Mukteshwari by Swami Muktananda Kundalini Shakti is the prana of the universe. By the power of this great Goddess the universe exists. Muktananda, know Her. When Kundalini awakes all doors are thrown open. Rama reveals himself in the heart. Muktananda, love Kundalini. When Kundalini awakes, the eyes are filled with light, fragrances arise, nectar bathes the tongue, ecstasy plays in the heart heart . Muktananda, worship Kundalini.
Over the weekend, Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs all over the world celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights. Traditionally, it marks the end of the harvest season, while inviting abundance and prosperous growth in the coming year. It is particu larly a time to honor Lakshmi, goddess of wealth. The lighting of lamps keeps th e light of the past season shining through the darkness of winter and ensures ne w life in the new year. The lamps in the darkness are also a symbol of meditatio n, the light of awareness, pure and focused, amidst the stillness of night. This begins the season of inturning and enlightenment that will lead to new life. Ha ppy Diwali! At this time of enlightenment and honoring the Goddess, I thought this poem by t he hugely significant 20th century guru, Swami Muktananda, honoring the Goddess as Kundalini Shakti would be worth contemplating. In Hindu yogic metaphysics, the Divine can be seen as both masculine and feminin e. The masculine aspect of God is pure transcendent spirit, while the feminine a spect of God is the vibratory, emanating, manifestation of that pure Essence. Th e God is the flame and the Goddess is the light and heat that emanate from it. T he Masculine is the still potential, and the Feminine is manifestation of that p otential. All of material creation is part of that manifestation, brought into b eing by the power of the Goddess. She receives the spiritual essence, gestates i t, quickens it and gives it form, and then brings it to birth. By the power of this great Goddess the universe exists. This is the fundamental power of being, and the Goddess is that power. Shakti Shakti mean s power, power, but it is more than the ability to achieve some result. It isn t that the G oddess has power, the Goddess is power. This is why Muktananda sings his praises to Kundalini Shakti, not as an energy or psychological force, but as the full G oddess. When Kundalini awakes all doors are thrown open. Kundalini Shakti is, in the language of yoga, the coiled power of the Goddess th at usually sits dormant at the base of the spine within the individual. Through
spiritual practice this coiled power can be awakened. It then rises as a fiery f orce up the spinal axis, through the spiritual-energetic centers known as the ch akras, to the crown chakra. In the process, the heart opens with the most profound sense of love, compassion , joy, and interconnectedness Rama reveals himself in the heart. Often, there is a n all-permeating sense of radiance and light ( the eyes are filled with light ), and a sensory sweetness seems to trickle down from above, as if you are tasting the most delightful honeyed wine ( nectar bathes the tongue). This is the initiation all mystics seek. It is the beginning of illumination. An d it is the sacred marriage. Why marriage? As we said, Kundalini Shakti is the power of the Goddess within the individual. When this power fully and consciously rises to the crown, it reunites with the m ale aspect of the Divine. That union of divine polarities within the individual overwhelming and ecstatic is the sacred marriage. The mystic is made whole in wa ys that were unimaginable before. Not just the single individual, but all of cre ation is seen anew, realigned, re-envisioned as a vast living wholeness. I hope it is obvious that this is a universal experience of mystical awakening, not just found among practitioners of yoga. Each great spiritual tradition has i ts own language to describe this. In esoteric Christianity, for example, one can draw a parallel between the Kundalini Shakti and the Holy Spirit, which is ofte n described in feminine terms. The transcendent masculine aspect of God can be u nderstood as the Heavenly Father. And the new, expanded sense of self that is (r e)born from the sacred marriage might be identified as the Son, the individual s C hrist-self. Similar descriptions are found in Islam, Judaism, shamanic tradition s This is a human-spiritual experience that reflects the basic relationship betwe en the awakening soul and the divine reality. It is the heritage of every one of us. Kundalini awakes. The heart opens, the mind opens, doorways open, and through He r power, the full self is born into the world. Kundalini Shakti know Her.
