Re: Siddhis and the Power to Perform Mystical Deeds

Dear Guest, Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!! Thank you for your post. I agree the siddhis or mystical powers are also given by Lord Gaura Krishna and they are for a purpose and purification. In fact, there are a test for us to show the Lord that we don't want anything less than pure love for Him. As it is said, there is no gain without sacrifice. Thus, unless we move beyond them, we cannot show the Lord that we deserve the highest thing. If we allow ourselves to be entertained by the subtly material powers we attain due to these siddhis, the Lord escapes from His main responsibility to give us His pure eternal love as described in the verse below.

Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi Lila 8.18:

    krsna yadi chute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
    kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If a devotee wants material sense gratification, mystic powers or liberation from the Lord, Lord Krishna immediately delivers it because He can escape without giving Prema Bhakti or pure devotional service, which He desires to keep very hidden (because He Himself has to personally serve His pure devotees) and never give so easily."

Once attained, pure love always remain with the soul eternally but siddhis are attained due to our pious credits accumulated over many thousands of past births and are only remain with us for one specific life. They may bring us great material power, name, fame and following in this one life, but in our next lives, we have to start all over again, if we desire to attain siddhis again. The residents of the siddha loka cannot stay there permanently and have to come down when their quota of pious deeds has been used up.

That said, it is described in the pastimes of the Acharyas, that they sometimes used siddhis or miracles (which are always at their disposal)  to create faith in the most faithless people for the Holy Names and the Lord. The most popular trend in India is "chamatkar ko namaskar". Even the atheistic class of non-believers will immediately offer their obeisances and very faithfully take up the spiritual process of chanting etc. if they see some external miracles, without even asking any questions about the philosophy, soul, God etc. Because these class of people do not have enough spiritual pious credits (sukriti) from their previous lives to directly accept Naama Bhakti Yoga and sadhu sanga, the Acharyas have sometimes used the miracles on this material plane, to awaken their faith for the purely spiritual plane.

Daaso'smi, BR Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.

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