Kundalini Rising

[Uma]

Ciqala and Supernova,

Just adding more to this very informed discussion - we all know bits and pieces and the combination is rounding out the picture...

There is a yoga for every chakra. So yoga preferences indicate what chakra you are predisposed to using in your life...where you live. Every chakra is also a dimension of existence, as well as a stage on the journey. People think chakras are just centers of energy and information but they are much more than that. It's where the idea of "seven heavens" (and "seven hells") comes from.

What I mean about Kundalini prompting the yogas that are custom made for the soul is that Kundalini is the Inner Guide (Holy Ghost, Inner Guru, Divine Self etc...) When you are doing hatha yoga and suddenly your body seems to be doing it all by itself, that is Kundalini doing it. When you are singing devotional songs and suddenly your voice is just a happening and you are watching and tremendous power and love is coming through your voice - that is Kundalini empowering Bhakti Yoga. If you are doing insight meditation and start to intuite all kinds of information...the kind that leads you to realizations about who you are and where you are headed (wisdom, divine inspiration)...that is Kundalini Yoga inspiring Raja Yoga.

With an awakened Kundalini, we are guided to use all the yogas OR only the yogas we as individuals need (because we may have dealt with issues in the past and don't need them anymore or because of our temperament and particular soul contract). It is not necessary to study "Kundalini Yoga" (I mean you can if you want to) but the Guide from within will guide you spontaneously and naturally.

The troublemaker is the limited ego, that lower self part of us that gets in the way... Attachment leads the ego to swing too far in any extreme, veering far from the middle way - that stillpoint or centre and is objective and balanced and in perfect harmony with everything around. This is when the Inner Guide isn't enough and we need a competent Outer Guide to help us interpret the promptings of the Inner Guide.

Some traditions refer to Kundalini as the Goddess, while some others treat it as energy.
While some say that Kundalini is necessary to reach enlightenment, some say you can get the siddhis or even go into samadhi without the need of Kundalini.

What do you think about these?

[Uma]

Originally Posted by Edy31

Some traditions refer to Kundalini as the Goddess, while some others treat it as energy.
What do you think about these?

Thanks Edy31 for your excellent questions and the opportunity for me and others to share this important knowledge...

Everything is energy.
But energy manifests in various states.
H2O can manifest as vapour, liquid or solid but it's all just water.
Energy can manifest as subconscious mind, conscious mind or physical gross energy.
The physical world viewed through an electron microscope is energy.
Energy disappears and reappears. It is never lost.
Where is it coming from? That leads to the big questions.

All these labels of energy are just classifications and subclassifications of the one energy.

Kundalini is the Sanskrit word for the power of God (in the East "God" is considered both male and female) manifesting in a human body. It manifests qualities that are female or yin in nature so it is often called "Goddess." It's just a word or label to focus the mind on a particular manifestation of the same energy that is here there and everywhere. The truth is "Thou art That" - so you are Kundalini and much more besides. To really give a "definition" of Kundalini would take a much longer explanation. Better to go seek the experience yourself - in a safe and natural way (read all the posts above)! If you are thirsty would you rather study all the properties of H2O or go and have a drink?

While some say that Kundalini is necessary to reach enlightenment, some say you can get the siddhis or even go into samadhi without the need of Kundalini.

Kundalini experiences are all spiritual experiences - and these have various levels or degrees of significance (some having more transformative/evolutionary value than others depending on who it's happening to, what stage they are at, why etc...). Some people don't have the same terminology to describe it as such, like St. Teresa of Avila who described her Kundalini journey through the seven chakras as a journey into the seven mansions of the house of God (which Caroline Myss is exploring). All references to "ladders" are references to the spine. etc..... Entire mystical traditions (and all mystical traditions have spin offs, such as religions) debate what's going on during the transformation of consciousness but basically we are all talking about fruit, even if some are talking about apples and others about oranges. That's why once you experience glimpses of enlightenment, you will recognize references to Kundalini awakening even in cultures that don't have a name for it no matter where on the globe or when in human history.

Definitely Kundalini awakening is necessary to reach enlightenment, whether you know it or not, whether you are aware of it or not. Evolution takes us all through Kundalini awakening eventually.

Siddhis and samadhi are symptoms, not the true or ultimate goal of Kundalini awakening.

One last piece of advice (sorry Xan and others - I could talk forever on this subject) - be careful of information that is based only on research and not your own first hand experience. Seeing is believing (sort of).

Thanks Uma,

I very much appreciate that knowledgeable people like you and Xan share your experiences and ideas on the subject, and I am sure a lot others do too.

In one of your previous posts I believe you said that

...awakening Kundalini, is an inspiring experience but the real challenge is to open your self up to new levels of consciousness... (sorry that I am not quoting you word by word)

Do you mean that acceptance is key, or is there more to this?

Thanks again,
Edy

[Xan]

Excellent information and viewpoint, Uma. Thank you.

Yes, subtle energies and consciousness are inherently linked. We have grown up with a materialistic science that views all energies as mechanical in their effects, occurring in blank space. New quantum science recognizes space is not empty but full of consciousness and continuously interacting energies. Kundalini is part of that unified field

Yes, kundalini and chakras are spiritual energies, whatever one calls them, and their activation is not always dramatic and intense. All our 'powers' come from an enhanced flow of energies, which is the natural state we are returning to in our re-awakenings.


Xan

[Emmalevine]

Originally Posted by Uma

Definitely Kundalini awakening is necessary to reach enlightenment, whether you know it or not, whether you are aware of it or not. Evolution takes us all through Kundalini awakening eventually.
.

Thanks so much for all the useful unformation Uma.

Just one thing - sorry if I sound thick - do you mean that everyone experiences Kundalini at some point even if not during one particular lifetime? So it might in fact take many lifetimes to experience any degree of awakening but we all do eventually? Is this what you are saying?

[Uma]

Originally Posted by Edy31

In one of your previous posts I believe you said that

...awakening Kundalini, is an inspiring experience but the real challenge is to open your self up to new levels of consciousness... (sorry that I am not quoting you word by word)

Do you mean that acceptance is key, or is there more to this?

Thanks again,
Edy

Hi Edy,

My pleasure...What I meant was that the purpose of the energy is to open you up to a new awareness (consciousness) yes. I said that because we tend to want to repeat really nice energy experiences when we no longer need to, because we have passed that stage. According to my teacher who has finished the journey, there are no dramatics once Kundalini reaches the crown, but indescribeable peace, love, joy....it's basically paradise on earth. You can check out his many videos and workshops on this link.

The key is being receptive. Sri Vasudeva says that a wet log of wood will not catch fire. It has to be dry. So too if we are full of desires for material pleasures, full of "ego" and little desire to know our own divine self, there is nothing to even attract that grace of awakening. And it is not enough to say, "Ok I want awakening, come and get me." The universe wants to make sure you really badly want it. So you need to prove it. And you do this by self-discipline, following some spiritual practice (it doesn't have to be Kundalini Yoga) and all the self effort it takes to show that you are sincere. When you are deserving you get what you want, as with anything in life. And the saying is, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. The purpose of the teacher is to transmit his or her energy to you (Shaktipat). The great ones are transmitting all the time but we can only receive it if we allow that energy in. So it's the idea of "Seek and you shall find," (desire) and "Knock and the door shall be opened unto you," (self effort or "God helps those who help themselves"). It's like one candle lighting another.

This story is as old as time. See Joseph Campbell's writings on the hero in mythology. It's all based on this. See link.

I have a nonreligious way of explaining it too for the atheists out there.

[Uma]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

Thanks so much for all the useful unformation Uma.

Just one thing - sorry if I sound thick - do you mean that everyone experiences Kundalini at some point even if not during one particular lifetime? So it might in fact take many lifetimes to experience any degree of awakening but we all do eventually? Is this what you are saying?

Yes Starbuck. Sri Vasudeva asserts that Kundalini is responsible for all spiritual experiences and that we are spiritual beings in a human experience in an evolutionary journey. This evolutionary journey is Kundalini's journey back to the Source. We are all Christs in the making, Buddhas in the making. Amazing isn't it? He says we are lions who think we are sheep because we've never met another lion.

But Kundalini awakening is very individual. If you had lots of dramatic awakenings in the past, you may not need them in this lifetime.

Look at the serpentine path of a river. Or the way the branches grow on trees. Look at the spiraling arms of our galaxy or the eliptical orbit of electrons in an atom. Kundalini energy is manifesting everywhere, everything is evolving - but we just call it by another name - Prana (Chi/Qi/Holy Spirit) - life force energy.

Only the human brain has the capacity to allow the incarnating soul to be self-aware and work in a conscious way with its own evolutionary journey. Otherwise life throws us around and we feel like victims, powerless and ineffective when in truth we have amazing power to co-create our evolution with our universe.

Originally Posted by Uma

Hi Edy,
The key is being receptive. Sri Vasudeva says that a wet log of wood will not catch fire. It has to be dry. So too if we are full of desires for material pleasures, full of "ego" and little desire to know our own divine self, there is nothing to even attract that grace of awakening. And it is not enough to say, "Ok I want awakening, come and get me." The universe wants to make sure you really badly want it. So you need to prove it. And you do this by self-discipline, following some spiritual practice (it doesn't have to be Kundalini Yoga) and all the self effort it takes to show that you are sincere. When you are deserving you get what you want, as with anything in life. And the saying is, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. The purpose of the teacher is to transmit his or her energy to you (Shaktipat). The great ones are transmitting all the time but we can only receive it if we allow that energy in. So it's the idea of "Seek and you shall find," (desire) and "Knock and the door shall be opened unto you," (self effort or "God helps those who help themselves"). It's like one candle lighting another.

Uma, thanks very much for the explanations.
What you say makes so much sense to me, I relate it very much to my own awakening.

Blessings!
Edy

[NightSpirit]

" It's just a word or label to focus the mind on a particular manifestation of the same energy that is here there and everywhere. The truth is "Thou art That"

Love it!! That sums it up for me with minimum word usage. You saved me a lot of words lol..thanks Uma