Higher Consciousness and Kundalini

HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS AND KUNDALINI

by

Gopi Krishna

Published by:

The Institute for Consciousness Research

and

The Kundalini Research Foundation, Ltd.

Smashwords Edition

HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS AND KUNDALINI

Copyright © 1974 Gopi Krishna

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

First published in 1974 as Higher Consciousness by:

Julian Press, New York, USA

Reprinted 1975 by:

D. B. Taraporevala Sons & Co., Bombay, India

Reprinted 1988 as Higher Consciousness and Kundalini by:

F.I.N.D. Research Trust, Canada and

The Kundalini Research Foundation, Ltd., U.S.A.

Published by:

The Institute for Consciousness Research

165 Valley Crescent,

RR #4, Markdale ON,

Canada N0C 1H0

The Kundalini Research Foundation, Ltd.

86 Wallacks Drive

Stamford CT

06902 U.S.A.

International Standards Book Number: 978-0-9921082-9-8

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-75418

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The Physical Aspects of Higher Consciousness

• What should be the characteristics of one who has attained to a higher state of consciousness?

• What about physical demonstrations, such as slowing one’s heart, or breathing?

• It there is an evolutionary process at work in the body, how can it be located and understood?

• Can Kundalini be demonstrated for scientists?

• What is meant by such terms as Cosmic Consciousness, Super-consciousness?

• Can there be empirical confirmation of the state of Cosmic Consciousness?

2. The Nature of Mystical Experience

• What are the essential characteristics of the mystical experience and how do they differ from experiences brought on by drugs?

• Why is there such a diversity of religious belief and such conflict about the real meaning of religious experience?

• What is the most effective way to induce altered states of consciousness?

• How can we distinguish the delusive states of mind from the higher states brought about by Kundalini?

3. Religion and Evolution

• Do you believe in God?

• Why does not mystical experience represent union with God or the Creator?

• Can a guru raise the Kundalini in one of his chosen disciples?

• Is it advantageous to have many different faiths, each catering to the different mental aptitudes of their adherents?

• Would scientific investigation into Kundalini clear up the confusion about basic issues of faith?

• Are visions of prophets, gurus, super-human beings all part and parcel of Super-consciousness?

• Are high states of consciousness always accompanied by visions and hallucinations?

• Why do your views depart somewhat from those expressed by the greatest spiritual teachers of the past?

• Are the many spiritual cults and creeds and different systems of spiritual discipline a help or a hindrance on the path?

• Do Russia and China provide examples of the success of a materialistic ideology?

• What happens when the laws of Kundalini are not understood and are ignored?

4. Yoga and Higher Consciousness

• Why is there a general impression that there are secret methods by which one can attain to higher states of consciousness?

• What is your opinion about mantras?

• Will anyone who undertakes to follow the various disciplines of Yoga attain to expanded states of consciousness?

• Do Enlightened beings also obtain physical and mental health, inner peace and happiness?

• What is the harm if some spiritual teachers prescribe methods to achieve mental peace, creativeness, and other tangible benefits?

• Why is it so important that one understand the true spiritual destination before embarking on a program of self-unfoldment?

• What is your opinion about saintliness? Do saints serve as an ornament to society?

• Why are there so many different esoteric practices, such as Jnana-,Karma-, Raja-, Hatha-Yoga, and so forth?

• Is it practicable to prescribe one uniform discipline for all aspirants to higher states of consciousness?

5. The Problem of Miracles and the Paranormal

• Why do people associate miraculous powers and paranormal faculties with enlightenment?

• What about the extraordinary psychic exhibitions of mediums, sensitives, occultists, and others?

• Why are so many people attracted to miracles and magical formulas?

• How can we distinguish the Enlightened individual from the average run of mortals?

• If ordinary sensitives and mediums can display extraordinary psychic powers, why can’t the Enlightened individual do the same?

• What about the research into psychic phenomena?

• Why hasn’t the scientific community begun investigating Kundalini?

• When will the concept of Kundalini be accepted by scientists and scholars?

6. Science and Kundalini

• How can investigation into Kundalini lead to an understanding of mystical experience and genius?

• What is the difference between the altered states of consciousness experienced through drugs and the genuine mystical state?

• What will be the effect of the investigation into Kundalini on modern science?

• Is the spontaneous awakening of Kundalini a danger to a person who has no knowledge of the phenomenon?

• Despite its enormous achievements, hasn’t science become destructive?

• How can present-day irrational beliefs and practices in the spiritual realm be eradicated?

• Since so many educated individuals have divergent views concerning the facts of science, how can they be expected to hold the same views in regard to man’s evolutionary goals?

7. Kundalini in the Evolution of Mankind

• How would Kundalini affect the present social and political structure of mankind?

• Is Kundalini as important as other vital parts of the human body, such as the heart, liver, lungs?

• Is our knowledge of ourselves the least bit accurate?

• Were the prophets and sages of the past simply biologically gifted in a way that made their achievements possible?

• Does the inner Self possess the power to materialize itself in the form of apparitions or life-like visions?

• What is the final target of the evolutionary processes in man?

• What is your view about the future of mankind?

• How can the average person achieve higher consciousness and help in the evolution of the race?

• The possibilities implicit in Kundalini

About the Author

Other Books by Gopi Krishna

Introduction

Gopi Krishna is unique among writers on the subject of higher consciousness because what he has to say is from his own direct experience. This fact is still too novel for the general public to realize the staggering implications.

In a modern world in which trendy transcendentalism of drugs or meditation techniques is a commodity exploited by self-appointed gurus for their own vanity, when new cults spring up overnight with millions of followers attracted through publicity in the mass media or the self-deception of crowds rather than true spiritual insight, Gopi Krishna is virtually a lone voice in the tradition of the great sages and seers of ancient India.

He does not seek to establish new cults or a mass following, for he is a humble, absolutely sincere, and modest man. He is dedicated only to revealing the special insights gained by his own mystical experience of higher consciousness, the genuine transcendental state described by yogis and saints thousands of years ago, an experience that has become legendary in modern times.

In his earlier book, Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man (Shambhala Publications, 1971), Gopi Krishna described how he aroused the mysterious Kundalini force, that secret power-reservoir in the human body, and achieved that mystical experience of higher consciousness that had become so rare as to be fabulous:

Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord . . . I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider, surrounded by waves of light.

This sudden awakening of the secret Kundalini force came about through the practice of Yoga, but he was not prepared for its fantastic onset. It endangered his health and even his life for many years, until he learned to live with it, modify its effects, and cooperate with the biological changes it brought about in his brain and body.

He writes, therefore, with absolute authority; and it is important for a modern world, bewildered by a breakdown in true values, to read and consider carefully all that he has to say. For here are genuine insights arising from an actual condition of higher consciousness. They are not the theories, wishful thinking, or rehashes of those who have never had such an experience. The condition of higher consciousness is so rare and truly transcendental that mankind cannot afford to ignore any single instance in modern times. We are privileged in being able to consider and verify its revelations from a living individual rather than from the records of the past in sacred scriptures.

Can one really believe this, in a world of false claims and charlatans? I can affirm that I know it to be true. I have always taken a special interest in the phenomenon of Kundalini and have met several individuals in whom this extraordinary power has been aroused in some degree. I know Gopi Krishna personally and have had inspiring conversations with him in India. His work is supported by eminent scientists, and a Kundalini Research Foundation has been established. I can confirm that he is absolutely genuine and sincere.

He has a refreshing and touching humility. He has never concealed his wonder that destiny should have granted him this awakening into Cosmic Consciousness. He stresses that this experience, so immeasurably more profound and inspiring than normal consciousness and absolutely blissful in nature, is yet only a hint of still higher states. And he knows only too well that the immensities of consciousness and perception are sometimes too much for the mental and physical apparatus that tries to convey them in the inadequate medium of words in a printed book. He had no special advantages of birth or education. In his great inspiration the words tumble out at speed, and sometimes the command of a language not his own is inadequate to express the marvelous vistas of life and human destiny that have opened to his vision like a blaze of dazzling light. For he perceives always with full waking consciousness, unlike the passive trance of the spiritualist medium or the stupor of the drug taker.

Some of his new awareness is so inconceivable to the consciousness of ordinary individuals that it is remarkable that he can find words to express himself at all. It is a situation rather like that of a great author forced to type at speed on an old and imperfect typewriter with a foreign keyboard! When the experience of Cosmic Consciousness or Super-consciousness becomes accessible to other individuals, as Gopi Krishna believes could happen soon, there will be many different accounts to confirm such insights. And it may be that great writers, poets, musicians, and scientists will be inspired to supplement these visions with all the eloquence and art with which they are already gifted.

Do not be put off by the unfamiliarity of terms like Kundalini. There is unfortunately no real modern equivalent to this ancient Hindu science of the soul. Although originally surrounded with mythological concepts of the union of a god and goddess in terms of a complex Hindu metaphysical doctrine, it is now clear that there is a real biological basis for this extraordinary power center of latent energy within the human body and in the cosmos as a whole. This force is located at the base of the human spine, nourished by energy from food, air, ethical and spiritual development. It can be expressed in sexual activity or transmuted into a subtle form that rises up the spinal column to a center in the brain, enlarging the consciousness. The sudden spiral movement from the base of the spine has been called The Serpent Power by the ancients, and mythological forms of this basic fact have been elaborated into stories of a man, a woman, and a serpent in a primal garden, common to many different religions. This force is evolutionary, both in its expression of the procreative urge and its internal union within the human body, opening the door to the inspired consciousness that guides the progress of the human race through sages, seers, geniuses, and artists. This force is slowly modifying the biological structure of vital currents in the body. For a fuller understanding of these bare facts, it is essential to study earlier books by Gopi Krishna. In this new one, using straightforward questions and answers, he discusses some of the implications for both religion and science.

Out of his own experience, which is still with him in a never-ending meditation, he speaks to each individual reader so that he or she may personally weigh the meaning of this primary phenomenon, its connections with great spiritual teachings, and its incredible evolutionary role in the destiny of all life and consciousness. He shows how we can understand and cooperate with this force and live in harmony with its purpose, confirming what religious and ethical leaders have always taught: There has to be creative change within each individual, based on his own efforts, refining his understanding of his place in the scheme of life.

If this seems at first less sensational than the shortcuts promised by modern pop gurus, that is only a deceptive initial impression. Gopi Krishna enlarges on the meaning of total life and the contribution that will be made by a reformed religion and open-minded science, in a future destiny of the human race beyond the wildest dreams of modern thinkers.

This book speaks directly to your own judgment. It makes no imperious demands and does not demand to be taken on trust. In a world of the spurious, catchpenny, dishonest, and power seeking, there is an incredible satisfaction in contacting once again simple truth which can guide us through modern perplexities.

Gopi Krishna has a special message for scientists and scholars. He pleads for experiments to validate the reality of the arousal of Kundalini and its biological effects in the human organism. He offers cooperation in investigating scientific aspects of his own condition—a living example of a development so rare that we are fortunate in having such an individual in our own lifetime.

What are we waiting for?

Meanwhile, I urge every individual to study this book with honesty and sincerity, and experience the joy of self-discovery; to develop awareness of the greatest enigma of human experience—the meaning of life itself.

Leslie Shepard

1

The Physical Aspects of Higher Consciousness

• For many centuries, the attainment of a higher state of consciousness has been the goal of mystics of many religions in order to resolve the age-old riddle of man’s relationship to his Creator. Yoga teachings have stressed the concept of Kundalini—The Serpent Power—and have taught that it is a dormant energy that may be aroused by certain disciplines and result in transcendental awareness. What do terms like ‘transcendental’ and ‘higher consciousness’ mean and what should be the characteristics of one who has attained to a higher state of consciousness?

Attainment of a higher level of consciousness implies overstepping the boundaries of the human state. Anyone who claims to have gained transcendental awareness or approach to Divinity must, in some respects, have exceeded the normal limits of the human mind and experience.

It is necessary that such an enlightened person be pious and righteous, free from ego, desire, attachment, hate, envy, aggression, violence, lust, and other unholy traits, of course, but these things are not in themselves the criteria of higher consciousness. People are naturally constituted in different ways, some having inherently less lust, passion, avarice, aggression and more of the nobler attributes, while others have more of the animal characteristics. The normal range of human beings includes men and women with saintly character at one end of the scale and virtual devils, criminals, and murderers at the other. In none of these cases is the human limit exceeded.

There are some people who are so saintly in character that it appears impossible for a normal person to emulate them. At the same time there are evildoers whose hideous deeds strike terror into the hearts of others. We encounter both of these extremes in everyday life. But a saintly person, with all his piety and holiness, may not show any remarkable intellectual superiority as compared to a normal intelligent individual, while at the other end of the scale some criminals show such extraordinary talent for crime that one is amazed at their wit and resourcefulness. Therefore, unless there are certain marked characteristics distinguishing an individual claiming a higher state of consciousness from the other average or even extraordinary individuals, we can only treat such a person as belonging to the normal category.

If the reality of spiritual experience and the possibility of a higher state of consciousness are to be convincingly demonstrated, there must be incontrovertible evidence to show that an enlightened man or woman can develop a mental stature that is entirely beyond the reach of normal individuals, however intelligent or talented they might be. If this evidence is not forthcoming, there has been no overstepping of the human traits.

The knower of Brahman attains the highest, says the Taittiriya-Upanishad (II.1). Brahman is truth, knowledge and infinity. He who knows that Brahman, as existing in the intellect, lodged in the supreme space in the head, enjoys, as identified with the all-knowing Brahman, all desirable things simultaneously.

According to Shankaracharya, a highly developed personality is needed even in one who aspires to the Supreme State: The truth of the Paramatman is extremely subtle and cannot be reached by the gross outgoing tendency of the mind. In Viveka-chudamani (361), he also says; It is only accessible to noble souls with perfectly pure minds, by means of Samadhi (meditative trance] brought on by an extraordinary fineness of the mental state.

• There are some yogis who can reduce their breathing to such an extent that it becomes almost imperceptible. Some can arrest the flow of blood or diminish the rhythm of the heart to such a degree that their bodies assume a corpse-like condition, and in this state can be buried underground or interred in hermetically sealed boxes for many days without succumbing to death. On being exhumed they revive as if they had been asleep all the while. Isn’t this a feat entirely beyond the capacity of a normal individual to perform?

The superiority of the enlightened person does not lie in bizarre physical demonstrations, but in the development of a transhuman consciousness and rapport with the Cosmic Intelligence and invisible conscious forces not perceptible to normal people.