Editing Kundalini (section)

== Kundalini experiences ==

=== Techniques for the awakening of Kundalini ===

Yoga gurus consider that Kuṇḍalinī can be awakened by ''[[shaktipat]]'' (spiritual transmission by a Guru or teacher), or by spiritual practices such as yoga or meditation.<ref name="Muktananda 1978">{{cite book |last=Muktananda |first=Swami |author-link=Muktananda |title=Play of Consciousness |year=1978 |publisher=Siddha Yoga Publications |isbn=0-911307-81-8}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2021}}

There are two broad approaches to Kuṇḍalinī awakening: active and passive. The ''active approach'' involves systematic physical exercises and techniques of concentration, visualization, [[pranayama]] (breath practice) and meditation under the guidance of a competent teacher. These techniques come from any of the main branches of yoga, and some forms of yoga, such as [[Kriya Yoga school|Kriya yoga]] and [[Kundalini yoga]], which emphasize Kuṇḍalinī techniques.<ref name="Eastman"/>

The ''passive approach'' is instead a path of surrender where one lets go of all the impediments to the awakening rather than trying to actively awaken Kuṇḍalinī. A chief part of the passive approach is [[shaktipat]] where one individual's Kuṇḍalinī is awakened by another who already has the experience. Shaktipat only raises Kuṇḍalinī temporarily but gives the student an experience to use as a basis.<ref name="Eastman">{{cite journal |last=Eastman |first=David T. |title=Kundalini Demystified |journal=[[Yoga Journal]] |date=September 1985 |pages=37–43 }}</ref>

The twentieth century yogi and mystic [[Gopi Krishna (yogi)|Gopi Krishna]], who helped to bring the concept of Kuṇḍalinī to the Western world, stated that<ref name="Krishna">{{cite book |last1=Krishna |first1=Gopti |title=Kundalini Questions and Answers |date=1995 |publisher=The Institute for Consciousness Studies |isbn=978-0-9938316-6-9 |pages=6–8 |edition=Smashwords}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|As the ancient writers have said, it is the vital force or [[prana]] which is spread over both the macrocosm, the entire Universe, and the microcosm, the human body... The atom is contained in both of these. Prana is life-energy responsible for the phenomena of terrestrial life and for life on other planets in the universe. Prana in its universal aspect is immaterial. But in the human body, ...The brain is alive only because of Prana... an enlightened person ... [becomes] compassionate and more detached. There would be less ego, without any tendency toward violence or aggression or falsehood. The awakened life energy is the mother of morality, because all morality springs from this awakened energy. Since the very beginning, it has been this evolutionary energy that has created the concept of morals in human beings.<ref name="Krishna"/> }}

The American [[comparative religions]] scholar [[Joseph Campbell]] describes the concept of Kuṇḍalinī as "the figure of a coiled female serpent—a serpent goddess not of "gross" but "subtle" substance—which is to be thought of as residing in a torpid, slumbering state in a subtle center, the first of the seven, near the base of the spine: the aim of the yoga then being to rouse this serpent, lift her head, and bring her up a subtle nerve or channel of the spine to the so-called "thousand-petaled lotus" ([[Sahasrara]]) at the crown of the head...She, rising from the lowest to the highest lotus center will pass through and wake the five between, and with each waking, the psychology and personality of the practitioner will be altogether and fundamentally transformed."<ref name="Campbell">{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Campbell |title=A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living |date=2011 |publisher=Joseph Campbell Foundation |location=San Anselmo, California |isbn=978-1-61178-006-2 |page=117}}</ref>

==== Hatha yoga ====

[[File:Late Kundalini Model of Hatha Yoga.svg|thumb|upright=2|Late Kundalini model of Hatha Yoga, as described in the ''[[Hatha Yoga Pradipika]]''. This model contradicts the earlier [[Bindu (symbol)|Bindu]] model in the same text.<ref name="Mallinson2">{{cite book | last1=Mallinson | first1=James |author1-link=James Mallinson (author) |last2=Singleton |first2=Mark |author2-link=Mark Singleton (yoga teacher) | title=[[Roots of Yoga]] | publisher=Penguin Books | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-241-25304-5 | oclc=928480104 |pages=32, 180–181}}</ref>]]

According to the ''[[Gorakṣaśataka]]'', or "Hundred Verses of Goraksa", [[hatha yoga]] practices such as the mudras [[mula bandha]], uddiyana bandha, and [[Jalandhara Bandha|jalandhara bandha]],  and the [[pranayama]] practice of [[kumbhaka]] can awaken Kundalini.<ref name="White2">{{cite book |last1=White |first1=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White |title=Yoga in Practice |date=2012 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-691-14085-8 |pages=2, 268–270}}</ref> Another hatha yoga text, the ''[[Khecarīvidyā]]'', states that [[khechari mudra]] enables one to raise Kundalini and access the stores of [[amrita]] in the head, which subsequently flood the body.<ref name="Mallinson3">{{cite book |last1=Mallinson |first1=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |title=The Khecarividya of Adinatha: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of an Early Text of Hathayoga |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-39115-3 |page=29}}</ref>

==== Shaktipat ====

The spiritual teacher [[Meher Baba]] emphasized the need for a master when actively trying to awaken Kuṇḍalinī:<ref name="Baba">{{cite book |last1=Baba |first1=Meher |author-link=Meher Baba |title=Beams from Meher Baba on the Spiritual Panorama |date=1958 |publisher=Sufism Reoriented |location=San Francisco |pages=13–14 |url=http://ambppct.org/Book_Files/Beams.pdf |access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Kundalini is a latent power in the higher body. When awakened, it pierces through six chakras or functional centers and activates them. Without a master, the awakening of the kundalini cannot take anyone very far on the Path; and such indiscriminate or premature awakening is fraught with dangers of self-deception as well as the misuse of powers. The kundalini enables man to consciously cross the lower planes and it ultimately merges into the universal cosmic power of which it is a part, and which also is at times described as kundalini&nbsp;... [but it] cannot dispense with the need for the grace of a Perfect Master.<ref name="Baba"/>}}

In his book, ''Building a Noble World'', Shiv R. Jhawar describes his Shaktipat experience at Muktananda's public program at [[Lake Point Tower]] in Chicago on 16 September 1974 as follows:

{{blockquote|Baba [Swami Muktananda] had just begun delivering his discourse with his opening statement: 'Today's subject is meditation. ... 'Kundalini starts dancing when one repeats Om Namah Shivaya.' Hearing this, I mentally repeated the mantra, I noticed that my breathing was getting heavier. Suddenly, I felt a great impact of a rising force within me. The intensity of this rising kundalini force was so tremendous that my body lifted up a little and fell flat into the aisle; my eyeglasses flew off. As I lay there with my eyes closed, I could see a continuous fountain of dazzling white lights erupting within me. In brilliance, these lights were brighter than the sun but possessed no heat at all. I was experiencing the thought-free state of "I am", realizing that "I" have always been, and will continue to be, eternal. I was fully conscious and completely aware while I was experiencing the pure "I am", a state of supreme bliss. Outwardly, at that precise moment, Baba delightfully shouted from his platform, ‘I didn't do anything. The Energy has caught someone.'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jhawar |first1=Shiv |title=Building a Noble World |date=2004}}</ref>'}}

=== Kundalini awakening ===

The experience of Kuṇḍalinī awakening can happen when one is either prepared or unprepared.<ref name="Eastman"/>

According to Hindu tradition, in order to be able to integrate this spiritual energy, a period of careful purification and strengthening of the body and nervous system is usually required beforehand.<ref name="Maheshwaranada">{{cite book |last=Maheshwarananda |first=Paramhans Swami |author-link=Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda |title=The Hidden Power in Humans: Chakras and Kundalini |date=2004 |publisher=Ibera Verlag |isbn=978-3-85052-197-0 |pages=47–48}}</ref> Yoga and [[Tantra]] propose that Kuṇḍalinī can be awakened by a [[guru]] (teacher), but body and spirit must be prepared by yogic austerities, such as [[pranayama]], or breath control, physical exercises, visualization, and chanting. The student is advised to follow the path in an open-hearted manner.<ref name="Eastman"/>