God Realization

[VIL]

Hi, I'm new here and I guess you could say that I had a spontaneous awakening over 4 years ago in which I dropped down in this void and was lifted up by these all pervading vibrations.  I could meditate and hear a very loud "MMMMMMMMMMMMM..." sound/vibration.  

My experience was that of a "Top, Down" Awakening, since my higher chakra centers were activated first, until the energy reached my heart chakra.  I had this itching on the left side of my back [sympathetic nervous system] and felt that part of myself wanting to breath into the heart center.  So I did.  And ever since this happened my muldhara chakra was activated.

When this happened, I experienced the "fight or flight" response associated with the base chakra.  Some say this is where child hood trauma is stored and it's also the chakra associated with survival, primal needs, etc., whatever.  But it was a very horrific purifying experience, personally, until the energy very GRADUALLY moved to the swadhisthana chakra and activated the sexual impulse, which drastically increased and I can now feel these blissful, sensations within my lower back, between my anus and groin, etc.  And for some strange reason it's connected to the feeling of taste or to the mouth.

That's where the energy is at now and that's taken over 4 years.  I'm frustrated, because it's such a gradual process, although I know it will lead to Higher Consciousness, or God Realization, eventually.

Anyway, the bizarre thing is that I have done this before.  And I know this process for some reason.  Okay.  I don't believe in karma, but I am open-minded.  I just don't understand how I could know this process, like I've done this before.  But it doesn't feel like I know this from a past life, but more like I know this from child hood dreams?

Anyway, I do have a sound mind and when all of this happened it was very foreign, to me.  I had to do research on the subject, but I don't feel any different then I did when I had the awakening.  I don't feel enlightened, you could say.

Through reading, I realize that I had experienced prana sensations years and years ago, the "good feeling vibrations", but never knew what they were.  So, I guess this process has been going on, unbeknownst to me, for a very long time, although I didn't know what they were.

That was part of my experience and I'm glad to be a member of this forum.  

VIL

[Kyman]

Vil, thanks for stopping by.  I never heard the phrase top-down awakening but that is exactly what occured with me.  In fact, my work was trying to move energy into my lower body.  Thanks for putting that into perspective for me.

You had the experience of doing very specific movements.  Very purposeful movements.  Later, after learning more of yoga, you probably saw endless techniques that you did naturally.

Yogani describes it well when he says the guru is within you.  The nervous system.  It seems to streamline itself.

The nervous system is the oldest form of life, or at least somewhere close.  It and being are inseperable.

[Balance]

You guys are amazing. Please share more in-depth accounts of your experiences.

Peace, Alan

[VIL]

Hi, Kyman, I have never practiced yoga.  When I said that I had a spontaneous awakening I probably should have explained myself further.  Meaning, that I wasn't and am still not part of any religious affiliation, spiritual practice, or discipline, but believed in the allegorical meaning of Spiritual Teachings.  But no matter how hard I tried contemplating the deeper meaning of these teachings, I failed to grasp their inner significance. So, I would pray and pray, to ad nauseum, for God to show me the deeper meaning of things.  And upon awaking one morning, although fully aware, but in an subconscious state of consciousness, I dropped down in what appeared to be a void.  I was then lifted "Up" by these, at first subtle, then loud, harmonious vibrations, until I was fully consciousness/awake.  It was a frightening, yet exciting, experience and my ears actually popped and my skin was still tingling.  

From what I understand, my Kundalini awoke and began the arduous task of purifying/opening the chakra centers.

At that point, I read everything that I could get my hands on concerning various spiritual teachings/philosophies/Etc., to understand the experience.

So when I mention a "top, down" awakening it's unusual in the sense that we all know that the Kundalini "sex energy" moves from the base of the spine to the brain. [From the bottom, up].  And when it's [from the top, down] it's what certain Spiritual Writings consider grace.  In other words, it is through Grace that the Kundalini is allowed to awaken and it isn't through bodily postures, breath control or any other concentrated effort.
 
Regardless, whether it's a top, down or a down, up "awakening" the Kundalini still has to ascend from the lower to the higher chakras.  The cleansing process is still the same.  

Anyway, I didn't know that the nervous system was considered the oldest form of life.  That's very interesting.  Thank you!

Maybe some of the Kingdoms all around us are related to our bodies, maybe not.  I dunno:

Mineral - Skeletal System
Plant - Circulitory System
Animal - Nervous System
Human - Respitory System
Divine - Limbic System

VIL    

[Scott]

VIL,

quote:So when I mention a "top, down" awakening it's unusual in the sense that we all know that the Kundalini "sex energy" moves from the base of the spine to the brain. [From the bottom, up]. And when it's [from the top, down] it's what certain Spiritual Writings consider grace. In other words, it is through Grace that the Kundalini is allowed to awaken and it isn't through bodily postures, breath control or any other concentrated effort.

Welcome to AYP: home of the hamburger.  

We should create some cool saying like that.  The hamburger doesn't really fit, and as far as I know it already has a home.

Anyway, back to the point, I personally think the bottom-up ideas are all wrong.  Kundalini isn't bottom up or top down.  It's just the great purifier within the body.  If it needs to go bottom up, it will.  Top down?  It will.  It's always God's grace, because it's the spiritual energy working through you.  A bottom up awakening isn't like...the devil's grace or something.

Hope you enjoy the forums here, VIL.

[Balance]

Are you saying that when all is daid and sone that there is no bop or tottom?

When I said above that you guys are amazing i didn't mean to embarass you. What I should have said was that your experiences seem amazing to me as I haven't gone thru such myself.

Glad you could join us VIL

 Alan

[Scott]

Alan,

Good way to interpret what I said.  All I meant was that awakenings come in all different shapes and sizes.  Personally, when I had my first big experience, I was laying down and the energy seemed like it came up through my feet and into my entire body.  Another time, all I felt were my hands vibrating.

Energy movements can happen anywhere, and it doesn't really mean one thing or another in my opinion.  Just that the spiritual energy is working.

[david_obsidian]

Anyway, back to the point, I personally think the bottom-up ideas are all wrong. Kundalini isn't bottom up or top down. It's just the great purifier within the body. If it needs to go bottom up, it will. Top down? It will. It's always God's grace, because it's the spiritual energy working through you. A bottom up awakening isn't like...the devil's grace or something.

Scott, you may be misunderstanding these ideas to mean something that they don't,  when you say they are all wrong.

Some people who have experienced 'the process' start with kundalini experiences in the beginning and get 'higher chakra' experiences (of emptiness and unity and so on) later.  For others it seems to go the other way around.  For me,  it's been largely 'top down' too from the beginning.  It's been the same for me as for Kyman, with the process of the last few years being more like 'bringing the energy down'.  I think I wrote about this earlier on the older forum, (though maybe I'm thinking of a private correspondence to a forum member).

Of course, we should understand that 'top down' and 'bottom up' are the black and white ends of what is in fact a gray scale of experience.

Kyman,  are you doing Kechari?  This helped me A LOT in bringing the energy down.

I think most older classical yoga writings write about enlightenment happening 'bottom up'.  Perhaps in those times,  it was almost always experienced that way?   Is there a shift now towards more people getting it in a way they would describe more as 'top down'?  I'm thinking maybe.  Perhaps greater stimulation of the brain is a possible cause,  as our world has moved into a much more cognitively stimulating era.

[Scott]

Hey David,

quote:Scott, you may be misunderstanding these ideas to mean something that they don't, when you say they are all wrong.

Some people who have experienced 'the process' start with kundalini experiences in the beginning and get 'higher chakra' experiences (of emptiness and unity and so on) later. For others it seems to go the other way around. For me, it's been largely 'top down' too from the beginning. It's been the same for me as for Kyman, with the process of the last few years being more like 'bringing the energy down'. I think I wrote about this earlier on the older forum, (though maybe I'm thinking of a private correspondence to a forum member).

Of course, we should understand that 'top down' and 'bottom up' are the black and white ends of what is in fact a gray scale of experience.

We are in agreement here.  Especially when you say that top down and bottom up are the black and white ends of a gray scale.  That's exactly what I meant when I said what I did.

quote:I think most older classical yoga writings write about enlightenment happening 'bottom up'. Perhaps in those times, it was almost always experienced that way? Is there a shift now towards more people getting it in a way they would describe more as 'top down'? I'm thinking maybe. Perhaps greater stimulation of the brain is a possible cause, as our world has moved into a much more cognitively stimulating era.

Good idea.  I'm thinking also, that people used to do a lot more physical work.  Nowadays more people sit at desks all day, and then go home and watch tv...not much "bringing it down" happening there.

I mean...most people don't even wash their dishes by hand anymore.  Everything is automated these days.  There will soon be a remote control to shower your body, and you won't even have to press the button because that'd be too hard.

There will be remote controls to work remote controls![:p]

It could also be that throughout time people have always experienced the kundalini in the same way, and it's just an overused misconception that the kundalini experience is usually bottoms up?

[david_obsidian]

It could also be that throughout time people have always experienced the kundalini in the same way, and it's just an overused misconception that the kundalini experience is usually bottoms up?

I suppose that's partly a semantic question.  Some usages of the word generalize the meaning of 'kundalini' to mean the enlightenment process itself,  and/or the bodies motivational force for enlightenment,  and perhaps you are speaking from that usage.  (Of course, some traditions even worship kundalini as the goddess shakti.) But I'm inclined to confine my meaning of the term to the very definite 'bottom-up' experience in the spine.  Of course, not all enlightenment processes are bottom-up.

[Balance]

Does anyone suppose that it is possible to become enlightened without experiencing any kundalini events? Writings of, or by, many enlightened people don't mention such things having been experienced. Is it just a matter of course that being in a body one will have kundalini experiences? Maybe those people just didn't feel it was necessary to mention. As you say there are as many experiences as there are people, could kundalini experiences be "overlooked" in some cases. It's hard to imagine something of that nature being overlooked.

yogani?

[riptiz]

Hi Balance,
I doubt if one never has experiences of the shakti as it is common belief that enlightenment cannot be achieved without an awakening of the Kundalini.From my exeriences i can tell you that the common expereinces that some suffer from a spontaneous awakening are most often not experienced when shakti is awoken by shaktipat.In other words I have never suffered from some of the extreme things that commonly occur with a spontaneous awakening.
L&L
Dave

[VIL]

Thanks for the welcome Balance, Scott and david_obsidian!  And, Balance, I wasn't embarrassed by your comment and agree that we all learn from each others experiences:  

Scott, to add what david_obsidian had mentioned, I was using the term Grace to denote the awakening of the Kundalini without having any privy knowledge of this energy or process whatsoever.  In other words, it was awakened without conscious effort/awareness, nor was there any sort of preparation of the mind/body. In other words, as I had already mentioned in the previous post, there were no body postures involved, breathing excersises, meditation practices, et al.  It was "spontaneous" and was a form of "grace", in that the higher [spiritual] chakra centers were "activated", not opened, first.  And from what I read, a true Kundalini Awakening occurs when the energy moves from the [gross] root to the [subtle] crown chakra and is a very  gradual process.  Some say it can take over twenty years.  With Gopi Krisha, I think it was 15.  Maybe the confusion of the top, down - down, up arises from individuals feeling that their higher chakras are "open" at this point when they truly aren't, but are "activated".  But the actual cleansing process begins when the lower chakras are refined/purified, until the energy reaches the subtler/higher chakra centers.  I dunno.  I'm no expert and can only speak from my own personal experience and this is only my opinion.



VIL

[Scott]

David,

quote:I suppose that's partly a semantic question. Some usages of the word generalize the meaning of 'kundalini' to mean the enlightenment process itself, and/or the bodies motivational force for enlightenment, and perhaps you are speaking from that usage.

Yes, I was.

quote:But I'm inclined to confine my meaning of the term to the very definite 'bottom-up' experience in the spine. Of course, not all enlightenment processes are bottom-up.

Why do you confine it to the bottom up experience?  I'm not suggesting you're wrong by asking...I'm really curious.

[Scott]

VIL,

 

quote:Scott, to add what david_obsidian had mentioned, I was using the term Grace to denote the awakening of the Kundalini without having any privy knowledge of this energy or process whatsoever. In other words, it was awakened without conscious effort/awareness, nor was there any sort of preparation of the mind/body. In other words, as I had already mentioned in the previous post, there were no body postures involved, breathing excersises, meditation practices, et al. It was "spontaneous" and was a form of "grace", in that the higher [spiritual] chakra centers were "activated", not opened, first.

That's understood.

quote:And from what I read, a true Kundalini Awakening occurs when the energy moves from the [gross] root to the [subtle] crown chakra and is a very gradual process. Some say it can take over twenty years. With Gopi Krisha, I think it was 15.

I don't know if I believe that.  Specifically that a true kundalini awakening occurs from root to crown...and that it's a long process.

quote:Maybe the confusion of the top, down - down, up arises from individuals feeling that their higher chakras are "open" at this point when they truly aren't, but are "activated". But the actual cleansing process begins when the lower chakras are refined/purified, until the energy reaches the subtler/higher chakra centers. I dunno. I'm no expert and can only speak from my own personal experience and this is only my opinion.

I'm definitely not an expert either.  You may be right in that "activated" and "open" may be confused.

I guess we'll just have to find out on our own![8D]