Analysis of Spiritual Awakening in a Kundalini Tradition: Psychological Change and Spiritual Growth

• Published in: The Journal of transpersonal psychology Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 56 - 81
• Main Authors: Edwards, Lawrence, Woollacott, Marjorie H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stanford Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 01-01-2022
• Subjects: Consciousness; Meditation; Psychologists; Spirituality; Traditions; Yoga
• ISSN: 0022-524X

The experience of transformation following a kundalini awakening among practitioners of a single Indian spiritual tradition was examined through the eyes of its adherents: householders, ashram residents and monks. Because each spiritual tradition has a unique culture, an ethnographic method of study was employed for analysis. Since it is critical to understand the concept of kundalini awakening, which is not widely disseminated in western culture, the yogic context for this concept is discussed. According to nondual Tantric philosophy (see Tantraloka [Light on the Tantra] and the Pratyabhijnahrdayam [Doctrine of Recognition]) (Muller-Ortega, 1997; Singh, 2015; Wallis, 2013, 2017), the source of creation, infinite Consciousness, during the process of creation masks its boundless nature, as it becomes the limited individual conscious self in all creatures. Woodroffe (1978) indicates the critical importance of having such a guru, who has successfully completed the transformative process of kundalini awakening and, by virtue of that attainment, has become one with kundalini, one with infinite Consciousness and freed from the confines of the ordinary mind. [...]a guru is empowered to pass on that awakened energy of transformation, to a disciple, thereby catalyzing the same process of extraordinary transformation in the disciple.