#Siddhis

[imaginal-ai]

"Spiritual Adept" (0001)

(The Mystery School Series)

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Random art/history/spirituality/pop culture thread.

Finished a rewatch recently of A:TLA and Korra as well.

Avatar itself is a South Asian concept that in Sanskrit means Descent, as in descended from - signifying the incarnation/material appearance of a powerful deity or spirit.

Aang and Korra are literally that - the new incarnations of a long tradition of the Avatar being reborn to save/aid/guide a world.

The concept under the name, Avatar, didn't exist in Vedic literature, though, but post-Vedic (again by name, reincarnation and the meaning/point/mythic use did exist, as did a doctrine about the idea of avatars, but again, not the term used as such in some of the original texts).

Instead, terms like "from/of divine descent" - 19th century rising Western interest in Hinduism at the time led to Avatar being yoinked as a loanword to English. But what else?

Well, specifically in the rewatch, something I thought was rather sweet: The mention of Guru Laghima.

This happens in Korra where one of the villains (I shouldn't say no spoilers so far long after the show's ended but...polite?) when a big villain reveals their interest in the writings of this Guru and...it leads to this villain being able to fly.

Well, let's look into Laghima.

Now, there was no Guru Laghima in real life, obviously. But the last name here? It's really a word -- a concept.

Oooooo. A reference.

So, what is Laghima?

In a nutshell. "Lightness." It is "The Absence of Weight."

It is one of the 8 major Siddhis - the spiritual or supernatural abilities achieved by those who've reached the heights of spiritual mastery/divine arts, ascetism/ascetic arts.

If one mastered Laghima one in theory could attain a level of lightness so light in fact, you are truly weightless and can fly.

Don't recommend trying this. But, it was just something I wanted to nerd out about, share, and the nicety of seeing in a major IP.

It is still weird there's like only one Indian guy in the shows though and he's the "guru" monk in the mountains who shows up for one short tight moment to teach Aang about chakras (which btw...he did a damn good job on that though, real talk).

There's a huge thing with art here where a whole host of South Asian stuff is yoinked/altered/coopted more. And there's like...no south asians behind/with it?

To end on a wholesome positive cooperative and comparative note?

If this feels familiar and you're a martial arts film buff, or read wuxia, well, it's because it might strike similar to the use of "lightness" with Qinggong for martial artists to gain the lightness to leap like they in wuxia flicks. Run on water or up on walls. I might do a detailed thread on the 8 major Siddhis though when my brain is better.

[aerofvther]

CYBERsEQUENCE

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M0TH3RB0ARD Y2K

9ALAIVJV2NN6F5

CYBERspace GIRL

[turiyatitta]

The Supreme Siddhi

The Unfathomable Miracle of Being Among the many marvels attributed to the Siddhas—those said to wield supernatural abilities—there exists a siddhi so profound that it eclipses all others. Beyond the conjuring of objects from nothingness, beyond the bending of space and time, there lies the ultimate and most extraordinary power: existence itself. The fact that anything at all is, that awareness…

[sspacegodd]

Bhaanu grabs a quick float before siddhi class.

[nwonow]

Invisible Visitor

The Hatman's Log - 3/21/23

I think for many practitioners of the occult, they get hung up on summoning this being or that spirit, and then later trying to decide if what they experienced was a type of objective phenomena or simply their wish-fulfilling imagination.

I've always taken the attitude that as long as the world around me changes in a positive way, according to my Will, I couldn't care less if the experience is "real".

My world "really" changed, so good enough.

But it's quite a different thing when you're not the one summoning the being, but rather the being is summoning you. And this morning that is exactly what occurred. I was visited by something I could not see.

My alarm went off at 1am and I hit the snooze button. I was in the middle of a week-long ritual working and it demanded that I ritualize at 3am.

As I lay in the dark awash in unfocused consciousness, I heard a very loud noise just outside the window only inches from my head. It sounded like metal clanging together. But it sounded purposeful somehow.

Now I am fully awake and hyper-focused. Was that an animal or a person? What kind of animal could have made that noise? As the adrenaline pulses through my body I focused my senses upon the possibility of immediate threat. But I kept my body still and ready.

Just listening.

A moment later I hear the distinct noise of a foot on the floor.

It sounds like the rubber sole of a heavy boot on a linoleum floor, under heavy weight, turning on its heel. That unmistakable noise betrays a heavy person, slowly and deliberately turning it's foot to change direction.

I madly look around, moving my eyes only. There is low red light illuminating my room from my nightlight. There is no one there. Nothing is moving. And in any case this room has carpeting and the noise sounded like it was coming from a source inches from my ear!

I then heard heavy footfalls walking away from me. The effect was odd. Every footfall sounded like it was right next to my ear, but through use of volume was attempting to create the illusion of someone walking away from me.

I immediately think that I am being visited.

I have had similar experiences in the past so I'm no stranger to it. But I do not want to be foolish so I decide to err on the side of caution. I get up, grab my 9mm handgun, and chamber a bullet. Time to go see what's what.

I walk directly to and out the front door and into the night. It's so dark.

Too much so.

And very quiet. There is nothing. No wind. It's too dark, too quiet, and too still. It feels like time itself has stopped.

I look into the front windows of the house. Nothing is moving. And the inside seems unnaturally illuminated for the nightlights we have on. It's simply too bright. Inviting.

I decide that I am correct. I am being visited, and any more cautious action is just as foolish now as it would have been foolish for me not to exercise caution when I first got up.

I return inside, unchamber my gun and put it away. I put on some coffee in an adjoining room, head over to the living room and sit in my favorite chair. I sit still, silence but for the coffee percilating in the far room to my right.

Then I hear the same heavy, human paced footfalls to my left. They're coming from an enclosed porch. There is no need to check the porch. It's a mess, an absolute disaster. There is no room to walk in that space. None whatsoever.

If I had any lingering doubt that I was being visited it vanished in that moment.

Then I heard, clear as a bell, as if once again, right next to my left ear, high pitched tinkling bells that melted into bird song.

There are no birds in my living room. And it's about 1:30am at this point. This is not something I'm hearing inside my head, this is definitely an external sound. This is what is called 'clairaudience'. Not an ability I experience very often.

As soon as all of my focus and attention is on the bird song it slowly fades away, as if the purpose was to get my attention and nothing more.

I am determined to open myself to receive any message that my visitor wants to impart. I open myself up and all at once my mind is flooded with thoughts.

These are fully formed thoughts, a strange sensation. Prepackaged, not something I am sorting through or even thinking about. Fully formed thoughts are popping into my mind as if I am simply downloading them.

Each thought is too complex to dissect, but the general atmosphere was of the emotions of fear, the experience of pain, and the necessity of work all do their part to bring focus to experience. Attention.

Attention and focus are important.

I focus more in the direction that I assume my invisible visitor to be. I focus with my mind rather than my senses. A thought comes to my mind, again fully formed and prepackaged (a very odd sensation) but this time simple enough that my mind immediately wraps it in words,

"Deny the physical. Deny it with your whole being."

I repeat the message aloud.

My mind is taken to a working in my past where within I summoned Havres of the Goetia and the spirit communicated to me, "Rise above the physical…"

At the time the message seemed like an invitation to die.

But I saw now the meaning. It's not about leaving this experience behind, as there really is no "here or there". The "physical" is simply an experience that's based on attention. Even its so-called "immutable laws" I have found to be a matter of attention.

I'm curious about others. Other people. There's a lot of chatter online lately about folks being "NPC's", especially in esoteric circles. One specific friend comes to mind.

Immediately I am answered by my invisible visitor, "He is your dream and you are my dream."

A feeling arises in me that I enjoy "being his dream", There's pleasure in that. I do not feel diminished by it in the least. Quite the contrary, almost empowered.

I ask if the planet is largely unpopulated as I had come to suspect, but a complete thought comes once again in answer.

It's the wrong way to look at it.

There is no a-priory planet to speak of. There is merely experience born of attention from differing perspectives. The planet has a population of 1. And always has. As soon as it drops to 0 then there is no planet.

The world is me, and I am the world. And this can be claimed by any being that is aware of the fact.

All that I experience is me, for me, by me. If the world turns against me it does so as I turn against myself. To be embraced by it I must embrace myself. All that I experience I am, as if they are my children. Or sometimes clay puppets.

Scenarios of experience, nothing more or less.

My visitor spoke again with a complete thought that my mind wrapped words around, but this was more of a feeling, it origiated in the gut, as if it was an edict that would have to be acted upon.

It felt like an imperative, "You must control all of this. This is what you are here to learn now."

My mind races back to an old working I performed that I've come to call the Bafmit Working. The message from that working was received in the physical world in a most unexpected and unusual way.

Part of it read, "…control what you see inside of yourself and the world will see it soon."

It's a fractal. The self and experience are the same whole.

Again it spoke, this time I felt it near me, as if I would feel its breath if it decided to breathe.

"I trust you. Do you trust me?"

I simply respond that I feel no threat. "Trust" is a strong word, and I have a sense that if I simply agreed it would have been tantamount to an oath or pact. This is something I normally avoid with these encounters.

The thought of a girl I knew crossed my mind. Still not having properly processed the message of the being, I foolishly ask, "Is she real?"

"Complex soul".

Suddenly I feel a tremendous outpouring of energy from the being, which takes me completely by surprise. It flows into my body like liquid electricity breaking over the top of my head and pulsing down my spine, flooding my limbs and tissues.

After a few seconds it recedes, but my body is still humming and pulsing with the new energy. I feel supercharged, and hyper-aware.

Now I can sense the being's location without sound. As if we're now connected somehow. There are no more footfalls, no more birds and bells. I just "feel" him move away from my left side, cross in front of me, and head into the small room where my freshly brewed coffee is waiting for me.

He stops right by the coffee.

I know it's about to leave me and I'm suddenly filled with longing. The same girl comes into my mind and I say out loud, "I miss her."

It responds immediately with a thought, "You should go visit her again (on the astral plane). To visit someone is to see their world. You'll experience her world."

And with that my visitor was gone. There was no one there. I walked outside. It was still dark, but not unnaturally so. The breeze was back. Animals were again moving in the night. Time was no longer at a stand-still.

I sighed deeply and returned indoors.

Later that morning, still pre-dawn, as I'm driving to work, I end up behind a car whose license plate is literally all 8's.

I've never seen anything like that before.

Just the other week a friend of mine was telling me about her experience seeing repeating 8's everywhere, "I think that 8's represent new beginnings."

During the day I feel empty space inside of myself, something that had never drawn my attention to itself, I now recognized immediately through it's absence: A pit in my stomach.

An every guarding mechanism of self-censorship.

Good riddance.

[radheshyamsahu]

[imaginal-ai]

"Spiritual Adept" (0002)

(More of The Mystery School Series)

0001

[rrcraft-and-lore]

I recently mentioned the 8 Siddhis from South Asian spirituality and in the epics and Vedic to Hindu practices and in Buddhism as well.

What are they?

Narratively, most popularly to many, they are powers associated with Lord Hanuman.

But others can possess them as well and have, and in the ascetic arts, it's said you too can pursue and possess these abilities. So, what are they?

1: Aṇimā: the ability to reduce one's body to the size of an atom. NOTE: Your strength is not diminished here. So...think Ant Man potential.

You're a damn hyper mobile bullet at that point if you think about it. That's POWERFUL.

Now, note. This is not a GIGANTISM ability. ONLY SHRINKING. Narratively, Lord Hanuman uses this ability to shrink and hide from demons while searching Lanka for Mata Sita (mother Sita)

2: Mahimā: the ability to expand one's body to an infinitely large size. INFINITELY. Once, Lord Hanuman used this ability to become large enough (and his strength grew with him) to be able to carry a whole fucking mountain.

With this Siddhi, one can grow large enough to become celestial sized Vamana, also known as "Three step," the "milk-dwarf", and the "binder," is the 5th avatar of the God Lord Vishnu (the Preserver), in his dwarf avatar existence he uses Mahimā to grow large enough to take three steps in which he covers ALL of existence, and on the third step striding toward his enemy, the demon (really an Asura) king Mahabali, and shove him into the underworld.

3: Laghimā: the ability to become weightless or lighter than air. This is the example I talked about yesterday in where even Avatar: The Legend of Korra, in where they tied the Siddhi to a fictional Guru in the story for a really cool moment. And, yes, just like in the show, in the South Asian epics and myths, characters used this ability to become light enough to fly (even some demons who learned this Siddhi).

4: Garimā: the ability to become heavy or dense.

Note: You cannot alter your weight HOWEVER YOU WANT. You can increase it (not mass - weight) to the point of becoming literally immovable by anyone else.

5: Prāpti: the ability to realize whatever one desires. I wish, right? Well...okay, kinda that's what it is. It's the ability to create/grant anything. Just like that. Or achieve it. Gods, demons, and more do this throughout the epics. Some gods will snap up a boon right there. I've managed a tablet at best through wishy wishy magic powers.

...look, I have work to do, and practice, okay? In essence, it's the ability to get your desires.

6: Prākāmya: This one's complicated. This Siddhi allows one to adapt amazingly to circumstances around them. One can travel - adapt to distance, teleport, increase the length of their live -- longevity, live under water, or on top of freezing mountains.

7: Īśitva: the ability to control all material elements or natural forces. You can make it rain, storm, earthquake, or...something subtler, move the ground around you as you wish.

It's pretty godly.

8: Vaśitva: the ability to influence minds. This applies to creatures as well - not just humanoid, demon, gods and other beings of that nature. You can tame wild beasts, calm the angered, and more.

[turiyatitta]

To Reach Beyond the Luminous

A Contemplation on Enlightenment and Distractions Along the PathIn our intrinsic pursuit of enlightenment, myriad entities, experiences, and spiritual phenomena often unveil themselves, presenting a paradoxical tapestry where understanding and distraction intertwine. When such entities or guides emerge along our path, they necessitate neither fixation nor rejection. For if they come, let them…

[sspacegodd]

It's nothing new. People have been weaseling their way into blissful states like samadhi for years (see Ramakrishna).

But then there's also the true stuff.

[nwonow]

Of all the descriptions I had to write for my new website, this was the one I'm most proud of:

The Baphomet, 30x40, Oil on Linen

Integration of the Jungian Shadow.  Face to face with internal and eternal circumstantial God-Head.  The underlying force and motivator of all ego layed bare, unending hunger for experience felt forever in an instant.  The Undead God, personification of the evolutionary force, The Devil, The God that wears the mask of the Enemy.  Named for the severed head idol of the Templars, the meat-puppet feeding this eternal being: Man.

[mahayanapilgrim]

The Secret of a Full Life

The secret of a full life is to live and relate to others as if they might not be there tomorrow, as if you might not be there tomorrow. It eliminates the vice of procrastination, the sin of postponement, failed communications, failed communions. This thought has made me more and more attentive to all encounters. meetings, introductions, which might contain the seed of depth that might be carelessly overlooked. This feeling has become a rarity, and rarer every day now that we have reached a hastier and more superficial rhythm, now that we believe we are in touch with a greater amount of people, more people, more countries. This is the illusion which might cheat us of being in touch deeply with the one breathing next to us.

The dangerous time when mechanical voices, radios, telephones, take the place of human intimacies, and the concept of being in touch with millions brings a greater and greater poverty in intimacy and human vision.

~ Anais Nin

The Diary of Anaïs Nin

[tsalala]

This was the last time in June 2020 that I saw all three together. I haven’t been going to the park regularly since then and I don’t really have regular pictures of them to tell the story after that. But they live separately and their mother has another litter of two cubs.

Arrowhead and her twin daughters Ranthambore National Park, India Photographed by Aditya Singh