Now I would like to tell the secret knowledge of our inner being which was known in India thousands of years back. For our evolution and spiritual ascent there is a residual power within us which is located in the triangular bone at the base of our spine. This residual power is known as Kundalini. Though the knowledge of this power was available thousands of years back in India, the awakening of the Kundalini was done, traditionally, on an individual basis only. One guru would given awakening to one disciple.
As a result of that awakening, what happens is that you achieve your self-realisation, your self-hood. Secondly, when this power is awakened, it rises and passes through six subtle energy centres in your body, nourishing them and integrating them. Ultimately, this power breaks through the fontanel bone area called as the Talu or the Brahmarandra and connects you to the all-pervading power of Divine love, which is described in the bible also as the "cool breeze of the Holy Ghost" also in the Koran as "Ruh" and also in the Indian scriptures as "Paramchaitanya". Patanjali has called it as "Ritambhara Pragya". Whatever the name, this is a power which is all-pervading, which does all the subtle works of living process, of evolutionary process. The existence of this all-pervading energy is not felt before realisation but after self-realisation you can feel it on your finger tips or at the centre of your palm or above the fontanel bone area.
Moreover, this process has to be spontaneous, "Sahaja". "Saha" means "with" and "ja" means "born". That means the right to get this union with the all-pervading power of Divine love is the birth right of every human being. Our mental energies are limited. Our limited mental energy, which is linear in movement and has not sustenance of reality, reaches a point and stops. From there it boomerangs and all that mental, linear movement comes back to us as a punishment sometimes. So now we need more energy, higher energy, deeper energy and for that this happening has to take place.
I must say that in the West, I have met many people who are true seekers of Truth and are fed up of artificiality of the Western life. Also they didn't know what they were seeking sometimes and they have made lots of mistakes. They have gone to false gurus who have taken lots of money and the people have become bankrupts and mentally and physically handicapped. The one thing you must note is that the awakening of the Kundalini and thus achieving self-realisation is a living process of evolution for which we cannot pay anything. It is like putting a seed in the Mother Earth. It sprouts because Mother Earth has the power to sprout it and the seed has an in-built germinating quality within it.
In the same way we have this germinating power in the triangular bone which Greeks called as Sacrum. Actually in some people you can see this triangular bone pulsating and the Kundalini very slowly rising, but where there are no obstructions and if the person is a balance being, the Kundalini rises form the Sacrum just like a jet and passes through the fontanel bone area to become one with the all-pervading power. This Kundalini is the spiritual mother of every individual and She knows or has recorded all the past aspirations of Her child. She is anxious to give second birth to Her child and during Her ascent, She nourishes six energy centres. When a person is not connected to the all pervading power, he is like an instrument which is not connected to the mains and has no identity, has no meaning, has no purpose.
As soon as it is connected, all that is built in inside this instrument starts working and manifesting itself. When this Kundalini rises it connects you to the all pervading power, which is vital and which is an ocean of knowledge as well as an ocean of bliss. After the awakening of Kundalini, you experience many coincidences which are miraculous and extremely blissful. Above all Kundalini is the ocean of forgiveness. So what ever mistakes you have committed in the past are forgiven and instead you get your self-realisation as a blessing.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. The consequences of the awakening of the Kundalini and thereby the attainment of self-realisation are numerous. First and foremost, such a person is constantly in contact with or is in fact a part of the all pervading Divine power. He seeks the truth by using his new awareness. And truth is one, all self-realised persons see this same truth. Thus conflicts are avoided. Purely mental activity without self-realisation, leads to conflicting ideas and even wars. All this is avoided after self-realisation.
Now, let us see how many other things happen in a person who gets realisation. Firstly you start feeling the cool breeze of the Holy Ghost on your fingertips, which represent the subtle energy centres. Thus you know the truth on your finger tips. You transcend all the limitations of race, religion and other ideas and you go beyond your mind to see and feel the reality and understand it. The next thing that happens is that you become thoughtlessly aware. We live in the future and the past through our thoughts. They come to us from these two areas of time but we cannot be in the present.
While these thoughts are rising and falling we are jumping on the cusp of these thoughts. But when Kundalini rises She elongates these thoughts and thereby creates some space in-between which is the present, which is the reality. So the past is over and the future doesn't exist. At that time you have no thoughts. You reach a new state as you become thoughtlessly aware about which Jung has written clearly. At this moment whatsoever happens is recorded in your memory well and you enjoy every moment of this in reality. When you become thoughtlessly aware then you become completely peaceful within yourself.
A person who has achieved this peace also emits peace and creates a peaceful atmosphere around himself. This peace is very important. Unless and until we have this peace we will never truly understand whatever our ideas are, whether universal or just limited. You can feel your own seven centres on your fingertips. Also you can feel the centres of others because you develop a new level of awareness which is called as collective consciousness. When such new awareness is established into you, you start feeling also the centres of others.
I must tell you that these centres are responsible for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being and when they are affected or they are in jeopardy, people suffer from one disease or another. As a result of the awakening of the Kundalini and the nourishment of these centres, an important development would be that you will feel an inner balance and you will enjoy good health. Many diseases, even some incurable ones, have been cured by the awakening of the Kundalini. Even the data base of the inherited genes may be restructured after self-realisation through the awakening of the Kundalini. As a result, a person who might have inherited genes indicating criminal tendency might become a good man.
Our attention also becomes very pure. In the light of the spirit we can see things much more clearly than when we were blind. For example, a person who goes with his blind eyes and feels an elephant and then another comes in and a third comes in, all of them have different ideas about the elephant, depending on whichever part of the elephant they have touched. But if they open their eyes then they can all see the same thing, the reality and there will be no quarrel and fights.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi A self-realised person can feel the absolute knowledge on the fingertips. Supposing someone doesn't believe in God. A self-realised person can suggest to the non-believer that he should ask the question: "Is there God?" The questioner will get, you will find, a very nice cool breeze coming into his being. He may not believe in God but there is God.
Unfortunately, so many of those who believe in God are also absurd, hypocritical, cruel, weird and so immoral that people have lost faith in God, But while those who represent God may be wrong, God himself exists and his power also exists which we call as the all-pervading power of Divine love.
This is the power of love and compassion and not of aggression and destruction when it is imbibed in a yogi or in a self-realised person, it works in a very different way like an angel. Such people can cure others and cure themselves. Even mental cases have been cured. Not only that. Even those who have been to wrong gurus in their search of truth have achieved their spiritual stability after leaving false gurus and coming to the path of self-realisation.
In the next stage, you become thoughtlessly aware, when your Kundalini is stabilised and you know undoubtedly that you have achieved your self-realisation, that you have attained all the powers that can be utilised. You become very powerful because you can raise the Kundalini of others. You become very active and you don't feel tired easily. For example, I am seventy three years of age and I am traveling about every third day, but I am quite alright. This energy flows into you and fills you up with vitality. You become extremely dynamic and at the same time extremely compassionate, kind and mild. You feel that you are protected and thus you are confident but not egotistical. Your whole personality changes. This is the kind of global transformation which is taking place with such a speed all over that I, myself, am surprised at how it is working out so fast.
Actually, this knowledge existed a long time back but my contribution, if there is any, is that we can now achieve en-masse realisation. Thousands can achieve mass realisation. It is a gift of this time where it was predicted that such global transformation will take place. In as many as 65 countries, thousands of people have attained their self-realisation through Sahaja Yoga.
The power of Kundalini is the pure desire of attaining your selfhood. If someone doesn't want to have it, you cannot force him because the Divine respects the freedom of that person. If he wants to go to heaven, he can go there, or if he wants to go to hell, he can go to hell. Self-realisation can be attained easily if the people have a sincere and pure desire to get their self-realisation. But if they stick to some of their ideas, which are fixed, the Kundalini won't rise. Also it cannot work for idiots or for immature people. It works for people who are wise, who are more in the centre, and it works very fast.
I was amazed to see that it has worked even on people who were drug addicts , who were alcoholics and who were very immoral. But they all had an intense and pure desire to secure self-improvement, self-realisation. So many of such people achieved their goal of self-realisation. Overnight, they gave up their drugs, their alcoholism . Thus you become very powerful and at the same time you understand that you are now glorified and you start behaving in a very dignified and a very sensible manner.
This is how a new culture is born and this new culture takes you , in a way, into a new style of life where you become innately, I say innately, righteous. Nobody has to tell you: "Don't do this" and "Don't do that". It is all achieved through your enlightened attention. This enlightened attention is also full of power. Wherever you put your attention it works, it creates peace, it creates harmony and also it creates a new dimension of collective consciousness.
So to blame your genes for your mistakes is not going to work out anymore because these genes can be changed in their database and can be brought to the level of a very righteous, angelic personality. The ego and the conditioning of a person gets dissolved by the ascent of the Kundalini and he becomes really a free bird. Absolute freedom is achieved in reality and his behavior changes tremendously with great faith in himself. He becomes a witness of the whole drama of life.
When you are in the water you are afraid of getting drowned, but supposing you get into a boat, you can watch the same waters with enjoyment. But if you learn how to jump in the water and save others then it is even a higher situation and so we have a higher awareness which we call as doubtless awareness. Above all, we fall into the ocean of joy. Joy is absolute. It doesn't have duality. It is not like happiness and unhappiness. It is a singular thing and once you jump into it you learn easily how to enjoy everything, whether it is beautiful or ridiculous. In one case you see the beauty; in the other you see the humour as to how people are ridiculous.
The remarkable thing is that Sahaja Yogis have become great musicians, great writers, great speakers, great administrators. In every way they have rise very high, specially in their attitude toward others. They respect everyone and they know what is wrong with other people so that they can approach them carefully, gently to see that this person who has these problems can be easily evolved and become a self-realised soul. It is like one candle lighting another candle. This work is going on all over the world.
--Address by Dr (Mrs) Nirmala Srivastava to the Inter-regional Round Table Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, September 13, 1995