Kundalini Splendor

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


~ Rumi ~


(The Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks)

This much beloved poem by Rumi reminds us that especially when Kundalini is active, our "house" becomes a haven for many, many guests we had all but forgotten in our lives.  This is the time when all of our issues, good and bad, come forth and demand to be attended to.  These may be physical, mental, emotional, psychological, etc.  And until we do attend to them and clear them out, we will continue to experience not pleasure but pain on our journey.
However, even in the midst of such "clearing," one often has periods (days, weeks, months even) of the the opposite--meditation sessions of delight and pleasure, a return to the rapture of the beginning.  Then, when the K. decides you have had enough of either--joy or discomfort--it will return you to the task at hand, which is to allow the process of full awakening to continue to completion.)