Kundalini

Kundalini is known by many names – the universal energy, the great cosmic mother, the creative force of the universe. But the simple truth is that Kundalini is the highest potential of every individual, the ultimate expression of creative genius, the great possibility of each individual’s inner awakening.

The sleeping kundalini is a metaphor for the unawakened potential inside us. Without first awakening the kundalini, it is impossible to awaken the pratyekatma chaitanya, the individual consciousness.

The awakening of Kundalini opens you up to the greater Reality that exists beyond our limited individual selves. It empowers you to harness the cosmic powers to live more complete, fulfilled and blissful lives. It marks the rite of passage for the human to evolve into the Divine.

Etymology

In Sanskrit, ‘Kunda’ refers to the concave cavity in which the brain, resembling a coiled and sleeping serpent, nestles. The word ‘kundalini’ refers to the Shakti or power when it is in its dormant potential state. And when it is awakened, man enjoys divinity, the actual communion between the two great forces within all beings, communion between Shiva and Shakti.

Introduction

Since time immemorial, human beings have suspected that they have more energy and intelligence than they are able to realize and express in their day to day life, more than what their parents have taught them and what the society at large has led them to believe.

It is their belief in a higher potential that is at the root of all seeking and all creativity. There are some rare beings who express their higher energy and intelligence in its purest form as spiritual energy to enrich others – they are the Enlightened beings of the world like Buddha, Mahavira, and Sri Krishna.

Life, the very perception and response to it becomes totally different when Kundalini Shakti is awakened. Once activated through initiation by an Enlightened Master, this Kundalini Shakti leads to extraordinary experiences and enlightened lifestyle.

“When you awaken your Kundalini energy with the right knowledge, right context, right understanding and the right technique, right process, it can give you anything you want! Kundalini brings the space of positivity to you, space of possibility to you, space of leadership to you, space of Enlightenment itself to you! Kundalini is Kalpataru; it gives anything you want, and the space of not wanting anything!”

Benefits

Kundalini Awakening gives people extraordinary powers like telepathy, teleportation, materialization and more! Just because one does not have access to these extraordinary powers, they need not think these powers do not exist. Kundalini Shakti can directly make one more productive, more aware, more conscious, intuitive, ultimately rich not only in the realm of wealth but also in health and relationships. It will take away the low idea people carry about themselves. It takes away the lower self image they carry about themselves. It shows them their possibilities. It shows them the power of intuition. It awakens their intuition. It awakens their intelligence. They forget tiredness and boredom. They do smart work; not just hard work and with this smart work, naturally, they see that they are more active, alive, productive in their job, in their business, in their day-to-day life, resulting in deep contentment and ful llment. The internal conflicts and struggles they carry, disappear.

How integrated they are with life, how authentically they express who they are, how they carry responsibilities and how they enrich others and themselves in their life, all these aspects move to a higher level. The way they think about themselves, the way they think about others, the way they project themselves to others, the way they ful ll what others expect from them goes up to a different plane altogether. They become a new being that feels complete with life, aligning with its flow. This is the gift showered to the world by Paramahamsa Nithyananda: permanent Kundalini Awakening. He guides seekers worldwide on how to nourish the flowering of Kundalini Shakti, practices to support it, signs of its occurrence, and how the Master’s presence enhances it, speeding up the pace of physical, mental and spiritual evolution.

When Kundalini Shakti ascends the spine through the Sushumna nadi (the main channel of subtle energy), it results in a huge energy influx into the brain. As the Kundalini Shakti flows from the thalamus to the cortex in the brain, it sets up a powerful energy loop within the brain, generating coherent alpha and gamma waves, and awakening the dormant, non- mechanical parts of the brain which have never been used before, the part that is hardwired for higher possibilities, higher consciousness. The brain’s mechanical parts on the other hand, take care of mechanical functions of the body – movement of blood, movement of the intestines, movement of the heart, movement of lungs, the mechanical basic survival needs. It is the non-mechanical parts of the brain that are endowed with extraordinary powers. Thus the direct result of this awakening of energy in a person is that they also experience the same highest conscious coherence which an enlightened being expresses. With increasing levels of coherence, the whole brain comes alive, turning into a superconductor of conscious energies that heal, empower and transform lives.

Scriptural references

Yogini Tantra

As soon as the Kundalini awakens, the person’s inner grandeur and glory can be clearly perceived. In the yoga-vedanta tradition, a vast and precise science encompassing thousands of techniques exists to awaken and utilize this enormous latent potential. In Vedic India, this knowledge was accessible to all. As a consequence, today’s ‘mystical’ sciences like levitation, teleportation and telepathy were common knowledge among the people, and enlightenment was the natural state of being.

Living in complete harmony with the flow of Life itself, these people found joyous expression as creators and leaders in the outer world and enlightened mystics in the inner world.

In course of time, our increasing reliance on the faculties of logic and reasoning led to the suppression of these mystical faculties, and this sacred science retreated from homes and monasteries into the few secret recesses of the yoga-vedanta tradition in the Indian sub-continent, where it is preserved in its authentic form to this day.

Kaivalya Pada of his Yoga Sutras In these scriptures, Patanjali lists the different ways to attain the siddhis resulting from the awakening of Kundalini.

Janma aushadhi mantra tapah samādhijāh siddhayah (4.1)

The mystical powers can happen by birth, or through medicine (drugs/ herbs), mantras, spiritual discipline or through samadhi.

For the seeker, Kundalini can be awakened in different ways: through intense yogic practices lasting a lifetime or longer; through rare and sometimes dangerous medicinal preparations, through the tireless repetition of certain mantras, or through deeksha – the direct transmission of spiritual energy by an awakened being. Of these, deeksha is the most effortless (and certainly the most beautiful) way to awakening.

One can better appreciate the incomparable gift of deeksha from the Avatar, when one learns about the spiritual effort otherwise necessary to purify the nadis and experience siddhis.

The authoritative yoga scripture Hatha-Yoga Pradipika by Svatmarama declares:

caturaśīti-pītheshu siddhameva sadābhyaset । dvāsaptati-sahasrānām nādīnām mala-śodhanam ॥1.41॥ ātma-dhyāyī mitāhārī yāvaddvādaśa-vatsaram । sadā siddhāsanābhyāsādyogī nispattimāpnuyāt ॥ 1.42॥

Of the 84 asanas, siddhasana should be practiced, which purifies the 72,000 nadis. The yogi who constantly contemplates on the Self, eats moderately and practices siddhasana for 12 years achieves the yoga siddhis.

Today, Paramahamsa Nithyananda is gifting these siddhis to hundreds of thousands of sincere seekers, who need to do nothing more rigorous than spend a few hours in His presence in the space of restful awareness!

The Vedic calendar reveals that our planet is poised for the next big leap in Consciousness. With humanity becoming ripe for transformation, what the world needs today is the compassionate presence of Avatars and enlightened kundalini adepts who can guide humanity into a safe and natural global Kundalini Awakening.

The human body and brain are already wired to experience a complete Kundalini Awakening - and yet, in our generation, how many have the superbly trained body and mind that can withstand the rigors of such a powerful explosion of Consciousness?

That is why the instance of Kundalini Awakening is always, ALWAYS a pure gift from the spiritual Guru.

He takes a triple responsibility: first, to stir awake the enormous spiritual power of Kundalini by the resonance-pressure of His own powerful superconscious vibrations; second, to guide this energy safely through the subtle neural pathways of the spine towards our crown center, and above all, to shield and protect our fragile body and mind, that might otherwise almost certainly be devastated by this sudden influx of Cosmic force.

The Shiva Samhita declares:

Supta guruprasadena yatha jagarti kundali Tatha sarvani padmanibhidyante granthayo’pi cha (4.12)

When the sleeping Kundalini is awakened by the Guru’s grace Then are all bondages pierced (broken)

Ascent of Kundalini

When Kundalini ascends the spine through the sushumna nadi (the main channel of subtle energy), it results in a huge energy influx into the brain. As it flows from the thalamus to the cortex, Kundalini sets up a powerful energy loop, awakening the latent, unused, non-mechanical parts in the brain, mainly the limbic system and neo-cortex.

The limbic system is that part of the brain which is associated with memories linked to emotions. It is also that part of the brain which corresponds largely to the Third Eye or ajna chakra, which is the 6th or the final chakra in the body (the 7th chakra known as the sahasrara chakra or brahmarandra is not exactly a chakra, but a subtle opening allowing the union of the kundalini energy with the Cosmic energy). The opening of the ajna chakra allows for the unclutching of memories from its associated emotions, allowing for ‘Completion’ or making peace with life.

With increasing levels of coherence, the whole brain comes alive, turning into a super-conductor of conscious energies that heal, empower and transform the person’s life. Enhanced awareness levels, greater creativity and extraordinary abilities start to express, like levitation, teleportation and materialization. This influx of superconscious energy also visibly reverses aging, and improves immunity to disease.

Kundalini is not just a blind force like electricity. It is a conscious spiritual power of cosmic proportions that knows where to go and what to do. Once awakened, Kundalini rips through millions of years of our human conditioning, ring brand new neurons in our brain, opening up unknown strands of our DNA, flooding us with superhuman energy, retracing our mental blueprint, wiping out our most obstinate karmic patterns, and catapulting us to a whole new level of existence. By awakening the Consciousness of each individual, Kundalini opens the doors to a global revolution of Consciousness.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says: Time and space does not bind Kundalini energy. Time and space serve Kundalini energy.

For those of us who are merely watching, the extraordinary effects of Kundalini Awakening can seem like nothing short of a miracle – or a hoax.

But Paramahamsa Nithyananda says: There are no miracles. All miracles are perfectly scientific happenings, based on natural laws that we do not yet understand.

To awaken your Kundalini energy, you don’t need to have faith in me. It is not a prerequisite for me to awaken your Kundalini energy. Maybe, for you to retain the extraordinary experiences and expression of Kundalini energy, you may need to trust some of my words and practice some techniques and teachings, that’s all. Otherwise, faith is not a prerequisite at any level. Actually, nothing is a pre-requisite! It is all just a casual play – a leela, that’s it!

Paramahamsa Nithyananda compares the body to an instrument where the spine is like three tubes sitting in a bowl of mercury. The root energy centre called the Muladhara Chakra is like this bowl full of mercury. The mercury can be equated to reproduction energy, the energy which can give birth to life which is in the root centre. Whether one is a male or female, their root centre has the energy to create life. Their spine is like three hollow tubes, three nadis, Ida, Pingala, Sushumna, inserted into a mercury bowl. The root of the spine is in the mercury bowl which is reproductive energy, located at the top of the tube is the Third Eye, the Ajna chakra. When life breath, prana, is intensely sent, with high pressure, through the two side tubes, through both the nostrils, Ida and Pingala, the mercury gets through the centre tube and reaches the top. With the pressure created with the intense infusion of prana energy through the center tube, the Sushumna, the Kundalini Shakti, the life energy, reaches the Crown centre and blossoms. The Ajna chakra opens.

Methods of Kundalini Awakening

Kundalini Shakti can be awakened by thousands of methods. Paramahamsa Nithyananda usually uses four methods to awaken the Kundalini Shakti in everyone from a newborn child to elders.

1. With the right breathing and postural processes like yoga, pranayama and kriyas, the body is prepared. From ages, the Supreme Source of all energies and powers, AdiYogi Sadashiva has given the clear science of Kundalini AwakeningSM in Vedas-Agamas, which has been followed and expressed by the great Enlightened Ones such as Patanjali, Abhinava Gupta, Natha Yogis, etc.

2. By giving the right principles, the right knowledge about life, mind, body, the tattvas, principles, the mind is prepared through new thinking focused on the four powers: integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching.

3. With proper initiation through the intense infusion of prana energy as described above, prana energy is transmitted by the touch given on the Third Eye, Ajna Chakra, Kundalini is awakened.

4. Just by a mere will the transmission of energy can be done wherever people sit. Paramahamsa Nithyananda uses all four methods to awaken Kundalini Shakti, so that the awakened Kundalini energy stays eternally, permanently, forever in your being. It becomes part of your bio-energy and bio-memory forever. When an enlightened being awakens your Kundalini current, you will not have any negative side-e ects.

“We can light our lamps only from an already burning fire.” - Paramahamsa Nithyananda

Kundalini Awakening by the Avatar: Scientific Studies

To put to rest all speculation that what we are seeing might be hypnosis or mesmerism, a series of scientific tests were performed on Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s disciples as well as willing participants during a meditation retreat, under strict medical surveillance and controlled conditions (which will be discussed at length in a later section of this volume).

The results were astonishing.

In the first such experiment, within seconds of Paramahamsa Nithyananda awakening their kundalini energy, brain functions in the subjects leapt up the scale, instantly recording sharper focusing abilities, faster parallel processing and higher alertness levels. Most significantly, while their brain was going into overdrive,the subjects themselves remained in a state of complete relaxation comparable with the states of deep meditation or sleep.

But the strongest proof of the effects of Kundalini Awakening comes from the post-activation studies conducted on these individuals. These studies revealed that elevated levels of cognitive and mental function endured in all the subjects for weeks after the initial activation. Long term post-activation benefits were found to include better learning abilities, more effective problem-solving and decision-making, and even apparently unrelated benefits like enhanced interpersonal relationships.

Implications

The implications of these findings in a vast range of areas like depression therapy, functional enhancement, mind-coaching, memory-training, personal development, stress-management and drug-rehabilitation are inestimable. If a brief spell of Kundalini Awakening is actually impacting normal people in such powerful and permanent ways, can we imagine the impact of sustained awakening on the spiritual course of our planet?

In the hands of advanced spiritual adepts like Paramahamsa Nithyananda, Kundalini Awakening might be well on its way to becoming the ultimate natural steroid for the human race, triggering and sustaining powerful positive changes in virtually every area of our lives.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says: “Kundalini Awakening has to be first experienced in the presence of the Master who has mastered this science. Techniques like Completion or meditation are like medicine - you can get them over-the-counter. But Kundalini Awakening is more like a surgery - it has to be done as an in-house process.

Understand, Kundalini Awakening amplifies whatever is inside you. So, if your Kundalini is awakened when you are still carrying a lot of incompletions and suffering in your system, those incompletions will become a reality in your life, which will be dangerous and dif cult to manage.

It is like this: if you start running or jogging after being bitten by a poisonous snake, that poison will spread all over your body. Likewise, after drinking an energy drink, jogging will cause that energy to spread all over your body. In the same way, if there is an incompletion inside you and your Kundalini is awakened, that would not be good for you.

Only when you are under the guidance of the Master (Guru), either directly seen by him physically, or through two-way video-conferencing (nayana deeksha), can he take responsibility for your safe Kundalini Awakening, without any after-effects or side-effects, misuse or abuse of the Kundalini energy in you. During the 21-day Inner Awakening® program, you can safely awaken your Kundalini and reap all the bene ts, without any dangerous side-effects.”

However, Paramahamsa Nithyananda also observes that the physiological and psychological changes triggered by Kundalini Awakening, however radical they may be, cannot match the silent transformation of Consciousness, which is what Kundalini memories are memories that have become so deeply embedded Awakening is actually about. When the kundalini is awakened, all in our system that they can recreate the physical symptoms the old mental and physical patterns are broken, destroyed. A new accompanying these emotions, like those experienced during higher pattern, a conscious pattern, is evolved, which is completely strong fear or anger. Muscle memories are also responsible for our based on freedom and liberation. He declares time and again: performing repetitive mechanical actions that do not require our

This cognitive shift, this understanding, this realization that you are beyond body and mind, this realization that Bio-memories are memories that are locked into our cells. They you are a conscious existence which is eternal - this is carry hereditary memories, past-life memories and memories the most remarkable effect of Kundalini Awakening.

Even as these extraordinary happenings are taking the scientific community by storm, Paramahamsa Nithyananda Himself lives and moves as one among us, teaching, healing, initiating and working tirelessly to preserve the mystical science of Kundalini, one of the innumerable spiritual treasures of the millennia-old Yoga-Vedanta traditions of India that might be humanity’s only hope for liberation in the centuries to come.

Kundalini awakening and physiology of thoughts

Contrary to what was once believed, the brain is not the only center where our neural responses are stored. There is now growing evidence that our thoughts - which are no more than electrical signals whizzing along our neural pathways - are stored in our cellular and somatic memory, resulting in permanent changes in the way our body and mind in uence each other.

Somatic memory includes three types of memories: engraved memories (engrams), muscle-memories and bio-memories.

Engrams are bio-chemical changes that occur in our neural tissues as the result of a powerful or persistent reaction to any situation. An engram is not an ordinary memory, but more like a photograph of a situation or event, complete with the emotional response that accompanied it. Engrams exist just below the level of our consciousness, in uencing our emotional responses without our knowledge.

While engrams affect our emotional responses alone, muscle-memories are memories that have become so deeply embedded in our system that they can recreate the physical symptoms accompanying these emotions, like those experienced during strong fear or anger. Muscle memories are also responsible for our performing repetitive mechanical actions that do not require our conscious intervention, like typing or cycling.

Bio-memories are memories that carry hereditary memories, past-life memories and memories that have become part of the very fiber of our current personality through constant repetition for years. Both physical and mental patterns can become part of our bio-memory. Bio-memories have the power to trigger physical actions like ght or ight. Mental states like depression and anxiety can quickly become part of our bio-memory if we are not careful. Bio-memories are not only unconscious, but are usually untraceable to any particular source incident.

How does a thought become an engram or a bio- memory?

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says:

A thought is simple. It rises and falls. It does not leave a mark inside you. For example, if a thought comes to you - I would like to have a coffee - that is just a thought, not a pattern or engram.

But if you ful l this thought every time by the action of drinking coffee, after a few days it becomes an engram. That is, you start craving for that particular action - you start feeling, how I wish that I could have a coffee!... Engram is like owing water... it creates a certain movement in your mind.

After some weeks, you actually start feeling afraid that if you don’t get your coffee in the morning every day, you will have a headache! This means that this thought is solidifying like water becoming ice - it has become part of your muscle-memory.

After one year, if you keep pursuing this habit, one day if you don’t get your coffee in the morning, you will ACTUALLY get a headache! When a pattern becomes so solid that it starts affecting you physically, it is called bio-memory. Bio-memories are tough like crystal and are very dif cult to break. Can Kundalini Awakening alter our thought- patterns?

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says:

Yes and no.

Our thoughts carry a miniscule physical weight that can be a drag on our bodies. Everybody has experienced how we feel heavy on certain days, and light as a feather on certain days - even though our physical weight remains the same! This shows that our thoughts and engrams can actually pull us down. Kundalini Awakening or initiation have the power to temporarily free us of our binding engrams.

But if the negative patterns continue to be encouraged, they can return and persist even after Kundalini Awakening. The rst initiation is an inspiration, a glimpse of a different space, an encouragement to return again and again to that high-energy space. With repeated initiation, we are constantly exposed to that elevated space. Gradually, our muscle-memory starts enjoying this space, and it becomes part of our bio- memory.