Superphysical Senses & Siddhis - YS III - 37, 38, 39

Yoga Sutra III- 37 - TATAH PRATIBHA SRAVANA VEDANADARSASVADA VART JAYANTE - From this knowledge arises superphysical hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling through spontaneous intuition.

Yoga Sutra III- 38 - TE SAMADHAV UPASARGA VYUTTHANE SIDDHAYAH - These [superphysical senses] are obstacles to [nirbija] samadhi but are siddhis (powers or accomplishments) in the worldly pursuits.

Yoga Sutra III - 39 - BANDHA KARANA SAITHILYAT PRACARA SAMVEDANAC CA CITTASYA PARASARIRAVESAH - By the loosening of the cause [of the bondage of mind to body] and by knowledge of the procedure of the mind-stuff's functioning, entering another's body is accomplished.

Swami Satchidananda translated the above sutras without commentary.

For the above sutras there is only a commentary on Yoga Sutra III- 39 from "How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood.

" 'The yogi,' says Vivekananda , 'can enter a dead body and make it get up and move, even while he himself is working in another body. Or he can enter a living body , and hold that man's mind and organs in check, and for the time being act through the body of that man.' "

A story is told of "Shakara, a great philosopher and saint." Sankara came across "a philosopher named Mandan Misra who held that the life of the householder" (a married person) "was far superior to that of the monk; an opinion which was widely shared thoughout India. Shankara determined to hold a debate with Misra, knowing that if he could convert him he could also convert Misra's many disciples." After many challenges, Shakara succeeded in converting Misra. "It was understood that Shankara, if he lost, should become a householder, and that Misra, if he lost, should become a monk. At Shankara's suggestion, Misra's wife Bharati, herself a famous scholar, acted as umpire."

When Misra was going to admit defeat, his wife Bharati stated that since husband and wife are "one person", only half was defeated. " She gave him the challenge to debate her on the subject of sex. Shankara was baffled as he was a monk and a boy who knew nothing about sex. At this time he heard of a king dying, told his disciples to hide his body safely and with his yogic powers left his body and entered the body of the dead king. Shankara eventually became preoccupied with the role he was playing and began to believe he was the king.

When Shankara's disciples heard of this they came to his rescue reciting a song translated as "The Shattering of Delusion", which Shankara had composed himself. "The words recalled Shankara to awareness of his own identity." He then left the dead body and returned to his own body.

The wife, Bharati, who had yogic powers of her own, knew what had taken place. "She admitted defeat without debate."