Dear Kundalini community,

I wish to share with you that a new documentary feature film "KUNDALINI" is now available on DVD. It is an informative/educational film and portrays journeys of real people with their experience and awakening of Kundalini.

Please check following web-link for more details such as Trailer, Cast-Crew, Synopsis and how to buy a copy.

www.7dotsmedia.com/projects

This film has also been accepted into International film festival of Body/Mind&Ecology to be held in UK,2011.

regards

Nitin S. Adsul

Thank you, Nitin. I've corresponded with a number of participants in your film through the years. Good luck with it.

Phil,

I see that all the cast have SELF written after their names. I imagine it's an acronym. Do you have any idea what it stands for?

Pop-pop

SELF is not an acronym, but it refers to the Divine SELF. I'd guess many, not all, of the cast have this after their name because they believe they've reached a state of perfect union with God through enlightenment, owing to kundalini ascension. Their 'ego' has dissolved and their subjective experience is of being totally one with God. That's why some of these guys say things like, "Bob doesn't exist anymore....this person you're calling Bob." Even though their actions and will don't really reflect Godly character at times, they'll insist up and down, that they're gone...

What's disturbing to me is the comment within the first few seconds of that trailer when somebody says smth like "kundalini, or call it the Holy Spirit..." That sort of error in equating the two is rampant, and imo, gravely misleading.

I don't think SELF is an acronym, either, but maybe a mixture of a short way to say "appearing as his/herself" combined with the capitalization to indicate the divine self?

I can't watch the trailer with my dial-up connection, but beside what Shasha spoke of, I don't think the salesman-like tone of the writing is appropriate.

Well, like Shasha said . . .

Yes, obviously there's a different approach/understanding of kundalini in eastern spiritualities and metaphysical disciplines than what we speak of here. I've actually met a number of the people on the video and corresponded with others; several I don't know and have never heard of. Mostly, their approach to k is easternish a la Hinduism, though some like Gene Keiffer and Gopi Krishna encouraged a more scientific approach to the topic and believed it could/should be studied from that angle as well. That's where I connected with them, and I agree with them about that.

Mr. Adsul found my site and dropped an email, requesting permission to post the announcement of his video, which I granted (heck, it's an open forum anyway). He will also be sending one for me to review, and I will post a few remarks here when I've had a chance to do so.

quote:

Originally posted by Shasha:
That sort of error in equating the two is rampant, and imo, gravely misleading.

Well, if we're in a nitpicking mood I notice also the continued equation of individual development with evolution.

If it were really evolution, there would have to be a survival advantage. So far, I don't see mystics producing more offspring than non-mystics.

quote:

Originally posted by Derek:
...Well, if we're in a nitpicking mood ...

That's hilarious, Derek!

About evolution, my guess is they'd say it's a different kind of evolution, that it refers to a spiritual transformation of ourselves into the divine underlying creatures that we already are but don't know it. They might mean by evolution as more akin to what we mean by sanctification. In sanctification, however, Christ, not kundalini, is the 'agent' of transformation. Further, I believe that in k. ascension, there's a transformation of the spiritual self; whereas in Christ's sanctification, there's a transformation of the soul into a New Creation.

I have had a chance to review the video and it's well-done, technically, that is. Very nice graphical work, and it has a good flow, with interesting interviews. It also had a decidedly Easternish focus, as some of you detected, and a few other problems from a Christian p.o.v. Here's the feedback I gave Mr. Nitin via email.

-------

As you may know, I am a recipient of this awakening since 1985, and am also a practicing Christian who has tried to understand the purpose and meaning of K process in my own life and in a larger context. One thing that did bother me about the video was the number of references to the K as the Holy Spirit "or whatever you want to call it," as one speaker put it. I disagree with this; Christianity's idea of the Holy Spirit is much broader than K and the experience of the Spirit much more extensive. There can be situations like my own in which the two interact, but it is precisely because I have experienced both that I am in a position to say they are not the same energies. There are no "bum" Holy Spirit awakenings, but quite a few K processes gone bad. The video also takes a decidedly Eastern/Hinduish approach to explaining this process, and that won't work with most Christian groups, who, after all, still comprise a very large percentage of the Western world. Even the idea of K as "evolutionary energy" is, to me, problematic. That's one interpretation, largely promoted by Gopi Krishna.

My own understanding is that K is an archetypal energy connected to the deep unconscious aspects of our human self, which I do consider to be spiritual, but not divine. K awakening signals a regeneration unto higher consciousness and full embodiment of self, but whether this happens in the context of deepening relationship with God is another matter. Sometimes it clearly does; sometimes not. Gopi Krishna, for example, recognized that K process was implicated in the work of evil geniuses like Hitler, and I would agree. Higher consciousness does not necessarily mean greater love or peace or morality; sometimes people get caught up in the powers awakened by the K, or the creative energies, and sometimes they even fancy themselves to be some kind of incarnation of God. E.g., I notice that the presenters on the video are indicated to be "as Self" in capital letters . . . surely an atmanic reference. All of which is to say, again, there's a world of difference between the Christian understanding of the Holy Spirit and K process. Also, we would never view Jesus as just one among many K-realized geniuses, as your video does.

So, again, thank you for sharing your video with me. I'm sure there is an audience out there that can benefit from it. I'm also sure that it will reinforce all the negative judgments against K process held by most Christians who've actually heard of this process . . . something I've been working in my own ways to try to shed light on for years.

Thank you for the review of the film.

I agree with you in much of your commentary. My goal is also to bridge the body of knowledge between Christianity and the Hindu process of Kundalini. I see the two as one process.

I am Lee in the film.

I disagree with the film describing consciousness as an "evolutionary process." Does an acorn "evolve" into an oak tree? No, it is a natural progression of development. The same is true of consciousness development. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the parable of the tares in the wheat. When he explains it, he says that the "good seeds" are mankind that are put here to grow. We are a part of a natural "soul growth process."

By the way... I am Christian.

OH, hi there, Psiguy / Lee?.

Welcome to Shalom Place. How did you come to find SP?

I'm so sorry we missed your posts above. This thread was 'hidden' by the other one going on.

Anyway, I've not seen the documentary, per se, but I've studied about and had personal experience of k. and higher states of consciousness.

You're gonna have a hard time convincing me, and most of us at SP, that Christianity and kundalini are "one process." There's years of discussion on this board of how they are connected, overlapping in some cases, but fundamentally different. You may benefit from reading what other Christians have shared concerning their conclusions about k.--especially as it is different from the Holy Spirit, both in theory and subjective experience.

At the same time, we're open to listening to your point of view, if you're willing to talk about it, and say why/how you've come to your conclusion.

Differentiation or discrimination is the function of mind.

The cessation of these is something that cannot be grasped by the mind and quite rightly so.

So in the mean time here's a song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwTMmBoah3o


Sing! "You've got to get out to get in"

Phil (and others),

Have you ever considered doing a documentary on kundalini from a Christian perspective?

Or even the broader topic of the importance of differentiating enlightenment vs. Christian mysticism. With all these kundalini and "One Voice" movies floating about misrepresenting Christ, wouldn't it be great to dedicate one to correcting some of these new age errors. I'd like to see a documentary about important distinctions and clearing up the obfuscations across different mystical states. I just can't stand hearing people teach that the HS is the same as kundalini.


I envision it could be a creative combination of interviews with several people who have come to discern across various supernatural/mystical states.

I can see putting together some of those issues in your book Critical Questions in Christian Contemplative Practice and other sources into a very cool documentary. Of course, it would involve a lot of time and money to do it well, but maybe it's time...

Good suggestion, Shasha. Jim Arraj has done a lot of this kind of work on innerexplorations.com through his books and videos. But it's spread out all over the place.

Maybe in retirement . . .