How does kundalini awakening relate to the eastern concept of nirvana?

[Empiricspirit]

It appears to me that the kundalini awakening described on this site relates more to the western interpretation of the process, with the emphasis on developing psychic skills, occult powers and an 'experience'

But how does it relate to the concept of kundalini yoga and tantra which claimed that kundalini awakening (at least one form of kundalini awakening, if one would accept the hypothesis that there are different forms) lead to self-realization and ego loss? The kind of kundalini awakening described in the works of Gopi Krishna for example.

I do believe that there are quite a few people here who have awakened their kundalini. Did you ever experience a total loss of ego? And did it last for a long time? I know quite a few meditators (including myself) who are able to achieve the state of total ego loss in deep meditation, but this state doesn't last into 'real life'. Traditionally I always saw kundalini awakening as a transition to a state in which deep meditation is there the entire time.


In a way I find it hard to integrate the account of kundalini awakening shown in the works of Swami Sivananda (Kundalini Tantra), Gopi Krishna and the tradition of laya yoga with the view that kundalini awakening awakens multiple times without bringing a lasting permanent change in consciousness with it. (Correct me if I'm wrong on how I understood it. English is not my native language)

[ButterflyWoman]

It appears to me that the kundalini awakening described on this site relates more to the western interpretation of the process, with the emphasis on developing psychic skills, occult powers and an 'experience'
Well, "this site" is an interactive forum which has as its participants primarily Westerners who frame things in the only way the have available, i.e., with a Western perspective.


But how does it relate to the concept of kundalini yoga and tantra which claimed that kundalini awakening (at least one form of kundalini awakening, if one would accept the hypothesis that there are different forms) lead to self-realization and ego loss?
I don't understand the question "how does it relate". It's the same process. And not all kundalini awakening leads to full-on self-realisation, which is a fairly lengthy process for many people (it CAN happen instantaneously, but that is not usually the case, from my observation and most of the things I've read on the topic). Note, also, that the process of spiritual awakening is something described in mystical tradition and literature from ALL religious/cultural points of view, though it goes by different names and has different interpretations. It's a mystical process, and therefore mystics of any and all backgrounds experience it and describe it, again, in the terms they have available to them and from their own point of view. Hence the "apparent" differences in descriptions and terminology. But that stuff is all just words and cultural and personal bias; the phenomenon is universal.


Did you ever experience a total loss of ego?
Yes.


And did it last for a long time?
Depends how you define "a long time". It is EXTREMELY disorienting to be completely untethered to your material self (i.e., your ego), and it makes daily function in the dream that we think of as "reality" quite problematic. I suspect this is why mystics have a reptuation for going off to live in monasteries and caves in the mountains and the desert and so on. Much easier to function egoless in an environment that doesn't need the interface of ego-self. Trying to function on a daily basis in everyday life without the interface of ego is challenging, to say the least, and therefore tends not to be something that lasts indefinitely. The real trick is to find a balance and to be, as the Apostle Paul put it, "in the world, but not of the world".


In a way I find it hard to integrate the account of kundalini awakening shown in the works of Swami Sivananda (Kundalini Tantra), Gopi Krishna and the tradition of laya yoga with the view that kundalini awakening awakens multiple times without bringing a lasting permanent change in consciousness with it. (Correct me if I'm wrong on how I understood it. English is not my native language)
No, I'd say that's right. It's like waking from sleep. You might awaken a little bit, come to the surface as we say, and then fall back asleep again for a while. And this may happen multiple times before you finally wake up completely. It's fairly rare that people wake from sleep by being completely asleep and then being absolutely awake, all in one moment. It's a process. So is spiritual awakening. And then adjusting to being lucid (awake, aware, etc.) WITHIN the dreamstate that we call reality, that certainly takes time. I suppose that for some people, awakening is accomplished all at once, but I have never known anyone for whom this was the case, and I have never, ever seen or heard of anyone for whom the adjustment to the awakening was not a process that took some time (in most cases, it seems like it takes around ten years to really become used to the new state of awareness, from what I have read and experienced).

And on a different topic, I think your English is very good. I would not have guessed it's not your first language. There may be finer concepts and maybe figures of speech or metaphors you don't fully pick up on (please say if that happens; people will be happy to explain, I'm sure), but your use of the language that I've seen so far is excellent, and you express yourself very well. :)