1INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH NEWS • SPRING • 2017

ICR NewsletterVolume 34 Number 2 Spring 2017

The Indian Spiritual Traditionby Michael Bradford

 The following article is an excerpt fromChapter 3 of the book "Consciousness:The New Paradigm", now available onAmazon and Smashwords.

If we accept the possibility that con-sciousness is the primary reality, ratherthan matter, it is at once evident that theIndian spiritual tradition, with its morethan 5,000 years of unbroken study ofmind and consciousness, deserves seriousattention. This is not a simple or easy task,as there have been four major religions—Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Hin-duism—that developed in the last 2,000years. Within Hinduism there have beensix formal philosophical schools, threemajor distinct sects, and numerous mi-nor ones.[1] To complicate this mix evenfurther, many of these traditions influ-enced or mingled with others.

There has been a tremendous diver-sity of views, and these systems havecertainly not been in agreement with eachother on many points. But if we examinethese beliefs in the light of our currentknowledge, many of the ones that arerooted in superstition, or are a conse-quence of a lack of understanding of thephenomenal world, can be discarded.Following is a brief overview of the Indianspiritual tradition and a summation ofsome of these concepts that remain.

The four Vedas are the oldest Indianreligious scriptures known, and possibly

the oldest in the world.[2] They date fromat least 1,500 BCE but, being an oral tra-dition in its original form, it is possiblethat they were transmitted in this fashionfor many centuries before being writtendown. The term Veda means ‘knowl-edge’ or ‘wisdom’, and these texts are con-sidered in India to be ‘shruti’ (heard),meaning that they were revealed fromhigher consciousness. They consist ofmantras, hymns, and benedictions; ritu-als, ceremonies, sacrifices and commen-taries on these practices.

In the latter part of the Vedic period,various texts comprising what is knownas the Vedanta philosophy were written.The term Vedanta is interpreted to mean‘the last part of the Vedas’ or ‘the objector highest purpose of the Vedas’. Theydiscussed the content of the Vedas inphilosophical or spiritual terms, and in-troduced concepts such as Brahman—(the ultimate reality), atman (the tran-scendent Self, prakriti (the phenomenaluniverse), and moksha (liberation fromthe cycle of births and deaths).[3]

The Vedanta consists primarily ofthe 12 Principal Upanishads, theBhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras.These texts are thought to have beenwritten during the eight hundred yearsprior to the start of the Common Era.They are the basis for virtually all theIndian philosophical systems that fol-lowed in all their diverse forms. The

German philosopher ArthurSchopenhauer (1788-1860) referred tothe Upanishads as “the production of thehighest human wisdom”.[4] Like theVedas, the Principal Upanishads werethought to have been transmitted orallyfor centuries.[5]

In the Vedanta philosophy, the ulti-mate reality is called Brahman. It is not aneasy concept to grasp, as it is infinite, andexists beyond time and space. It does nothave any physical attributes by which wecan know it—no size, shape, color, odor,taste, texture, etc. The Sanskrit roots ofthis word, brha and anda mean ‘swelling’or ‘expanding’, and ‘egg’ respectively.Given current scientific theories aboutthe origins of the universe, which suppos-edly began with the ‘Big Bang’ and isexpanding at an accelerating rate, thesemeanings seem remarkably appropriate.

How can we then reconcile the con-cept of Brahman with the obvious factthat we exist in a universe characterized bytime, space, and causality? How can real-ity be both infinite and finite, or pureconsciousness and matter/energy at thesame time? And how does the humanbody/mind/spirit fit into this scheme?These questions have been the focus of allthe various religions and philosophicalschools in India since the Vedas. Some ofthese schools are theistic, some not. Someare monistic, some dualistic. Some arerationalist, some ritualistic. Some are or-

2

thodox Hindu, some, such as Buddhism,heterodox.

There have been six major philo-sophical schools of Hinduism in Indiasince the time of the Vedas. Each schoolhas its own criteria for acquiring trueknowledge and achieving liberation. Fol-lowing is a brief summary of the basicnature of these schools:

Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta positsthat the atman, or true Self—the indwell-ing spark of the Infinite within us is thesame as Brahman, the ultimate reality.[6]

It holds that liberation from the cycle ofbirths and deaths (moksha) is possiblewith the direct realization of this unity.This school of thought has been one ofthe most successful of all the Indianschools, and has had a tremendous influ-ence on Indian thought since its incep-tion.

Another of the six schools that hasbeen highly influential is Samkhya, a San-skrit word that means ‘number’ or ‘enu-meration’. This dualistic philosophy pos-its that there are two aspects to Crea-tion—the infinite consciousness, knownas purusha, and the phenomenal worldor Nature, known as prakriti. These twoare bonded in the jiva (living being).Prakriti (the phenomenal world) is ex-pressed via 24 different levels, calledtattvas. As they proceed or evolve fromthe most subtle (consciousness) to themost gross (physical matter), they gener-ate the various aspects of mind, then thesenses, and end in the five forms of mat-ter (ether, air, fire, water and earth).These last should not be interpreted inthe Western, scientific sense, but ratheras the five different ways that matter isperceived by the senses.[7]

In Samkhya, all aspects of mind andmatter are said to possess a blend of threedifferent qualities called gunas. These aresattvas, rajas, and tamas. The role ofsattvas is to reveal consciousness. That oftamas is to veil or suppress consciousness.The role of rajas is to make active—tomake sattva suppress tamas, or tamas tosuppress sattva.[8] When these threequalities come into balance, it is said, thenbondage is ended and final liberation is

achieved.The classical Yoga of Patanjali, as put

forth in his Yoga Sutras, and in theBhagavad Gita, is similar in many waysto Samkhya, but is different in two re-spects. While Samkhya is non-theistic,Yoga posits the existence of a ‘personal’deity, called Ishvara that can help guideus to liberation.[9] Secondly, whileSamkhya holds that liberation can beachieved solely by jnana, or ultimateknowledge, Yoga espouses a set of 8physical and mental disciplines—Ashtanga Yoga—which are a means ofachieving samadhi, the unification of theindividual spirit with the universal spiritor Brahman.

Vaisheshika is the most ‘scientific’ ofthe six schools, and holds that a completeunderstanding of the various propertiesof matter can lead to liberation. TheNyaya school believes that liberation isattainable by the process of dispelling ofillusion. This is accomplished throughthe acquisition of correct knowledgethrough perception, inference, logic, andreason. The Mimansa school, in contrast,regards orderly action, performance ofdharma (duty), and correct ritual as thetrue path to liberation.

The Indian spiritual tradition canalso be categorized by the various faithsthat have arisen over the last 3,000 years.The major ones include Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism, and Hinduism. Thelast is the largest, and is composed of anumber of sects that may be categorizedby the primary deity or deities that areworshipped. Although Hinduism is of-ten perceived as polytheistic, due to thediverse array of gods and goddesses thatare worshipped, it can generally be saidthat most sects of Hinduism believe in aSupreme Being, but that Being can mani-fest in various forms. The difference istherefore only in the form that the Su-preme Being takes, not in the nature ofthe Supreme itself.

Some of the common beliefs andpractices of the majority of Hindu sectsare all-pervasive Divinity, karma (the lawof cause and effect), reincarnation, dharma(evolutionary life purpose), temple wor-

ship, and the guru-shishya (disciple)method for the transmission and preser-vation of knowledge and wisdom. Al-though the Vedas are regarded as the basicscriptural authority, each sect has its ownset of texts, called agamas, that it holds assacred.

The three largest sects of Hinduismare Shaivism, which holds Shiva as theSupreme deity, Shaktism, which awardsthis position to the goddess Shakti, andVaishnavism, which regards Vishnu asparamount. This latter sect also worshipswhat are called the 10 incarnations ofVishnu, which include Rama andKrishna.

Buddhism, in contrast to Hindu-ism, believes neither in the soul, nor self,and espouses a path of virtuous action(the Noble Eightfold path), which willlead to final liberation from the cycle ofbirths and deaths.

One common theme that runsthrough all these schools of philosophyand faiths, particularly Yoga and Bud-dhism, is recognition of the need to di-rectly experience the heightened states ofawareness which allow us to perceive theInfinite Consciousness behind reality.But despite the tremendous effort thathas been put into all these different ap-proaches, the human intellect continuesto this day to struggle with understandingthe nature of reality in its ultimate form.

The Tantric Tradition

One of the most influential systemsof belief that came into being in the earlycenturies of the Common Era wasTantra. Like Yoga, it was highly experi-ential in nature. Its general methodologywas for the practitioner to focus his or hermind on a chosen deity ( ‘ishta devata’)with more and more intensity, until a to-tal merger of the consciousness of thepractitioner and the deity was achieved.

The term Tantra literally means‘loom’, ‘warp’, or ‘weave’. [10] It impliesthe interweaving of various traditions orteachings into a set of techniques or prac-tices for achieving spiritual realization.The term is applied to so many different

3INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH NEWS • SPRING • 2017

types of spiritual practice that it is diffi-cult to define it more clearly. Perhapsone of the best definitions has been givenby Teun Goudriaan in his book HinduTantric and Shaktic Literature as a “sys-tematic quest for salvation or spiritualexcellence” by realizing and fostering thedivine within one’s own body, one thatis simultaneous union of the masculine-feminine and spirit-matter, and has theultimate goal of realizing the “primalblissful state of non-duality”.[11] As an-other account explains the Tantric ap-proach:

The deities are internalized as at-tributes of Ishta devata meditations,with practitioners visualizing them-selves as the deity or experiencing thedarshan (vision) of the deity. Duringmeditation the initiate identifies withany of the Hindu gods and god-desses, visualising and internalizingthem in a process similar to sexualcourtship and consummation.[12]

The Tantrika practitioner may usevisualizations of deities, identifyingwith a deity to the degree that the as-pirant “becomes” the Ishta-deva (ormeditational deity). [13]

Tantric sects developed within anumber of other traditions, such as theVajrayana school of Buddhism, theKaula school of Shaivism, theMantramarga school of Shaktism, andthe Pancharatra school of Vaishnavism.It also influenced Jainism andSikhism.[14] The practice of Hatha Yoga,which later became very popular in theWest, had the Tantric Siddha cult asone of its main origins. [15] [16]

Over the centuries, a very large vol-ume of Tantric literature, referred to asagamas or samhitas, was written. Tantricinfluences also extended to art, icons,and temple building.[17] Tantric prac-tices included rituals, worship and visu-alization of various deities, mantras,mandalas (sacred diagrams), guru-stu-dent teaching, and initiation.[18]

As Tantra developed, two differentapproaches emerged, called the left-handand right-hand paths. The right-hand

path espoused adherence to ethical codesand social conventions, while the left-hand path had no compunctions againstbreaking of taboos and the use of prac-tices, which can be viewed as amoral.These include ritual practices involvingsex, prohibited foods such as meat, or theuse of corpses for mental discipline. As aconsequence of the unorthodox nature ofsome of the left-hand Tantric practices,Yoga philosophy was divorced from itsTantric roots when it was brought to theWest in the late 19th century.

published in 1919. His writings had amajor influence on the Western under-standing of Indian philosophy in general,and the Tantric tradition in particular.

Woodroffe presented Tantra as anethical system that was in accord with theVedas and the Vedanta philosophies. Heshowed how the core teachings of Tantrawere closely integrated with other spiri-tual traditioms, such as Advaita Vedanta,Samkhya and Yoga, and described Tantricpractices as one of the most effective meansof achieving liberation or enlightenment.But the greatest contribution Woodroffemade to the understanding of the Indianspiritual tradition was to reveal one of thecore teachings of Tantra—that enlighten-ment was achieved by the activation of aphysiological mechanism in the humanbody known in India as Kundalini-Shakti.

In his book The Serpent Power: TheSecrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga, hedescribes how Kundalini-Shakti was tra-ditionally understood as being a Goddessor spiritual Power in the body that couldtransform the consciousness of the indi-vidual so that it could perceive the Uni-versal Consciousness or paramatman. Hereferred to it as the ‘Serpent Power’, andtranslated two 16th century Tantric textsthat described the process by whichKundalini-Shakti could be activated.

Woodroffe explained Kundalini-Shakti in more modern terms as the physi-ological mechanism in the human bodythat can be stimulated to change the per-ceptive faculties in the brain in order toachieve enlightenment. But he also madeit clear that this mechanism could not beexplained strictly in terms of modernWestern physiology and anatomy. It couldonly be fully understood by taking intoaccount its role as an aspect of the cosmiccreative Power or Shakti.

Following is a brief summation ofsome of the principle concepts from theIndian spiritual tradition, expressed inthe light of Woodroffe’s ideas and GopiKrishna’s theories. These ideas are thebasis for a new paradigm of reality thatsupports the concept of a mechanism inthe body that is responsible for the nextstep in human evolution.

Sir John Woodroffe

A clearer picture of the Tantric sys-tem was presented to the Western worldby Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936),who wrote under the pen name ArthurAvalon. [19] He was a judge and legalscholar in British India, and becamedeeply immersed in the Indian spiritualtraditions, particularly the Tantric phi-losophy. He was a Sanskrit scholar of thehighest caliber, but interpreted many ofthe ancient concepts in a more modern,scientific way.

He translated at least 20 originalTantric texts into English, and publishedseveral works of his own, the most wellknown being The Serpent Power: TheSecrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga, first

4

Brahman

As presented in the Upanishads, theultimate reality is called Brahman. As de-scribed in the section above, it has nophysical attributes, and is beyond timeand space. Given that our intellect isrooted in time, space, and causality, it isalmost impossible for us to conceive ofsomething of this nature. It is generallyheld in the Indian spiritual tradition thatit is only in the state of enlightenment orcosmic consciousness that we can haveeven a limited glimpse of this ultimateform of reality.

Our minds tend to think in dualisticterms. In some cases, such as subatomicparticles, which have positive and nega-tive charges, or many types of life thathave female and male forms, the reality isalso dualistic. But our minds seem to bemore comfortable understanding manyphenomena in dualistic or relative, ratherthan absolute terms. We may refer tosomething as hot or cold, high or low,slow or fast, good or evil, all of which arerelative terms.

In order to make a concept such asBrahman more comprehensible, dualis-tic philosophies such as the Samkhyasystem present reality as having a dualnature– purusha or the infinite, eternalconsciousness, and prakriti or the phe-nomenal world.

Woodroffe presents reality as havinga static and dynamic aspect. The static orsubjective aspect is pure consciousness—infinite, omniscient, unchanging, form-less, beyond time and space. This aspectis personified as the male deity Shiva. Thedynamic or objective aspect is infiniteomnipotent, omnipresent, creative power,having form and changing in time andspace. This aspect is personified as thefemale deity Shakti.

As he writes in The Serpent Power:2

“The ultimate or irreducible reality is‘Spirit’ in the sense of Pure Con-sciousness (Cit, Samvit) from out ofwhich, as and by its Power (Shakti)Mind and Matter proceed. Spirit isone. There are no degrees or differ-ences in Spirit. The Spirit which is in

man is the one Spirit which is in eve-rything. . . Spirit is infinite(Aparicchinna) and formless (Arupa).Mind and Matter are finite(Paricchinna) and with form (Rupa).Atma [Spirit] is unchanged and inac-tive. Its Power (Shakti) is active andchanges in the form of Mind andMatter.” [20]

In this quote, the ‘spirit’ thatWoodroffe is referring to is the atman orindwelling spark of the infinite within us.At another place, Woodroffe refers toShiva and Shakti as Power Holder andPower. In essence they are one, as a PowerHolder is impotent without Power, andPower cannot be creative without aPower Holder.[21]

The way in which Shakti brings thephenomenal creation into existence hasbeen the subject of great debate in Indiafor millennia. As noted above, theSamkhya system defines 24 stages (tattvas)of this process, proceeding from pureconsciousness and ending in physicalmatter. The Tantric systems have a largerset of 36 tattvas, with even finer distinc-tions. In order to simplify this scheme,and to update it with a more modernunderstanding of life, the following set of4 groupings or ‘aspects’ of Shakti will bedefined. The first two aspects–Maya Shaktiand Prakriti Shakti–are clearly describedby Woodroffe in The Serpent Power.

Maya-Shakti

The first of these aspects, whichmust come into operation before any ofthe others, is Maya-Shakti. Since Shiva isInfinite Consciousness, it cannot exist inan embodied form in time and space.Maya-Shakti is a three-stage process. Inthe first, it takes a spark of this InfiniteConsciousness and contracts it to a point,so that it is no longer infinite. At the sametime it creates a sense of separation fromthe whole, which allows this spark to havefinite, embodied experience as our lim-ited human consciousness. In the laststep, it projects the phenomenal world,including mind and matter, from thatpoint.

In The Serpent Power, Woodroffedescribes this process as follows:

The particular power whereby thedualistic world is brought into beingis Maya-Shakti, which is both a veil-ing (Avarana) and projecting(Vikshepa) Shakti. Consciousnessveils itself to itself, and projects fromthe store of its previous experiences(Samskara) the notion of a world inwhich it suffers and enjoys . . . Mayais that power by which things are“measured”—that is, formed andmade known (Miyate anaya iti maya).It is the sense of difference (Bheda-buddhi), or that which makes mansee the world, and all things and per-sons therein, as different from him-self, when in essence he and they arethe one Self. It is that which estab-lishes a dichotomy in what wouldotherwise be a unitary experience, andis the cause of the dualism inherent inall phenomenal experience. Shakti asaction veils consciousness by negatingin various degrees Herself as Con-sciousness.[22]

This process of projection of thephenomenal world from a point of con-sciousness has been described most clearlyby Gopi Krishna. In his autobiographyKundalini: The Evolutionary Energy inMan, he recounts an experience he had inJammu, the winter capital of the Jammuand Kashmir state of India in the late1940s:

The marvelous aspect of the condi-tion lay in the sudden realization that,although linked to the body and sur-roundings, I had expanded in an in-describable manner into a titanic per-sonality, conscious from within of animmediate and direct contact with anintensely conscious universe, a won-derful inexpressible immanence allaround me. My body, the chair I wassitting on, the table in front of me,the room enclosed by walls, the lawnoutside and the space beyond, in-cluding the earth and sky, appearedto be most amazingly mere phantoms

5INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH NEWS • SPRING • 2017

in this real, interpenetrating and all-pervasive ocean of existence which, toexplain the most incredible part of itas best I can, seemed to be simulta-neously unbounded, stretching outimmeasurably in all directions, andyet no bigger than an infinitely smallpoint.

From this marvelous point the entireexistence, of which my body and itssurroundings were a part, poured outlike radiation, as if a reflection as vastas my conception of the cosmos werethrown out upon infinity by a projec-tor no bigger than a pinpoint, theentire intensely active and giganticworld picture dependent on thebeams issuing from it. The shorelessocean of consciousness in which Iwas now immersed appeared infi-nitely large and infinitely small at thesame time—large when considered inrelation to the world picture floatingin it, and small when considered in it-self, measureless, without form orsize, nothing and yet everything.[23]

In Sanskrit, the ‘point’ referred to inthe above account is called bindu, and issymbolically represented by the dot ofsandalwood paste sometimes worn byHindus on the forehead, between theeyebrows. In The Serpent Power,Woodroffe explains the nature of binduwith respect to the objective and subjec-tive or normal and expanded states ofconsciousness:

. . . it denotes that state of active Con-sciousness or Shakti in which the ‘I’or illuminating aspect of Conscious-ness identifies itself with the total‘This’. It subjectifies the ‘This,’thereby becoming a point (Bindu) ofconsciousness with it. When Con-sciousness apprehends an object asdifferent from Itself, It sees that ob-ject as extended in space. But whenthe object is completely subjectified,it is experienced as an unextendedpoint. This is the universe-experienceof the Lord-experiencer as Bindu.[24]

According to science, the universe

came into being about 13.77 billionyears ago as a result of the ‘Big Bang’.Seemingly, from out of nothingness, theuniverse, space, and time all came sud-denly into being. Since then, the universehas continued to expand, driven by darkenergy, until it is now, according toNASA’s most recent estimates, about 93billion light years in diameter. [25]

Regarding the fate of the universe,Dr. Gary Hinshaw, an astrophysicist atNASA remarked, “One common mis-conception about the Big Bang is that wecan identify a point in space where the BigBang occurred. But in fact it would bemore appropriate to think of the Big Bangas the simultaneous creation everywhereof space, which is then continuing toexpand to the present day.” From everypoint in it the universe seems to be ex-panding outward in all directions.

In his experience of expanded con-sciousness related above, Gopi Krishnawrote, it was “as if a reflection as vast as myconception of the cosmos were thrownout upon infinity by a projector no biggerthan a pinpoint.” In this account, and inthe ‘Big Bang’, each individual or point inspace can be considered to be the ‘center’of the universe, from which the cosmosseems to expand outward in all direc-tions.

The relationship of the individualconsciousness to the Universal might bedescribed as follows: In the same way thata drop of water from an ocean is of exactlythe same chemical constitution as theocean, but is not the ocean, our limitedhuman consciousness is of the same es-sence as the Infinite Consciousness, but isonly a tiny drop of that Infinite Con-sciousness that has been made to perceiveitself as finite.

The term maya is often used in thesense of a veil that makes an illusory worldseem real to the observer. It is, rather, thepower of Shakti wrapped around thespark of consciousness in us that makes itperceive itself as separate from the oceanof Infinite Consciousness. As an ancient,well-known Sanskrit mantra states in thisregard, referring to the term poorna, whichmeans wholeness or completeness:

That is Completeness. This is Complete-ness.

From That Completeness, This Com-pleteness arose.

Having removed This Completenessfrom That Completeness,

Completeness only remains.

The last or ‘projecting’ function ofMaya-Shakti is expanded and elaboratedin more detail in the next step of theprocess—Prakriti Shakti.

Part 2 of this article will appear inthe next edition of this newsletter

The New Paradigmby Michael Bradford

Is the ‘Big Bang’ the real genesisof the universe? What is theorigin of life, and how can itsamazing properties be ex-plained? Why has evolution pro-ceeded over time from simple tomore complex forms of life, andwhat direction will it take in thefuture? Is what we perceive withour senses really ‘real’. Why is itthat the physical universe canbe described so well by math-ematics, which is a construct ofour mind? And what role doesconsciousness play in all thesequestions?

This book examines the waythat the paradigm of reality hasevolved in the past, first throughfaith, and then through science.Based on these trends, and onthe latest discoveries in cosmol-ogy, microbiology, quantum bi-ology, mathematics, and con-sciousness research, the out-line of a new paradigm of realitybased on consciousness is pre-sented. Not only does this newparadigm help to answer manyof the most profound questionsfacing us today, but presents aclear direction for the resolutionof the conflicts within faith, andbetween faith and science.

6

Kundalini: The Process, The Gifts

ICR�s 32nd ANNUAL CONFERENCE and RETREAT

For this years’ 32nd Annual ICR Con-ference and Retreat we are all very excitedabout the wonderful response from pre-senters in Canada and the U.S.A. Theywill be coming from near and far to sharetheir well researched points of view andtheir personal experiences of Kundalini.Through this sharing process it is our sin-cere intention to welcome our spirituallife as the “TRUE GIFT”. By sharingspiritual stories and with the culminationof true understanding, we can learn howto positively co-create our life with theSource. Through this we will come toknow that Kundalini is the blessing thatunfolds in our “Self-Realization”.This year our program includes:

Kundalini Process: Beyond Its PossibleBenefits and Limits Beyond the possi-ble benefits and pitfalls of Kundaliniprocess lies its true purpose – Enlighten-ment. Kundalini Shakti is the indwellingHoly Spirit, the Divine within whoguides us to the Goal. When we cooper-ate with her She draws us not only tobecome more evolved versions of our-selves, but to attain spiritual authenticityand ultimately Liberation – becomingone with the One. When we avoid get-ting caught up in either the troubles orthe glories of Kundalini process, we dis-cover that Kundalini Shakti can indeedyield beautiful spiritual gifts –intelli-gence, creativity, insight, inspiration, andRevelation – in every field of humanendeavor. These precious gifts inspire usto display our finest qualities as humanbeings. They form the very scaffold ofculture, forge the generative trajectory ofevolution, and generate the ideas and val-ues that guide us to Liberation. But wemust remember that Kundalini Shakti isnot only the gift giver, she is, in fact, thesaint maker. Joan’s talk will deal withthese ideas in depth. Her Sunday work-

shop will be an exploration and opendiscussion of how the ancient science ofKundalini Vidya describes the differentcategories of gifts and what their variouscatalysts might be. Bri. Joan ShivarpitaHarrigan, PhD Shiva has practiced,studied, and taught Raja yoga andAdvaita Vedanta for over thirty years. In1987, she was initiated as abrahmacharini in the Shankaracharyatradition. She was personally tutored inTraditional Kundalini Science by SwamiChandrasekharanand Saraswati, whochose her to represent the linage ofKundalini Vidya and provide services inNorth America and the United King-dom. Director of PKYC-USA, she is theauthor of Kundalini Vidya: The Scienceof Spiritual Transformation (2006) andStories of Spiritual Transformation: TheFulfillment of Kundalini Process (2017).For twenty years, she has sponsoredSwamiji’s work in America as his disci-ple and authorized representative.

The Phenomenon of Philosophical Sys-tems Following Kundalini Arousal Aspart of the experience of post-kundaliniawakening, there are many examples ofthe appearance in the mental state of thesubjects of the expression of internal clas-sification systems. These classificationsystems can be found for example amongthe writings of PD Ouspensky, the In-dian saint Sankara, and others. These sys-tems can outlast empires and become apart of human culture. Sinclair examinessome of these systems in light of his ownnirvikalpa experience. He offers somepossible explanations for where these sys-tems come from and why they persist inhuman culture. Finally he provides hisown synthesis. Sinclair’s theory of theintegration of natural law, biology, andhuman institutions is outlined. Thewhole becomes a structure for all knowl-

edge. He went through the nirvikalpaexperience 44 years ago and has devel-oped his theory during the subsequenttime. Neil Bethell Sinclair is a Poet,Businessman, and Humanitarian livingin Sedona Arizona. He is currently the co-owner of Bell Rock Gallery with his wifeCathy, a painter. He is also Chairman ofCyberTran International, a mass transittechnology company, and is President ofSave Our Ancient Red Rocks (SOAR),a nonprofit focused on the preservationof our natural environment. He is theauthor of The Spirit Flies Free, a collec-tion of poems. He has been in the postkundalini activation state for 44 years andhas written about it on his blog, Life IsMedicine. He has been featured in thebooks The Biology of Consciousness,and The Science of Yoga.

Gifts of Kundalini in a Filmmaker’sLife Have you noticed references of ‘LifeForce Energy’ in Hollywood blockbustermovies like ‘Avatar’, ‘Star Wars’, andmany more? Do you feel that theseaward-winning filmmakers and actorshave a deep understanding of spiritual-ity? Most of them have gone through atroubled/challenging life before comingto the lime light. Are they Kundalini ac-tive? Consciously or unconsciously?During this speech, Nitin will providereal events in his life as he transitionedfrom a nine to five computer job to afilmmaker. How Kundalini re-shaped hislife choices, and how his personality wasinfluenced to find the real meaning andto live it literally. The real gift fromKundalini, was the realization that hisown life is itself a movie in which he is thecentral character. The real question forhim is – Am I playing the Hero’s char-acter truthfully and honestly as it hasbeen written for? Nitin S Adsul is anaward-winning filmmaker, personal life

7INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH NEWS • SPRING • 2017

coach, kundalini and meditation guide.In 2016 Nitin cofounded Life ForceAcademy (LFA) along with TimothyGasser from the U.K. LFA’s mission isto provide a mainstream platform tobring enlightened education to themasses.

Tai Chi with Gwendolin “Gwen”Goodwin. Gwen’s spiritual journeydidn’t consciously start until relativelylate in her life. Strong events pushed herunto the path she is on now and prob-ably will be for the rest of her life. Dur-ing those difficult times the practice ofTai Chi was one of the ways she keptgrounded and healthy. For about 40years now this ancient art is still part ofGwen’s life and a joy to do indoors oroutside in Nature.

The Life and Thought of David R.Hawkins Persons who are experiencingthe process and the gifts of kundalini notonly stand poised to serve humankind,but can teach us that the kundalini hy-pothesis is worthy of diligent examina-tion. Contemporary mystics are particu-larly relevant in that what they experienceand relate about their world, is not ob-scured in ancient language nor culturalmysteries. Dr. David R. Hawkins MD,PhD 1927 -2012 was, and is such amodern day mystic. Dr Hawkins aban-doned his prosperity and practice nearthe age of 40 to pay more time and at-tention to what was happening in hisconsciousness. He believed that heneeded to refine himself to prepare toteach what he was experiencing andlearning. His inner changes demandedthat he change his lifestyle, and to lookafter himself. Patrick Hayne attendedthe NEW CHURCH; a protestant de-nomination based on the thought ofEmmanuel Swedenborg as a youth andthrough his teen years. He left that be-hind for the study of Biology in the1970’s. After his studies he learned ofkundalini and higher consciousness inthe books of Gopi Krishna and RichardBucke. This was the start of a personalconversion. The science of life as ex-

pressed by Darwin seemed shallow, andheld few answers, but the thought ofGopi Krishna, Bucke and Swedenborgharmonized, and their chorus was theevolution of consciousness. That hope-ful destiny for humankind has been apart of Patrick’s paradigm for over 40years.

Yoga with Helga Schroeder People tendto think that in order to practice yoga ,they need to look like a model in a yogajournal. Well few of us ever will - in-stead Helga would like to offer you adifferent approach. A meditation de-signed to give you the maximum gain inself-awareness and to help you get toknow yourself at a very deep level. Forthis reason, it may not seem as physicallydemanding as some other types of yogaand meditation. The focus is largely onwhat is happening moment to momentin your total experience - awareness froma mind -body perspective. For the past30 years, Helga, owner of Beyond Lim-its yoga studio, has been studying andpracticing various different traditions ofyoga and meditation. Her time spent inIndia helped to anchor her love for thespiritual quest. She guides accessible andgentle yoga, using a self-empowering,mindful approach. Her intention is tocreate a supportive environment thatinspires students to deepen their ownpractice. Uniquely expressive andlighthearted, Helga brings clarity, wis-dom and humour to her workshops;offered both here and abroad. Her train-ing in various health modalities is re-flected in her teachings

The Secret Science of EnlightenmentHidden in the ancient texts of antiquity,lies a secret system of awakening, givenonly to initiates who were ready for it.From the Jewish tradition of Kabbalah,to the Hindu system of yoga, to the Tao-ist ‘backward-flowing method’, thisknowledge has taken many forms overthe centuries, yet only now is the publicbeginning to understand the profundityof these sacred practices. In this presen-tation, Myles will take the audience on

a journey around the world, examiningthe great mystics of past and presentwhile revealing both their experiences ofenlightenment, along with their teach-ings on how to achieve it. From Ameri-ca’s Edgar Cayce and Paul Solomon, toDenmark’s Martinus, to Thailand’sMantak Chia, to India’s ParamahansaYogananda and Gopi Krishna, we willsee firsthand that ‘truth is one’; that thesemasters are validating the kundalini ex-perience by using very similar languageand symbols. This presentation will dis-cuss, in-depth, both the process ofkundalini, along with the psychic andpractical gifts it bestows on those whoattain it. Myles Tufts has been research-ing metaphysical and occult knowledgefor over ten years. He has apprenticedunder Douglas Cottrell, ‘Canada’sEdgar Cayce’, spent time at various spir-itual/intentional communities, and lec-tured in both the US and Canada. Heholds a BA in Psychology, and was re-cently ordained as an interfaith ministerat the Fellowship of the Inner Light, inVirginia Beach.

Kundalini and the Gift of Loving Con-sciousness How do we know when weare truly engaging our heart in all that wedo, feel and think? Highly intelligentbeings have often led themselves or oth-ers into destructive directions, while oth-ers are considered saints and belovedleaders. With the kundalini awakening afilm of division is broken and for thosewho have opened to energy, informationcomes pouring in, in diverse ways. Butwithout being tempered with compas-sion and a desire to bring change for thebetter, the mind becomes a mere vesselof more information about the cosmos.An essential purpose of the Cosmic evo-lutionary energy is to cultivate heart con-sciousness - to renew what was originallythere – a distinct relationship betweenour hearts and minds. In this presenta-tion, Grettal will share how she discov-ered the head-heart connection as an in-tegral part of spiritual and kundalini en-ergies in her research with Body Map-ping and channeled guidance. As a Ho-

8

INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH

c/o Pond, 165 Valley Crescent RR #4, Markdale, ON, Canada, N0C 1H0e-mail: icr@icrcanada.org Internet: http://www.icrcanada.org

Phone: (519)-986-1857 (before 9:30p.m.)Charitable Registration # 87680 0673 RR0001

For more informationor to register online go to

www.icrcanada.org/store andclick on Events Registration

or mail payment to:ICR c/o Pond,

165 Valley Cres.- RR4 ,Markdale, ON N0C 1H0.

listic Health Practitioner, she found theuse of Heart Consciousness a beautifulstabilizer or anchor in many of her clientswho were experiencing debilitatingphysical and emotional effects of work-ing with energy. Grettal has also usedHeart Consciousness as a way of reduc-ing symptoms in auto-immune diseases.She found that we can actually sharepeace and heart consciousness with ourcells to stop our immune cells from at-tacking our own tissues. GrettalFryszberg has her own practice at theActivating Health Centre in RichmondHill. She created her own form of visualand energetic techniques through BodyMapping in which she channeled theprocess of integrating Universal Energyalong spinal points and meridians. Shehas helped many people get rid of chronicpain and debilitating illnesses throughher hands-on process she calls the PHDof Healing: Presence, Harmony and Di-rection. Grettal began her career as aHolistic Health Professional after many

years as a teacher in elementary and sec-ondary schools. She has also studiedCraniosacral Therapy with TheUpledger Institute and is a CertifiedHomeopathic Practitioner. Her time isdivided between helping her clients re-gain their health, teaching her Body MapJourney workshops to groups, andmentoring healers in her system called,Spine To The Divine.www.spinetothedivine.com

Arousing the Serpent Power ThroughYogic Practices This presentation will beabout Julian’s personal investigations andexperiences with Kundalini through thepractice of yoga. He will share some of thepractices and techniques he has used as anovice/beginner to activate, bring aware-ness to, and now begin to manipulate andmove the subtle energy of Kundalini, orPrana Shakti. He will also share somespecific phenomena that he has experi-enced thus far, and make connections toother texts and authors to consolidate

everything. The process is born of spiri-tual intent, and its gifts support andpropel the journey of self-discovery andconnection to the deep reality. Aroundthe age of 19 Julian Lobo developed aninterest in philosophy, spirituality, andbegan cultivating self-awareness. It wasn’tuntil ten years later in 2010 that hediscovered the brilliance and potential ofyoga, which he has been practicing withdedication ever since. By day he workswith children as a school teacher in hishometown of Toronto, Ontario.

Shared KnowledgeVolunteer Appreciation

Someone once said that “Volunteers” make the world goround. That sums it up. Without people excited by acause, what happens? Not much. At this year’s TorontoYoga Show where ICR had a booth, we had a great groupof dedicated and heartfelt volunteers who spent hours chat-ting with people. Many came to this show to learn moreabout Yoga and it was our aim to introduce more in depththe concept of the transformational experience of Kundaliniand how it is the evolutionary process within. The feed-back from the volunteers was great and we were so excitedthat they all enjoyed the experience of sharing this knowl-edge. The response was “I would really like to help outagain next year”. So, here’s to all those who gave of theirtime to promote a knowledge whose time is here. Hopemore of you will join us next Spring, for this event.

For those who are seeking to understand in more depth, thedivine, transformational experience within, Bri. Joan ShivarpitaHarrigan, Ph.D. has just presented us with a body of knowl-edge to help us do just that. “Stories of Spiritual Transforma-tion: The Fulfillment of Kundalini Process, Modern Seekers,Ancient Teachings” is a beautiful heartfelt compilation of in-dividual, personal life stories of seekers, drawn to the retreatsoffered by Patanjali Kundalini Yoga Centre. Their seeking wasan effort to further not only their knowledge about the intri-cacies of this process but with the hope of finding advancementin it as well. These personal stories of transformation have a wayof drawing us into a sacred space, that will surely inspire us tothat deeper sense of understanding about the divine essence inus all. Thanks to those who felt moved to share their storieswith us in such a personal and complete way. To order thisbook, go to Amazon.com.