ABSTRACT
In his masterful book, Kåpålikas and Kålåmukhas, David Lorenzen makes the following cogent point concerning the goals of yogic practice.1
In spite of abundant textual references to various siddhis [supernatural powers] in classical yoga texts, many modern Indian scholars, and like-minded western ones as well, have seized on a single s≠tra of Patañjali (3.37) to prove that magical powers were regarded as subsidiary, and even hindrances, to final liberation and consequently not worthy of concentrated pursuits. This attitude may have been operative in Vedåntic and Buddhist circles and is now popular among practitioners imbued with the spirit of the Hindu reformist movements, but it was not the view of Patañjali and certainly not the view of mediaeval exponents of ha†hayoga.
