The breath is felt wide and large at the nostrils. Everything sounds loud. Everything is extremely colorful. I can sniff everything out. I can distinguish flavors. Even the hairs on the skin tickle having me brush my skin thinking it's a mosquito sitting on me. The sense of taste, sight, hearing, smell and feeling on the skin is enhanced these days. Having cleansed the internals, the senses are heightened. The body aches that were a result of internal purification have subsided too at least for now. The throb in the crown continues even as I pen these words. The breath comes to be still on its own at times.
Swami Muktananda sheds some light in his book "Kundalini - The Secret of Life" published by Siddha Yoga Publication, 1994. He writes that when the chakras of the sense organs are purified the physical senses become sharpened and refined. "On her journey to the Sahasrara, Kundalini passes through all the sense organs, purifying them and investing them with new powers. As Kundalini rises to the ocular center, she purifies the eyes. As the Kundalini purifies the sense of touch, one begins to feel thrilled of love through every pore and hair of the body. One becomes immersed in the joy of touch. When kundalini reaches the center of smell it purifies that, and one comes into direct contact with the essence of smell. When the Shakti moves to the auditory center, she purifies this too. When a shower of nectar is released and begins to fall dropping onto the root of the tongue, the taste buds become extremely refined. Even the simplest food is relished."
Swami Muktananda writes further "The basis of all disease and pain is the impurities that block the flow of Prana in the Nadis. These blockages are caused by imbalances and disorders in the three bodily humors - wind, bile, and phlegm. She (Kundalini) penetrates all 720 million Nadis, consumes all the old decaying fluids, then releases vital energy into them all. The Nadis become filled with Prana. It is only after the body has been purified that the Shakti can work with full force."
After the Monday, the 22nd and Tuesday, the 23rd (August 2022) episodes, Agathiyar told me that the energies that were released, having stagnated for a while at Manipuraka, will do their work and that there was nothing that I needed to do further. Just as Tavayogi told me our efforts are only until we reach Svadhistana and that the guru shall lead us on from there, all efforts ended that day.
Swami Kripananda, author of the "Sacred Power (Kundalini)", and "The Guru's Sandals" in writing the introduction for Swami Muktananda's "Kundalini - The Secret of Life", says that "Because he has merged his individual awareness into the divine, the guru can serve as a pure vessel through which its pure energy flows. It is this transmission of divine energy which awakens and guides the Kundalini. This knowledge (of the Kundalini) was so well hidden, in fact, that when Swami Muktananda received Kundalini awakening from his own master Bhagawan Nityananda and began experiencing its effects, he had no idea what was happening to him. He wrote his first great work the spiritual autobiography "Play of Consciousness" to prevent his own students from running into the same confusion and to help them understand the process unfolding within them."
Swami Muktananda in his "Kundalini - The Secret of Life", describes Shaktipat from the guru, as "when the guru directly transmits his own divine Shakti to the disciple. The easiest and best method (of awakening, activating, and setting into operation the Kundalini) is through Shaktipat from the guru, when the guru directly transmits his own divine Shakti to the disciple. It is the secret initiation of the greatest sages and has been passed on from guru to disciple from the beginning of time."
After the Monday, the 22nd and Tuesday, the 23rd episodes, Agathiyar asked that I write about these experiences so that readers would know what to expect walking the path of internal transformation towards the goal of attaining Jothi. As both my gurus Supramania Swami and Tavayogi say whether we attain the state is immaterial for now. At least we are working towards it. We shall come back again if we fail in this life. John White says that "Desiring something, even such a noble goal as the awakening of Kundalini, is misguided." Sri Chinmoy echoes this statement too. "A genuine seeker never considers the hidden powers or occult powers as his goal. He cares only for God. He longs only for God's loving presence in his life."
Swami Kripananda writes, "It is not enough for the guru to awaken Kundalini. The guru also controls and regulates the process helping to remove all the blocks and obstacles in the disciple's path until the disciple attains the ultimate realization of the self. Being one with the inner energy the guru can accomplish this on a subtle level from within." He says bit by bit as it moves through the subtle system, blocks are removed, addictions fall away, and one's life is set in order. Ultimately the experience of the self becomes constant. Hence nothing happens overnight. It is bit by bit that the Kundalini unfolds and travels within.
M. P. Pandit writes "What is being laboriously attempted, dangerously pursued, and problematically achieved in Kundalini yoga can be assured in a yoga like Sri Aurobindo's in a very natural way by throwing oneself open to divine consciousness and grace, letting it descend into oneself, and letting it decide which centers of consciousness are going to be operated upon, which one is most open and ready. It is more in the natural way of evolution to let things develop in this manner rather than having a systematized procedure."
Alice A. Bailey writes that "When this process is carried forward with care and due safeguards, and under direction, and when the process is spread over a long period of time there is little risk of danger, and the awakening will take place normally and under the law of being itself."
We learn from the documentary "Inner Worlds Outer Worlds" that "Kundalini is a bridge from gross matter to the most subtle energies." We are told that we are that bridge. "Kundalini is not energy that can be forced by will, effort, and friction." " Hence the reason we are cautioned not to mess with it. "It is analogous to growing a flower. All we can do as good gardeners is prepare the soil and proper conditions and let nature takes its course." Tavayogi often gives this same analogy of preparing the field for the Siddhas to plant the seed in us. "If we force a flower to open prematurely, you'll destroy it. It grows with its own intelligence with its own self-organizing direction."
Swami Tadatmananda says that he is completely turned off by the way Kundalini has been distorted and misrepresented. He reminds us not to chase the "experience seeking" that Swami Dayananda Saraswati spoke about to him. His guru had warned him about the danger of "experience seeking" that promises bliss and ecstasy. Swami Tadatmananda speaking about his guru's negative comments on Kundalini Yoga, says of his experiment with Kundalini that "If he were still alive, I might not have undertaken this project".
Swami Muktananda writes that, "After you receive Shaktipat meditation starts spontaneously and at that time Prana and Apana, the ongoing and outgoing breath, become balanced and long Kumbhaka retention of breath begins to take place effortlessly. The Prana and Apana become even and eventually, the breath begin to be retained within. This is called Kumbhaka. In true Kumbhaka, the Prana and Apana become one at that point. Prana does not go out nor does Apana come in. The Prana becomes extremely subtle and moves into the Sushumna and then the Sushumna opens up and begins to unfold. When Kundalini awakening takes place through grace it will rise of its own accord and become established where it should be established. Kundalini will take care of herself... when the Kundalini is awakened by the grace of the guru the grace itself will guide it in the correct manner. There is absolutely no danger in such a case. After the awakening of Kundalini, meditation comes spontaneously. There is no need to center the mind because the Kundalini herself grabs hold of the mind and centers it in whatever place she considers suitable. If one has awakened the Kundalini through self-effort, it is very difficult to lead it upward because right from the moment the Kundalini is awakened until the moment it finally merges in the Sahasrara the seeker has to depend on yogic practices."
"When the Nadis are cleansed, the mind is purified. The mind is intimately connected to the Prana. To control the mind yogis, try to control their breath. The Prana and Apana become even and eventually, the breath begins to be retained within. This is called Kumbhaka. In true Kumbhaka, the Prana and Apana become one at that point. Prana does not go out nor does Apana come in. When the Prana stops the mind becomes still and you experience supreme tranquility. Great beings are in this state of inner stillness."
As their grace deepens, a slight throb is felt at this spot on the head at exactly the anterior fontanel or the soft spot located in newborns. This throb nudges us to take notice of it and become aware. Agathiyar told us each shall realize his center சுழிமுனை (Suzhimunai), the place where arises energy and vibration or உணர்வு that comes with it. "Know it to be your Suzhimunai," he says. One who arrives at his center becomes total says Agathiyar. He calls this the state of பரிபூரணம் (Paripuranam).
Tavayogi explains that the breath that flows through the left nostril (Akaaram) and that running through the right nostril (Ukaaram) creates vibrations in Edakalai and Pingalai respectively. This vibration creates ripples in the midst of the head (Maakaaram). The spot where these vibrations congregate is known as Suzhumunai.
In "God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita", published byYogoda Satsanga Society of India", 1999, Sri Paramahansa Yogananda writes,
"One's body is produced by an earth current in the coccyx, a water vibration in the sacral, a fire vibration in the lumbar, an air vibration in the dorsal, an ether vibration in the cervical, and a consciousness and life force vibration in the medulla and Christ centers. These are the vibrations of the 5 elements or Tattvas in nature, macro cosmically present in the universe, and micro cosmically operative in the body of man."
Dr. C Srinivasan writes in his "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Saint Ramalingam", that "The brain and all its parts the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the medulla oblongata have loosened as an opening blossom."
"Thousands of years ago, ancient texts in India found that the body has its own vibrations. These vibrations found within the body are called chakras, Sanskrit for wheel. They found that the body has roughly 114 chakras within it. These chakras are wheels of energy. When the energy is producing positive vibrations, the wheel will turn in a clockwise position, meaning that the chakra is open and flowing without disruption. When the chakra is imbalanced, the wheel can turn in a counterclockwise position, closing that vibration of energy and bringing negativity into that space. Chakras can also be blocked, where the wheel is not turning at all and the vibration is stagnant, no energy coming in or out of its chakra." (Source: https://www.dermascope.com/)
Generally, in man, the Idai and Pingalai work in tandem. Shushumna is dormant. Through the advanced stages of Pranayama the Shushumna gives way and opens. Kundalini arises from the Muladhara and makes its way to Sahasrara. He then transcends the Physical, Subtle, and Causal bodies and comes to know his Atma.
Swami Kripananda writes that "Whether Shaktipat (a process by which the guru awakens Kundalini) comes to us dramatically like a sonic boom or very quietly and subtly as it does to many people the awakened Kundalini totally transforms our outlook and our experience of ourselves."