relationship with the future event that is going to take place. This is only possible by
the loosening of the knot of asmita. The more hard the ego is, the less is the
possibility of this experience. Therefore, day in and day out we have to struggle with
meditation, and it will come to the point, later on, that we cannot do anything else in
life except this, if only our objective is this.
Here, yoga takes a very serious turn and becomes the sole profession in one’s life,
and no other profession is permissible, because here is the masterstroke which deals
a deathblow to all other problems of life and reveals the character of Truth in its
nakedness. All the sutras that come after are only descriptions of the results that
follow by various types of samyama. They are called siddhis in Sanskrit—the
perfections or powers that we gain by various types of concentration. If we
concentrate on an elephant, what will happen? If we concentrate on land, what will
happen? If we concentrate on the sun, what will happen? If we concentrate on our
head, what will happen? And so on, Patanjali gives various types of samyama—as
specimens, of course. It is not that he exhausts the list. We can do samyama on
anything, for the matter of that. But he gives certain chosen specified types of
samyama, and tells us what consequences will follow.
These perfections, or siddhis, mentioned in the following sutras are of three kinds:
perfections, or powers, which belong to the objective world, those which are
concerned with the subject, and those that are concerned with the Absolute, the
supreme purusha. Three types of powers accrue to a yogi by the practice of
samyama. The teaching of the Yoga Shastra is that we should not engage ourselves
too much in the acquisition of powers, or siddhis, by concentrating either on the
objective side or the subjective side, because the intention of yoga is not the
acquisition of powers. Though powers may come on the way, of their own accord, we
are not going to practise yoga for this purpose.
The aim of yoga is liberation, salvation, kaivalya moksha, and, therefore, samyama
should be practised only in such a way as to bring about the salvation of the soul, or
the attainment of moksha. We should not dabble in concentration on objects for the
purpose of telepathic communication, or distant healing, or control to be exercised
on other people, on other things, etc.—which we can do, but we should not do. A
warning is given in one of the sutras: we should not exercise our power of
concentration on other people or on other things if they are not going to be helpful in
our salvation.
After a certain stage of meditation—say, after a few years of deep concentration and
meditation of samyama—we will acquire some powers. Everyone will acquire some
powers. And if we think very deeply, that may materialise. But we must be very
cautious as to how we will direct our thoughts when such powers accrue to us,
because we are likely to be tempted by the emotions and the sentiments of the mind
which will carry us headlong into some illusion and completely cut us off from the
path of salvation.
So when Patanjali tells us what are the powers that will accrue to us by deep
samyama practised in different ways, he also warns us by saying that these methods
should not be adopted unless they are conducive to the liberation of the soul. Such
are the various wonders of yoga which will reveal themselves spontaneously to a yogi
by regular practice.