H.G. WELLS: THE TIME MACHINE
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"Buddhism teaches that after a practitioner achieves a certain degree of realization, spiritual power develops. A person at the level of an Arhat is said to possess six supernatural powers. Furthermore, it is acknowledged as well that supernatural powers are not attainable exclusively JUST by Buddhists and Buddhists only. It is possible for anyone who has deep religious and spiritual cultivation to develop some kind of 'super-normal powers.'"
NAGARJUNA: The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom (Dharmamitra Translation)
SIDDHI (Sanskrit: "accomplishment," "attainment," "perfection"). The term Siddhi is most often applied to a variety of spritual-related psychic capabilities or powers manifested by adherents in the Hindu and Buddhist realms. Through recognizing emptiness, clarity and openness of the mind, different qualities arise naturally, since they are part of mind. The Buddha, whose personal name Siddharta is based in the root-word and means "he whose aim is accomplished," distinguishes between two types:
- Normal Siddhis: all those forces of the conditioned world that transform elements.
- Extraordinary Siddhis: the ability to open beings up for the liberating and enlightening truths; to lead to Realization.
Siddhi is typically defined as "a magical or spiritual power for the control of self, others and the forces of nature." The Siddhis described by occultists and yogis are in actuality Supernormal Perceptual States available to all human beings. These are absolutely natural abilities that can be explained in highly rational terms. There is nothing mysterious or magical about the Siddhis.
SUPERNORMAL PERCEPTUAL STATES:
According to the "experts" then, Siddhis are actually supernormal perceptual states. All well and good, but what the heck are supernormal perceptual states? The explanation basically just shifts the unexplained definition of Siddhis being called Siddhis to another set of words that are just as much unclear.
Simply put, what is being said is that supernormal perceptual states are states that are beyond what is typically within the purview of the normal range of perception. For example, a dog whistle. The sound of a dog whistle is beyond the range of human hearing, yet a dog can hear it. Relative to us it is a supernormal perceptual state, but NOT for the dog.
Most of us are familiar with the colors of the rainbow. Those "colors" are just a small part of a larger spectrum of light that of which, beyond the colors of the rainbow, are unavailable to most people without the use of some sort of an enhanced mechanical device.
Infrared is located just beyond the red side of the spectrum with ultraviolet appearing just beyond the violet end. Night vision devices primarily operate utlizing infrared light, enhanced through the use of lenses and such to the point that it becomes visible. Going in the same direction beyond infared are microwaves and radio waves.
Bees can see ultraviolet at the short-wavelength end of the spectrum. But, unlike humans, bees can't see red -- at the longer wavelength end of the spectrum. Red looks black to bees. X-rays, which we use machines for all the time, are beyond ultraviolet. In some cases for some people X-rays are faintly visible to the dark-adapted naked eye but it is not known what exact mechanism in the eye produces the visibility. Although some exprimental tests have born out the possibility to be true, people who do see them, because they do not fall within the normal range of vision most are conditioned for, often do not realize what they are or what they are seeing.
Before the rise of the variety of detection devices all those x-rays, microwaves and such were unknown and thus did not "exist." The thing is, they did exist all along, just super perceptual. Most people these days, even though those supernormal perceptual states are not typically perceived during their routine daily lives, would pretty much agree that they do exist. The same is true of any number of potential states beyond the normal range of most peoples experience.
THE POWER OF SIDDHIS:
The Buddha said "If a monk should frame a wish as follows: "Let me exercise the various magical powers, let me being one become multiform., let me being multiform become one, let me become visible, become invisible, go without hindrance through walls, ramparts or mountains as if through air, let me rise and sink in the ground as if in the water, let me walk on the water as if on unyielding ground, let me travel through the air like a winged bird, let me touch and feel with my hand the moon and the sun mighty and powerful though they are, and let me go without my body even up to the Brahma world," then must he be perfect in the precepts (Sila), bring his thoughts to a state of quiescence (Samadhi), practice diligently the trances (Jhana), attain to insight (Prajna) and be frequenter to lonely places."
Three quick examples of those Siddhis, seen above in bold, "let me travel through the air like a winged bird," "let me become visible, become invisible," and "let me walk on the water" can be found in:
According to the Buddha and how the sutras are said to present it, to manifest or execute the abilities of Siddhis, a stringent regimen of meditation and concentration MUST meet certain levels of accomplishments. To reach such a level the meditator must be perfect in the precepts (Sila), bring his thoughts to a state of quiescence (Samadhi), practice diligently the trances (Jhana), attain to insight (Prajna) and be frequenter to lonely places. The question is how many people meet such criteria, that is, being masterful in Sila, Samadhi, Jhana, and Prajna and be frequenter to lonely places? See:
However, Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Chapter IV, verse 1 states:
- "janma-osadhi-mantra-tapah-samadhi-jah siddayahsamadhi."
Which in english translates into:
- "Births, herbs, mantras and tapas can help you to attain Samadhi and its accomplishments."
One of the accomplishments of Samadhis is known to be Siddhis.
The power of Siddhis can come because of genetics (i.e., birth) (janma), from herbs (aushadhis), the use of mantras, the kindling of the psychic fire through the practicing of austerities (tapas), and/or reversely from or the gaining of Samadhis.
SIDDHIS THROUGH BIRTH:
Just like any other natural human ability, different people display differing abilities towards learning and/or spontaneously displaying Siddhis with Karma often playing a primary role. Some people are born with Siddhis that they exercise without being aware that their particular psychic gift is unusual. In such cases, it may come as a traumatic event to the individual when they learn that their ability is not common and that they are considered a misfit by other people not possessing similar abilities.
SIDDHIS THROUGH HERBS
Another means to trigger Siddhis also mentioned in Patanjali's sutra, albeit in an unexpected and uncontrolled manner, is by the use of certain drugs. For example, certain hallucinogenic drugs and herbs such as LSD, mescaline, peyote and others. However, UNLESS used under the auspices of experienced Spiritual Guides similar to Native American rituals that use Sacred Datura or the Mazatec Velada Ceremony they can stimulate siddhis in an uncontrolled fashion and quite possibly lead to an internal mental environment that causes great psychological trauma. Regarding potential outcomes through the use of drugs, the following opening quote is found at the source so cited:
"In the
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Chapter IV, verse 1 it is stated that the supernormal perceptual powers of Siddhis CAN be reached through the use of certain herbs, replicating on the short term a mind-strength ability and potential execution of powers similar to or equal to that of a person versed in Siddhis garnered via the highest levels of Spiritual Attainment."(see)
SIDDHIS THROUGH MANTRAS AND AUSTERITIES:
In other cases, deep meditative methods actively develop Siddhis. In addition to birth and Karma Patanjali states the power of Siddhis can come about through the use of mantras, through the practicing of austerities and/or Samadhi, especially so Access Concentration (Samprajana Samadhi). According to occult theory, this is the rational and desirable way to go about achieving Siddhis.
"(S)iddhis are absolutely natural abilities latent in all humans. If one takes the time to learn and practice the correct yoga exercises, then it is inevitable that one will directly experience the awakening of their own siddhis. Again, there is nothing magical or mysterious going on here, and all claims put forth regarding the siddhis stand open to any type of test of their validity that anyone wishes to pose. However, those skeptical of the siddhis and who wish to challenge the claim to the existence of the siddhis must be prepared to recognize that the nature of the siddhis will not fit easily into biased misconceptions. One who experiences siddhis operates in a greater, more expanded psychological reality than one who does not and therefore the skeptic must be prepared to expand his or her understanding in an attempt to either prove or disprove the existence of the siddhis."
(source)
RECORDED EXAMPLES OF SIDDHIS, Modern Day and in History:
There are many examples of siddhis throughout history, in a variety of texts and various religions, but one of the greatest observed or recorded exponents of modern day is Sri Seshadri Swamigal, the so-called "saint with the golden hand," of which, for example, the following is written:
Sri Krishnaswamy Sastri's wife was suffering from swelling of the stomach,hands and legs and vomiting of roundworm. Doctors gave up hope and they visited the Swami in Tiruvannamalai as a last resort on a horse carriage. Sri Seshadri Swamigal got into the carriage and put his leg on her swollen body and rode the carriage into the sadhu choultry and asked her to swallow some sand and apply it on her body for three days. Miraculously, she was cured of her disease completely.
Other siddhis attributed to the Swami are:
- Making rains come on the request of his devotees.
- Giving a darshan of himself to five or six devotees at different places at the same time.
- Showing devotees swargalokam(heaven) and mumurthi devas (mythological Gods in Hindu literature).
- Giving darshan as Parvathi devi(Hindu Goddess) to many devotees.
Rather than anything closly related to Siddhis, Ganapati Muni is known more for his "conversion to," and Enlightenment under, the great Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi. Before that however, he was a personage in his own right, known for and sometimes feared for the following:
Ganapati Muni was born as an amsa of Dundi Ganapati, had a huge following, and was a born poet. He was a great scholar and a tapasvi with powerful Siddhis who could bring down or stop the rains! He could destroy a whole town. Once when he was harassed during his stay in the city of Nasik he cursed that the whole city should be destroyed. Soon the whole city was destroyed through the dreaded disease of plague.
The following example of siddhi was written by the British author William Somerset Maugham and published in A Writer's Notebook. Maugham was well versed in Indian mysticism, had met the Baghavan Sri Ramana Maharshi personally, and traveled extensively in India:
In India a yogi wanted to go somewhere by train, but having no money, asked the station-master if he could go for nothing; the station-master refused, so the Yogi sat down on the platform. When it was time for the train to go it would not start. It was supposed that something was wrong with the engine, so mechanics were sent for and they did all they knew, but still the train could not go. At last the station-master told the officials of the Yogi. He was asked to get in the train and it immediately started.
The above train story sounds a lot like one of those urban legends, but, if you want to see the on record original source for it, click HERE.
The next example is from the William Somerset Maugham novel The Razor's Edge:
An Indian Yogi came to a bank of a river; he didn't have the money to pay the ferryman to take him across and the ferryman refused to take him for nothing, so he stepped on the water and walked upon its surface to the other side. The Yogi (telling the story) shrugged his shoulders rather scornfully and said, "A miracle like that is worth no more than the penny it would have cost to go on the ferryboat."
How Maugham got that last story, where it comes from or if it is an original or a modification from some other source is not known...it is known, however the following is attributed to Gautama Buddha and found in the book "BUDDHISM: It's Essence and Development" by Edward Conze (pp 104-5):
One day the Buddha met an ascetic who sat by the bank of a river. This ascetic had practised austerities for 25 years. The Buddha asked him what he had received for all his labor. The ascetic proudly replied that, now at last, he could cross the river by walking on the water. The Buddha pointed out that this gain was insignificant for all the years of labor, since he could cross the river using a ferry for one penny! (source)
Of course the most notable personage cited throughout history to exhibit the ability to walk on water was Jesus. What most people do not realize there are recorded instances where he exhibited the ability to fly as well. A whole section of documentation of same as well as other similar bibical events can be found by going to the link toward the top of the page titled The power to travel in the sky.
In a more up to date, modern-day account of Siddhis, in an event actually observed and experienced in real life by the Wanderling personally, the following is offered:
My very first encounter with an Obeahman occurred long before I began my apprenticeship under the Jamaican man of spells I eventually studied under. Although I had been in Jamaica for some time I had never heard of Obeah or an Obeahman until the day a Jamaican friend of mine and I were taking a trip across the island in his car. We had gone to Montego Bay along the north coast for several days and on our return trip to Kingston my friend decided it would be quicker as well as more fun if we took a short cut through some of the cane fields. We were doing about eighty miles per hour when we passed a little old man on the side of the road walking with a wooden staff and carrying a bundle over his shoulder. My Jamaican friend immediately hit the brakes and screeched to a halt telling me the old man was an Obeah and leaving him to walk so far out in the middle of nowhere would be bad luck. Since his vehicle was a small little two-door British car, to show respect due the Obeah, I got out and squeezed into the small rear seat allowing him to sit in the front. Soon we were back up to speed cruising the back roads of the cane fields at about eighty miles per hour. Then, all of a sudden the engine started to cough and sputter, eventually just dying and stopping to run altogether. We coasted to the side, my friend got out and asked me to get into the drivers seat to try and start the engine as he fiddled with stuff under the hood. Two or three times we tried and the car refused to start. The Obeah got out and went to the front of the car, and, although the hood obscured my view somewhat, I could tell he tapped the engine a couple of times with his staff. My friend asked me to try it again and immediately the engine fired up. The next morning my friend was late to work. He said after we left the Obeah off where he requested and me home, he went home. However, when he got up the next morning his car refused to start and that it acted exactly the same as it had in the cane fields. When he got it to the shop to be repaired the mechanic showed him the ONLY thing he could find wrong with it. A spring in the carburetor was physically broken and with that spring broken the car could not run under any circumstances. The mechanic replaced the spring and the car started up and ran perfectly. (source)
A rather minor event in the overall scheme of things and for sure nothing like a giant locomotive and entire train being held in abeyance. However, under the auspices of the Obeahman that I eventually apprenticed under I observed and participated in any number of events that do not fit experiences typically found or allowed to transpire on the conventional plane --- including one that to have been accomplished, which it was, would have required nothing less than the warping of time.(see) The problem is all things must return to a balance. If you create any movement in the normal flow of events somehow somewhere there must be a return to the equalibrium. Who or what gets caught up in that rebalancing is an area of questioning.
The mysterious wandering monk Totapuri, recognized for bringing the full fruit of Awakening to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, tells, it has been said, of the following:
There once was a great Siddha (a spiritual man possessing psychic powers) was sitting on the sea-shore when there came a great storm. The Siddha, being greatly distressed by it, exclaimed, "Let the storm cease!" and his words were fulfilled. Just then a ship was going at a distance with all sails set, and as the wind suddenly died away, it capsized, drowning all who were on board the ship. Now the sin of causing the death of so many persons accrued to the Siddha, and for that reason he lost all his occult powers and had to suffer.
Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna, #118 Pitfalls
The Buddha was cognizant of the fact that there are those who devote themselves to yogic exercises only to acquire supernatural powers as well. He refined the practice by telling devotees that acquisition of supernatural powers does not confer any special spiritual advantage (Akankheyya Sutta, Vol. XI, see link below). It was for this reason that the Buddha forbade his disciples to work miracles for display. Craving for supernatural powers and taking delight therein after acquirement does not help to free one from The Three Poisons of Desire, Hatred and Ignorance. It is advised that anyone striving along the path of holiness toward final liberation guard themselves to not get caught up in it all and forget the true purpose.
The following, by Sri Swami Sivananda from his paper Satsanga and Svadhyaya, is being offered as a cautionary word of advice:
"Another great blunder people generally commit is that they judge the Enlightenment of Sadhus by the Siddhis they display. In the world generally, the common inclination is to judge the merits and ability of a Sadhu through his Siddhis. It is a blunder indeed. They should not judge the Enlightenment of a Sadhu in this way. Siddhis are by-products of concentration. Siddhis have nothing to do with Self-realization. A Sadhu may manifest Siddhis due to strong passions and intense desires, and if that be the case, he is undoubtedly a big householder only. You must believe me when I tell you that Siddhis are a great hindrance to spiritual progress, and so long as one is within the realm of Siddhis and does not try to rise above it and march onwards, there is not the least hope of God-realization for him. But, this does not mean that a person manifesting Siddhis is not a realized soul. There are several instances of such persons who have exhibited several Siddhis purely for the elevation and uplift of the world, but never for selfish motives.
"During the days of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa a certain Sadhu approached him and showed two Siddhis: one was that he could roam about without being seen by anybody. The other was that light emanated from portions of his body when he walked.
This man, after some time, began misusing his power, entering the apartment of a lady unseen, fell in love with her and LOST his two powers.
In the world generally, the common run of people and even educated persons judge Sadhus by their Siddhis only. It is a serious blunder and hence I seriously warn you."
(source)
The Siddhi example below, in a real life situation, involves monks doing duty for the mysterious hermitage said to exist somewhere beyond time in a remote area of the Himalayas known under a variety of names such as Gyanganj, Shambhala or Shangri-la by returning a wandering novitiate:
One of the monks emptied a cloth bag I hadn't noticed that either appeared out of nowhere or had been left on the green area earlier. Falling to the ground were several leather-like strap items, three of which were some sort of harness things and the others looking all the same as western style boot stirrups, but with loops in the back rather than metal spinners. The monks quickly strapped the harness-like things to themselves and motioned me to to the same. We did the same with the stirrups.
Then they laid facing down in a prone position with a slight distance between them motioning me to do the same in the open space. One of the monks slipped a staff through loops across the back of our legs being held in place just above our heels by loops on the stirrups then his. He laid down and pushed the other staff along under his chest, mine, and the other monk about even with our shoulders through leather loops on the harness. Then with me between them holding the staff with both hands across my chest at my shoulders the same as the two of them the next thing I knew we were in the air with me positioned between them suspended by the two staffs front to back moving forward at a quick pace. The mountains fell away under us, the wind was blowing hard enough to force tears from my eyes, and the ground, that had dropped well below us, was passing beneath us at a fairly high rate of speed.
I don't know how high we were at the maximum nor long we were in the air, but considering the physical distance we covered it had to be quite a while, maybe a couple of hours, possibly more. I know I was cold, nearly freezing actually, tired and fatigued, and found it difficult to breath and even harder to hold my body length between the two staffs. Every once in awhile I would glance over at one or the other monk and if they weren't in a deep meditative state they were just plain asleep.
After awhile we began slowly lowering our altitude and in the distance, thank heavens, I was just able to make out the crumbling walls of the monastery. The monks left me outside the ruins standing there the same way as the day I arrived the first time. When I turned to thank them they were nowhere to be seen.
TIME TRAVEL: Is It Possible Through Siddhis?
People who have read what I have written in THE CODE MAKER, THE ZEN MAKER insist that what I have presented, even though I state the events are siddhi based, are, if not actually time travel, edges up so close to time travel there is no difference. Many of those same people when they review, study, or do any amount of research into Siddhis --- as for example, possibly starting with THE NINE MAIN SIDDHIS and Eight Additional Siddhis, linked below etc., etc. --- then moving on into the volumes of various literatures on the subject, find there is NO specific reference to, or even vaguely implied references to, anything that would duplicate a time travel sequence of events. Siddhis they learn seem to encompass almost anything possible and a whole lot not so possible, except for that is, that which leads to or replicates a person appearing in or being translocated to or from the past.
Although there are many, many recorded instances of Siddhi-based translocations they are almost always an equal-time straight across in "real time" phenomenon. Visitations, which are a totally different that people experience, say for example Paul Brunton, the author of A Search In Secret India reported experience with Sri Ramana after the Maharishi's death, while relative to the time of Ramana's passing was as it applied to Brunton in the future, it was after the death of Ramana, Brunton implying through inference Ramana's visitations, apparently garnered through conversations etc. during the visitations, were post death.
Probably the highest profile example on the net or anywhere else for that fact for an answer or an exploration into the above question regarding the possibilities of time travel and Siddhis, especially so in modern times, is found in The Code Maker, The Zen Maker. Although The Code Maker, The Zen Maker is for all practical purposes deeply seeped in the super normal perceptual states of Siddhis, some readers of same, perhaps not so versed in Siddhis, and as well sometimes, some who are, after reading all that has been written have a tendency to move what has been presented into more of a time travel like schemata. Many readers go on to say, time travel or not, nowhere is it found that Siddhis support the transpiring of the events so presented.
Generally speaking, unless one delves into references from very ancient texts referring more-or-less to gods or god-like spiritual entities as found, for example in the time travel mythology Mahabharata, such is the case in most instances. However, The Code Maker, The Zen Maker is not talking about most instances. It is talking about as a grounding-source a specific special instance, a special instance occurring or propagating in the total environment-realm and land of the mysterious spiritual hermitage of Shamabhala, incurring thus then, all that would befall anyone or anything, spiritual or otherwise, immersed or surrounded within it's inherent trappings.
As for the Siddhis come-time-travel as specifically related to The Code Maker, The Zen Maker, time associated within the walls of the monastery and the land beyond flowed like the surface of a Mobius Strip, non-orientable. When the Zen master put into place his intentions, he did so from a non-orientable time environment --- meaning, because of Initial Conditons, when and where he was within that non-orientable time environment relative to those conditions, would determine the outcome or results of his efforts. In the end, as it was:
As for the word conditions, it is an English word used in context from the Sutras for the Sanskrit word Pratyaya which means (roughly): "the pre-existing conditions that allow primary causes to function" --- in effect making his Siddhi efforts different in implementation and outcome than they would by if put into place on the other side of the walls. See:
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MEDITATION APPS
The past several years has seen a proliferation of smartphone meditation apps come on the market, all designed in such a way to ease, assist, familiarize, and put into use meditation techniques for almost anybody interested in learning and implementing the various ins-and-outs of meditation, at least as the manufacturers of the apps view meditation.
Beyond the manufacturers advertisement and promotions, for every page that shows up on the internet or elsewhere in support of using the apps, there is an equal number of pages knocking their use. What the knocking their use people are selling varies, but the in support folk seem to be in line with the app builders and promoters because if nothing else, the apps sell --- and sell big time, especially so the two top brands, Headspace and Calm.
People use all kinds of things to enhance or increase their ability to accomplish things. They wear glasses to improve the clarity of their physical vision. Some use dental implants and dentures to chew, eat, or look better. The same for the use of prosthetics, crutches, canes, or wheelchairs. They help people get things done and walk or move about who otherwise might not be able to. But, if glasses to read or see aren't needed, or implants or dentures, or canes, crutches, or wheelchairs, why use them? Initially, with meditation, other than a coming to know what meditation is and what it can do if you do it, nothing much than the desire to do so and then doing it is required Painting legs on a snake doesn't make it walk any better. Electronically painting photon-pushing meditation legs to swath your synapses with trompe l'oeil may be for some, better than nothing. However, and this is one of the biggest however's ever, it is that better than nothing that makes it not, not nothing, the goal of meditation.
Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.
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As to the subject of donations, for those who may be so interested as it applies to the gratefulness of my works, I invariably suggest any funds be directed toward THE WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT and/or THE AMERICAN RED CROSS.
The source for the quote is from an article by Inessa King Zaleski. Her current page on Siddhis reads somewhat different. For the new version, titled The Siddhis - A Brief Introduction click HERE. For the original 2004 version titled Introduction to The Siddhis and of which I derived my quote, click HERE.
The original source for the above cited car episode as observed by the Wanderling is found on a page called Obeah and happened in 1978 on the island of Jamaica while the Wanderling was serving in the Peace Corps.
A second example of a modern day event similar to the Wanderling's was reported to have transpired a little over ten years before on September 2, 1969 in it is thought, Mexico. Carlos Castaneda, writing of a discussion between himself and Don Juan Matus in Castaneda's book A SEPARATE REALITY: Further Conversations with don Juan (1971), Part Two: The Task of 'Seeing' Chapter 13, presents the following:
"Sorcery is to apply one's will to a key joint," Don Juan said. "Sorcery is interference. A sorcerer searches and finds the key joint of anything he wants to affect and then he applies his will to it. A sorcerer doesn't have to see to be a sorcerer, all he has to know is how to use his will."
I asked him to explain what he meant by a key joint. He thought for a while and then he said that he knew what my car was.
"It's obviously a machine," I said.
"I mean your car is the spark plugs. That's its key joint for me. I can apply my will to it and your car won't work."
Don Juan got into my car and sat down. He beckoned me to do likewise as he made himself comfortable on the seat.
"Watch what I do," he said. "I'm a crow, so first I'll make my feathers loose."
He shivered his entire body. His movement reminded me of a sparrow wetting its feathers in a puddle. He lowered his head like a bird dipping its beak into the water.
"That feels really good," he said, and began to laugh.
His laughter was strange. It had a very peculiar mesmerizing effect on me. I recollected having heard him laugh in that manner many times before. Perhaps the reason I had never become overtly aware of it was that he had never laughed like that long enough in my presence.
"A crow loosens its neck next," he said, and began twisting his neck and rubbing his cheeks on his shoulders.
"Then he looks at the world with one eye and then with the other."
His head shook as he allegedly shifted his view of the world from one eye to the other. The pitch of his laughter became higher. I had the absurd feeling that he was going to turn into a crow in front of my eyes. I wanted to laugh it off but I was almost paralyzed. I actually felt some kind of enveloping force around me. I was not afraid nor was I dizzy or sleepy. My faculties were unimpaired, to the best of my judgment.
"Turn on your car now," don Juan said.
I turned on the starter and automatically stepped on the gas pedal. The starter began to grind without igniting the engine. Don Juan's laughter was a soft, rhythmical cackle. I tried it again; and again. I spent perhaps ten minutes grinding the starter of my car. Don Juan cackled all that time. Then I gave up and sat there with a heavy head.
He stopped laughing and scrutinized me and I "knew" then that his laughter had forced me into a sort of hypnotic trance. Although I had been thoroughly aware of what was taking place, I felt I was not myself. During the time I could not start my car I was very docile, almost numb. It was as if don Juan was not only doing something to my car but also to me. When he stopped cackling I was convinced the spell was over, and impetuously I turned on the starter again. I had the certainty don Juan had only mesmerized me with his laughter and made me believe I could not start my car. With the corner of my eye I saw him looking curiously at me as I ground the motor and pumped the gas furiously.
Don Juan patted me gently and said that fury would make me "solid" and perhaps I would not need to be washed in the water again. The more furious I could get, the quicker I could recover from my encounter with the ally.
"Don't be embarrassed," I heard don Juan saying. "Kick the car."
His natural everyday laughter exploded, and I felt ridiculous and laughed sheepishly.
After a while don Juan said he had released the car. It started!
The following two paragraphs are a synopsis of an illustrated story surrounding an event in the Korean War titled "The Jeep." Albeit a work of fiction, the story is based on events similar to the broken spring and the spark plugs in the previous two examples except in an inverse sort of way. Finding an Obeah in Korea may be thought of as being a rather futile endeavor in the overall scheme of things making for some, a thin connection, but the story shows that the same power an Obeah elicits is not individual specific, but drawn upon from a much larger pool or source weaved throughout the fabric or sea of time and place. The role of the shaman or Obeah is to focus that source. The individual's ability to do so is makes or breaks the strength of the delivery:
Briefly, a G.I. named Fisher, a private slick sleeve in the U.S. Army and a FNG, is assigned as the driver of a brand new, zero mileage jeep. For some unseen and unknown reason Fisher, organic and endowed with consciousness, and the jeep, azoic and inorganic, bond or link together somehow in a mysterious, almost supernatural, Siddhi like way.
For example, when Fisher, his sergeant and captain, out on some undisclosed mission, possibly recon, run into an enemy road block, the accelerator jams open causing the jeep to race through the piled up debris and a barrage of machine-gun fire without harm. Fisher is congratulated for a job well done, but the jeep, not Fisher did it. Then, as the lead vehicle in a small convoy on the way to deliver a load of ammo the jeep stalls. The driver following directly behind them, having no tolerance or patience for the stall, speeds around them and no sooner than they do than they hit a land mine blowing them to pieces. Later on Fisher and the sergeant are out in the jeep searching for casualties when they are suddenly ambushed by what looks like a Korean irregular using a tommy gun. Fisher dies straight out and the jeep never starts again.
At this point I am not willing nor comfortable discussing or revealing to a large general audience the Obeah related warpage of time episode that befell others through my auspices in that it involves people I know who to this day are not aware of the circumstances. In the overall scheme of things, even though the event transpired many years ago, it is best they still remain in the dark about it. The finest episode on the warping of time I have at my fingertips --- with a near full explanation of same that I am willing to share --- can be found by going to the following links, especially so the first one:
PRATYAYA Pratyaya, ( Sanskrit: "cause") Pāli paccaya, in Buddhist philosophy, an auxiliary, indirect cause, as distinguished from a direct cause (hetu). A seed, for example, is a direct cause of a plant, while sunshine, water, and earth are auxiliary causes of a plant. Sometimes Pratyaya means the cause in general.
According to the 4th- or 5th-century text the Abhidharmakośa, all causes are classifiable into four types (catvāraḥ pratyayāḥ):
THE BEST OF THE MAUGHAM BIOGRAPHIES:
SPIRITUAL GUIDES, GURUS, AND TEACHERS INFLUENTIAL IN DARRELL'S LIFE OTHER THAN THE MAHARSHI: The venerated Indian holy man Lahiri Mahasaya has been recorded to be responsible for a similar Siddhi in connection with a woman disciple named Abhoya, and might possibly be the original source for Maugham's quote. Abhoya and her husband, a Calcutta lawyer, started out one day for Benares to visit the guru. Their carriage was delayed by heavy traffic; they reached the Howrah main station only to hear the Benares train whistling for departure.
Abhoya, near the ticket office, stood quietly and silently prayed, "Lahiri Mahasaya, I beseech thee to stop the train! I cannot suffer the pangs of delay in waiting another day to see thee."
The wheels of the snorting locomotive continued to move round and round, but there was no onward progress. The engineer and passengers descended to the platform to view the phenomenon. An English railroad guard approached Abhoya and her husband. Contrary to all precedent, he volunteered his services.
"Babu," he said, "give me the money. I will buy your tickets while you get aboard."
As soon as the couple was seated and had received the tickets, the train slowly moved forward. In panic, the engineer and passengers clambered again to their places, knowing neither how the train started, nor why it had stopped in the first place.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI: Chapter 31
The translators of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, as found in the text from the source so cited, of the First Verse of Pada 4 (Kaivalya Sutra) 1, offer the following commentary in interpretation of the meaning behind the translation in regards to aushadhis (i.e., drugs):
(O)ne's latent abilities become enhanced through the wise utilization and communion with nature's medicines and elixirs (aushadhi) which in turn trigger/activate the inner evolutionary circuits (including the body's neuro-endocrine system), clear out obstructions in the nadis, and in general remove obstructions both in the cellular memory and neuro-psychic pathways. The wise use of certain herbal combinations are known to the tradition of yoga to stimulate/catalyze the production of inner elixirs (soma, amrita, etc.) which are also activated by other factors.(source)
One's latent abilities means quite frankly how far along the path one has become masterful in Sila, Samadhi, Jhana, Prajna, and being a frequenter to lonely places. There cannot be significant results with Siddhis under any circumstances, with or without aushadhis or anything else, IF one's latent abilities are lacking because there is just nothing to draw upon. The level of latent abilities that exist within is what is enhanced. Again, if miniscule, then miniscule, if all but the bottom of the barrel breaking through, then close to major.(see)
THE JEEP
THE PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER
AND THE ASIAN WARLORD
THE BEST OF
CARLOS CASTANEDA
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THE SPIRITUAL ELDER AND THE SANTA FE CHIEF
TIME TRAVEL: MEETING YOURSELF
WARPING OF SPACETIME
ANALOGIES IN TIME AND PLACE
VOLUME ONE
(click image)
VOLUME TWO
(click image)
THE SKY IS MAGICAL?
(click image)
Let Me Travel Through the Air Like a Winged Bird
THE BLACK CONDOR: THE MAN WHO COULD FLY LIKE A BIRD
(please click)
Good biography. Lots of Maugham graphics, from early childhood to late adult.
Everybody knows Hemingway drove an ambulance during WWI, nobody knows Maugham did.
Includes a section on the missing years of the Razor's Edge
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