Kundalini was first discovered by the ancients during religious or ceremonial practices — before science existed. It has retained its religious roots; it is still part of some religious practices. For example, meditation — an integral part of many religions — can induce kundalini safely and permanently.
Nevertheless, more and more people now acknowledge the awakened kundalini as science with its own anatomical, physiological, and embryological phenomena. Why? People have realized that kundalini is a biological process, not a belief system.
For example, if you’re a Buddhist, you can be converted to another belief system. You can change your mind and become a Christian or a Jew. You cannot be converted to kundalini any more than you can be converted to an orgasm or a heart attack. They are biological processes, not belief systems. You don’t “believe” in the physiological channels, chakras, nadis, or energy centers known to kundalini adepts. They are fact. Someday, science will acknowledge this, just as a growing number of people who’ve awakened kundalini have.
Moreover, because it’s a science, kundalini is not about bliss states, even though a kundalini awakening often induces behavioral states, not dissimilar to religious ecstasy. I believe this is due to the fact that kundalini opens up vistas of higher consciousness that most people never experience — states which are so breathtaking and so different from “normal” consciousness that people tend to believe they’ve been catapulted into a kind of wonderland or Oz.
Most initiates understand that kundalini opens new vistas of human cosmology, metaphysics, and higher consciousness and under its thrall they are tempted to describe their experience to friends, family, and even to strangers. I've spoken with many individuals who've attempted this, only to find that listeners turn a deaf ear. What they're not aware of — especially in the first rush of kundalini ecstasy — is their descriptions are usually incoherent. This is normal; everything seems to happen at once. Standard vocabulary is rarely up to the task of describing the kundalini phenomenon.
In these instances, however, not only does the individual lose credibility, the whole topic of kundalini tends to attract further scorn, skepticism, and ridicule. Kundalini doesn't need this; there are enough outsiders who already doubt its actuality. It's better to pause before blurting out. Sometimes it's better to say nothing — get your bearings, study a bit until you've had time to assimilate the overpowering effects of kundalini.
And that's where this book comes in. It allows both initiates and adepts to grasp the totality of kundalini experience. Although kundalini is too vast a topic for any one book to be hailed as definitive, Kundalini Musings (2018) both clarifies and demystifies kundalini, explaining in simple everyday language not only the more abstract metaphysical aspects of kundalini, but also how to awaken it permanently and how to live with it.
The metamorphosis kundalini imposes — whether immediate or gradual — can be difficult to accept and integrate into your life, making you easy prey to impulse, instability, or inertia. Sometimes, things go badly.
In my case, although I didn't plan it that way, sometime around 1965 I found myself on a solitary path, gradually intensifying my efforts to awaken it and marveling as serendipitous happenstance propelled me forward.
I was in my mid-twenties then. Within seven years I would upend my mostly conventional life, undergo a complete metamorphosis, culminating in a permanent kundalini awakening.
It's been over 40 years since that day. Now in my 81st year, I believe it's fitting to feature everything that kundalini has inspired me to accomplish and to experience in one book. That said, the process never ends so I'll continue to study the effects of kundalini on myself and on others. Kundalini Musings is a compendium of my first 50 years with an active kundalini. I'm sure the next 50 will be even richer.
For example, if you’re a Buddhist, you can be converted to another belief system. You can change your mind and become a Christian or a Jew. You cannot be converted to kundalini any more than you can be converted to an orgasm or a heart attack. They are biological processes, not belief systems. You don’t “believe” in the physiological channels, chakras, nadis, or energy centers known to kundalini adepts. They are fact. Someday, science will acknowledge this, just as a growing number of people who’ve awakened kundalini have.
Moreover, because it’s a science, kundalini is not about bliss states, even though a kundalini awakening often induces behavioral states, not dissimilar to religious ecstasy. I believe this is due to the fact that kundalini opens up vistas of higher consciousness that most people never experience — states which are so breathtaking and so different from “normal” consciousness that people tend to believe they’ve been catapulted into a kind of wonderland or Oz.
Most initiates understand that kundalini opens new vistas of human cosmology, metaphysics, and higher consciousness and under its thrall they are tempted to describe their experience to friends, family, and even to strangers. I've spoken with many individuals who've attempted this, only to find that listeners turn a deaf ear. What they're not aware of — especially in the first rush of kundalini ecstasy — is their descriptions are usually incoherent. This is normal; everything seems to happen at once. Standard vocabulary is rarely up to the task of describing the kundalini phenomenon.
In these instances, however, not only does the individual lose credibility, the whole topic of kundalini tends to attract further scorn, skepticism, and ridicule. Kundalini doesn't need this; there are enough outsiders who already doubt its actuality. It's better to pause before blurting out. Sometimes it's better to say nothing — get your bearings, study a bit until you've had time to assimilate the overpowering effects of kundalini.
And that's where this book comes in. It allows both initiates and adepts to grasp the totality of kundalini experience. Although kundalini is too vast a topic for any one book to be hailed as definitive, Kundalini Musings (2018) both clarifies and demystifies kundalini, explaining in simple everyday language not only the more abstract metaphysical aspects of kundalini, but also how to awaken it permanently and how to live with it.
The metamorphosis kundalini imposes — whether immediate or gradual — can be difficult to accept and integrate into your life, making you easy prey to impulse, instability, or inertia. Sometimes, things go badly.
In my case, although I didn't plan it that way, sometime around 1965 I found myself on a solitary path, gradually intensifying my efforts to awaken it and marveling as serendipitous happenstance propelled me forward.
I was in my mid-twenties then. Within seven years I would upend my mostly conventional life, undergo a complete metamorphosis, culminating in a permanent kundalini awakening.
It's been over 40 years since that day. Now in my 81st year, I believe it's fitting to feature everything that kundalini has inspired me to accomplish and to experience in one book. That said, the process never ends so I'll continue to study the effects of kundalini on myself and on others. Kundalini Musings is a compendium of my first 50 years with an active kundalini. I'm sure the next 50 will be even richer.
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