Kundalini Yoga: Kundalini Yogas FAQ (part III of III)

By Kurt Keutzer

But even if kundalini is dangerous, isn't it a faster way to enlighenment?

First of all it may be useful to observe that there is no technique currently known on earth that appears to be rapidly catapulting large number of individuals toward enlightenment. Because kundalini yogas deal so directly with a powerful enlightening force it seems natural that they would be ``faster'', but there appears to be alot of tortoise and hare phenomena at work with newbie kundalini yogins. Many people begin kundalini yogas, have strong initial experiences and then become frightened. Many who perservere through this initial phase become distracted by the energy and focus on temporal and phenomenal applications of the energy.

What are the origins of the kundalini yogas?

Hatha, laya and kriya yoga all trace their origins back to the era of the Indian Mahasiddhas. This era spanned the 8th and 12th centuries in Northern India, Nepal and Tibet. The key figures in this era included the Mahasiddhas Matsyenranath and his student Gorakshanath as well as Jalandhara and Jalandhara's student Krishnacarya. Gorakshanath and Matsyendranath are venerated as the originators of the Natha lineage. Jalandhara is commemorated in the practice of the Jalandhara mudra but he and his student Krishnacarya are also deeply venerated for their roles in the early years of Tantric Buddhism. In fact each of these great yogins is venerated both in Hindu Tantric and in Buddhist Tantric schools. Of these individuals there are several works attributed to Jalandhara and Krishanacarya in the canon of Indian Buddhist Tantric literature which has survived in Tibetan translation.

What is the classical literature of kundalini yoga?

The classical works of hatha, kriya and laya yoga include: Gorakshashatakam, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gherandha Samhita, Shiva Samhita, and a group of about twenty works known as the Yoga Upanishads. References to translations of these works will be given in the answer to the question Where can I learn more?>

Each of these works is very brief, typically less than 500 verses and yet the entire literature of hatha, kriya and laya yoga is drawn from these works. Anyone interested in kundalini yoga can benefit from taking the time to read these classical works but to actually practice the techniques described in these works a teacher is required. This is reiterated within the text of these works themselves.

What is the precise role of the teacher in kundalini yoga? Can I learn kundalini yoga through books?

The teacher is highly revered in kundalini yoga, just as in other schools of yoga. A recurrent theme in the texts of kundalini yoga is that if one needs a teacher to learn everyday skills such as reading and writing how much more one needs a teacher to master the practice of kundalini yoga.

The first role of the teacher in kundalini yoga is as an instructor in the practices of kundalini yoga. The classical works of kundalini yoga repeat again and again that only those practices learnt from the guru will bear fruit and all other attempts to practice will only bring misery. This may seem a bit melodramatic but the point is that these practices are sufficiently subtle that they can only be properly conveyed through personal instruction by an individual who has himself been properly instructed.

The second role of a teacher in kundalini yoga is in monitoring the progress of the student. A tremendous variety of positive and negative experiences can manifest on the path of kundalini yoga. A true kundalini teacher will not only have encountered a wide range of these experiences but will have a subtle sensitivity to the students nervous system and will be able to intuit when practice is leading to imbalance.

Ultimately, whether following the path of effort or the path of grace, the true guru is the guru-tattva or guru-principle - this is the kundalini-shakti herself.

For those individuals that have not been able to find a teacher there are a few published materials that are apparently intended for beginning self study. There are a number of manuals available from Yogi Bhajan and his students. These are referred to in the section immediately below. Swami Chetanananda has a guided meditation that serves as an introduction to the practice of kundalini yoga. It is available from Rudra Press.

Where can I gain instruction on kundalini yoga?

Yogic practices aimed at raising the kundalini through effort are taught in a number of ashrams and centers in India, the US and around the world. The following is a list of known centers around the world. My own exposure to these kundalini yogas are primarily through from within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and as a result I have little first hand information on the centers sited below. If anyone finds any of the information below is inacurrate PLEASE inform me and I will update it. Good luck!

Yogi Bhajan (Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji)

3HO-Foundation

International Headquarters

P. O. Box 351149

Los Angeles, CA 90035

(213) 552-3416

Yogi Bhajan Web Page: http://www.yogibhajan.com/ky.html

Yogi Bhajan brought kundalini yoga to the West in 1969, at the age of 39, and founded the Happy, Healthy Holy Organization (3HO). Yogi Bhajan is a Sikh and his writings indicate that he is ``the Chief Religious and Administrative Authority for the Sikh Dharma in the Western Hemisphere.'' Yogi Bhajan has taught an organized regimen of yogic practices aimed at clearing the subtle nerve channels and ultimately awakening the kundalini.

The precise lineage of Yogi Bhajan has been impossible for me to determine. Equally difficult has been to understand at what point in time the hatha yoga teachings taught by the founder of the Naths, Gorakshanath, became intertwined with the Sikh teachings tracing from Guru Nanak. Over the hundreds of years in India these two groups must have often come in contact but the precise time at which the yogic teaching passed into the Sikh lineage is unclear. A number of introductory yoga manuals and videotapes have been published by 3HO and should be available via the number above. In addiition, Yogi Bhajan has been liberal in his training of teachers to pass on his lineage and a few are quite active. We will mention only one, Ravi Singh. Note that I do not know the nature of the relationship between Ravi Singh and his teacher. Ravi Singh is not listed in Yogi Bhajan's list of KRI teachers.

Ravi Singh

The New York Center for Art and Awareness

61 4th Avenue 2nd Fl.

New York, New York 1003

Ravi Singh Web Page: http://www.xmission.com/~webwise/kundalini.html

Among Yogi Bhajan's students Ravi Singh has been especially active in establishing his center and in publishing books and videotapes. I found his book Kundalini Yoga for Strength, Success and Spirit among the best of those published by Yogi Bhajan's students.

B. K. S. Iyengar

Iyengar Yoga Web Page: http://www.iyoga.com/

B. K. S. Iyengar is a teacher in the hatha yoga tradition that passed from Shri Ramamohan Brahmacarya to Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and then onto B. K. S. Iyengar. For quite some time I was under the impression that B. K. S. Iyengar's exposition of hatha yoga did not extend to encompass yoga practices aimed at awakening the kundalini and I once made this assertion on the net in response to a question. This led to an email exchange with a student in Krishnamacharya's lineage who indicated that in fact this yogic system does encompass such teachings although these advanced teachings are not a part of the normal regimen of Iyengar yoga. While re-reading Iyengar's books, I did find that he made periodic references to kundalini, its awakening and even to the process of shaktipat. I do not know how one can receive teachings on kundalini yoga from Iyengar or his teachers.

Swami Janakananda

SCANDINAVIAN YOGA AND MEDITATION SCHOOL

Haa Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden

Phone: +46 372 55063. Fax: +46 372 55036.

Swami Janakananda Web Page:

Swami Satyananda Saraswati and his Bihar School of Yoga have published the most substantive works on Kundalini and Kriya yoga that I have encountered in the English language. Although the Bihar School of Yoga regularly conducts 6 month training courses in Kriya Yoga I am not aware of many teachers from this tradition. The one teacher that I am aware of is Swami Janakakanda. The following is simply excerpted from the Swami's web page.

Swami Janakananda has been a disciple of Swami Satyananda since 1968 and has founded the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School with branches throughout Scandinavia and northern Germany. His book Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life, was broadly distributed and formed many peoples first introduction to the subject. Swami Janakananda resides at Haa International Course Centre, southern Sweden where the Swami trains yoga teachers and teaches the tantric Kriya Yoga.

Kundalini Yoga in the Tibetan Tradition

Kundalini yoga is taught in all four (Nyingma, Kargyudpa, Sakya and Gelugpa) of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. For this reason this FAQ would be very incomplete if it failed to mention something about Tibetan schools of kundalini yoga. On the other hand it would be extremely mis-leading to simply give a list of Tibetan Buddhist centers in America as though one could walk right in and sign up for a course on kundalini yoga. Some history may help here.

The tradition of the Indian Mahasiddhas who founded Hatha yoga and the Indian Mahasiddhas who founded many of the important lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are intertwined. As a result it is no surprise that these two traditions share many practices in common. In particular kundalini yoga, known as candali yoga (Tibetan: gTummo rnal 'byor) in Tantric Buddhism, is taught in the Completion Stages of a number of Tibetan Buddhist practices. To better understand this it will be necessary to put the gTummo yoga practice in the broader context of Tibetan Buddhist practice. Unfortunately, there is only sufficient space here to barely overview the stages of Tibetan Buddhist Tantric practice. Briefly they can be organized as follows: First come preliminaries such as taking refuge in the Buddha and making prostrations and offerings to the Buddha, the teachings and the assembly. Some teachers will require that preliminary practices, such as taking refuge, be performed 100,000 times. When a teacher is satisfied with the students performance of the preliminaries then an initiation into a deity practice may be conveyed. This entails meditating on a deity and its mandala, repeating its mantra and performing service to the deity. In Tantric Buddhism a deity is not viewed as an external god but rather a state of one's own transformed mind. Deity practice eliminates one's clinging to one's ordinary appearance. With these practices a student begins the Generation (or Cultivation) stage of practice.

With the Completion stage come a variety of yogic practices. Of these candali (or kundalini) yoga forms the core of Completion stage practice in the Six Yogas of Naropa as well as the Cakrasamvara, Hevajra and Yamantaka tantras. The actual practice of candali yoga has its own preliminaries. These include physical yogic practices similar to asanas. Next come a series of imaginations (or visualizations) and finally breath control practices aimed at awakening the kundalini. The encouraging news here is that the hatha yoga lineages have been successfully maintained for over a thousand years within Tibetan Buddhism. The challenge for the student of kundalini yoga is to find access to them. Following the path from preliminaries, through Generation Stage practices to Completion Stage practices requires a great sincerity and commitment to Buddhist practice and many years of concentrated effort but there are great extremes in the presentation of these teachings.

For some teachers of Tibetan Buddhism gTummo is only taught within the context of a three year retreat. At the other extreme there are some teachers of Tibetan Buddhism who have openly offered detailed instruction in gTummo yoga to anyone who cared to attend a seminar. In one particular seminar everything from refuge, to initiation to gTummo instruction was offered within a single weekend. In summary, kundalini yoga has a pivotal role within the practice of Tibetan Buddhism but it is deeply embedded within this comprehensive path to spiritual development. As a result the devoted practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism will almost certainly be exposed to kundalini yoga at some point in his practice. On the other hand an individual looking to a Tibetan Buddhist teacher for immediate instruction in kundalini yoga is almost certain to become frustrated and disappointed.

20. Where can I learn more?

Good introductory survey:

á      White, John (Editor) (1990). Kundalini - Evolution and Enlightenment. New York: Paragon House.

Classical Works:

The tremendous diversity of books on hatha, laya, kriya and other kundalini yogas is built upon a relatively small foundation of a few classical works on these yogas. Anyone wishing to truly understand these yogas would do well to start with these short and pithy classical works and then evaluate the later works from this foundation.

The Gheranda Samhita

á      Published with a commentary as Pure Yoga by Yogi Pranavananda. Translated by Tony Rodriguez and Dr. Kanshi Ram. Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1992.

The Shiva Samhita

á      Translated by Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu Sri Satguru publishers, Delhi.1979.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika

á      Translated with a commentary by Swami Muktibodhananda (a disciple of Swami Satyananda Saraswati). Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, Bihar. 1985.

á      Critically edited and translated by Swami Kuvalayananda and Dr. S. A. Shukla. Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, (no date). A translation of a less critically edited edition is more readily available in Chapter Fourteen of Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis by George Weston Briggs. Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1982.

Works by Contemporary teachers:

Selected works by the teachers mentioned. These are available from the respective centers. (I am aware that each of these teachers has published numerous works):

B. K. S. Iyengar

á      Iyengar, B. K. S. (1970). Light on Yoga. New York, New York: Schocken Books.

á      Iyengar, B. K. S. (1981). Light on Pranayama. New York, New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company.

Yogi Bhajan and his disciples

á      Khalsa, M. S. S. G. S. (1990). Exploring the Myths and Misconceptions of Kundalini. In J. White (Ed.), Kundalini: Evolution and Enlightenment (pp. 482). New York, New York:

á      Khalsa, M. S. S. G. S. (Ed.). (1978). Sadhana Guidelines for Kundalini Yoga. Pomona, CA: Kundalini Research Institute.

á      Khalsa, M. S. S. G. S. (Ed.). (1984). Kundalini Meditation Manual for Intermediate Students. Los Angeles, CA: Kundalini Research Institute Publications. Paragon House.

á      Singh, R. (1991). Kundalini Yoga for Strength, Success and Spirit. New York, New York: White Lion Press.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

á      Saraswati, S. S. (1984). Kundalini Tantra. Munger, Bihar: Bihar School of Yoga.

From the Tibetan tradition

There are a couple good books on the horizon on the topic of gTummo. The first is a translation of Tsong Khapa's treatise on the Six Yogas of Naropa by Glenn Mullin. This should be an improvement over the book edited by Charles Muses cited below. It will be published by Snow Lion Publishers in Ithaca, New York. The second is a translation of Lama Yeshe's course notes on gTummo. This will be published under the title Inner Fire by Wisdom Publications in Boston, Massachusettes. Neither of these was available at the time of publishing this FAQ.

á      The Second Dalai Lama(1985a). The Tantric Yogas of Sister Niguma (Ni-gu chos-drug-rgyas-pa-khrid-yig). In G. Mullin (Ed.), Selected Works of the Dalai Lama II (pp. 59).

á      Khapa, T. (1982). The Book of Three Faiths. In C. A. Muses (Ed.), Esoteric Teachings of the Tibetan Tantra (pp. 180). York Beach, Maine: Weiser Publications.

The author, Kurt Keutzer, grants the right to copy and distribute this file, provided it remains unmodified and original authorship and copyright is retained.The author retains both the right and intention to modify and extend this document.

"I remember with gratitude those yogis who have with great skill and perserverance maintained the tradition of awakening and guiding our kundalini energy."

Read more at the homepage of Kurt Keutzer: http://www-cad.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/