Myswizard

Siddhis are spiritual powers brought about naturally, as a result of what you have become. To paraphrase Dr. David Hawkins, When your level of consciousness gets above 500 (Love)*, these things tend to happen of their own accord. Forcing them to happen or using them for personal gain, isn’t using them as they were meant to be used…Myswizard

In ways diverse, do seek the Absolute
Penetrating the Lotus within and going beyond,
You shall reach the celestial world,
Drunk of the nectar there
You shall return
Sweet, sweet exceedingly indeed,
It is! ”
- Siddhar Thirumulanathar

Siddhi
Siddhi is a Sanskrit term for spiritual power (or psychic ability). It is known in Hinduism and tantric buddhism. These spiritual powers supposedly vary from relatively simple forms of clairvoyance to being able to levitate, be present at various places at once, become as small as an atom, materialize objects, having access to memories from past lives and more. The term became known in the West through the work of H.P. Blavatsky. The plural is Siddhis.

Siddhi also means liberation, or attaining salvation. Used to describe the demise of saints and ascetics, it is a state where the consciousness mingles with the Supreme Being and the bodily remains are cast off.

There are many perspectives of attaining Siddhis. One school of thought states that they are a normal set of occurrences that should not be focused upon because they will pull one from their path. Other perspectives hold that each siddhi should be pursued because it will allow one to understand the power of the Godhead. Normally, siddhis occur two ways: naturally and as a result of extended practice of austerities.

Siddha
The Sanskrit word Siddha is derived from the word Siddhi meaning “Perfection”, referring to physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment. Thus Siddha, like Siddhar or Cittar (indigenisation of Sanskrit terms in Tamil Nadu) refers to a person who has realised the goal of a type of Sadhana and become a perfected being. In Tamil Nadu, South India, where the Siddha tradition is practiced, special individuals are recognized as and called Siddhas, or Siddhars or Cittars, who are on the path to that assumed perfection after they have taken special secret Rasayanas to perfect their bodies, in order to be able to sustain prolonged meditation along with a form of Pranayama which reduces the number of breaths taken by them considerably.

Siddha medicine is a form of medical treatment of diseases using substances of all possible origins in a way that balances the possible harmful effect of each substance. This form of medicine was professed and practised by Siddhars who wrote their recipes on palm-leaves for the use of future generations. Siddha medicine was developed by outstanding Dravidians (ancient Tamils), locally called Cittars. Preparations are made mainly out of the parts of the plants and trees such as leaves, bark, stem, root etc, but include also mineral and some animal substances. This form of medicine is still today well known in South India. The use of metals like gold, silver and iron powders (Sanskrit bhasma) in some preparations is a special feature of Siddha medicine, which claims it can detoxify metals to enable them to be used for stubborn diseases. This claim is especially relevant in the case of mercury which is relatively often used in the system; that means medicine containing purified mercury should only be received from a highly qualified practitioner of the art.

Due to the obscurity of the art and practice of becoming a Siddha, many false prophets of this art have arisen. A general sign of genuinity of a Siddha is the fact that he does not advertise himself, but is going into hiding. Generally Siddhas are continually itinerant, and do not gather a following. Most practitioners of Siddha medicine are not Siddhas themselves, but use some of the remedies described by Siddhas.

Siddhars
Siddhars are saints in India, mostly of the Shaivaite denomination in Tamil Nadu, who professed and practised an unorthodox type of Sadhana, or spiritual practice, to attain liberation. They are people who are believed to control and transcend the barriers of time and space by meditation (Yoga), after the use of substances called Rasayanas that transform the body to make it potentially deathless, and a particular breathing-practice, a type of Pranayama. Through their practices they are believed to have reached stages of insight which enabled them to tune into the powers hidden in various material substances and practices, useful for suffering and ignorant mankind. They wrote their findings, in the form of poems in Tamil language, on palm-leaves which are collected and stored in what are known today as palm-leaf-libraries, today still owned by private families in Tamil Nadu and handed down through the generations, as well as public institutions such as Universities the world over (India, Germany, Great Britain, U.S.A.).

In this way Siddhars developed, among other branches of a vast knowledge-system, what is now known as Siddha medicine, practised mainly in Tamil Nadu. They are also founders of Varmam - a martial art for self-defence and medical treatment at the same time. Varmams are specific points located in the human body which when pressed in different ways can give various results, such as disabling an attacker in self-defence, or balancing a physical condition as an easy first-aid medical treatment.

Siddhars also wrote many religious poems.

One of the best-known Siddhars nowadays is Patanjali, the author of the Yoga-Sutra. Another prominent personality is Agasthyar, who is believed to be the founding father of Tamil culture.

Abithana Chintamani states Siddhars are either of the 9 or 18 persons enlisted, but sage Agastyar states that there are many who precede these and follow 9 or 18 persons. Many of the great Siddhars are regarded to have powers magical and spiritual.

All Siddhars in order
Sri Pathanjali
Sri Agasthiyar
Sri Kamalamuni
Sri Thirumoolar
Sri Kuthambai
Sri Korakkar
Sri Thanvandri
Sri Sundaranandar
Sri Konganar
Sri Sattamuni
Sri Valmiki (Vaanmeegar)
Sri Ramadevar
Sri Nandeeswarar
Sri Edaikkadar
Sri Machamuni
Sri Karuvoorar
Sri Bogar
Sri Pambatti
The 9 or 18 list as Abithana Chitamani states is as follows, and the following list seems to be more correct than the one above because the siddhars like Karuvoorar, Paambatti are Siddhars of more recent times than those in the list below. Of course all the people mentioned in the list are considered as Siddhars and are unparalleled in their own respects.

The 9-list of Siddhars is:

Sathyanathar
Sadhoganathar
Aadhinathar
Anadhinathar
Vegulinathar
Madhanganathar
Machaendranathar
Gadaendranathar or Gajendranathar
Korakkanathar
The 18-list of siddhars is:

Agastyar
Bogar
Korakkar
Kailasanathar
SattaiMuni
Tirumoolar
Nandhi
Koonkannar
Konganar
MachaMuni
VaasaMuni
KoormaMuni
KamalaMuni
Edaikaadar
Punnakeesar
Sundarandandar
Romarishi
BramhaMuni
Apart from these there are several others like Dhanvandhri, Pulasthiyar, Pujandar or Kagapujandar, Pathanjali, Karuvoorar, Ramadevar, Theraiyar, Kabilar, Kumbhamuni, Paambaati Siddhar, Kudhumbai Siddhar

Powers of siddhars
The siddhars are believed to have had powers both major and other ‘minor’ powers. They are explained in detail in various yogic as well as religious texts;Thirumandiram 668:

To become tiny as the atom within the atom (Anima)
To become big in unshakeable proportions (Mahima)
To become as light as vapour in levitation (Laghima)
To become as heavy as the mountain (Garima)
To enter into other bodies in transmigration (Prapti)
To be in all things,omni-pervasive (Prakamya)
To be lord of all creation in omnipotence (Isatvam)
To be everywhere in omnipresence (Vasitvam)
These eight are the Great Siddhis.

Moksha
Moksha (Sanskrit: मोक्ष, liberation) or Mukti (Sanskrit: विमुक्ति, release) refers, in general, to liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. In higher Hindu philosophy, it is seen as a transcendence of phenomenal being, of any sense of consciousness of time, space, and causation (karma). It is not seen as a soteriological goal in the same sense as in, say, a Christian context, but signifies dissolution of the sense of self, or ego, and the overall breakdown of nama-roopa (name-form). It is, in Hinduism, viewed as analogous to Nirvana, though Buddhist thought tends to differ with even the Advaita Vedantist reading of liberation. Jainism and Surat Shabda Yoga traditions also believe in Moksha.

Hinduism, in support of the idea of Moksha, posits the idea of atman and Brahman. A common mistake is to view them, both spoken of as Self, as a monist being of sorts, something possessing substances. In actuality, Hindu scripture like the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, and especially the non-dual Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta, say that the Self or Super-Soul is beyond being and non-being, beyond any sense of tangibility and comprehension. Moksha is seen as a final release from one’s worldly conception of self, the loosening of the shackle of experiential duality and a re-establishment in one’s own fundamental nature, though the nature is seen as ineffable and beyond sensation.

In Advaita, the concepts of Moksha and Buddhist Nirvana are not so disunited as to be incomparable. Indeed, there is much overlap in their views of consciousness and attainment of enlightenment. For Advaitists, the ultimate truth is not a singular Godhead, per se, but rather is oneness without form or being, something that essentially is without manifestation, and this, by many liberal Advaitists, is seen as complementing, rather than denying, the ‘voidness’ of Buddhism.
In dualist Hinduism, on the other hand, Moksha is not quite analogous to Nirvana in Buddhism. For Vaishnavites and Shaivites, Moksha means union with God. Buddhism, being a non-theistic religion, does not focus on God.
In Jainism, Moksha and Nirvana are the same. When a soul (atman) achieves Nirvana, it is released from the cycle of births and deaths, and achieves its pure self. It then becomes a Siddha (literally one who has accomplished his ultimate objective), and hence a god, worthy of worship.

Means to achieve Moksha
There are believed to be four yogas (unions) or margs (paths) for the attainment of Moksha. They are the ways of selfless work, of self-dissolving love, of absolute discernment, and of ‘royal’ meditative immersion. Different schools of Hinduism place varying emphasis on one path or other, some of the most famous being the tantric and yogic practices developed in Hinduism. Today, the two major schools of thought are Advaita Vedanta and Bhakti branches.

Moksha in the sacred Hindu temple danceBhakti sees the Self as God, most often a personified monotheistic conception of Vishnu, Shiva or Devi (the Mother Goddess). Unlike in Abrahamic traditions, this monotheism does not prevent a Hindu from worship of other aspects of God, beings or teachers, as they are all seen as rays from a single source. However, it is worthy of note that the Bhagavad Gita condemns worship of demigods as it does not lead to Moksha. The concept is essentially of self-dissolution in love, since the ideal nature of being is seen as that of harmony, euphony, its manifest essence being love. By immersing oneself in the love of God, one’s Karmas (good or bad, regardless) slough off, one’s illusions about beings decay and ‘truth’ is soon known and lived.
Vedanta finds itself split three-fold, though the dualist and modified non-dualist schools are primarily associated with the foregoing thought of Bhakti. The most famous today is Advaita Vedanta, a non-dual (i.e. no separation between the individual and reality/God/etc.) perspective which often played the role of Hindu foil to contemporary Buddhist philosophy. In general, it focused on intense meditation and moral realignment, its bedrock being the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and the teachings of its putative founder, Adi Shankara. Through discernment of the real and the unreal, as a peeling of the layers of an onion, the sadhak (practitioner) would unravel the maya (illusion) of being and the cosmos to find nothing within, a nothingness which was paradoxically being, and transcendentally beyond both such inadequate descriptions. This was Moksha, this was atman and Brahman realized as the substance and void of existential duality.
Moksha in the sacred Hindu temple dance, as in the classical Indian dance too, is symbolized by Shiva raising his right leg, as if freeing himself from the gravitation of the material world.

In Surat Shabda Yoga beliefs, attaining Self-Realization and above results in Jivan Moksha/Mukti (liberation/release from the cycle of karma and reincarnation while in the physical body – spiritual freedom here and now).

In Jainism, attaining Moksha requires annihilation of all karmas, good and bad; because if karma is left, it must bear fruit.

Moksha can be a name of a person too.

One must achieve Moksha on his own. An Arhat or a Siddha may inspire, but do not intervene.

Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception whereby a person perceives distant objects, persons, or events, including “seeing” through opaque objects and the detection of types of energy not normally perceptible to humans (i.e. radio waves). Typically, such perception is reported in visual terms, but may also include auditory impressions (sometimes called clairaudience) or kinesthetic impressions.

The term clairvoyance is often used broadly to refer to all forms of ESP where a person receives information through means other than those explainable by current science. Perhaps more often, it is used more narrowly to refer to reception of present-time information not from another person, there being other terms to refer to other forms: telepathy referring to reception of information from another person (i.e. presumably mind-to-mind); and precognition referring to gaining information about places and events in the future. The term clairsentience is often used in reference to psi phenomena falling under this broader context.

As with all psi phenomena, there is wide disagreement and controversy within the sciences and even within parapsychology as to the existence of clairvoyance and the validity or interpretation of clairvoyance related experiments

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Moksha “. The other subjects are also used under the GNU licensing, but for space reasons have been omitted from the original disclaimer.

*pg. 262 Transcending Levels of Consciousness