Question 1

Stages of Kundalini Awakening in the Vehicles

Accepted Answer

Kundalini is a powerful, Divine energy. In most people, this energy is dormant or working partially. When this energy is focalized, it rises within the vehicles and produces a variety of experiences.

Kundalini effects the state of awareness within your vehicles. As it is focalized, it may powerfully absorb your attention within, intensify the activity of your higher vehicles, and withdraw energy from your Conscious mind and your personality. In the deepest states of kundalini awakening in your vehicles, you enter samadhic trance.

In samadhic trance, you are unable to move, to speak, or even to think—you are completely merged in bliss and the ecstasy of the Soul and its higher octaves.

We characterize ten stages of kundalini awakening in the vehicles. [This is the relative depth of kundalini arousal.] These are shown below in the chart.

Stage	Level of Activation	Description
1	Dormant	Only the centers of the Conscious mind are operating. The contents of your higher vehicles of the Subconscious, Metaconscious and Superconscious mind do not enter your conscious awareness. Your attention is stabilized in the waking state of awareness. Your functioning is automatized and seamless, with no withdrawal of functioning. This is the fully grounded state of kundalini shakti.
2	Low activity	Some of the kundalini energy is drawn up and activates a higher vehicle. This operates in the background of your conscious awareness. There is no withdrawal of functioning and your attention is not drawn up into the higher vehicle. This stage typifies activation of vehicles in your Subconscious or Metaconscious when you are carrying out habitual tasks and your attention is on other things.
3	Moderate activity	More of your kundalini energy is raised into a higher vehicle so that this higher vehicle is stirred into heightened activity. The contents of this higher vehicle's activity enter your conscious awareness, and your attention may begin to become absorbed in this content. This stage typifies activation of your vehicles when you are deeply absorbed in thought, trying to work out a problem, or listening to your intuition. You may become absent-minded in this stage, not paying attention to what is happening around you in the environment.
4	High activity	This is the first stage of true kundalini awakening. The kundalini energy becomes powerfully focalized. Your attention is irresistibly caught up in its energy. Your higher vehicles begin to become suffused with light and are stirred into full activity. The content of this higher vehicle becomes the focus of your attention. You begin to experience the first stages of withdrawal of functioning: fascination, dissociation, numbness and tingling of your extremities, and an inability to speak. You may begin to feel the sensations of the "rising serpent" as you palpably feel this energy rise up through the spinal tube in your Subconscious mind. You may also feel your chakras begin to awaken.
5	Activation of the unconscious mind	As kundalini rises into the unconscious bands of your awareness between the Subconscious and Metaconscious mind, you may begin to experience emergence phenomena. There is strong withdrawal of energy at this stage, and you may begin to spontaneously express the content of your unconscious mind by re-living emotions, making involuntary movements, or talking irrationally. You enter a powerful hypnotic trance at this stage, and your attention is riveted on the content of your unconscious mind. A variety of painful and unpleasant physical sensations may accompany this state.
6	Metaconscious activation	As kundalini ascends into your metaconscious vehicles, your attention is powerfully drawn up into them and you become aware of their contents. As the serpent rises through each vehicle, it is suffused with energy, and shuts down into a resting state. At this stage your entire personality is submerged in this energy—you cannot move your body, you cannot think, you cannot speak.
7	Superconscious activation	Kundalini will then cross another veil of unconsciousness between your Metaconscious and Superconscious mind. Here you may experience more emergence phenomena. The kundalini will then progressively rise through the vehicles of the Subtle and Planetary bands, and will gain union with your Soul. The culmination of this ecstatic state confers the state of enlightenment—the awakening of the Soul's knowledge of its own nature with full awareness. Your personality is here fully shut down and your attention is caught up in the visionary cascade of the Superconscious mind, progressing to complete union with the Soul.
8	Higher Unconscious activation	Kundalini then rises into the higher unconscious separating your Soul from liberation. You may gain glimpses of the state of liberation and higher stages of the Path. You may witness the chakras of the Planetary Man and gain temporary union with your Monad. This union with a universal, all-pervading consciousness has been referred to as Sabikalpa Samadhi. Your personality is fully shut down and your attention is carried along with the rising kundalini.
9	Higher Octave activation	Next the kundalini travels upward into the higher octave vehicles of the Transplanetary, Cosmic, Supracosmic, and even Transcendental bands of the Superconscious mind. You gain union with the nuclei of identity and ensouling entities of these realms.
10	Return to the Origin	Finally the energy of the kundalini merges again with a great ocean of Peace. This confers multidimensional awareness of all levels of the mind. Your attention is drawn into a great, peaceful void.

The kundalini normally operates in people in stages one to three.

Stage one is a resting state of your inner vehicles. Here only the Conscious mind is active, and you use the senses, your feelings, and your reason to negotiate with the world. You are identified with the ego and the continuity of your unique human history.
Stage two occurs when you are engaged in habitual activities. Here the Subconscious mind guides your Conscious mind. For example, when you are driving a car, using a vacuum cleaner, or washing dishes, your attention may be on other things while you do these activities automatically. You may be listening to music or daydreaming while you carry out these activities.
Stage three occurs when you require sustained activity of one of the faculties of your Metaconscious mind. For example, you may become deeply abstracted by resolving a moral dilemma (conscience), giving a speech or acting in a play (persona), doing life-planning (concrete mind), solving a problem (intellect), checking in with yourself (intuition), or doing skilled movements of your body in sports or a craft (will). Here you are identified with the Self.

Meditators experience stages four through seven when their kundalini is awakened. These stages are engendered by the practice of meditation techniques that actively awaken the kundalini, by spontaneous arousal [we suspect that most cases of spontaneous arousal are activated by the ensouling entity, with the aim of making the personality aware of its presence], or intentionally awakened by an Initiate (Shaktipat).

Stage four is marked by the ascension of the kundalini through the Subconscious chakras, which resemble lotus flowers. The kundalini stirs these lotuses into full activity and they become charged with energy. Many meditators experience this stage of kundalini awakening after doing hatha yoga or martial arts coupled with breathing exercises. It briefly rises—the meditator may feel heat in the spine or a sensation like a serpent moving upward—then it returns back down.
Stage five is marked by the entry of the kundalini into the unconscious mind. This produces a variety of emergence phenomena. When there is much unconscious material for the kundalini to move through, this can engender moderate to severe emergence phenomena that can significantly compromise the functioning of the personality. Many kundalini emergencies arise when the kundalini begins to open the unconscious at this stage.
Stage six occurs when the kundalini rises into the Metaconscious mind. Here the personality completely shuts down. You become unresponsive and completely absorbed in meditation.
Stage seven marks the opening of the Superconscious mind, culminating in union with the Soul. Your attention is drawn up into the inner vehicles of the Superconscious mind, witnessing a visionary cascade of lights, images, and kaleidoscopic patterns. This culminates in the union of your kundalini with your ensouling entity.

One of the innate powers of the Soul is to awaken its own kundalini shakti. This power becomes activated in most individuals during the Third Planetary Initiation. Kundalini is controlled by the transpersonal octave of will, which becomes fully active during the Third Planetary Initiation.

However, certain Occult Adepts of the Lower Astral, Guides of the Psychic Realm, Magi or Hierophants of the Mystery Schools of the First Esoteric Initiation, and Ascended Masters of the Second Planetary Initiation have also developed methods to awaken the kundalini.

Question 2

Kundalini—Beyond Your Cutting Edge

Accepted Answer

When the Soul Spark (ensouling entity of the Subtle Realm) or Soul (ensouling entity of the Planetary Realm) are your spiritual cutting edge, awakening the kundalini beyond this level results in your ensouling entity losing control of the kundalini.

In this scenario, the kundalini rises into the higher octaves of stages seven through ten, and may become fixed in union with a nucleus of identity or ensouling entity of a higher octave, with concomitant personality shutdown and without the ability to retract the kundalini to its grounded state. Some of these higher states include:

State of Consciousness or Identity	Level where encountered	Nucleus of Identity or Ensouling Entity
Cosmic Consciousness	1st Cosmic Initiation	Nucleus of identity
God Consciousness	5th Cosmic Initiation	Nucleus of identity
Astral Soul	entire Cosmic Sphere	Ensouling Entity
Blue Pearl center	Shiva Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Form of the Guru between the eyebrows	Brahma Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Tibetan Syllable Hum	Buddha Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Black goddess Kali between the eyebrows	Shankara Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Flame in a rotating vortex	Vishnu Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Form of the Muslim Saint between the eyebrows	Allah Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Form of the spiritual warrior between the eyebrows	Orzhmad Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Form of the Sikh Saint (Khalsa) between the eyebrows	Wahi Guru Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Form of the Neo-Sannyasin between the eyebrows	Omkara Plane, Supracosmic Sphere	Nucleus of Identity
Supracosmic Soul	entire Supracosmic Sphere	Ensouling Entity
Awareness of one of the Transcendental ensouling entities of T1 through T5	Transcendental Sphere	Ensouling Entity

If an individual in the throes of higher octave kundalini work cannot have their kundalini returned to a level below their cutting edge of spirituality or a level where they can control its rise and fall, the kundalini may remain fixed in a higher center.

While this state confers identification with the higher octave nucleus of identity or ensouling entity—in an ecstatic state of union and rebirth—it may continue to burn upward. This higher octave fixation yields the most severe kind of kundalini emergency, where the individual can neither control nor stop the movement of the kundalini.

We can distinguish kundalini practice by its relative depth on a continuum of 1 to 10.

While kundalini augments and facilitates the functioning of the personality in stages 1 to 3, it progressively shuts down the personality in stages 4 through 10. There are uses in which it may be beneficial, from the perspective of assisting spiritual development, to temporarily shut down the personality to accomplish "inner work." But keeping the personality shut down for long periods of time leads to its malfunction and deterioration.

Question 3

Uses of Kundalini Awakening

Accepted Answer

Kundalini, under the supervision of a competent Adept, may be used for

Bringing energy and awareness into an inner vehicle
Cleansing or purifying an awakened vehicle, or working with the content of the unconscious
Awakening chakras and vivifying the dormant abilities (siddhis) of the Superconscious mind
Fixing awareness in a nucleus of identity or ensouling entity to confer identification and rebirth
Conveying sudden illumination by awakening the Superconscious mind, or enlightenment, by union with the Soul
Invoking the inner form of a god or goddess to grant boons or blessings, give answers to prayer, or bestow miraculous powers
Unfolding a nucleus of identity or ensouling entity along a spiritual evolutionary track, e.g., as a method of transformation

We can distinguish the objective of kundalini work by referring to its uses as 1 to 7.

While any work with kundalini poses some risk of promoting emergence phenomena and interfering with the functioning of the personality, some may be more detrimental to others.

For example, 4-1 (awakening the kundalini into the Subconscious mind to become aware of the chakras) is a relatively benign use.

But 5-2 (awakening the Kundalini into the unconscious mind with an aim of working out material in the unconscious mind) may have a greater risk of promoting emergence phenomena.

Using 7-5 (awakening the Kundalini to promote illumination and enlightenment of the Soul) may catalyze an individual's spiritual awakening and Gnosis. But if this state is not carefully managed and the kundalini is not brought back down, the individual can be left in a highly vulnerable state subject to illusions, hallucinations, and delusions—a temporary psychotic state.

The deep work used by Kundalini Adepts of Cosmic and Supracosmic lineages, 9-7, (raising the kundalini into higher octaves for the purpose of transforming a nucleus of identity or awakening a higher octave ensouling entity) poses the greatest risk of disruption of personality function.

It is not uncommon for individuals doing this work to have psychotic episodes, serious emergence phenomena, and become re-identified with a higher nucleus of identity.

In this state, they no longer are identified with their human personalities, but experience themselves as a "devotee of Shiva" or other pseudo-personality.

[Gurus may not be particularly helpful in normalizing personality functioning when they give these individuals new spiritual names and ask them to wear special spiritual clothing, which further imprints them with this new state of identity.]

Question 4

Normal Cycling of Kundalini

Accepted Answer

The normal progression of kundalini shakti is to have it rise from its ground state (stage 1) up to the ensouling entity (stage 7), and then return to its fully grounded state. This entire cycle of movement from ground to the state of illumination and back again constitutes on kundalini cycle or round.

This is normally accomplished, using a gentle mantra on the breath, in 30 to 45 minutes. Most practitioners who practice in this way (use five) have few problems with emergence phenomena, and usually report that the experience was renewing and revivifying.

Those who use more strenuous or drastic measures, however, typically increase the incidence of emergence phenomena and untoward effects. These include practices such as:

Striking the base of the spine
Squeezing or constricting an anatomical nexus (bandha)
Hyperventilative breathing (Bastrika, breath of fire, rebirthing, holodynamic breathing, bellows breath)
Using vehicular bija mantras to "open" chakras or clear out obstructions in the central channel (sushumna), the left hand channel (ida) or the right hand channel (pingala)
Using breath techniques to alter the circulation of energy in the ida and pingala, or attempting to modify this energy by healing methods

There is also usually a greater prevalence of emergence phenomena and disruption of personality functioning when the purpose of kundalini awakening is to

awaken chakras to gain powers (use three)
lock awareness into a nucleus of identity or ensouling entity (use four)
invoke an archetypal or spiritual being (use six)
unfold a nucleus of identity as a transformational method (use seven)

Question 5

Progression of Kundalini Experiences

Accepted Answer

The phenomenal experience of kundalini shakti changes as the meditator progresses to deeper stages of kundalini awakening. We give descriptions and teach specific meditations in our Kundalini Workshop, an advanced workshop for which we recommend participants first complete the Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation. [This workshop is now available online as a webinar for those who are taking our Accelerated Meditation Program—either on-line or by-mail — or the Mudrashram® Mudrashram Master Course in Meditation, or who have completed either program.]

These octaves of phenomenal experience range from Physical to Essential. They are listed below.

The Lotuses of the Chakras (Physical Octave)
The Syllables and Sounds of the Chakras (Etheric Octave)
The Colors and Qualities of the Chakras (Astral-Emotional Octave)
The Deities of the Chakras (Causal-Mental Octave)
Chakras of the Soul (Essential Octave)

It is not surprising then that Tantric schools follow this same progression in recommending increasingly difficult visualizations to their students.

Question 6

Kundalini in the Subconscious Mind

Accepted Answer

When we first encounter the kundalini in the Subconscious mind, we see its energy rises through the central channel of the spinal tube (sushumna), and concomitantly activates the left hand (ida) and right hand (pingala) channels.

Blockages in the left-hand channel are linked with Pralabdha Karma.

Obstructions in the right-hand channel are associated with Kriyaman Karma.

Plugs in the central channel mirror the unawakened spiritual evolutionary potentials of the Subtle Realm [the 3 1/2 spiral turns at the base of the spine] and the Planetary Realm [the seven chakras], comprising Adi Karma.

Attempting to purify or force open these three channels through heroic measures has no effect on spiritual evolution in the Subtle or Planetary Realms. Instead, it creates moderate to severe imbalances in the vehicles of the Subconscious mind.

These imbalances may be marked by:

Sudden rushes of energy or dizziness
Rapid mood swings
Illusions of perception
Lapses in memory (spacing out)
Pain that moves around in the body that can not be linked to a medical etiology
Getting lost in reverie or daydreaming, or involuntarily dissociating
Paranoid or delusional beliefs

The natural unfolding of the Soul, by distinction, opens these channels in correspondence with its spiritual cutting edge. We therefore strongly recommend that seekers do not perform any practices at the level of the Subconscious mind that interfere with this alignment.

Do not try to remove blockages in the right, left or central channels through any means.

Do not repeat transformational (bija) mantras to open the chakras, as these may inappropriately open these channels, and create imbalances.

Hatha Yoga stimulates the chakras of the Subconscious mind and circulates energy through them. [While Hatha Yoga is generally benign, yoga practitioners do run into problems, however, when they begin doing intensive Pranayama.]

Avoid sustained hyperventilative breathing that forces open these areas of blockage. [When breathing into these blockages, you should feel relaxation and discharge of tension. If you feel pain, numbness, tingling, or burning: stop the breathing practice immediately]. Using bandhas [e.g., placing pressure on a chakra through a posture] with this sustained hyperventilative breathing may intensify these symptoms.

Radiative healing (Rei Ki and similar practices) that removes these blockages prematurely may also pose risks of imbalance.

These blockages may provide insulation for the nervous system against the higher energy voltage that operates in advanced states of spiritual evolutionary development.

Removing these blockages before your ensouling entity and its vehicles have been gradually re-tuned to these higher Initiations may overstimulate your physical nervous system.

Symptoms of over-stimulation include hyper-alertness, difficulty sleeping, extreme agitation or irritability, emotional outbursts, lability or mood dysregulation, and interference with physiological functioning (psychosomatic illness).

Emotional distortion (glamour), with hankering after spiritual fame and supernatural powers may motivate some aspirants to attempt to take a "kundalini shortcut" to spiritual advancement.

We encourage the seeker to be patient and not give into these impulses. When driven by these powerful passions, the seeker may be drawn to excesses, including adopting inappropriate and frankly dangerous practices that belong to other octaves of the Great Continuum of Consciousness [e.g., when a seeker, polarized at the Planetary Octave, begins using practices suitable for Supracosmic development].

Leaving the kundalini raised into even Subconscious alignment withdraws energy from five centers of the Conscious mind—ego, mental seed atom, emotional seed atom, physical seed atom, and waking awareness.

If kundalini does rise up in stage four (high) activity into the chakras of the Subconscious mind, be sure to guide it back down into its fully grounded state. When grounding has successfully been achieved, the energy of the kundalini should fully animate these five centers of the Conscious mind.

Question 7

Higher Octaves of Kundalini

Accepted Answer

In our article, A Talk Given at Babaji's Parliament of Yoga and World Religions, we describe the higher manifestations of Kundalini Shakti. While many aspirants who meditate only experience this awakening of this energy into their Subconscious mind, we point out that this is the first of twelve stages.

It is less common to have kundalini awakening up to the level of union with the Soul (enlightenment). It is rarer still to have kundalini rise into union with nuclei of identity and ensouling entities of Cosmic, Supracosmic, and Transcendental octaves. Rarest of all is when the kundalini passes through all of these higher octaves and comes to rest in its origin.

The ability to raise the kundalini from its ground state to its origin and guide it back to full groundedness is a marker of Kundalini Mastery. Through comprehensive study of the system of chakras or centers in each of the higher vehicles combined with the ability to gain finer and finer control of the energy of the Kundalini Shakti leads to Kundalini Mastery.

Question 8

Mastery of Kundalini

Accepted Answer

Careful control of the energy of the Kundalini Shakti grants the ability to

1. Optimally energize any vehicle of consciousness for use2. Awaken awareness through the whole range of its potential, from

Micromicroform

Microform

Form

Center or chakra

Vehicle

Integrated module of vehicles with a center of integration (nucleus of identity or ensouling entity)

Subplane

Plane

Band of the Great Continuum of Consciousness (e.g., awareness of the entire Planetary Realm)

To simultaneous awareness of multiple bands of the Great Continuum of Consciousness
3. Turn on specific abilities or siddhis to operate in the Subconscious, Metaconscious, and Superconscious bands of the mind4. Focalize the nurturing, purifying and healing aspects of the Kundalini Shakti in a specific vehicle5. Arouse the kundalini in others and guide it to rise to a specific stage of awakening; guide their kundalini back down to its fully grounded state6. Utilize kundalini to awaken the vehicle of a spiritual being, god or goddess, so that the wisdom and grace of this being is channeled through the personality7. Supervise and safely guide the Kundalini Shakti through those rare sections of the Path where kundalini is used as a transformational modality

Kundalini Mastery in the Mudrashram® tradition has been referred to as the Sat Guru Swami form. Its centers and sub-centers are described below.

Center	Band of Continuum	Ability
Brain	Ground state to origin of kundalini	Awaken kundalini in others from Subconscious to origin
Point between the eyebrows	Ground state to origin of kundalini	Lower the kundalini from its current state of arousal to the fully grounded state
Throat (active during the granting of Shaktipat or Initiation—abilities of this center are not used outside of the initiatory process)	Ground state to origin	Four nurturing deities bestowing nectar that cleanses, washes, purifies and provides a holy fragrance
		Four fiery deities bestowing light fire to burn through obstructions, dissolve entities, purify the three channels (sushumna, ida and pingala), and burn karmic impressions
		Four siddhi-granting deities awaken the seed mantra in the siddhi yantra, anchor the ability in the attentional principle (attunement), anchor in the subconscious seed atom (talent), or the physical brain (gift or genius)
		Four knowledge-granting deities conferring discernment of essential nature through mandalic reasoning, knowledge of the content of a vehicle, knowledge of the abilities inherent in the vehicle, and knowledge of the stages of the path up to the current stage.
Heart - its twelve petals awaken, mirroring purification and mastery at each of the following levels	Transcendental through Cosmic Spheres	Transcendental (seven levels)
		Kundalini Path on Omkara Plane
		Kundalini Path on Wahi Guru Plane
		Kundalini Path on Orzhmad Plane
		Kundalini Path on Allah Plane
		Kundalini Path on Vishnu Plane
		Kundalini Path on Shankara Plane
		Kundalini Path on Buddha Plane
		Kundalini Path on Brahma Plane
		Kundalini Path on Shiva Plane
		Kundalini awakening through Cosmic Hierarchy (God's Consciousness)
		Kundalini awakening through Rainbow Body (God Consciousness—5th Cosmic Initiation)
		Yogi Preceptor Mastery (Cosmic Consciousness—1st Cosmic Initiation)
Solar Plexus - its ten petals awaken, mirroring purification and mastery at each of the following levels	Transplanetary through Planetary Realms	Transplanetary spiritual evolution of the Monad from its ground state to its origin in the Pleiadean Vortex
		Atmic Plane (Soul awakening —5th Planetary Initiation)
		Buddhic Plane (Awakening of the Illumined Mind —4th Planetary Initiation)
		Manasic Plane (Awakening of the Manasic vortex — 3rd Planetary Initiation)
		Solar Angelic Plane (Awakening of the Solar Angel/Mighty I AM Presence —2nd Planetary Initiation)
		Christ Consciousness Plane (Awakening of the Moon Soul/Christ Child — 1st Planetary Initiation)
		Wisdom Plane
		Psychic Realm
		Abstract Mind Plane
		Biophysical Universe Plane
Navel - its six petals awaken, mirroring purification and mastery at each of the following levels	Subtle Realms	Intellechy
		Lower Astral Plane
		Mythic Realms of World Civilization (Modern Technological, Tibetan, Renaissance-European, Mesopotamian-Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Chinese, and East Indian)
		Temple of the Goddess (abode of the golden flower of the heart)
		Mythological Rainbow Bands of the Lower Subtle Realm
		Subtle Causal Realm (array of yantras) and Subtle Astral Realm
Base of Spine - its four petals awaken, mirroring purification and mastery at each of the following levels	Subtle Realm; Metaconscious, Subconscious and Conscious bands of the mind	Vortex of Kundalini Shakti in Anandamayakosa
		Kundalini Shakti path and its activity in Metaconscious mind
		Kundalini Shakti path and its activity in Subconscious mind
		Ground state of Kundalini in the Kanda, with five currents connecting to the Conscious mind (ego, mental seed atom, emotional seed atom, physical seed atom, and ground state of awareness)

The faculty to awaken and ground the kundalini and to grant Initiation is conferred through the cerebral, thalamic, and cervical centers of this form. The ability to perceive the relative activation of the kundalini and the spiritual evolutionary purification of others is mediated through the thoracic, lumbar, sacral and coccyceal centers of this form.

Understood and mastered, the Kundalini Shakti awakens the multi-faceted potentials of the entire mind. Misunderstood, misused and awakened inappropriately, kundalini leads to disruption of personality functioning, kundalini emergency syndrome, and psychosis.

If you don't know what you are doing, leave the sacred fires of life alone. Your mind is a terrible thing to destroy.