Welcome to Day 23 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Yesterday, we spoke about Shaktipat, the initiation that comes in the energy dimension that awakens us to our spirituality and to our energy body. It initiates a journey within us, an evolutionary journey that takes us back to that expansive consciousness. This is an important journey. It is important to understand what happens within us when that initiation comes, that energy initiation which is called Shaktipat.
Shaktipat Brings Perfect Unfolding
What happens afterwards is that a process unfolds and it is referred to as Mahayoga or Siddha yoga. One of the reasons why it is referred to as Mahayoga is that it embraces all the other yogas or all the other yogas unfold in this process. Those of you who are familiar with the path of yoga will know there are: Raja yoga, Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Jyana yoga, Mantra yoga, Hatha yoga of the physical body. All these yogas unfold in their perfect way with the awakening of the energy of the Shaktipat initiation. It is called Mahayoga.
Support on the Journey
It is also called Siddha yoga because if the shaktipat comes from a perfected Master or Siddha, this journey becomes a very powerful one. The grace or support of this Master continues through the journey until we ourselves reach that place of perfection. If we are fortunate to receive that energy impulse or awakening or shaktipat initiation from a Siddha yogi or a perfected Master or Siddha, we can make the full journey. We are supported through the full journey. That is why it is called Siddha yoga. But it is also called spontaneous yoga, natural yoga and sometimes it is called Guru yoga.
Journey into Limitation
What I want to talk about today is, of course, the evolutionary process and what happens. But I want to focus on how this energy becomes involved in matter, resulting in who we are. I have spoken about an evolutionary process where our consciousness expands back to its fullness. But this also implies that the consciousness has become involved in matter and so it is in a state of limitation. Preceding this evolutionary process is an involution process.
The reason why I am speaking about this is because it tells what has happened in us coming into the body. Often there is a question, “Why did the perfect Consciousness come into matter?” One may never understand why, but at least we can understand the process of involution and the process of evolution as it applies to us.
Each Chakra- a step down into gross field
We have seven chakras. Each chakra is a step in the involution coming into matter. It also represents a step in the evolution. Normally we think of going back, but I also want to bring to your attention to the coming down into matter, because in this involution process it brings us more and more into the gross world. It also brings us more and more into ignorance and into what is called the illusion of Maya. Each chakra is associated with a certain element which becomes more gross as we go downwards. This consciousness, in becoming involved in matter, has become more and more involved in the gross nature of the material world. And every chakra represents coming into that gross field more and more.
Every Chakra – an Energy Consciousness Centre
When this energy or shakti got involved in creation it never lost its oneness with the Consciousness field. (I have said before that the shakti is involved in creation and it is the energy that creates.) The Consciousness field and the energy are always one, and they continue to stay together in the involution process. Every chakra is also called an energy consciousness center. For those who have studied the symbolism of the chakras you would learn that there is a male and female element in every chakra. There is a god and goddess energy in every chakra. The god represents the Consciousness aspect and the goddess represents the shakti and energy aspect.
Consciousness Involved in Matter in Varying Stages
This consciousness, in coming into our Being, has stepped down into matter in varying degrees, finally giving the result of this. We are consciousness that got involved in matter in various stages, and those stages continue to exist within us in the chakras. Every chakra that we have is associated with an element that takes us more and more into this gross level.
Involution Process: step by step
The topmost chakra is associated with Consciousness. The brow chakra is associated with the mind. The throat chakra is associated with ether, the space that contains all vibrations, all information and it is called Akash. The throat chakra is involved in that so now we can understand why it is involved in communication. The heart chakra is associated with the air element and with free movement like waves of emotion. The navel chakra is associated with the fire element, vitality, dynamism, confidence, fires of digestion and solar energy. There are lunar qualities in the brow. The sexual chakra is associated with the water element like in sexual fluids and urination. The base chakra is associated with the earth element, the physical body and material excretion that comes through the bowel.
In every chakra the consciousness has gradually become more and more involved; trapped. When it reaches the base we think we are just human. The consciousness has come to identify with gross humanity, the physical being. With the second chakra: sexual awareness, sexual activity. Third chakra: energy, dynamism, vitality. Fourth chakra: emotion, freedom, love. Fifth chakra: communication. Sixth chakra: mind, all mental modifications, mental constructs. Sixth chakra: pure Being. That is how it has stepped down.
Consciousness stepped down with first the thought of creation; then the space, the ether, the field: then the movement: then the fire element that comes from movement; then the water element that comes from the rest; finally the most gross, the earth element. That is the involution process. The evolution process is going back up, freeing itself from the elements so the Consciousness can expand.
Evolutionary Journey to Freedom
That is the journey we are on. In every chakra that we go to, we need to dissociate from the element that this consciousness has become involved in, and to begin to experience greater and greater states of freedom. When the shaktipat initiation comes, we have to make this evolutionary journey going back and so we have to learn how to master each stage. We have to break the bonds of the element and master the level as we move upwards.
In this process of freeing ourselves from all these bondages that come through the involution, we go through a process of purification and cleansing. We begin to experience that when we are touched by a Master. Wherever we are, we begin to experience the energies there. We have different experiences of shaktipat. The signs of shaktipat may be different in us. But it begins an evolutionary journey through a number of experiences that cleanse the field opening up the consciousness.
This energy that has involved itself and created the involution and done the work in the involutio is the energy that is going to help us to do the work in going back. In coming in the involved process, it sleeps. The energy that created everything sleeps in the base, and that is why it is called Kundalini. In awakening, the process of going upward is the journey of Kundalini, the journey of the shakti in going back.
Kriyas or Cleansing Actions
These experiences that happened in the evolutionary journey are exciting experiences and they begin an amazing journey of the Kundalini. If we have gotten the energy initiation from a Guru or a true Master and being supported in the process, it is marvelous to see what happens inside. We feel that something inside is taking us on this journey of energy. These experiences that take place on the journey to free ourselves are called kriyas or cleansing actions. In my talk tomorrow I will discuss that.
With guidance Transcend Dark Experiences
It is important to understand it because sometimes when we become initiated we go through negative experiences and we cannot understand it. This will explain it. Some of us go through a dark night of the soul. It becomes so difficult in spirituality and it simply shows that we become stagnated in the field and the guidance is missing. We need to work through the process with proper guidance. It may show that the karmic burden is quite heavy. The Causal body is filled with experiences that we need to break through. Finally, as we go through these, the kriyas become nicer and nicer. They become very powerful and supportive. It is a marvelous journey.
And of course, the 40 Days that I experienced in 1978 has been the most marvelous set of kriyas that I have had. I will share more of this with you, because it is an amazing journey when this energy field opens up and we begin to experience freedom in Consciousness. This is my message for you today.
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