Walking on water -a feat to admire no doubt, as it comes across many devotional stories which I would like to narrate here with an emphatic note that in Faith lies the impossible made possible. That is, from the devotional point of view, with pure and unflinching faith in the Almighty, as well as in the Sadguru who is the God incarnate in the heart of the astute disciple, walking on water without being sunk
is possible. Stories abound in revelation of this rare miracle.
In addition to the devotional aspect mentioned above, we may consider the possibility of walking on water miracle - being called a siddhi (supernatural power) through Hatha yoga. Patanjali yoga sutra
(3.40) says, 'udaanajayaajja pankakanta kaadishvasanga utkraantischa' - by bringing under control
the udhana vayu, a yogi does not sink in water ( his body becomes so light that he can walk on the surface of water with ease), he can walk on thorns unaffected, he can stay in the midst of fire without being burnt and he can cast away the physical body any day he wished (time of death is in his control). Basically, the vital life force called prana vayu is classified into five depending on their functions and locations in the human body. Prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. Among these, dwelling on the subject matter, udhana literally means 'that which rises upward'. It's region is throat - Visuddha chakra - and head. It controls the vital energy that goes out of the body in the form of speech, sound, thoughts, ideas. It also controls food. The energy and movement of Udhana is stimulated by Jalandhara Bandha. Ether or Space is the element associated with this Udhana vayu. Patanjali yoga sutras detail how to meditate upon by synchronizing (samyamana) of three aspects Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi on particular location of the human body depending on the power - siddhi- which one wishes to derive, from yoga. So, it is clear that meditating on Udhana vayu, devotedly on the specified lines, one can get the power of walking on water along with other powers. In the recent past of modern age, we have live example of Hathayoga specialist, the miracle man during the British period in India, Trilanga Swami (Original name Sivarama from Vijayanagaram, Andhra Pradesh) settled in Varanasi (Kasi). He lived for 280 years (1607 - 1887). He had the title of 'Walking Siva of Varanasi' by the Bengalis. Though pot-bellied weighing 300 pounds (140 kgs) he could be so light that he used to lay on the surface of the Ganges for long hours. Whenever being jailed for walking naked, he used to disappear from the cell and again appear on the roof of the jail, so that the British police had to give up arresting him in vain. He was also a mind reader. Swamy Sivananda said about Trailinga Swamy that he mastered the siddhi called Bhootajaya ( control of all the five elements, namely, space, air, fire, water and earth). Hence he was able to perform various miracles - they were gazetted by the British. Any how as of now we do not come across such miracle men except hearing now and then some tricky attempts of placing invisible glass sheets just beneath the surface of water and perform 'walk on water.'
By the way, I shall exhort to our co-seekers that one must not lose sight of the warning by the sage Patanjali that a genuine seeker on the path of realisation of the Super Consciousness, must not fall into the trap of the Siddhis (powers) which are transitory and detrimental in the ultimate. Even if they come across of their own, a seeker should be careful and brush them aside by ignoring.
Now let's have a come back to devotional aspect - the power of Faith in achieving miracles...
A milkmaid had to cross a small river on her way to supply milk to a brahmin pandit on the other side of the river. One day as she made inordinate delay in fetching milk, the pandit asked reason for delay. The milkmaid replied that she had to wait for the boatman who was too late on that day. The pandit laughed and said, ' when the householders are able to cross the vast samsara sagara ( ocean of wordly things) with ease, by chanting the powerful name of Rama, can't you cross this small river by
chanting the God's name?' Upon getting this hint, the milkmaid assured him that she would follow his advice from the next day. The brahmin pandit was astonished to see her come quite early the next morning. He asked about the reason suggesting if the boatman turned up quite early on that day. The
milkmaid replied, 'no panditji, I am not at the mercy of the boatman any more. Without waiting for him I devotedly started chanting the name of Rama and easily walked on the river.' The flabbergasted pandit asked the milkmaid to show the feat again and followed her to the river. As usual she started chanting the God's name and moved on the surface of the river thinking that the learned pandit too was walking on the water behind her. After a few paces she turned back and saw to her surprise that the pandit was holding his lower garment with one hand and struggling to walk in the water with his feet sunk. The milkmaid remarked, ' Panditji, you taught me about Faith in the name of the God and yourself don't have it?'...
That is about faith in God and about faith in Sadguru, another small story....One day Sri Sankaracharya went along with his disciples to the Ganges for bath. His disciples went to the other side of the river for drying clothes. After a while he called out for them to return back urgently. The disciples were in quandary as no boat was ready for them at that time to cross the river. But one disciple by name Sananda, who had unflinching Guru bhakti, without hesitation started off with quick pace towards his guru on the other side of the river without minding the gushing waters. The Goddess Ganges was so much amused with his devotion towards his guru that she floated lotuses each time Sananda placed his foot on the water to rest. Thus he walked on the lotuses without his knowledge because he didn't turn back in his hastiness to reach for his guru. Upon reaching to him, guruji asked Sananda, 'how did you cross Ganges?' He replied,"By merely chanting about you, the vast ocean of Samsara(worldly matters) is reduced to knee deep water. When you had called me to do some thing what was so remarkable about my crossing the Ganges?" Sankaracharya hugged him with affection and gave the title "Padma Pada" on account of his feet on lotuses...
Just as the Sananda was unmindful about the miracle, so is our lesson to be learnt about being cautious and unmindful about any siddhis, mahimas, shaktis ( the powers ) that might come in our way to allure and distract from the main sadhana. Swami Vivekananda said in his commentary on Patanjali yoga sutra that even devatas, yakshinis (goddessses of higher realms) try to disturb the serious seeker on the path of salvation , by offering powers, because of their envy for not getting salvation for themselves!
Om Shanti!
is possible. Stories abound in revelation of this rare miracle.
In addition to the devotional aspect mentioned above, we may consider the possibility of walking on water miracle - being called a siddhi (supernatural power) through Hatha yoga. Patanjali yoga sutra
(3.40) says, 'udaanajayaajja pankakanta kaadishvasanga utkraantischa' - by bringing under control
the udhana vayu, a yogi does not sink in water ( his body becomes so light that he can walk on the surface of water with ease), he can walk on thorns unaffected, he can stay in the midst of fire without being burnt and he can cast away the physical body any day he wished (time of death is in his control). Basically, the vital life force called prana vayu is classified into five depending on their functions and locations in the human body. Prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. Among these, dwelling on the subject matter, udhana literally means 'that which rises upward'. It's region is throat - Visuddha chakra - and head. It controls the vital energy that goes out of the body in the form of speech, sound, thoughts, ideas. It also controls food. The energy and movement of Udhana is stimulated by Jalandhara Bandha. Ether or Space is the element associated with this Udhana vayu. Patanjali yoga sutras detail how to meditate upon by synchronizing (samyamana) of three aspects Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi on particular location of the human body depending on the power - siddhi- which one wishes to derive, from yoga. So, it is clear that meditating on Udhana vayu, devotedly on the specified lines, one can get the power of walking on water along with other powers. In the recent past of modern age, we have live example of Hathayoga specialist, the miracle man during the British period in India, Trilanga Swami (Original name Sivarama from Vijayanagaram, Andhra Pradesh) settled in Varanasi (Kasi). He lived for 280 years (1607 - 1887). He had the title of 'Walking Siva of Varanasi' by the Bengalis. Though pot-bellied weighing 300 pounds (140 kgs) he could be so light that he used to lay on the surface of the Ganges for long hours. Whenever being jailed for walking naked, he used to disappear from the cell and again appear on the roof of the jail, so that the British police had to give up arresting him in vain. He was also a mind reader. Swamy Sivananda said about Trailinga Swamy that he mastered the siddhi called Bhootajaya ( control of all the five elements, namely, space, air, fire, water and earth). Hence he was able to perform various miracles - they were gazetted by the British. Any how as of now we do not come across such miracle men except hearing now and then some tricky attempts of placing invisible glass sheets just beneath the surface of water and perform 'walk on water.'
By the way, I shall exhort to our co-seekers that one must not lose sight of the warning by the sage Patanjali that a genuine seeker on the path of realisation of the Super Consciousness, must not fall into the trap of the Siddhis (powers) which are transitory and detrimental in the ultimate. Even if they come across of their own, a seeker should be careful and brush them aside by ignoring.
Now let's have a come back to devotional aspect - the power of Faith in achieving miracles...
A milkmaid had to cross a small river on her way to supply milk to a brahmin pandit on the other side of the river. One day as she made inordinate delay in fetching milk, the pandit asked reason for delay. The milkmaid replied that she had to wait for the boatman who was too late on that day. The pandit laughed and said, ' when the householders are able to cross the vast samsara sagara ( ocean of wordly things) with ease, by chanting the powerful name of Rama, can't you cross this small river by
chanting the God's name?' Upon getting this hint, the milkmaid assured him that she would follow his advice from the next day. The brahmin pandit was astonished to see her come quite early the next morning. He asked about the reason suggesting if the boatman turned up quite early on that day. The
milkmaid replied, 'no panditji, I am not at the mercy of the boatman any more. Without waiting for him I devotedly started chanting the name of Rama and easily walked on the river.' The flabbergasted pandit asked the milkmaid to show the feat again and followed her to the river. As usual she started chanting the God's name and moved on the surface of the river thinking that the learned pandit too was walking on the water behind her. After a few paces she turned back and saw to her surprise that the pandit was holding his lower garment with one hand and struggling to walk in the water with his feet sunk. The milkmaid remarked, ' Panditji, you taught me about Faith in the name of the God and yourself don't have it?'...
That is about faith in God and about faith in Sadguru, another small story....One day Sri Sankaracharya went along with his disciples to the Ganges for bath. His disciples went to the other side of the river for drying clothes. After a while he called out for them to return back urgently. The disciples were in quandary as no boat was ready for them at that time to cross the river. But one disciple by name Sananda, who had unflinching Guru bhakti, without hesitation started off with quick pace towards his guru on the other side of the river without minding the gushing waters. The Goddess Ganges was so much amused with his devotion towards his guru that she floated lotuses each time Sananda placed his foot on the water to rest. Thus he walked on the lotuses without his knowledge because he didn't turn back in his hastiness to reach for his guru. Upon reaching to him, guruji asked Sananda, 'how did you cross Ganges?' He replied,"By merely chanting about you, the vast ocean of Samsara(worldly matters) is reduced to knee deep water. When you had called me to do some thing what was so remarkable about my crossing the Ganges?" Sankaracharya hugged him with affection and gave the title "Padma Pada" on account of his feet on lotuses...
Just as the Sananda was unmindful about the miracle, so is our lesson to be learnt about being cautious and unmindful about any siddhis, mahimas, shaktis ( the powers ) that might come in our way to allure and distract from the main sadhana. Swami Vivekananda said in his commentary on Patanjali yoga sutra that even devatas, yakshinis (goddessses of higher realms) try to disturb the serious seeker on the path of salvation , by offering powers, because of their envy for not getting salvation for themselves!
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