parakAya pravEsham

vsarmaiitm · Post by **vsarmaiitm** » 12 Sep 2008, 15:16

I was just listening to the krithi enta nErchina - sAveri - by Patnam Subramanaya Iyer. There he mentions about what is the use of knowng this tantra parkAya prvavEsham. It meant he knew this !
Anyone can throw light on this tantric technique.

thanks
Sarma

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 12 Sep 2008, 19:22

it is one of the sidhdhis mentioned by Patanjali in his yoga sutra. it is leaving one's physical body, entering in to another and return to original body subsequently. this is an indication of an advanced stage of attaiment. Swami Rama gives an account of how his guru performed this feat in his book 'Living with Himalayan Masters'.

Shivadasan · Post by **Shivadasan** » 13 Sep 2008, 16:02

Parakaya Pravesha was used by Sri Shankaracharya and Arunagirinathar. Almost every one of the Siddhars appears to have known this art and used it for the benefit of mankind. When a siddha leaves the body to enter into another one, his body would be in suspended animation and it has to be preserved to enable him to return. In cases where the siddha enters the body of a king to ensure that the country did not fall into maladministration the queens searched for the body of the siddha and burnt it.

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 14 Sep 2008, 02:56

vsarmaiitm wrote:I was just listening to the krithi enta nErchina - sAveri - by Patnam Subramanaya Iyer. There he mentions about what is the use of knowng this tantra parkAya prvavEsham. It meant he knew this !
Anyone can throw light on this tantric technique.

thanks
Sarma

Patnam was not pratising sidha yoga

thanjavooran

vsarmaiitm · Post by **vsarmaiitm** » 14 Sep 2008, 19:32

Thanks for the info.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 16 Sep 2008, 13:29

There seems to be a strong link between the yoga school of philosophy (particularly saiva siddhanta) and Indian grammatical tradition.

The author of the yoga sutras - Patanjali, was also the composer of the Mahabhasya (great commentary) on Panini's vyakarana (grammar) sutras (aphorisms).

Panini himself names the sutras containing phonemic notations of his grammar as shiva sutras.

Panini, Patanjali, Valmiki, Vyaghrapada among others are referred to by Thirumoolar as enlightened siddhas (of the saiva siddhanta tradition) in his work Tirumantiram, in whose succession he places himself. Both the tamil as well as the sanskrit grammatical tradition have strong links with yoga and saiva siddhanta.

Tirumantiram contains several tantric references, and saiva tantric traditions (which now exist only in the remote north - in Kashmir Saivism and tantric traditions) are common with Tamil Saiva, cultural and grammatical traditions.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 16 Sep 2008, 20:09

Siva worship pre dates viShNu worship. viShNu was a minor deity in the vedas though rudra was already established. Hence the farther you go back in time you will find Saivite influence in all major oeuvres including fine arts. In Tamil grammar there was a strong influence of Jains since they held sway for a considerable period. The siddha yoga tradition is primarily of saivite origin, The connection with Kashmi Saivism is very interesting. Notice that the harappa mohenjadaro civilizations are Saivite which have strong links with the Dravidian civilization. Again Tantrism which probably pre-dates vedic influence was also Saivite or ShAkta primarily.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 17 Sep 2008, 18:48

viSNu in the vedas was not minor in the sense that he was unimportant. As an Aditya (solar deity), his three great strides (prototype for the later story of vAmana avatara) covering the known and unknown regions (related to the sunrise and its pervading the horizons) mentioned in the Rigveda made him renowned even in Vedic times, although in terms of number of hymns, only 6 of the 1028 mantras of the Rigveda are on viSNu.

As you say, in later times, his repute increased. Says the Shatapatha Brahmana (of the kRSNa yajus) --> "yajno vai viSNu" (the sacrifice itself is viSNu). Surya and Agni are equated with him (and he is called sipiviSta, which Sayana says, means "pervaded by rays"). This epithet is also used for Rudra in namaka prasna.

The invocatory hymn of chamaka prasna (in shatarudriya) which also is from the Taittiriya Samhita of kRSna yajus, goes like "agnA viSNU sajoSa semA vardhantu vAMgiraH dyumnair vAje bhirA gatam" thus mentioning both viSNu and agni although it was actually an invocation to Rudra.

My intention was not to raise any deity above any other, but just to bring in some historical context, and if I did seem to talk about the prevalence of saiva siddhanta in grammar thus talking about saivist tendencies among grammarians, I hope to have balanced it through this post. To me rudra (or shiva) is not to be talked of as a separate entity from viSNu. I was merely pointing at the respective traditions that existed in history and pre-history.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 17 Sep 2008, 22:18

parakAya pravEsham is essentially based on the concept that the soul (Atma) is indestructible which is at the Foundation of Hinduism. The famous Gita verse (2.22)
lays the foundation for the belief. It is also connected with other phenomena like pre/tele-cognition (gnaana d^RiShTi) tele portation re-birth etc., whch are unique to Hinduism. Of course the Sufis imported some of these into Islam which of course is not accepted in all of the western (Judo/Christian/Islamic) religions.