"In India there are many yogis who can display some magical feats. They can walk on water, make themselves very light or very heavy and so forth. But what is this compared to Krishna’s yogic mystic powers? By His potencies, great planets are floating in space." (Srila Prabhupada)

Master of all Yogis

File it under "X"?

What's going on here? As one who has watched a fair share of kung fu and horror movies from Hong Kong — you know, where the actors are suddenly yanked upwards into trees or sky or ontop of buildings by wires — I have to confess my skepticism. First of all, the picture is not at all clear, it's dark and out of focus, and my eyes cannot verify that the figure that suddenly "takes off" is a human person.

Elsewhere on YouTube the same video has been posted as having been broadcast on February 21, 2008 on "Jaya TV", a Tamil television channel. One of the comments posted: "This kind of nonsence are really believed is unblievable! Why we never have clear footages of this kinds of stuff? UFO, ALIEN, LOCKNESS, etc are always in hazy and sh*t quality of picture to fool the idiots who believe in this bullsh*ts. Grow up people and do not believe in this hocks. No man in this world have flew without any help till yet, and thats the truth. it does not matter if you are yogi or scientists."

Even so, scientists admit that there are many phenomena for which there are no scientific or rational explanations as yet. Simply because we cannot understand the principle behind something does not mean it should be dismissed as unreal or a hoax. But investigation by empirical approach is not necessarily going to uncover the truth. If we turn to the Vedic texts, we find descriptions of many different yogic powers, including the ability to transport himself or an object instantaneously from one place to another.

"Beam me up, Scottie!"

There is the story of Vishvamrita and Trisanku.

King Trisanku approached his guru, Vasishta, with the request to send him to heaven in his earthly physical body. Vasishta replied that in his present body it would not be possible to ascend to heaven. Trisanku was not satisfied with this answer, and so he turned to Vasishta's hundred sons with his request. Outraged that Trisanku dared to bypass their father, they cursed Trisanku to become an outcaste. His body smeared with ash, his jewellery turned from gold to iron, and his garments blackened, Trisanku was no longer recognizable as the king of the land, and his subjects drove him out from the kingdom. After some time, he met the sage Vishvamrita, who took up his cause, and arranged for the performance of yajña to satisfy the devas so that Trisanku could be relieved of his present condition and elevated to heaven, but not a single deva responded. Vishvamrita was affronted, and by the power of his mystic yoga, lifted Trisanku up to the heavenly planets.

Fee-fi-fo-fum!
I smell the blood of an Englishman

Not that it did Trisanku any good. On detecting the stench of a human being, the denizens there found him out, and Indra deported him without delay. In defiance, Vishvamrita used up the merits of his austerities to create a separate heaven for Trisanku, but was at last persuaded by the spiritual master of the devas, Brihaspati, to cease and desist.

Before you dismiss it as yet another preposterous bit of ancient lore, consider whether it is any less preposterous that contemporary man is proposing to reach the moon and other planets by spaceship and establish colonies there; so far they've thrown the International Space Station up into orbit, and plans are underway to construct a space elevator, there is talk of drilling for petroleum and minerals and transporting them back down to Earth...

Casting off the material body

However, none of these endeavors address the urgent predicament we all face in our embodied condition, which is that ultimately we have to leave this body behind and go to we do not know where.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wrote (Teachings of Lord Kapila, "The Transcendental Matter and Supreme Yogi":

It was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who said to Rupa Gosvami:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krishna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

“The living entity is wandering up and down, from one planet to another, and he is very fortunate if by the mercy of the spiritual master and Krishna Himself he can get the seed of devotional service to Krishna.” (Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya 19.151)

The Krishna consciousness movement is an attempt to make people fortunate. In this age, everyone is unfortunate (manda-bhagyah), but now we are trying to reverse the situation.

Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita (13.9), janma-mrityu jara-vyadhi-duhkha-doshanudarshanam. Real knowledge means knowing that however great one may be, the four principles of material life are present: birth, old age, disease and death. These exist in the highest planetary system (Brahmaloka) and in the lowest (Patalaloka).

tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah
tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham
kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa

“Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet down to the lowest planet. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.18)

Actually we should work in such a way that we will not get another material body, How can this be done? We simply have to try to understand Krishna. As Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita (4.9):

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so ’rjuna

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.”

This sounds very simple, but actually understanding Krishna is very difficult. If we become devotees of Krishna, understanding Krishna is easy. However, if we try to understand Him by jñana, karma or yoga, we will be frustrated. There are many types of yogis, but he who is devoted to Krishna is the topmost yogi. Sri Krishna is far above all yogic processes. In India there are many yogis who can display some magical feats. They can walk on water, make themselves very light or very heavy and so forth. But what is this compared to Krishna’s yogic mystic powers? By His potencies, great planets are floating in space. Who can manage to float even a small stone in the air? Sometimes a yogi may show a little mystic power by manufacturing some gold, and we are so foolish that we accept him as God. However, we forget that the real yogi, the Supreme Lord Himself, has created millions of gold mines and is floating them in space. Those who are Krishna conscious are not befooled by yogis who claim to be Bhagavan. A Krishna conscious person wants only to serve the foremost yogi, Yogeshvara (varimnah sarva-yoginam). Because we are trying to become His devotees, we accept the Supreme Lord, Yogeshvara, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna Himself states in Bhagavad-gita (18.55):

bhaktya mam abhijanati
yavan yash chasmi tattvatah
tato mam tattvato jñatva
vishate tad-anantaram

“One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.”