Monday, January 7, 2013

No pain, no gain.. don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I recently read a quote by a popular guru in a question and answer session. One of his disciples asked the guru about kundalini. Now, this guru is a famous personality in India, one that influences millions of people. Currently, you cannot talk about the spirituality/New Age scene in India without mentioning this person. The conversation went something like this:
Q: Guruji, what is Kundalini and how to awaken the Kundalini?
The Guru: Kunda means body, and Kundalini means the conscious energy in this body.
Whatever happens in meditations in the Advance Course is Kundalini itself. There is no other way to interpret Kundalini. If meditation happened, it would not be possible without the awakening of the Kundalini. If you went into meditation, it means the Kundalini has been awakened in you.
I was amazed, not only by the lack of knowledge of this well-known guru, but his touting of his 'Advanced Course' and reducing the definition of kundalini down to 'when you meditate, that is a kundalini awakening'. Here I sit, 6 years into a sometimes scary journey with profound insights, a writhing snake slithering up and down my spine, immense improvement in latent skills, becoming a better singer, photographer, a change in my outlook towards the world, a totally new person unfolding each day. I have undergone shock and trauma that rivals PTSD experienced by soldiers that have served in the worst war conditions, questioned my sanity, lived in existential terror for years.

Along comes his exalted holiness and gives this simplistic and downright misleading definition of the phenomenon. A lot has been said on this blog about what a K awakening brings, but I think there is a need to mention how to spot a fake and what a kundalini experience is not.

Anyone that quotes scripture and describes the kundalini process based on what's in the sacred texts, but has no explanation or personal stories about their own experiences should been viewed with suspicion. Likewise, people that remain exactly the same person without a fundamental shift towards spirituality, and more importantly, people that do not go through a phase of trauma, disorientation and a cathartic cleansing of the body and mind have not experienced a Kundalini awakening.

Our images of the divine are invariably the beatific, calm, sublime and angelic notions of a benevolent God. You just have to look at the pictorial depictions of Jesus or the Buddha to confirm this notion. In rare instances, depictions of wild, scary goddesses like Kali or a bellicose Shiva might stray from this image, but the pseudo-gurus usually play to the beatific, peace-loving guru image that they are expected to play. It makes them tougher to spot. They have memorized the scriptures and have a witty line memorized for every question. If you have undergone an awakening, however, these gurus are laughable and stand out like three-dollar bills.

Kundalini can be a scary, mean, energy that does not give a hoot about you, your ego and its notions about reality.

"I am an atheist who likes Richard Dawkins" may sound cool at cocktail parties, but gets thrown out the window when the energy takes over and starts to overhaul the entire being, starting with the fake rationalizations, the false ideas of self that we hold dear, the explanations we give ourselves to hide our skullduggery. There is nothing politically correct or gentle about it.  It is a benign energy, but when it does its work on us, our ego sees it as a horrible experience because the ego resists death. It dearly wants to hold on to its ideas.

As seen from the perspective of the dying ego, the energy is demonic. A surgeon operating on you to remove a gangrene makes you bleed, there is a lot of pain, but the eventual result is the healing of the body, leaving the person healthier. What the kundalini energy does is very similar. It removes the harmful gangrene attached to our souls, our ego. The things we keep hidden in depths of our mind, even from ourselves, (especially from ourselves) are laid bare. The first few months (or years, depending on how long you resist) are the worst. If you have spent a lot of time building up an ego, pretending to be someone you are not, your ordeal will be pure purgatory.

In fact, this is the real purgatory. The term refers to the bridge, the throat chakra, that separates the earthly realm (the body) from the higher chakras (the head). The concept of purgatory, in the metaphysical sense, are the visions seen by those undergoing a Kundalini awakening who are stuck in the in-between stage. The cleansing of past trauma, sins, wrongdoings stuck in the psyche as blocks are cleansed by the energy as it passes up and down the body, giving way to brief glimpses of the absolute (heaven) as the energy passes unimpeded to the third eye or higher, activating the pituitary and pineal glands, releasing anandamide, giving rise to mystic experiences as the left and right hemispheres underwent neuroplastic reconstruction.

In the state of mystical hyper-awareness, the trauma and past 'sins' are churned up and as the energy burns through them (literally, a burning sensation as the energy passes through the spine) each is seen vividly. This is the experience of hell. The journey from earth to hell to heaven is the span of the vertebral column. The number 33 has a significance in metaphysical literature of disparate traditions. Jesus 'died' at 33. 33 is not only a numerical representation of "the Star of David”, but also the numerical equivalent of AMEN: 1+13+5+14 = 33. In Kashmir Shaivism, the universe is explained in 36 tattvas or principles. The first 33 are in the realm of divinity in an expanded form, the last 3, shiva+shakti = paramshiva, when the yin (right brain) and yang (left brain) unite to become the absolute (crown chakra). In Hinduism, there are 33 levels or koti of Gods. Each level has its own deities. (The word koti also means the number 100 million in Sanskrit and Hindi and it is mistakenly said that there are 330 million Gods in the Hindu pantheon).

Why the emphasis on the numbers 33 and 36? Simple. There are 33 bones in the vertebral column. The energy takes the human being through the expansion of the absolute, a reverse evolution or involution back to unity. The 'death' of Jesus at 33 is the death of the human and the subsequent unity with the absolute. 33 steps on the way to heaven, then a purging of the impure or demonic in purgatory (ego loss) and entry into heaven. There are countless tales of wars between Gods and demons, one of the most famous being the Hindu tale of Samudra Manthan, where Gods and Demons churned the ocean (consciousness) using a snake tied to a mountain, Meru (Meru-danda is a term used for the spinal column). It yielded several gifts, gems, powers and the poison halahal, which Lord Shiva held in his throat, turning it blue. A reference to the throat chakra and the poison or toxic blockages and trauma that have been cleansed by the energy. The detailed account can be found here.

Now, all this magical, mystical stuff, wondrous phenomena, revelation that solves ancient riddles and explains allegorical tales from mythology, summed up as “when you meditate, you awaken kundalini” by this charlatan. Sad state of affairs. Kundalini fundamentally changes you as a person. The old you does not exist any more. The new you is a higher ascended being (if the process is allowed to unfold properly). Politically correct ideas do not come into play. Lofty ideas about 'helping society' take a back seat to just keeping your back from breaking into two and keeping your sanity intact.

I have run into all kinds of people during my awakening. The worst kind are those that have made a commodity out of spirituality, to be bought and sold in hour-long sessions of chakra therapy, energy work, past life regression and assorted mumbo-jumbo. Some of the worst advice I have received is from these hucksters. Kundalini is a rare phenomenon and there are very few people that can offer genuine advice and help out a person suffering in the depths of 'hell'.

On the other hand, there is 'modern' medicine, that has relegated this incredible experience to 'kundalini syndrome' in the pages of DSM IV, the reference manual for mental health professionals, to be treated as a pathological condition, to be 'cured' with powerful anti-psychotic drugs, doing immense damage to the poor person struggling to cope with an extraordinary occurrence.

There is no gentle way of easing into this experience. People who prepare all their lives to receive this blessing, through a regimented set of practices, breathing exercises, yoga, a diet of fruits and vegetables, cleansing rituals may never receive the blessing, and people that are totally unprepared and clueless about it stumble into it as I did, through a spontaneous awakening as a byproduct of drug use, meditation, tantric sex, while delivering a baby — only to wander through life looking for answers. The rare individual that prepares for this through yogic practices and receives it under the auspices of a true guru maybe one of the few that can ease into the subsequent process with minimal trauma, but most aren't that lucky. The disoriented, terror-filled stage which makes the person look and sound 'crazy' is almost a given.

Any guru that does not warn you about this is doing you a huge disservice. It is better to read true accounts of people that have undergone a real awakening, people in the modern era, not ancient sages. It will save a lot of time and may even provide simple, common sense answers like my previous description of terms like hell, heaven and purgatory as seen from a 21st century perspective, but with the aid of mystical experience. Stay away from the hucksters. I thank JJ for starting this and other blogs and forums so people with a genuine experience can inform and educate others.

48 comments:

  1. After his Kundalini awakening in 1938, Gopi Krishna searched throughout India for persons who had undergone the experience that might be able to shed some light on his own awakening. He found almost no genuine first-hand knowledge among so-called realized masters, but he did uncover a few everyday, normal people — cab drivers, litter bearers, beggars — with actual experiential knowledge. This in India, a country reputed for its knowledge of all this spiritual.

    Which goes to show you that it's useless, as Vivek so ably and movingly describes, to seek knowledge on Kundalini from those who have no first hand experience.

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  2. Thanks JJ. Some good books and websites that helped me out a lot...
    JJ's books and forum, goldenflowermeditation.com
    Kundalini - From Heaven to Hell by Ganga Karmokar
    www.biologyofkundalini.com
    Gopi Krishna's books
    Energies of Transformation by Bonnie Greenwell
    Books by Lee Sanella and those by the Grof duo
    Kundalini energy and Christian spirituality - by Philip St. Romain
    These contained real accounts that mirrored mine, real advise at the most fundamental level that helped me survive my ordeal

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    1. What a great post Vivek. I think that this is the real shift that is occurring, the identification of those spiritual people who have made great claims without any experience. In the Piscean age the emphasis was on knowledge which is why so called gurus went to great lengths to learn spiritual literature and parrot it in order to appear enlightened. This age is different. The emphasis is on experience and the authority will be given to experience and not knowledge.
      I was watching a you tube clip of someone who is very famous at the moment, has thousands of followers. An old man came to him and it was obvious to me that he was struggling with something. He said to him 'Kundalini, is important to wake up' and this guru said 'no' can you believe it. I was so incensed that I wrote a comment but had my eyes opened when I saw the extent of devotee devotion in terms of the hostility that came back to me. But I suppose in the absence of any direct experience devotion to a guru is the next best thing. It is only those of us who have been lucky and blessed enough to have the experience that can spot these fake gurus which is why this blog is so important. Thanks for a great post...keep them coming..

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  3. Thanks EoA. Your posts have been great. You are right, we are moving to an age of direct experience. I love this blog specifically because all of us going through the same experience can compare notes and offer support and knowledge to each other. The problem is that anyone that dresses up like a monk, in saffron clothes and necessary accoutrements that make them look like a 'legit' guru and spouts cliches is successful in duping thousands of people. I am sure this blog will be instrumental in creating awareness that will help at least a few people stay away from such 'false prophets'. Peace.

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  4. Hi,

    I'm not surprised to read this. If you carefully see these guru's, their attitude, speaking and behaviour clearly shows that their consciouness is no better than joe blog's. Their ego is very high, they are operating using ego mind and anger at their finger tips..!! so don't expect any better..!!

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  7. You've hit the nail right on the head. The kundalini awakening was far from pleasant and it has taken years to understand it in a rational sort of way. One of the things I noticed is how isolated I was even though I felt and still do feel a profound connection to every aspect of the universe.

    Here's a link to a book I wrote about a person who has a Kundalini awakening. It's fiction, but some of it based on actual experiences:

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiral-Vortex-ebook/dp/B009SPTYDW

    Also, here's a link to my blog: http://godsvacation.blogspot.com/

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  8. Oh, by the way, I interviewed Dr. Lee Sannella back in 1978 for an article I wrote about his book; Kundalini Transcendence or Transcendence.

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  9. Michael, I guess the isolation is part and parcel of the process. I have accepted it. It is still a challenge to be in social situations. The feeling of 'one-ness' with everything is also ever present and grows deeper by the day. Will read your blog. Glad to meet another on the same path.
    Vivek

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  10. Hi Vivek,

    It's great to know someone else who has gone through this experience. Kundalini is a gift, there's no doubt about it. But the rose bush is full of thorns, and both roses and thorns help us hold onto the "Stone" that Ida and Pingala revealed to us.

    Oh, as for Dr. Sennella, the book I interviewed him about in 1978 was Kundalini, Psychosis or Transcendence and not what I posted above. Sorry.

    Michael

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  11. Hi Vivek,
    This post connects me to some of the experiences I have been having for the last 2 yrs but not sure whether it is related to Kundalini.I see a violet and green color when I meditate and have been suffering from headaches,body pain and blanking of mind with no associated medical cause.There is a sense of lethargy and disconnect from need of material things.Just wanted inputs on whether these are any way related to Kundalini awakening

    Thanks and Regards
    Subbu

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  12. Hi Subbu,
    These could be symptoms of an awakening but I can't be sure based on just those. Typically, there is an unmistakable sensation of energy rising up your spine and moving up and down like a slithering snake. You may be in an early stage of the awakening and those symptoms might follow. Another symptom to watch out for is the body performing involuntary kriyas, twisting into yoga positions. I suggest adding yoga and pranayama practices to the meditation, if you aren't already doing them. As I explain in my latest post, all three are required for smooth passage of the energy through the body. If indeed you are on the verge of an awakening, those practices will be very helpful.

    http://www.kundaliniconsortium.org/2013/09/raja-yoga-preparing-body-mind-for_6.html

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    1. I need to add that you should make sure you are physically able to perform the yoga poses and they do not add to your discomfort. Only then, you should add yoga to your practice. The same goes for pranayama. If either of those make you dizzy and increase your level of discomfort, then they should not be practiced.

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  13. Hi Vivek,

    Thanks for the note.Yoga seems to be fine but i am not comfortable with Pranayama as already I feel some restlessness inside and pranayama only makes me more restless

    Thanks and Regards
    Subbu

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  14. You might trying walking Pranayama: you burn off excess restlessness at the same time you practice correct breathing techniques.


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  15. i am a 34 yr old guy and i had a kundalini awakening about 8 years back.my kundaini has already reached the brain without any blockages,but iam suffering a lot bcos of this awakening, i feel a head bursting pressure in my head, have problem sleeping working and thinking. can u tell me how long wud this go on. i feel a fogginess(negative energy) in my left side of my brain and have problem thinking
    analysing,my soul body is misaligned with my physical body and causing whole lot of problems , can u suggest any remedy and how long wud this go on? iam literally burning in hell day n nite.also 4 years back i was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and iam sure its bcos of kundalini...
    kindly reply back soon.

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  17. My book, Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time, covers the topic you raised in your comment, namely how Kundalini, awakened when I was also 35-year-old, used its life force energy to conform my physical body to what you call "my soul body," or what I call the blueprints for my perfect body, which I believe are stored in DNA memory until Kundalini is awakened.

    One thing immediately apparent to me was I could NOT control or fight the process. I had to surrender to it. It knows what to do. My mind, my ego wanted to stay in control. Luckily, I had a guide present who made me understand that I had to surrender.

    Are you fighting the process or have you surrendered?

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  18. Hello,

    I go through the same problem. Lots of pressure builds up in the head. Using anulom-vilom helps a lot. this is a pranayam breathing technique where you breathe through one nostril and exhale through the other and then do it reverse. You need to empty the body of all the air, forceful exhales and then do the alternate breathing technique. Try different variations and see how it helps. inhale through mouth and exhale through one nostril then another.

    Of course, meditation helps. If you are listening to any harsh music that causes the energy to get agitated, like it does in my case, please stop and try listening to calming music. Stay away from environments with loud noise. Learn to witness all thoughts and remember they are just thoughts, if you are having a lot of mental chatter that is being churned up by the energy.

    I take the following supplements for calming the mind. Cal-Mag, N-Acetyl Cysteine, 5-HTP, DMAE and gingko biloba. A habit of cathartic writing is helpful. This involves writing down all the thoughts that come to your mind, in a stream of consciousness style. Just put down everything that comes to the mind without thinking of grammar or handwriting. just get it out.

    I can't tell you how long it will go on.Once the energy takes over, as you know, there is no control from you side. It takes over and goes about doing it's work. Our job is to align with this process and help it clear the blockages or get out of the way as it proceeds with the task.

    All of those things have been helpful for me. The energy is trying to eliminate a lot of junk and when it gets cleansed, your mind can perceive those thoughts before they are discarded. You need to help the energy with the process and use the methods described above. This might help.

    If you read the biologyofkundalini.com website, you'll understand that kundalini awakees are often misdiagnosed with mental disease like schizophrenia. In case of kundalini people, it is just a passing phase that subsides. It is not mental illness. However, to make sure that you go through this stage without having any effects of mental illness, you have to allow the process to work smoothly and allow it to do it's job. All thoughts that arise must be witnessed without attachment.

    Vivek

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    1. here is the link to the biology of kundalini website that explains the connection to schizophrenia-like symptoms that are a part of the awakening process

      http://biologyofkundalini.com/article.php?story=KundaliniandSchizophrenia

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    2. "The perturbation of everyday consciousness reduces the filtering system and presents a scale of consciousness that spans from schizophrenic to mystic. This transnormal impact of consciousness if interpreted adequately by the rational mind is then called mystic revelation. If however the rational mind is off kilter then ones interpretation is called schizophrenic.
      When we penetrate beyond everyday consciousness we are both more animal-essential and more Godlike-omnipotent. We experience a range and subtlety of interconnectedness that would be simply frightening and crazy-making to our normal socio-conditioned repressed mode of being. Thus we only get to sense the true nonlocality of consciousness during peak events—either awakenings or breakdowns. That is not to say that our super-senses are not there in ordinary life, it is just that we simply filter out the information in order to cooperate with the dumbed down operational level that society adheres to. There is an enormous “leveling” system that goes on unconsciously in communities where noone is “allowed” to be more awaken than the others, and we are subtley or overtly punished if we are.

      It seems like embeddedness (attraction/aversion) in duality leads to nonduality. For if were not “affected” by the symbols, myths and archetypes that we use to give “story” to our lives, no psychic tension would arise to propel us out of the vice of “normal” consciousness. As the subtle-psychic levels arise we become hyper-affected by the imagery and our story of duality and this builds up such a psychic tension that a kundalini awakening is sparked off.

      After an awakening we become psychosomatically differentiated from the images, symbols, myths, stories and personal identity that we were so involved in before. Thus consciousness has become separated from its contents. Perhaps this is the difference between a schizophrenic and a mystic. The mystic has become emancipated from the persuasions of psychic content, while the schizophrenic has become lost in them."

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  19. very good blog ...i am going through the same changes and i can feel i am changing inside out ...all my trauma is coming through , anger and what not...pretty crazy period. But yes what i have learned is you simply cannot control energy and she is in compete control of you...lol. Doesn't matter what you do, the work goes on...if you block worse it gets and feel miserable. Best way is to surrender with full faith and don't think about anything and just be in present. That gives complete freedom to energy to do the cleanse.

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  20. thanks Vivek for giving me courage and strength. Love . T

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  21. Good article, I'm in this hopeless situation, like many others disorientated or even lost people who have diagnosis schizophrenia. This is my social status. I feel threatened all day, and can rest only sleeping. Something is always active, it's fear to take toxic antipsychotic drugs, for prevention. I was in big real trouble and it's was side effect of treatment. So kundalini's healthy activity was blocked many years.
    Darrel Irving described In book ''KUNDALINI a modern view , serpent of fire' those problems still unsolved.
    What modern says guru on awakening isn't so easy to swallow.
    I must check if in Poland is diagnosis "kundalini syndrome"

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  22. Thank you for this, I bought a book years ago when I started noticing K 'symptoms'. It's called 'the path to radical freedom'.......... incredibly misleading title. And I didn't know that K was actually in the DSM, thank you for sharing! I don't dare tell my psych that I've been experiencing this. Truthfully, his advice on how to deal and cope with 'hell'ish events have been very good though he has no idea what I'm really going through. He'd probably be pretty pissed if he found out.

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  23. Dear Vivek,
    though this was written years ago, i still want to answer.
    I like your article very much, and you are absolutely right, it is hell going through it, experiencing it!
    As you are describing it, I´m right in it, with all the physical, mental and emotional rollercoaster symptoms, without knowing if it ever will get better!
    At the same time i know that I could be done with it right now, by just "Letting go"! But, as you said the EGO doesn´t want to die, it holds on to its ideas with all its strength, your strength! Yes, purgatory!
    At the same time, the Guru is right as well! What wants to rise is just the basic energy of life and the universe, which in its nature is good, creating and positive. We, i, you are creating the pain and purgatory ourselves, by putting up streetblocks, preventing the energy parading through us!
    Kundalini doesn´t cause the hell, we ( our EGO) do it. so, in the end it is inevetable, the clash, confrontation.
    Lots of strength in Letting Go, M

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  24. Dear Vivek,
    though this was written years ago, i still want to answer.
    I like your article very much, and you are absolutely right, it is hell going through it, experiencing it!
    As you are describing it, I´m right in it, with all the physical, mental and emotional rollercoaster symptoms, without knowing if it ever will get better!
    At the same time i know that I could be done with it right now, by just "Letting go"! But, as you said the EGO doesn´t want to die, it holds on to its ideas with all its strength, your strength! Yes, purgatory!
    At the same time, the Guru is right as well! What wants to rise is just the basic energy of life and the universe, which in its nature is good, creating and positive. We, i, you are creating the pain and purgatory ourselves, by putting up streetblocks, preventing the energy parading through us!
    Kundalini doesn´t cause the hell, we ( our EGO) do it. so, in the end it is inevetable, the clash, confrontation.
    Lots of strength in Letting Go, M

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  25. Why tho!? Why does any of this have to happen? Why can't this kundalini bull shit just bother the people that seek it, why cant they have it??! Their the ones that want it. I don't want this. I hate this!!!! I just want to be normal, I just want to go back. I'm just so tired and freaked out all the time. It's like I take tiny doses of acid every day. I can feel my brain has physically changed, I can feel it, I can feel everything.. :(

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    1. Kundalini is an evolutionary driver; in and of itself, it is not malevolent. Trying to stop, or mitigate, it is not possible. It appears that some spontaneous cases like yours are difficult to bear in one way or another. There is no why or wherefore.

      Upon activation, Kundalini takes inventory of the body and nervous system, relays this information back to the brain, then begins to send healing energy to various parts of the body that need it. There is a regulating mechanism that normally adjusts the amount of energy released. In spontaneous cases, this mechanism is unfortunately sometimes out of whack.

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  26. I am having 11 years of kundalini awakening and even now the body continues biological and physiological transformations, but not without any pain ... but this is a good, positive pain and I am looking at this as an indicator of changing physiological settings and it's my body "language" which informs me about. I have excellent health condition. All my blood parameters are in the optimal range, yet pain come and go. However, these are not profound, unendurable, extreme pain like in many biological illnesses. Pain is not a cause, but an effect of something and that something is very important. One proof in favour of the positive kundalini based pain is that ... after the pain is gone I am actually feeling improvements, I recognize the changes in my physiology and overall I am feeling much better then before that particular pain. So, this is a positive pain. Negative pain is the one which make you feel worse and after is gone, even with medication, the body has no improvements (but I must emphasize only in cases of something chronic). So people which has a chronic illness, obviously they have a chronic pain, which come and go (with medication) and as time goes by the illness is advancing and the body is deteriorating and the pain worsening. But maybe I am partially wrong... I can't formulate a theory for all possible cases and situations. Maybe this is one possible explanation.

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  28. We view the world through our own filter. If someone describes an experience in a way that is different from how we have experienced it, there must be something wrong with them, or they dont know what they are talking about. There was a time when I read about how a guru from India described kundalini itself as perfectly calm, smooth, peaceful even. I wondered at first what this guru was smoking. Over the years, what was an intense turbulent energy has become much smoother. It has all corresponded perfectly with the blocks I have seen fall away....the stored fear, anger, rage, etc. There is a reason, and we think its got to be the kundalini (couldn't be me, oh no...).

    Some teachers have students awakening calmly and with less intensity than those more spontaneous and unprepared awakenings. Whats the difference? Im guessing its awareness and focus, which the teacher provides both in practice and presence. It never occurred to me to smile as I was beaing eaten by the glowering gorilla kundalini became when I experienced this mythical "ego death"....but that gorilla always changed the moment my inners changed. It wasnt the K that was dark, it was me. And all of this to say what everyone says....and knows...but which builds grace and peace and is a kind of salvation from all that we unwittingly make hard by resisting which is: surrender.

    Having said that, Im a Westerner. I am not a joiner of any school, Im just interested in what works and chasing away distortion and myth to reach the good stuff.

    But sometimes you just have to rant...and maybe that guru is completely out to lunch. Its an industry over there: you do not and cannot awaken the kundalini sakti without diksha! You must have a guru...which is what so many from India tell me in their comments on my blog. I thank them because, its India. Thousands of years of tradition. Comparitively speaking, we Americans just got off the boats.

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  29. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but that last paragraph is nonsense. Do you think Kundalini has a geographical basis? Or a sectarian basis? If you do think that, then you need to educate yourself further.

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    1. From a previous Kundalini Consortium post:

      "There are no cultural, no language, no geographical barriers to activating Kundalini. No religious prerequisites either. An individual can do it if he/she is a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu. Or none of the above — a person without religious affiliation. Once I realized this, I said to myself, Hey, this isn’t religion; this is science, albeit a kind of self-empiricized science that most people won’t recognize.

      "Unfortunately, one of the constraining factors around Kundalini is that, once an experience like this (a Kundalini activation) happens, one looks around for verification and support, and the only place one finds it is in Hindu, Taoist, and/or Buddhist texts. So the initiate throws in his/her lot with Eastern religions...for a while, at least. But if he/she starts to examine the issue as I have over the past 40 years since my kundalini activation, he/she sees that what happened to him/her could happen to anyone, should they follow the method correctly. And he/she begins to see the scientific ramifications of his/her experience, begins to realize Kundalini is neurobiology."

      For complete article: http://www.commonsensekundalini.com/science_spirituality/kundalini-and-god.html

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  30. Yes!!! Very good text THANK YOU!!!!!! Especially this passage:
    People who prepare all their lives to receive this blessing,
    through a regimented set of practices, breathing exercises,
    yoga, a diet of fruits and vegetables,
    cleansing rituals may never receive the blessing,
    and people that are totally unprepared (LIKE ME!!!!!)and clueless about it stumble into it as I did, through a spontaneous awakening as a byproduct of drug use, meditation, tantric sex, while delivering a baby — only to wander through life looking for answer.

    Now i have constant back pain and even made a roentgen AND an MRI (magnetresonance) and my spine is suddenly crooked. I have constant pain. Sometimes so much that i lay on the floor crying. Cant sleep. And that now since 2012 December. I can just hope that it gets better with time or i have to constantly medicate myself with opiates against that pain. Because this pain is HARDCORE. Cant sit long, cant lie down comfortably, i am just so exhausted.....

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    1. Oh man. I know this was 3 years ago. But whenever I have a problem in my life I wait for the energy to come up and ask it a question. Such as "my kundalini..." or "my energy..." and a lot of the time the answer unfolds within my life. Recently, it has taken about a day to unfold, it happens in just life experience, or thoughts, or dreams and usually just makes sense.

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    2. Or I ask it to give myself a healing or to friend or someone that needs it.

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  31. Nice blog! Thank you! I just wanted to add my experience with Kundalini, because my relationship with mine has been very good. I was raised Catholic and had no idea such a thing existed until it happened. The only text I had to refer to to match my experiences was Carl Jung's books. I then tried matching what I felt to what I could find on the topic, and Kundalini is now what I understand it to be.In conversation I call it 'the thing in me'. I had the snake dreams as it was awakening (a glorious gold and white snake, huge with big cartoon-like eyes), and I have felt it in my body ever since. It stuck under my ribs for a while, cleared out a space for itself in my upper chest, and then moved up. Its primary abode is my heart area. Mine was awoken as a result of severe emotional/spiritual trauma from dealing with the most important relationship of my life, my relationship with my man. My relationship has required me to give up my ego needs so I can keep my relationship. Nothing is more important to me than him, and my Kundalini does care about that because since it was awoken, it has helped me with my relationship. My Kundalini won't let me get away with anything related to my man. It will haunt my dreams when needed, and it has inflicted physical pain to get me to stop any harm to the relationship. It responds to my talking to it. It has even 'talked back to me' by pushing certain emotions through me that I could understand what it meant. I am thankful to my Kundalini. It is helping me keep my relationship and help me from making stupid mistakes. I fear its wrath more than anything the world can throw at me, but I know that it is helping me so it's ok. Anyway, just wanted to share that. It doesn't have to be a harsh experience. If it is awoken spontaneously from something truly important to your soul, and you can recognize that it has a mind of its own and respect it, and do what it advises, the relationship with the Kundalini can br nice. You never feel alone when you have one.

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    1. cf with another example of "emotional/spiritual trauma" in The Biology of Consciousness: Case Studies in Kundalini ~ http://amzn.to/2uOj1fG

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  32. Reading this post is like food for the soul for someone like myself going through this internal never ending nightmare. It's been seven and a half years, and some days I wonder what I could have done in a possible previous life to deserve this. The glimpses of freedom, the sky, are more rare these days. But like gasping for air, I appreciate even what ever I can get. I'd love to read more articles that talk from personal experience. I find that spiritual teachers don't often talk of the challenges and difficulties along the way, instead always repeating there is no separate self or terms like oneness. Great article

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  33. I don’t remember the year my Kundalini rose but I do remember Kundalini rising. It was like and earthquake of light rising to the top of my head scaring the crap out of me.

    It’s 2018(33 y/o) and I haven’t had a job since 2013(28 y/o). Matter of fact I was fired for my awakening. It caused me to have disabling social phobia; I cannot not work with people at all. And even if I had no social phobia I have endless brain fog that makes me look like a psychiatric patient. Matter of fact I am a psychiatric patient since I’ve been to a psyche ward for a whole week because of Kundalini: I lost my girlfriend of 7 years, ALL my friends including my best friends that I’ve had for over a decade. No job, no friends and even families turned against me because I’m mentally disabled now.

    As far as meditation I’ve opened the sahasrara chakra and had my self realization. It was really nice to experience the truth but now that realization is complete I’m still going to through detox of physical ; emotional and mental toxins. Kundalini is trying to purify me all the way down to my cellular constructs. As far as I’m concerned I thought about suicide everyday for years. I haven’t had sex in 5 years and in my day I was a stud with many lady friends... I sure hope the reward for kundalini is coming soon! This is not fun at all!

    P.S- also, I like the new bliss on command part that you get after self realization though; I able to get into a blissful state anywhere at anytime like I’m stoned off marijuana for example. Somebody could be screaming and yelling at me and I can quickly get into a blissful state that stops me from reacting negatively. Matter of fact fact the blissful state kundalini endows is with stops us from doing wrong in general ..

    Anyway, namaste and peace to all who are suffering��

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  34. Interesting to read your views shared. I agree to most points pertaining to your experience and interpretation of samudra manthan and the puragatory phase of awakening.

    May I ask where can someone going through this find support and guidance especially learn something to balance and deal with real world out there..

    Will be much grateful if you could share helpful advice.

    Also I did look up on the Gurus reply on Google and it is very easy to know whom your referring to.

    Did you by chance attend any of the Gurus courses or satsangs. Do you have any personal experience with the Guru that you can shed light on ? While you mentioned that the Guru talks about Kundalini in a casual manner, would it be fair to label him fake because of one statement ? There could be several other instances where the Guru might have offered something very authentic otherwise what could justify or explain the millions of followers ..are we assuming here that not even one of those millions might have some genuine experience of Kundalini that got resolved and balanced ?

    Really Keen to know..thanks for sharing your insights and bringing up a platform where like minded people exchange views.

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