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The Fifth Lesson: Patanjali’s Yoga System.1215
with, understand, and be understood by them; knowledge of one’s past
incarnations, and those of others; prophecy and foresight as to future
events; ability to send the mind to distant worlds and perceive the events
transpiring there—a form of travelling in the astral; the clairvoyant ability to
see into one’s own body, the bodies of others, and into the ground. And, in
short, the majority of functions and “powers” which are generally grouped
under the head of “psychic phenomena,” and many of which are possessed
by persons of merely abnormal psychic development, possessed of but
little spirituality or spiritual power, in the true sense of the word.
While there is much of real value along the lines of true Raja Yoga in
Patanjali’s System, there is undoubtedly much of the false Raja Yoga there
also, the latter producing not Mental Control and Mental Power, but merely
Abnormal Psychic Development, which is condemned by all true occultists.
This fact has brought the system into more or less disrepute among true
occultists and students of the spiritual philosophies of India, and which has
caused many of them to avoid “Yoga Methods” as a poisonous thing. But it
is scarcely just to condemn the entire system for the weeds it contains—it is
better to destroy the weeds, and allow the flowers and wholesome fruit to
grow the better for the elimination.
In addition to the “powers” above mentioned, claimed to be possible
to the Yogin who practises the methods and who masters the practice
of Samyama, or Restraint, there are others, known to the follower of the
system as “The Eight Superior Powers,” which are given as follows: (1) The
Power of Shrinking to the Size of the Smallest Atom; (2) The Power of
Becoming Extremely Light; (3) The Power of Becoming Extremely Heavy;
(4) The Power of Unlimited Extension of the Sense Organs; (5) The Power
of Irresistible Will; (6) The Power of Obtaining Unlimited Dominion Over
Everything; (7) The Power of Control of the Powers of Nature; (8) The
Power of Transporting Oneself Anywhere at Will. We shall not enter into
a discussion of these claims, and content ourselves with saying that many
of these claimed powers are possible only to the most advanced Adepts,