[RogHammon]

I was talking about Siddhis (powers) and Siddhars. But we do not call all people with Siddhis as Siddhars. Only people who we feel have achieved some Spiritual attainment are considered Siddhars.

Siddhis are more common than most people know. They are mostly achieved through Mantra Yoga. We are all aware of people who do sooth saying (குறி சொல்லுதல்). Devi Upasana does give this ability especially to women. But then this becomes a way of earning money. What people do not realize is that this siddhi gives one the ability to predict the future on many occasions. But it does NOT give one the ability to suggest Pariharams. For this they fall back upon trusted methods like Prasna and Astrology.

Again it is not difficult to attain the ability to find out a person's past. This power is achieved by the control and use of certain forces. But this does not guarantee prediction of the future.

These powers or Siddhis are used for controlling forces which are made use of for achieving certain purposes. This is Mantra Vadam.

Here we will not talk about such Siddhis or such people. These are called சித்து வேலைகள்.

Such Siddhis which are achieved automatically with the progress in Upasana are generally considered to be an impediment in Spiritual Advancement. Sri Ramakrishna and most of Gurus warn their followers about this.

I will post a story about Siddhi which would show how useless many of them are.

Our Rishis and Acharyas did have many Siddhis. I do not think it would have been humanly possible for Adi Sankara to have traveled all over India in such a short span of time. He used his powers. We have heard stories about his Para Kaya Pravesam during the debate with Mandana Mishra.

Para Kaya Pravesam is called கூடு விட்டு கூடு பாய்தல் in Tamil.

Now the story about Siddhis.

There was a Guru who had a number of Shishyas. One of them felt that he has learnt all he could from the Guru and sought the Guru's permission to continue his search independently. The Guru agreed and the Shishya left.

After some years the Shishya came back and advised the Guru that he has attained many Siddhis. He wanted to show them to his Guru. He took the Guru to the nearby river. Once they reached the banks of the river, the Shishya walked across the river over water and then came back walking.

On his return he asked his Guru his opinion. The Guru looked at him for some time and then asked one of his other Shishyas to give him four annas (25 paise). The Shishya was shocked and asked for an explanation.

The Guru said "Look. I pay the boatman Two annas for carrying me across the river. Since you have crossed twice the feat is worth two boat trips. Four Annas. You have wasted years for acquiring this siddhi."

Many of us wonder and praise such powers which are of no practical use.

The Siddhars used their Siddhis for spiritual advancement. Some of them who started on the way lost track when they got enamored of their Siddhis. They spent their life time acting as show men.