A few years ago, I had written an article about the “Ashtha Siddhi”. “Ashtha” means eight and “Siddhi” means achievement. So, “Ashtha Siddhi” means “eight achievements”. The link to the article is seen below.

The Ashta Siddhi and Budo

The 8 achievements can be applied brilliantly to the martial arts. They can also be applied to any conflict management situation any of us faces in daily life. These 8 traits could be explained in magical terms, but they can be as down to earth as necessary. I go into all of this in the article linked above. Do read the article for details.

This article, a much shorter one, is about how the “Ashtha Siddhi” seem to be the exact set of rules that are being applied in the various conflicts that are in the headlines these days. The war in Gaza is still on, the war in Ukraine is still on, a war seems to be brewing in Iran, a near war occurred in Venezuela, all of the Sahara is under military rule, a civil war is on in Myanmar & in Syria and Pakistan is constantly fighting Afghanistan. There is a potential of military conflict in a large part of the world!

The 8-fold path is related to Buddhism. From the little that I know, this is part of the teachings from the Buddha. The 8-fold path describes the way one should live life, in order to escape the many sorrows life throws at an individual.

Above image shows a collage of SCALP EG cruise missile (top left), Rampage missile (top right), SAAW bomb (bottom right) and the Harop loitering munition (bottom left). All images are from Wikipedia. All of these were used during Op Sindoor.

The 8-fold path and the “Ashtha Siddhi” have 8 tenets. But considering the conflict-ridden world we live in, it seems to me that the “Ashtha Siddhi” are currently more applicable, at least at the level of military and political manoeuvring. In that sense, the “Ashtha Siddhi” can, in my opinion, be called “The new 8-fold path”.

Seen below is a table which mentions the “Ashtha Siddhi” with some details. Each “Siddhi” is mentioned with its meaning, how it is achieved in a military conflict and an example of the same from Operation Sindoor, when India stole a march over Pakistan, in May 2025. These are just observations of mine, from a layman who has no military or political experience. The observations are based on the little I know from information available in the public domain and my experience in the martial arts.

Sl. No.	Siddhi	Definition	Activity/Objective	Example
1	Anima	Be as small as necessary	Achieve absolute superiority in the chosen or all domains/theatres of a given conflict	Destruction of specific terrorist bases or specific airfields.
2	Mahima	Be as large as necessary	Destroy a large number of targets with multiple precision missiles/guns/drones at the same time or use one powerful missile to cause damage over a large area.	Destruction of airfields across the length of Pakistan.
3	Laghima	Be as light as necessary	Use attack teams/launchers/guns/drones that are highly mobile and scoot after the attack. The time for set up of the weapon should not be too long.	Use weapons that only target AWACS or specific buildings in a civilian area.
4	Garima	Be as heavy as necessary	Use a large enough number of attack systems (launchers/guns/drones) that can coordinate and saturate an enemy’s position with firepower or attack a large enough number of enemy positions to break an enemy’s will. Have weapons that can cause very heavy damage either underground or across a horizontal area.	Use weapons that strike deep underground and eliminate the command-and-control structure of the enemy. At the same time destroy the officer’s mess to eliminate the people who man air assets.
5	Praapti	Be able to receive everything or anything that is needed, from information to attacks of the enemy.	Be able to receive all information from and about an enemy, from the psychology of the enemy leaders to the technical abilities of the opposition. Know all this, at all times and in real time. This includes AI to analyse data, ELINT, HUMINT, satellites and real time LEOs (Low Earth Observation). Be able to receive any attack with any weapon the enemy throws at you, with minimal or no damage, like with extraordinary air defences (which will not bankrupt you!)	Use AI to predict Pakistani deployments and the decision-making patterns of the enemy military leadership.
6	Prākāmya	Be able to take anything you need to, at any time (from the enemy in this case)	Be able to take out any enemy, enemy position or target with the right weapon needed for the target. Possess all types of weapons from sniper rifles to energy weapons to non-lethal weapons to artillery to drones to missiles to delivery platforms in a large enough quantity to never let the enemy recover.	Use different types of weapons from cold war era guns to indigenous Aakash missiles to Brahmos to S-400 to French and Israeli missiles for defence and offence as needed.
7	Vashitva	Be able to control everything	Control the battlefield and the escalation matrix	Destruction of terrorist bases without SEAD & DEAD operations initially and later, to show the enemy its place, nullify its ability to see and launch (by destroying AWACS, radar, airbases and air defence systems respectively).
8	Eeshitva	Be like a God (or “achieve Godhood”)	Achieve absolute superiority in the chosen or all domains/theatres of a given conflict	Force the Pakistani establishment to sue for a ceasefire which they refused 3 days earlier.

Above image shows a collage of the Akash missile (top left), Barak 8 missile (MRSAM/LRSAM – centre), Brahmos cruise missile (bottom left), S-400 Radar (right). All images are from Wikipedia. All of these were used during Op Sindoor.