As being written – chap 2 part 2.

Suffering and Bliss.

How these words have such complimentary deep resonation connected with our spiritual sphere, (& religious dimensions).  We may engage in our daily spiritual practice to avoid the suffering & get the bliss. We may want to move from despair, when we stop being the ostrich with head buried in the sand. We may want to move into the sphere of Oneness, & have that knowledge and awareness of what is really going on around us.  If we are not aligned to divine energy presenting into our human lives, mentally and physically, we stay stuck in Maya & the Samsara of repeated births & deaths.

The external teacher or guru can help with clarification. Will this be Jesus, the Buddha, or our own Gurus or any source that we seek for guidance? It doesn’t need yoga & it doesn’t need belief in reincarnation or any Eastern ideas. However these writing originate from my years in India as a yogi & renunciate, so I focus on kundalini, manta, & Goddess Shakti.

Even so, many who write about their yogic practice, kundalini experience, time with gurus etc., talk of periods of despair and feelings of failure. Even research with a scientific slant reports religious experience that at senior stage of practice, where “God seems to turn away”.  Research in this area even shows a times a correlation to psychiatric disorder characterized by specific symptomatology, especially that of depression. The connection of spirituality and depression, or a deep abyss, seems there, but what about this in terms of kundalini energy. 

What about our own levels of enlightenment for is a rising and hence weakening of kundalini, and the descending of divine energy really awakens consciousness in the body. This is in direct conflict with aspects of our kundalini practice, but the purpose and function of kundalini is to enable us to have an experience of the witness stage, where we “”see through” life as it is. Ultimately.  The kundalini is a holy force aligned to the goddess energy. Otherwise known as the Holy Spirit in the West.  It takes us out of our material craziness, but also it takes us through them, not passing by them or burying them.  The Awakening does not make us mad or bad, we already were. 

We do however have to take what cure we really need to take, and leave what we can discard.  For instance, much of religion has become distorted over the years, and often serves no purpose or, confuses and even destroys us. We need then to see religion as something that can help us only in parts. 

Does Prozac have a place? Does Valium have a place?  o we get a therapist? Herbalist, crystal gazer, acupuncturist, psychiatrist, hypnotist. The options are multiple, but the opinions are even more so. Some believe psychiatry is the work of the Devil. For some its new Age. In short, degrees of fundamentalism are very common.  It is actually all around us in many forms, and even is the new norm!

Kundalini yoga is supposed to be therapeutic. There is some research into its practice, Of course quite a lot of research looks at the value of meditation.  Writers in this field have express views that the kundalini process can include physical and mental problems. They also agree that the kundalini process can lead to the unveiling of the true self and enlightenment.

Depression may be located in the heart chakra, its effects appear to be in the brain area. The right side of the heart is described as a true spiritual centre. A number of teachers are very clear on this view. Depression also has echoes in monasticism and renunciation. The Sanskrit word vairagya means dispassion. In this case, it is almost a complete abhorrence of the world that drives a person into the state of renunciation known as sannyas. This is very similar to the state of anhedonia, which is in psychiatry is a loss of interest in all the world that previously appeared attracting. The early life of the Buddha also illustrate this overwhelming urge through “sadness”, to remove oneself from the world at all costs, even if one was a king. One view would be that he had a very low mood, the second of the two main symptoms of clinical depression. The connection between the centre of the heart and the right side of the body is an esoteric subject all of its own. The product of these two areas may be a conflict between this life of the family, society and the male female domain, and the domain of monasticism, and introspection. Its cave vs the cafe! Alternatively, we could see also a focus on good vs evil.

This primary” chakra however may be more than just one chakra. It seems to be an area that is reached after the crown chakra has been breached. A sort of umbrella of light then moves down from the head to the heart area, and then all around the body.

Does the concept of depression connected to kundalini and spiritual awakening be seen as a higher process that is trying to connect and balance both of flow and of energy to and from divine consciousness?  This meets the needs and aspirations of the human personality.

In present society moving into an ever advancing research, approaches to medical treatment to mental health may come to a recognition of kundalini type “electricity”. If currently medication approaches stay limited in their effectiveness, it needs that the true workings of the brain are found, and the consequent cures thus “discovered”

Then kundalini energies may be recognized just as the power of meditation and other spiritual practice is being “discovered”.  At this point, we can say that psychiatric drugs to some degree are toxins that may damage the brain, whilst healing the disorders.  This is no different from saying that Panadol or aspirin is harmful. Just because we may say that psychiatry is defunct, we can also say the same about religion, or new age, or spiritual practice.  In reality if we find a medication that helps us without significant side effects, there should be no conflict between our spiritual practice and scientific evidence-based medicine.

Shakti

Kundalini is known as the serpent power, to be visualized as a coiled snake at the base of the spine. It may be in a dormant state and when awakened Shakti arises in a sinuous writhing through the spine. It can arise through several channels according to some but for the sake of simplicity, see it as entwined & rising up around & through the spine. It is energy or Shakti so can pass in in out of any bodily physical elements. It goes up until it reached the crown chakra at the top of the head. As it passes in & out of the spinal areas it goes through the other chakras along the way. These are more specific & centres of energy with each having attributes, such as connection to powers such as sexual activity, wealth, heart emotions, intellectual intelligence & then spiritual enlightenment. (From the base to the crown). Now there are multitudes of books & lots of information available about kundalini. Everywhere kundalini is proposed more in terms of physical reality & the chakras have their on “seed” mantra or sound. In my kundalini yoga, there is onlty Shakti, flowing with different resonance & sound throughout the kundalini activity. This kundalini doesn’t just ride up. It goes up & down & is never totally inactive. The Shakti also goes out of the crown & cascades like an umbrella down to the heart area, where the Shakti become full & complete as a per individual Consciousness, which is one with Cosmic Consciousness, ( in its female form primarily). The sounds of the chakras are then associated with certain form of the Goddess, such as Sarasvati, (for the throat chakra of learning & intelligence). The Mahamaya at the heart. Lakshmi at the navel, & Mahakali at the lower two chakras. There are then “seed” or Bija mantras per chakra, & the repetition of these sounds will allow all kundalini energies to flow free towards ultimately self-realisation at the “externa; heart are, after the crown chakra is breached & Shakti cascades down  around the upper body. Those bija mantras are explained in my other books (or see http://www.goddessmanta.guru).

Thus, Shakti is considered to be the universal energy or Goddess energy – the creation force of the Divine Being. The masculine aspect of divine being is teh transcendental “soundless” power beyond form and shape. Intrinsically allied to the female aspect seen as shape, sound & form. This is also Maya, the external creation, but also the energy behind & permeating that creation. The worship of the Shakti as kundalini, or Goddess forms, is worship of the Divine Being as the world, the universe, or creation, as well as the transcendental formless beyond description. The Transcendental Guru has awareness of & experiences in human form, all of the intricacies of this Truth, which is Sat, Chit, Ananda.

Manifested Shakti through the kundalini awakening process is one way of achieving liberation from Samsara, because it brings the lower consciousness into the field of higher consciousness. That is, if the ego self is surrendered. Otherwise it becomes a yogic practice only, as one that is about “well-being” or some power attainment. The surrender to the Goddess force/s still involves being in the world, & even accepting the pleasures of the world. (Which are seen from a different perspective, as all pleasure is counterbalanced by suffering).  The final goal is liberation and freedom from birth and death (or rebirth). Otherwise known as Samsara.

Either way simply believing one is “saved” or even enlightened, including worship of some Deity, make not equate to real self-realization. Professed perfection is not possible as a human, only as a Divine Being – even if only a spark of the conflagration. Nobody except the higher level souls at stage 7 upwards, seem to have not been able to overcome some human frailties, including quite disruptive & negative ones. Those who accept the Goddess Shakti are also Tantric practitioners who accept human nature and work with it, not against it. Tantra is simply seeing the Shakti in all aspects of humanity. Even sex! This is when true spiritual purification occurs, until we transcend into our natural state of bliss and knowledge – the Transcendental Guru is ourselves!