23 July, 2007

Harry Potter or Yoga Sutras??


I was wondering as to why the Harry Potter magic has left both the children & adults spellbound. Though children are being more expressive about their emotions, an equal number of adults have been thrilled by the characters, plot and the story, including yours truly. The imagination, writing and execution is exemplary. I am talking of the whole series the books, videos, movies included. The reason i feel is that Harry Potter (and all its characters) personifies something creative, hidden and unreachable within our own personalities.

If we take a closer look at what this blog is about, even yoga philosophy talks much about supernormal powers or siddhis (some people might call it magic). The 3rd chapter (out of the 4) of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali talks elaborately about the siddhis a sadhak / yogi may acquire on his path to enlightenment. They range from getting knowledge of the past & future (Harry's Prophecy), controlling others' minds (Voldemort tried it in Order of the Phoenix), making appearance at a far away place (flying on brooms), spells (mantras), dharana & dhyana (extreme concentration required to execute a spell), making oneself invisible (we see that all the time in the movies) and so forth.

At home also we see various sadhus engaging in mystical activities like piercing of tongues or body parts, getting buried underground for a few hours, surviving only on sunlight...... the list seems to be endless.

We need to realize that what is shown might appear out of bounds to us, but all has been said in our ancient philosophies and are very much a part of our true selves. Meanwhile we can continue to enjoy the sheer happiness that comes by watching the paranormal.

No comments: