History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.309

v7.c94.309

It would have been noted that in dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi the principal emphasis is mental. External conditions do help in the training but they are subsidiary. As noted above (pp. 1421-22) cleanliness, contentment, austerities (tapas), sexual purity, certain easy postures and living in detachment, restrictions as to quantity and quality of food—these are the chief physical or external conditions While the yogin practises the above three he may develop certain super-normal powers which he is advised to ignore, as they are hindrances in the attainment of his goal (Yogasūtra III. 36). Though this is the opinion of Patañjali, from the fact that with most yogins the siddhis are an important part of yoga doctrines and the fact that, out of 195 sūtras of the Yogasūtra, 35 (III. 16-50) are devoted to the description of siddhis, the present author is constrained to say that siddhis are an integral part of Yoga. The Vaikhānasa-smārtasūtra says that the yogin can vanish from people, can see distant objects and hear in spite of great distance.