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DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL POWERS AND
THEIR USE
The purpose of sādhanā is to perceive, know and feel the soul. It needs tremendous energy, nay an explosion of energy to remove all the hurdles blocking the path of selfrealization.
There are two powerful means of self-realization : mental powers and vital force. In other words the practitioner has to develop his mental powers and to collect energy. The mind and breath have to be yoked to each other, otherwise to perceive and realize the self will become impossible. The mind is very powerful and has a great potential. This potential can be activated by training. There are two minds, the trained and the untrained. There can be no development of the mind without training because the intrained mind sleeps. Unless this sleep is broken, mental powers can not be released and utilized. Once the mind has been trained, it can cause iniraculous events to happen. The releasing of mental powers through training is however, not a spiritual matter. It does not amount to spiritual awakening. Even those who have no faith in self-knowledge, self-perception and purity of conduct, can arouse their mental powers. It is all due to training and any one can be trained to do so. Anybody can make his body rise above the ground. There are eight siddhis or magical achievements. One of them is Animā. It has the power to make the body so light that it can float in the air. This is also one of the methods of yoga but there is nothing spiritual about it. All the siddhis are of an order inferior to the spiritual order of thing. These are achieved through the exercise of the muscles of the body and through the release of mental powers.
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