Does Magic Really Exist?

Welcome to Part 5 of The Seeker’s Story, where Namit continues his exploration into yoga philosophy and discusses whether or not magic and magical powers actually exist, and if so, what magic actually is.

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1 & 2 – Yoga Sutra – A Seeker’s Story Part 1.

Chapter 3 –      What is Yoga?

Chapter 4 –      Yoga’s Theory of Creation 

Chapter 5 –     Happiness and Oneness 

Yoga Sutra – The Seeker’s Story

By

Namit Kathoria

Yoga Wheel Pose
 

Chapter 6 – Magic and Magical Powers

The next day came and on this particular day I came across yogi ji and he was supporting himself on his feet and hands with his body in an arch shape. This really did look quite remarkable.

‘Yogi ji that looks lovely.’ I called out.

‘Thank you’ came his reply.

Soon he sat down next to me and we started talking again. ‘Okay well one thing I have always wanted to know is this. Is magic real or does it just belong to fairy tales?’ I asked yogi ji. This really was something that I had always wondered about. As a kid I was always intrigued by stories of magic and I guess that growing up I realised that science has proved otherwise. But I always had a feeling that magic exists. My curiosity wanted some kind of proof.

‘Look all around you Jake. Magic is everywhere.’

‘What do you mean magic is all around me?’

‘Well what do you mean by magic Jake?’

‘I don’t know, um something mystical I guess, something out of the ordinary.’

‘What is ordinary? Life is extraordinary Jake, the fact that we breathe, the fact that flowers and plants grow so beautifully, those fish in that lake, it is all so magical, your feelings, my feelings, the things that make us human, the fact that we see in so many colours, and are moved by sounds and music.

Everything is magic.’ 

‘I guess’

‘And the feeling of happiness Jake, the feeling you feel when you see all these things in nature.’

‘Yeah I know what you mean sometimes when I look at nature I do feel like everything is magical. But what I have difficulty in understanding is stories from scriptures, from the past. I mean did miracles and things ever happen?’

‘Some did Jake, some things truly are magical. And other things were made up, just superstition thrown in. But if you consider that magic is all around us then there is no reason for miracles not to have happened. The fact that life itself happened, that we eat, breathe, think and feel, that we interact with each other, all of this is magic.’ 

‘So miracles really did happen?’

‘Jake life itself is a miracle. Yes miracles did happen.’

‘Cool! But how do I know which were real and which were made up in history?’ 

‘You do not need to know Jake, do you? You are in the here and now. Enjoy this moment. In the here and now is where everything is happening.’

‘I know it would just be interesting to know that is all.’

‘And it would be even more interesting to experience the unfoldings of the world happening in front of us now hey?’

‘Yes!’

When yogi ji left I stared at everything. I stared at the flowers and just marvelled at their beautiful colours, their beautiful shapes and their beautiful smells. I sat in the shade of a tree and marvelled at the fact that nature had created so may beautiful things.

Is there really magic in everything? I wondered to myself. I guess that would explain why there are so many stories about magic. I guess people do feel it and see it. And I guess that in the past people felt magic around us much more because there were fewer machines around to take that feeling of magic away. Nature, its beauty and its magic were everywhere.

That night when I went back to the house I saw Mrs Rai cooking and I looked at the flame on the stove. Even fire is magical I thought to myself.

The meal that night was delicious again. It was a dish called aloo which means potato.

I thanked Mrs Rai and the family for the lovely meal and before retreating to my room I climbed out onto the roof garden that they had on the house. I looked at the stars in the night’s sky and just thought to myself that this whole universe has so much magic and so many wonders it is amazing.

[Stay tuned for Chapter 7: God next week]

About Namit Kathoria

Namit Kathoria has a Bachelors Degree from King’s College London in Pharmacy and a Masters Degree in Clinical Pharmacy from Queen’s University Belfast. He is also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and has worked the Pharmacist Advisor to NHS Direct. He hence has a vast knowledge of health which he applies to his yoga teaching. He has studied yoga across the world including various parts of his native India including Dharamshala, Rishikesh and Mysore. He currently teaches yoga retreats in Spain at Yoga Sutra Shala in Sayalonga. To read more please visit www.retreats-yoga.com.