Knots or Granthi

Knots or Granthi

Knot by Blondinrikard Froberg
Knot by Blondinrikard Froberg

Granthi is a term from the Vedas that describes contractions in the physiology. These are places where there’s been a trauma, an unwillingness to experience something, or a grasping. They may be stored at the site of the trauma or contraction or may be placed somewhere else. Granthi means knot but these contractions are also called stresses or impurities. They are essentially incomplete experiences yet to be resolved.

Another way of framing them? The seeds of karma or action.

We carry quite a load. I was reading an article by Kavitha Chinnaiyan. She described the 3 primary knots in Tantric philosophy. While we find knots wherever trauma has been stored, these 3 places do seem to be key ones.

From the Lalita Sahasranama (1,000 names of the Divine Mother), they’re named after the deities that create, maintain, and destroy – in this case the I-sense.

Brahma (creator) Granthi: at the Muladhara or root chakra at the base of the spine. This relates to the lower 3 chakras where vasanas for survival, pleasure, power, domination, and ambition are stored. The I-sense is built from stories on these topics. This also relates to the universal desires for purpose (dharma), comfort (artha), and pleasure (kama). (The 4th is moksha, liberation.)

Vishnu (maintainer) Granthi: this is right above the Manipura or 3rd solar plexus chakra at the top of the gut. Attachment and aversion are said to reside here, sustaining the I-sense through life’s challenges. When life events support our desires above, the I-sense grows with stories of success. When our desires are thwarted, the I-sense grows through stories of failure. Victor or victim, both make the self-sense stronger.

Rudra (destroyer, a form of Shiva) Granthi: This one is at the 6th Ajna or third eye chakra, below Makara, just above the middle of the head. Here you get the fog that reduces clarity of the intellect and thus supports ignorance and an inability to see through the stories above. We stay locked in the stories of the ego.

When we work our way through these knots, such as through deep meditation that allows relaxing them, the intensity of entanglement eases and clarity dawns. Then awakening can happen.

The first awakening happens at the “head” as the I-sense is seen through and we shift from identification with a ‘me’ to being the cosmic Self. We break through the fog of the upper knot.

Then there is the descent into the heart in God Consciousness (if the heart is ready for that). And the gut around Unity, though it varies when. I associate Brahman with the root, but that too varies.

It’s worth mentioning the barbecue Loch Kelly described as just before Unity. This directly relates to the Vishnu Granthi and the old resistance. I call this the core identity. I’ve noticed a continued clearing in that area. Nested spaces allow layers and layers of crud to be stashed.

Kundalini Vidya also talks about granthis but frames two of these locations as caps: one on the root chakra, the second above the heart chakra, and the last above Ajna chakra, just below Makara. If the rising shakti meets Makara, it becomes a stable rise and a platform for awakening. (but is not the cause of awakening)

The caps keep the energy down until the aspirant is ready; the first for a kundalini awakening, the second keeps the personal dynamics local, and the last makes the rise permanent.

Clearing the physiology is a multi-layered affair with nested spaces storing much past detritus. What we carry varies widely and how we experience contractions and their resolution also does. This has led to various models and descriptions.

But the essential process is common to all of us. Cleaning house, so we can support a higher clarity and awareness.
Davidya

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40 Comments

  1. herwig

    Regrettably there is a lot of confusion about Kundalini. First of all we should distiguish between kundalini and Kundalini Shakti. Kundalini is the presence of Kundalini Shakti in the body.

    Kundalini awakening is NOT enlightenment. That is correct. It is some kind of kick into the ass. The Divine tells you that it is time to get up. You are still dreaming, but in your dream you may falsely believe that you are already awake and at work. Regardless of this, she will continue to kick you until you wake up.
    It is, however, absolutely correct that the rising to the 6th chakra is the first step to enlightenment. The first clear shift to your true self.

    „And by the time all these six Chakras open up, then the whole passage is clear. And the Kundalini then comes here, resides here and this gives clearer experience of Being, very clear, pure consciousness. And that is called enlightenment .”
    MMY
    https://institutespiritualsciences.org/blog_mmy/mmykundalini.php

    Kavitha mentioned the other day that she has two gurus – a yoga guru and a knowledge guru. That makes sense, especially in Sri Vidya (which is not the same as Kundalini vidiya). PYKC concentrate exclusively on the more technical (yogic) aspect and do not teach a particular path.
    http://www.kundalini-science.ch/en_index.html

    After the kundalini has been established in the 6th chakra, it does not go down, but further up. The misunderstanding lies in the word “rise”. Shakti rising refers to the highest point that Kundalini has so far established. Once she is awake, she goes continuously up and down to transfer to or express in the lower chakras what she so far has achieved in the higher levels. She brings down the intelligence of the more refined level. This corresponds to the alternating of rest and activity in order to refine and stabilize. “Down” here means “out” in the sense of grosser tanmatras, more manifest koshas, but still in the inner world of the jiva.

    This process of refinement and expression becomes more efficient after the shift in ajña. Only when above the 6th chakra, she can access the thousand petaled lotus, and only by opening those brain centers in Sahasrara it becomes possible to complete this head-heart-gut process. So it may fell like going back down, but it is rather like having conquered the capital city giving orders to the lower departments to revolutionize the whole kingdom. (The heart is not “low”, of course, because it is the center of devotion that holds all together)
    The confusion is even increased by the fact that “enlightenment” does not always mean the same.
    Even Maharishi uses the word with different meanings

    “The Kundalini finds its absorption in all these centers, here and here and here and eventually here in the cortex, the thousand petaled rose, a thousand petaled lotus.
    And by the time Kundalini comes here, everything, the whole thing becomes full of light. Full of light means full of awareness. […] And this is what is called the state of enlightenment.”

    This text is from 1968 (Lake Louise). At that time Maharishi had not yet distinguished CC, GC, UC … (in public, in the west)

    Some people distinguish enlightenment and liberation. Liberation is reached in Bindu (watch the last classes in Fractals; Kavitha knows it all)

    There is no male nor female and neither cause nor effect in the One without a second. Shakti is Shiva. Shiva is Shakti.
    Another confusion: in this context “Shakti” refers to Parashakti. Kundalini Shakti is not Shiva’s energy, but a fractal of Parashakti.
    Parameshvari + Parameshvara = Tripura Sundari
    The formless and the form together are Shiva and Shakti.

    Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Shivaratri (6.42 min)
    “Union of Shiva and his own nature“
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-udOIOgic

    1. Hi Herwig
      Yes, I’ve written quite a bit on the topic here. Kundalini means coiled so it’s not really kundalini once it starts to rise. I tend to refer to it as “kundalini Shakti”.
      .
      Its also worth noting that kundalini awakening can happen in a prior life. Then it’s not necessary to do it again.
      .
      It’s actually a point just above the 6th chakra where the rise becomes stable and stops dropping again. That’s called makara.
      .
      However I would not describe this as true Self. It does mean the witness becomes stable so you do now have a sense of Self. However, it’s not yet woken to itself and the ego is still identified. It is not enlightenment until that attachment is liberated.
      .
      For some like myself, the process pauses there while other clearing takes place. The person has an established witness but can be said to be half awake. Which isn’t really awake at all.
      .
      I’d disagree on the descent. It is very much a going back down, but of Shiva & Shakti together (as one) and at a higher octave of the original 7. Anahata becomes Hridaya, for example. This is a process of embodying it not just in consciousness but in all the layers of being.
      .
      There is also a later descent of Divinity.
      .
      I agree on Shakti. Shiva is inert without Shakti. (This is why I capitalize it.)
      .
      I would further note that kundalini is not causal. It is part of the process of the physiology preparing and adapting. But it is grace that causes awakening.

      1. Herwig

        This is a topic that needs discernment. It really makes sense to seriously study Kavitha’s approach. I am talking about the systematology, not the chanting etc. I agree with her that there is more than only one true perspective. But here is no duality at the top level. I think we all agree on that.

        True self. A Question of definition
        Makara? Have you ever heard anyone except Joan Shivarpita use this word (not the mythological animal!)? Even she agrees that the highest Self is found in Bindu. In makara, there is only turya tat. Witnessing is duality. Full enlightenment means Purnamadah Purnamidam. Not a separate self witnessing an outer object.

        I had a discussion with Kavitha on this point in the course. And she was right!! The true Self is neither achieved in witnessing nor in the void. It is above both. And Maharishi says the same in the video I linked, doesn’t he? The highest truth is the union of both wholenesses The phenomenal world is also the Self.

        Non-dual Tantra and Advantage Vedanta both agree on this point. The crucial difference is not about truth, but about paths. Both paths work. Separately or in conjunction.
        Higher octave. Right. Going down yes – but. This going down does not mean giving up what was gained above ajña (or makara). It is not a falling.
        .
        Grace causes awakening. Oh yes!!!! We can only prepare the ground for it to come.

        The difference of the paths lies in the methods and the sequence of steps. The TM-path: Capture the fort. Tiny bits of samadhi right from the start. Again and again. Take it out and everything will come to you. We got it as a freebie. Maharishi was even accused by the traditionalists for casting the pearls before the swine. I am one of those swine. And I am grateful for that. But did we get enlightened in a day or two? No. Everyone has to pay the price of experience according to his karma until he is ready for grace.
        Sri Cakra goes the opposite way. They do the hard work first. I do not think that a distinct Kundalini process is necessary for all. Maharishi chose the purely mental approach because it shows fast tangible results and was more easily applicable and acceptable in a modern hedonistic and secular society.
        I never much liked the way TM was sold as a means to an end. For me it was a yearning.
        That is why you do not understand my point, and I do not understand your “kundalini is not causal”.
        The concept of the unio mystica is what it is: a concept. An attempt to express in words and mythology what is beyond language. Guru Dev once silenced this quarrel of bhaktas and jñanis with the argument that you cannot love God if you don’t know him, and you will never come to know him, if you do not love him. It is impossible to love some abstract idea. Therefore we need some sensual approch, images, myths.
        Shiva is not a male, Shakti not a female. And they are not two different things. The are absolute and relative. Shakti is the creative potentiality within the ONE. Nature. She gives birth to the world. Therefore Mother. But consciousness and creativity are one. The separation was only virtual – self-reflection for the sake of self awareness. What can there be cause or effect when there is only one? In reality there are two awakenings. Creation is also an awakening. Advaitins put more emphasis on dissolution, tantrics more on the creative process of expression. Both belongs together.
        Kundalini is the divine intelligence in the body. In reality the body is consciousness, too. Kundalini Awakening means that the body begins to become aware of itself. “Begins” means it really goes from bottom to top. I had experiences of parts of my body becoming transparent, being “void” long before the shift. In order to experience awakening as our true Self, the awareness must be above the tanmatras. That means in ajña. The way from akasha (hearing) is shorter than from Muladhara. Therefore more cleaning after the shift (of course all according to individual conditions, karma etc). But in the same way as in the mantra transcending, there can be Nirvikalpa and Savikalpa with Kundalini. There Savikalpa is more frequent than with the mantra. The body awareness does not disappear, but witnessing and Self awareness is also there.
        Kundalini awakening is not enlightenment, but an initiation, and like any other initiation, it is also a matter of grace. Whether it is an initiation given by an incorporated teacher or otherwise. It can also be spontaneous. I was given Shaktipat on a journey in Nepal by some Swamis I had never before seen and never after. The just invited me to meditate and it happened in a few minutes. But later I found it had not gone into Sushumna. Strange things happen.

        There is an audio recording of Maharishi’s speech on Kundalini, which is more complete than the transcript and includes Q&A. Bad sound, but interesting. Obviously not a public meeting.
        When did you start TM? I remember that before the introduction of the Siddhi-program we were told not to allow people with strong movements (kriyas), fast breathing etc to long-term retreats. Strong Kundalini symptoms were not wanted. People got shorter meditation times because they could not control the process.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WZ2xb2ZLuA

        It is a really interesting topic.

        1. I agree its a topic that needs discernment. You also have to be careful it’s not the mind running the show. Mind likes to think it has the answers but unless it’s the direct experience, it’s just a concept. And even there, there is always higher perspectives. The Kala model, for example, tells us even the most highly enlightened human is only half way up the scale.
          https://davidya.ca/2014/09/08/the-16-kalas/
          .
          Makara is also the Sanskrit word for Capricorn. This is the direct experience here. I can see it. After makara, the witness became stable.
          .
          You don’t appear to have read what I said on this above. You’re also mushing together different stages. Self Realization is associated with bindu but this is not Purnamadah Purnamidam. That is qualities of the later Unity stage. First we realize the Self within. Then we realize the Self in the world.
          .
          There is a very common idea in modern spiritual circles that there is a single awakening into full enlightenment. This is nonsense. I know many awake people and none have experienced that.
          .
          The Descent I refer to is not a falling. It is an embodying of higher values in the physiology. Adyashanti also talks about it as “head, heart, gut”, for example.
          .
          I disagree Sri Chakra is the opposite. Guru Dev practiced it. Kavitha practices an effortless meditation. There is simply a difference in emphasis. And perhaps some interpretation.
          .
          Actually its very common for TMers to notice very little of a kundalini process until the 3rd eye comes online.
          .
          I don’t know what point you think I don’t understand. But I go by my experience. On causality see:
          https://davidya.ca/2014/06/27/kundalini-is-not-causal/
          .
          I disagree with your argument about ideas. Images and myths are ideas and people love ideas. But you don’t come to God by loving images. You come to God by coming to God and opening up to That.
          .
          Your argument about Shiva and Shakti is circular. Absolute and relative is a dualistic perspective. In Oneness, there is no separate absolute.
          .
          People with movements were not allowed on long courses because they indicated heavy purification. They would not be comfortable with more. These may or may not have been related to kundalini.
          .
          Maharishi spoke very little about kundalini. I don’t think it was part of his training.
          .
          The trick with some of this is the level of functioning. In the world of form, cause and effect are very much the case. We ignore them at our peril. Denying them is also a great excuse for bad behaviour.
          .
          I’m happy to have a discussion here but please refrain from giving lectures.

          1. Bojan

            Hi David
            I actualy like discussion you have with Herwig! It is so interesting to see two different views “in action” and i get some informations too I didn’t have before. I was actualy hoping for some more lol. But your blog, your rules of course.

            All the best,

            Bojan

          2. herwig

            Hi David,
            Thanks for the hint with the kala model.
            Right. There is the key.
            I would never even dream of operationalizing enlightenment mathematically. But of course, all sorts of approach are possible.
            My logic about Shiva and Shakti is circular because all concepts of the divine necessarily are.
            That is the value of the puranas. They show it again and again. The lives of the Avatars and enlightened ones are full of contradictions. You cannot grasp the Holy Spirit like a genie in a bottle. We say that Shiva and Shakti unite in awakening. Yet they have never been separate.
            This is symbolized by the endless knot in Buddhism.
            And so the debate goes on and on and on …..

            😉 😉 😉

            1. Hi Herwig
              (laughs) Yes, when you add paradox we so easily seem to self-contradict. Brahman could be the worst, being everything and nothing both. 🙂
              .
              Mind so much wants the “right answers” and yet it cannot grok what is here. It is a tool for living in the world not so much for spirituality.
              .
              And yes, so much of the description of awakening is discovery of what is already there.
              .
              We seek words for the indescribable to point to what cannot be known until we are it. But without that, so many would not turn within to discover for themselves….

        2. Lynette

          By reading both David and Herwig’s comments. Wow, I feel overwhelmed. I feel like a kid in the children’s pool with only one inch of water. No wonder it takes several births to be enlightened.

            1. Uli

              LIke the Beatles sang… 🙂

              ” It began as a baptism into a river of absolute love. My deep sense of knowing melted into an even deeper awareness, both of being loved and of loving all of life. To be more accurate, I did not feel separate from the beloved, and the beloved was the world. As I plunged deeper and deeper into this infinite ocean of love, the inside of my body began to get heated. The base of my spine felt like an oven that was getting progressively warmer until it burned with red-hot coals. As the inner heat turned into what felt like molten lava, my body began to tremble.

              It may seem strange to you that I had no fear or anxiety about what was happening. I believe this had to do with the fact that I was not in a dualistic relationship with the experience. There was no “I” having “the experience”-there was only unexamined experience. The former boundaries of my self had simultaneously shrunk to an unseen dot and expended to embrace the whole of the universe. As I went further into the depths of love’s unlimited oceanic space, I also went higher into the sky, feeling both the heavens above and the underbelly of Earth below.”

              https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/pagan-and-earth-based/2005/03/rapture-in-missouri.aspx

              1. A well-described experience, Uli, with wisdom about it as well. They recognized it as an experience, had no expectations or chasing more, and have come to understand it better over time.
                .
                A good approach.
                .
                They’re likely to awaken in this life when the time is right. But sometimes some ground work is needed to culture the particular physiology plus some karma needs to be resolved in advance. It varies widely.

  2. Herwig

    Hi again,

    For background information (in case you have not known):
    There was a book, published in 1970 by Gopi Krishna about his nightmare experience with kundalini, which called wide attention in the west and also within the TM-community.
    It made us all very careful abut the subject.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopi_Krishna_(yogi)#Bibliography

    BTW:
    “Maharishi spoke very little about kundalini. I don’t think it was part of his training.”

    I am not a naive believer or adherent. In fact, I am rather a doubting Thomas.
    But Maharishi did not need training about Kundalini. That’s for sure.

    1. Hi Herwig
      Yes, it’s curious. People with smooth uneventful processes don’t tend to write about it. People with really rough experiences do. Collision with the Infinite and Perfect Madness would be 2 others. Unfortunately, this can give the impression that the unfolding is something to fear.
      .
      However, usually it’s the techniques used that cause the trouble, like a focus on opening kundalini without first purifying the physiology.
      .
      Of course, there are exceptions. We come into this life with prior development of consciousness and sattva. That kicks in at some point, perhaps early, perhaps with the adoption of techniques or life events.
      .
      Maharishi was undoubtedly very aware of his own process. I just mean kundalini is considered minor in the Shankaracharya lineage, a side effect of spiritual unfolding. I suspect he stopped talking about it because he didn’t wasn’t to encourage attention there as it can lead to a rougher path. It’s a very popular topic in the west, although not very well informed.

  3. Jim

    Hi David, Yes, pushing the Kundalini is like sex without love. It is possible, but a lot of work and only a very partial success, which is the same as failure in the context of Totality.
    *
    Brahman unites and fulfills all of the states of consciousness. The “core identity” blown out in Unity still has a further purification; the seamless relationship with Divinity. This gives Unity both its purpose and its transcendence. Brahman unites the Cosmic Self with Cosmic activity.
    *
    We no longer engage in good or bad intentions, or habits, simply ongoing and fulfilling Cosmic Dharma, through every thought, action, and Silence. Living Brahman, we are the world and we purify the world.

      1. Jim

        Ah, I wasn’t aware that pushing a Kundalini rising could kill you. Yes, sex absent of love is using something sacred simply for sensual pleasure, much as the focus on Kundalini negates the whole in favor of a personal experience. Each is incomplete.
        *
        It depends on the relationship between the two, if there is one. Intentions tend to be for the greater good, or trans-personal anyway. Habits are personal and more a matter of choice. Both are innocently guided by the mind (intellect + heart).

  4. scott

    Hi David,

    This article will keep my practice inspired. I need that sometimes. 🙂

    In a comment, you mentioned how a kundalini awakening precludes having to go through it again in subsequent lives. Does it have something to do with the ” carry over” of our purified subtler “bodies “…?

    1. Hi Scott
      Yes, you might say that. It’s not completely straightforward though as we also come in with a different batch of karma, some of which may need to be cleared before some things come forward. We’re also influenced by our blood line/ ancestors for this body.
      .
      But broadly, that is a basic principle you can work with that in terms of sattva and consciousness, we pick up where we left off.
      .
      Keep in mind though that “sattva” or purity isn’t about a perfect diet or lifestyle. Those can be helpful but the purity we’re talking about is more subtle than that. It is the clarity that allows consciousness to recognize itself.

    1. Hi Scott
      The process is quite straightforward but if we try to figure it out, it gets crazy complex because we’re not separate individuals. Everything happening is interconnected with everyone else.
      .
      It is helpful to understand a few principles though. That helps us to understand what’s going on and to allow the unfolding.

  5. Null

    Namaste,
    A week ago i have this vision about makara, and then rudra/shiva with 2 other (i cant see them) surrounding a lotus bud.
    This post about granthis make me realize that consciousness is universal. Thank you david.

    Questions
    “The caps keep the energy down until the aspirant is ready; the first for a kundalini awakening, the second keeps the personal dynamics local, and the last makes the rise permanent.”

    And

    “The first awakening happens at the “head” as the I-sense is seen through and we shift from identification with a ‘me’ to being the cosmic Self. We break through the fog of the upper knot.

    Then there is the descent into the heart in God Consciousness (if the heart is ready for that). And the gut around Unity, though it varies when. I associate Brahman with the root, but that too varies.”

    1. Can you explain more about this granthis, which one is first, head or root? Arent they like ladder? Or any consciousness (cc,gc,uc) can have them open ? Or they just get purified each stage?

    Namaste.

    Ps: i like your conversation with herwig too, its interesting!

    1. Right, Null. It’s all universal, appearing as distinctions so the totality of it can be known. Without expressing qualities, there is no experience. 🙂
      .
      I talk about these points in various other articles. The basic idea though is that kundalini wakes up and rises, eventually coming to the crown. (Many don’t notice much of this directly) At that point, Shakti has risen to join Shiva and we wake up.
      .
      Then together, they descend into the physiology. This can be described as head, heart, gut or Self Realization, God Consciousness and Unity.
      .
      Then there is further bits after that.
      .
      Granthis are resistance to the the flow. The main ones are in the main channel, blocking the rise, although as quoted, kundalini traditions also talk about caps. Once the rise has happened, those granthis are mostly cleared. However, our physiology has 10’s of thousands of channels. They get cleared over time with life experience.
      .
      What comes first will vary by where a person has resistance. But generally it would be above the first cap on the root chakra. Typically we’ll have cleared some prior to that opening. And that opening may have already happened in a prior life.
      .
      I don’t think of chakras as like a ladder particularly as its not quite that orderly.
      .
      Don’t confuse open chakras with open channels. The granthis are in the channels. Waking up the chakras is related but not the same. The heart chakra classically has a defensive crust to break, for example.
      .
      Open chakras have a correlation with stages but not a direct relationship. For example, I know people who are awake but have not really cleared anahata (heart) yet. The channels are open but the crust is still in place. Or people in Brahman who have not woken Hridaya (the heart mahamarma) yet – something associated with GC.
      .
      The big variable here is the age we’re in and the collective consciousness. It acts like a significant drag on subtle clarity. But it is massively better than it was in the 70’s.
      .
      Ideally, things unfold in a tidy progression. The heart is purified and wakes into a lovely God Consciousness stage. Then this calls Unity forth when the refined perception comes to recognize consciousness on the surface. And so on. The reality is usually messier. (laughs)

      1. Jim

        “Or people in Brahman who have not woken Hridaya (the heart mahamarma) yet – something associated with GC.”

        Hi David, Thank you for this detail. I always wondered how this was possible, and used to scoff mentally when you would mention it in your writing – lol – Now I get it, though I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. 🙂
        *
        Can we still call it Brahman? I don’t think so. Simply because this version clearly is not Totality, the three worlds [Heaven, Earth, and Hell], and Brahman is Totality lived through the human vehicle. Like you can’t be partially pregnant, you can’t be partially Brahman. There is simply no way of apprehending Divinity using this looser definition.
        *
        Perhaps we can call it the purgatory of Brahman?? Not quite there, but solidly in line? LOL
        *
        OK off my soap box…What are the defining characteristics of this partial Brahman, that differentiate it from UC?

        1. Hi Jim
          It is Brahman, but there is no Refined Brahman or ParaBrahman possible then. I’d say less of an ability for Brahman to know itself too. So yes, a somewhat compromised version.
          .
          It’s akin to Self Realization without any refinement. That can be quite a dry, flat realization. Self has been recognized but the world is seen as separate, even alien. There is no joy in that.
          .
          I wouldn’t call it a purgatory. It’s still an upgrade. Although the person experiencing such may for a time wonder at the value of losing Unity for this.
          .
          In earlier articles, I’ve described Brahman as developing in stages. If there is no refinement, they wouldn’t get past the first stage. They’d be more conscious of what they’ve lost (Unity) than what is here.
          https://davidya.ca/2012/10/06/unity-into-brahman/
          .
          Typically, there is some value of refinement though and some value of the second stage unfolds and they become more conscious of what is now here. They tend to favour the “nothing” approach though. The fullness of totality can’t get unfold.
          .
          At first, I also was surprised to see such examples. But then I saw some having the GC heart opening post-Brahman and other examples.
          .
          There are certainly ideals. But life seems to want to experience every possible variation. So thats what we get. 🙂

          1. Jim

            Hi David, Thanks – I enjoyed the linked article too. Actually while reading all of this, my intellect could not remember the hallmark of brahman as distinct from UC, that of transcending the Self – lol
            *
            “The fullness of Totality can’t get unfolded” – good point, I like the image – we simply experience greater Totality, the development and integration of the Cosmic body.
            *
            Yes, as I said back then, and still do, “Unity sucks”. 🙂 It is my private joke, meaning that as expanded as consciousness becomes in UC, it all gets sucked back to the center of the Self for context. Shudder. lol
            *

            1. (laughs) Reminds me of a little while after waking. I was walking down the street one evening and realized I couldn’t remember what it was like to not be awake. It was like I always had been. And then a tipsy fellow came up the street, ranting to himself. That reminded me. 🙂
              .
              I had the Unity shift on a retreat. My friend and roommate woke up that same weekend. At one point I announced “CC is BS”. This to someone who’d just woken. Happily, he found it funny and teased me about it.
              .
              Every stage is a significant upgrade in perspective that then gradually ripples out through life. What was before – that was then… 🙂

              1. Jim

                Ha Ha! “CC is BS”. Well, we can both agree that Brahman is too, and much more 😉
                *
                Being intensely empathic from as early as I can remember, I have experienced ‘Unity’ in ignorance for a long time – basically like living without distinct bodily or emotional boundaries – a common experience for intuitive empaths.
                *
                Very uncomfortable actually. It was then a process to stabilize it around my strengthening Self – an inside-out sort of thing. It integrated over several years without any noticeable shift, and then I was ushered to Brahman.
                *
                Yes, a significant upgrade, to the point that we eventually lose everything, even the remotest link of an idea of ourselves, and then it trickles back in, in Cosmic form, which must then be reapplied; aligning the earth matrix, the human matrix, to the Cosmos.
                *
                “See the job, do the job, stay out of the misery” 🙂
                *

  6. Null

    “And that opening may have already happened in a prior life.” always forgetting this.

    “Don’t confuse open chakras with open channels. The granthis are in the channels.”
    Right, this is where i starting to confused. Maybe it because of their positions close with the chakras, Clearing the channels, do you mean sushumna,ida pinggala,?

    “Kundalini Vidya also talks about granthis but frames two of these locations as caps: one on the root chakra, the second above the heart chakra, and the last above Ajna chakra, just below Makara. If the rising shakti meets Makara, it becomes a stable rise and a platform for awakening”
    So What is the connection between rudra granthi and makara point? Isnt makara point a chakra?aint this the same with soma chakra? I guess i need to read more about chkras (laugh)

    Granthis and chakras arent they related?

    1. Hi Null
      Sushumna is the main channel connecting the chakras, ida and pingala are secondary lines up the right and left sides (masc & fem) but there are thousands of other ones. Even Sushumna apparently has 3 progressively smaller (than a hair) ones inside it. Everywhere life force flows, there is a nadi carrying it. The tips of your toes and ears have nadis.
      .
      Granthis are a little like cholesterol buildup in blood vessels. That gets sticky at inflammation sites and narrows the flow. Restricted flow increases tamas (inertia) guna.
      .
      I don’t know what the connection is between specific grathis and points. Granthis relate to tendencies and there are typical places where we resist but considerable variation between people.
      .
      We might consider makara a sub-chakra. The experience here is its a vessel for receiving a drop of Divine grace. That turn an inner light in the head on. That keeps the kundalini up. Per Kundalini Vidya, makara is the top of sushumna, right above the 6th chakra. The 3rd cap is below the 3rd chakra.
      .
      The basics are simple but it all gets very complex quickly.
      .
      Chakra means wheel. At one level, they’re experienced as energy vortexes (and rarely a single colour). Each is associated with a kosha (the energy for different levels of functioning) and the elements and senses. That energy flows out and around that body through the various nadis (channels). Granthis are knots, places where the energy isn’t flowing smoothly. Granthis can be near where nadis connect to chakras but they’re like crud in the plumbing. As the chakras are spinning, crud doesn’t build up. However, resistance can arise in the flow of energy from them. And in crusts around them that limit their expression. The latter is like a bright light with a blackout curtain over it. 🙂

    1. There’s not too much to say, Null. There is simply the tendency to build up protective resistance around places like our chakras. Held over time, they become like hard, black crusts or shells.
      .
      When we become conscious of them, we can break them up, allowing, for example, the heart to grow. Just like the Grinch. 🙂

  7. Null

    “Ideally, things unfold in a tidy progression. The heart is purified and wakes into a lovely God Consciousness stage. Then this calls Unity forth when the refined perception comes to recognize consciousness on the surface. And so on. The reality is usually messier. (laughs)”

    I underline “the reality is usually messier”,
    Dont you think that “time” that make all of this messier? I mean someone may have experience in unity first, and then jump to every stages depend on their needs, or someone in brahman experience their brahma or vishnu granthis knots open?
    If this is true,
    Than all of these stages Self Realization/CC, GC,UC, BC and Parabrahman are just the parameter to ultimate SELF REALIZATION to ALL? The reality only the SELF knows? Any thought?
    Sorry for the caps

    1. Hi Null
      We can certainly have experiences all over the map. But these come and go. The core stages in consciousness are consistent: Self Realization (CC), Unity, and Brahman. One can’t unfold without the platform of the prior.
      .
      I discuss that here, and in more detail in the book.
      https://davidya.ca/2014/01/25/stages-of-development-in-consciousness/
      .
      There is also a progression of refinement and evolution of the gunas.
      https://davidya.ca/2014/02/21/the-gunas-in-awakening/
      .
      This ideally accompanies the primary stages, leading to the 7 stages model. Then there is a great deal more fullness and clarity about the process itself.
      .
      However, our Western culture often doesn’t support healthy emotional expression and has a dominant tamas and rajas energy that makes refinement more challenging. (think dominant masculine) In many cases, it takes longer than the stages in consciousness so the refined stages happen later in the cycle.
      .
      But it is very important to develop this side of things or we limit our potential, reduce quality of life, and limit the impact of the enlightenment. In any case, we do what we can and we start where we are.
      .
      I’m contemplating a SAND talk this year on a related topic.
      .
      Most people on a spiritual path don’t think much in terms of granthis or models that label specific ones. They simply live their life and do their practices. Various sorts of purification and openings arise and they may recognize certain milestones. But tracking when someone released this or that knot is trickier unless they can relate to it this way. As a result, I can’t compile data on typically releases – in fact i don’t even relate to it that way myself.
      .
      My experience has simply been that every so often, something big let go. Or more recently, I became conscious of a knot and helped resolve it. I’ve not tried to label it. That’s like classifying the trash as you take it out. 🙂
      .
      Makara is more useful as a point as it can be a significant marker for some people like myself. It was like suddenly, the lights turned on brighter than anything experienced prior. The witness became ongoing thereafter, so here, it was a significant milestone. It’s not for everyone.
      .
      The 7 stages model I use is for humans, updated for how it’s being experienced in the current time. (like refinement being out of sync)
      .
      Ultimately, consciousness does wake up through all life forms everywhere. This fulfills the purpose of our universe and it dissolves. We’re a very, very long way from that though.
      .
      What we have flowering now, behind all the purification in the world, is a dawning higher age. Not a totality but a very nice upgrade. 🙂

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