#104. Rise Of Energies | Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

In this meditation session, I take 2 questions from a meditator about the rise of Kundalini energy and the practice of pranayama. For those of you practicing some form of kundalini yoga, breathwork or pranayama learned from online tutorials without any in-person guidance, this might be an important message to consider.

Transcript

Namaste everyone.

A very warm welcome to all of you in this live meditation session with me,

Dhyan Se.

We are meditating on 112 meditation techniques of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra.

Tantra is a journey of liberation of energies.

The energies that belong to you.

One such energy is the Kundalini energy.

The energy,

The source of infinite energy that belongs to you,

That remains dormant within you all throughout your life.

You do not need this Kundalini energy for your daily activities,

For the worldly activities.

But Tantra,

Yoga and many other wisdom traditions have aimed at raising and liberating this Kundalini energy.

One of the meditators is asking a question related to Kundalini energy.

Let us listen to that question,

Contemplate on it before we sit in silence,

Before we sit in meditation.

The meditator asks,

Why does it happen so often that people go crazy while doing Kundalini yoga?

I mean Kundalini energy awakening has put a lot of people into mental institutions,

Brought them nightmares and so on.

I like Kundalini yoga,

Not all paths,

Some I really dislike but wouldn't like to go crazy.

The first thing to understand is that we are already all crazy.

We are already mad.

It is just a matter of degree.

It is a difference of degree of madness between you,

Me and other people around us.

The first thing to understand is that we are all mad.

Those whom we designate as mad and calling ourselves normal is just a reference,

A reference to the statistical distribution.

It is just the mathematics of society.

There is no absolute definition of madness.

If you ask a doctor,

If you ask a psychologist,

A psychiatrist,

Anybody,

There is no absolute definition of what madness is.

But if you ask yoga,

If you ask tantra,

If you ask wisdom traditions,

They will say that to live only in the mind is the madness.

To constantly just live in the mind is madness.

Ask yourself how much uncontrolled mind we all have.

All these thoughts,

All the time,

If this is not madness,

Then what is madness?

So we are all mad in some or the other way with different degrees.

In a mental hospital,

A mental patient,

He went to the new doctor.

A new doctor was appointed as the supervisor of that hospital.

He went to the new doctor and said,

We like you very much.

You are so much better than the last doctor we had.

The doctor was very pleased to hear that.

Immediately his ego was also boosted.

He asked the patient,

So why do you like me so much?

The patient said,

You are so much like us.

You are almost like one of us.

That is why we like you.

So there is not much difference between people who are so called mad and people who are not mad in the ways we have lived,

In the ways we are living in the current times.

We have been living in the mind all this time.

And the effort of yoga,

The effort of tantra,

Of any other wisdom tradition is to bring you back out of the mind.

To take the driving seat of the mind.

Mind is not the driver.

The driver is the heart.

The owner is your soul.

But somehow the soul is dead.

The heart is imprisoned.

And the mind is in the driving seat,

Driving you crazy here and there already.

So that is the first thing to be understood.

Second,

You say,

People go crazy while doing Kundalini Yoga.

Kundalini energy awakening has put a lot of people into mental institutions,

Brought them nightmares.

Why is this happening?

This is happening because when the energies arise in you and your system is unprepared for that,

All that energy goes to your mind.

This Kundalini energy that is there dormant in you through practices of yoga,

Tantra and all these wisdom traditions,

They were meant to empower your soul,

Empower your heart.

Mind was the last receiver,

The last concern of Kundalini,

The last concern of any of these spiritual practices.

But what has happened is the soul is unconscious somewhere.

There is a saying,

The man is born without a soul.

Along this journey of life,

You have to let this soul grow and be born in you.

So this soul which should have been the receiver of the energy,

The Kundalini energy is not there at all.

The heart which should have been the second receiver of the Kundalini energy is also somewhat imprisoned.

You are living so much in the mind,

The current energies that you receive from your environment,

From your food,

From all your ideas,

They are already driving you crazy.

They are already driving your mind crazy because your mind is put at the driving seat of your life.

Therefore,

In any kind of awakening,

In any kind of energy awakening,

It does not matter whether it is Kundalini or any other form.

The moment you have rise of energy in you and your system is not prepared,

Your soul is not there,

Your heart is imprisoned,

Your mind will go crazy.

And this is what is happening with those people who go unprepared into raising Kundalini.

And my effort through these sessions,

All throughout these times,

These sessions have been happening for more than a year.

I have been teaching for several years,

Knowing very well to prepare each one of you first of all with the awakening of the soul first,

With the soul rising first in you,

With your heart becoming active and alive first,

Before the energy reaches to your mind,

Your soul and your heart needs to be nourished.

Through these discourses,

Through the wisdom of life,

Through going through these contemplations,

Introspections,

Raising once again your soul as the owner of your life,

The heart as the driver of your life and mind just as a utilitarian instrument that you have,

That your heart has,

That your soul has to be used when there is a need and not to be used to put at rest when there is no need.

But you can see the current state of all of us,

How we live.

Therefore,

The Kundalini energy is creating all these problems which you are describing.

You say you would not like to go crazy.

If you would not like to go crazy,

Forget about Kundalini awakening.

Work on your soul,

Work on your heart by moving into silence,

By moving into awareness.

That awareness,

That awakening of your soul,

That releasing of your heart from the imprisonment of the mind,

When these are empowered in your life,

The rest follows on its own.

The second question this meditator asks,

Why is it strongly advised against learning pranayamas on your own?

In brackets,

With tutorials for example.

And why is it being said that a person needs to spend at least 10 years on the mat in order to start with pranayamas?

What could go wrong?

The first part of the question is,

Why is it strongly advised against learning pranayamas on your own?

What is being said in the wisdom traditions is that you must learn on your own.

What that meant was that the knowledge of pranayama rises in your own realizations.

Let that rise in your own realizations.

But what you are referring to here as learning on your own,

This DIY generation,

Do it yourself generation with the tutorials,

Is actually not learning pranayama or anything on your own.

It is learning from something external,

Something external that is not alive,

That is not at all concerned about your progress,

Where you are in your development of consciousness,

Where you are on your spiritual journey.

So learning pranayama,

All these sciences,

They unfold in you,

The knowledge of yoga,

The knowledge of pranayama,

The depths of meditation,

They all open in your own consciousness as you practice along,

As you evolve on this spiritual journey,

As your consciousness unfolds,

As your energies liberate,

You come to these realizations,

These knowledge on your own,

Until in the meantime,

Someone is required to guide you along these paths.

Because pranayama,

This is the science of energetics,

The energetics of your body.

It is like learning surgery using DIY tutorials.

You would not like to learn and perform surgeries on yourself using some kind of DIY tutorials.

Think about that.

So pranayama is an intervention into energies,

Into your own energies,

Into the energy system that is interacting with this cosmos.

But,

With all the information now freely available,

We think that information is knowledge.

We think that knowledge is wisdom.

You have to rise yourself to that knowledge,

Rise your consciousness to that wisdom.

In that consciousness,

You can contain the wisdom of what pranayama is,

Why to do it,

When to do it,

How to utilize it.

And it may take some years,

It may take some time.

When this was advised to you that you must wait until 10 years,

This 10 years is not a variable of time.

It is a variable of the development of your awareness.

If your awareness is expanded,

Is developed already in a few days,

In a few months,

You don't need to wait 10 years.

It is just a way to say that wait until your awareness is developed enough,

Until your consciousness is expanded enough to see,

To realize this science of the energetics of your body,

Of your subtle bodies,

The science of pranayama,

You come upon it on your own,

In your own realizations,

In your own spontaneities.

What can help is someone who is a teacher,

A guru,

A master,

Someone who can guide you as this knowledge is shaping and emerging in you.

Not that this knowledge is coming from somebody else,

The knowledge is rising in you and the master is only helping you to shape that.

But in today's times,

We call this old fashioned and we are having connotations of a spiritual master with someone who is controlling,

With someone who has authority and so on.

See the role of a master is to allow your energies,

Allow your consciousness,

Allow your wisdom to rise in you in the ways that are correct for you,

In a very personalized way,

Creating situations,

Creating scenarios for it to happen and not forcing it on you.

Therefore you need time,

Therefore you need practice for having your awareness to expand to contain these knowledges.

One more comment on this,

In the West today,

Breath work is very very popular.

At every corner,

At every yoga studio,

There is breath work being done,

Being taught and being practiced.

Nothing wrong with that,

It is also an adaptation,

An interpretation of pranayama.

But once again,

The same rules apply.

To really work with your breath,

To really work with your energies,

You must have your awareness expanded to understand what you are doing,

Otherwise you are just doing something without knowing how it actually works,

Without knowing where this can lead you.

So many meditators,

They write to me that we cannot even breathe normally,

Naturally.

As soon as we bring our awareness to our breath during meditation,

Suddenly we realize that we cannot even breathe normally.

This is what has happened to our breath and those who are practicing breath work,

Those who are practicing pranayama without a proper guidance,

Without someone knowing what he is doing,

What she is doing,

Seeing,

Observing you and guiding you through your personalized journey,

You are treading in dangerous waters with touching your energy system through pranayama,

Through breath work.

Having said that,

There is always the right way to go about it.

Learn from a teacher,

Learn from a guru,

From a master,

Anyone that has the access to you,

To see through you,

To guide you in a very personalized way for pranayama,

Meditation,

Yoga and all these practices that go beyond just some physical postures.

Let us take this moment to sit in silence,

To meditate over these energies that are there in us,

The subtle energies that are there in us,

Bring them in our awareness as we proceed on the journey of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra.

Please close your eyes and take a posture that is comfortable for you.

With your body in a restful posture,

Rested yet alert,

With your head,

Neck and back aligned,

Let go of the mind.

Awareness turned inwards towards your inner space.

Your breath flowing naturally.

Giving yourself these moments.

For your awareness to turn inwards from all directions.

Your breath flowing naturally.

As you settle your body,

Your mind,

Your energies.

Shift your focus to the base of your spine.

To the area touching the ground.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your body at rest.

Your breath flowing naturally.

Feeling the sensations.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Feeling the energy pulsations.

Your energy pulsations.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Your focus,

Attention at the base of your spine.

Maintaining the centeredness,

The silence,

And awareness.

Very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes.

And as you proceed in your day,

In your life,

Remember that the source of all knowledge is within you.

All that has to be done is to be aware of,

Is to let our consciousness expand,

Let our energies liberate.

As a formal closure to this session,

Let me remind you that these sessions are brought to you by Dhyansa Meditation on donation basis,

Just like you would go to a yoga studio and pay $20 for a yoga session or a meditation session.

The appropriate donation for these sessions is $20.

If you are unable to do that,

Whatever brings,

Whatever you can contribute to the session is more than welcome.

So to give back to these sessions,

You can donate or you can share the wisdom of this session,

The silence of this session to your friends,

To someone in need who would like to hear this message,

The message of Tantra,

The message of meditation,

Bringing more silence,

More peace to that person's life.

So two ways of giving back,

One is to donate and second is to share.

Thank you very much.

Namaste.