DOI 10.1007/s11407-013-9137-3 International Journal of Hindu Studies 17, 1: 37–56 © 2013 Springer Herbs (au‚adhi) as a Means to Spiritual Accomplishments (siddhi) in Patañjali’s Yogas¨tra Stuart Ray Sarbacker Obtaining Power in the Yogas¨tra In the Indian tradition, few scriptural passages regarding the attainment of spiritual power are as explicit in their formulation as the description of the means of attaining occult powers or spiritual “accomplishments” (siddhi) as that which is found in the Yogas¨tra of Patañjali section 4, verse 1. In this passage, Patañjali states, janmau‚adhimantratapaªsamådhijåª siddhayaª, which can be effectively translated as “[spiritual] accomplish- ments arise from birth, herbs, incantation, asceticism, and contemplation.” Patañjali thus indicates that human experiences of supernormal powers of perception and action arise from a variety of sources, some of which are a result of one’s own volition (such as ascetic discipline) and some of which arise from factors beyond one’s immediate control (such as one’s nature or status at birth, which is dependent on the fruition of the impres- sions [sa skåra] of actions [karma] from previous lifetimes). In the Yoga- s¨tra, in its commentaries and in the broader Hindu literature of Yoga and Tantra, these siddhis are modes of knowing and acting, and they include such powers as the ability to fly, to see near and far, to become invisible and to know one’s own body and the cosmos profoundly and completely (White 2003: 199–200). They are idealized in Indian philosophical and narrative literature in what is often referred to as the classical list of the so-called “eight siddhis,” which are referred to in Yogas¨tra 3.45, tato‘~i-