Different Methods of Kundalini Awakening
Introduction:
Before going into detail it is to be noted that in all processes kundalini awakening takes place . In some process the time to activate is fast but is very risky and in some process it takes more time but is safe. Some process are atheistic while some are devotional. Some are tamasik vama marga tantric process while some belongs to Dakshina marg where one is not concerned about Kundalini awakening and focus on bhakti but nontheless awakening takes place. According to the tantras, kundalini can be awakened by various methods which can be practiced individually or in combination.
Mantra
The safest method of awakening kundalini is through steady regular practice of
mantra. This is a very powerful, smooth and risk-free method, but of course it is a
sadhana which requires time and a lot of patience. First you need to get a suitable mantra
from a guru who can guide you through your sadhana.
When you practise the mantra incessantly, it develops in you the vision of a higher force
and enables you to live amidst the sensualities of life with indifference to them.
When you throw a pebble into a still lake, it produces circular ripples. In the same
way, when you repeat a mantra over and over again, the sound force gathers momentum
and creates vibrations in the ocean of the mind. When you repeat the mantra millions and
billions of times, it permeates every part of your brain and purifies your whole physical,
mental and emotional body.
The mantra must be chanted loudly, softly, on the mental plane and on the psychic
plane. By practising it at these four levels, kundalini awakens methodically and
systematically. You can also use the mantra by repeating it mentally in coordination with
the breath or you can sing it aloud in the form of kirtan. This creates a great potential in
mooladhara and awakening takes place.
Closely related to mantra yoga is the awakening through sound or music – nada yoga.
Here the sounds are the bija mantras and the music consists of particular melodies
corresponding to particular chakras. This is a most tender and absorbing way of
awakening.
Tapasya:
Another method of awakening is tapasya, which means the performance of
austerities. Tapasya is a means of purification, a burning or setting on fire so that a
process of elimination is created, not in the physical body, but in the mental and
emotional bodies. Through this process the mind, the emotions and the whole personality
are cleansed of all the dirt, complexes and patterns of behavior that cause pain and
suffering. Tapasya is an act of purification. It should not be misunderstood to involve
standing naked in cold water or snow, or observing foolish and meaningless austerities.
When you want to eliminate a bad habit, the more you want to get rid of it, the more
powerful it becomes. When you abandon it in the waking state, it appears in dreams, and
when you stop those dreams, it expresses itself in your behavior or manifests in disease.
This particular habit must be destroyed at its psychic root, not only at the conscious level.
The samskara and vasana must be eliminated by some form of tapasya.
Tapasya is a psychological or psycho-emotional process through which the aspirant
tries to set in motion a process of metabolism that will eradicate the habits that create
weakness and obstruct the awakening of willpower. ‘I must do this but I can’t.’ Why does
this difference between resolution and implementation arise in the mind of the aspirant?
Why is it so great? It is due to a deficiency of will; and that weakness, that distance or
barrier between resolution and execution can be removed through regular and repeated
practice of tapasya. Then the willpower makes a decision once and the matter is finished.
This strength of will is the fruit of tapasya.
The psychology of austerity plays a very important part in the awakening of man’s
latent power. It is not well understood by modern man who has unfortunately accepted
that man lives for ‘the pleasure principle’, as propounded by Freud and his disciples. The
psychology of austerity is very sound and certainly not abnormal. When the senses are
satisfied by the objective pleasures, by the comforts and luxuries, the brain and nervous
system become weak and the consciousness and energy undergo a process of regression.
It is in this situation that the method of austerity is one of the most powerful and
sometimes explosive methods of awakening.
Here the manifestations are tremendous and the aspirant has to face his lower
instincts in the beginning. He confronts a lot of temptations and the assaults of the satanic and tamasic forces. All the evil or negative samskaras or karmas of many, many
incarnations rise to the surface. Sometimes fear manifests very powerfully or attachment
to the world comes with a great force. In some people, sexual fantasies haunt the mind for
days together, while others become lean and thin, or even sick. At this juncture, siddhis
can appear. One develops extrasensory perceptions, he can read the minds of others, he
can suppress others by a thought, or his own thoughts materialize. In the beginning, black
forces manifest and all these siddhis are negative or of a lower quality. Tapasya is a very,
very powerful method of awakening which everybody cannot handle.
Awakening through herbs:
Another method of awakening is through the use of specific herbs. In Sanskrit this
is called aushadhi, and it should not be interpreted as meaning drugs like marijuana,
LSD, etc. Aushadhi is the most powerful and rapid method of awakening but it is not for
all and very few people know about it. There are herbs which can transform the nature of
the body and its elements and bring about either partial or full awakening, but they should
never be used without a guru or qualified guide. This is because certain herbs selectively
awaken ida or pingala and others can suppress both these nadis and quickly lead one to
the mental asylum. For this reason, aushadhi is a very risky and unreliable method.
Raja yoga
Another method of inducing awakening is through raja yoga and the development of
an equipoised mind. This is the total merging of individual consciousness with
superconsciousness. It occurs by a sequental process of concentration, meditation and
communion; experience of union with the absolute or supreme.
All the practices of raja yoga, preceded by hatha yoga, bring about very durable
experiences, but they can lead to a state of complete depression, in which you do not feel
like doing anything. The raja yoga method is very difficult for most people as it requires
time, patience, discipline and perseverance. Concentration of mind is one of the most
difficult things for modern man to achieve. It cannot be undertaken before the mind has
been stabilized, the karmas deactivated and the emotions purified through karma and
bhakti yogas. It is the nature of the mind to remain active all the time, and this constitutes a very real danger for the people of our time, because when we try to concentrate the mind we create a split. Therefore, most of us should only practice concentration up to a certain point.
Following the awakening through raja yoga, changes take place in the aspirant. He
may transcend hunger and all his addictions or habits. The sensualities of life are no
longer appealing, hunger and the sexual urge diminish and detachment develops
spontaneously. Raja yoga brings about a slow transformation of consciousness.
Pranayama
Another method of awakening kundalini is through pranayama. When a sufficiently
prepared aspirant practises pranayama in a calm, cool and quiet environment, preferably
at a high altitude, with a diet only sufficient to maintain life, the awakening of kundalini
takes place like an explosition. In fact, the awakening is so rapid that kundalini ascends to
sahasrara immediately.
Pranayama is not only a breathing exercise or a means to increase prana in the body;
it is a powerful method of creating yogic fire to heat the kundalini and awaken it.
However, if it is practiced without sufficient preparation, this will not occur because the
generated heat will not be directed to the proper centers. Therefore, jalandhara, uddiyana
and moola bandhas are practiced to lock the prana in and force it up to the frontal brain.
When pranayama is practised correctly, the mind is automatically conquered.
However, the effects of pranayama are not that simple to manage. It creates extra heat in
the body, it awakens some of the centers in the brain and it can hinder the production of
sperm and testosterone. Pranayama may also lower the temperature of the inner body and
even bring down the rate of respiration and alter the brain waves. Unless you have
practised the shatkarmas first and purified the body to a degree, when these changes take
place, you may not be able to handle them.
There are two important ways of awakening kundalini – one is the direct method and
the other is the indirect. Pranayama is the direct method. The experiences it brings about
are explosive and results are attained very quickly. Expansion is rapid and the mind
attains quick metamorphosis. However, this form of kundalini awakening is always
accompanied by certain experiences, and for one who is not sufficiently prepared
mentally, philosophically, physically and emotionally, these experiences can be
terrifying. Therefore, although the path of pranayama is a jetset method, it is drastic and is considered to be a very difficult one that everybody cannot manage.
Kriya yoga
Another method of inducing awakening is kriya yoga. It is a simple and
practical way for modern day man as it does not require confrontation with the mind.
Sattvic people may be able to awaken kundalini through raja yoga, but those who have a
tumultuous, noisy, rajasic mind will not succeed this way. They will only develop more
tensions, guilt and complexes, and may even become schizophrenic. For such people
kriya yoga is by far the best and most effective system.
When you practise kriya yoga, kundalini doesn’t wake up with force, nor does it
awaken like a satellite or as a vision or experience. It wakes up like a noble queen. Before
getting up she will open her eyes, then close them again for a while. Then she’ll open her
eyes again, look here and there, turn to the right and left, then pull the sheet up over her
head and doze. After some time she will again stretch her body and open her eyes, then
doze for a while. Each time she stretches and looks around she says, ‘Hmmm’. This is
what happens in kriya yoga awakening.
Sometimes you feel very grand and sometimes you don’t feel quite right. Sometimes
you pay too much attention to the things of life and sometimes you think everything is
useless. Sometimes you eat extravagantly and sometimes you don’t eat for days together.
Sometimes you have sleepless nights and at other times you do nothing but sleep and
sleep. All these signs of awakening and reversion, awakening and reversion keep coming
every now and then. Kriya yoga does not create an explosive awakening. However, it can
bring visions and other very mild and controllable experiences. Mood fluctuations are a problem as it is not as systematic like mantra in bhakti yoga.
Left Handed Tantric initiation
The method of awakening kundalini through tantric initiation is a very secret
topic. Only those people who have transcended passions, and who understand the two
principles of nature, Shiva and Shakti, are entitled to this initiation. It is not meant for
those who have urges lurking within them or for those who have a need for physical
contact. With the guidance of a guru, this is the quickest possible way to awaken
kundalini.
There are no extraordinary experiences or feelings and there’s no neurosis; everything
seems quite normal, but at the same time, without your knowledge, awakening is taking
place. Transformation takes place and your awareness expands, but you don’t know it. In
this particular system, awakening and arriving at sahasrara are the same event. It takes
just three seconds. However, who is qualified for this path? Few people in this world
have completely transcended the sexual urge and overcome their passions.
Shaktipat
Another method of awakening is performed by the guru. It is called shaktipat. The
awakening is instant, but it is only a glimpse, not a permanent event. When the guru
creates this awakening you experience samadhi. You can practise all forms of pranayama
and all asanas, mudras and bandhas without having learned them or prepared for them.
Changes take place in the physical body in an instant. The skin becomes very soft, the eyes glow and the body emits a particular aroma which is neither agreeable nor disagreeable.
This shaktipat is conducted in the physical presence or from a distance. It can be
transmitted by touch, by a handkerchief, a mala, a flower, a fruit or anything edible,
depending on the system the guru has mastered. It can even be transmitted by letter,
telegram or telephone.
Self-surrender
We have discussed different established methods of awakening kundalini, but there is
another way – don’t aspire for awakening. Let it happen if it happens: “I am not
responsible for the awakening, My Ista deva will accomplish everything. I accept what comes to me.” This is known as the path of self-surrender, and in this path, if you have a strong enough belief that your kundalini will indeed awaken, twenty thousand years can pass in the twinkling of an eye and kundalini will awaken instantly.
Some more words:
Some people who have awakened kundalini look quite abnormal, and they behave in
a peculiar way. They are very disorganized, unsystematic and totally confused, and you
can’t understand what they are doing. Therefore, in yoga you are advised to discipline
yourself right from the beginning, so that when kundalini wakes up you remain
disciplined. Otherwise you might go out to the street and just lie down there in a heap.
If the awakening of kundalini takes place through birth, pranayama, tantric initiation
or shaktipat, you don’t have to know anything. In these situations everything is beyond
control; whether things go right or wrong; you are helpless. But when awakening takes
place through the other methods, there are certain steps to take.
Except in tantric initiation, the sexual obligations have to be kept at bay. Food should
be minimum, light and pure. One must have a guru and seek his guidance. Isolation from
people is also very important.
Often when kundalini awakens in a person, he develops some sort of power. Some
aspirants can materialize things, see clairvoyantly, hear clairaudiently Or read the minds
of others. And when you are amongst many people, it becomes a great temptation to
exercise these powers. This can be dangerous. Whereas some people will not care if you
can read their mind, others will feel it is a great impingement on their privacy and they
may even want to shoot you. You see, people get scared at the exhibition of siddhis, so if
you are facing any psychic manifestations, you will have to control them by force.
Seclusion:
Seclusion is actually recommended for all who are undergoing awakening of
kundalini. At that time it is best to retire from active life and family environments for at
least 45 days. Unless you are in semi-seclusion from the world at the time of awakening,
as well as having strange experiences and hallucinations, you may have peculiar doubts,
fears, anger and strong passions.
Diet:
Scientific observations have shown that the awakening of kundalini is generally
accompanied by a state of nervous depression. The inner body temperature undergoes
erratic changes and drops so much that it becomes much lower than the outer body
temperature. Metabolism slows down and sometimes it even stops completely.
Consumption of oxygen also falls. Therefore, when you are experiencing kundalini
awakening your diet must be very light and easy to assimilate. The best diet for a kundalini yogi is boiled food. Crushed wheat, barley, lentils and dal are excellent foods, particularly when they are in a liquid form. Fats and greasy foods should be avoided and protein should be kept to a minimum. This will take any strain off the liver, because when the mind undergoes a crisis, the liver is overtaxed. Non veg should be strictly avoided. It is good to increase the carbohydrates in your diet, eg. rice, wheat, maize, barley,
potato, etc., because carbohydrates help to maintain the inner body temperature and they
do not require much heat to digest. Eggs, chicken and other heavy foods do not produce
much heat themselves, but they require heat for digestion.
By: Satyananda Saraswati :
Note :Minor editing have been done by us.
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