If it seems like my posting above was glossing over the issue, being moralistic, etc, then I gave the wrong impression. It was literally true.
I may be able to walk on water right now. I may be reading people's minds. I may have all sorts of stuff going on. But I have no idea. I wouldn't notice. Whatever yoga's given me in the way of "powers" would be so unbelievably uninteresting compared to the increasing liberation from the feelings of isolation, emptiness, meaninglessness, drabness, and slogging, drudging misery I'd previously felt for nearly all my life- with the exception of a few peak moments when the truth of things peaked through (hee....I like the redefinition of "peak"). We don't realize the extent of our misery and imprisonment until we step outside it.
This is so humongously amazing and relieving to me that the thought of being able to, like, turn jellybeans into gold pieces wouldn't occur to me in a million years. It would be like a feature on a VCR remote control I never knew about. Damn, I coulda been recording on timer ALL THIS TIME!
Anyone who experiences the dense all-pervasive love in which we all unknowingly bathe 24/7 could not possibly spend a millisecond contemplating cheap magic tricks.
There's nothing wrong or taboo about pursuing siddhis. It just has nothing to do with surrendering to God (i.e. yoga). It's a distraction from that (every attempt to grab the fruits of one's actions moves one further and further away from realization). Anyone the least bit surrendered, who has experienced the miracle of peace, can only giggle at the thought of lesser siddhis (all siddhis besides peace are lesser siddhis). The world is heart breakingly beautiful and I have a sacred place in this collaborative work of art....and I'm going to spend twenty years learning to live on sunlight? HUH???