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Dumuzzi

Shakti Meditation

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Hi everyone.

I wanted to write a bit about my own meditative practice, which I call Shakti Meditation.

In case you weren’t aware, Shakti is the Sanskrit term for the divine feminine, in a cosmic sense, as well as locally, where it is known as Kundalini Shakti. This power is known under different names in various cultures. Shekinah in Judaism, Sekina in Islam, Sophia in Gnostic Christianity, Holy Spirit in Christianity, Dzogchen in Tibetan Buddhism and so on.

Shakti is often conceptualised as a goddess, though that is only one of her many aspects and forms.

When active in the human body, she will often take the form of a serpentine energy that rises from the base of the spine and coils around it in a spiralling fashion. We know this as the caduceus and is the symbol of modern medicine, representing both healing and wisdom as well as self-knowledge.

Another name for this serpentine power is Kundalini. I’ve had a Kundalini awakening breakthrough more than a decade ago, though even before that, I started integrating Shakti into my daily meditative practice. When working with her, surrender to and trusting in a higher power is key. Being the anima of the human psyche, she is responsible for regulating autonomous bodily functions and she is essentially what keeps us alive without us even noticing, being responsible for the vast majority of our bodily and cognitive functions. We generally hardly even notice her working in the background and keeping us alive, but Shakti Meditation allows us to reconnect with our deepest psyche and become aware and conscious of the work she does for us every second of the day.

Shakti Meditation starts with observing autonomous bodily functions, subtle, gross, psychic, astral, emotional and so on, from a detached, higher perspective. It’s about recognising the nature of the Self as the observer, rather than the doer. In Shakti meditation, the Self does not do, only Shakti does. The Self is in silence, resting in equanimity and lack of attachment to objects in the causal world, whatever form they may take.

In this state, thought ceases, mind chatter dies down, there is only the observer being aware of its detachment from what at this point seem like the bodily and mental functions of an outside entity. The Self is satisfied with resting in itself and recognises the fundamental alienness of what it normally thinks of as himself. Looking at this person from the vantage point of the absolute, he sees the weirdness and unfamiliarity of the body-mind complex which clings to an extremely limited identity and existence in a narrow range of frequency within the range of infinite possibility. Thus the body, and its identity, its ego or ahamkara, looks comical in its crudeness and inflated sense of self-importance. There is humour in observing oneself from the outside and the Self may laugh at the absurdity of the situation and the preening and posturing of the ahamkara, which imagines itself to be separate and all-important, when it is but a self-created delusion.

As the Self observes that body-mind complex, it will become aware of the subtle processes occurring within, which it may not have been conscious of before pointing its awareness to this object from a new point of view. Aware that it is both the observer and the observed, at the same time, it will become conscious of goings-on within this vibrational matrix that might have hitherto escaped its attention. The Self will notice strange activity in the subtle body, in the form of pranic phenomena, which is life energy moving about the chakras and nadis. Additionally, in the deepest meditation, it will become aware of the working of Shakti which has remained hidden to its awareness up to that point. It will see Shakti both as an extension of itself, as well as an outside entity with independent will and action.

As the Self observes Shakti as himself, an aspect of his own awareness, Shakti will come out to dance and play. This is different for each person and can take various forms. In my own process, Shakti is gentle and kind, even playful. She causes waves of bliss in me and extremely pleasurable physical sensations, along with feelings of love, joy and oneness.

Although Shakti is generally active in me throughout the day, it is during meditation, times of relaxation, rest and contemplation that she makes her presence particularly felt. Whenever I settle down into a relaxed state, she will immediately activate in the form of a highly pleasant sensation of heat and light at the base of the spine. From here, she will start wriggling her way upwards in a playful, pulsating manner. The sensation of Shakti moving upwards can best be compared to spiritual plasma. It is warm liquid light, which is very soothing, a bit like switching the seat heater on in your car during a cold winter night.

As the flow of Shakti becomes stronger, energy centres, chakras activate all over the body, including the feet and hands. The spinning of chakras can often be felt, which is an odd sensation at first, but one soon gets used to it. Apart from spinning, some chakras may also buzz or vibrate, giving off a sensation of electromagnetic activity. Heat and pressure may also be felt at particular chakras during the process as Shakti activates and animates them.

In Shakti Meditation, she assumes ever more control of the physical body and mind, whilst the Self remains a detached observer. The Self surrenders control and Shakti assumes control of certain faculties, such as breathing and posture. This is similar to how she acts during our sleep, when we are not in conscious control of our bodies. As she moves upward along the spine and takes over each energy centre and nerve cluster one by one, there may be involuntary movements, even spontaneous yoga postures, which are known as kriyas. For some people these can be quite intense, though in my case they tend to be rather gentle and controlled, as well as temporary. As soon as the flow of Shakti is smooth, obstacles and blocks are cleared, kriyas cease, the flow of Shakti through the Shakti Nadis (especially the Sushumna) becomes unimpeded and strong, like a rushing stream of warm liquid light.

As she reaches the third eye region and the top of the head, a reverse flow also occurs, which is more like a slow descent of divine grace, a more masculine energy. This too is plasma-like and appears to enter the brain at the Brahmarendra, at the bulb of the head. This nectar is a viscous, honey-like substance which drips slowly from a higher realm into the brain, causing exquisite pleasure which is felt in the scalp, from where it dribbles down in slow motion. This nectar, also known as Soma, Amrita or Ambrosia, is responsible for illumination and apart from great bliss, it also confers wisdom and insight. At this point, the body-mind, including the Kundalini mechanism operating within it, is a mere instrument for the production of Nectar, which allows the individual Jiva or Soul to reach ever higher levels of illumination.

When fully immersed in the act of what I call “the drinking of Soma” some peculiar psychic effects, known as siddhis, may spontaneously manifest. In this higher conscious state, the Jiva feels one with the Universe and recognises its fundamental unity with Brahman. Resting in this state feels like a homecoming, like returning to our natural, fundamental state of consciousness. Whilst the Self rests in itself, Shakti continues her work within the body, clearing blockages and other assorted energetic muck, including burning away karma that has accumulated in the Jiva over many lifetimes and also by just living in the world and encountering the stresses and conflicts of daily life.

Simultaneously, the Kundalini mechanism works to generate Soma/Amrita which is distributed all over the body by the chakric system. The objective, apparently, is to slowly build a light-body, which is initially activated when the Kundalini power first pierces the crown. When this happens, it creates a crack in the Hiranyagarbha or cosmic egg, causing the yolk or nectar to slowly dribble down. The dripping of nectar is somewhat continuous thereafter, but it becomes much stronger during Shakti Meditation, when the Kundalini mechanism is allowed to fully express itself in the subtle body and churn Soma. This process is allegorically described in the famous Churning of the Milk Ocean myth, with different devas and asuras representing upper and lower chakras.

This light-body is needed as a vehicle for the Jiva to be able to achieve Maha-Samadhi upon death, it carries the soul to the highest realms, like Brahma-Loka and beyond, so that it may attain liberation and return to rest in the highest Brahman.

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