Legends and Stories
There are many stories told about Telang Swami and his spiritual powers, such that he has become a nearly mythical figure in India. Robert Arnett writes that Telang Swami's miracles are "well documented" and "he displayed miraculous powers that cannot be dismissed as myth" and there were living witnesses to his "amazing feats". He was reputed to have lived to be around 300 years, and was a larger than life figure, reportedly weighing over 300 pounds (140 kg), though he seldom ate. One account said that he could "read people’s minds like books."
On many occasions, he was seen to drink deadly poisons with no ill effect. In one instance, a skeptic wanted to expose him as a fraud. The monk was accustomed to breaking his long fasts with buckets of clabbered milk, so the skeptic brought him a bucket of calcium-lime mixture used for whitewashing walls instead. The monk drank the entire bucket with no ill effect — instead, the skeptic fell to the ground writhing in pain. The monk broke his usual silence to explain the law of karma, of cause and effect.
According to another story, he often walked around without any clothes, much like the naga (or "sky-clad") sadhus. The Varanasi police were scandalized by his behaviour, and had him locked in a jail cell. He was soon seen on the prison roof, in all his 'sky-clad' glory. The police put him back into his locked cell, only to see him appear again on the jail roof. They soon gave up, and let him again walk the streets of Varanasi.
Thousands of people reportedly saw him levitating in a sitting position on the surface of the river Ganges for days at a time. He would also apparently disappear under the waves for long periods, and reappear unharmed. Swami Sivananda attributed some of his miracles to the siddhi or yogic power Bhutajaya — conquest over the five elements, "Fire will not burn such a Yogi. Water will not drown him."
With respect to his reportedly yogic powers, miracles abundant in his biographies and exceptionally long life, Swami Medhasananda writes that according to the "science of yoga", attainment of these is not "impossible".
Read more about this topic: Trailanga Swami
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