Before I learned Rudi’s kundalini meditation practice, it was impossible for me to live a day with a quiet mind, and it took four years of daily inner work to get my brain to settle down. They were four well-spent years learning what I thought was impossible to learn. The mind’s chaos creates edginess and tension. It eats one’s energy like a malnourished, half-starved person’s overzealous need to consume junk food. Two hours of an overactive, hard-driven mind will exhaust body and soul quicker than fifteen hours of physical labor. If kundalini meditation is mastered, the mind succumbs to the practitioner’s will and remains focused on the chakra below the navel. Internal conflict ceases, tension is reduced, and gratitude opens the heart. Practitioners are no longer swept away in a tsunami of mental noise. They recognize their chaotic mind, though annoying, isn’t necessarily a negative thing. It tells them their chakra system hasn’t been fully developed. Each thought is a reminder of inner work that needs to be done on a path that leads to enlightenment. It shouldn’t frighten or depress the meditation practitioner.
Internal power and balance make possible mastery of chaotic thoughts and the beginnings of a spiritual life.
Perfection is in the realm of the gods. Mortals must be grateful for imperfections that remind them to keep working on themselves. They can’t avoid a noisy mind, but they can train themselves to focus the mind’s energy on the Hara. It becomes a surgical instrument that cuts through tension and opens the core of one’s being. Internal power and balance make possible mastery of chaotic thoughts and the beginnings of a spiritual life. If we focus on the traffic in our own head, we cut ourselves off from the universal soul and its wisdom. Two mindsets are at play. The first is an intellect often influenced by egotistical and rational needs, a thought process that arrives at quasi-solutions to life’s problems. It also creates tension that drives people into states of depression and despair. The second brings knowledge and wisdom that transcends ordinary perception and removes the shroud of illusion that blinds people when they make decisions. It is often called “The voice of God” or the “OM” sound, a voice that can’t be heard if the mind is full of noise and distraction.
None of this should frighten meditation practitioners if they take full responsibility for their inner lives. If they use mind and breath to develop chakra systems that enable universal wisdom and knowledge to find a home in their heart, they’ll discover that thought never stops its drumbeat. They’ll also discover that strong chakra systems won’t allow chaos to intimidate them. They can transform a frenzied mind into chi and use chi to activate kundalini. This takes time and patience and a commitment to a spiritual life. As my teacher Rudi once said to an impatient student, “It takes nine months to have a baby and one second to die…”
(To be continued…)
Ganesh, Chola Dynasty, 10/12th century
