Sutra 1.40. Eight Supreme Siddhis of Yoga Tradition

The next line of Yoga Sutra (1.40) dwells on siddhis – at least this is what most of modern commentators think – so I shall give my brief note on this disturbing issue, all the more so as some readers have already become restless in anticipation of this theme. Let me also remind that there’s been an article on my blog dealing with yoga’ view on siddhis that was based on the report made by Dominik Wujastyk.

Now, they traditionally distinguish between supreme siddhis (or mahasiddhis) and minor siddhis – the whole of the rest.

The list of 8 supreme siddhis that can be attained by a practitioner is drawn in both early as well as late yoga texts. This is a well-known information: even Amarakosha – the major Sanskrit thesaurus – has it given on its first page, while most of texts on yoga also consider this to be conventional issue giving no list details yet introducing it as “animaadi” – anima (the first siddhi) and so on (adi). 

Catalogue of the blog articles

Sutra 1.39. Yoga Sutra and Tantra

The subject of Tantra has definitely captured the attention, so I’ve created some intrigue. In order not to keep the reader in suspense I shall just say that: 

1. NO, Patanjali did not use the word “tantra” in Yoga Sutras. 

2. YES, he highlighted a group of techniques that were later made a groundwork of Tantric yoga. And they shall be the subject matter of this article. 

But let us traditionally start with a sutra of Patanjali. The line 1.39 rounds up the cycle of sutras that expose the methods of mind “gathering” and making chitta stable and steady. It is not difficult for translation and, just like the previous one, it has been ignored by commentators. I think we shall soon understand the reason why. So now:

On genuine desires and living by genuine inwardness

I’d like to add a few words to my penultimate post on own one’s Way and personal Dharma. I guess the reader has already got the key thesis about correlation between person’s dharma and Genuine desires: Genuine Desires in fact lead one along the road of his own Dharma. In the article that I suggest you read once again I explained the genuine desires to be a far cry from commonplace needs and to differ from neurotic and imposed desire, to be of global and creational nature; yet the practical question – how one can distinguish them “from within” – still remains relevant. 

Krakow 4. Yoga Sutra Authorship Debate

The next case of Krakow conference that I would like to share is the unusual double report made in form of a discussion between two classics of modern Indology – Philipp Maas and Michel Angot. The subject of the discussion in itself was very interesting – it dealt with Yoga Sutras authorship. But even if it were not for such a provocative and challenging topic the debate between these two persons is still worth listening to. With both being the world leading experts in the field they represent, the contrast between the speakers is nevertheless so striking that one would hardly imagine it. And it is not only their personalities but the method of scientific thinking that this difference involves. While listening to them debating I had a feeling that they were the two mentalities - a French and a German one, both profound and solid yet so unlike – that the discussion was held by… While the speakers were as if playing the roles of their archetypical representatives.