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232 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN EARLY TEXTS
hypnotic trance. The Ariyapariyesana Sutta 1 and other Pali texts mention Āļārakālāma andTM Uddakaramaputta as two great Yogis under whom the Buddha learnt the practice of Yoga, better Rajayoga, on his way from Rajagaha to Uruvelă. While at Uruvela, he practised the hard penances and appāņakajhānas (i.e. kumbhakas of Hathayoga) of the Acelaka or Ajivika class of ascetics.
The common people who were the lay supporters of these various orders of hermits, ascetics and recluses, attached much importance to the austerities and believed in the infinite possibilities of the Yoga practice. The popular belief is that with the development of the supernormal faculties, being one, the gifted man becomes many, having become many, becomes one again. He becomes visible or invisible at his sweet will, he can fly through air like birds on wings, can easily walk on water, as if on solid ground, and can easily go to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill, as if through air, feeling no obstruction. Even the sun and the moon he can touch and feel with his own hands. He can visit any place he likes, even the world of Brahma. For the self-articulation and its effects through Yoga
M
I Majjhima, i, p. 1604.
2 Rhys Davids, Dialogues of the Buddha, S.B.B., ii, p. 208f.
