Kundalini Darshan
the kundalini vision of yogi atmabodha
All Glories to Sri Vasudeva
All Obeisances to Sri Maha Mrityunjaya
Om Namah Mahamrityunjayaya
Om Tryambakam Yajamahe Sugandhim Pustivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan Mrtyormuksiya Mamrtat
Introduction
Namaste. Welcome to Kundalini Darshan, The Kundalini Vision of Yogi Atmabodha Sarasvati. I am an initiated Tantric yogin, however I am self taught, having followed a yogic sadhana of Hatha/Kriya/Laya yoga as detailed by Swami Satyananda in written form for over two decades.
In 1964 I was in a Sunday school class and the subject was the beginning of evil. The teacher, a young man in his 20's was somewhat knowledgeable about the Bible but wasn't a religious scholar by any means. After describing how the Devil who mysteriously appeared, tempted Eve, we discussed their degrading behavior which cast them out of the Garden of Eden. With God just having been described as the Creator of all things my curiosity jumped ahead a bit and I began questioning the entire scenario. So I asked the Sunday school teacher why did God as the creator of all things allow evil to become present as a tempting force to Eve therefore thrusting mankind into darkness. If God was the all powerful why even allow evil to exist to begin with. Well of course he couldn't really explain why and to me that was not a sufficient answer. Full of questions about this situation I was surprisingly perplexed about the whole thing and especially about God and His nature to begin with. So when I got home with my parents from church I went to my room silently sat on my bed and looked up to my bedroom ceiling and said aloud, " God if there is ever a way to know who and what you are beyond the shadow of a doubt I want to know". Little did I know that that question would set me upon a lifelong spiritual quest involving many many intense accidental spiritual experiences concerning the nature of God. It was 1966 and I found myself in the middle of the psychedelic movement, frequently ingesting huge amounts of LSD which I found could easily propel the tripper into an extreme divine revelatory state if their mindset was right, which obviously mine was. These revelatory experiences directed me to seek the the reality of God through some eastern teachings and ashram events in which I experienced the actual person of Lord Sri Krsna and years later the living person of Lord Jesus Christ.
The psychedelic movement was essentially a culture, with its own society, its own philosophy, its own spokespeople, and eventually its own written material which was available in specific stores known as "head shops'.. Its society was the Hippies, its own philosophy was using LSD for religious and spiritual experiences of Consciousness, and two of its most prominent spokespeople was Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert. These two men had being clinical psychologist at Harvard began their psychedelic quest with psilocybin and eventually LSD. they both were having spiritual revelatory experiences, a known effect of Entheogens, a Greek word meaning "releaser of God within". But were these spiritual revelations genuine they asked them selves. Much of what they experienced on these LSD trips paralleled scripture in some Eastern texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, and other Vedic and Tantric works. In fact the LSD effect of inducing a spiritual revelatory state reached world wide, with some eastern swamis from India visiting the Hippie mecca of the Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. Richard Alpert decided to do one better and travel to India himself with a supply of strong Owlsley acid ( "Owsley' a reknowned street chemist known for making the strongest and cleanest LSD) . Alpert eventually met a rural Sadhu named Neem Karoli Baba, and his and Alpert's exploits became legendary. Alpert gave Karoli some of his LSD and it virtually had no affect whereas on a normal person they would have had an intense experience. The moral of the story about the spiritual effects had been solved. Neem Karoli as an advanced Sadhu (reknownst mystic Yogi) was that he was already where the affect would take you. Of more importance here is the Neem Karoli formerly initiated Alpert into Karoli's spiritual lineage giving him the name Ram Dass. Ram Dass came back to America lecturing about the amazing spiritual mystical life of Neem Karoli and wrote what was probably the most significant work to come out of the psychedelic 60"s Remember Be Here Now. This book directly correlated the spiritual experiences people were having on LSD with God realization, and couldn't have come at a better time for me. One day while shopping in a local head shop I bought two books that would change my life, The Bhagavad Gita and Remember Be Here Now. Be Here Now was both an autobiographical work as well as a yogic textbook. It was in Be Here Now is where I first saw the word "Kundalini". Be Here Now discussed many forms of yoga with Kundalini Yoga being only briefly mentioned. "A very powerful form of yoga practiced by few" he said of it. Knowing very little about yoga in general this statement really provoked my interest.
LSD was still around but rare and several very intense experiences with God, served to further convince me of LSD's ability to allow one to be enveloped in the Absolute Consciousness of God. Years after the LSD culture was over years later I encountered the term Kundalini again in another book "Kundalini, The Evolutionary Energy In Man", by Gopi Krsna. In this book he begins his story with an experience of Absolute Consciousness of God that was triggered by his accidental awakening of the Kundalini. He was simply meditating on a Lotus Flower over his head every morning as an inherited practice from his father unaware it was an very secret ancient Tantric practice. He described explicitly how while visualizing very intently a brilliant lotus flower (which in essence is Sahasrara Cakra) the Kundalini awakened and surged up his back entering his head with a "roar like that of a waterfall". Then his mental consciousness expanded out and out away from him until his mind seemingly filled the entire spatial universe, experiencing himself and the universe as God Himself. I had experienced something very similar on LSD almost verbatim. So now I had an answer to my quest for the nature and reality of God. It was no coincidence that both LSD and Kundalini provoked the same experience which revealed itself as a Consciousness experience of a God state. ancient he details consciousness experiences as a result a spontaneous Kundalini awakening, that I had experienced on LSD, and that I knew were bona fide experiences with God. After reading this book, I knew that seeking the reality of the Kundalini was the final answer in my search for the ultimate reality of Absolute God. One day I saw in an obscure book catalogue a small book called "Moola Bandha" with a picture of the Kundalini spiraling out of the Muladhara Cakra, by Swami Satyananda, I had a sense that this man would be my Kundalini Guru. I was right. In 1996 after escaping some harrowing domestic karma, I began a simple sadhana using his complete yogic texts and the Grace of the Divine Mother. It was only a matter of weeks, literally, before Mother Kundalini began blessing me with glimpses of Her abundant Grace.
Some of the narratives here may seem dramatically out of scope with much of the typical Kundalini information. They are all based on actual personal realization, much of which is on going. Most of my presented material has been many times scripturally corroborated in such texts as the Sat-Cakra Nirupana, The Pratyabijnahyrdayam, and Srimad Bhagavad Gita, as well as as detailed in many texts presented by Swami-ji Satyananda. But for lack of space, most of the corroborated material is not included here, but feel free to research them for yourself. Suffice it to say that what you will read or hear here is based on a genuinely revelatory consciousness that you can trust in making your decisions pertaining to your karmic life or yogic path. Jaya Hari Om, Yogi Atmabodha Sarasvati.
Editors note:The term “Kundalini Darshan”, is a comprehensive work I did previously and underscores most of the information you will find in this website. “Kundalini Darshan” i.e. “the vision of the Kundalini”. It is so named because of a vast and comprehensive transcendental vision I underwent, beginning spontaneously one morning in the fall of 2010, which served to dramatically and totally expand my consciousness awareness of the role the Kundalini Devi plays in the manifestation and sustainment of spiritual and biological reality. It is termed “the vision of the Kundalini” because it is a vision that began to suddenly morph from the Kundalini consciousness I was already undergoing, and over the two year period in which it began, dominated my total experience of life and continues to do so to this day. This vision revealed in a virtual visual “time- lapse photographic” viewing of reality, an almost unknown role the Kundalini plays in the descent of absolute consciousness, the Absolute Consciousness of God, that while yet concealing its transcendental dynamism ultimately results in the living consciousness we all experience as ourselves. Hence, it is a vision of the Kundalini’s performance in the manifestation and sustenance of the divine spiritual consciousness that forms the substratum of biological reality, as put forth by the Kundalini Herself. This visions’ specifics are elucidated on in detail further on in the text, and is the basis for the spiritual thesis I describe as The Kundalini Consciousness Descent Continuum©, which forms the core of the text overall.
Kundalini Introduction
This website contains a comprehensive and rare understanding of the divine agency known as Kundalini. The overall scope of the text is to extrapolate the common understanding and information about Kundalini into a much broader spectrum of spiritual function that underlies the essence of this most sublime and all encompassing divine agency.
The Kundalini is defined in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary[1] as a latent or dormant energy that rests at the base of the spine, and after arousal through yogic exercises rises up the back, whereas reaching the head produces in the yogic practitioner “a state of extreme enlightenment”. This definition roughly corresponds with most typical Indian or eastern definitions available. Regardless of its source, this base definition could hardly be more simplistic, and simply adds to the mystery surrounding this most enigmatic entity.
Fortunately, we have in our search for the reality and meaning of Kundalini, proof of Her in Her own state, the “enlightenment” She is heralded to produce. Alas, it is through Her own dynamic expression (Her enlightenment), being personally witnessed and lived as a day to day living experience by your author that Her substantiality is verified. Hence, Kundalini enlightenment is where we find proof of the reality of the divine consciousness She hopefully baths Her seekers with.
Over the time of Her total ascent transition She reveals more and more of Her cosmic grandeur, which is the grandeur of Absolute Siva, the Absolute Consciousness that ultimately underscores all of us. In addition, not only is an awareness of Her static union with Siva as Shabda Kundalini revealed through consciousness experience, but the dynamics by which She creates the experience of the finite personality become a lucid phenomenon as well, hence the soon to be presented paradigm I have deemed the “Kundalini Consciousness Descent Continuum”. ©
However, along with the living experience of my beloved Kundalini Devi, actual awareness of Her social understanding, at least in the west, suggests that She as an omniscient divine agency is the most unknown, most mis-understood, most mystical entity that can be inquired about or experienced as a state of living consciousness, But despite this, Her mechanics can be cognitively understood to some extent, so despite Her mystery, She as the actual source of this mystery also seeks to undo it, hence the existence of the higher yogas, as She is their source and function of revealing Her. When you awaken Her by means of a yoga sadhana, you are amazed at the congruence of how the myriad of yogic techniques interact with Her developing energies, flows, consciousness shifts, and so forth. She becomes the practice, and this is elaborated on to a greater degree further on the text.
The Kundalini is the quintessential spiritual enigma facing mankind. By means of Her own self veiling, She conceals the fundamental role played by Her not only in the creation of our mundane consciousness, but also the connection that consciousness creation has with God. She is therefore secretly at the core of the consciousness of our living experience and the processes that stem from it. The direct connection God has with man is at the forefront of almost all religions and spiritual directives; having the answer to this situation is one of the most important questions facing mankind, and it is answered almost heavy-handedly by Kundalini revelation.
However, Her Self cloaking as the ego persona is only part of Her mystery. To the contrary of Her consciousness veiling mastery, Her ascent in awakening brings with it a clarity of divine consciousness that wipes out any mental or spiritual structures that attempt to conceal the divine truths She bearingly springs forth.
Skipping the metaphors and metaphysical ramifications, can we actually put a handle on exactly what the Kundalini is and what role in reality She plays? Yes, absolutely.
Kundalini Defined
Before we can understand and define Kundalini, we must define the nature of God, because the Kundalini is a pivotal aspect/function of God Himself.
Literally, the Kundalini is the super cosmic agency of that God, who is technically known in Tantric circles and scriptures as Absolute God, uses as part of His expansion to create all lower levels of reality, as well as to disseminate life and the Consciousness within that life.
Understand God - Understand Kundalini
Simply put, the basis of Kundalini is God. What else is new, one might say? Isn’t God the basis of everything? Of course. But, when the subject of Kundalini becomes our interest, what we are doing is making a dramatic circumspectual shift in the understanding of God overall and His absolute mechanistic functioning as the basis for reality - not just spiritual reality, but all reality - cosmic, spatial, universal, divine, and especially subjective(within).
As already stated, the ancient tantric and yogic scripture of India reveal that God as all reality exists as an actual structural paradigm that is pure absolute consciousness. This paradigm exists as an aggregate with several layered components. However, this aggregate has a focal source of Consciousness, and this absolute source consciousness is the basis for the layers of the aggregate, and is the core being of God Himself. Within this aggregate, important to note, this core being has essentially two distinct levels, that are both primordial God, but one is absolute, unchanging and the source for the other level which is involved with change both spiritual and material. These two levels have become to be known as Father and Mother God, or Siva Sakti or Siva Kundalini, or Siva being the Father and Kundalini being the Mother. Despite the Kundalini being the Mother and the aspect of God that creates change in whatever form, She also nevertheless has absolute characteristics as well, characteristics that are macro cosmic in perspective and all pervasive or all pervading through all space time - in other words, She is everywhere just as Siva is. They both constitute all spacial reality
This absolute source consciousness is termed Caitanyatma, which means “the Divine Consciousness" of the Universal Soul. The word Caitanyatma is a very special and significant term, one we will elaborate on further in other material.
The Kundalini performs as a specific consciousness modulating mechanism within this structured aggregate (Caitanyatma), serving to either condense or expand this Absolute Consciousness of God in biologically manifested beings. So in order to understand exactly how the Kundalini mechanism performs Her role in this overall divine schema w/God, it would be helpful to have a good idea of the manner by which God as Caitanyatma manifests all levels of reality below His Immanent Absolute Self.
The Kundalini Consciousness Descent Continuum
In this brief introduction to this website, detailing the vastness by which God uses the Kundalini to create overall reality, matter and everything, would be too voluminous, so here we will concentrate on the primary function of the Kundalini, which is the reduction of divine consciousness, and in this case the reduction of consciousness in man in particular. Therefore our emphasis is on how the Kundalini performs as a macro divine entity that God allows to become the living mental consciousness in all life, and especially higher life forms such as man. As such She can be termed a consciousness reductionistic mechanism, understanding that Gods Consciousness is Super divine and sublime, while our experience of consciousness obviously is not. Thus, His consciousness has been reduced, and important to note, concealed as well. We think we are our self as a person, with no real hint of God or divinity within us.
This process of consciousness reduction exists a flux, in other words it is ongoing and perpetual, therefore it is continuous, hence the term the Kundalini Consciousness Descent Continuum. Essentially, this core term and concept is the core of the knowledge contained in The Kundalini Vision of Yogi Atmabodha, and the basis for the revelations contained in the website.
Ultimately, no amount of reading or philosophizing can acquaint you with the realization of the Kundalini Consciousness Descent Continuum, and only experiencing an awakened Kundalini that has both penetrated Sahasrara Cakra, as well as allowed the Sahasrara to saturate ones being. Therefore a rigorous yoga sadhana is necessary to be performed in order for this level of realization to be achieved … however, a philosophic discourse as follows that will serve to expose the reader to the deeper reality that the Kundalini as the Cosmic Devi will hopefully induce a potential seeker to embark on or his / her trek into this revealed yogic reality.
[1] Merriam Webster, Webster New Encyclopedic Dictionary, “definition of Kundalini”, p.1021, 2002.