BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA

 

Perfection in Pranayama gives you the major eight Siddhis viz., Anima, Mahima, Laghima,

Garima, Prapti, Prakamya, Vasitvam and Isitvam. Anima is the power to become as minute as you

like, whereas Mahima makes you as big as you like. By Laghima you can make your body as light

as a feather and fly in the sky thousands of miles in a minute. Garima can make your body as heavy

as a mountain. By the power of Prapti you can predict all future events, understand unknown

languages, cure any disease, hear distant sounds, see distant objects, smell mystical fragrant odours,

touch the sun and the moon with the tip of your fingers from where you stand, and understand the

language of birds and beasts. Indeed you can attain all desired objects. By Prakamya you can cast

away the old skin and assume a youth-like appearance for an unusual length of time. You can also

enter the body of another person. Sri Sankaracharya had this power. He entered the body of the Raja

of Benares. Yayati, Tirumulanar and Raja Vikramaditya had also this power. Vasitvam is the power

to tame wild beasts and bring them under your control. By the exercise of this power, you can make

anybody obey your orders and wishes. You can control the elements and be amaster of passions and

emotions. Isitvam is the attainment of all divine powers. You now become the Lord of the universe.

You can give life to a dead man. Kabirdas, Tulasidas, Akalkot Swami and many others had this

power. By possessing this power you can penetrate all secrets of nature, know the events of the past,

present and future and become one with the Supreme Soul.

 

You will also get the thirty-six other minor Siddhis such as freedom from hunger and thirst,

heat and cold, pleasure and pain; death at your will, playing with gods, power to transmute baser

metals into gold and so on.*