10
The Nectar of Devotion
activities can be compared with the spiritual activity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The mystic perfections achieved by actually successful  yogīs  are eight in number.  Aṇimā-siddhi  refers to the power by which one can become so small that he can enter into a stone. Modern scientific improvements also enable us to enter into stone because they provide for excavating so many subways, penetrating the hills, etc. So,  aṇimā-siddhi , the mystic perfection of trying to enter into stone, has also been achieved by material science. Similarly, all of the  yoga-siddhis , or perfections, are material arts. For example, in one  yoga-siddhi  there is development of the power to become so light that one can float in the air or on water. That is also being performed by modern scientists. They are flying in the air, they are floating on the surface of the water, and they are traveling under the water.
After comparing all these mystic  yoga-siddhis  to materialistic perfections it is found that the materialistic scientists try for the same perfections. So actually there is no difference between mystic perfection and materialistic perfection. A German scholar once said that the so-called  yoga  perfections have already been achieved by the modern scientists, and so he was not concerned with them. He intelligently went to India to learn how he could understand his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord by means of  bhakti-yoga , devotional service.
Of course, in the categories of mystic perfection there are certain processes which the material scientists have not yet been able to develop. For instance, a mystic  yogī  can enter into the sun planet simply by using the rays of the sunshine. This perfection is called  laghimā . Similarly, a  yogī  can touch the moon with his finger. Though the modern astronauts go to the moon with the help of spaceships, they undergo many difficulties, whereas a person with mystic perfection can extend his hand and touch the moon with his finger. This  siddhi  is called  prāpti , or acquisition. With this  prāpti-siddhi , the perfect mystic  yogī  can not only touch the moon planet, but he can extend his hand anywhere and take whatever he likes. He may be sitting thousands of miles away from a certain place, and if