or saints but which also appears in devotees of non-dual disciplines such as Ganapati Muni, who was known for his siddhis and was a chief disciple and passionate co-satguru of Ramana. He reportedly manifested an aperture or wound that appeared at the site of the crown chakra on his forehead that emitted light or vapor over a period of ten days.
These incidents can be compared to experiments of subjects under hypnosis in which, through inculcation, they developed skin wounds after receiving suggestion that they were being burned or cut but in reality were only touched by harmless objects. Researchers H. Bourru and P. Burot, persuading a hypnotized person that his arm was being cut, saw that the arm was bleeding after being slightly drawn on by a pencil. (René Sudre, Traité de Parapsychologie, Payot, Paris, 1956, p. 341). J.A. Hadfield told a sailor in hypnosis that he was going to press a hot iron bar on the sailor's arm and that the arm would burn. However, he merely touched it gently with his fingertip, after which he covered it. Six hours later when the cover was removed, there was a slight redness and puffiness in that area. Hadfield states that "the following day the puffiness became larger and swelled like a burn." (Hipnotizma [Hypnotism] Dr. Recep Doksat, p.106-108).
Such evidence suggests that psychic phenomena may arise bottom up from our emotional consciousness rather than top down from any transcendent emanation. That is why the seeking of paranormal powers or siddhis, although their reality is acknowledge (to an improbable degree in all of the non-dual traditional doctrine) is disparaged as having nothing to do with enlightenment. The mysteries that psychic events pose because of their variety and the frequency of their occurrence extend well beyond those explained in psychosomatic terms, yet even those mystical episodes which appear to be orchestrated by an overmind for instance, are likely manifests of a collective emotional consciousness rather than from transcendent origin.
Indian Adept Ghantapa Eastern Tibet 1800 - 1899 Karma (Kagyu) Lineage Palpung / Situ School
Himalayan Art Gallery from the collection of
Rubin Museum of Art
One of the most revered rishis of Advaita- Sri Ramana held that siddhis were irrelevant to the jivanmukta but told of an episode where he himself inadvertently and spontaneously transported to an ashram some miles away to greet a devotee who had wanted to meet with him. Both Christianity and Islam feature a relatively few miracles performed by their founders but with Hinduism and Buddhism there is a lineage of siddhu and arhats numbering in the thousands who are credited with siddhis powers with the tradition continuing unabated to this day. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother claimed they helped defeat the Nazis in WWII and specifically caused Hitler to delay an offensive at Dunkirk which enabled the evacuation of British troops. Aurobindo reported he could manifest Madalasa Vidya the 5th main siddhi (with which the siddhu can shrink his physical body down to the size of an atom) to the extent that his body perceptibly shrank in a number of episodes. See other claims by Aurobindo and The Mother. Contemporary sidda in India hold regular demonstrations of whatever version of siddhis powers they become adept. Sathya Sai Baba generated a huge following in India largely through his featuring his minor siddhis in the form of what has since been exposed as slight of hand tricks producing an ash substance and occasionally pills and or other small objects from his "empty" hands. In the US, Sri Chinmoy's supposedly paranormal feats feature performances of physical strength, virtuoso skills in playing 34 musical instruments, writing hundreds of poems and a variety of other savant accomplishments are in a gray area of siddhis in that he only insinuates they indirectly result from his high spiritual status. There is a tendency for those who are active in the transpersonal/integral community to avoid subjecting myths and legends regarding siddhis to the skepticism that appears warranted or to apply the maxim that claims of extraordinary phenomena require extraordinary evidence.
The creator of one of the Internet's most encyclopedic and accessible resource- (see siddhis) for Buddhist/Zen teachings (and practitioner of Zen and for whom I have a great deal of respect and to whose webpages I frequently link to as a resource)
appears to have the conviction that he experienced an episode- see The Wanderling- wherein he actually, physically flew over the hills of Jamaica after having drunk a hallucinogenic potion administered by an Obeah. His account strongly implies that the experience provides evidentiary support for the reality of the most challenging of the mystical siddhis. Of course the episode has more of the aspects of the archetypal shamanic journey with the Obeah initiating expectation for a psychedelic trip by evoking Wanderling's memories of his vulture totem- which likely triggered the theme for the scenario that transpired. His experience can be compared to the mystic journeys of shamans whose expected theme is to have a near-death experience- confronted with scenarios and entities which provide revelations which are brought back to reality for prophesies regarding the clan's fortunes or overcoming its crises. For the Aboriginal he may be swallowed by a serpent and taken through its bowels before being regurgitated- endowed with revelations. The Inuit journeys into the frigid arctic waters and is swept into an epic struggle with Orca. The Siberian is transformed into a horned beast and joins a similar adversary in a mortal battle of survival. The Wanderling (with all due respect) seems to ascribe a reality to an episode that has appeared in millions of guises since mankind first discovered how to enter into ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of hallucinogens. (While a Siberian shaman would use fly agaric, a Lakota medicine man would do a sun dance)and is a good example of how the myths and legends of the siddhis have resisted modern efforts to bring them into rational perspective. For more on the connection of Siddhis, Shamanism and psychotropic drugs see these links.
Transcendental Meditation is perhaps the worst of what John Horgan refers to as the enlightenment industry and has exploited thousands of initiates who are duped into believing that they can be trained to mystically levitate but wind up with nothing more than mastering a totally useless ability to bounce while
contorted into the lotus posture. See video and investigative report
In an audience with the Dalai Lama in response to questions about more traditional test to prove one's suitability for tantric sexual practice- His Holiness said- "...is to display, not unlike the Venerable Pindola Bharadvaja, psychic powers such as flying. "As far as I know," His Holiness concluded, "zero lamas today can do that. Some meditators living in caves around Dharamsala are highly realized and possibly capable of such attainments", he said, "but they are celibate."
As one delves deep into the vast ocean of historic and contemporary data relating to drugs and transcendent states- a pattern is revealed that strongly suggests that shamanic and siddhis episodes (as well as tripping and trancing) involve the entire apothecary of ethnogenic and psychedelic drugs while (in contrast) the single substance that appears to contribute to or trigger authentic Nirvikalpa Samadhi realization is cannabis.
Credibility of Transcendent Revelations An examination of novel spiritual paradigms that have resulted from alleged transcendent revelations (Scientology, Eckankar, Theosophy, The NDE of Merril-Lewis Benedict, etc.) and whether the suspension of our disbelief is warranted.
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Here are some relevant excerpts from an informative thread on Hindu vs Buddhist Tantra Siddhis (Shamantic Drugs) by some fairly knowledgable participants- some are original commentary- others are quotated from third-party sources.
The Vajrayana (Buddhist) tradition seems to place a much greater emphasis on the use of pills, ointments and elixirs, in achieving the siddhis, than Hindu tantra does"
Vajrayana distinguishes two types of siddhis. The first group is the "mundane siddhis" or all the "magical powers" that can be cultivated by Yogic and Shamanic traditions. The second type is "super-mundane siddhi" or enlightenment (also called Mahamudra-siddhi).
Regarding the siddhis, it is worth mentioning that some siddhis may be best considered as being analogous to shamanic abilities. For instants patala-siddhi and kecara-siddhi may be best thought of as "shamanic journeys" to the underworld and upper-word (rather that the physical body penetrating into the physical earth or flying up into the physical sky).
To quote William Stablein, in the ‘Mahakalatantra itself where there are scores of formulas to take the vajramaster into the psychoactive realms of flying, invisibility, being able to see under the ground, to live for a thousand years and so on. There is not space here to delineate them but what is important for the study of shamanism is that the vajramaster is believed to have access to most, if not all, of the powers that are assigned to the classical shaman.
23 page preview of Tantric Medicine by William Stablein - The Mahakalatantra: A Theory of Ritual Blessings and Tantric Medicine, Stablein, William George, PhD, Columbia U. 1976
The Yogasutras of Patanjali say that ausadhi can lead to siddhis. Yogasutra 4.1 enumerates different possible causes for the emergence of these powers: birth (janma), drugs or herbs (ausadhi), mantras, asceticism (tapas), and concentration (samadhi).
So Patanjali seems to regard Samadhi and ausadhi as possible causes for siddhis but doesn’t say that ausadhi can cause samadhi (although you might argue it is implied)...(end of thread)
Wanderling Flying - The account by the Wanderling while in Jamaica after encounter with an Obeah who gives him potion to drink which induces an episode of flying around the hills- compares to Don Jauan's transformation into a crow and flying. More siddhis speculation by Wanderling here
The Wanderling- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Chapter IV, verse 1: janma-osadhi-mantra-tapah-samadhi-jah siddayahsamadhi. "The power of Siddhis can come because of previous Karma and genetics (janma), from herbs (Aushadhis), the use of Mantras, the kindling of the psychic fire (tapas), and/or from Samadhi."
Also translated from some sources as the following, reading the same:
"The attainments are not only the fruits of the Threefold Inner Discipline, but they are congenital in some, and in others they may follow the right and intelligent use of certain medicinal herbs (see) or of certain mantras or they may follow the kindling of the psychic fire." Using the powers of the Vayu Gaman Siddhi a person can become capable of flying in the skies and traveling from one place to another in just a few seconds. Although there are several occasions of individuals flying reported in the Sutras of classical Buddhism and Zen, the Venerable Pindola Bharadvaja is probably the person most commonly cited.
Indian Rationalists- India's largest rationalist organisation. Founded in 1949. Fights for scientific temper, secularism, freedom of thought and expression. Defends reason and science. Exposes superstition, blind belief, obscurantism, paranormal claims caste-based social divisions and guru-politics nexus. Strives for a post-religious society. Paul Kurtz has travelled more than anyone else to give support to humanist organisations around the world. ... it is on the strength of these simple tricks that the claims to divinity from people like Sai Baba to the most modest village god-man rest. They are charlatans and criminals, and the Indian Rationalist Association is doing magnificent work in combating this cynical abuse of people’s credulity.
Cosmogenic Powers and Abilities- by John A. Gowan. A downloadable essay, scholarly researched, integrating Eastern mysticism and Western metaphysics to explain the encyclopedia of manifestations of the numinous with a running comparison to the siddhis of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the epistemology of most of the notable Western mystics, integral science and an original taxonomy of consciousness involving orthocognitive recognition which preceeds the supermind." The problem with Gowan's paradigm is that it is so unified that it elliminates all bases to discriminate credible from incredible resulting in a reality that embraces virtually every noetic percept imaginable. See also:
Unified Field Theory and Metaphysics- A Collection of Original Papers, Tables, and Diagrams on General Systems, Cosmology, Unified Field Theory, Gravity, Fractals, Complex Systems, Physics and Metaphysics by John A. Gowan and General Systems and a "Theory of Everything"- Essays on Physics and the Nature of Reality- a downloadable "E-Book" by John A. Gowan and August T. Jaccaci 2006
Epistemology of Mystical Events- Forum discussion at ZAADZ. Then again, compared to empirical and rational scientists, most mystics, if not all, don't deny the reality of "paranormal powers." When asked by people whether paranormal powers (or "siddhis") are real or not, they dismiss it not by saying that it's not real, but instead they say to not pay any attention to them because they are distractions on the spiritual path. As far as I'm concerned paranormal phenomena seems to be more plausible and rationally easier to grasp than the idea of parallel universes. Yet theoretical physicists welcome the notion of parallel universes with the eye of mind (rational proofs via higher mathematics). Some mystics welcome the notion of parallel universes not with the eye of flesh, nor the eye of mind, but with the eye of contemplation (e.g. direct experience of the Kosmos). ...it is also an egregious mistake to take literally the mythic claims of any scripture - and the consequences are apparent to anyone paying attention....Also, in most cases, definitions of "God" or such Theistic, mystical beliefs are heavily rooted in atributes (since it takes on subject/object/it) which can be flipflopping and problematic as you pointed out.
The Oceanic Feeling- The Origins of Religious Sentiment in Ancient India. Online preview of book by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson - 1980 The most clearly-worded statement against the siddhis occurs in the ... then the venerable Buddhist Arhat Pindola the Bharadvaja, having risen above the ground... isbn=9027710503... (pages 126-7, 130) (In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Chapter IV, verse 1 it is stated that the supernormal perceptual powers of Siddhis can be reached also through the use of certain herbs, replicating on the short term a mind-strength ability and potential execution of powers similar to or equal to that of a person versed in Siddhis garnered via the highest levels of Spiritual Attainment.
Bhugarbha Samadhi a kind of aberrant- bhugarbha (underground) samadhi practice some advanced Yogis and Yogins undertake publicly. Related by Tara Datt of Almora, who had witnessed the feat of Jal (underwater) samadhi of Mahayogi Kapil Advait. Another account of a deviant
Exhibition Samadhi Andre Vaillancourt witnessed in Dewas, India describes how a himalayan saint- Pilot Baba- took Asht Lakshmi Maha Yagna Samadhi in a locked, sealed glass cage that was periodically covered with a curtain for five days in over 40 degees weather. "In order to do so, his heart would stop beating and his breathing would cease; he would enter a catatonic state of suspended animation [sic]- known in the East as Nirvikalpa Samadhi."
An Introduction to the Tamil Siddhas- Their Tantric Roots, Alchemy, Poetry, and the True Nature of their Heresy Within the Context of South Indian Shaivite Society by Layne Little - Since each sect emphasized different aspects of the teaching they quickly became widely divergent, with the two orders often at odds. The Siddhas would be scoffing at temple worship, reliance upon Brahminical authority, and proclaiming the injustice of caste; while the Saiva Siddhantins would berate the Siddhas much as M. Srinivasa Iyangar did in 1914 when he wrote that the Siddhas are "mostly plagiarists and impostors" and in addition, "Being eaters of opium & dwellers in the land of dreams, their conceit knew no bounds".
Arhat Definition Answers: In Buddhism, one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence, has achieved nirvana, and will not be reborn. Theravada Buddhism regards becoming an arhat as the goal of spiritual progress. It holds that a seeker must pass through three earlier stages before being reborn in a heaven as an arhat. Mahayana Buddhism criticizes the goal of becoming an arhat as selfish and considers the bodhisattva to be a higher goal because the bodhisattva remains in the cycle of rebirths to work for the good of others. This divergence of opinion is one of the fundamental differences between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.
The Force Within Back to Home By Anupama Bhattacharya - "Is paranormal a mere fantasy, a creation of irrational self-suggestion? Or is there a deeper truth that can take mankind to the threshold of a higher existence?"
Forum about Astral phenomena
Accounts of Siddhis- resource to a number of accounts about various siddhis performed by notables including Sri Ramana and Buddhist Arhat Pindola Bharadvaja- with citations.
Beyond The Siddhis: Supernatural Powers and the Sutras of Patanjali by John McAfee. Mr. McAfee cleverly takes all the supernatural out of the Siddhis and reduces them to every day occurances. Explaining away every extraordinary ability as just a shift in perception of what Patanjali was really meaning. For instance in sutra 3.21 of becoming invisible. He takes this meaning to be that we let go of our self-centeredness and identity of ego and in doing so we become "invisible". In sutra 3.23 attaining the foreknowledge of death, he says we already do this by planning our life around the fact that we will die sometime in the future. We make wills and buy insurance so he says that Patanjali meant we should live our life as if each day was the last day or that our death was upon us.
The Deepeer Dimensions of Yoga by Georg Feuerstein: This is what the Sanskrit concept of sadhana, or spiritual discipline, is all about. The word is derived from the verbal root sadh meaning "to accomplish." The same root also yields the words siddhi (accomplishment or perfection) and siddha (accomplished one or adept). Accomplishment comes at various levels, and the ultimate accomplishment is understood to be enlightenment. A siddha is usually an adept who has attained enlightenment. A person practicing a spiritual discipline is called a sadhaka if male or a sadhika if female.
The Gurus- Index to online resources for checking high profile gurus.
Stripping the Gurus by Geoffrey D. Falk
Complete book free download here- This article/chapter (XXI) has now been incorporated into the full-length book Norman Einstein: The Dis-Integration of Ken Wilber: In his foreword to Inner Directions’ recent (2000) reissue of Talks with Ramana Maharshi, however, Wilber offers no such caveats to his "personal authority." That comes in spite of his having never sat with, or even met, Maharshi:
Talks is the living voice of the greatest sage [italics added] of the twentieth century. One may well be impressed by Maharshi’s "unadorned, bottom-line" mysticism of simply inquiring, of himself, "Who am I?" in the attempt to "slip into the witnessing Self." Likewise, his claim that "Love is not different from the Self ... the Self is love" (in Walsh, 1999) is sure to make one feel warm and fuzzy inside. Nevertheless, the man was not without his eccentricities:
The Indian sage Ramana Maharshi once told Paul Brunton that he had visions of cities beneath the sacred mountain of Arunachala where he resided all his adult life (Feuerstein, 1998).
Indeed, in Talk 143 from Volume 1 of the infamous Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi (2000) aaa (the very text upon which Wilber has above commented) we find: In visions I have seen caves, cities with streets, etc., and a whole world in it.... All the siddhas [perfected beings] are reputed to be there. Georg Feuerstein, among others, fully shares Wilber’s complimentary evaluation of Aurobindo. Bharati (1976), however, offered a somewhat different perspective: I do not agree with much of what he said; and I believe his Life Divine ... could be condensed to about one-fifth of its size without any substantial loss of content and message.
The Mother further believed herself to have been, in past lives, Queen Elizabeth of England; the sixteenth-century daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Also, Catherine of Russia (wife of Peter the Great), an Egyptian Queen, the mother of Moses, and Joan of Arc.
In the person of [the Mother], Aurobindo thus saw the descent of the Supermind. He believed she was its avatara or descent into the Earth plane. As the incarnate Supermind she was changing the consciousness on which the Earth found itself, and as such her work was infallible.... She does not merely embody the Divine, he instructed one follower, but is in reality the Divine appearing to be human (Minor, 1999; italics added). Sri Aurobindo was known in his ashram as the rebirth of Napoleon. Napoleon’s birthday was also August 15th.... In his previous births, it was believed he was Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Krishna and many other persons too. Someone asked Sri Aurobindo whether he had been Shakespeare as well, but could not elicit an answer (GuruNet, 2003).
Rational Mysticism- an epistemology proposed by John Horgan in his book with that title- referred to 'the enlightement industry.' He choose his words well--its very much like the entertainment industry and overlaps with it--gurus as celebrities, celebrities endorsing various gurus, the glamorization of yoga, etc, etc and all the magazines and movies, even music, that go to support this scene.
Perspectives on Siddhis- from Yoga Magazine:
In tantra we call it (siddhis) indrajal. It is displayed everywhere in the markets and bazaars. When it comes from abroad with a complicated scientific name it sounds more respectable, but in our markets there are many jaduwalas, or magicians, who can perform even greater feats than the adepts in the west. We have all seen how the circuswalas and jaduwalas can even cut off someone's head and then join it on again.
Mind-Body Medicine- in health promotion: Science, practice and philosophy- Dr.Craig Hassed, MBBS, Monash University 1998- This paper has three main aims: firstly to review some of the vast area of medical literature which already exists in mind-body medicine: secondly to discuss the practical application of one mind-body intervention, namely mindfulness meditation: thirdly to relate some of the key philosophical concepts of the holistic view. Mind-body medicine and its kindred fields of study, such as psychoneuroimmunology and psycho-oncology, are opening our awareness and requiring more communication and cooperation across the scientific community than ever before.
Human Levitation - Simon Harvery-Wilson. Abstract of article (see 2006, Volume 6(1), pp. 21-34
Australian Journal of Parapsychology The Australian Institute of Parapsychology Research is a non-profit scientific and community society founded in 1977. The organisation promotes research and public education into parapsychological phenomena and advocates use of the scientific method. Psychic experiences should be studied in the same way as other human experiences- evidence should be evaluated accurately and compassionately and placed into the broader context of experience, health and illness.
Yahoo Groups concerned with the paranormal.
Sai Baba Exposed- H.H. Swami Saiexposedananda, UK: I was a hardcore follower of Sathya Sai Baba for just over a decade, and made six trips to see him in India. Now no longer a devotee, I use this blog to record memories, comments and muses on the Sai scenario and also point out inaccuracies in Sai Baba's philosophical and theological presentation.
Pilot Baba- Throwing Water at the Clouds - The Mysterious Powers of Pilot Baba - Craig Hamilton
Critique of Horgan's Ditching Buddhism as published by Slate Magazine.
Psychic Delusions- debating the issue at ZAADZ.
Skeptical Investigations.org-
by Ted Dace - Association for Skeptical Investigation- Genuine Skepticism, Enquiry and Doubt, Within Science. The Skeptical Investigations website is organized by the Association for Skeptical Investigation, the purpose of which is to promote genuine skepticism, the spirit of enquiry and doubt, within science. This includes an open-minded investigation of unexplained phenomena, a questioning of dogmatic assumptions, and a skeptical examination of the claims of self-proclaimed skeptics.
ICRL-
The organization comprises a select interdisciplinary consortium of scholars from many nations and diverse professional backgrounds who share a commitment to collaborative exploration and representation of the role of consciousness in physical reality. E-mail: info@icrl.org
DOPS at Virginia U- Dr.Ian Stevenson
1918-1970 headed The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), formerly the Division of Personality Studies. DOPS is a unit of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia. Utilizing scientific methods, they investigate apparent paranormal phenomena, especially: Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives (reincarnation) Near-Death Experiences Out of Body Experiences Apparitions and After-Death Communications Deathbed Visions.
Guruphiliac- These TM© dupes believe they are flying. That's kinda like calling a ride on your bike to the corner store to pick up some beers the equivalent of a trip into orbit on the space shuttle. (see Video documentary)
Psychic Powers in TM by Jeffrey Mishlove
Transcendental Meditation [From Chapter Three of Psi Development Systems] Psi Development Systems 1980 Doctoral Dissertation In Parapsychology University of California, Berkeley 1983 McFarland, Jefferson, NC ISBN 0899500358 ch=3
In the summer of 1976, rumors spread within the movement that meditators were "spontaneously levitating" during advanced training courses in Switzerland. Spontaneous cases of levitation have been occasionally reported for centuries among devout monks in Christian monasteries, and also in the ancient Hindu and Tibetan literature. Such reports may have resulted from delusion. Critical perspectives from interviews of researchers including Professor David W. Orme-Johnson, a major scientific spokesman for the World Government and Professor 0. Costa de Beauregard, director of research for the National Center for Scientific Research of the Henri Poincare Institute in Paris.- muscular activity is involved in the alleged levitation. In fact- there is no evidence to suggest actual levitation was going on at all. ...what I have seen is a physiological quite unusual style for jumping by pushing the knees down while in the Buddha style position. Nothing like physical levitation.
As more people practice the sidhis, the world consciousness becomes even more purified. This principle is illustrated in a TM claim known now as the Maharishi effect, which predicts that geopolitical areas in which I percent of the population practice TM will show improvement of the environment in terms of crime rate, weather, automobile accidents, fires, agricultural yield and other indicators.
TM Sidhis Program- Orme-Johnson et al. (1977) in a report based on their interviews of students in the program, the ability to levitate takes place in stages.
Lies My Guru Told Me- (For my own good, of course) By Michael D. Coleman, Ph. D. These pages, about Transcendental Meditation, have been saved by the Scientia Institute. Michael D. Coleman, Ph. D. Huntington Beach, CA September 2002
2007 AUM Conference- Hypersexuality and moral confusion - Siddhis, scepticism and hard evidence. Writing the replies to the ‘Correct view’ thread got me thinking about the objective evidence for a metaphysical reality. Now I know this will immediately create some angst about reductionism, but I’m not the one making the claim of miracles and special powers. Most of us have heard of the ’siddhis’, the special powers that realised people are supposed to exhibit. But how many of you have actually witnessed a clear and unambiguous example of a reality bending special power? How many of you have witnessed it with other people present who observed the same thing?
Patanjali Yoga- mentions sixty-eight siddhis.
Hindu Orthodoxy on Sidhis
Psychic Rainmaking Services- (non local weather modification and focused consciousness- providing services to psychicly induce weather changes, produce rain, etc. Consciousness as an active agent in the establishment of physical reality is receiving considerable attention from some of the world's prestigious scientific institutions. It has been claimed, despite impressive achievements by materialist, mechanistic science, that the most important future scientific endeavour will be the "science of the subjective" or "science of consciousness". Such awareness has been part of Indigenous knowledge systems for a very long time. Ancient traditions such as in India and China (the world's two largest Indigenous groups) have indicated that the "ultimate" technology is not external, local, or physical but ubiquitous, non-local and non-physical.
Journal of Conscientiology Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Experimental Research Project into Out-of-Body Experiences. Year 2002
Soul Travel This work reports some of the significant results obtained from two OBE research experiments using opportunity sampling to generate data. These experiments took place during two workshops conducted in Évora - Alentejo, Portugal, and in Segovia, Spain, respectively. The core focus of this research project is to establish more consistent and systematic information related to the way in which the consciousness perceives, interprets and recalls the information learned through out-of-body experiences, including processes such as extraphysical perception, cognition, and memory; transference of information to the physical brain; and the interference or influence of individual cultural and personal background in the interpretation of perceptions.
Lightworks The Tibetian Book of the Dead consolidated the collective wisdom of generations of Tibetan holy men regarding the death process as the spirit entered into the interlife, the Bardo.
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