Kannada,
From your perspective, is there any meaningful difference in the way that Kundalini is initiated? Shakipat or spontaneous?
Thanks. 
Hi Jeff,
I donāt know what āspontaneousā initiation is. Shaktipat Diksha is the ācoming togetherā (by a variety of means) of initiator and candidate for the purpose of initiation. That is usually arranged beforehand.
Regards
Bernie
From teachings Iāve received from Tirth lineage on Siddha Maha Yoga, there are three ways to awaken kundalini 1) through penance (ownās effort as in yoga) 2) through shaktipat from an authentic guru 3) Godās grace or chance (at birth, by dream, gained from previous life activation)
Iāve not read any Swami Muktananda books but at some point, records indicate that he was helped by Tirth lineage via animated book āyoga vaniā written by Swami Shankar Purushottam so I would say case 2 or 3
In Shakti, Albert
Kannada,
Sorry about the confusion, i meant as Selfonlypath stated, do you perceive a difference once the Kundalini is active? Is shakipat somehow different than Selfonlypathās 1 or 3 examples?
Thanks again.
Hi Jeff,
Shaktipat is the wilful initiation of initiator to candidate. This causes a multitude of experiences in the new initiate to happen all under the guidance of the initiators shakti.
Albert correctly differentiates shaktipat from re-incarnate awakening and ones own efforts. Oneās own efforts have nothing to do with shaktipat whereas re-incarnate awakening may or may not be due to shaktipat from a previous life, unless the symptoms of that re-incarnate awakening are the same as the initiates then it may be assumed that the re-incarnate awakening too was a product of previous efforts in a previous life and nothing to do with diksha.
There are numerous methods that awaken kundalini that are not related to shaktipat, in all of them some form of external guidance is required both for the aspirants safety and the attainment of his/her purpose. Shaktipat is fundamentally different to this whereas a controlling mechanism is implanted into the subtle body of the initiate that perfectly controls the whole process in accordance with its hosts samskaras, vasanas and current karma.
Hi Kannada, I noticed you are from Melbourne. I was curious if you know Swami Shankaranada? I was at the Shiva Ashram two weeks ago doing a week long meditation retreat. I received Shaktipat while I was there. The experience was extremely powerful and uplifting. Iāve been back home in Japan for two weeks, but I can still feel the effects from the Shaktipat. I also received Diksha from a friend of mine in the States about 4 years ago and experienced an amazing Kundalini Awakening.
For anybody out there thinking about receiving Shaktipat or Diksha, all I can say is if you find someone that can do it I highly recommend it.
Hi Steven,
I know of Swami Shankarananda, I met him briefly in the seventies. It is good that you received some positive experiences from the shaktipat. My suggestion for what its worth is keep working at it, it will reward you well.
All the best
k
There have been very few threads discussing shaktipat or siddha maha yoga, one of them being http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4459.
One AYP member RIPITZ whas posted many wisdom info on shaktipat for long time.
The subject is really tricky with many corrupted lineages or misunderstanding on what is authentic shaktipat versus so much new age stuff including reiki.
To my knowledge, if someone claims to shaktipat initiates, (s)he should be able to document the Siddha Maha Yoga swami lineage plus must have received a special transfer from the swami in order to be an autonomous siddha in order to prevent any unresolved karmic issues contaminating all diskha receipients.
Wether shaktipat or other methods to awaken kundalini, I feel the spiritual path can be described as follows
Step 1: a person thinks only space-time exist so they are stuck in Maya or illusion.
Step 2: a person starts to have some mystic & spiritual awakening experiences proving other planes beyond Maya exists (external level). Progressively, the person learns how to connect at will in these other planes & do energy work. At some point, ego tricks the person making her believe she has reached enlightment or self-realisation, mainly due to minor siddhis or psychic powers acquisition. This should be more a phase of purification, detox & learning how to handle more mystic energy. Sometimes one can have a little glimpse of Kundalini (K) but this is not controlled or by intent.
Step 3: a person really awakens partially K (internal level) having sometimes a glimpse of next stage wich is Rigpa. Many again get stuck by their ego observing stronger siddhis making them believe they are fully enlightened not realizing K is just intermediate stage to prepare for Rigpa. Best to meditate & open more sushumna (central channel) to have more K (ascension and descension) for later go after Rigpa.
Step 4: the person experience partial Rigpa (secret level) then will meditate more to finally be able to remain in Rigpa 24h/24 even without meditating. Again, ego debris can make the person think to be fully realized at this stage but she is not.
Albert
There are many, many threads discussing shaktipat. Click on āsearchā above, and search for āshaktipatā.
There are 10 pages of links on this subject just using that spelling of shaktipat.
[quote=āEtherfishā]
There are many, many threads discussing shaktipat. Click on āsearchā above, and search for āshaktipatā.
There are 10 pages of links on this subject just using that spelling of shaktipat.
[/quote]Well Iāve never had any computer science issue in using searches on any forums worldwide 
Most of these threads you mention do not adress the real nature of shaktipat aka siddha maha yoga
They discuss all the different kinds of shaktipat, not just one. It means transferring spiritual energy from one person to another. It can be through a look, a thought, a touch, giving of an object, or as simple as a phone call.
It doesnāt belong to just one lineage or religion; it is used all over the world by all cultures.
Hi Etherfish,
I have no knowledge of the so called āshaktipat dikshaā of other traditions, I only know my own and use it to effect. The shaktipat I use is one initiation that lasts a lifetime and beyond. Although for lapsed practitioners there may be boosters, but it is the same initiation, simply repeated in order to get initiates to continue where they left off. Once initiated the candidate undergoes a multitude of autonomous experiences. These experiences purify the nadis and bring the energies into balance so that samadhi is secured.
I know of no other tradition that manifests the same responses in the candidate as the one I use (though I have no formal link to this tradition other than initiation). This is not to say that they do not exist but I do not know of them. I know of the dikshas in Hinduism, but they are formal initiations into the various stages of spiritual pursuit but they are not shaktipat diksha and do not produce the results that I am familiar with.
In my communications with other ārecipientsā of shaktipat diksha from other modalities I have drawn the tentative conclusion that they are referring merely to forms of energy transfer in order to boost energy levels for a particular purpose. They do not seem to me to have any relation to the shaktipat diksha I am aware of.
In summary I think the word is grossly over-used and very much misunderstood. I know of no other religion or tradition that uses the specific method or means of what I have always understood to be shaktipat diksha. This does not mean that there is no such other traditions that use this specific modality but I am not aware of them. As you say there are other traditions or religions that use it would you please assist my understanding and let me know which religions are they, which other non-religious traditions are they and which individuals (from other traditions) produce the exact same results as those I have mentioned in what I understand shaktipat diksha to beā¦
Hereās a helpful site that explains the shaktipat I am familiar withā¦ http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/kundalini/shivom-tradition.html
This is what I understand the word āDikshaā to mean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diksha
Thank you
k
Sorry, Iām not an expert in that subject. Anybody else care to answer?
Iām probably going to mangle this good and proper, but from I understand from the Kashmir Shaivism tradition Shakti is the primordial energy of the universe and the Source (Shiva). So receiving Shaktipat is pretty much just awakening you to the Shakti that you are anyway. Even Reiki or Chi would still in essence be Shakti. The effects, I assume depend more on how open you are not from who you receive it. I think Riptz said one time that some Shaktipat and Deeksha givers are sort of like really good snake charmers. They may or may not be fully enlightened. In that sense, I can understand how different traditions, say Evangelical or Pentecostals, might cause some people to have full blown Kundalini Awakenings or more. But Iām definitely no expert on the subject, just a guy who got very lucky during his first Deeksha session 
But you saidā¦
Shaktipat Diksha as best I know is unique, it is not a mere energy blast that effects a practitioner for a brief period of time. I was initiated thirty seven years ago and it has never been as strong as it is today. A mere buzz is over in a very short time. Neither does it belong to religions and cultures other than its home, it is also the source of what we know as āyogaā for it is the automatic and spontaneous manifestation of its learned mechanistic cousin.
If one could use ones imagination and take ones mind back to ancient India, perhaps on the banks of the holy confluence of the Jumna (Yamuna) river and the Ganges where bystanders would watch shaktipat initiates undergoing the effects of initiation and copy those effects - the pranayama, the asanas, the mudras and other manifestations of an awakened kundalini. They would watch, learn, cultivate and appreciate the benefits of such actions. The neutralizing of the solar āHaā and the lunar āThaā currents in the nadis, manifesting as the hot and cool sensations in the spine and the rest of the body whilst under the influence of such practice. The initiate has the advantage over his learned friends of experience not just during practice but twenty four hours a day seven days a week manifesting signs and symptoms that cannot be learned. The cleansing symptoms are felt at the molecular level where the initiate would describe the feeling of being 're-built at the atomic level, very strange (and wonderful) experiences indeed.
I have not yet heard of another system that produces these resultsā¦ But I could be wrong.
Hi Steven,
Thank you for your inputā¦
Shakti is indeed the primordial energy, the source of the universe but Shakti is āChaitanyaā (Caitanya) a conscious, intelligent, living energy, the life force that underpins all sentience wherever it is ā it is the sentience of life in all its manifestations. It lies involute (dormant) and evolute (active), whatever is seen, sentient or insentient is Shakti. Prana or chi are life forces but they are insentient and incapable of sentient activity in itself. Prana does indeed sustain life, it is the basic energy component of the five manifestations of the breath and prana is the life-energy in the food we eat.
Reiki and chi use prana, not shakti to effect changes in the practitioner. They are excellent tools to perform the necessary functions required in yoga but as a mere force prana is incapable of initiating an intelligent āself-guidanceā system. Prana needs to be manually initiated for a required outcome, learning from one who has learned how to manipulate his/her own prana is highly desirable.
Shakti, as in Shaktipat Diksha is wholly autonomous. Because it is a living force it only needs to be activated for its desired outcome to take effect. A person with his/her Shakti awakened may affect others by using his/her shakti to awaken the process in others. This of course is Diksha or initiation. Prana or chi cannot do this.
Any ākundalini awakeningsā that are begun by any means (ecstasy, devotion, drugs, even yoga practice) are merely temporary occurrences, they may of course develop into permnent experience with the right yoga training but as long as one is reliant on prana and not Shakti they are to be manually induced until the yogi can stabilize his prana on a permanent basis. The assistance the Shaktipat Initiate receives is not in any way dependent on his/her efforts but only on the proviso that such an initiate makes him/her-self available for the requisite manifestations to occur.
All the best
k
Is it that Shakti is awakened or is it our perception of Shakti that is awakened?
Is it that Shakti is awakened or is it our perception of Shakti that is awakened?
Sorry Jeff I was trying to say that it is kundalini that is awakened by the power of shakti, hence the term 'kundalini shakti'. You are right too, one becomes aware of the process taking place, but that awareness of the process is not the instigator of that process...
One of the best book Iāve read on Siddha Maha Yoga and shaktipat:
- - A Guide to Shaktipat by Swami Shivom Tirth- Yoga Vani by Swami Shankar Purushottam Tirtha