ABSTRACT
Patanjali begins to describe the various occult powers and the methods by which they are acquired. All authorities, including Patanjali himself, regard occult powers as the greatest stumbling-blocks in the path to truth. A community of degenerated yogis, using psychic powers for business and political ends, would be even more unpleasant to live in than our own atom-wielding world. The ‘seed of evil’ is ignorance. Because of ignorance, man forgets that he is the Atman and creates for himself the illusion of a private, separate ego-personality. This ego-personality is intent upon satisfying its desires, and acquiring possessions and powers over external nature. Of all powers, the psychic powers are, from the standpoint of the ego, the most desirable; and, of the psychic powers, omnipotence and omniscience are obviously the greatest. The spiritual value of the power of discrimination lies in one’s ability to distinguish always between the Atman and the non-Atman, the outward appearance, however deceptive the latter may be.
