Sri Yukteswar Giri, Gurudeva of Paramahansa Yogananda

Several years ago, I posted a blog entitled, “Trance Mediumship – What’s The Point?” I’ve decided to revisit this subject, mainly because like many of you reading this, I find myself evolving so quickly now, that my views also evolve with equal speed.

I haven’t changed my view on this subject, on the contrary, it’s just that my opinion is now more refined, so I thought it would be good to write an updated post covering the same theme. I should also state, that if something exists, in this case spiritual powers, or siddhis, they do so for a reason and everything in this life exists within it’s own context. I myself, worked as a medium for 17 years (not trance mediumship) giving public demonstrations of clairvoyance, mainly in spiritualist churches. But I always felt that something was missing; it all seemed so superficial and I found my soul constantly yearning for the vastness of the ocean, as opposed to the limitations of a puddle.

So, to get to the point, this article is about siddhis in general, not specifically trance mediumship.

I think that the whole business of siddhis can be summed up by what Sri Yukteswar Giri, the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, had to say on the subject. This isn’t word for word, but the great man used to say that one’s spiritual advancement is not measured by the extent of ones spiritual powers but by the depth of ones connection to the Divine in meditation. He also said something along the lines of, “what’s the point of settling for the trivia of outer powers, when the goal is the source from which they sprang.”

Of course, as I already stated above, everything has its relevance along the bumpy road of life, so it isn’t wrong to pursue spiritual powers. But it can never be anything more than a stop along the way, and the more you dabble, the more stuck in a rut you become. Ramana Maharshi also used to have a similar opinion of siddhis and he never encouraged the pursuit of them. He advised that spiritual powers develop naturally with one who has realised the Self, so why waste your time trying to develop powers when you could be basking in the inner wilderness of bliss?

Happy September everyone…