Super-powers of Manipulation
Ashta-siddhis
Super powers called siddhis, are said to be eight (ashta-siddhi) in number. Hanuman possesses the eight powers Anima, Mahima, Garima, Laghima*, Prapti, Prakamya, Isitva, Vasitva**. Sita devi blessed Hanuman with the boon to grant them to his devotees.
*The power to assume a tiny form, the power to assume a huge form, the power to make the body very heavy, the power to make the body very light, the power to go to places, the power to fulfil desires.
**Garima and Laghima have been displayed by Madhwaachaarya, who challenged wrestlers to lift his finger off the ground but they were unable to. Then he sat on the shoulders of his disciple and was carried around a temple.
Many super-powers have gained popularity thanks to their description and depiction in fiction.
For instance: The vampire Jasper, in the Twilight Saga, displayed pathokinesis or the ability to manipulate emotions. He could calm the minds of people and vampires around him. Jadis, the white witch, of the Chronicles of Narnia possesses Cryokinesis or the ability to manipulate cold, create ice and icy surroundings. She creates winter in Narnia for a hundred years to hold its inhabitants in her control. Ni Chang from the movie, The Forbidden Kingdom uses Comakinesis or the manipulation of hair and its growth and strength, and wields her hair as a weapon. Harry Potter, across the series, uses Zoolingualism (Parseltongue) to communicate with serpents... The angel Amenadiel possesses, loses and regains the super-power Chronokinesis or manipulation of time, and is shown to slow down time or bring it to a halt, in the TV series, Lucifer.
In real life too, a combination of mental strength, will-power, spiritual saadhane and God’s grace can grant one spiritual super-powers which are typically beyond the reach of ordinary people. A few of these powers have been described in earlier spiritual nuggets and in the series on “Madhwavijaya”.
The following are a recap of the previously described super-powers that enable one to manipulate the laws of nature as we know them.
Photokinesis or manipulation of light / Astrakinesis or manipulation of energy and transmitting it as rays or beams of light: When Madhwaachaarya was conducting his lessons one evening, the light of the lamp went out. He then enabled his students to read with the light that emanated from the tip of his toe nail.
Umbrakinesis or manipulation of shadows: Simhika a demoness, who had been granted a boon that she could wield power over shadows, drew the shadow cast by the Hanuman flying to Lanka in search of Sita and pulled him towards her.
Thermokinesis or manipulation of temperature: The freezing waters of the Ganga, which people hesitated to even touch, could not affect Madhwaachaarya who at the break of dawn took a dip, every day.
Hydrokinesis or manipulation of density of water: Madhwaachaarya leading from the front, made his disciples form a link and cross the waters of the river with ease.
Telekinesis or manipulation of transport: When Madhwaachaarya saw a distraught Satyatirtha following him, with a mere wave of his hand, enabled him to be back amongst the other disciples in Badri, in the blink of an eye.
Zoolingualism or the ability to talk to animals: Vyaasaraya was Sripadaraja’s disciple. As a boy, he was caught in the coils of a python while meditating in a cave. Sripadaraja is said have spoken to the python in snake language and coaxed it to release Vyaasaraya.
Therianthropy or the ability to transform into an animal: Jayatirtha’s parents disturbed by his decision to embrace sanyaasa, tried to push him into consummating his marriage. When his young wife approached him, she is believed to have seen a snake in place of Dhondopant*!
*poorvaashrama name of Jayatirtha
Omnilingualism or the ability to communicate in any language:
When Lord Thomas Munro was the collector at Bellary there were differences with regard to procurement of annual tax. Munro respectfully entered the temple at Mantralaya when Rayaru spoke to him in English, from the Brindavana, requesting him to resume the endowment the matha enjoyed, and blessed him with ‘mantarakshathe’. A chastened Munro recorded the incident in the Madras Gazette.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Thomas_Munro,_1st_Baronet SN 26
Faunokinesis or the ability to make animals speak: Madhwaachaarya is said to have made his students witness the supernatural phenomenon of the bull which used to carry his granthas, recite the “Dwadasha Stotra”!
Jnaneshwar was a saint from Alandi, near Pune. As a boy, he along with his siblings, had to seek the permission of various groups of brahminical scholars to win the right to undergo the ceremony of donning the sacred thread. As a buffalo which shared his name was passing by, it was whipped and the welt appeared on the boy’s body. Then Jnaneshwar requested the buffalo to recite the Vedas, which it did clearly.
