Ashṭa-Siddhi: The Eight Powers of Yoga

A siddhi is a special power or attainment. The ashṭa-siddhis are the “eight powers” that come as the fruit of advanced yoga practice. Chapter 38 of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa describes them as powers available to the yogī who has perfected the discipline taught by Dattātreya.

They cover a range of powers over matter, space and time. These powers arise when consciousness is no longer held back by the usual limits of a body that works under the three guṇas (the qualities of nature).

Setting

The ashṭa-siddhis are described in Chapter 38 of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, as part of Dattātreya’s teaching on yoga to King Alarka. The chapter’s title names two topics: the conduct of the yogī (yogī-caryā) and the eight powers.

The siddhis come from practising the yoga fully as it is taught. This includes the five mahāvratas (great vows), the five niyamas (personal disciplines), the tri-daṇḍī discipline (control of body, speech and mind), and the four stages of prāṇāyāma (breath control), which lead to dhvasti, prāpti, saṃvit and prasāda.

The Eight Siddhis

The classical eight siddhis of yoga are:

Aṇimā: the power to become extremely small, as small as an atom, and move through any space
Mahimā: the power to become extremely large, growing one’s form without limit
Laghimā: the power of extreme lightness, so that one can rise and move through the air
Garimā: the power of extreme heaviness, to become so dense that one cannot be moved
Prāpti: the power of unlimited reach, to touch or obtain anything in the universe from any distance
Prākāmya: the power of unstoppable will, where the yogī’s wish is fulfilled at once
Īśitva: the power of supremacy over all matter and beings; mastery over the five elements and how they act on one another
Vaśitva: the power of rule over all beings, so that all creatures come under the yogī’s command

How the Yogī Should Regard the Siddhis

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa places the siddhis within its wider teaching of non-attachment. The siddhis arise naturally as the yogī’s practice becomes pure. They are not goals to chase but signs of real progress. A yogī who grabs at siddhis is turned aside from the path. The only proper use of any siddhi is as a further tool for dharma, or as a confirmation of how deep one’s practice has gone. The final goal is still moksha (liberation): union with the paramātmā (the Supreme Self), described through the yoga of Oṃkāra (meditation on Oṃ).

Honour and Dishonour Turned Around

The text makes a striking point about the yogī’s conduct. For ordinary people, honour is sweet and dishonour is bitter. For the perfected yogī it is the other way round. Dishonour is amṛta (nectar), because it keeps the ego from rising. Honour is visha (poison), because it plants the seed of ego. The yogī treats an insult as a gift and praise as a danger. This reversal is itself one of the signs of advanced practice.

The Eighteen Siddhis in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

Chapter 15 of the eleventh Skandha (book) of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives a fuller and different account of the siddhis. Here Bhagavān Kṛshṇa teaches them to Uddhava as part of the Uddhava Gītā. In this account there are eighteen siddhis: eight primary ones (sahaja, natural to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa) and ten secondary ones (which come from the strength of sattva guṇa, the quality of purity, in the practitioner).

The Eight Primary Siddhis (Natural to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa)

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa said: “These eight are naturally present in me. The yogī who fixes his mind on me attains them.”

Aṇimā: becoming as small as an atom. Gained by dhāraṇā (concentration) on the gandha-tanmātra (the subtle element of earth), which is Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s sūkshma-śarīra (subtle body).
Mahimā: becoming endlessly large. Gained by dhāraṇā on the mahat-tattva (the great principle of universal intelligence), which is Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s subtle body. It also includes taking on the vastness of any of the five gross elements.
Laghimā: becoming endlessly light, able to float. Gained by dhāraṇā on the paramāṇu (the finest particle) of the elements.
Prāpti: the power to reach or get anything anywhere. Gained by dhāraṇā on the sāttvika-ahaṃkāra (the pure sense of “I”), through which Bhagavān Kṛshṇa governs all the powers of the senses.
Prākāmya: the power to gain any wished-for enjoyment in this world or the next. Gained by dhāraṇā on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s Hiraṇyagarbha form, the sūtra-ātman, who threads all beings together like a garland.
Īśitva: rule over all matter and the elements, and the power to command them. Gained by dhāraṇā on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Kāla (time), who governs all three worlds.
Vaśitva: mastery over oneself; staying unattached to the workings of the guṇas even while they arise. Gained by dhāraṇā on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Nārāyaṇa, the ātman (inner self) of all beings.
Kāmāvasāyitā: the complete end of all desire; the highest ānanda (bliss), which needs nothing more. Gained by dhāraṇā on the nirguṇa para-brahman (the Supreme beyond all qualities). This is itself brahma-ānanda, the bliss of Brahman.

The Ten Secondary Siddhis (Arising from Sattva)

Freedom from hunger and thirst: gained by dhāraṇā on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Śvetadvīpapati (his Aniruddha form), who removes the six ūrmis (“waves”: hunger, thirst, grief, delusion, old age and death)
Hearing far-off sounds: by dhāraṇā on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Hiraṇyagarbha, who is like ākāśa (space)
Seeing far-off things: by joining one’s sight with Sūrya (the sun) and fixing it on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa
Speed of the mind (mano-java): by dhāraṇā on the body and prāṇa (life-breath) merged in Bhagavān Kṛshṇa
Taking any form one wishes (kāma-rūpitva): by the dhāraṇā from which all siddhis arise
Entering another’s body (para-kāya-praveśa): by sending the subtle body into another body, like a bee moving from flower to flower
Dying at will (svacchanda-mṛtyu): by drawing the prāṇa up through the sushumnā (the central channel) to the brahma-randhra (the opening at the crown of the head)
Play with devas (deva-krīḍā): by meditating on the purely sāttvika form of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa; apsarās (heavenly dancers) arrive in their divine vehicles
Fulfilling any wish (saṅkalpa-siddhi): whatever one wills comes to pass
Unblocked command (ājñā-apratihatā-gati): no person or force can stand in the way of the yogī’s orders

Other Siddhis Mentioned

Beyond these eighteen, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa describes more attainments:

knowledge of past, present and future
freedom from the effects of cold, heat and other pairs of opposites
knowing the minds and situations of others
the power to hold back fire, the sun, water, poison and weapons
being unbeatable in every encounter

Siddhis as Obstacles to Moksha

The Bhāgavata teaches the same as the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa: “For those who practise the yoga of union with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and aim for the highest, these siddhis are really obstacles.” The yogī who grabs at siddhis falls away from the highest goal. Moksha, the yoga of direct union with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, is what is gained through yoga, and nothing else can achieve it. All the siddhis, on the other hand, can also be gained by other means, such as herbs, mantras and tapas. Liberation cannot.

Sources

Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 38 (Yogī-caryā-kathana and the Ashṭa-Siddhis)
Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 15