Gopi Krishna
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Gopi Krishna (1903 - 1984) of India was a yogi, mystic, teacher, social reformer, and writer. His autobiography is known under the title Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man.
In the 1970s he founded together with Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker a research foundation "for western sciences and eastern wisdom".[citation needed]
One of the first people to popularize the concept of Kundalini among Western readers was Gopi Krishna. His autobiography is entitled Kundalini—The Evolutionary Energy in Man later renamed to Living with Kundalini.[1] According to June McDaniel, his writings have influenced Western interest in kundalini yoga.[2]
He chose the path of yoga due to his circumstances. His father renounced the world to lead a religious life leaving his twenty-eight year old mother with the responsibility of raising him and his two sisters. His mother now pinned all her hopes for success on her only son.[3]
But he failed to pass the examination to enter college, and he now took a lowly job and established his family. He also started on a discipline of meditation to discover who he was. After having been engaged in this for many years, he had his first Kundalini experience at the age of 34, which he describes thus in his autobiography:[4][5]
- Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord.
- Entirely unprepared for such a development, I was completely taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light. It is impossible to describe the experience accurately. I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body, normally the immediate object of its perception, appeared to have receded into the distance until I became entirely unconscious of it. I was now all consciousness without any outline, without any idea of corporeal appendage, without any feeling or sensation coming from the senses, immersed in a sea of light simultaneously conscious and aware at every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions without any barrier or material obstruction. I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe.
According to June McDaniel, his writings have influenced Western interest in kundalini yoga.[6] He wrote many books and traveled all over the world giving lectures. He came to feel the kundalini experience underlies all (or most) religions that started with a personal revelation. He could see kundalini iconography in cultures worldwide, from ancient Egypt to Quetzalcoatl to the caduceus of Mercury, and believed there was a common basis, and that he had been granted entry to this vision. Gopi Krishna theorized that the brain was in a state of organic evolution, and that the rising of Kundalini into the brain would open a normally silent chamber called brahma-randra in the yogic tradition. Krishna worked tirelessly to promote the scientific investigation of kundalini in the human frame, hypothesizing that this energy was leading humankind towards the goal of higher consciousness.[7]
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[edit] Research of genius and enlightened persons
In the light of Pandit Gopi Krishna's experiences he himself has started to search the life of geniussen and enlightented persons in history for clues of kundalini awakening. He proposed an organisation to be erected to conduct scientific research on the matter.
The research should, according to him, consist of research on biological processes in the body, psychological and sociological research of living persons. According to Mr. Krishna the lives of historical persons should also be investigated. [8][9][10]
One organisation has picked up the wish of Mr. Krishna to further investigate the lives of saints, geniussen and inspired people, namely the Institute for Consciousness Research.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Krishna, Gopi (1971) Kundalini: the evolutionary energy in man. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala
- ^ For quotation "Western interest at the popular level in kundalini yoga was probably most influenced by the writings of Gopi Krishna, in which kundalini was redefined as chaotic and spontaneous religious experience." see: McDaniel, p. 280.
- ^ Krishna, Gopi (1993)Living with Kundalini: (Shambhala, 1993 ISBN: 0877739471) page 81
- ^ Krishna, Gopi (1993)Living with Kundalini: (Shambhala, 1993 ISBN: 0877739471)
- ^ Excerpts from Living with Kundalini on Ecomall
- ^ For quotation "Western interest at the popular level in kundalini yoga was probably most influenced by the writings of Gopi Krishna, in which kundalini was redefined as chaotic and spontaneous religious experience." see: McDaniel, June. Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal. (Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0195167910) p. 280.
- ^ An interview with Gopi Krishna
- ^ Kay, Tom Kay (2003). Out of the Box. New York: Xlibris Corporation. ISBN: 1413417574.
- ^ Krishna, Gopi (1975). The Dawn of a New Science. New Delhi: Kundalini Research and Publication Trust. ISBN: 0917776143.
- ^ Last interview with Gopi Krishna
[edit] References
- Kay, Tom Zatar (2003). Out of the Box. New York: Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 1413417574.
- Krishna, Gopi (1975). The Dawn of a New Science. Institute for Consciousness Research. ISBN 0917776143.
- McDaniel, June (2006). Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195167910.
- Krishna, Gopi (1993). Living with Kundalini. Shambhala. ISBN 0877739471.
[edit] Further reading
- Gopi Krishna, Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, Shambhala Books, 1970. autobiography
- Yoga: A Vision of its Future, New Delhi: KRPT, 1978.
- Secrets of Kundalini in Panchastivai New Delhi: KRPT, 1976
- The Awakening of Kundalini, New York: E P Dutton, 1975.
- The Real Nature of Mystical Experience, New York: New Concepts Publishing, 1978.
- The Shape of Events to Come, New York: KRPT, 1979. A warning of possible impending nuclear holocaust, in essay and verse.
- The Riddle of Consciousness, New York: Kundalini Research Foundation, 1976. ISBN 0-917776-00-3, entirely in verse.
- The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius, New York: Harper and Row, intro. by Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker, which is half the book, 1971, 1972.
- The Secret of Yoga, New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
- Higher Consciousness: The Evolutionary Thrust of Kundalini, New York: Julian Press, 1974.
- William Irwin Thompson, Passages about Earth: An Exploration of the New Planetary Culture, New York: Harper and Row, 1974. one chapter describes his interaction with Gopi Krishna
