Awesome Power of Prayer for Kundalini Awakening & More
Power of Prayer
Prayer, Kundalini Awakening & Spiritual Growth
Bhakti Yoga & Jyana Yoga (Love vs. Intelligence):
In Kundalini Yoga and Tantra, in general, there are two recognized paths that lead to enlightenment. There is the path of love and there is the path of intelligence. In yogic terms these would be Bhakti Yoga and Jyana Yoga respectively. Individuals, depending on their personality, tend to gravitate towards one or the other path, with the “devotional” types embracing Bhakti Yoga, and the “intellectual” types choosing Jyana Yoga.
Lord Shiva is the deity of choice for the Jyana Yogis, with Lord Krishna being the adored one for those who practice Bhakti Yoga. Before the Bhakti Yogis who revere Shakti (the female aspect of Divinity) or other reflections of God start to argue with me, please remember this is just a generalization 
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What is interesting about Lord Shiva, is that when he was asked who is his most favorite person in the Universe, his answer is always Krishna. The fact that people are able to surrender themselves completely to Krishna with such ease and thus, merge with infinite consciousness, is something that wildly impresses Lord Shiva, whose followers usually have to work very hard using the power of discrimination and intelligence to dissolve their false sense of identity, in order to themselves merge with infinite consciousness.
Jyana Yogis tend to have a difficult time with this business of complete surrender based on faith alone, and although at the end, that is also what they do, it takes them a while to get there using the tool of pure intelligence and awareness. One important point to make here is that by intelligence I don’t mean just logic and reasoning. I am speaking of intelligence as the power of direct comprehension of “what is” via direct perception. Here intelligence will include logic and clear thinking and is the action of awakened awareness. Admittedly, I gravitate towards Jyana Yoga, but would like to relate to you my lesson from last week, when I was taught the virtues of Bhakti Yoga.
My Experience with the Power of Prayer:
The Divinity that I relate to is the Divinity I encountered, which I have written about in the article, The Time I Met God – Good News & Bad News. Recently, unusual symptoms, have come up in my physical systems, either due to Kundalini or otherwise, and instead of approaching these conditions with my normal analytical, intelligent view, I pretty much threw my hands up and decided to try the pathway of prayer, faith and surrender instead. I decided to spend the time before sleep, during which I normally meditate, just praying instead. The night turned out to be quite dramatic…
In the very early morning hours, I was taken on a fun filled ride of enormous mystical and spiritual experiences. The ride went on for hours and, the intensity of the experiences and states were profound to say the least. So have I been converted into a full blooded, pure, Bhakti Yogi, probably not. After all, my intellectual side immediately points out, statistically these experiences could be symptomatic of the Kundalini movements that seem to be occurring due my practice, but you can be rest assured that prayer is going to find a much more prominent role from now on in my daily sadhana 
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Prayer to Start Kundalini Practice:
Prayer, faith and trust in the Universal Energy, God, Divinity, Higher Self, Christ Consciousness, call it what you will, is something very valuable when it comes to the spiritual path, especially when dealing with cosmic energies such as Kundalini, and it is worth contemplating this aspect of your practice to see how it can help you in your journey back to the Source. The article AUM Meditation Before Starting Kundalini Class goes into this topic in more details for you.
Prayer to Awaken Kundalini Directly:
A very interesting and enlightening discussion is currently underway in the Kundalini Awakening Symptoms article and thread (check the latest comments on that page), where the value and importance of prayer on the journey to Kundalini Awakening is being discussed. In fact Laurel explains how just earnest prayer has initiated in her a process of positive radical spiritual transformation and Kundalini awakening.
There are many masters of Kundalini Yoga who will stress that prayer, devotion and love is a safer and better way to deal with Kundalini and her enormous power than other approaches. What is important, at the very least, is to have a humble, respectful and prayerful attitude towards Kundalini, Universal Energy and Divinity, so that you are granted the key blessings of protection, inspiration and guidance by It.
God Bless You All!
My pranamas Anmol.
Thank you for having this website. It has been very helpful to me.
I have recently experienced an unexpected, unimpeded Kundalini awakening event that went straight to Bindhu. I am sure there were months, if not years of signs of the awakening that I did not recognize and attributed to other pains or issues.
I am a 50 year practitioner of Krishna bhakti and mantra meditation and I can testify that I did pray to Yogamaya (AKA Kundalini Shakti and the consort of Lord Shiva) to please assist me in my efforts to be always Krishna (God) conscious, and I prayed that she give up her efforts of entangling me in the material world any more, having tested my sincerity enough. My response to the major rising event was instant recognition and surrender and followed by organizing this life to facilitate her and to accept her presence during my sadhana practice, which, as a bhakti yogi, is every moment. She is constantly and blissfully active, very much taking advantage of my practices. At the same time I know my body is a temple and is being so gently maintained and healed by her divine energy.
What I don’t understand is how to reconcile that I would never want to loose my individuality (it should be free of false ego and the influence of the modes of material nature) and merge into the one Brahman. To me that is spiritual suicide. But am I correct, that merging or oneness is the goal of Kundalini yoga? My goal is SIMULTANEOUS oneness and difference. How can there be love of God if there is not the lover and the beloved – that means 2?
in service,
Carolon
Nice web site
Hey KL,
Looks like many of us deeper in our growth, value more greatly love and sensitivity, where as before we may have gravitated heavily towards the intellectual approach.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
Cheers,
Anmol
Ditto – also an intellectual discovering bhakti and being blown away at how incredible it is, and how I feel so balanced and open after doing it.
Thanks for all the indepth info – didn’t know much of this and so enjoy reading your articles.
Hey Anmol,
There is so much wealth of information in the Kundalini Awakening thread that I am going through that slowly.
My comment is a result of reading your article. So, I call your article “mother to my comments!” :-)
LnL,
-Desika
Hey Desika,
Thanks for pointing out the link, I have fixed it. Some of those comments and real life stories, on the Kundalini Awakening thread are really amazing.
I like your comments on Bhakti and the right attitude to have, even better than my article :-D. Always great to have your input and insights.
Best,
Anmol
Hey Anmol,
Very nice article, buddy!
I also want to let you know that that the link to “Kundalini Awakening Symptoms” doesn’t seem to be pointing to the correct article.
You hit the nail on the head with this article. Not just kundalini yoga, but any other spiritual path, be it jnana or others also require (though usually not made explicit) us to have the attitude of surrender. That’s why Krishna says, “To dedicate all the results of efforts, including the efforts themselves to the divine,” so that we (read: the little ego) do not take credit and gloat for our accomplishments.
This surrender or devotion should produce oneness and help us transcend duality. Therefore, while praying we should have the attitude, “The divine is in me, I am in the divine. Every cell of mine is filled with divine” and let go of the attitude that divine is somewhere up in the skies. This is the true essence of bhakti, as you experienced and cited in one of your other articles.
Great article buddy! Thanks for reminding me of this essence. I have been more and more attracted towards bhakti and surrender in recent times (having been more of an intellectual and on the jnana path) and the divine seems to have just nudged me to read your article today.
All paths lead to bhakti and surrender–which are oneness in all its glory–eventually.
Thanks again.
Love and Light,
Desika