Are these really all the techniques for awakening kundalini by effort?

Of course life couldn't possible be this simple. There are a wide variety of techniques that serve to awaken kundalini through either uniting prana and apana or uniting rajas and retas. Most of these bear some similarity to those described above.

There are a few radically different methods. Some of these are extremely forceful. Some yogins, take literally the meaning of rajas and retas and seek a literal uniting of these constituents. Others take the slumber of the kundalini very literally and attempt to very forcefully wake her up by dropping on the floor while seated in the lotus position.

At the other extreme, in many other approaches no attempt whatsoever is made to awaken the kundalini directly. In these practices all of the effort is placed on purifying the nerve channels through physical, mental and breathing exercises. In the practice of Kriya yoga as taught by Baba-ji and Lahiri Mahasaya the kundalini is ``magnetized.'' Apparently in this practice energy is circulated around the central channel without forcing it into the central channel. In this way it is expected that the kundalini will be drawn into the central channel.

If we take the psychological perspective and view kundalini as the power latent in our unconscious then it is easy to understand that awakening this force is going to bring a greater amount of unconscious material into our consciousness. Even in the best of circumstances this is likely to be uncomfortable and if an individual is barely coping with his unconscious even under normal circumstances then awakening kundalini may push the individual over into psychosis. This phenomenon has been documented many times.

Forceful methods of awakening kundalini pose additional dangers. As has been mentioned, the breath or prana is strongly interdependent on the mind. If one begins to actively control the breath then the mind will be affected. Many kundalini yogas rely on this connection. Unfortunately, with incorrect practice rather than bringing the mind to a greater state of equanimity the breath control practices can also create even greater imbalances in the mind. Typical signs of this are extreme agitation and anxiety. In the panorama of human suffering there is probably no greater suffering than that of a mentally unbalanced individual and no sadder example of this than someone who has actually brought a state of mental imbalance onto himself through improper practice of kundalini yoga.

As an example an individual named Gopi Krishna awakened his kundalini by doing unguided meditation on his crown cakra. His life after awakening was both blessed by ecstatic bliss and tormented by physical and mental discomfort. Eventually his experience stabilized. He wrote down his experiences in a recently re-released autbiography entitled ``Living with Kundalini.'' Gopi Krishna's autobiography appears to be an honest representation of his experiences but it is only one extreme datapoint in the panorama of experience on kundalini yoga. It represents dangers in forceful unguided practice but it is not representative of a typical practicioner's experience. Some gurus and students of kundalini yoga seem to feel that such warnings regarding kundalini practice are overblown, but there is simply no doubt that improper application of breath control practices can lead to mental imbalance. Breath control practices which typically do not use breath retention are much safer. Kriya yoga practices which do not focus on purifying or ``magnetizing'' the central channel without directly attempting to awaken the kundalini are also much safer. Finally, the role of a fully qualified guru cannot be estimated here. It is not just that the guru has traversed the path but a fully qualified guru of kundalini yoga has the ability to intervene in the mind and body of the student to correct imbalances.

 But even if kundalini is dangerous, isn't it a faster way to enlighenment?

First of all it may be useful to observe that there is no technique currently known on earth that appears to be rapidly catapulting large number of individuals toward enlightenment. Because kundalini yogas deal so directly with a powerful enlightening force it seems natural that they would be ``faster'', but there appears to be alot of tortoise and hare phenomena at work with newbie kundalini yogins. Many people begin kundalini yogas, have strong initial experiences and then become frightened. Many who perservere through this initial phase become distracted by the energy and focus on temporal and phenomenal applications of the energy.

Hatha, laya and kriya yoga all trace their origins back to the era of the Indian Mahasiddhas. This era spanned the 8th and 12th centuries in Northern India, Nepal and Tibet. The key figures in this era included the Mahasiddhas Matsyenranath and his student Gorakshanath as well as Jalandhara and Jalandhara's student Krishnacarya. Gorakshanath and Matsyendranath are venerated as the originators of the Natha lineage. Jalandhara is commemorated in the practice of the Jalandhara mudra but he and his student Krishnacarya are also deeply venerated for their roles in the early years of Tantric Buddhism. In fact each of these great yogins is venerated both in Hindu Tantric and in Buddhist Tantric schools. Of these individuals there are several works attributed to Jalandhara and Krishanacarya in the canon of Indian Buddhist Tantric literature which has survived in Tibetan translation.