People engaged in a spiritual search usually start developing certain psychic powers (siddhis). These powers are described in the “Vibhuti pada” chapter of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras. However, all authentic masters have also issued a very stern warning against indulging in these powers, as they always bring a complete destruction in all but exceptionally mature souls. The only safe recourse is to be very clear that our only goal is God-realization and nothing else. When visions, psychic powers or mystical revelations start appearing, the wise yogi knows that he is being dangerously tempted and will firmly reject them, with a humble prayer, “O God, it is not these spiritual toys that I seek; I only want You, O Lord, and nothing else. Please deliver me from these useless powers, and grant me only the highest, purest love for Thee.”

I have seen several times very sincere but confused disciples declaring that they were channeling Yogananda or Lahiri Mahashaya (or even Baba Hariharananda!), or that they were the reincarnation of some other great saint, or that they remembered their past lives, etc. Baba would always very patiently try to cure them from their spiritual delusion, sometimes very forcefully. Once, while guiding meditation in Miami, Baba all of a sudden started shouting at one disciple in front of him, “You are an idiot! A complete fool! You think you are channelising Hariharananda and boasting to others about it. Don’t you think that I would know if someone else would channelise Hariharananda? I tell you, no one can do it. So stop pretending, and practice sweetly, humbly, and realize the Truth.”

But I am sorry to say that in virtually all cases, these disciples chose instead to reject their own guru rather than give up an illusory power on which they had built so much dependence and false prestige. Many went on to cause great harm to themselves and to others by teaching false spiritual truths, confusing people, and discouraging others from pursuing the spiritual life. The yogic scriptures say that the worst crime that exists is to confuse or discourage someone spiritually – far worse than murder in fact, as murder only kills the body once, whereas false teachings can delay a soul’s progression for several lives.

So why do so many spiritual seekers refuse to follow the advice of the wise, and bring about their own downfall? The problem is that they strongly believe these powers to be tools to help humanity. And unfortunately, many confused people have produced an enormous body of New Age literature glorifying the possession of these clairvoyant “gifts.” So it is of supreme importance to understand the origin of these powers and channeled information.

These powers are granted by low astral beings who are desperate to gain access to a human body and control it through their will. These beings are not evolved spiritually, and can range from mildly annoying or mischievous to extremely evil. They do have however a slightly higher vision than earth-bound creatures like us, and can easily impress us with their superior knowledge. Their strategy is to provide very useful and accurate information at first, which does appear to be coming from a pure source as a blessing to humanity – prophecies, healing abilities, technological advancements, charisma, etc. As the human channel or recipient of these powers starts using them and sees that indeed they seem to be effective, safe, and beneficial, he opens himself up more and more to the influence of these low astral beings, and gradually loses his own discriminative faculty and will power. The controlling entity then starts feeding more damaging, inaccurate, and dangerous information, which the recipient foolishly accepts, still believing that it all comes from a pure source. And so on and so forth until the channel becomes a perfectly compliant puppet for useless, foolish, or blatantly evil purposes. It happens so gradually, over several years or decades, that the spiritual seeker is rarely aware of this process, and will violently reject any admonitions from his guru or well-wishers to desist from these dangerous practices, preferring to believe instead that he is a “chosen one” who is being persecuted by people who cannot understand his divine mission.

The question will inevitably arise, what about true prophets and visionaries? Does their information also come from astral beings and should therefore be rejected? Indeed some exceptionally mature souls appear on earth from time to time bearing authentic spiritual revelations—old sages or young children or even animals. But let us not allow our ego delude us that we are one of them! If indeed if we are to be chosen for this exceptional role, God will also grant us the wisdom to know it and the guru will confirm it.

It is far better to always err on the side of caution and humbly return all spiritual gifts to God. To further help you grasp how serious this matter is, I leave you with additional references from two sages. The first comes from Chapter 18 of Paramahamsa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, and the second is from The Philosophy, Psychology and Practice of Yoga by Swami Chidananda, direct disciple of Swami Sivananda and current president of the Divine Life Society. Please read it carefully, meditate on it, and constantly pray to God and Baba to save you from these temptations.

A Mohammedan Wonder-Worker
An extract from Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 18, in which Swami Shriyukteshwar (referred to as “Master”) and Yogananda discuss the case
of Afzal, a fakir of extraordinary psychic powers.

"Afzal was not a man of God-realization," Master went on. "Miracles of a permanent and beneficial nature are performed by true saints because they have attuned themselves to the omnipotent Creator. Afzal was merely an ordinary man with an extraordinary power of penetrating a subtle realm not usually entered by mortals until death."

"I understand now, Guruji. The after-world appears to have some charming features."

Master agreed. "I never saw Afzal after that day, but a few years later Babu came to my home to show me a newspaper account of the Mohammedan's public confession. From it I learned the facts I have just told you about Afzal's early initiation from a Hindu guru."

The gist of the latter part of the published document, as recalled by Sri Yukteswar, was as follows: "I, Afzal Khan, am writing these words as an act of penance and as a warning to those who seek the possession of miraculous powers. For years I have been misusing the wondrous abilities imparted to me through the grace of God and my master. I became drunk with egotism, feeling that I was beyond the ordinary laws of morality. My day of reckoning finally arrived.”

The Danger of Psychic Powers

From the book The Philosophy, Psychology and Practice of Yoga
by Swami Chidananda.

“Power is a very dangerous thing. In the course of Yogic disciplines, the Yogic practitioner may also get various types of powers, lesser and greater. And if he gets them, he becomes elated; he becomes very happy, he becomes fascinated, he becomes curious, he is very very thrilled. Yoga teachers very seriously warn their students to beware, beware, beware. They tell their students: “These powers are terrible dangers on the path. They are obstacles to your progress. Not only are they obstacles, but they are real enemies to your success in this field. They will destroy all prospects of your attaining anything. They will bring about your hopeless downfall. Therefore, beware of them. Shun them ruthlessly, shun them, kick them aside, do not have anything to do with them. Do not pay attention to them”. In this way the great Masters and teachers have never hesitated to seriously warn the students of Yoga to beware in the course of their Yogic process and progress about the powers that may come. Because, they are supranormal powers, and when power comes to the hands of man, you know how it corrupts, how it vitiates, how it makes man a beast. It can be seen all around, every day. Even with a little power in his hands, a person will oppress those who are subordinate to him, over whom he has got a sort of hold. That happens everywhere, in gross and subtle ways. So, a clear warning is given by Yogic teachers in this connection. (…)

In order that the Yogi may not succumb to the temptation of the supranormal powers, in order that he may not fall a prey to them, our wise Maharshis first of all laid the foundations of absolute selflessness, absolute purity of conduct and character, humility, tyaga, desirelessness, total renunciation, and aspiration to know one and one thing only. In this way they anticipated the danger ahead, the danger of the Yogi being tempted by psychic powers, and provided for it at the very beginning of Yoga, at the very threshold of Yoga, at the very point of entry into the portals of Yoga.”