Swami Shivapadananda

More on Kundalini

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

646

Swamiji continues speaking about the Kundalini

We read that Swami Vivekananda touched Swami Abhedananda when he wanted to test Sri Ramakrishna's power soon after he had been given it. Swami Vivekananda touched him and Swami Abhedananda received an electric shock - his kundalini came up. Sri Ramakrishna was in the next room at the time and immediately he called Swami Vivekananda and gave him a scolding that even his father had not given him. Master said, 'You nearly ruined his life. You dare not do this.'

Do not think that spirituality is to be played with, that anybody can awaken your kundalini and that everyone can bless you. Silly people think they can bless you. I have told you over and over, 'Only God can bless you.' Someone asked me, 'How is it that you bless people?' I said, 'I don't bless people. When people prostrate to me I prostrate to God who is inside them.' Sri Ramakrishna and our gurus said, 'See God in everything.' I am only seeing God in you, I am not blessing you. God Himself blesses you.

If anybody puts his feet on your head, kick him. No human guru has the right to put their feet on your head because guru - God - is seated there. And when the real guru puts his feet on your head you will have a certain kind of awakening. You will become a God-man, not a world-man.

Do not be deluded by reading things in books. Do not believe that if a man tells you a few things.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

Kundalini

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

645

   

Do not be fooled by people when they say you must do pranayama and certain things to raise the kundalini. It is very difficult. Many people bluff you that their kundalini shakti has risen, but a man whose kundalini shakti has risen will not talk ill of another, he will not feel jealous about another person, he will not condemn others. He will become love personified. Do not think that all can become God-realised. If anyone's kundalini is going wrong then his sensuality will increase more and more.

When Swami Vivekananda was giving lectures in America it appears that some people in the audience started shouting, 'Hail Jesus, Hail Jesus,' and 'Glory to the Lord.' Here the kundalini was raised because they were all bhaktas [followers on the path of devotion] but as soon as they went home it appears the kundalini went lower than normal. Swami Vivekananda says that they were emotionally awakened without any yama and niyama [disciplines and observances of spiritual practice], without any purity, and therefore they turned out to be brutes. And when you become brutish then by sheer will you have to give up all those things that you want to do in a sensual way. It is that easy. Do not go to a guru to correct it, you can correct it yourself. How? Try to do away with all those sensual things and do more japa [meditative repetition of a mantra or one of the many names attributed to God].

Forget the people who say, 'Do pranayama.' By force you awaken the kundalini shakti [power] through mudras [postures of the hands], pranayama etc. We do not want to do that. As our minds become purer so the kundalini will rise. Take for instance a container which is empty, it is full of air. But as you pour the water in, to the extent the air is empty to that extent the container will be full. So to the extent you purify yourself to that extent the kundalini will come up.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Kundalini

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

644

Sri Ramakrishna found out who he was by Tota Puri [his Advaita Vedanta 'guru'] making him go beyond Kali-consciousness [dualistic awareness of the Divine Mother].

Certain spiritual experiences show that the kundalini or spiritual power in you is awakened. At these times whatever is nearest to your mind will flash through your mind. Seeing lightening or seeing light is also the awakening of the kundalini. Feeling pain is also the awakening of the kundalini (except where you try to force it; then it becomes a false kind of headache rather than a natural feeling of pain). This awakening differs from person to person depending on the state in which his or her mind is. Degrees of purity also differ from one person to another.

First of all one must establish what kundalini is. Secondly you must know what result you will get when the kundalini is rising in a particular direction and what the feelings will be.

If you read 'Ramakrishna the Great Master' Sri Ramakrishna describes, according to his experiences, how the kundalini awakens. Master said that sometimes it hops like a bird, sometimes it comes up like a snake, sometimes it jumps like a frog. Sri Ramakrishna very clearly describes the effects of the kundalini rising.

If the kundalini shakti [power] is rising according to the instructions laid down in the scriptures (and we will take it for granted that the disciple, the student or the practitioner has followed all the rules of purity), then the result will always be the sharpening of the intellect and the increase of love towards God. That will be the first result.

But if the kundalini has risen and it has gone off-gear you will either become insane or you will get diseases in your body because the current, like two wires, gets fused and you become confused. Or you will find that you cannot meditate or concentrate. If you do not have love for God and your mind is always going on lower things, sensual things, what to do? You do not have to worry about it too much. Just leave out all the things that you know to be worldly and start living a pure life. And when you live a pure life naturally the kundalini shakti will adjust itself and go on to the correct channel. The easiest way to rouse the kundalini shakti is through japa [meditative repetition of a mantra or one of God's many names].

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time. 2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online...

Reference websites (please mouse-over the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa, Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2

 

Swami Shivapadananda on Kundalini power

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 318

 

Swami Vivekananda [chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna] says that the muladhara [chakra (visually depicted alongside) and located in the approximate physical vicinity of the perineum] is where all residual sensation is stored, and motor energy. If a minute portion of this Kundalini ['coiled serpent' energy storehouse] travels along a nerve fibre, it causes a reaction, for example a dream, an imagination. Long intense meditation causes a vast mass to travel upwards, and it gives an intense reaction. If it reaches the brain, there is a blaze of illumination.

Rousing this power may come from intense love of God; the mercy of a perfected sage; the power of the analytical will of philosophy. All worship leads to this. The answer to prayer comes from this (i.e. one’s own Inner nature).

When anger comes up, see it coming. Watch it. Ask, ‘Am I that anger?’ No. Anger is the mind.

Hope makes the ego dance. It leads to selfishness. Without hope there is no 'I'. Without ‘I’ there is no need for hope. Hope is in the future. Selfishness is in the past. Fight now, bury the past, live in the present, live for God.Hope makes the ego dance. It leads to selfishness.

Something is wrong? Then say, ‘O Ma [Divine Mother], change your form.’ You will see, She always answers.

Each one has his own guru, but he gets assistance from many others.

Use likhit [written repetition of God’s names – i.e. ‘Ram’, ‘Jesus’, or ‘AUM’] japa. Use anything to aid concentration. Suddenly you will go inside. All is aimed at that one thing. For example, with the Ishta [chosen ideal or deity], concentrate on it all the time. Suddenly it is not there, it has gone into the formless.

All music is noise. Only when we put a meaning to it, do we like or dislike it. If the Self sings, who listens?

Click on 'Continue reading' below to find out about CDs of Swamiji speaking.

Swami Shivapadananda on the Kundalini

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY

READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 13

Submit to Him and be carefree.

Humble yourself before Him. Say, ‘I am nothing, Thou art all. I am nothing, Thou art all. I am nothing, Thou art all.’

The blessed are those who seek Him, not outside but inside. Then the inside and the outside become one.

Prayer must come from the heart; and the mind must become one with it. Then prayer has immense strength, power.

Meditation comes when we become aloof from the world and material things. This only comes though vichara [reasoning]. Keep the eyes wide open, looking at the world and understanding the emptiness of it. This is real sadhana [spiritual practice].

Total surrender is stillness of the mind and attainment of Supreme Peace.

Silence is the best meditation.

In Sanatana Dharma [literally: the eternal religion and the term used for Hinduism] you must go further and further until the objective becomes the subjective.

The goal is spiritual awakening.

Meditation Advice for Specific Devotees

Have the Deity with form, in your heart. Then take him down to other chakras [spiritual centres in the body – see footnote for detail] - to the Muladhara chakra - this makes you fearless. Then bring him up through the chakras to the crown of the head. Then down to the heart and to the form again.

Meditation Advice for other Devotees

First you must have the attitude of, ‘not this, not this.’ Then with closed eyes see Him inside. Later comes the stage when you see Him with open eyes.

[The following excellent explanation of the Chakras and the Kundalini, is excerpted from the Glossary in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, published by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Centre in New York.]

Kundalini (Lit: the Serpent Power). It is the spiritual energy lying dormant in all individuals. According to the Tantra [a system of religious philosophy in which the female aspect or Divine Mother of the Universal power, is the ultimate objective or reality] there are seven centres in the body, designated as Muladhara, Svadisthana, Manipura, Anahata, Visuddha, Ajna and Sahasrara.

These are the dynamic centres where the spiritual energy becomes vitalised and finds special expression with appropriate spiritual perception and mystic vision. These centres, placed in the Sushumna [said to be located within the spinal column and being the most significant of the many spiritual nerve pathways] form the ascending steps by which the Kundalini or spiritual energy, passes from the base of the spine to the cerebrum. When an easy pathway is formed along the Sushumna through these centres, and the Kundalini encounters no resistance in its movements upward and downward, then there is the Shatchakrabheda, which means literally, the penetrating of the six chakras, or mystic centres.

The Muladhara chakra, situated between the base of the sexual organ and the anus [i.e. in the perineum] is regarded as the seat of the Kundalini. The centres are metaphorically described as lotuses. The Svadisthana chakra is situated at the base of the sexual organ. The Manipura chakra is located in the region of the navel. The Anahata chakra is next and is placed in the region of the heart. The Visuddha chakra is at the lower end of the throat. Ajna chakra is situated in the space between the eyebrows. In the cerebrum there is the Sahasrara chakra, the thousand-petalled lotus, the abode of Siva [the Hindu God of the destruction of ignorance]. This is the highest goal and here the awakened spiritual energy manifests itself in its full glory and splendour.