Krishnamurti used to begin his talks by describing the terrible state the world was in: war, famine, refugee crises, negative emotion, and blind politicians profiting from the suffering. Krishnamurti’s dead, and nothing much has changed. There’s turmoil in Europe with Brexit, the Euro crisis, and there’s conflict in America with the forthcoming election. The aftershocks of these crises affect people all over the world.
Was Krishnamurti stupid in saying that an inner transformation has anything to do with, let alone could change, world conditions? Is Samadhi simply escapism?
Awakened Kundalini perfects the brain and balances the body. Kundalini also clarifies personal relationships and intensifies energy in the immediate surrounding reality of work and social life. But how far this surrounding reality reaches is a moot point. Whether Kundalini has anything to do with facing up to the horrors of the modern world is an open question. The Blissful Inner Heat is blissful when it’s inner, but can become a delirium when applied it to the state of the larger world. I have a deep admiration for people who are activists and manage to maintain their integrity, but is it really possible to awaken Kundalini and run things, make larger decisions?
There is an alchemical motto: "The All, The One." The fact that there is an energy continuum is becoming more and more obvious. Therefore an individual’s inner action can affect everything. But this realisation, while true, can easily lapse into a Tolkienesque fantasy world of good wizards vs. bad wizards, of the goodies behind the scenes warring with the baddies out front. In order not to fall into this fantasy trap, the individual, the little one must become the "One, The All." In other words, blustering politicians and corrupt businessmen as well as the suffering victims of war and famine are all me. They’re inside me. It’s no wonder Krishnamurti died saying that he’d failed. The Awakening he spoke of has perhaps only ever been achieved by Sakhyamuni, the Buddha...if at all.
If transcendental and non-human forces lie behind, and form, the manifest world, then the politicians and warmongers are as much "the sons and daughters of Eternity," to use Blake’s phrase, as are those who are seeking Truth. We are in the Kali Yuga big time.
So what, then, is Kundalini? She is physical, powerful, white hot. Is She also "consciousness," in some higher form or other? Consciousness is certainly the starting point, a conscious act of sitting down to meditate and become free. In the Buddha’s original teaching, consciousness, too, is one of the five strands of the "five fold stem of illusion." Another of these illusions is "personality" (even the loudest politician’s!). It’s a daunting truth, but perhaps, behind even consciousness and personality (i.e., in an apparent eternal darkness) there is "panna," — "prajna" in Sanskrit — wisdom. Wisdom is not confined by consciousness, which is why, when Kundalini awakens, she’s as physical as the hand in front of my face. And perhaps, on a quantum level, where sub-atomic particles share knowledge, it’s this "panna," "prajna" or non-conscious wisdom that is the ultimate constituent of Kundalini.
Was Krishnamurti stupid in saying that an inner transformation has anything to do with, let alone could change, world conditions? Is Samadhi simply escapism?
There is an alchemical motto: "The All, The One." The fact that there is an energy continuum is becoming more and more obvious. Therefore an individual’s inner action can affect everything. But this realisation, while true, can easily lapse into a Tolkienesque fantasy world of good wizards vs. bad wizards, of the goodies behind the scenes warring with the baddies out front. In order not to fall into this fantasy trap, the individual, the little one must become the "One, The All." In other words, blustering politicians and corrupt businessmen as well as the suffering victims of war and famine are all me. They’re inside me. It’s no wonder Krishnamurti died saying that he’d failed. The Awakening he spoke of has perhaps only ever been achieved by Sakhyamuni, the Buddha...if at all.
If transcendental and non-human forces lie behind, and form, the manifest world, then the politicians and warmongers are as much "the sons and daughters of Eternity," to use Blake’s phrase, as are those who are seeking Truth. We are in the Kali Yuga big time.
So what, then, is Kundalini? She is physical, powerful, white hot. Is She also "consciousness," in some higher form or other? Consciousness is certainly the starting point, a conscious act of sitting down to meditate and become free. In the Buddha’s original teaching, consciousness, too, is one of the five strands of the "five fold stem of illusion." Another of these illusions is "personality" (even the loudest politician’s!). It’s a daunting truth, but perhaps, behind even consciousness and personality (i.e., in an apparent eternal darkness) there is "panna," — "prajna" in Sanskrit — wisdom. Wisdom is not confined by consciousness, which is why, when Kundalini awakens, she’s as physical as the hand in front of my face. And perhaps, on a quantum level, where sub-atomic particles share knowledge, it’s this "panna," "prajna" or non-conscious wisdom that is the ultimate constituent of Kundalini.
