In the tradition of Sanatana Dharma, the word “siddha” (Sanskrit siddha) means “one who has attained,” “perfected,” “one who has completed the path.” It refers not merely to a person possessing special powers, but to a being in whom the path has been completed and duality has fully dissolved. A siddha is a jivanmukta, liberated while alive, or one who abides beyond the limitations of birth and death, time and space. In his highest, ideal form, the siddha is identical with Shiva himself, the Maheshvara-siddha, the perfect and self-existent Absolute manifested in form. Such a siddha realizes the divya-deha, the divine body, and abides in flawless unity with the Supreme Reality, free from desires.
Vision of the World: Lila and One Taste
For a siddha, the world is neither a prison nor an object of renunciation. For him, the world is Lila-kshetra, the field of the Divine Play. He sees the phenomenal world as a direct expression of the Absolute, without opposing nirvana and samsara. This is precisely why, to an external observer, the siddha “is in the world, but does not belong to it.”
Such vision leads to the state of one taste (samarasa): the sacred and the worldly, the pure and the impure, honor and disgrace. For the siddha, everything is already liberated in the Light of Consciousness. The world, although it continues to manifest, gradually “slips away” as absolute reality, remaining only a play of forms.
Style of Conduct: Beyond Logic and Morality
The behavior of siddhas often appears paradoxical, illogical, or even absurd. This is because the source of their actions is not the ego, not social norms, and not conceptual morality, but the direct, spontaneous response of the Absolute.
A siddha acts not because “this is right,” and not because “this is customary,” but because this is how Truth manifests at that moment. His life is a continuous improvisation, free from prearranged scripts. This is why the tradition speaks of “crazy wisdom”—wisdom that destroys limited thinking without being chaos or irresponsibility.
This is manifested especially radically in Tantric traditions, where the style of behavior known as “dog-pig” is described—a metaphor for the complete transcendence of dualistic notions of pure and impure. Such behavior is permissible only for those who have become definitively established in nondual contemplation; imitating it without realization is considered spiritually dangerous.
The Ethics of Siddhas: Beyond Good and Evil
The ethics of the Siddhas is neither moral nor immoral. It is a meta-ethics that lies beyond the relative categories of good and evil. A siddha does not violate Dharma—he abides on the other side of formal Dharma, in its source. His only guide is the Light of the Absolute and the Divine Lila. Therefore his actions, however strange they may seem, are always perfect in essence and beneficial in result, even if this is not immediately recognized by the ordinary mind. The compassion of a siddha is not sentimental—it is radical and precise, like a surgical instrument cutting away illusion.
It is important to emphasize: such ethics is not a model for imitation at the ordinary stages of the path. For practitioners, the principle of separating view and conduct applies: even while possessing a high understanding, one should behave modestly, appropriately, and in accordance with the Dharma of one’s level.
Traditions of Siddhas and Lineages of Transmission
History knows many traditions of siddhas:
the 18 Tamil siddhas of South India, beginning with Agastya
- the mahasiddhas of Buddhist Vajrayana in Bengal
- the rasa-siddhas, alchemists and yogis of medieval India
the North Indian tradition of the Natha-siddhas, tracing back to Matsyendranatha and developed by Gorakshanatha
A special place in our tradition is occupied by the South Indian lineage of siddhas, known as the tradition of the 18 Tamil siddhas. It is precisely this that is the root lineage of our transmission, the source of the practices, the view, and the very understanding of siddhi as living, bodily realized Liberation.
For us, this tradition is not an abstract historical school, but an unbroken living line of transmission with specific realized bearers. The teacher of our Guru was one of the Tamil siddhas — Shiva Prabhakara.
In turn, his teacher was the widely revered and well-known siddha Pambatti in the Tamil milieu, whose name is associated with profound realization of nondual contemplation, inner alchemy, and mystical poetry.
Thus, our line of transmission goes back to a specific chain of realized masters, in which knowledge was transmitted not through texts and theories, but through direct state, shaktipat (a powerful flow of blessings) and recognition.
The Tamil siddhas transmitted an integral path: the liberation of consciousness, the transformation of the body, and spontaneous abiding in the world as Shiva’s Lila.
Therefore, in our tradition the 18 Tamil siddhas are revered as a single living tree of transmission, in which the siddha is understood as realized Shiva in human form, and the path as radically practical, bodily-contemplative, and nondual.
The Siddha as a Mirror of the Absolute
A siddha is not someone who “acquired powers.” A siddha is someone who ceased to be separate.
He did not attain Brahman — he recognized that he had never been separate from Him. His life, ethics, conduct, and even apparent eccentricities are a reflection of nondual Reality in the world of forms.
Contemplating the path of the siddhas, we do not strive to copy their outward manifestations. We aspire to their vision, their freedom, and their silent knowledge, allowing the Absolute gradually to recognize Itself in us.
