In the practice of yoga, meditation or a spiritual lifestyle, the most important by-product is siddhis. Siddhis can give us power, or at least a false image of it. Siddhi means accomplishment. It is the result of sadhana. As a meditator, you may see lights within closed eyes — violet, purple, green, yellow or red. You may hear sounds — the chime of bells, the sound of a flute or a veena, the images of gods, deities, gurus and masters. The visions and sounds belong only to you and need not necessarily be known to others, but just as you see a dream during sleep and you know the dream is real, these visions and sounds are as real.
Patanjali and many other sages warn us through the Yoga Sutras and other texts that siddhis are not something to be pursued as an end in themselves. They can bring you to ruin. There is a story of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and a disciple of his who wanted to flaunt his siddhis. He took Ramakrishna to the riverside and showed how he could walk on water. Ramakrishna saw it and asked him, “How many years did you practice this?” The student proudly replied, “Twelve years”. The Master laughed and said, “You have wasted so much time. You could have just paid one rupee and gone to the other side of the shore by a boat!” Siddhis are of such little value.
The only value that siddhis have is to keep us going on the path of spiritual practice, like the milestone that says you have crossed so many miles and so many more to go to reach your destination. In the new age meditation techniques, many famous authors are promoting the achievement of many siddhis such as becoming rich, getting the best quality million-dollar luxury car or methods to accumulate more property and wealth with the help of affirmations and special meditations for the purpose.
It has to be made clear that the goal of meditation is meditation itself—to attain the supreme truth, bliss and happiness that it contains and nothing less. However, if the individual gets enamoured by siddhis, becoming rich, becoming famous, using words and tools of a genie to get the girl or boy they want are sure fire ways to disaster. It not only leads them fast to the path of ruin, but pushes them many lifetimes below in evolution to make them repeat the cycle of birth and death, which is the worst of all things that can happen to an individual.
The practices of yoga, meditation, chanting of mantras is best kept confined to the realms of seeking the truth and not going chasing an ephemeral siddhi or the other such as walking on water or sleeping bare-bodied on the snow or chewing handfuls of iron nails.
(www.swahilya.blogspot.com)