tantric yogas & kundalini

This thread is to serve as an avenue for exploring tantric yogas & kundalini.

Firstly I should ask: what do these terms mean to those here?

And how might we discuss them without compromise?

VajraYosid said:

This thread is to serve as an avenue for exploring tantric yogas & kundalini.

Firstly I should ask: what do these terms mean to those here?

And how might we discuss them without compromise?

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Tantric yoga is a method to awaken kundalani through tantric path.

It looks like there is low interest on this forum in this. It would help (at least, help me) if someone could explain what about kundalini, etc., puts people off.

Kundalani is an energy thread near Mooldhara Chakra. If you want I can mail you book about Kundalani.

I'm not put off by it. I just recognise I'm not ready for it. In order for kundalini to work in any permanent way in any traditional school, the aspirant has to first be bramacarya. That cuts me out.

Of course there are different opinions on the bramacarya bit, but I'm just stating traditiion. Most of the stuff you hear about today is something else, or at best temporal states.

Sumit said:

Kundalani is an energy thread near Mooldhara Chakra. If you want I can mail you book about Kundalani.

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Thank you. That would be appreciated; which book do you have in mind?

Vinayaka said:

I'm not put off by it. I just recognise I'm not ready for it. In order for kundalini to work in any permanent way in any traditional school, the aspirant has to first be bramacarya. That cuts me out.

Of course there are different opinions on the bramacarya bit, but I'm just stating traditiion. Most of the stuff you hear about today is something else, or at best temporal states.

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Hm... Although I am a brahmachari and have received diksa in a traditional school, I have never heard of a prohibition for householders to practice kundalini.

I appreciate though that there is caution in approaching kundalini which has justifiably acquired a reputation for harmfulness if out of control.

VajraYosid said:

Hm... Although I am a brahmachari and have received diksa in a traditional school, I have never heard of a prohibition for householders to practice kundalini.

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I don't think it's a prohibition, just a statement that it won't work (as well), as it's sexual energy that is being transmuted to be used. It makes sense of that same energy is dissipated, then you don't have as much of it to use in kundalini practice. I am very wary of so-called kundalini yoga in the west. It's such a nice sounding name, and nice sounding names sell.

VajraYosid said:

I have never heard of a prohibition for householders to practice kundalini.

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It is dangerous to go for kundalani awakening if a person is involved in sexual activities.

which book do you have in mind?

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Yoga Darshan (Hard copy), Kundalani yoga by SWAMI SIVANANDA, 18 siddhas kriya yoga and some other books. But I think you should start with commentary of Vivekanand on Yoga Sutra.

I am very wary of so-called kundalini yoga in the west. It's such a nice sounding name, and nice sounding names sell.

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Me too, especially when it uses Sikhi as packaging.

Vinayaka said:

I am very wary of so-called kundalini yoga in the west. It's such a nice sounding name, and nice sounding names sell.

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I started this thread to get a sense of people's viewpoints on kundalini. My root guru asked me to write a book clarifying kundalini yoga which, since Woodroffe, has largely been obscured by writings further and further from the source. Because it, as you said, sells in the spiritual supermarket, and because improperly understood and attempted, it can cause harm.

It is true that the transmutation of sexual energy has a great deal to do with Kundalini (although Kundalini is not, itself, sexual energy as such - at least, human/animal sexual energy), but I am not so sure that sexual activity - even of the usual sort - bars one from practicing kundalini.

If we look at agamic practices - exemplified by kundalini, we come close to understanding the import of the original Vedic religion(s). It is a sort of reverse engineering. All the yogas of the tantras/agamas are a mirror reflection of that practiced by the Brahmin; it centers on the use of subtle sound to oblate the inner fire. Kundalini is old, it is Vedic, it is that same seven-tongued agni in the very first mandala of the Rig Veda.

Even as the brahmanas were engaged in the process of offering souls to the soul through the release and maturing of children - that is to say, primarily householders, it - kundalini - is practiced by householders as well as brahmacharis, though there are differences in the mantras and practices allotted both.

That said, there are dangers to an inappropriate approach, and if safer courses work for people - that is well. My purpose in writing is to help rectify the irresponsibilities of the spiritual supermarket by giving people a clear view of what, exactly, they are getting into - before they make that commitment.

So, all that out of the way, if others feel that this is a worthwhile endeavor, I would appreciate anyone's perspective on kundalini, be it from certitude or from confusions about it.

Mostly, at the root of the situation, in the west, is a trend to want to jump ahead. I personally think it is a holdover or a continuing of the 'we only have one life'. So people find life at or below the muladhara 'boring' for lack of a better word. Then they read about what happens at chakras above that, and it all sounds so exciting, especially at the last 3.

In my sampradaya, the householders are taught to maintain steadiness, wealth, some meditative practices for balance, deity worship, bhakti, etc., and maybe a few people would touch into kundalini once in a while, like seeing flashes of light within their head. But it's not the focus. If anyone did go there, because of the history in the 30s and 40s in America of people going into insane asylums because of it, my Guru would just tell you to slow down, find a balanced life, get grounded, etc.

At the sannyasin level, it is a totally new matter. That's where it is the focus. The Self then becomes the primary 'goal'. I've been to seminars given by the sannyasins in my sampradaya, and whenever questioning went too far, our teacher, a sannyasin, would jokingly say, "If you want me to answer that, you'll have to shave your head."

So reincarnation also has a part to play. We wait. We're patient. We're not ready yet. Yet one lifetime soon, (as we've at least heard about it) we will be, and a life of the sannyasin awaits us.

So in the best interests of householders, much of kundalini, and it's relationship to a Siva puja with all the tattvas and stuff I don't understand, is kept secret.

The Sivacharya priesthood was once all sannyasin, but their numbers couldn't be maintained, but the secrets are still there. Basically, in the preparation for Siva puja, the priest becomes Siva, (realises the Self, enters samadhi) so when it is done correctly, the preparation is longer than the puja itself. Not too many people are aware of this, but when you attend a puja where this happens, you 'know it', at least if you have any inner sense at all.

I'll try to PM you the link of explanation.

I wish you success on these endeavors of clarification.

VajraYosid said:

It looks like there is low interest on this forum in this. It would help (at least, help me) if someone could explain what about kundalini, etc., puts people off.

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Lots of kundali experts are here.

I think it is possible to have kundalini awaken and still be a non celibate householder.
BUT, you have to go very, very slowly. Never rush anything or try to push it upward.
Let it happen on it's own slowly. I feel that if you are a busy householder and not a monk, then it cannot move to fast anyway, the risk that someone would suddenly have an explosive kundalini awakening after a couple of months or a year of meditation is very unlikely.

I've noticed with myself that it comes and goes, it can move steadily for a while, but when it gets too intense it stops. Probably because I'm not ready and I stop it, both consciously and unconsciously.

If I had forced it at this point, then it would probably get a lot more intense than I'm ready for.

Maya