Lightly edited transcript Filler words and caption errors removed by machine; the meaning is unchanged.
Delson explains that siddhis, the accomplishments or psychic abilities described in the Yoga Sutras, Buddhist texts and other Indian philosophies, come from the Sanskrit root siddh, meaning to be accomplished in something. He argues that abilities such as seeing past lives, reading minds or levitating arise as a result of living from an unconditional, intuitive state rather than being trained for directly. He says the value of seeing past lives lies in understanding karma so one is no longer bound by past conditions, and he says he has not personally seen levitation but does not rule it out.
Key points
- Siddhi comes from the Sanskrit root siddh, meaning to be accomplished or perfected in something; the term appears in the Yoga Sutras, Buddhist texts and other Indic traditions.
- Delson describes siddhis such as recalling past lives, reading minds or levitation as things not to train for, but as a by-product of living from an unconditional, intuitive state.
- Reading another's mind can be taken literally or understood as empathy and being emotionally attuned to the other person.
- He gives the main use of seeing past lives as understanding how karma works: intentional choices shape further choices, and seeing this lets one stop being bound by past causes and conditions.
- He says the ancient texts suggest no limit to what is possible, though he has not personally seen levitation and does not discount it.
Themes
Transcript
Meaning of the word siddhi
definitely in the Yoga Sutras. It's there in the Buddhist texts. It's definitely there in some of the other Indic or Indian philosophies, this concept of siddhis as you brought up. And we have to first understand what the word siddhi actually means. Siddhi comes from the root word siddh in Sanskrit, which essentially means to be accomplished at something, to be perfect in something. So I look at these different things, the ability to see past lives, for example, or like you said, these experiences of seeing the building blocks of reality, time dilation, and so on. But then there are other siddhis, like they talk about it in the different ancient texts about being able to read another person's mind or being able to levitate and some other very outlandish kind of
experiences. I think the utility of these siddhis comes about once you do come from that unconditional living. In other words, they're not something necessarily that you have to train for. You can. Some people do that. They train for the siddhis. But they come about as the icing on the cake or the cherry on top as a result of being in that intuitive state. So that's the ability to read others' minds. You could see that in different ways. You could see that as literally being able to pick up the thoughts of others. Or you could just see that as being empathetic and understanding what the other person is feeling and being more attuned emotionally with the other person.
Oftentimes, there come situations, and I'm sure a lot of people will identify with this, where you're in a group setting and you come up with something and the other person says, "I was just thinking of that." Or they might say, "It's like you read my mind." And that's because you're becoming in alignment with the rest of the group or with that person in that sense. As for the utility of these siddhis, or as for what is possible, I think if we were to look into the ancient texts, there is no limit to what is possible.
It's just a matter of how open you are to receive, let's say, for lack of a better word, the grace of these siddhis. The ability to look into past lives, what's the utility of that? Other than, of course, subjectively for yourself, proving that there are past lives in your subjective experience. It's to really understand how karma works. When you understand that life is nothing but a series of different kinds of choices and how we choose to take those choices, in terms of our intentional actions causes further choices to arise, then we can stop that process. So that we are not beholden to those past causes and conditions, but that we learn from them and now are beyond the scope of karma.
And that's also part of unconditional living, being beyond the scope of just the causes and conditions that come to be. And then that, again, means that being able to live in a way where you act appropriately for the situation. Because not every action is universal to every situation. Some acts will be dependent upon the cause and condition of that situation, and some acts will be there because of other situations or causes and conditions for those situations. We talk about siddhis like levitation or walking on water and being able to do some kind of astral traveling.
Now, if you can do that, I think the benefit of levitation is you definitely save a ton on airfare, right? You also, your legs would be more rested from walking up the stairs. Who doesn't want that? There you go. Yeah, I wouldn't discount the possibilities of these things. I, myself, haven't seen it. I, myself, am an experienced.