Swami
Muktananda, in his book
Play of Consciousness, describes in great detail his experience of receiving shaktipata initiation from his guru
Bhagawan Nityananda and his spiritual development that unfolded after this event.
Paul Zweig has written of his experience of receiving
shaktipata from
Muktananda. In the same book
Itzhak Bentov describes his laboratory measurements of kundalini-awakening through
shaktipata, a study held in high regard by the late
Satyananda Saraswati, founder of the
Bihar School of Yoga, and by
Hiroshi Motoyama, author of
Theories of the Chakras.
Barbara Brennan describes shaktipata as the projection of the guru's "
aura" on the disciple who thereby acquires the same mental state, hence the importance of the high spiritual level of the guru. The physiological phenomena of rising
kundalini then naturally manifest. In his book, Building a Noble World,
Shiv R. Jhawar describes his shaktipata experience at Muktananda's public program at Lake Point Tower in Chicago on September 16, 1974 as follows: "Baba [Swami Muktananda] had just begun delivering his discourse with his opening statement: 'Today's subject is meditation. The crux of the question is: What do we meditate upon?' Continuing his talk, Baba said: 'Kundalini starts dancing when one repeats Om Namah Shivaya.' Hearing this, I mentally repeated the mantra, I noticed that my breathing was getting heavier. Suddenly, I felt a great impact of a rising force within me. The intensity of this rising kundalini force was so tremendous that my body lifted up a little and fell flat into the aisle; my eyeglasses flew off. As I lay there with my eyes closed, I could see a continuous fountain of dazzling white lights erupting within me. In brilliance, these lights were brighter than the sun but possessed no heat at all. I was experiencing the thought-free state of "I am," realizing that "I" have always been, and will continue to be, eternal. I was fully conscious and completely aware while I was experiencing the pure "I am," a state of supreme bliss. Outwardly, at that precise moment, Baba shouted delightedly from his platform, "Mene kuch nahi kiya; kisiko shakti ne pakda" ("I didn't do anything. The Energy has caught someone"). Baba noticed that the dramatic awakening of kundalini in me frightened some people in the audience. Therefore, he said, 'Do not be frightened. Sometimes kundalini gets awakened in this way, depending upon a person's type. == Related concepts ==