Theos-Talk Archives (July 2007 Message tt00509)

For people who are intersted the book is to be read at :
http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/kundalini_tantra/1_methods_of_awakening.php

Chapter 1   

     

     

     

              Уе Man, Tame the Kundalini

     


         When I was six years old I had a spontaneous spiritual
experience during which I became completely unaware of my body for
quite a long time. Again, when I was ten, the same thing happened, but
this time I was old enough to think and rationalize, and I told my
father about it. At first he did not understand what had happened and
he wanted to take me to a doctor, but fortunately there were no
doctors in our area at that time. Had there been, perhaps I would have
ended up in a mental hospital, but things being what they were, I did
not have to undergo treatment and was left unattended.

     

         My father had great regard for the Vedas and for his guru.
One day this guru happened to visit my native town, so my father took
me to him and asked his advice about me. The sage told him that I had
had a spiritual experience and therefore should be instructed to lead
a spiritual life. My father obeyed his guru and arranged for me to be
trained accordingly. Thus at an early age I was dedicated to the
spiritual quest.

     

         My family was Hindu, and in Hinduism there are two
traditions: one believes in the worship of idols, and the other that
God is formless. My family belonged to the latter, but still I often
looked at the pictures of all the different deities and wondered at
them. Durga was mounted on a lion; Saraswati on a swan; Vishnu lay
sleeping on a huge cobra; Kali was completely naked, standing on the
body of Shiva; Таrа too was naked and Shiva was drinking milk from her
breast. I could not understand what it all meant. Why did Shiva ride
upon a bull and have so many snakes wrapped around him; how could the
Ganga flow from his hair; why was Ganesha, with his enormous
elephantine head and pot belly, riding on a small rat? I thought that
there must be some symbolic meaning behind all this, but I only began
to understand it through kundalini yoga, which I started practising at
the age of fifteen, while still at school.

     

         Around this time I had another experience. I was sitting
quietly when suddenly, without any effort, my mind turned inwards. I
immediately saw the whole earth with its oceans, continents, mountains
and cities, crack into pieces. I did not understand this vision until
a few days later when the second world war broke out. This really made
me begin to wonder. How could I have seen this future event
symbolically in meditation when living in a remote area? I had neither
heard nor read about it previously, nor had I any way of knowing that
it was coming.

     


         A new life begins

     


         By the time I was seventeen, I was asking questions which
nobody could answer. I wondered about things like the difference
between perception and experience. I talked a lot about such topics
with my maternal uncle and my younger sister, but this did not quench
my thirst and I knew I had to go out and discover the answers for
myself. I postponed my departure from home until one day my father
pushed me out with ninety rupees in my pocket. Thus my wandering life
began.

     

         During my travels I met a very old swami who invited me to
stay in his ashram. He had a wonderful knowledge of tantra and taught
me many things. Though I knew I would never forget him, he was not my
guru and after nine months I left his ashram and continued wandering.
Soon after this I reached Rishikesh, where I heard about Swami
Sivananda. I went to him and asked how to experience the highest
consciousness. He told me to stay in his ashram and he would guide me.
So I followed monastic life, but still, for a long time I was puzzled
about the purpose of my existence. I felt that man was a seeker, yet I
really did not know what I was seeking and was often left with the
terrifying question that man asks himself regarding death.

     


         The awakening of my kundalini

     


         Sometime later I had another experience while sitting on the
banks of the Ganga. I was thinking of some mundane things when my mind
spontaneously started going in and in. Suddenly I felt as if the earth
was slipping from under me and the sky was expanding and receding. A
moment later I experienced a terrible force springing from the base of
my body like an atomic explosion. I felt that I was vibrating very
fast, the light currents were terrific. I experienced the supreme
bliss, like the climax of a man's desire, and it continued for a long
time. My whole body was contracting until the feeling of pleasure
became quite unbearable and I lost complete awareness of my body. This
was the third time it had happened.

     

         After returning to consciousness I was listless for many
days. I could not eat, sleep or move, even to go to the toilet. I saw
everything but nothing registered. The bliss was a living thing within
me and I knew that if I moved, this wonderful feeling would cease; I
would lose the intensity of it all. How could I move when bells were
ringing inside? This was the awakening of my kundalini.

     

         After a week or so I returned to normal and then I started to
study tantra and yoga very seriously. At first I was still a bit weak
and sick, so I practised hatha yoga to purify my whole system. Then I
began to explore the fantastic science of kundalini yoga. What is this
power which awakens in mooladhara chakra? My interest was aroused and
I put much effort into trying to understand this marvellous force.

     

         With the awakening of kundalini, the greater intelligence is
aroused from its sleep and you can give birth to a new range of
creativity. When kundalini awakens, not only are you blessed with
visions and psychic experiences, you could become a prophet, saint,
inspired artist or musician, a brilliant writer or poet, a clairvoyant
or messiah. Or you could become an outstanding leader, prime minister,
governor or president. The awakening of kundalini affects the whole
area of the human mind and behavior.

     

         Kundalini is not a myth or an illusion. It is not a
hypothesis or a hypnotic suggestion. Kundalini is a biological
substance that exists within the framework of the body. Its awakening
generates electrical impulses throughout the whole body and these
impulses can be detected by modern scientific instruments and
machines. Therefore, each of us should consider the importance and the
benefits of awakening kundalini, and we should make a resolve to
awaken this great shakti.

     






















           Chapter 2



          What is Kundalini?

 

 


     Everybody should know something about kundalini as it represents
the coming consciousness of mankind. Kundalini is the name of a
sleeping dormant potential force in the human organism and it is
situated at the root of the spinal column. In the masculine body it is
in the perineum, between the urinary and excretory organs. In the
female body its location is at the root of the uterus, in the cervix.
This center is known as mooladhara chakra and it is actually a
physical structure. It is a small gland which you can even take out
and press. However, kundalini is a dormant energy, and even if you
press it, it will not explode like a bomb. To awaken kundalini you
must prepare yourself through yogic techniques. You must practise
asanas, pranayama, kriya yoga and meditation. Then, when you are able
to force your prana into the seat of kundalini, the energy wakes up
and makes its way through sushumna nadi, the central nervous canal, to
the brain. As kundalini ascends, it passes through each of the chakras
which are interconnected with the different silent areas of the brain.
With the awakening of kundalini there is an explosion in the brain as
the dormant or sleeping areas start blossoming like flowers.
Therefore, kundalini can be equated with the awakening of the silent
areas of the brain.

 

     Although kundalini is said to reside in mooladhara chakra, we are
all at different stages of evolution, and in some of us kundalini may
have already reached swadhisthana, manipura or anahata chakra. If this
is so, whatever sadhana you do now might start an awakening in anahata
or some other chakra. However, awakening of kundalini in mooladhara
chakra is one thing, and awakening in sahasrara, the highest center of
the brain, is another. Once the multipetalled lotus of sahasrara
blossoms, a new consciousness dawns. Our present consciousness is not
independent, as the mind depends on the information supplied by the
senses. If you have no eyes, you can never see; if you are deaf, you
will never hear. However, when the superconsciousness emerges,
experience becomes completely independent and knowledge also becomes
completely independent.

 


     How man discovered kundalini

 


     Right from the beginning of creation, man witnessed many
transcendental happenings. Sometimes he was able to read the thoughts
of others, he witnessed somebody else's predictions coming true, or he
may even have seen his own dreams manifesting into realities. He
pondered over the fact that some people could write inspiring poems or
compose beautiful music whereas others couldn't; one person could
fight on the battlefield for days together and another person couldn't
even get up from his bed. So he wanted to discover why everybody
seemed to be different.


     In the course of his investigations, man came to understand that
within every individual there is a special form of energy. He saw that
in some people it was dormant, in others it was evolving and in a very
small minority of people, it was actually awakened. Originally, man
named this energy after gods, goddesses, angels or divinities. Then he
discovered prana and called it prana shakti. In tantra they called it
kundalini.

 


     What the various names for kundalini mean

 


     In Sanskrit, kundal means a coil, and so kundalini has been
described as "that which is coiled". This is the traditional belief,
but it has been incorrectly understood. The word kundalini actually
comes from the word kunda, meaning "a deeper place, pit or cavity".
The fire used in the ceremony of initiation is kindled in a pit called
kunda. Similarly, the place where a dead body is burned is kunda. If
you dig a ditch or a hole it is called kunda. Kunda refers to the
concave cavity in which the brain, resembling a coiled and sleeping
serpent, nestles. (If you have the opportunity of examining a
dissection of the human brain you will see that it is in the form of a
coil or snake curled up upon itself.) This is the true meaning of
kundalini.

 

     The word kundalini refers to the shakti or power when it is in
its dormant potential state, but when it is manifesting, you can call
it Devi, Kali, Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi or any other name according
to the manifestation it is exhibiting before you.

 

     In the Christian tradition, the terms "the Path of the Initiates"
and "the Stairway to Heaven" used in the Bible, refer to kundalini's
ascent through sushumna nadi. The ascent of kundalini and ultimately,
the descent of spiritual grace, are symbolized by the cross. This is
why Christians make the sign of the cross at ajna, anahata and
vishuddhi chakras, for ajna is the center where the ascending
consciousness is transcended and anahata is where the descending grace
is made manifest to the world.

 

     Whatever happens in spiritual life, it is related to the
awakening ot kundalini. And the goal of every form of spiritual life,
whether you call it samadhi, nirvana, moksha, communion, union,
kaivalya, liberation or whatever, is in fact awakening of kundalini.

 


     Kundalini, Kali and Durga

 


     When kundalini has just awakened and you are not able to handle
it, it is called Kali. When you can handle it and are able to use it
for beneficial purposes and you become powerful on account of it, it
is called Durga.

 

     Kali is a female deity, naked, black or smoky in color, wearing a
mala of 108 human skulls, representing the memories of different
births. Kali's lolling tongue of blood red color signifies the rajo
guna whose circular movement gives impetus to all creative activities.
By this specific gesture, she is exhorting the sadhakas to control
their rajo guna. The sacrificial sword and the severed head held by
the left hand are the symbols of dissolution. Darkness and death are
by no means the mere absence of light and life, rather, they are their
origin. The sadhaka worships the cosmic power in its female form, for
she represents the kinetic aspect, the masculine being the static
which is activated only through her power.

 

     In Hindu mythology, the awakening of Kali has been described in
great detail. When Kali rises in red anger, all the gods and demons
are stunned and everybody keeps quiet. They do not know what she is
going to do. They ask Lord Shiva to pacify her, but Kali roars
ferociously, throwing him down and standing on his chest with her
mouth wide open, thirsty for flesh and blood. When the devas hold
prayers to pacify Kali, she becomes calm and quiet.

 

     Then there is the emergence of Durga, the higher, more refined
and benign symbol of the unconscious. Durga is a beautiful goddess
seated on a tiger. She has 8 hands representing the eightfold elements
of man.

 

     Durga wears a mala of human heads to symbolize her wisdom and
power. These heads are generally 52 in number, representing the 52
letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, which are the outer manifestations
of Shabda Brahma or Brahma in the form of sound. Durga is the remover
of all evil consequences of life and the giver of power and peace that
is released from mooladhara.

 

     According to yoga philosophy, Kali, the first manifestation of
the unconscious kundalini is a terrible power; it completely subdues
the individual soul, represented by her standing on Lord Shiva. It
sometimes happens that by mental instability some people get in
contact with their unconscious body and see inauspicious, ferocious
elements - ghosts, monsters, etc. When Kali, the unconscious power of
man, is awakened she goes up to meet the further manifestation, being
Durga, the superconscious, bestowing glory and beauty.

 


     Symbolic representation of kundalini

 


     In the tantric texts, kundalini is conceived of as the primal
power or energy. In terms of modern psychology, it can be called the
unconscious in man. As we have just discussed, in Hindu mythology,
kundalini corresponds with the concept of Kali. In the philosophy of
Shaivism, the concept of kundalini is represented by the shivalingam,
the oval-shaped stone or pillar with a snake coiled around it.

 

     However, most commonly, kundalini is illustrated as a sleeping
serpent coiled three and a half times. Of course there is no serpent
residing in mooladhara, sahasrara or any other chakra, but the serpent
has always been a symbol for efficient consciousness. In all the
oldest mystic cults of the world you find the serpent, and if you have
seen any pictures or images of Lord Shiva, you will have noticed
serpents girdling his waist, neck and arms. Kali is also adorned with
serpents and Lord Vishnu eternally reposes on a large coiled serpent.
This serpent power symbolizes the unconscious in man.

 

     In Scandinavian, European, Latin American and Middle Eastern
countries and many different civilizations of the world, the concept
of the serpent power is represented in monuments and ancient
artifacts. This means kundalini was known to people from all parts of
the world in the past. However, we can conceive kundalini in any
manner we like because actually, prana has no form or dimension, it is
infinite.

 

     In the traditional descriptions of kundalini awakening, it is
said that kundalini resides in mooladhara in the form of a coiled
snake and when the snake awakens it uncoils and shoots up through
sushumna (the psychic passage in the center of the spinal cord),
opening the other chakras as it goes (see Sir John Woodroffe's The
Serpent Power). Brahmachari Swami Vyasdev, in his book Science of the
Soul, describes the awakening of kundalini in the following way:

 

     "Sadhakas have seen the sushumna in the form of a luminous rod or
pillar, a golden yellow snake, or sometimes as a shining black snake
about ten inches long with blood redeyes like smouldering charcoal,
the front part of the tongue vibrating and shining like lightning,
ascending the spinal column."

 

     The meaning of the 3 1/2 coils of the serpent is as follows: The
3 coils represent the 3 matras of Om, which relate to past, present
and future; to the 3 gunas: tamas, rajas and sattva; to the 3 states
of consciousness: waking, sleeping and dreaming; and to the 3 types of
experience: subjective experience, sensual experience and absence of
experience. The 1/2 coil represents the state of transcendence, where
there is neither waking, sleeping nor dreaming. So, the 3 1/2 coils
signify the total experience of the universe and the experience of
transcendence.

 


     Who can awaken kundalini?

 


     There are many people who have awakened their kundalini. Not only
saints and sadhus, but poets, painters, warriors, writers, anyone can
awaken their kundalini. With the awakening of kundalini, not only
visions of God take place, there is dawning of creative intelligence
and an awakening of supramental faculties. By activating kundalini you
may become anything in life.

 

     The energy of kundalini is one energy, but it expresses itself
differently through the individual psychic centers or chakras - first
in gross instinctive ways and then in progressively more subtle ways.
Refining of the expression of this energy at higher and more subtle
levels of vibration represents the ascent of human consciousness to
its highest possibilities.

 

     Kundalini is the creative energy; it is the energy of
self-expression. Just as in reproduction a new life is created, in the
same way, someone like Einstein uses that same energy in a different,
more subtle realm, to create a theory like relativity. It is the same
energy that is expressed when someone composes or plays beautiful
music. It is the same energy which is expressed in all parts of life,
whether it is building up a business, fulfilling the family duties or
reaching whatever goal you aspire for. These are all expressions of
the same creative energy.

 

     Everybody, whether householder or sannyasin, must remember that
awakening of kundalini is the prime purpose of human incarnation. All
the pleasures of sensual life which we are enjoying now are intended
only to enhance the awakening of kundalini amidst the adverse
circumstances of man's life.

 


     A process of metamorphosis

 


     With the awakening of kundalini, a transformation takes place in
life. It has little to do with one's moral, religious or ethical life.
It has more to do with the quality of our experiences and perceptions.
When kundalini wakes up your mind changes and your priorities and
attachments also change. All your karmas undergo a process of
integration. It is very simple to understand. When you were a child
you loved toys, but why don't you love them now? Because your mind has
changed and consequently, your attachments have also changed. So, with
the awakening of kundalini, a metamorphosis takes place. There is even
the possibility of restructuring the entire physical body.

 

     When kundalini awakens, the physical body actually undergoes many
changes. Generally they are positive, but if your guru is not
cautious, they can be negative also. When the shakti wakes up, the
cells in the body are completely charged and a process of rejuvenation
also starts. The voice changes, the smell of the body changes and the
hormonal secretions also change. In fact, the transformation of cells
in the body and brain takes place at a much higher rate than normal.
These are just a few observations. However, scientific researchers are
still taking their first steps into this field.

 


     Why awaken kundalini?

 


     If you want to take up the practice of kundalini yoga, the most
important thing is that you have a reason or an aim. If you want to
awaken kundalini for psychic powers, then please go ahead with your
own destiny. But if you want to awaken kundalini in order to enjoy
communion between Shiva and Shakti, the actual communion between the
two great forces within you, and if you want to enter samadhi and
experience the absolute in the cosmos, and if you want to understand
the truth behind the appearance, and if the purpose of your pilgrimage
is very great, then there is nothing that can come to you as an obstacle.

 

     By means of kundalini awakening, you are compensating with the
laws of nature and speeding up the pace of your physical, mental and
spiritual evolution. Once the great shakti awakens, man is no longer a
gross physical body operating with a lower mind and low voltage prana.
Instead, every cell of his body is charged with the high voltage prana
of kundalini. And when total awakening occurs, man becomes a junior
god, an embodiment of divinity.




                      Chapter 3



                 Kundalini Physiology

     

     


         Kundalini or the serpent power does not belong to the
physical body, though it is connected to it. Nor can it be discovered
in the mental body or even the astral body. Its abode is actually in
the causal body, where the concepts of time, space and object are
completely lost.

     

         How and where is the concept of kundalini related to the
supreme consciousness? The serpent power is considered to arise from
the unconscious state in mooladhara. This unconscious awareness of man
then has to pass through different phases and becomes one with the
cosmic awareness in the highest realm of existence. The supreme
awareness or Shiva is considered to be seated in sahasrara, the
superconscious or transcendental body at the crown of the head. In the
Vedas, as well as the Tantras, this supreme seat is called
hiranyagarbha, the womb of consciousness. It corresponds to the
pituitary body, the master gland situated within the brain.

     

         Immediately below this center of supreme consciousness, there
is another psychic center - "the third eye" or ajna chakra, which
corresponds to the pineal gland. This is the seat of intuitive
knowledge. This center lies on top of the spinal column, at the level
of bhrumadhya, the eyebrow center. Ajna chakra is important because it
is simultaneously connected with the seat of supreme consciousness in
sahasrara and with mooladhara, the seat of the unconscious, at the
base of the spine, via sushumna, the psychic passage within the spinal
column. Therefore, it is the connecting link between the lowest
unconscious seat of power and the highest center of illumination
within the individual.

     

         Kundalini yoga is not abstract. It considers this very
physical body as the basis. For a kundalini yogi, the supreme
consciousness represents the highest possible manifestation of
physical matter in this body. The matter of this physical body is
being transformed into subtle forces - such as feeling, thinking,
reasoning, remembering, postulating and doubting, in the gradual
process of evolution. This psychic, suprasensory or transcendental
power in man is the ultimate point of human evolution.

     


         The chakras

     


         The literal meaning of the word chakra is 'wheel or circle',
but in the yogic context a better translation of the Sanskrit word is
'vortex or whirlpool'. The chakras are vortices of psychic energy and
they are visualized and experienced as circular movements of energy at
particular rates of vibration.

     

         In each person there are myriads of chakras, but in the
practices of tantra and yoga, only a few principal ones are utilized.
These chakras span the full spectrum of man's being from the gross to
the subtle.

     

         The chakras are physiological as well as psychic centers
whose structures correspond more or less with the traditional
descriptions. These nerve centers are not situated inside the spinal
cord itself, but lie like junctions on the interior walls of the
spinal column. If you cut the spinal cord transversely at different
levels you can see that the grey matter in the cross section resembles
the lotus shape and the ascending and descending Location of the
Chakrastracts of nerve fibers correspond to the nadis. These
communicating nerve fibers control the different physiological
functions of that portion of the body. Many books state that the
chakras are reservoirs of power, but this is not true.

     

         A chakra is like a centrally placed electricity pole from
which electrical wires are run to different places, houses and street
lights in the vicinity. This arrangement is the same for each of the
chakras. The nadis which emerge from each chakra carry prana in both
directions. There is a forward and backward pranic motion in the
nadis, analogous to the flow of alternating current in electrical
wires. The outgoing communication and the incoming reaction enter and
leave the chakra in the form of this pranic flow in the corresponding
nadis.

     

         There are six chakras in the human body which are directly
connected with the higher unillumined centers of the brain. The first
chakra is mooladhara. It is situated in the pelvic floor and
corresponds to the coccygeal plexus of nerves. In the masculine body
it lies between the urinary and excretory openings, in the form of a
small dormant gland termed the perineal body. In the feminine body it
is situated inside the posterior surface of the cervix.

     

         Mooladhara is the first chakra in the spiritual evolution of
man, where one goes beyond animal consciousness and starts to be a
real human being. It is also the last chakra in the completion of
animal evolution. It is said that from mooladhara chakra right down to
the heels there are other lower chakras which are responsible for the
development of the animal and human qualities of instinct and
intellect. From mooladhara chakra upwards lie the chakras which are
concerned with illumination and evolution of the higher man or super
man. Mooladhara chakra has control over the entire range of excretory
and sexual functions in man.

     

         The second chakra is swadhisthana, located at the lowest
point or termination of the spinal cord. It corresponds to the sacral
plexus of nerves and controls the unconscious in man.

     

         The third chakra is manipura, situated in the spinal column
exactly at the level of the navel. It corresponds to the solar plexus
and controls the entire processes of digestion, assimilation and
temperature regulation in the body.

     

         The fourth chakra is anahata, and it lies in the vertebral
column behind the base of the heart, at the level of the depression in
the sternum. It corresponds to the cardiac plexus of nerves, and
controls the functions of the heart, the lungs, the diaphragm and
other organs in this region of the body.

     

         The fifth chakra is vishuddhi, which lies at the level of the
throat pit in the vertebral column. This chakra corresponds to the
cervical plexus of nerves and controls the thyroid complex and also
some systems of articulation, the upper palate and the epiglottis.

     

         Ajna, the sixth and most important chakra, corresponds to the
pineal gland, lying in the midline of the brain directly above the
spinal column. This chakra controls the muscles and the onset of
sexual activity in man. Tantra and yoga maintain that ajna chakra, the
command center, has complete control over all the functions of the
disciple's life.

     

         These six chakras serve as switches for turning on different
parts of the brain. The awakening which is brought about in the
chakras is conducted to the higher centers in the brain via the nadis.

     

         There are also two higher centers in the brain which are
commonly referred to in kundalini yoga: bindu and sahasrara. Bindu is
located at the top back of the head, where Hindu brahmins keep a tuft
of hair. This is the point where oneness first divides itself into
many. Bindu feeds the whole optic system and is also the seat of
nectar or amrit.

     

         Sahasrara is supreme; it is the final culmination of
kundalini shakti. It is the seat of higher awareness. Sahasrara is
situated at the top of the head and is physically correlated to the
pituitary gland, which controls each and every gland and system of the
body.

     


         Nadis

     


         Nadis are not nerves but rather channels for the flow of
consciousness. The literal meaning of nadi is 'flow'. Just as the
negative and positive forces of electricity flow through complex
circuits, in the same way, prana shakti (vital force) and manas shakti
(mental force) flow through every part of our body via these nadis.
According to the tantras there are 72,000 or more such channels or
networks through which the stimuli flow like electric current from one
point to another. These 72,000 nadis cover the whole body and through
them the inherent rhythms of activity in the different organs of the
body are maintained. Within this network of nadis, there are ten main
channels, and of these ten, three are most important for they control
the flow of prana and consciousness within all the other nadis of the
body. These three nadis are called ida, pingala and sushumna.


    Nadis     Ida nadi controls all the mental processes while pingala
nadi controls all the vital processes. Ida is known as the moon, and
pingala as the sun. A third nadi, sushumna, is the channel for the
awakening of spiritual consciousness. Now the picture is coming clear;
prana shakti - pingala; manas shakti - ida; and atma shakti -
sushumna. You may consider them as pranic force, mental force and
spiritual force.

     

         As sushumna flows inside the central canal of the spinal
cord, ida and pingala simultaneously flow on the outer surface of the
spinal cord, still within the bony vertebral column. Ida, pingala and
sushumna nadis begin in mooladhara in the pelvic floor. From there,
sushumna flows directly upwards within the central canal, while ida
passes to the left and pingala to the right. At swadhisthana chakra,
or the sacral plexus, the three nadis come together again and ida and
pingala cross over one another. Ida passes up to the right, pingala to
the left, and sushumna continues to flow directly upwards in the
central canal. The three nadis come together again at manipura chakra,
the solar plexus, and so on. Finally, ida, pingala and sushumna meet
in the pineal gland - ajna chakra.

     

         Ida and pingala function in the body alternately and not
simultaneously. If you observe your nostrils, you will find that
generally one is flowing freely and the other is blocked. When the
left nostril is open, it is the lunar energy or ida nadi which is
flowing. When the right nostril is free, the solar energy or pingala
nadi is flowing.

     

         Investigations have shown that when the right nostril is
flowing, the left hemisphere of the brain is activated. When the left
nostril is flowing, the right hemisphere is activated. This is how the
nadis or energy channels control the brain and the events of life and
consciousness.

     

         Now, if these two energies - prana and chitta, pingala and
ida, life and consciousness, can be made to function simultaneously,
then both hemispheres of the brain can be made to function
simultaneously and to participate together in the thinking, living,
intuitive and regulating processes.

     

         In ordinary life this does not happen because the
simultaneous awakening and functioning of life force and consciousness
can take place only if the central canal - sushumna, is connected with
kundalini, the source of energy. If sushumna can be connected in the
physical body, it can reactivate the brain cells and create a new
physical structure.

     


         The importance of awakening sushumna

     


         Sushumna nadi is regarded as a hollow tube in which there are
three more concentric tubes, each being progressively more subtle than
the previous one. The tubes or nadis are as follows: sushumna -
signifying tamas, vajrini - signifying rajas, chitrini - signifying
sattva and brahma - signifying consciousness. The higher consciousness
created by kundalini passes through brahma nadi.

     

         When kundalini shakti awakens it passes through sushumna
nadi. The moment awakening takes place in mooladhara chakra, the
energy makes headway through sushumna up to ajna chakra.

     

         Mooladhara chakra is just like a powerful generator. In order
to start this generator, you need some sort of pranic energy. This
pranic energy is generated through pranayama. When you practise
pranayama you generate energy and this energy is forced down by a
positive pressure which starts the generator in mooladhara. Then this
generated energy is pushed upward by a negative pressure and forced up
to ajna chakra.

         Therefore, awakening of sushumna is just as important as
awakening of kundalini. Supposing you have started your generator but
you have not plugged the cable, the generator will keep running but
distribution will not take place. You have to connect the plug into
the generator so the generated energy can pass through the cable to
the different areas of your house.

     

         When only ida and pingala are active and not sushumna, it's
like having the positive and negative lines in your electrical cable,
but no earth. When the mind receives the three currents of energy all
the lights start working, but if you remove the earth wire, the lights
will go down. Energy flows through ida and pingala all the time, but
its effulgence is very low. When there is current flowing in ida,
pingala and sushumna, then enlightenment takes place. This is how you
have to understand the awakening of kundalini, awakening of sushumna
and the union of the three in ajna chakra.

     

         The whole science of kundalini yoga concerns the awakening of
sushumna, for once sushumna comes to life, a means of communication
between the higher and lower dimensions of consciousness is
established and the awakening of kundalini occurs. Shakti travels up
sushumna to become one with Shiva in sahasrara.

     

         Kundalini awakening is definitely not fictional or symbolic;
it is electrophysiological! Many scientists are working on this, and
Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama of Japan has developed a unit by which the waves
and currents of energy which accompany the awakening of kundalini can
be recorded and measured.

     

         When the roots of a plant are watered properly, the plant
grows and its flowers bloom forth beautifully. Similarly, when
kundalini awakening occurs in sushumna, awakening occurs in all the
stages of life. But if awakening only occurs in ida or pingala or in
one of the other centers, it is by no means complete. Only when
kundalini shakti awakens and travels up the sushumna passage to
sahasrara is the entire store of higher energy in man unleashed.

     


         The mystical tree

     


         In the 15th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita there is a
description of the 'imperishable tree' which has its roots at the top
and its trunk and branches below, growing downwards. He who knows this
tree knows the truth. This tree is existing in the structure and
function of the human body and nervous system. One must know and climb
this paradoxical tree to arrive at the truth. It can be understood in
this way: the thoughts, the emotions, the distractions and so on, are
only the leaves of this tree whose roots are the brain itself and
whose trunk is the spinal column. It is said that one has to climb
this tree from the top to the bottom if he wishes to cut the roots.

     

         This tree seems to be completely topsy-turvy, yet it contains
the essence of all occult truth and secret knowledge. It cannot be
understood intellectually, but only through progressive spiritual
awakening, for spiritual understanding always dawns in a way which is
paradoxical and irrational to the faculty of intellect. This same tree
is called the 'Tree of Life' in the Kabbalah and the 'Tree of
Knowledge' in the Bible. Its understanding forms the basis of both
Christian and Judaic religious traditions, but unfortunately it has
been completely misunderstood by and large, for a very long time.

     

         So it is that everybody who is trying to move from mooladhara
to sahasrara is climbing to the root every time, and the root is at
the top, the brain, the sahasrara. Mooladhara is not the root center
at all. So if you are moving from swadhisthana to sahasrara or from
manipura to sahasrara, then you are climbing to the root, which is at
the top in sahasrara.




                      Chapter 4      



                 Kundalini and the Brain

     

     


         The awakening of kundalini and its union with Shiva is
immediately and intimately connected with the whole brain. The brain
has ten compartments, and of these, nine are dormant and one is
active. Whatever you know, whatever you think or do is coming from
one-tenth of the brain. The other nine-tenths, which are in the
frontal portion of the brain, are known as the inactive or sleeping brain.

     

         Why are these compartments inactive? Because there is no
energy. The active portion of the brain functions on the energies of
ida and pingala, but the other nine-tenths have only pingala. Pingala
is life and ida is consciousness. If a man is living but is unable to
think, we say he has prana shakti but not manas shakti. Similarly, the
silent parts of the brain have prana, not consciousness.

     

         So a very difficult question arises: how to awaken the
sleeping compartments of the brain? We know how to awaken fear,
anxiety and passion, but most of us do not know how to awaken these
dormant areas of the brain. In order to arouse the silent areas, we
must charge the frontal brain with sufficient prana and we must awaken
sushumna nadi. For both these purposes we must practise pranayama
regularly and consistently over a long period of time.

     

     

         Lighting up the brain

     


         In kumdalini yoga it was discovered that the different parts
of the brain are connected with the chakras. Certain areas are
connected with mooladhara chakra, others with swadhisthana, manipura,
anahata, vishuddhi and ajna. When you want to turn on an electric
lamp, you don't have to touch the lamp itself, you operate it by means
of the switch on the wall. Likewise, when you want to awaken the
brain, you can't deal with it directly, you have to flick the switches
which are located in the chakras.

     

         Modern science divides the dormant area of the brain into ten
parts, whereas in kundalini yoga we divide it into six. The qualities
or manifestations of the brain are also sixfold, e.g. the psychic
powers. These manifest in different individuals according to the
degree of awakening in the corresponding areas of the brain. Everybody
is not clairvoyant or telepathic; some people are talented musicians.
Anybody can sing, but there is a center in the brain where
transcendental music expresses itself.

     


         Total and partial awakening

     


         A genius is one who has been able to awaken one or more of
the dormant areas of the brain. People who have flashes of genius are
those who have had a momentary awakening in certain circuits of the
brain. It is not total awakening. When the total brain wakes up, you
become a junior god, an incarnation or embodiment of divinity. There
are various types of geniuses - child prodigies, inspired poets,
musicians, inventors, prophets, etc. In these people a partial
awakening has occurred.

     


         Sahasrara is the actual seat of kundalini

     


         Although the classical descriptions place heavy emphasis on
the awakening of kundalini in mooladhara chakra, there is a widespread
misconception that kundalini must be awakened there and made to travel
through and awaken all the chakras in turn. In fact, the seat of
kundalini is actually sahasrara. Mooladhara is only a manipulating
center or switch, like the other chakras, but it happens to be easier
for most people to operate this switch.

     

         Each of the chakras is independent; they are not connected
with each other. This means, if kundalini shakti awakens in
mooladhara, it goes directly to sahasrara, to a particular center in
the brain. Similarly, from swadhisthana the shakti passes directly to
sahasrara, from manipura it goes straight to sahasrara and so on.
Kundalini can be awakened in an individual chakra or it can awaken
throughout the whole network of chakras collectively. From each
chakra, the awakening shock moves up to the top of sahasrara. However,
the awakening is not sustained and those centers in the brain return
to dormancy. This is what is meant by the return of kundalini to
mooladhara.

     

         If kundalini awakens in an individual chakra, the experiences
which are characteristic of that chakra will be brought into
consciousness. This may also occur when one does the practices for an
individual chakra. For example, swadhisthana practices will raise joy;
manipura practices will increase the self-assertion; anahata
stimulation will expand the love; vishuddhi practices will awaken
discrimination and wisdom, and ajna practices will increase the flow
of intuition, knowledge and perhaps extrasensory abilities and so on.

     

         If the nervous system is highly aroused, we may have other
faculties opening because of the general arousal of the brain. This
probably results from stimulation of an area in the lower end of the
brain called the reticular formation. The function of this area is to
rouse the whole brain or to relax it, as in sleep.     

     

         The reticular formation and related areas have an inherent
rhythm which is responsible for our sleeping/waking cycles, but it is
also largely activated by sensations from outside - by light, sound,
touch, etc., and from inside via the autonomic nervous system. It is
the latter which seems to account for the more general arousal caused
by the kundalini practices and other powerful yoga practices such as
kumbhaka or breath retention.

     


    Arousal of different brain centers      Kundalini - energy or
nerve messages?

     


         There are a number of schools of thought as to what kundalini
really is. Many yogis say that kundalini is a flow of pranic energy
along an esoteric pathway (sushumna) associated with the spinal axis.
They consider that it is part of the flow of prana within the meshwork
of the pranic body and that there is no anatomical counterpart. Other
yogis relate their perceptions of kundalini to the flow of messages
along the nerve fibers. These arise in the networks of the autonomic
plexuses and ascend along tracts in the spinal cord to definite
anatomical centers in the brain.

     

         These schools of thought use different descriptions to convey
the experience of kundalini, but they all agree that the experience of
kundalini is a total psychophysiological event which centers around
the spinal cord. Within the spinal cord there is a very important
fluid, the cerebrospinal fluid. When, through practices such as
pranayama, awakening occurs in mooladhara chakra, this fluid gets
excited. We cannot really say what happens to it because even the
scientists are not exactly sure, but by studying the experiences of
kundalini awakening, one thing is apparent. When the cerebrospinal
fluid moves through the vertebral column, it alters the phases of
consciousness and this is a very important process as far as evolution
is concerned.

     

         It is the chitta or consciousness which undergoes evolution
in man. Chitta does not have a location point in the body, it is
psychological in nature, but it is controlled by the information
supplied by the indriyas or senses. While chitta is being constantly
supplied with information, its evolution is blocked, but if you
prevent the passage of information from the indriyas, chitta will
evolve very quickly. That is to say, if you isolate chitta from the
information being relayed through the eyes, nose, ears, skin and
tongue, chitta is then compelled to experience independence.

     

         When the cerebrospinal fluid is affected during pranayama,
the senses become dull and their messages are relayed to chitta very
slowly. Sometimes, when the cerebrospinal fluid is highly stimulated,
all sensory impulses are suspended and experiences take place within
the chitta. Sometimes these experiences are fantastic, you might see
light, feel the whole earth trembling or experience your body as if it
were as light as a piece of cotton. These and others are the
experiences of chitta as a consequence of the cerebrospinal fluid's
reactions.

     

         One world renowned scientist, the late Itzhak Bentov, put
forward the theory that kundalini is an effect caused by the rotation
of nerve impulses around the cortex of the brain during meditation. He
considered that this is caused by rhythmical pressure waves which
result from the interaction of the heart beat, breathing, and the
fluid inside the skull, thereby causing the brain to oscillate up and
down which stimulates specific nerve currents in the brain.

     


         Unlocking the storehouse of cosmic consciousness

     


         Although there are varying views about kundalini, one thing
is certain - kundalini has the ability to activate the human
consciousness in such a way that the person can develop his most
beneficial qualities, can enter a much more intimate relationship with
nature about him, and can become aware of his oneness with the whole
cosmos.

     

         All the great miracles of the remote and recent past, and the
ones yet to come, have sprung from what is known as the storehouse of
cosmic consciousness, the golden egg, the golden womb, the hidden
hiranyagarbha within the structure of the human brain. This particular
center in us is not sleeping or inactive, but it is unconscious, only
because we are not conscious of it. What came as revelation to the
ancient rishis, to Newton and Einstein and to many other great seers,
is existing in us also, but it came to their conscious plane while it
does not come to ours. This is the only difference between the
inspired artist and the common man.

     

         The aim of kundalini yoga is not really to awaken the power
of man, but rather to bring the power down to earth or to bring the
power of the unconscious or higher consciousness, to normal
consciousness. We have no need to awaken the consciousness, for it is
ever awake. We have only to gain complete control over our higher
conscious forces. By means of kundaiini yoga we just try to bring the
centers from mooladhara to ajna into operation so that the higher
knowledge will be gradually revealed to us.

     

         Today, man has mastered the material dimension, the energy of
prakriti and discovered the mysteries of nature. Now, through the
process of kundalini, man should become master of the spiritual dimension.




                   Chapter 5

     

     

     

            Methods of Awakening

     

     

     

         According to the tantras, kundalini can be awakened by
various methods which can be practiced individually or in combination.
However, the first method cannot be practiced, because it is awakening
by birth. Of course, it is too late for most of us to take advantage
of this particular method, but some of us may be instrumental in
producing children who have awakened kundalinis.

     

     

         Awakening by birth

     

     

         By a favourable birth, if your parents were highly evolved,
you can have an awakened kundalion. It is also possible to be born
with an awakened sushumna, ida or pingala nadi. This means that from
the time of birth your higher faculties will be operating either
partially or fully. If a child comes with partial awakening, he is
called a saint, and if he comes with full illumination, he is known as
an incarnation, avatara or son of God.

     

         If one is born with an awakened kundalini, his experiences
are very much under control. They take place in him right from the
beginning in a natural way, so he never feels that something
extraordinary is happening to him. A child with an awakened kundalini
has clarity of vision, a high quality of thinking and a sublime
philosophy. His attitude of life is somewhat unusual as he has total
detachment. To him, his parents were only his means of creation, and
therefore he is unable to accept the normal social relationship with
them. Although he may live with them, he feels as if he were just a
guest. Such a child exhibits a very matured behaviour and he does not
react emotionally with anything in life. As he grows he becomes aware
of his mission and purpose in life.

     

         Many of us may wish to give birth to a yogi or an enlightened
child but it is not such a simple matter. Every marriage or union of
parents cannot produce a yogi, even if the man and woman practice yoga
morning and night. It is only under certain circumstances that a
higher being can be produced. In order to usher a highly evolved soul
into this world, one has first to transform one's gross desires into
spiritual aspirations.

    It is very difficult to convince people of the west that a child
can be born in an enlightened state, because they have the moral
attitudes of a particular religion deeply ingrained in their minds and
their faith. For them, the union between a man and a woman is sin. If
you explain to them that a yogi can be produced as a result of the
sexual union, they say, "No! How can a yogi be born out of sin?"

     

         It is possible that у new generation of supermen will be
produced in this way. Through the practices of yoga you can transform
the quality of your genes. If genes can produce artists, scientists,
inventors and intellectual geniuses, then why not awakened kundalinis?
You have to transform the quality of your sperm or ova by firstly
transforming your whole consciousness. Neitheк drugs nor diet will
transform your genes, but if you change your consciousness, you can
then effect the elements of the body and ultimately change the quality
of the sperm and ova. Then you will have children with awakened
kundalinis. They will become the yogis and spiritual masters of the
house who set things right for you. They will say, "Mummy, you are not
the physical body." "Pара, drinking is no good."

     

         Those of you who enter married life should go into it keeping
in mind that the purpose is not just pleasure, or to produce
offspring, but to create a genius. All over the world, people who
marry for progeny should try for higher quality children.

     


         Mantra

     

         The second method of awakening kundalini is through steady
regular practice of mantra. This is a very powerful, smooth and
risk-free method, but of course it is a sadhana which requires time
and a lot of patience. First you need to get a suitable mantra from a
guru who knows yoga and tantra, and who can guide you through your
sadhana. When you practise the mantra incessantly, it develops in you
the vision of a higher force and enables you to live amidst the
sensualities of life with indifference to them.

     

         When you throw a pebble into a still lake, it produces
circular ripples. In the same way, when you repeat a mantra over and
over again, the sound force gathers momentum and creates vibrations in
the ocean of the mind. When you repeat the mantra millions and
billions of times, it permeates every part of your brain and purifies
your whole physical, mental and emotional body.

     

         The mantra must be chanted loudly, softly, on the mental
plane and on the psychic plane. By practising it at these four levels,
kundalini awakens methodically and systematically. You can also use
the mantra by repeating it mentally in coordination with the breath or
you can sing it aloud in the form of kirtan. This creates a great
potential in mooladhara and awakening takes place.

     

         Closely related to mantra yoga is the awakening through sound
or music - nada yoga. Here the sounds are the bija mantras and the
music consists of particular melodies corresponding to particular
chakras. This is a most tender and absorbing way of awakening.

     


         Tapasya

     

         The third method of awakening is tapasya, which means the
performance of austerities. Tapasya is a means of purification, a
burning or setting on fire so that a process of elimination is
created, not in the physical body, but in the mental and emotional
bodies. Through this process the mind, the emotions and the whole
personality are cleansed of all the dirt, complexes and patterns of
behavior that cause pain and suffering. Tapasya is an act of
purification. It should not be misunderstood to involve standing naked
in cold water or snow, or observing foolish and meaningless austerities.

     

         When you want to eliminate a bad habit, the more you want to
get rid of it, the more powerful it becomes. When you abandon it in
the waking state, it appears in dreams, and when you stop those
dreams, it expresses itself in your behavior or manifests in disease.
This particular habit must be destroyed at its psychic root, not only
at the conscious level. The samskara and vasana must be eliminated by
some form of tapasya.

     

         Tapasya is a psychological or psycho-emotional process
through which the aspirant tries to set in motion a process of
metabolism that will eradicate the habits that create weakness and
obstruct the awakening of willpower. 'I must do this but I can't.' Why
does this difference between resolution and implementation arise in
the mind of the aspirant? Why is it so great? It is due to a
deficiency of will; and that weakness, that distance or barrier
between resolution and execution can be removed through regular and
repeated practice of tapasya. Then the willpower makes a decision once
and the matter is finished. This strength of will is the fruit of tapasya.

     

         The psychology of austerity plays a very important part in
the awakening of man's latent power. It is not well understood by
modern man who has unfortunately accepted that man lives for 'the
pleasure principle', as propounded by Freud and his disciples. The
psychology of austerity is very sound and certainly not abnormal. When
the senses are satisfied by the objective pleasures, by the comforts
and luxuries, the brain and nervous system become weak and the
consciousness and energy undergo a process of regression. It is in
this situation that the method of austerity is one of the most
powerful and sometimes explosive methods of awakening.

     

         Here the manifestations are tremendous and the aspirant has
to face his lower instincts in the beginning. He confronts a lot of
temptations and the assaults of the satanic and tamasic forces. All
the evil or negative samskaras or karmas of many, many incarnations
rise to the surface. Sometimes fear manifests very powerfully or
attachment to the world comes with a great force. In some people,
sexual fantasies haunt the mind for days together, while others become
lean and thin, or even sick. At this juncture, siddhis can appear. One
develops extrasensory perceptions, he can read the minds of others, he
can suppress others by a thought, or his own thoughts materialize. In
the beginning, black forces manifest and all these siddhis are
negative or of a lower quality. Tapasya is a very, very powerful
method of awakening which everybody cannot handle.

     


         Awakening through herbs


         The fourth method of awakening is through the use of specific
herbs. In Sanskrit this is called aushadhi, and it should not be
interpreted as meaning drugs like marijuana, LSD, etc. Aushadhi is the
most powerful and rapid method of awakening but it is not for all and
very few people know about it. There are herbs which can transform the
nature of the body and its elements and bring about either partial or
full awakening, but they should never be used without a guru or
qualified guide. This is because certain herbs selectively awaken ida
or pingala and others can suppress both these nadis and quickly lead
one to the mental asylum. For this reason, aushadhi is a very risky
and unreliable method.

     

         In the ancient vedic texts of India, there are references to
a substance called soma. Soma was a juice extracted from a creeper
which was picked on special days of the dark lunar fortnight. It was
placed in an earthen pitcher and buried underground until the full
moon. Then it was removed and the juice was extracted and taken. This
induced visions, experiences and an awakening of higher consciousness.

     

         The Persians knew another drink, homa, which may have been
the same as soma. In Brazil and some of the African countries, people
used hallucinogenic mushrooms and in the Himalayan regions marijuana
or hashish were taken with the thought that they might provide a
shortcut in arousing spiritual awakening. From time to time, in
different parts of the world, other things were also discovered and
used, some being very mild in effect and others being very concentrated.

     

         With the help of the correct herbs, purified aspirants were
able to visualize divine beings, holy rivers, mountains, sacred
places, holy men and so on. When the effects of the herbs were more
concentrated, they could separate the self from the body and travel
astrally. Of course it was often illusory, but sometimes it was a real
experience as well. People were able to enter a state of samadhi and
awaken their kundalini. In this particular field of awakening, the
sexual instinct was completely eliminated. Therefore, many aspirants
preferred this method and have been trying to discover the appropriate
herbs for many centuries.

     

         With aushadhi awakening the body becomes still and quiet, the
metabolism slows and the temperature drops. As a result of this, the
nerve reflexes function differently and in most cases the aushadhi
awakening is a permanent one. However, the aushadhi method of
awakening is no longer practiced because it was misused by the
ordinary people who were neither prepared, competent nor qualified. As
a result, knowledge of the herbs was withdrawn and today it is a
closely guarded secret.

     

         Everyone is craving kundalini awakening, but few people have
the discipline and mental, emotional, physical and nervious
preparation required to avoid damage to the brain and tissues. So,
although no one is teaching the aushadhi method of awakening today,
its knowledge has been transmitted from generation to generation
through the guru/disciple tradition. Perhaps some day, when the nature
of man changes and we find better intellectual, physical and mental
responses, the science may again be revealed.

     

     

         Raja yoga

     

     

         The fifth method of inducing awakening is through raja yoga
and the development of an equipoised mind. This is the total merging
of individual consciousness with superconsciousness. It occurs by a
sequental process of concentration, meditation and communion;
experience of union with the absolute or supreme.

     

         All the practices of raja yoga, preceded by hatha yoga, bring
about very durable experiences, but they can lead to a state of
complete depression, in which you do not feel like doing anything. The
raja yoga method is very difficult for most people as it requires
time, patience, discipline and perseverance. Concentration of mind is
one of the most difficult things for modern man to achieve. It cannot
be undertaken before the mind has been stabilized, the karmas
deactivated and the emotions purified through karma and bhakti yogas.
It is the nature of the mind to remain active all the time, and this
constitutes a very real danger for the people of our time, because
when we try to concentrate the mind we create a split. Therefore, most
of us should only practice concentration up to a certain point.

     

         Following the awakening through raja yoga, changes take place
in the aspirant. He may transcend hunger and all his addictions or
habits. The sensualities of life are no longer appealing, hunger and
the sexual urge diminish and detachment develops spontaneously. Raja
yoga brings about a slow transformation of consciousness.

     

     

         Pranayama

     

     

         The sixth method of awakening kundalini is through pranayama.
When a sufficiently prepared aspirant practises pranayama in a calm,
cool and quiet environment, preferably at a high altitude, with a diet
only sufficient to maintain life, the awakening of kundalini takes
place like an explosition. In fact, the awakening is so rapid that
kundalini ascends to sahasrara immediately.

     

         Pranayama is not only a breathing exercise or a means to
increase prana in the body; it is a powerful method of creating yogic
fire to heat the kundalini and awaken it. However, if it is practiced
without sufficient preparation, this will not occur because the
generated heat will not be directed to the proper centers. Therefore,
jalandhara, uddiyana and moola bandhas are practiced to lock the prana
in and force it up to the frontal brain.

     

         When pranayama is practised correctly, the mind is
automatically conquered. However, the effects of pranayama are not
that simple to manage. It creates extra heat in the body, it awakens
some of the centers in the brain and it can hinder the production of
sperm and testosterone. Pranayama may also lower the temperature of
the inner body and even bring down the rate of respiration and alter
the brain waves. Unless you have practised the shatkarmas first and
purified the body to a degree, when these changes take place, you may
not be able to handle them.

     

         There are two important ways of awakening kundalini - one is
the direct method and the other is the indirect. Pranayama is the
direct method. The experiences it brings about are explosive and
results are attained very quickly. Expansion is rapid and the mind
attains quick metamorphosis. However, this form of kundalini awakening
is always accompanied by certain experiences, and for one who is not
sufficiently prepared mentally, philosophically, physically and
emotionally, these experiences can be terrifying. Therefore, although
the path of pranayama is a jetset method, it is drastic and is
considered to be a very difficult one that everybody cannot manage.

     


         Kriya yoga

     


         The seventh method of inducing awakening is kriya yoga. It is
the most simple and practical way for modern day man as it does not
require confrontation with the mind. Sattvic people may be able to
awaken kundalini through raja yoga, but those who have a tumultuous,
noisy, rajasic mind will not succeed this way. They will only develop
more tensions, guilt and complexes, and may even become schizophrenic.
For such people kriya yoga is by far the best and most effective system.

     

         When you practise kriya yoga, kundalini doesn't wake up with
force, nor does it awaken like a satellite or as a vision or
experience. It wakes up like a noble queen. Before getting up she will
open her eyes, then close them again for a while. Then she'll open her
eyes again, look here and there, turn to the right and left, then pull
the sheet up over her head and doze. After some time she will again
stretch her body and open her eyes, then doze for a while. Each time
she stretches and looks around she says, 'Hmmm'. This is what happens
in kriya yoga awakening.

     

         Sometimes you feel very grand and sometimes you don't feel
quite right. Sometimes you pay too much attention to the things of
life and sometimes you think everything is useless. Sometimes you eat
extravagantly and sometimes you don't eat for days together. Sometimes
you have sleepless nights and at other times you do nothing but sleep
and sleep. All these signs of awakening and reversion, awakening and
reversion keep coming every now and then. Kriya yoga does not create
an explosive awakening. However, it can bring visions and other very
mild and controllable experiences.

     


         Tantric initiation

     


         This eighth method of awakening kundalini through tantric
initiation is a very secret topic. Only those people who have
transcended passions, and who understand the two principles of nature,
Shiva and Shakti, are entitled to this initiation. It is not meant for
those who have urges lurking within them or for those who have a need
for physical contact. With the guidance of a guru, this is the
quickest possible way to awaken kundalini.

     

         There are no extraordinary experiences or feelings and
there's no neurosis; everything seems quite normal, but at the same
time, without your knowledge, awakening is taking place.
Transformation takes place and your awareness expands, but you don't
know it. In this particular system, awakening and arriving at
sahasrara are the same event. It takes just three seconds. However,
who is qualified for this path? Few people in this world have
completely transcended the sexual urge and overcome their passions.

     


         Shaktipat

     


         The ninth method of awakening is performed by the guru. It is
called shaktipat. The awakening is instant, but it is only a glimpse,
not a permanent event. When the guru creates this awakening you
experience samadhi. You can practise all forms of pranayama and all
asanas, mudras and bandhas without having learned them or prepared for
them. All the mantras are revealed to you and you know the scriptures
from within. Changes take place in the physical body in an instant.
The skin becomes very soft, the eyes glow and the body emits a
particular aroma which is neither agreeable nor disagreeable.

     

         This shaktipat is conducted in the physical presence or from
a distance. It can be transmitted by touch, by a handkerchief, a mala,
a flower, a fruit or anything edible, depending on the system the guru
has mastered. It can even be transmitted by letter, telegram or telephone.

     

         It is very difficult to say who is qualified for this
awakening. You may have lived the life of a renunciate for fifty
years, but still you may not get it. You may be just an ordinary
person, living a non-spiritual life, eating all kinds of rubbish
foods, but the guru may give you shaktipat. Your eligibility for
shaktipat does not depend on your social or immediate conduct, but on
the point of evolution you have reached. There is a point in evolution
beyond which shaktipat becomes effective, but this evolution is not
intellectual, emotional, social or religious. It is a spiritual
evolution which has nothing to do with the way you live, eat, behave
or think, because generally we do these things, not because of our
evolvement, but according to the way we have been brought up and educated.

     


         Self-surrender

     


         We have discussed the nine established methods of awakening
kundalini, but there is a tenth way - don't aspire for awakening. Let
it happen if it happens: "I am not responsible for the awakening,
nature is accomplishing everything. I accept what comes to me." This
is known as the path of self-surrender, and in this path, if you have
a strong enough belief that your kundalini will indeed awaken, twenty
thousand years can pass in the twinkling of an eye and kundalini will
awaken instantly.

     


         Effects of the different methods of awakening

     


         When the awakening of kundalini takes place, scientific
observations have revealed different effects. Those who have awakened
kundafini from birth do not register any emotional changes. They are
like blocks of wood. Those who have awakened kundalini through
pranayama have a great quantum of electrical charges in the spinal
column and throughout the body, and momentarily they could manifest
schizophrenically.

     

         Karma yoga and bhakti yoga are considered comparatively safe
and mild methods of awakening, but the tantric methods are more
scientific than the non-tantric methods, because in tantra there is no
scope for suppression or dispersion of energy. In non-tantric methods
there is antagonism - one mind wants it and the same mind is saying
no. You suppress your thoughts, you want to enjoy, but at the same
time you think "No, it is bad."

     

         I am not criticizing non-tantric methods. They are the mild
methods which do not bring you any trouble. They are just like beer -
you drink a little bit and nothing happens, drink four to ten glasses
and not much will happen. But tantric methods are like LSD, you have a
little and it takes you right out. If something is wrong, it is wrong;
if something is right, it is right.