Our approach to daily realization is to balance the two forces, ida and pingala naturally, activating the kundalini power slowly, through the regularity of discipline such as hatha yoga and meditation. Learn to repeat profound inner experiences; once is not enough. We're trying to get into the sushumna, the spiritual current and the achi evement of the highest inner experience, nirvikalpa samadhi, every day.

Master Course Trilogy, Merging with Siva, Lessons 264,265,342.

Unedited Transcript:

Good morning everyone. We're continuing on in "Merging with Siva" from where we left off last week. Thought I'd repeat the last few lines of such an inspiring statement here and then move forward.

"When you hear the nada, endeavor to project it in love's outpouring to all those who are in your orbit of communication. They will feel the blessings when your divine love is projected through your nada into their nada. (Nada is the inner sound if anyone doesn't know that.) This is the height of selfless consciousness, universal love, a constant mystical outpouring and experience of oneness. The sushumna is nada and more. Nada shakti is. It just is."

And we move on, something new.

"Hatha yoga balances the two forces, the ida and pingala..."

So ida is called the feminine force; pingala the masculine force. And balancing, balancing them is what we need to do to be able to go within in meditation. And it struck me to mention, you know one of the reasons, well not one, it's mystical basis is a better way of saying it, for men sitting on one side and women sitting on the other side is to be able to do that. So sometimes husband wife sit together. So the husband will tend stay in the pingala and the wife will tend to stay in the ida when they sit together. But when they sit separately then it's easier for each one to go into the sushumna and have a deeper experience. So, that's the mystical basis. And it's not just done in Hinduism it's done in other religions too. Men and women sit separately.

"...The straight, erect spine releases the actinodic flow of the sushumna current. (So important to sit up straight.) The mind centered in the contemplative atmosphere, cognizing timelessness, causelessness, spacelessness while sitting in the lotus position, awakens the pineal and pituitary centers, and the door of Brahman at the top of the head.

"The force of the actinodic causal body, the sheath of cognition, vijnanamaya kosha, a pure actinic force running through the sushumna current, is called the kundalini. As the kundalini force becomes activated, the sushumna power begins to grow, or the actinodic causal body begins to grow, and the higher chakras of cognition and universal love begin to spin faster. Once kundalini power has been activated, its force expands or contracts consciousness. As man's consciousness expands into actinic spheres, more kundalini power is used..."

Make a comment here. The traditional way that the kundalini force becomes activated is called: 'very slowly'. Just naturally increases because of our, the regularity of discipline such as meditation. It naturally increases. It can be unnaturally increased in a weekend seminar. A teacher activates your kundalini, used to be with the peacock feather in the old days. Swami Muktananada's group.

So our approach to that, not trying to be critical, it's just different. Our approach to the kundalini is slowly. It just naturally arises through regularity of practice. So we don't want to force it. It can upset the sympathetic nervous system. And when that happens people can shake, starts, the nervous system has gotten disturbed by the kundalini rising prematurely. So, it can pick up a permanent shake which isn't good.

So next point:

"...As man's consciousness expands into actinic spheres, more kundalini power is used. The power is lessened as his consciousness emerges into the limited fields of the odic world."

So that's saying and of course it's even more so true for monastics: Don't get too involved in the world. It inhibits the kundalini from intensifying.

"Often known as the serpent power, the kundalini is coiled at the base of the spine in the instinctive man who resides mostly in the force fields of memory and fear. When this power becomes uncoiled, the serpent, or kundalini, luminously raises its head, and finally, after nirvikalpa samadhi, it lifts its power to the top of the head.

"When nirvikalpa samadhi has been practiced daily for many, many years--according to the classical yoga teachings, for twelve years--and the golden body has been built, the kundalini force coils itself in the sahasrara chakra of the yogi, at the top of the head. This is known as the manas chakra, located about where the hairline begins at the forehead. This chakra eventually becomes the muladhara chakra, or the memory-pattern chakra, of the golden body..."

So, a lot of mysticism there but one very clear practical point is: "When nirvikalpa samadhi has been practiced daily..." So it makes it clear that in the traditional way we're not trying for a one time realization. Be it nirvikalpa samadhi or savikalpa samadhi or any profound inner experience, having it once isn't enough. We have to learn to repeat it. And eventually learn to repeat it daily. That's the ultimate goal here, that's Gurudeva's saying. You have to be able to do, reach your highest achievement on a daily basis and then it really is transformative.

So that's a good goal is whatever your highest experience is to try and repeat it. Eventually repeat it daily. Then we have an insert here from another "Merging with Siva" lesson where Gurudeva talks about his personal experience with that.

"The ultimate is to have the kundalini coiled in the sahasrara.

"I personally didn't manage that until 1968 or 1969 when I had a series of powerful experiences of kundalini in the sahasrara. It took twenty years of constant daily practice of tough sadhanas and tapas..."

So that's Gurudeva's testimony on that idea of the kundalini coiling in the sahasrara.

See what else we have here, back to the original lesson.

"When the kundalini rises into the realms of pure actinicity, the pineal gland and pituitary center are activated. When these two centers are activated simultaneously, the forces of both of them merge, bringing man into nirvikalpa samadhi. Therefore, the aggressive odic force merges with the passive odic force, in perfect balance, the actinodic power of the sushumna current comes into perfect balance, poised with the kundalini force..."

So that's, as I said, that's even in just basic meditation we're trying to get into the sushumna or the spiritual current. Get out of the feminine and masculine currents into the spiritual or sushumna current.

"The yogi adept finds himself on the brink of the Absolute, cognizing That which he cannot explain, knowing there is something beyond which the mind does not know, conceiving That which cannot be conceived, because form, which is mind, cannot conceive formlessness... When the ida, pingala and sushumna forces merge and reside in perfect balance, the third eye awakens. When the pituitary, pineal glands and the sushumna source are in perfect balance, man is able to perceive consciously into other worlds of the mind. The golden body, as it begins to grow after the attainment of nirvikalpa samadhi, is built by man's service to his fellow man."

So even at that point service is still very important. "Built by service to your fellow man."

So that's kind of deep but I wanted to read it to give a sense of balancing the ida and the pingala and sushnumna coming into power and the idea of achieving that whatever your highest inner experience is, having it once isn't enough. You'll want to achieve it again and then eventually learn how to achieve it on a daily basis.

Well thank you very much for listening.

Aum Namah Sivaya.