Kundalini Splendor

Note: I will be going to S. F. for the holidays, and so will be off line until the first week in January.


In his classic work "The Doors of Perception," Aldous Huxley discusses what he calls "the reducing valve." By this he means the ways in which we (of necessity) filter out the mass of information we are constantly receiving from all the planes of existence so that we can live comfortably in this world. The result is good, in that we can remain focused and function in the "real" world, but at the same time this capacity leads us to fall into the "cultural trance" of consensus reality. We assume that that which we perceive is the only reality, and we tend to dismiss reports of other kinds of awareness as false.

However, today, many of us are breaking through the barrier of limited perception. Our "reducing valves" are themselves being reduced. We are breaking through in myriad ways, finding the truth in our own hearts, listening to what our own intuition is telling us.

Kundalini is a major instance of breaking through the barriers. Those still living in the "old paradigm" tend to ignore us completely or consign us to the realm of the "weirdos." But the fact is that there are more and more of the "weirdos" on the loose, and many of us feel that the time is approaching when we will together reach critical mass--when the limits of consciousness will be broken wide open--we will then see with fresh eyes, and hear with new ears. We will not be afraid, for we will realize that this new self is who we are.

I just spoke with Patricia on the phone. (Many of you remember Patricia, who created this blog for me. And you will recall that she is now so limited in her movement that she cannot walk unaided, yet she travels and participates in life with amazing zest and enthusiasm.) She swims daily. She told me that recently she had swum a mile--a goal she had set for herself, but had not expected to achieve until some time in future. But for some reason, she felt she could do it yesterday, and so she simply did it. Afterward, she realized that she had been limited by the expectations of her mind as to what was and was not possible, and that once she transcended these assumptions, she could go beyond her assumed limits.

What could we not do if we breached the limits set by mind? What could we not achieve together if we in unison "broke the mind barrier"? There are many among us already leading the way.

I hope this awareness will set the tone for the new year, as we advance together into this new age. Yes, the world seems to be collapsing all around, but the old structures are giving way to a new paradigm, a way of being we cannot yet know in detail.
But it will happen. We can do it--Yes, we can! In fact, we are doing it already.

Here is a poem many of you know, but I am publishing it again, as it seems appropriate at this time:

Don't Make Lists

Every day a new flower rises
from your body's fresh soil.
Don't go around looking
for fallen petals
in a fairy tale when you've
got the golden plant
right here, now,
shooting forth in light from your eyes,
your awakening crown.

Don't make lists or explore ancient accounts.
Forget everything you know
and open.

(from Marrow of Flame)

So let the watchword for the coming age be Open, Open, allow it to happen. Indeed, this is the time and we are the people we have waited for. How lucky we are!

Radiant blessings to all.

Dorothy

Being Well Used

Peggy Wrenn

I want to be well used

by the world, used up

in the end, having given

all of myself.



I want not to be used

by other people who

see my urge to service

as something they

can own.



I welcome goddesses

whispering how to

tease these apart,

see the way through

into a new world.

--

Listen, listen.
Can you hear those honey drops
fall from the mouth of God?
Can you feel the rose
opening in your spine?
Whatever you were before,
now you are only this.
***************

Does anyone else
feel this love?
Like the breath
of a thousand rose gardens
dreaming they are petals
crushed in God's hand.

(from "A Cloth of Fine Gold"--
Dorothy Walters)



Recently, I was in a gathering when someone mentioned Teilhard de Chardin. Teihard was, of course, one of the first to set forth certain ideas about the evolution of consciousnesses. Darwin had presented the notion of evolution of the physical body. Now Teilhard went further, pointing out that there had also been a progression in the development of the mental as well as the spiritual body.

Building on the work of others, Teilhard posited four stages in the development of the earth:

First, there was the "geosphere" that contained inanimate matter without life or consciousness.


Next came the "biosphere" in which life developed, though as yet it lacked self-reflexive consciousness.

Third was the appearance of the "noosphere", the realm of self-reflexive thought and the development of spirit through love.

Teilhard saw love (the impulse to unite) as the driving force behind all the various stages. He says of love:

"Love ...is...the direct trace marked on the heart of the element by the psychical convergence of the universe upon itself."

He sees that that primary impulse behind all the stages, including the physical, is the uniting of particle with particle, element with element. All things converge to make a new creation--atoms become molecules, molecules become tissues, tissues become bodies, and mental (spiritual bodies) converge to become even greater wholes.

For Teilhard, this process culminates in what he calls the "Omega Point," the ultimate center and goal of the entire process (possibly what we would call God or ultimate reality.)

He says further: "Love alone is capable of uniting human beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them in what is deepest in themselves."

Teilhard was a scientist/priest whose views were not popular within the Church. The latter did not allow his work to be published during his lifetime. Finally, after his death in l951, his writings became available, and in 2009 the Pope praised his work.

Today, Teilhard is recognized as one of the founding fathers of the New Age Movement (in its best sense.) He brought forth new ideas on consciousness itself, and made us realize that the Darwinian view is in fact incomplete, dealing as it does with the material realm only, and ignoring the role of spirit (love) in shaping humanity's course.

Recently, Anne Hillman has published "Awakening the Energies of Love" that offers the notion of a "spiritual sphere" based on love itself as the next phase of human development. www.annehillman.net

I have not yet read this book, but Anne tells me that the love she refers to is in fact similar to and perhaps the same as Kundalini--something palpable, real, felt in the body--not merely an abstract concept.

We are now in the season of remembrance of love, of a time to renew our vows, to reach out in love to all around us and those far distant. Again and again we are receiving the message that love itself is our only hope, our single means for preserving both ourselves and our planet. Globalization is occurring at a faster and faster pace. We are witnessing our own inclusion into a planetary unity beyond anything known in the past. We must love one another or perish.

For me,Kundalini is the ultimate expression of love. It is the feeling, the radical experience, the evidence and self-verification. It is the inner assurance that there is indeed love in the cosmos, that this love-field is where we exist and our source and destination. My hope as always is that Kundalini will embrace each one in its own loving arms and bring us into total harmony with ourselves and with that which is greater than any one of us individually.

Love freely and love often!

Dorothy

(Image from source)

Buddha

You came and spoke words
to them
that they did not
understand.

They thought it was
a thing
to be held,
grasping at air.

They thought it was
a journey
to be measured,
a thousand steps
to God.

They bowed down
before others
sitting
on thrones above them,
again and again,
counting the
moves
to nirvana.

Meanwhile,
you waited,
kept your soft smile,
watched them
as they searched
for the gift that was lurking
like a waiting blossom
in their own
hearts.

Dorothy Walters
December 19, 2009

God's Wounds by Mark Nepo

Through the great pain of stretching
beyond all that pain has taught me
the soft well at the base
has opened, and life
touching me there
has turned me into a flower
that prays for rain. Now
I understand: to blossom
is to pray, to wilt and shed
is to pray, to turn to mulch
is to pray, to stretch in the dark
is to pray, to break surface
after great months of ice
is to pray, and to squeeze love
up the stalky center toward the sky
with only dreams of color
is to pray, and finally to unfold
again as if never before
is to be the prayer.

Mark Nepo

The Surprise

It says, I am not ready for this.
It says, you have always been
ready for this.

It says, I don’t know where
this is coming from.
It says, you know exactly where
this is coming from.

It says, I don't know how
to do this.
It says, you have always known
how to do this.

It says, what will happen
when you leave.
It says, I will never leave.
I am your body, brain,
and blood,
I am the One of all.
I am who you are.

Dorothy Walters
December 17, 2009

ations from Unmasking the Rose by Dorothy Walters
December 3, 2009 by charlessides

Unmasking the Rose A Record of Kundalini Initiation by Dorothy Walters

Pp 95-6 We are brought into a deceptive ego/identity so that we may learn what we are not. How do we discover that which we are?

All the world is seeking something it has lost, though most do not even realize what it is they seek. They look to things—gadgets, machines, items—or to superficial human encounters, or pointless occupations, to fill their lack. What they seek is of the spirit, but they, denying spirit, cannot comprehend its absence, or ways to recapture it…

Almost nowhere do they learn that God is Self, spirit in matter, reality in temporality. Nowhere do they find how to be lifted in an absolute sense, to experience actual transcendence.

Pp 154-5 One of the great errors of the spiritual path is to assume there is a goal, an ultimate state to be reached, a final ‘enlightenment.’ For most of us (the few highest beings such as Buddha being exceptions) enlightenment or final realization does not take place—nor should it.

If we were "enlightened"-completely filled with presence, light_we would immerse ourselves continuously in our bliss, letting it waft through us perpetually until we were pure fields of rapture. To experience this, we would need to take leave of this world and exist as mere clouds of joy.

To do what is needed at this time, we must retain our contact with the world of practical reality. We must live in the world, experience its involvements, its drama, its fluctuations of pain alternating with pleasure, in order that we may together move forward in our common progress.

The gurus and swamis who promise enlightenment as a permanent state to be achieved do us a disservice. The aim is to move constantly forward, progressing as our nature permits, in cooperation with universal forces, neither hurrying nor dallying on the path. "The path is the goal." Indeed.

I am indebted for these quotes to Charles Sides, whose blog at http://charlessides.wordpress.com/ offers many well chosen quotes from major writers. I was honored to find some of my words published there, and copied them for this blog, since it is difficult for me to copy text straight from books. Charles is himself a "solitary realizer," who has explore the major issues of spiritual awareness at a deep level. His blog is well worth your time.

Again, the words from "Unmasking the Rose" were written many years ago, but they still express my views. There are many contradictory views by ancient and modern writers about the role of Kundalini in enlightenment. Some insist that Kundalini awakening is essential to enlightenment, others contend just the opposite. Some systems, such as Vipassana, ignore Kundalini entirely (except, perhaps, as a sensation of no greater importance than any other.) Frankly I think if such a practitioner ever felt the full power of major Kundalini awakening, they might change their views, and acknowledge it as a as an event of supreme importance.

I do not know what to say about the Kundalini as a prerequisite for enlightenment, but I would have to confess that once that pivotal event occurs, one indeed feels closer to Source and to an understanding of the relations of self to the ultimate than ever might have been the case previously.

Pp 216-7 “Enlightenment occurs when we (the inner being) abdicate the awareness and concerns of the local self and merge completely with the larger universal consciousness. This union can be achieved only through the abandonment of ordinary thought process, and entry into ecstatic awareness of being as such (bliss). This is accomplished through the release of the Kundalini energies, which travel through the system, opening the body to its fullest receptivity, and culminating in the embrace of Shiva/Shakti at the crown. Then, and then only, one knows one’s essence and source—divine, intoxicating, universal energy. At that moment, the rest is irrelevant.

“For an instant, one transcends the polarities. Now comes a choice: to remain ‘forever’ in blissful union-or to return to the world of the antinomies, with its conflicts and bitterness, its sufferings and confusions.

“The latter is the only valid option in our time. One comes back to this world in order to do one’s bit, to aid the project one feels is in progress, to participate in the global shift of consciousness so many describe. One thus hovers between the two worlds, in a difficult posture. One is now open to the cosmic forces-as energy, as delight, as ultimate being (for one returns many times to the original moment of awakening), but one also travels daily among the turbulence or apathy of the 'unawakened' world.

“There one is subject to constant buffeting and assault-and must struggle to maintain composure and equilibrium amid the strife. Sometimes one almost envies the unawakened—those whose nerves and intellect are bounded and secure by their state of unknowing. But in one's heart of hearts, one knows one has chosen the right course, has made the only possible choice.”



The above quote is from "Unmasking the Rose: A Record of a Kundalini Initiation," my spiritual autobiography that was published in 2002. This book is based on the journals I kept from my awakening in l981 until about 2000. "Unmasking is a mix of "telling the story" and reflective passages on the underlying meaning of the experience. Although this passage was written many years ago, I still agree with what it says. I would only add the following reflections:

When we are young, many of us destined to follow a deep spiritual path feel quite alienated, as if we did not belong to this world. Often we are the children huddled in the corner, reading a book, not entering into the rough and tumble play of our peers,not really feeling any kinship with them and their typical childhood interests. I think this time of social isolation serves a significant purpose--to sensitize our awareness, to make of us a "finer instrument" if you will. Wordsworth says of this time in his life that he was "not of this time, not of this place." The cause of this sense of separateness could be anything from racial background, physical impairment, a more gentle nature--whatever saves us from what is sometimes called "the cultural trance." Already, we are living in a world apart from our fellows, and know that in some essential way we are "different."

Then, after profound awakening, we are again "separated" from the group. We have undergone an experience so extreme, so foreign to most of our associates, that we cannot reveal it, lest it be misunderstood and we be labeled as "weird." it is only after we have absorbed and assimilated our experience that we feel grounded enought, settled enough, to take our message to the world and share with others the hidden truth of our journey, so that they in turn may benefit from what has happened in our lives and thus progress more easily through their own "rite of passage."

This is why I think it so valuable to share our most precious and intimate features of our journey with others, rather than keeping such material locked forever in the vault of one's own psyche.

December 11, 2009

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Greetings and Namaste!

December is a remarkable month for celebrating many of the ways that the Infinite has revealed itself to humanity. We just finished celebrating Rohatsu, the Buddhist holiday marking Buddha's enlightenment which led him to share with all the noble path to boundless compassion and freedom from all suffering.

Soon we will celebrate Hanukkah, the Divine revealing itself through the miraculous burning of the oil lamps giving proof of the Divine Presence.

We'll also celebrate the ancient solstice holiday marking the Light's return overcoming darkness and remaining true to its promise to eternally uphold that dharma.

Shortly after that we will celebrate the birth of Jesus and the boundless gifts of Love, peace and forgiveness that the Father gave to the world through Jesus as another living model of what we are capable of giving.

Such Divine abundance! Countless are the ways that the Divine reveals itself and is born anew for our hearts and minds to delight in. Clearly the message across all traditions is give and give and give and give, and keep giving because you are a portal for the infinite, inexhaustible generosity of the Divine, regardless of what name you call that One.
Gifts
Enjoy!

Caring for elderly Stand By Me
This is a wonderful YouTube video of musicians from around the world playing and singing Stand By Me recorded by Playing For Change.

Pianist Michele McLaughlin plays Celtic Christmas.

This is an English version of the Heart Sutra by Lama Surya Das: Mahaprajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra

This is a link to a new free podcast put out by Sounds True Publications as part of their series "Insights at the Edge" by owner/publisher Tami Simon. In this podcast she interviews Lawrence Edwards about spiritual awakening and Kundalini. PODCAST (go to http://www.soundstrue.com/podcast/?p=1385
for podcast)




Upcoming Programs
Anam Cara Foundation, Bedford, NY

Tues. Jan. 12, 2010; 7:30-8:45
The Science & Art of Meditation
Start the New Year right with this informative and great introduction to the practice of meditation. Dr. Edwards will review some of the amazing brain research on meditation and how it supports optimal health and wellbeing. This is a wonderful program for people new to meditation and those who are interested in the scientific research on meditation. Suggested donation: $20.

Wed. Jan. 13, 20, 27, Feb. 3, 2010; 7-15- 8:45pm
Buddhist Wisdom Treasures II
Many people have been asking for a continuation of the Buddhist Wisdom Treasures for Non-Buddhists initial course and here it is! Start the New Year off with your highest good at heart. You don't have to have taken the first course, though it will be helpful, and of course you don't have to become a Buddhist to enjoy and benefit from the insights and wisdom of this great tradition. Pre-registration required. Fee: $125

Sat. Dec. 19th 7:00pm
Monthly Kirtan Night!
With Satya, Ma and Kalidas. Join us in this ancient and ecstatic practice of chanting the names of the Divine. Everyone is welcome!


Meditation Group Every Tuesday Evening:
Starts promptly at 7:30pm at our center at the Anam Cara Foundation in Bedford, NY. All are welcome! Directions are on the Anam Cara website. If you wonder whether the group is being held on a particular Tuesday evening there will always be a message stating if it is canceled on that night on 914-234-4800.
Check the Anam Cara Foundation website for new program additions.

For more information please visit our Events page (click here)

Thank you all for your notes of appreciation for our newsletter.

Everyone has the heart to be a true friend of the soul, an Anam Cara. By embodying that ideal ourselves we may serve to help another to find love and compassion within themselves.

NOTE FROM DOROTHY: PLEASE GIVE SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE PODCAST MENTIONED ABOVE CONSISTING OF AN INTERVIEW WITH LAWRENCE EDWARDS BY TAMI SIMON, THE OWNER AND PUBLISHER OF SOUNDSTRUE, WHO PUBLISHED "KUNDALINI RISING," THAT CONTAINS AN IMPORTANT ARTICLE BY dR. eDWARDS.

Our highest nature is always manifest in relationship - to all other beings, to the environment, in relation to our own body and mind. Becoming mindful of the quality of our relationships allows us to learn where the light shines and where it needs to shine more. The ideal of Anam Cara is to continuously endeavor to expand the depth and the inclusiveness of the loving kindness we bring into every relationship, every moment, every breath.

If you have any suggestions, comments or sharings, for our newsletter please don't hesitate to e-mail me and I'll do my best to respond.

The Anam Cara Foundation is a 501 (C) 3, non-profit educational organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices. Our non- denominational programs are open to all. There are free meditation instructions and downloadable audio files of guided meditations on the meditation page of our website.

Thank you for the many ways you have shown support for The Anam Cara Foundation. Because of your gifts we can offer free programs and instruction to thousands of people. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please send it to address listed below or go to our website where you can make a secure online donation. Click HERE. That link will also bring you to our links with Sounds True and purchasing gifts and products from them will help support The Anam Cara Foundation.

I look forward to welcoming you in person to our programs.

With all my appreciation and love,
I thank you all.

May all beings realize complete freedom from suffering and may all our actions reflect only wisdom, compassion, patience and loving kindness.
Lawrence signature
Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
The Anam Cara Foundation
Lawrence on the Isle of Iona, Scotland
All newsletter contents copyrighted 2009

email: le@anamcara-ny.org
phone: 914-234-4800
web: http://www.anamcara-ny.org

a dream at night by jane green

i found myself digging in a garden with shovel and spade in each hand.

i found myself dressed for weather, heavy pants, boots and sweater, gloves and hat.

i found myself digging and discovered a proverbial treasure, an illuminating nimbus, an unexpected wonder.

i stripped myself, opened my body, radiated like a star, a pluse of silence, captured a fragment, laced it with gold.

i wear it now, that pulse and fragment, and keep on digging, most of the time, even at night.

(for more information on the following, go to http://www.kundalininet.org/html/events.html)

Kundalini Research Network Presents

Perspectives on Kundalini:
Clinical, Research and Traditional Views

Spring Conference: May 14th-16th, 2010
Friday 7:30-9pm, Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 9am-noon

Registration Fee: $150
Register on or before March 15, 2010 for only $125!

To register for the Kundalini Research Network Conference
and for accommodations please contact the Himalayan Institute
by clicking on their name below or calling them directly. Directions to
the Himalayan Institute can be found on their website.

The Himalayan Institute
Honesdale, PA
800-822-4547

Please check the website for updated information as program is subject to change without notice.

This conference will offer participants and presenters the rare opportunity to gather and discuss the powerful impact that yoga and meditation practices, spiritual emergence, transcendent experiences and the transformative power of Kundalini have on individuals. Through keynote presentations and panels of experts we will explore what the process of transformation and change looks like from clinical, research and traditional spiritual and yogic perspectives.

The conference will be held in the wonderful retreat setting of the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA. People attending the conference can also participate in the yoga classes, make use of the relaxing and healing services of their spa and stroll the hiking trails that cross their hundreds of acres of hills and forests. Delicious vegetarian meals are included in the modest accommodation fees for those staying at the Institute. There are also hotels nearby that people can stay at while attending the conference. Accommodations at the Institute and conference registration can be done directly with the Himalayan Institute.


Presenters' Biographies (alphabetical order, additional presenters will be added in the weeks ahead)

Teri Degler has been giving workshops for more than twenty years on Shakti—the divine feminine force sometimes called Kundalini—and what Tantra and Hatha yoga have to teach us about its role in creative inspiration. During this time, she has also been uncovering and researching the stories of the highly creative women mystics found in virtually every spiritual tradition. Perhaps even more importantly, she has been interviewing and collecting the stories of contemporary women who have experienced inspired creativity in their daily lives. In addition to her decades-long research on Shakti, she has spent four years in scholarly research on Sophia and Shekinah and the history of the divine feminine before writing The Divine Feminine Fire. She is the author of nine books including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest (Random House of Canada).
Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D., LMHC, BCIAC EEG Fellow is the President of the Kundalini Research Network. He is on the faculty of New York Medical College and maintains a private practice in Bedford, NY providing biofeedback, psychotherapy, peak performance and meditation training (optimalmind.net). He did his doctoral research on Kundalini in the early 1980's at Temple University where he was honored as a University Scholar. He was the director of a private Jungian psychiatric treatment center in Connecticut. He prepared to become a monk under the guidance of Swami Muktananda and spent years teaching and studying Kundalini yoga in India as well as in the US. He has run ashrams, meditation centers, meditation programs and retreats internationally. He has served 5 terms as President of the Kundalini Research Network. His critically acclaimed book, The Soul's Journey: Guidance From The Divine Within, (www.thesoulsjourney.com) brings together his professional background and his extraordinary personal experiences of mystical states unfolded by Kundalini. It enables readers to grasp their potential for the direct experience of Divine in their own lives. He is also one of the authors in the new anthology published by Sounds True titled Kundalini Rising. This is a compilation of the writings of 24 leading authors in the field of Kundalini, several of whom are also part of the Kundalini Research Network. He also authored "Meditation as Medicine" in the May 2003 issue of the journal ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners in which he discusses the many health benefits of meditation and his research on the practice of mantra and its effects on heart rate variability. He is the founder and director of The Anam Cara Foundation, a non-profit 501 (C) 3 educational organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices to all. He also serves currently as President of the Northeast Regional Biofeedback Society. Dr. Edwards helps people from around the world dealing with Kundalini processes and spiritual emergence. He created a support website: Kundalinisupport.org in addition to all the information and resources made available on Kundalini through his website thesoulsjourney.com.

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Associate Neuroscientist, Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Sat Bir S. Khalsa, Ph.D. has been involved in the practice of a yoga lifestyle for over 35 years and is a Kundalini Yoga instructor. He has conducted neuroscience research for over 25 years and is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and is also the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute and the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. His current research is on the effectiveness of yoga and meditation practices and includes studies on yoga for insomnia, music performance anxiety and public schools among others. He has traveled internationally meeting and collaborating with yoga research scientists and assists in coordinating the research component of the annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. He is the author of a comprehensive review and analysis of yoga therapy research and he also teaches an elective course at Harvard Medical School in Mind Body Medicine. Dr. Khalsa is also a contributor to the new anthology, Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True.

Dale Pond has been involved in Kundalini Research for more than 30 years and is the corresponding secretary of The Institute for Consciousness Research.

Paul Pond, Ph.D. is Director of Research for the Institute for Conscoiusness Research, has a doctorate in physics and has been involved in Kundalini experience and research for more than 30 years. He has written and spoken extensively on the subject. His focus has been on lifestyle issues and their impact on individual spiritual experience. Ever since he was first introduced to and experienced the concept of Kundalini, Paul was struck by the fact that there are laws of consciousness just as there are laws of physics. These “mental” laws operate on a much more subtle level than the physical laws of everyday experience and are contained in the basic tenets of traditional religious and esoteric thought. Kundalini is held to be responsible for mystical experience, genius and other exceptional states of mind.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. is the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute. He has two doctoral degrees, one in Sanskrit from the prestigious University of Allahabad, India and the second from the University of Pennsylvania in oriental studies. He is the successor to Swami Rama and an accomplished yogi deeply learned in the practices and the yogic texts related to hatha yoga, pranayama, Kundalini, tantra, meditation and more. He is the author of numerous books on these subjects and is thoroughly committed to living the ideals and practices of yoga in the world through humanitarian projects, eco-friendly agriculture and renewable energy programs, Ayurvedic medicine and more.

Dorothy Walters, Ph.D., experienced a dramatic and totally unexpected Kundalini awakening in l981,at age 53, while serving as a professor of English literature and women’s studies at Wichita (Kansas) State University. She shared her ongoing experience with almost no one for some 15 years, but kept a journal of her process. This event totally transformed her life, and since then her focus has been on exploring the Kundalini process through her own and others’ experiences. In l988 she took early retirement and moved to San Francisco, where she remained for the following 21 years. While there, she published three books based on her own spiritual awakening: Unmasking the Rose, A Record of a Kundalini Initiation;Marrow of Flame, Poems of the Spiritual Journey and A Cloth of Fine Gold, Poems of the Inner Journey. Dr. Walters also contributed an essay to the anthology Kundalini Rising. She has her own blog, Kundalinisplendor, featuring poetry, writing, photography and creative expressions related to the power of Kundalini in all Her forms. She hears from many people who read this blog and are seeking advice and counsel as to how to proceed on their own Kundalini journey. She serves as unofficial advisor and mentor to many of these, who often have no one else to turn to or are located in remote areas where no qualified teachers or counselors are available. She collaborated with Dr. Edwards in creating the Kundalinisupport.org website.

Barbara Harris Whitfield, RT, CMT is a researcher, therapist and author. She shares a private practice in Atlanta, with her husband Charles Whitfield, MD helping adults who were traumatized as children. She presents workshops on near-death experiences, thanatology (the study of death and dying), and spirituality. Barbara is the author of many articles and books including Full Circle: The Near-death Experience and Beyond (Simon and Schuster 1990), Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the Near-Death Experience and other Doorways to Our Soul (Health Communications Inc 1995), Final Passage: Sharing the Journey as this Life Ends (HCI 1998), and The Power of Humility: From Conflict to Peace (written with Charles Whitfield, Russell Park and Jyoti, HCI 2004), and Children of the Solution (HCI in process). These books are the result of interviewing hundreds of people on the after effects of their near-death experiences and spiritual awakenings in general. Barbara is also one of the contributors to the new book Kundalini Rising (Sounds True 2009). Barbara has been interviewed on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Unsolved Mysteries, Oprah, Donahue, CNN Medical News, etc. and appeared in many documentaries for Japan, Germany, France, Belgium, Canada and American Television. She is member of the Board of Directors of KRN and has sat on the executive board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. She is a consulting editor and contributor for the Journal of Near-Death Studies. For more information please visit www.barbarawhitfield.com.

Charles L. Whitfield, MD, is a pioneer in trauma recovery, including the way we remember childhood and other trauma and abuse. A physician and frontline therapist who assists trauma survivors and spiritual seekers in their healing, he is the author of fifty published articles, and ten best-selling books on trauma psychology and recovery including Healing the Child Within and Alcoholism and Spirituality. He lives and practices addiction medicine, trauma psychology, and wholistic psychiatry in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Whitfield is one of the authors in the compilation, Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True.For more information go to www.cbwhit.com.

East Coker
T.S. Eliot


(Here is an excerpt from "East Coker" by T. S. Eliot. This is undoubtedly oe of the great poems of our time. I think we all long. always, for "a further union, a deeper communion" and seek whatever path will take us there.)


Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
There is a time for the evening under starlight,
A time for the evening under lamplight
(The evening with the photograph album).
Love is most nearly itself
When here and now cease to matter.
Old men ought to be explorers
Here or there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion
Through the dark cold and the empty desolation,
The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.

T. S. Eliot

Ice Bound

Sky's gray sheet spreads icy rain.
Through the night we heard the branches cracking.
Now they bend with the bowed ache of apostrophes.
Backs to the window, sitting on the couch, we listen
as the radio announces the list of schools closed.

An hour earlier I inched my way along
the road, tires spinning toward the ditch.
Now I read aloud to a teenage daughter,
who tolerates my foolishness, my claim
that Lao Tzu traversed a more slippery world.

With two books open on my lap, one in my hand,
two on the floor, I’m surrounded by imperfect
translations: a gathering chaos: something
mysteriousl: formless and perfect.

She responds, Sure,
I knew that, so what? I persist:
that existed before the heavens and the earth;
before the universe was born. She's ready to go
upstairs and listen to the radio. I ask,

What was her face before her parents were born?
she answers, Nothing. I ask again.
She says it again. Where are the angels,
knights on humble knees, the psalms of faith,
the saints of daylight? She walks out of the room.

I'm surrounded by thin books.
How pointless to go anywhere on this day,
or maybe any other, but then
the time comes when there is
no other way but to stand firm on ice.

Walter L. Bargen

Kundalini Research Network Presents

Perspectives on Kundalini:
Clinical, Research and Traditional Views

Spring Conference: May 14th-16th, 2010
Friday 7:30-9pm, Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 9am-noon

Registration Fee: $150
Register on or before March 15, 2010 for only $125!

To register for the Kundalini Research Network Conference
and for accommodations please contact the Himalayan Institute
by clicking on their name below or calling them directly. Directions to
the Himalayan Institute can be found on their website.

The Himalayan Institute
Honesdale, PA
800-822-4547

Please check the website for updated information as program is subject to change without notice.

This conference will offer participants and presenters the rare opportunity to gather and discuss the powerful impact that yoga and meditation practices, spiritual emergence, transcendent experiences and the transformative power of Kundalini have on individuals. Through keynote presentations and panels of experts we will explore what the process of transformation and change looks like from clinical, research and traditional spiritual and yogic perspectives.

The conference will be held in the wonderful retreat setting of the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA. People attending the conference can also participate in the yoga classes, make use of the relaxing and healing services of their spa and stroll the hiking trails that cross their hundreds of acres of hills and forests. Delicious vegetarian meals are included in the modest accommodation fees for those staying at the Institute. There are also hotels nearby that people can stay at while attending the conference. Accommodations at the Institute and conference registration can be done directly with the Himalayan Institute.


Presenters' Biographies (alphabetical order, additional presenters will be added in the weeks ahead)

Teri Degler has been giving workshops for more than twenty years on Shakti—the divine feminine force sometimes called Kundalini—and what Tantra and Hatha yoga have to teach us about its role in creative inspiration. During this time, she has also been uncovering and researching the stories of the highly creative women mystics found in virtually every spiritual tradition. Perhaps even more importantly, she has been interviewing and collecting the stories of contemporary women who have experienced inspired creativity in their daily lives. In addition to her decades-long research on Shakti, she has spent four years in scholarly research on Sophia and Shekinah and the history of the divine feminine before writing The Divine Feminine Fire. She is the author of nine books including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest (Random House of Canada).
Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D., LMHC, BCIAC EEG Fellow is the President of the Kundalini Research Network. He is on the faculty of New York Medical College and maintains a private practice in Bedford, NY providing biofeedback, psychotherapy, peak performance and meditation training (optimalmind.net). He did his doctoral research on Kundalini in the early 1980's at Temple University where he was honored as a University Scholar. He was the director of a private Jungian psychiatric treatment center in Connecticut. He prepared to become a monk under the guidance of Swami Muktananda and spent years teaching and studying Kundalini yoga in India as well as in the US. He has run ashrams, meditation centers, meditation programs and retreats internationally. He has served 5 terms as President of the Kundalini Research Network. His critically acclaimed book, The Soul's Journey: Guidance From The Divine Within, (www.thesoulsjourney.com) brings together his professional background and his extraordinary personal experiences of mystical states unfolded by Kundalini. It enables readers to grasp their potential for the direct experience of Divine in their own lives. He is also one of the authors in the new anthology published by Sounds True titled Kundalini Rising. This is a compilation of the writings of 24 leading authors in the field of Kundalini, several of whom are also part of the Kundalini Research Network. He also authored "Meditation as Medicine" in the May 2003 issue of the journal ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners in which he discusses the many health benefits of meditation and his research on the practice of mantra and its effects on heart rate variability. He is the founder and director of The Anam Cara Foundation, a non-profit 501 (C) 3 educational organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices to all. He also serves currently as President of the Northeast Regional Biofeedback Society. Dr. Edwards helps people from around the world dealing with Kundalini processes and spiritual emergence. He created a support website: Kundalinisupport.org in addition to all the information and resources made available on Kundalini through his website thesoulsjourney.com.

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Associate Neuroscientist, Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Sat Bir S. Khalsa, Ph.D. has been involved in the practice of a yoga lifestyle for over 35 years and is a Kundalini Yoga instructor. He has conducted neuroscience research for over 25 years and is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and is also the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute and the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. His current research is on the effectiveness of yoga and meditation practices and includes studies on yoga for insomnia, music performance anxiety and public schools among others. He has traveled internationally meeting and collaborating with yoga research scientists and assists in coordinating the research component of the annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. He is the author of a comprehensive review and analysis of yoga therapy research and he also teaches an elective course at Harvard Medical School in Mind Body Medicine. Dr. Khalsa is also a contributor to the new anthology, Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True.

Dale Pond has been involved in Kundalini Research for more than 30 years and is the corresponding secretary of The Institute for Consciousness Research.

Paul Pond, Ph.D. is Director of Research for the Institute for Conscoiusness Research, has a doctorate in physics and has been involved in Kundalini experience and research for more than 30 years. He has written and spoken extensively on the subject. His focus has been on lifestyle issues and their impact on individual spiritual experience. Ever since he was first introduced to and experienced the concept of Kundalini, Paul was struck by the fact that there are laws of consciousness just as there are laws of physics. These “mental” laws operate on a much more subtle level than the physical laws of everyday experience and are contained in the basic tenets of traditional religious and esoteric thought. Kundalini is held to be responsible for mystical experience, genius and other exceptional states of mind.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. is the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute. He has two doctoral degrees, one in Sanskrit from the prestigious University of Allahabad, India and the second from the University of Pennsylvania in oriental studies. He is the successor to Swami Rama and an accomplished yogi deeply learned in the practices and the yogic texts related to hatha yoga, pranayama, Kundalini, tantra, meditation and more. He is the author of numerous books on these subjects and is thoroughly committed to living the ideals and practices of yoga in the world through humanitarian projects, eco-friendly agriculture and renewable energy programs, Ayurvedic medicine and more.

Dorothy Walters, Ph.D., experienced a dramatic and totally unexpected Kundalini awakening in l981,at age 53, while serving as a professor of English literature and women’s studies at Wichita (Kansas) State University. She shared her ongoing experience with almost no one for some 15 years, but kept a journal of her process. This event totally transformed her life, and since then her focus has been on exploring the Kundalini process through her own and others’ experiences. In l988 she took early retirement and moved to San Francisco, where she remained for the following 21 years. While there, she published three books based on her own spiritual awakening: Unmasking the Rose, A Record of a Kundalini Initiation;Marrow of Flame, Poems of the Spiritual Journey and A Cloth of Fine Gold, Poems of the Inner Journey. Dr. Walters also contributed an essay to the anthology Kundalini Rising. She has her own blog, Kundalinisplendor, featuring poetry, writing, photography and creative expressions related to the power of Kundalini in all Her forms. She hears from many people who read this blog and are seeking advice and counsel as to how to proceed on their own Kundalini journey. She serves as unofficial advisor and mentor to many of these, who often have no one else to turn to or are located in remote areas where no qualified teachers or counselors are available. She collaborated with Dr. Edwards in creating the Kundalinisupport.org website.

Barbara Harris Whitfield, RT, CMT is a researcher, therapist and author. She shares a private practice in Atlanta, with her husband Charles Whitfield, MD helping adults who were traumatized as children. She presents workshops on near-death experiences, thanatology (the study of death and dying), and spirituality. Barbara is the author of many articles and books including Full Circle: The Near-death Experience and Beyond (Simon and Schuster 1990), Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the Near-Death Experience and other Doorways to Our Soul (Health Communications Inc 1995), Final Passage: Sharing the Journey as this Life Ends (HCI 1998), and The Power of Humility: From Conflict to Peace (written with Charles Whitfield, Russell Park and Jyoti, HCI 2004), and Children of the Solution (HCI in process). These books are the result of interviewing hundreds of people on the after effects of their near-death experiences and spiritual awakenings in general. Barbara is also one of the contributors to the new book Kundalini Rising (Sounds True 2009). Barbara has been interviewed on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Unsolved Mysteries, Oprah, Donahue, CNN Medical News, etc. and appeared in many documentaries for Japan, Germany, France, Belgium, Canada and American Television. She is member of the Board of Directors of KRN and has sat on the executive board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. She is a consulting editor and contributor for the Journal of Near-Death Studies. For more information please visit www.barbarawhitfield.com.

Charles L. Whitfield, MD, is a pioneer in trauma recovery, including the way we remember childhood and other trauma and abuse. A physician and frontline therapist who assists trauma survivors and spiritual seekers in their healing, he is the author of fifty published articles, and ten best-selling books on trauma psychology and recovery including Healing the Child Within and Alcoholism and Spirituality. He lives and practices addiction medicine, trauma psychology, and wholistic psychiatry in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Whitfield is one of the authors in the compilation, Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True.For more information go to www.cbwhit.com.

NOTE (FROM DOROTHY)--This conference will be both valuable and exciting. Kundalini researchers and practitioners will be coming to share their wealth of knowledge and experience in this field. I highly recommend it, for it is one of the few such conferences available in the country (it may in fact be the only one, as far as I know). Anyone will benefit from it, for it includes presentations for the general public as well as the more technical research.
I'll be saying more about it as the time grows near.

(Picture from source--see credit)

The following description was written by my friend Habiba Kabir, who is the calipha (head) of a local Sufi order. She herself embodies the open heart and the loving light she speaks about in the poem. Her order is one that allows women to have a more prominent role than most.



Light within Light

By Habiba Ashki Kabir

12-2-09

The lovers of Love gather, hearts surrendered to re-membering the Truth.
Their circle models a crucible for transformation. They have come to
remember their unity with all that is, to remember that all is sacred, that
the Creator has placed each of us here in this time and place to praise and
celebrate this wonder.

Energy from the first flaring forth of the universe is present in the energy
bodies of the lovers. Elements created within the first generation of
stars and seeded throughout the universe by supernova dwell within their
bodies. These elements also form the Earth community in which they are
imbedded. Within them are contained the entire evolutionary blueprint of
the unfolding of life on Earth. Their ancestors, both physical and
spiritual, stand behind them in support. Within their hearts, like
glistening pearls, awaits the original innocence they have always contained.

When lovers of Love gather to remember their Creator, the angels also gather
above the circle, their wings forming a great dome above them. The Creator
is drawn to pour Mercy, Compassion and Forgiveness for any forgetfulness
into this crucible, made of the living bodies of the lovers. The energy from
above begins to flow as the lovers, surrendered totally to Presence, begin
their praise of the One.

The remembrance intensifies with the chanting of the essential phrase, La
il¹aha ilallah. There is nothing, only the Creator, who is called by many
names. Nothing exists except the One. We are not separate, there is
nothing outside of the One. Polishing the heart, crumbling the stone of
isolation and aloneness that our culture has taught us. Allowing the Mercy,
Compassion and Forgiveness to flow into our heart. This heart that in its
innocence could not bear the suffering of any being and thus, in an effort
to protect, hardened the surface. Now this, too, begins to soften and melt,
unveiling the tender pearl at its core, the perfect one, never touched by
any earthly forgetfulness.

Now the grandmothers arrive, for they recognize the wonder and awe at the
presence of this innocent one. The attention of the grandmothers draws the
Mother aspect of the Creator, she who has always been present, but hidden
within matter. This feminine light arises from the bodies of the lovers,
bringing Comfort and healing. Each cell is illumined as the Light reaches
up to first provide a Crucible of Light for the Light from above to fill,
mingling and blending the two Lights become One Light, sheltering the
innocent core of each one present.

This one, this true human being, is magnificent. This one is the pearl of
great price, the jewel at the center of the lotus, the messiah, the Insan
Kamil, the Christ Light. It glitters and glows, revealing the Light of the
Divine Creator shining within and through the light of the Divine Creation.

(Image of dervishes from Wikipedia)

This Bead of Light

There could, I suppose,
have been nothing.
Only void and darkness,
and possibly
not even that.
Just extension
into an infinity
of space
that enclosed
emptiness.

Instead
there was this explosion.
This bead of light
that suddenly
flew forth
in all directions,
dispersing,
congealing,
becoming
a billion universes,
of which
ours is one,
the place
we found each other,
met and said goodbye,
made and broke
our promises,
wept
and came together again.

Dorothy Walters
December 4, 2008

(Image from Hubble site--galactic center)

Primary Wonder

Denise Levertov

Days pass when I forget the mystery.
Problems insoluble and problems offering
their own ignored solutions
jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
their colored clothes; cap and bells.
And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng's clamor
recedes: the mystery
that there is anything, anything at all,
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: and that, O Lord,
Creator, Hallowed One, You still,
hour by hour sustain it.

Denise Levertov

(Image from Hubble site)

http://www.santosha.com/moksha/sensharma1.html

I was looking for a site that discussed some of the key concepts of Kundalini from the perspective of the ancient teachings, when I ran across the above . It is indeed technical (as many of these ancient ideas tend to be), but I found it fascinating as a window into many of the ancient perspectives. After all, when we experience Kundalini we are in fact linked inextricably with these traditions, especially if our experience has yogic or tantric overtones. I am choosing a few passages from this text,and presenting them here as a reminder of some of the major sources of traditional thinking about Kundalini. Often when we read some of these writings, we do not understand every word, yet there is a kind of intuitive reception of the essential message.

I do not agree with every assertion of the essay--in particular, the familiar injunction that you must have an external guru in order to experience Kundalini awakening, here called (wonderfully) the "descent of Grace." Other writers acknowledge that there is also an "internal guru" who can awaken the energies and lead you through the process. And this speaker also allows for a few exceptions. I feel that this (the presence of the internal guru) best describes my own experience, and that of others I know. And I like his notion that we are given as much of the divine energy as we are capable of receiving into our systems. Our capacity for reception is what determines the intensity of our experience.

Moksha, by the way, is a term for enlightenment.

An Interview with Deba Brata Sensharma
by Maryellen Lo Bosco

Although interest in Tantra has been growing in the West over the last decade or two, few people have more than a rudimentary knowledge of the subject, and indeed, too many people have gross misconceptions about this vast body of spiritual science. Tantric practices are probably as ancient as the indigenous peoples of India, but only much later on became clearly defined as a philosophy. From around the 9th century A.D., up to the 15th century A.D., Advaita (nondualistic) Shaivism, one of the major tributaries to the river of Tantra, flourished in the Kashmir Valley and birthed great philosophers and Tantric masters in the school of what came to be known as Kashmir Shaivism.

Dr. Deba Brata Sensharma
Although the Muslim invasion of Kashmir effectively wiped out the practice of Tantra there, the scholastic tradition survived and has recently been brought to the West. Kashmir Shaivism is a beautiful and elegant philosophy, but a difficult one to grasp; not surprisingly, there are only a handful of serious scholars writing on Shaiva Tantra. Deba Brata SenSharma is among them. Dr. SenSharma is a student of the late Gopinath Kaviraj, a mystic who was probably this century's leading expert on the Shaiva traditions. Currently Dr. SenSharma is devoting all of his time to writing, after a 30-year career of teaching Indian philosophy and Sanskrit.

He has published The Philosophy of Sadhana, (Albany: SUNY Press, 1990), which examines Tantric sadhana (practice) in the light of shaktipata, or the descent of divine grace, (and will soon publish a new book on Kashmir Shaivism with SUNY). While shaktipata is an implicit idea in the other Indian philosophical schools, it is an explicit and central concept in Shaiva Tantra. Shaktipata in its broadest sense is said to be transmitted through everything that brings us to the spiritual path and moves us closer to the goal. But in the specific context of Shaivism, it is the grace of God that comes through a genuine guru-through initiation and afterwards.

The ultimate goal, according to this Tantric philosophy, is somewhat different from either Yoga or Vedanta. The yogi seeks an end to pain by discerning the difference between consciousness (purusha) and manifestation (prakriti) and to realize his or her identification with purusha, the seer. The end goal of Yoga is kaivalya - sometimes translated as isolation. The Vedantins seek to unmask maya (the root cause of the manifest world, which is called unreal, because it is subject to death, decay, and destruction) and become established in the Self (Brahman, the Real). But the goal of the Shaivists is to recognize their true nature as Shiva (consciousness) and then turn to all of creation and see it as divine.

As a scholar and seeker, Dr. Sensharma had the good fortune to meet a number of saints and sages, including Anandamayi Ma, Hari Har Baba, and Swami Vidyaranya, who along with his teacher, Gopinath Kavaraj, helped shape his spiritual outlook. As he told me during our conversation, "I was, and even now, am like a black bee on the lookout for the spiritual aroma, wherever I may find it." In the interview that follows, Dr. SenSharma talks about some of the central ideas of the Trika school, which is the correct name for the philosophy that has been popularly labeled "Kashmir Shaivism." He also shares some of his experiences with his own teacher.

Q. The ultimate goal of Shaiva Tantra is Self-recognition, or to realize that "I am Shiva." The ultimate goal of Yoga is kaivalya-isolation. Is that different? Do adherents of different philosophical schools have different goals and end up with different realizations?

A. There is a level to which all these systems go. For instance, the practitioner of Vedanta is interested in realizing his Brahman nature. As soon as he realizes that, the world disappears. That is one idea. The Samkhyan is interested in kaivalya. He wants separation of purusa from prakrti. The Yogi also tries for that. And they get it. But here it is different. In Shaivism it is integration. You want to divinize the entire creation. You want to experience it as if it is your own glory, your own projection. The ideal here is a broader one.

Q. Is the actual experience of a fully accomplished Yogi so different from what a Shaivite practitioner experiences?

A. Sometimes it is different. It all depends on what you want. Let me illustrate with an example. There is a term, moksha (liberation), or mukti (freedom), which is used repeatedly in all the systems. But there is another ideal: "amritatva" (literally, "that is the nectar," which refers to the nectar of immortality). The Upanishads say amritatva is the ultimate goal of life. The Upanishads use this word 52 times, but use the word moksha only twice. Why? Are the two ideals, moksha and amritatva, the same or different? What I feel is that they are not the same. Moksha is based on negation. You want to negate what is unreal (maya-or the world as we normally perceive it) and live in the real (Brahman, or the Self). That is the goal of Vedanta philosophy. But in striving for amritatva, you want extension of yourself. You want to enjoy the bliss underlying the creation. Everything should appear to you as if it is of the nature of Brahman.

There is a famous mantra occurring in the Rig Veda, which loosely translated means, "The air, the breeze which is blowing, is giving bliss. The water is oozing bliss. The entire universe is full of bliss." I consider this to be a superior idea. You want to divinize the entire creation, to taste its bliss nature. You want to integrate it. That is what Shaivites want. I feel that this idea of amritatva is far more comprehensive and more significant than becoming Brahman and losing one's identity.
****************

Q. One of the central ideas in Shaivism is the concept of spanda-"the doctrine of vibration"-which holds that the universe is born out of primordial vibration. Can you define spanda and how it is related to mantra science, which also seems to figure prominently in Tantric schools?

A. It is difficult to explain this concept briefly, but it can be said that divine Shakti, an integral aspect of Shiva, functions ceaselessly to reveal the divine glory of the Lord, both as transcendent being and also simultaneously as the cosmos. The incessant activity of Shakti (consciousness made manifest) is called spanda-vibration or pulsation, or it is sometimes called urmi, which means web. Physicists tell us that several particles like electrons, protons, neutrons, etc., moving round the nucleus in an atom cause vibration or pulsation. The atom has infinite energy locked up inside it, which keeps on dancing within. In the same way, pure consciousness (Shiva) has Shakti ever-vibrating in its bosom. The dance of Shakti occurs during creative involution, when that energy is thrown out and creates the cosmos. The Yogis experience spanda as waves of bliss, a rasa (juice), oozing from the core of Shiva.

Mantra is ultimately related to this idea. Actually, divine, vital energy is encased in mantra, which is not just an aggregate of phonemes. Mantra is a seed that contains the totality of divine Shakti. When the guru gives a mantra to a disciple, he awakens that latent potency, which may actually be experienced by the disciple during initiation. It is like a seed planted in the disciple's udhara (mind-body organism) which, if carefully nurtured, develops into a full-fledged tree of spiritual realization.
******************************
Q.Why is shaktipata given so much emphasis in Tantra?

A. Shaktipata is the turning point in the spiritual life of an aspirant. Without it there is no ascent, no going over to the other side of maya. It is a divine dispensation. It may come anytime, to anyone. It may come with your knowing it; it might come without your being aware of it. Though other schools of spiritual thought do not explicitly say so, they too admit the necessity of approaching a spiritual master for initiation in a particular path of sadhana.

Q. Is shaktipata transmitted when you receive any kind of initiation, even though you may not be aware of it?

A. Yes. If you go to a guru, he may touch you, he may not touch you, or he may just see you. You can sometimes get mantra initiation even in a dream. In Varanasi (Benaras), we used to go to Hari Har Baba. People used to approach him freely, but he would never speak a single word. He would never look at you. But there were people who received a mantra from him.

Q. You've explained in your book that when a guru gives shaktipata, he or she doesn't vary it according to the aspirant. The intensity of this "descent of divine grace" is actually determined by the sadhaka-according to that person's ability to receive it or absorb it. Can you elaborate on that?

A. Actually, shaktipata descends uniformly on all people. It is always coming; it's a continuing process. It's not received by people with the same intensity because of their incapacity to hold it. Now if I have the capacity to hold very intense shaktipata, I can get it. If I don't have that, I will only get a little. Shaktipata is always available, because Shiva is supposed to perform his five kriyas (functions) eternally, and dispensing grace (anugraha) is one of these functions. So shaktipata is eternal, looking at it from His point of view. From our point of view, we are not aware of it, because we have not prepared ourselves to receive it. But unless we receive shaktipata, we cannot begin our spiritual journey. That is said again and again in the texts.
********************************

Q. You've said that shaktipata can sometimes be received directly from God, without the intervention of a guru. In what instances might that happen?

A. It's rare. Such shaktipata is the utkrishta-tivra (extremely intense) variety. The moment you get it, you lose the body.

Q. Wouldn't the recipient have to be somebody who has already done a lot of intense practice, someone who's already quite purified?

A. It may be because of that, you never know. Changes can be going on inside of you that you are not aware of. Even if you have not done sadhana previously, it may still manifest suddenly. You may not have done anything in this life. There are many instances like that. Anandamayi Ma didn't go to any guru. It developed from within. In the beginning, people thought that she must be mad-God-intoxicated, some people thought.

Q. But Anandamayi Ma didn't leave her body . . .

A. It was not extremely intense. In such cases, the person won't leave the body. One will continue, because one has a purpose. Actually, God wanted her to live, so that she could give the message to suffering humanity.
*******************
Actually, the devotee and devoted are not two, from the ultimate standpoint. But it is difficult to concentrate on your own self, because the self is not visible. You have an image, and you concentrate on that. Ultimately, when you reach that, when you can identify with that, you will see that the image is nothing but yourself. Devotion is an intermediate step. Devotion may also be easy, if you have that inclination of mind. But the image is also nothing but Shiva.
*************************
There are no hurdles. There have been saints in Christianity, and their realizations were almost of the same kind. Kavirrajji took great interest in them. He used to mention them, because he knew German and French. He studied the medieval, Catholic saints, and he saw no difference. The Sufi saints also had similar experiences. Spirituality is one thing you cannot fake. It is only earnestness that

It is possible for Western people to follow this particular path, because all that is required is purity of mind and body and a sincere desire for spiritual upliftment. I personally know Western people who have advanced to a great extent. What is required is genuine longing, faith, and patient waiting for the descent of divine grace.

(To be continued)

(Image found on website mentioned above)

Worldling

Elizabeth Spires

In a world of souls I set out to find them.
They who first must find each other,
be each other's fate.
There, on the open road,
I gazed into each traveler's face.

"Is it you?" I would ask.

"Are you the ones?"

"No, no," they said, or said nothing at all.


How many cottages did I pass,
each with a mother, a father,
a firstborn, newly-swaddled, crying:
or sitting in its little chair,
dipping a far wooden spoon
into a steaming bowl,
its mother singing it a foolish song,
One, one, a lily’s my care…
Through seasons I searched,
through years I can’t remember,
reading the lichens and stones
as if one were marked
with my name, my face, my form.
By night and day I searched,
never sleeping, not wanting to fail,

not wanting to be simply a star.



Finally in a town like any other town,
in a house foursquare and shining,
its door wide open to the moon,
did I find them.
There, at the top of the winding stairs,
asleep in the big bed,
the sheets thrown off, curled
like question marks into each other’s arms.

Past memory, I beheld them,
naked, their bodies without flaw.

"It is I," I whispered,

"I, the nameless one."
And my parents, spent by the dream
of creation, slept on.


(image from unnamed source)

-

(The above is a drawing of Bodhidarma by Hakuin. Bodhidharma carried Zen Buddhism to China from India in ancient times.)

Song of Zazen

by Hakuin (Zen monk, Japan, 1680-1769

All beings are primarily Buddhas.
It is like water and ice:
There is no ice apart from water;he
There are no Buddhas apart from beings.

Not knowing how close the truth is to them,
Beings seek for it afar -- what a pity!
They are like those who, being in the midst of water,
Cry out for water, feeling thirst.

They are like the son of the rich man,
Who, wandering away from his father,
Goes astray amongst the poor.
It is all due to their ignorance
That beings transmigrate in the darkness
Of the Six Paths of existence.

When they wander from darkness to darkness-death?
...........................

But how much more so (will you benefit) when you turn your eyes within yourselves
And have a glimpse into your self-nature!
You find that the self-nature is no-nature -
The truth permitting no idle sophistry.
For you, then, open the gate leading to the oneness of cause and effect;
Before you, then, lies a straight road of non-duality and non-trinity.

When you understand that form is the form of the formless,
Your coming-and-going takes place nowhere else but where you are
When you understand that thought is the thought of the thought-less
Your singing-and-dancing is no other than the voice of the Dharma(sacred teachings)
How boundless is the sky of Samadhi (Enlightenment)
How refreshingly bright is the moon of the Fourfold Wisdom
Being so is there anything you lack?
As the Absolute presents itself before you
The place where you stand is the Land of the Lotus,
And your person - the body of the Buddha.


I think that Hakuin is telling us that "heaven" is no where but where you are, and that your own body is the body of the Buddha. Of course, Hakuin is speaking of the path of Zen, that uses meditation and Koans to attain this understanding. But I think that when we undergo Kundalini awakening, we discover the truth of his message. Our own bodies become the centers of unconditional divine love, felt as bliss flows within, and we know that we too are part of sacred creation, for the divine is everywhere, including inside our own beings.

Here once more is a familiar message--the divine resides not just outside us but within our own selves, and we are participants in the divine dance of joy.