Shaktipat

[Etherfish]

They discuss all the different kinds of shaktipat, not just one. It means transferring spiritual energy from one person to another. It can be through a look, a thought, a touch, giving of an object, or as simple as a phone call.
It doesn't belong to just one lineage or religion; it is used all over the world by all cultures.

[kannada]

Hi Etherfish,
I have no knowledge of the so called 'shaktipat diksha' of other traditions, I only know my own and use it to effect. The shaktipat I use is one initiation that lasts a lifetime and beyond. Although for lapsed practitioners there may be boosters, but it is the same initiation, simply repeated in order to get initiates to continue where they left off. Once initiated the candidate undergoes a multitude of autonomous experiences. These experiences purify the nadis and bring the energies into balance so that samadhi is secured.

I know of no other tradition that manifests the same responses in the candidate as the one I use (though I have no formal link to this tradition other than initiation). This is not to say that they do not exist but I do not know of them. I know of the dikshas in Hinduism, but they are formal initiations into the various stages of spiritual pursuit but they are not shaktipat diksha and do not produce the results that I am familiar with.

In my communications with other 'recipients' of shaktipat diksha from other modalities I have drawn the tentative conclusion that they are referring merely to forms of energy transfer in order to boost energy levels for a particular purpose. They do not seem to me to have any relation to the shaktipat diksha I am aware of.

In summary I think the word is grossly over-used and very much misunderstood. I know of no other religion or tradition that uses the specific method or means of what I have always understood to be shaktipat diksha. This does not mean that there is no such other traditions that use this specific modality but I am not aware of them. As you say there are other traditions or religions that use it would you please assist my understanding and let me know which religions are they, which other non-religious traditions are they and which individuals (from other traditions) produce the exact same results as those I have mentioned in what I understand shaktipat diksha to be...

Here's a helpful site that explains the shaktipat I am familiar with... http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/kundalini/shivom-tradition.html

This is what I understand the word 'Diksha' to mean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diksha

Thank you
k

quote:Originally posted by Etherfish

They discuss all the different kinds of shaktipat, not just one. It means transferring spiritual energy from one person to another. It can be through a look, a thought, a touch, giving of an object, or as simple as a phone call.
It doesn't belong to just one lineage or religion; it is used all over the world by all cultures.

[Etherfish]

Sorry, I'm not an expert in that subject. Anybody else care to answer?

[stevenbhow]

I'm probably going to mangle this good and proper, but from I understand from the Kashmir Shaivism tradition Shakti is the primordial energy of the universe and the Source (Shiva). So receiving Shaktipat is pretty much just awakening you to the Shakti that you are anyway. Even Reiki or Chi would still in essence be Shakti. The effects, I assume depend more on how open you are not from who you receive it. I think Riptz said one time that some Shaktipat and Deeksha givers are sort of like really good snake charmers. They may or may not be fully enlightened. In that sense, I can understand how different traditions, say Evangelical or Pentecostals, might cause some people to have full blown Kundalini Awakenings or more. But I'm definitely no expert on the subject, just a guy who got very lucky during his first Deeksha session[]

[kannada]

quote:Originally posted by Etherfish

Sorry, I'm not an expert in that subject. Anybody else care to answer?

But you said...

quote:Originally posted by Etherfish

They discuss all the different kinds of shaktipat, not just one. It means transferring spiritual energy from one person to another. It can be through a look, a thought, a touch, giving of an object, or as simple as a phone call.
It doesn't belong to just one lineage or religion; it is used all over the world by all cultures.

Shaktipat Diksha as best I know is unique, it is not a mere energy blast that effects a practitioner for a brief period of time. I was initiated thirty seven years ago and it has never been as strong as it is today. A mere buzz is over in a very short time. Neither does it belong to religions and cultures other than its home, it is also the source of what we know as 'yoga' for it is the automatic and spontaneous manifestation of its learned mechanistic cousin.

If one could use ones imagination and take ones mind back to ancient India, perhaps on the banks of the holy confluence of the Jumna (Yamuna) river and the Ganges where bystanders would watch shaktipat initiates undergoing the effects of initiation and copy those effects - the pranayama, the asanas, the mudras and other manifestations of an awakened kundalini. They would watch, learn, cultivate and appreciate the benefits of such actions. The neutralizing of the solar 'Ha' and the lunar 'Tha' currents in the nadis, manifesting as the hot and cool sensations in the spine and the rest of the body whilst under the influence of such practice. The initiate has the advantage over his learned friends of experience not just during practice but twenty four hours a day seven days a week manifesting signs and symptoms that cannot be learned. The cleansing symptoms are  felt at the molecular level where the initiate  would describe the feeling of being 're-built at the atomic level, very strange (and wonderful) experiences indeed.

I have not yet heard of another system that produces these results... But I could be wrong.

[kannada]

Hi Steven,
Thank you for your input...

Shakti is indeed the primordial energy, the source of the universe but Shakti is 'Chaitanya' (Caitanya) a conscious, intelligent, living energy, the life force that underpins all sentience wherever it is – it is the sentience of life in all its manifestations. It lies involute (dormant) and evolute (active), whatever is seen, sentient or insentient is Shakti.  Prana or chi are life forces but they are insentient and incapable of sentient activity in itself. Prana does indeed sustain life, it is the basic energy component of the five manifestations of the breath and prana is the life-energy in the food we eat.

Reiki and chi use prana, not shakti to effect changes in the practitioner. They are excellent tools to perform the necessary functions required in yoga but as a mere force prana is incapable of initiating an intelligent 'self-guidance' system. Prana needs to be manually initiated for a required outcome, learning from one who has learned how to manipulate his/her own prana is highly desirable.

Shakti, as in Shaktipat Diksha is wholly autonomous. Because it is a living force it only needs to be activated for its desired outcome to take effect. A person with his/her Shakti awakened may affect others by using his/her shakti to awaken the process in others. This of course is Diksha or initiation. Prana or chi cannot do this.

Any 'kundalini awakenings' that are begun by any means (ecstasy, devotion, drugs, even yoga practice) are merely temporary occurrences, they may of course develop into permnent experience with the right yoga training but as long as one is reliant on prana and not Shakti they are to be manually induced until the yogi can stabilize his prana on a permanent basis. The assistance the Shaktipat Initiate receives is not in any way dependent on his/her efforts but only on the proviso that such an initiate makes him/her-self available for the requisite manifestations to occur.

All the best
k

[jeff]

quote:Originally posted by kannada

Shakti, as in Shaktipat Diksha is wholly autonomous. Because it is a living force it only needs to be activated for its desired outcome to take effect. A person with his/her Shakti awakened may affect others by using his/her shakti to awaken the process in others. This of course is Diksha or initiation. Prana or chi cannot do this.

Is it that Shakti is awakened or is it our perception of Shakti that is awakened?

[kannada]

quote:Originally posted by jeff

quote:Originally posted by kannada

Shakti, as in Shaktipat Diksha is wholly autonomous. Because it is a living force it only needs to be activated for its desired outcome to take effect. A person with his/her Shakti awakened may affect others by using his/her shakti to awaken the process in others. This of course is Diksha or initiation. Prana or chi cannot do this.

Is it that Shakti is awakened or is it our perception of Shakti that is awakened?

Sorry Jeff I was trying to say that it is kundalini that is awakened by the power of shakti, hence the term 'kundalini shakti'. You are right too, one becomes aware of the process taking place, but that awareness of the process is not the instigator of that process...

[selfonlypath]

One of the best book I've read on Siddha Maha Yoga and shaktipat:
 

•  A Guide to Shaktipat by Swami Shivom Tirth
• Yoga Vani by Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha

Please note Swami Muktananda got help from animated book "Yoga Vani".

Albert