24 Biography of a Yogisuperpowers. It is important to note that these superpowers are pervasive
throughout the history of yogic practice and are not specific to any one tradi-
tion.^9 This distinction remains relevant even when one examines the importa-
tion of yoga into the West and its subsequent representations in the Western
imagination. The same distinction, however, oftentimes blurs when one exam-
ines on- the- ground realities of flesh- and- blood Yogis. The relationship between
Yogis who exhibit superpowers and Yogis who represent themselves as detached
beings seeking enlightenment is often much more problematic than such a neat
division would suggest.
Although the cessative mode of yoga certainly factors into historical represen-
tations of common Yogi practice, the numinous mode (or suggestions thereof ) is
understandably more, so to speak, visible. After all, while disembodied enlight-
enment is rather difficult to describe with any degree of accuracy, evidence of
worldly attainment is both easier and more entertaining to discuss and represent.
It should be noted, of course, that the two are not mutually exclusive.
Yogic superpowers are most fully elaborated within the tantric corpus, the
beginnings of which can be traced to roughly the sixth century of the Common
Era. This is also perhaps the closest that we get to an “insider” perspective on
the practices of the would- be Yogi. Rather than descriptive accounts by outsiders,
tantric texts are generally prescriptive manuals on how to be, or begin to become,
a Yogi.
Most medieval tantric texts deal quite freely with the reality of yogic super-
powers. Furthermore, when we encounter power- oriented forms of tantric
practice, whether in the context of Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, or Buddhist traditions, they
are fully integrated into the soteriological systems of their respective context.
Meaning, medieval tantric practitioners generally saw no contradiction between
the pursuit of worldly power and the quest for liberation.^10 Such descriptions of
superpowers even pervade Islamicized variants of yogic traditions and practices.^11
Texts often provide vast catalogs of powers, even going so far as to classify them
hierarchically, sometimes in correlation with the guṇas, the three constituents
of primordial matter. Superior siddhis, or superpowers, include providing aid in
cases of disaster, conquering death, eloquence and poetic talent, sovereignty of all
the worlds, and achieving final liberation. Intermediate siddhis, or “white magic,”
are generally more Machiavellian in character and include subjugating others to
one’s will, attracting others (especially, and perhaps unsurprisingly, women), fly-
ing, and making oneself invisible. Inferior siddhis represent the domain of “black
magic” and include murder; rendering one’s victim dumb, deaf, or blind; and
altering one’s form. The eight traditional siddhis are variously placed among this
hierarchy of categories.^12