The Force That Awakens

The awakened energy transmitted through lineage enters into and alters our own energy field revealing a pure, perfect awareness and capacity that is expressed in the landscape of our own life.

Can a relationship with a teacher and with śakti transmission create a tendency for over-reliance? Does it get in the way of cultivating our inner capacity to connect to and establish ourselves in a dynamic flow of śakti? 

Let me begin with this emphatic statement: Transmission has nothing to do with something coming from outside of us. Infinite Consciousness and Its power of kuṇḍalinī śakti are what create and sustain our life. This is what is now awakening in us — calling forth to Itself the energy of a lineage to nourish and unfold that which is emerging. Our work is to open and receive that resonance from the teacher so that we can experience it fully within ourselves.

The power of transmission from a teacher is that of a living spiritual force, and what is being transmitted is more than the energy of the teacher; it is the energy of the lineage and the energy of Rudra śakti, or Śiva śakti.  

The Power of Transmission from a Teacher

Kuṇḍalinī is perpetually creating from within Itself all manifestation, which includes us as individuals. It is the very power of that force that awakens in us because of grace, and it is only when kuṇḍalinī has completely unfolded in us that we no longer need an intermediary to transmit nourishment.

My own experience is that it has been the continuous transmission of śakti from my guru and our lineage that has propelled and sustained my sādhana. Whatever level of capacity I have achieved has unfolded a deeper ability to receive that power of Rudra śakti, moment by moment, through a conscious connection. What develops is both a capacity to connect to the śakti of the lineage and to establish oneself in the energy that is flowing within. 

Our connection to śakti is perpetually feeding itself through the teacher and lineage. The Divine within us is asking for the energy to help us hold that connection, and it is only in the mind that there is a distinction between the receiving and the cultivation of that which we are receiving. There is ultimately no difference between our inner capacity to truly live in and serve the Goddess Kuṇḍalinī and our capacity to be perpetually nourished by Her umbilical cord.

The Teacher as an Agent of Our Liberation

Eventually you may not need a teacher — but be careful that your resistance to change is not prompting you to let go of that relationship prematurely. Make sure you have received and cultivated the purpose of transmission, which is the relationship with an energy field. The fact that the energy is coming from an embodied individual and his/her lineage is irrelevant. Transmission reveals God’s own śakti within us, and its single purpose is our liberation.

There is an old saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears,” but there is a lesser-known corollary: “When the student is ready, the teacher disappears.” If you feel you no longer need a teacher, get very quiet and ask: Have I truly been freed of myself and all misunderstanding? Perhaps when each of us can answer that with a resounding “Yes,” the teacher will have already disappeared! Otherwise, if we seek to be free of a teacher and the desire comes from ego, we might miss the opportunity that grace has presented to us to know our Divinity. 

The Kaula Sutras clearly state, “There is but one Guru, the illuminated rays of awakened consciousness transmitted to us through an initiatory lineage.” This lineage is a connection from God, reaching out and touching each of us. The single purpose of this transmission is to free us from ourselves and from all duality. Liberation is the direct perception of the one unified field of Consciousness and the matrix of Its own energy.

Become a Master of Your Teachings 

Within the practice of Kundalini Sādhana, it is the creation of an energetic and conscious structure that allows us to hold the transmission long enough for that resonance to saturate our psychic system. This is how we come to recognize that the divine Awareness within us is not different from that which we are receiving.

I love to quote the Dalai Lama, who said, “There are thousands of paths to God. Choose one and become a master in it.” Master your own freedom. Use the power of śakti transmission to free yourself of any limitation that prevents you from knowing your highest Self. 

Open-eye transmission is Consciousness looking back at Itself, making contact with Itself through Its own capacity to do so. There is a sense of transmission, but we could never feel, connect to, or receive that transmission if the mechanism did not already exist within us. What is being transmitted is not only the resonance of śakti, but also that of Consciousness, and as our practice deepens, a more direct transmission of Consciousness can be delivered. 

The efficacy of transmission is whether it brings you to the realization that there is only One thing in life: Consciousness and Its power to express Itself in all forms and energy. The purpose of having a teacher is to know that for ourselves. When we do, we understand that there is no duality in our relationship with the teacher.