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Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man
Coiled like a snake at the base of the spine, kundalini is the spiritual force that lies dormant in every human being. Once awakened, often through meditation and yoga practices, it rises up the spine and finds expression in the form of spiritual knowledge, mystical vision, psychic powers, and ultimately, enlightenment.
This is the classic first-person account of Gopi Krishna, an ordinary Indian householder who, at the age of thirty-four, after years of unsupervised meditation, suddenly experienced the awakening of kundalini during his morning practice. The story of this transformative experience, and the author's struggle to find balance amid a variety of powerful physiological and psychic side effects, forms the core of the book. His detailed descriptions of his dramatic inner experiences and symptoms such as mood swings, eating disorders, and agonizing sensations of heat—and of how, with the help of his wife, he finally stabilized at a higher level of consciousness—make this one of the most valuable classics of spiritual awakening available.
This is the classic first-person account of Gopi Krishna, an ordinary Indian householder who, at the age of thirty-four, after years of unsupervised meditation, suddenly experienced the awakening of kundalini during his morning practice. The story of this transformative experience, and the author's struggle to find balance amid a variety of powerful physiological and psychic side effects, forms the core of the book. His detailed descriptions of his dramatic inner experiences and symptoms such as mood swings, eating disorders, and agonizing sensations of heat—and of how, with the help of his wife, he finally stabilized at a higher level of consciousness—make this one of the most valuable classics of spiritual awakening available.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
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About the author
Gopi Krishna
89 books46 followersGopi Krishna (30 May 1903 – 31 July 1984) was a yogi; mystic; teacher; social reformer; and writer. He was born in a small village outside Srinagar, in the Jammu and Kashmir State in northern India. He spent his early years there, and later lived in Lahore, in the Punjab of British India.
He was one of the first to popularise the concept of Kundalini among Western readers. His autobiography Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, which presented his personal account of the phenomenon of his awakening of Kundalini, (later renamed to Living with Kundalini),was published in Great Britain and the United States and has since appeared in eleven major languages. According to June McDaniel, his writings have influenced Western interest in kundalini yoga.
He was one of the first to popularise the concept of Kundalini among Western readers. His autobiography Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, which presented his personal account of the phenomenon of his awakening of Kundalini, (later renamed to Living with Kundalini),was published in Great Britain and the United States and has since appeared in eleven major languages. According to June McDaniel, his writings have influenced Western interest in kundalini yoga.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
June 7, 2013
"Little did I realize that from that day onwards I was never to be my old normal self again, that I had unwittingly and without preparation or even adequate knowledge of it roused to activity the most wonderful and stern power in man, that I had stepped unknowingly upon the key to the most guarded secret of the ancients, and that thenceforth for a long time I had to live suspended by a thread, swinging between life on the one hand and death on the other, between sanity and insanity, between light and darkness, between heaven and earth."
March 21, 2007
Hmmmm... this book helped me a lot at a time I had opened a door, a pathway inside, that once opened I couldn't close. This book helped me realize I didn't have to fight it. For those not on that path this book will seem meaningless and very esoteric.
October 9, 2007
This is the most astonishing tale of a spiritual journey written in the 20th century. Gopi Krishna relates his life story with honesty and humility, and is responsible for making the ancient Sanskrit and tantric system of Kundalini understandable to the modern world. Based on his own incredible experience, and the changes he went through both in body and mind, he is sure that the brain is still undergoing organic evolution and has untapped potentialities still waiting to be discovered. This makes sense when we consider we use only a small percentage of our brains. Since at the basis of all life is energy and bio-energy, it also makes sense that this energy exists in a microcosmic state in our own physical frames, and can be awakened and accelerated due to certain physical and mental disciplines. These disciplines were known by the ancients and coded in works such as the Chinese book "The Secret of the Golden Flower" as well as numerous other Indian and Tibetan texts. Gopi Krishna takes the subject out of the purely religious world, and brings it for the first time in history, under a scientific lens. As a result, he unveils a way in which science and religion can bridge the gap which underlies many problems we see in the world today....from dogmatic, reductionist science to religious extremism/fundamentalism. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand how religion and science can come together, and what wonders lie within. Gopi Krishna went on to write a dozen or more books on revelation, secret of yoga, a new science, the wonder of the brain, and the riddle of consciousness. In this era, when the brain and consciousness are amongst the last frontiers to be explored, Gopi Krishna's autobiography offers unique insights into genius, psychic abilities and mystical experience.
May 22, 2012
Apparently, Kundalini energy can be present and active at birth. Those with this activated energy can live a life of hardship (pgs 58-59) from childhood until that time in life when by way of their many hardships they come to terms with life and embrace what they have been given. This included their gifts and talents. Yet they also recognize what they are given is not theirs, but to be used in the service of others. These two pages made the book worth while.
April 25, 2017
This is the second book that I read on the subject of Kundalini Awakening, which is an account of the the personal experience of the author.
I found it to be very helpful which also seemed to be clear, non-delusive and an honest confession compared to a couple of books by other authors.
A passage from the book which I found to be true---
"It was only now that I really began to recognise myself, the being who about a year before had sat in meditation, bent on invoking the supersensible,little knowing in his ignorance that the average human frame of today, emasculated by a faulty civilisation and enervated by uncontrolled ambitions and desires, is not strong enough to bear the splendour of the mighty vision without long preparatory training, austerity and discipline."
I found it to be very helpful which also seemed to be clear, non-delusive and an honest confession compared to a couple of books by other authors.
A passage from the book which I found to be true---
"It was only now that I really began to recognise myself, the being who about a year before had sat in meditation, bent on invoking the supersensible,little knowing in his ignorance that the average human frame of today, emasculated by a faulty civilisation and enervated by uncontrolled ambitions and desires, is not strong enough to bear the splendour of the mighty vision without long preparatory training, austerity and discipline."
May 4, 2024
For anyone seeking more information on "Kundalini awakening", this book will come very handy as it is one of the few that actually contains additional testimonials and experience descriptions from those who already went through it.
It is very hard to find much information on this topic in either format; be it print, digital, or even verbal.
This book (and Carl C. Jung: The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga) helped me a lot to understand what had happened to me in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in 2022. Thank you for that :)
On that basis, I hope others will also be able to put the pieces of their puzzle together with the help of these two books.
It is very hard to find much information on this topic in either format; be it print, digital, or even verbal.
This book (and Carl C. Jung: The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga) helped me a lot to understand what had happened to me in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in 2022. Thank you for that :)
On that basis, I hope others will also be able to put the pieces of their puzzle together with the help of these two books.
April 30, 2013
Gopi Krishna's story is captivating. The psychological commentary see-saws between providing valuable insight into Gopi's transformation and boring you crazy until the primary narrative resumes.
This text has been on my mind all week since I (finally) started it. I like the lack of adherence to spiritual tradition; it lends the story an authentic feel. The horrors that accompany spiritual progress, we can call it tapasia if we want to use a $64 word, are described beautifully here. It's not all trippy visions and butterflies; Gopi Krishna's Kundalini awakening almost kills him on a few occasions, and he doesn't even get psychic powers to show for it. Raw deal.
This book has its strengths. I started to lose interest in the final chapters though, as the author takes to speculating about a world in which Kundalini is awakened in everyone and we suddenly rejoin nature in perfect harmony. It's a great idea, but for all his talk of scientific evidence, the book doesn't offer any. The appeal of this book is that it recounts a harrowing and at times wondrous personal odyssey into the inner-unknown. Notice I used the adjective "personal." Toward the end, Gopi seems to forget what his account is.
I bought this book used and I enjoyed it, but I'm up at 5:30 a.m. because I couldn't sleep, and it's cold in my living room, and I don't much feel like writing this anymore.
This text has been on my mind all week since I (finally) started it. I like the lack of adherence to spiritual tradition; it lends the story an authentic feel. The horrors that accompany spiritual progress, we can call it tapasia if we want to use a $64 word, are described beautifully here. It's not all trippy visions and butterflies; Gopi Krishna's Kundalini awakening almost kills him on a few occasions, and he doesn't even get psychic powers to show for it. Raw deal.
This book has its strengths. I started to lose interest in the final chapters though, as the author takes to speculating about a world in which Kundalini is awakened in everyone and we suddenly rejoin nature in perfect harmony. It's a great idea, but for all his talk of scientific evidence, the book doesn't offer any. The appeal of this book is that it recounts a harrowing and at times wondrous personal odyssey into the inner-unknown. Notice I used the adjective "personal." Toward the end, Gopi seems to forget what his account is.
I bought this book used and I enjoyed it, but I'm up at 5:30 a.m. because I couldn't sleep, and it's cold in my living room, and I don't much feel like writing this anymore.
December 1, 2019
This book was suggested as an aid for K awakenings, but for that specific purpose, it didn't serve it well.
'The Biology of Kundalini' is better at explaining the physiological process, and 'The Kundalini Guide' is better for help through the actual spiritual experience.
That being said, I understand that this book is dated, so maybe it was sufficient for it's time, and I appreciate it's overall contribution to an otherwise mysterious process, plagued with buzzwords and ignorance in the modern yoga world.
An Islamic perspective on kundalini can be found in 'Lantern on the Path' by Imam Ja'afar Al-Sadeq, for whoever is interested.
'The Biology of Kundalini' is better at explaining the physiological process, and 'The Kundalini Guide' is better for help through the actual spiritual experience.
That being said, I understand that this book is dated, so maybe it was sufficient for it's time, and I appreciate it's overall contribution to an otherwise mysterious process, plagued with buzzwords and ignorance in the modern yoga world.
An Islamic perspective on kundalini can be found in 'Lantern on the Path' by Imam Ja'afar Al-Sadeq, for whoever is interested.
April 27, 2010
intriguing and thought provoking...love it!
October 11, 2014
This was the standard late 1900s book on the topic.
February 17, 2013
Experiences of a ordinary householder on having the kundalini suddenly awakened.
Very clearly written - does not dwell much on concepts.
Mostly covers his own experience as seen by him.
Very clearly written - does not dwell much on concepts.
Mostly covers his own experience as seen by him.
February 5, 2009
The author renders a fascinating first-hand account of his kundalini awakening. I detect great sincerity in his writing--it is interesting that he found the experience to be quite terrifying, especially since he had no guru or guide, and that he considered it to be more organic than other-worldly. One of his views that I admire greatly is that attachment is a positive thing--that has been a sticky issue for me with some Eastern philosophy. Ramakrishna, for example, told people to distance themselves from their homes and families, as though this world is just an illusion--could you imagine what effect that would have on children? Krishna Gopi also gives plenty of kudos to rationality and science for the roles they serve. Overall, this book is honest, thought-provoking, and unconventional.
October 13, 2010
wonderful autobiography of Gopi Krishna's experiences with meditation, energy and evolution. gives accounts of the good and bad effects both emotionally and physically, insights to humanity's potential and explanations for physical practices of yoga beyond better abs.
December 26, 2007
This book was a God send. Saved me from insanity.
July 27, 2011
Mind blowing account of the physical phenomena corresponding to awakening.
July 7, 2023
ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT TEACHERS OF KUNDALINI TELLS HIS STORY
The Editor’s Foreword (by Leslie Shepard) to this 1993 book states, “In modern times, under the banner of the New Age, there has been a new manifest hunger for something more meaningful in life than ambition, money, power or possessions… Much of the New Age has been marked by trivial and banal novelties, with old and new gimmicks like astrology, tarot cards, the I Ching, crystals, and soothsayers ,al enveloped in a stupefying heavy fog of incenses and soporific music. But the New Age and its mass media at least revived the ancient Indian concept of kundalini, a latent energy in the universe… and also, through meditation, the way to higher consciousness… if you want to know about it… You will need to listen to someone with total experience of kundalini in both its negative and positive aspects, who knows its place in the evolution of the human race. This teacher is Pandit Gopi Krishna…
“He founded no movement, demanded no money, refused to become the center of adoring crowds, and merely lived humbly in relative poverty, writing his inspired books about Kundalini and its place in human evolution… the present work … describes in detail the stages of the awakening of the awesome power of kundalini in one individual, the years of struggle to balance and harmonize this force, the psychic gifts which it brought, and the validation of the subject in ancient treatises… Much of this book is also a kind of protracted meditation on life and the problems of our time.”
Gopi Krishna wrote in the Introduction, “One morning during the Christmas of 1937… I was meditating … My whole being was so engrossed in the contemplation of the lotus that for several minutes at a time I lost touch with my body and surroundings… I suddenly felt a strange sensation below the base of the spine… Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord… I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider, surrounded by waves of light… I was no longer myself… a small point of awareness confined in a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point… Was I the victim of a hallucination?... Was there, after all, really some truth in the … claim of the sages and ascetics of India… that it was possible to apprehend transcendental reality in this life if one followed certain rules of conduct and practiced meditation in a certain way?” (Pg.1-4)
He continues, “Had I been lucky enough to fine the key to this wonderful mechanism… about which people talked and whispered without having once seen it in action in themselves or in others? I tried once again to repeat the experience, but … I could not collect my thoughts sufficiently to induce a state of concentration… I tried again, this time with better success… I again felt the current moving upward… I felt myself expanding in all directions… I had now no doubts that the experience was real and that the sun had nothing to do with the internal luster that I saw… Little did I realize that from that day onwards I was never to be my old normal self again, that I had unwittingly … roused to activity the most wonderful and stern power in man, that I had stepped unknowingly upon the key to the most guarded secret of the ancients, and that thenceforth … I had to live suspended by a thread, swinging between life on the one hand and death on the other, between sanity and insanity… between heaven and earth.” (Pg. 4-7)
After recounting his earlier life, he states, “At the time of my extraordinary kundalini awakening in 1937, I was serving as a clerk under the Director of Education in our state… I had no liking for the work… although from the point of view of my other colleagues I held enviable positions… By the very nature of my duties it was utterly impossible for me to escape comment and criticism of my acts, which influenced the life and career of someone or other.” (Pg. 140)
After his experience, “My mind did not function as before. There had occurred a definite and unmistakable change… now the images were vivid and bright… and they floated against a luminous background as if the process of thought was now done with another kind of illustrious mental stuff… but also capable of perceiving its own brilliance.” (Pg. 175)
He acknowledges, “I quite realize that it is impossible for me to convey accurately or for the average reader to understand clearly what I mean by the expressions ‘widening’ and ‘contraction’ of consciousness, which I use frequently to denote the fluctuations in my mental condition. However, it is only by employing these phrases that I can describe even vaguely a purely subjective experience that seldom falls to the lot of the average person. To the best of my knowledge, the weird phenomena following the awakening of kundalini have so far never been revealed in detail or made the subject of analytical study. The subject has remained shrouded in mystery … The disclosures made in this work are likely to appear startling, even incredible, because the subject is being discussed openly for the first tie after centuries of a veiled existence.” (Pg. 202)
He recounts, “From a unit of consciousness, dominated by the ego, to which I was habituated from childhood, I had expanded all at once into a glowing conscious circle, growing larger and larger, until a maximum was reached… there was ego consciousness as well as a vastly extended field of awareness… This remarkable phenomenon… as vivid when recalled today as at the of occurrence, was not repeated in all its original splendor until long afterwards.” (Pg. 225)
He explains, “What I realized beyond the least shadow of doubt is the fact… that in the human body there exists an extremely subtle and intricate mechanism located in the sexual region which… when roused to rapid activity, it reacts strongly on the parent organism, effecting … a marvelous transformation of the nervous system and the brain, resulting in the manifestation of a superior type of consciousness, which will be the common inheritance of human beings in the distant future. This mechanism, known as kundalini, is the real cause of all genuine spiritual and psychic phenomena, the biological basis of evolution and development of personality, the secret origin of all esoteric and occult doctrines, the master key to unsolved mystery of creation, the inexhaustible source of philosophy, art, and science, and the fountainhead of all religious faiths, past, present, and future.” (Pg. 256-257)
He is critical of cultural practices about marriage: “I knew that these evil, inhuman customs and conventions were eating into the very vitals of our society within a few years after the marriage… I myself had actively participated … I had no remorse … on those occasions that I was helping in celebrations that were sucking the very blood of indigent parents who had several daughters to marry off. The thought had never previously even entered my mind that the society was adhering to inhuman customs that caused unbearable torture to and undermined the vitality of our womenfolk.” (Pg. 323-324)
He summarizes, “After studying my condition for more than forty years, I now feel that even if I had studied all the literature available on kundalini at the time, I could not have solved the problems of insomnia, psychic disturbances, and the organic symptoms that I experienced immediately after the awakening. Right up to this day, I have not been able to find a detailed account of the arousal of kundalini, meticulously describing its effects on the body-mind complex and the changes that occur in them until a paranormal state of consciousness is attained…” (Pg. 363)
He concludes, “There is no other way save this open to men and women to arrive at the solution of an otherwise impenetrable mystery of creation… This is the immortal light, held aloft by Nature from time immemorial to guide the faltering footsteps of erring humanity… which continues to shine in the men and women of genius and seers of today, and will continue to shine for all eternity, illuminating the vast amphitheater of the universe for the marvelous, unending play of the eternal, almighty, queen of creation—life.” (Pg. 387)
This book will interest many who are interested in Eastern philosophy and mysticism.
The Editor’s Foreword (by Leslie Shepard) to this 1993 book states, “In modern times, under the banner of the New Age, there has been a new manifest hunger for something more meaningful in life than ambition, money, power or possessions… Much of the New Age has been marked by trivial and banal novelties, with old and new gimmicks like astrology, tarot cards, the I Ching, crystals, and soothsayers ,al enveloped in a stupefying heavy fog of incenses and soporific music. But the New Age and its mass media at least revived the ancient Indian concept of kundalini, a latent energy in the universe… and also, through meditation, the way to higher consciousness… if you want to know about it… You will need to listen to someone with total experience of kundalini in both its negative and positive aspects, who knows its place in the evolution of the human race. This teacher is Pandit Gopi Krishna…
“He founded no movement, demanded no money, refused to become the center of adoring crowds, and merely lived humbly in relative poverty, writing his inspired books about Kundalini and its place in human evolution… the present work … describes in detail the stages of the awakening of the awesome power of kundalini in one individual, the years of struggle to balance and harmonize this force, the psychic gifts which it brought, and the validation of the subject in ancient treatises… Much of this book is also a kind of protracted meditation on life and the problems of our time.”
Gopi Krishna wrote in the Introduction, “One morning during the Christmas of 1937… I was meditating … My whole being was so engrossed in the contemplation of the lotus that for several minutes at a time I lost touch with my body and surroundings… I suddenly felt a strange sensation below the base of the spine… Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord… I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider, surrounded by waves of light… I was no longer myself… a small point of awareness confined in a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point… Was I the victim of a hallucination?... Was there, after all, really some truth in the … claim of the sages and ascetics of India… that it was possible to apprehend transcendental reality in this life if one followed certain rules of conduct and practiced meditation in a certain way?” (Pg.1-4)
He continues, “Had I been lucky enough to fine the key to this wonderful mechanism… about which people talked and whispered without having once seen it in action in themselves or in others? I tried once again to repeat the experience, but … I could not collect my thoughts sufficiently to induce a state of concentration… I tried again, this time with better success… I again felt the current moving upward… I felt myself expanding in all directions… I had now no doubts that the experience was real and that the sun had nothing to do with the internal luster that I saw… Little did I realize that from that day onwards I was never to be my old normal self again, that I had unwittingly … roused to activity the most wonderful and stern power in man, that I had stepped unknowingly upon the key to the most guarded secret of the ancients, and that thenceforth … I had to live suspended by a thread, swinging between life on the one hand and death on the other, between sanity and insanity… between heaven and earth.” (Pg. 4-7)
After recounting his earlier life, he states, “At the time of my extraordinary kundalini awakening in 1937, I was serving as a clerk under the Director of Education in our state… I had no liking for the work… although from the point of view of my other colleagues I held enviable positions… By the very nature of my duties it was utterly impossible for me to escape comment and criticism of my acts, which influenced the life and career of someone or other.” (Pg. 140)
After his experience, “My mind did not function as before. There had occurred a definite and unmistakable change… now the images were vivid and bright… and they floated against a luminous background as if the process of thought was now done with another kind of illustrious mental stuff… but also capable of perceiving its own brilliance.” (Pg. 175)
He acknowledges, “I quite realize that it is impossible for me to convey accurately or for the average reader to understand clearly what I mean by the expressions ‘widening’ and ‘contraction’ of consciousness, which I use frequently to denote the fluctuations in my mental condition. However, it is only by employing these phrases that I can describe even vaguely a purely subjective experience that seldom falls to the lot of the average person. To the best of my knowledge, the weird phenomena following the awakening of kundalini have so far never been revealed in detail or made the subject of analytical study. The subject has remained shrouded in mystery … The disclosures made in this work are likely to appear startling, even incredible, because the subject is being discussed openly for the first tie after centuries of a veiled existence.” (Pg. 202)
He recounts, “From a unit of consciousness, dominated by the ego, to which I was habituated from childhood, I had expanded all at once into a glowing conscious circle, growing larger and larger, until a maximum was reached… there was ego consciousness as well as a vastly extended field of awareness… This remarkable phenomenon… as vivid when recalled today as at the of occurrence, was not repeated in all its original splendor until long afterwards.” (Pg. 225)
He explains, “What I realized beyond the least shadow of doubt is the fact… that in the human body there exists an extremely subtle and intricate mechanism located in the sexual region which… when roused to rapid activity, it reacts strongly on the parent organism, effecting … a marvelous transformation of the nervous system and the brain, resulting in the manifestation of a superior type of consciousness, which will be the common inheritance of human beings in the distant future. This mechanism, known as kundalini, is the real cause of all genuine spiritual and psychic phenomena, the biological basis of evolution and development of personality, the secret origin of all esoteric and occult doctrines, the master key to unsolved mystery of creation, the inexhaustible source of philosophy, art, and science, and the fountainhead of all religious faiths, past, present, and future.” (Pg. 256-257)
He is critical of cultural practices about marriage: “I knew that these evil, inhuman customs and conventions were eating into the very vitals of our society within a few years after the marriage… I myself had actively participated … I had no remorse … on those occasions that I was helping in celebrations that were sucking the very blood of indigent parents who had several daughters to marry off. The thought had never previously even entered my mind that the society was adhering to inhuman customs that caused unbearable torture to and undermined the vitality of our womenfolk.” (Pg. 323-324)
He summarizes, “After studying my condition for more than forty years, I now feel that even if I had studied all the literature available on kundalini at the time, I could not have solved the problems of insomnia, psychic disturbances, and the organic symptoms that I experienced immediately after the awakening. Right up to this day, I have not been able to find a detailed account of the arousal of kundalini, meticulously describing its effects on the body-mind complex and the changes that occur in them until a paranormal state of consciousness is attained…” (Pg. 363)
He concludes, “There is no other way save this open to men and women to arrive at the solution of an otherwise impenetrable mystery of creation… This is the immortal light, held aloft by Nature from time immemorial to guide the faltering footsteps of erring humanity… which continues to shine in the men and women of genius and seers of today, and will continue to shine for all eternity, illuminating the vast amphitheater of the universe for the marvelous, unending play of the eternal, almighty, queen of creation—life.” (Pg. 387)
This book will interest many who are interested in Eastern philosophy and mysticism.
September 13, 2017
I give his book 3.5 stars. It was interesting but dragged on at times.
If you dabble in yoga on the weekends and are wondering about the deeper aspects, you'll want to give this a read.
Gopi Krishna was born in 1903 and his perspective on the changes and challenges to society are fascinating.
This sage questions himself and his experiences. He vividly describes the long-lasting physical, emotional and spiritual effects, showing both the benefits and potential negatives and personal costs to his life as he consciously elicits the release of the yogic serpent energy.
This book is about Gopi's personal journey and his experiences of the highs and lows of living with kundalini. He shares the awe-inspiring experience of when his energy rises up through his body. Gopi Krishna doesn't gloss over the challenges he encounters in dealing with his own transformation. This is Gopi's story and struggle with enlightenment, family and society. His honesty and transparency is refreshing. He makes it clear that this internal journey is not for the faint of heart. He provides the reader with a cautionary note near the end of the book "Long years of preparation will always be needed in the case of those who would like to brave the hazards of arousing kundalini to activity before its proper time."
Krishna makes the point that kundalina is natural but the conditions must be right for it to flow in a healthy way. He says our bodies and minds are evolving to allow this intelligent energy to flow.
Gopi cautions and challenges us to transcend our ego and intellect to ensure our survival as a species, "It is obvious that in order to survive as a cosmic conscious race, humanity must continue to remain in possession of all the ethical virtues and higher emotions and even add to them, as without these the harmonious continuance of society is not possible...unilateral development of the intellect is not a sign of a healthy evolution."
If you dabble in yoga on the weekends and are wondering about the deeper aspects, you'll want to give this a read.
Gopi Krishna was born in 1903 and his perspective on the changes and challenges to society are fascinating.
This sage questions himself and his experiences. He vividly describes the long-lasting physical, emotional and spiritual effects, showing both the benefits and potential negatives and personal costs to his life as he consciously elicits the release of the yogic serpent energy.
This book is about Gopi's personal journey and his experiences of the highs and lows of living with kundalini. He shares the awe-inspiring experience of when his energy rises up through his body. Gopi Krishna doesn't gloss over the challenges he encounters in dealing with his own transformation. This is Gopi's story and struggle with enlightenment, family and society. His honesty and transparency is refreshing. He makes it clear that this internal journey is not for the faint of heart. He provides the reader with a cautionary note near the end of the book "Long years of preparation will always be needed in the case of those who would like to brave the hazards of arousing kundalini to activity before its proper time."
Krishna makes the point that kundalina is natural but the conditions must be right for it to flow in a healthy way. He says our bodies and minds are evolving to allow this intelligent energy to flow.
Gopi cautions and challenges us to transcend our ego and intellect to ensure our survival as a species, "It is obvious that in order to survive as a cosmic conscious race, humanity must continue to remain in possession of all the ethical virtues and higher emotions and even add to them, as without these the harmonious continuance of society is not possible...unilateral development of the intellect is not a sign of a healthy evolution."
May 27, 2008
Really interesting/inspiring. Gets a bit heavy at times but if you trudge through it you'll be happy you did. If you read this book with an open mind it could certainly change the course of your life. Required reading for anyone practicing meditation or Kundalini yoga.
May 10, 2019
This book is an extraordinary first-person account of an unparalleled phenomenon. Highly recommended to a person interested in the subject.
June 23, 2022
Could have been shorter.
November 28, 2024
This is an important read for any spiritual seeker, especially for those involved in Eastern techniques of spiritual development, such as meditation or yoga, and double especially if they're working with kundalini energy directly.
This fascinating first-person account begins with an average meditation session for our narrator, Gopi Krishna, living in 1930's India. Krishna is surprised, however, when this ordinary session results in unexpected experiences, ranging from bodily sensations, auditory and visual hallucinations, and emotional turbulence. We follow along with Krishna as he embarks on a quest to discover both the meaning behind and solution to the disturbances that continue to negatively affect his day-to-day functioning, growing in severity, yet remaining shrouded in mystery. Ultimately, Krishna is forced to walk this particular road mostly alone, answering his own questions, becoming his own teacher and guide. He manages to find a path out of this grueling predicament, and has chosen to share his story as a living testament to the extraordinary power of kundalini energy and as a manual for anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation.
Krishna is remarkably wise, courageous, tenacious, and perpetually humble. His accomplishments are an inspiration to anyone on the spiritual path. The answers he comes to regarding kundalini, its function, nature, and perils, are insightful and intriguing, as well as profoundly significant. This is an intimate tale, one that really peels back the curtain to reveal the hidden truths of the darker, more intense moments of spiritual practice, a reality that many New Age lessons have a tendency to gloss over, or shy away from. This is an unflinchingly honest account of a well-intending, unassuming man's descent into a landscape of immense suffering and unrelenting confusion. The lessons contained within were hard-won and deeply personal, yet universal at the same time. You may find a resonance within these pages that will soothe some of the existential angst or spiritual confusion you have been encountering as well.
This fascinating first-person account begins with an average meditation session for our narrator, Gopi Krishna, living in 1930's India. Krishna is surprised, however, when this ordinary session results in unexpected experiences, ranging from bodily sensations, auditory and visual hallucinations, and emotional turbulence. We follow along with Krishna as he embarks on a quest to discover both the meaning behind and solution to the disturbances that continue to negatively affect his day-to-day functioning, growing in severity, yet remaining shrouded in mystery. Ultimately, Krishna is forced to walk this particular road mostly alone, answering his own questions, becoming his own teacher and guide. He manages to find a path out of this grueling predicament, and has chosen to share his story as a living testament to the extraordinary power of kundalini energy and as a manual for anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation.
Krishna is remarkably wise, courageous, tenacious, and perpetually humble. His accomplishments are an inspiration to anyone on the spiritual path. The answers he comes to regarding kundalini, its function, nature, and perils, are insightful and intriguing, as well as profoundly significant. This is an intimate tale, one that really peels back the curtain to reveal the hidden truths of the darker, more intense moments of spiritual practice, a reality that many New Age lessons have a tendency to gloss over, or shy away from. This is an unflinchingly honest account of a well-intending, unassuming man's descent into a landscape of immense suffering and unrelenting confusion. The lessons contained within were hard-won and deeply personal, yet universal at the same time. You may find a resonance within these pages that will soothe some of the existential angst or spiritual confusion you have been encountering as well.
July 16, 2019
L'autore descrive in questa autobiografia come sia riuscito, in maniera assolutamente inconsapevole e dopo anni di meditazione, a risvegliare la kundalini ( energia Divina latente in ogni essere umano ). L' energia sessuale non è che energia vitale che rimane dormiente, avvoltolata come un serpente ( kundalini) alla base della colonna vertebrale. Si può risvegliare a scopo riproduttivo- il suo impiego naturale- o per produrre una trasformazione di energia: l' energia salendo per il canale centrale (sushumna ) si diffonde per tutto il corpo attraverso i centri ( chakra ) o plessi, ne apre i petali, e sale fino al loro dei mille petali, situato alla sommità della testa. Tale situazione determina un' amplificazione della coscienza, e trasformazioni energetiche che sono di grave e profondo sconvolgimento per tutti gli organi e le cellule. L' organismo e la mente, se non preparati adeguatamente, ne restano sconvolti, non riuscendo a sopportare questo enorme e continuo carico energetico. In questa situazione si trovò l' autore: assolutamente impreparato e la sua vita ne fu sconvolta. Egli nel libro, scritto dopo più di venticinque anni di travagli, rivive e ci trasmette le sue sofferenze e quelle di sua moglie, che sempre lo assistette, e quelle dei figli.
July 18, 2025
I read this book in the early stages of my own kundalini awakening—when I didn’t yet have words for what was happening in my body, and everything felt confusing and intense. At that time, Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man was one of the few books that gave me some sense that I wasn’t alone, that others had passed through similar thresholds. For that, I’m deeply grateful.
Gopi Krishna’s account is raw and unfiltered. It doesn’t try to simplify or gloss over how powerful and destabilizing the process can be. His sincerity really comes through, and I found comfort in the fact that someone had walked through the fire and lived to write about it.
That said, the book can be a bit convoluted at times. The language is dense, and there were moments when I had to reread whole sections just to follow the thread. But even so, something essential came through—his honesty, his reverence, and the sense that kundalini is not just a personal force but a collective evolutionary current.
If you’re at the beginning of your own process and looking for a mirror—imperfect but true—this is a valuable one.
Gopi Krishna’s account is raw and unfiltered. It doesn’t try to simplify or gloss over how powerful and destabilizing the process can be. His sincerity really comes through, and I found comfort in the fact that someone had walked through the fire and lived to write about it.
That said, the book can be a bit convoluted at times. The language is dense, and there were moments when I had to reread whole sections just to follow the thread. But even so, something essential came through—his honesty, his reverence, and the sense that kundalini is not just a personal force but a collective evolutionary current.
If you’re at the beginning of your own process and looking for a mirror—imperfect but true—this is a valuable one.
August 26, 2019
I have picked up this book when I was strolling down a used book shop near my locality. I am grateful for this work and this book answered a lot of questions which I had in my mind; but was I never able to express or articulate them.
Gopi Krishna looks at the evolution of the dormant force "Kundalini" present in every human being in a scientific way and records his own personal experience. Also, this book had the perfect ending lines I have ever read in any book(at the time of writing this review).
Recommend for any spiritually thirsty individual who is open to look at evolution of human being from a different perspective.
Gopi Krishna looks at the evolution of the dormant force "Kundalini" present in every human being in a scientific way and records his own personal experience. Also, this book had the perfect ending lines I have ever read in any book(at the time of writing this review).
Recommend for any spiritually thirsty individual who is open to look at evolution of human being from a different perspective.
September 27, 2023
In simple words, one can clearly understand the importance of having a master in awakening Kundalini.
If you are someone whose vision about Kundalini has been clouded with the ideas presented by a few mystics sadhus we have around, then you shall read and understand how such great power comes with misery.
While I liked the book and gained more knowledge then I had ever expected, I believe it could have been written in a much better manner. He went into too much detail almost repeating everything more than just a few times making the whole read confusing.
Otherwise the book is a good read.
If you are someone whose vision about Kundalini has been clouded with the ideas presented by a few mystics sadhus we have around, then you shall read and understand how such great power comes with misery.
While I liked the book and gained more knowledge then I had ever expected, I believe it could have been written in a much better manner. He went into too much detail almost repeating everything more than just a few times making the whole read confusing.
Otherwise the book is a good read.
February 1, 2024
A great first-person account explanation of what happens during a Kundalini awakening.
The author elaborates both on the struggles and the benefits of the experience. He claims that the human is meant to evolve past his materialistic understanding of reality and Kundalini energy is one of the next steps that humanity can use to evolve into what Nietzsche called a Superhuman.
The kundalini awakens in people only who are ready to undergo such a process, although sometimes can be triggered by accidents. The job of science is to also try to understand this process better, and the author made his contribution to this scientific inquiry.
The author elaborates both on the struggles and the benefits of the experience. He claims that the human is meant to evolve past his materialistic understanding of reality and Kundalini energy is one of the next steps that humanity can use to evolve into what Nietzsche called a Superhuman.
The kundalini awakens in people only who are ready to undergo such a process, although sometimes can be triggered by accidents. The job of science is to also try to understand this process better, and the author made his contribution to this scientific inquiry.
July 22, 2017
On the one hand, I'm grateful for Krishna's careful depiction of awakening kundalini because it confirms my own. On the other, I found his tale irritatingly isolated. Other than some Tantric texts, he offers no scriptural sources and no external authorities to corroborate his experience or contextualize kundalini's arousal in more general spiritual development. And this book is flabby with unnecessary rants. Nonetheless I'll keep this one on my shelves; it's an example of spiritual memoir as testimonial.
December 26, 2019
Found the book years ago. I got attracted by the cover and took it. For a while now I've been interested in chakra's, mostly reading about them and not necessarily trying to awaken the kundalini. However, this book I've read in awe. He is one of the first to experience this and he cannot come out and ask for help - he cannot find predecessors. Instead of solely hearing about the enlightenment of others and how seemingly easy it comes, this book covers the agony one can experience when the kundalini rises without real training.
(I gave the book away to a stranger, I hope she enjoys the read.)
(I gave the book away to a stranger, I hope she enjoys the read.)
August 22, 2020
This book was a mix of story telling and tangents. It got really confusing at times because the story ceased to be explained and the author moved on to highly descriptive nature. I found myself not being able to read more than 5-10 pages at a time. Despite all of that, I choose to finish the book.
There were few moments where I felt the book was very interesting. Perhaps that's the point, where one is close to or has experienced illumination and the difficulty of conveying it to those who have not.
There were few moments where I felt the book was very interesting. Perhaps that's the point, where one is close to or has experienced illumination and the difficulty of conveying it to those who have not.
May 24, 2020
The book is long and boring at times filled with un necessary details of the author if you just to want to read about kundalini.
Still I found his autobiographical details worth knowing as it helps us understands what he had to sacrifice to meditate and a have a higher consciousness.
Assuming kundalini exists,Body needs to be strong to handle rise of the spiritual energy i.e serpent power.
This author had well built body hence he could handle rise of serpent power.
Still I found his autobiographical details worth knowing as it helps us understands what he had to sacrifice to meditate and a have a higher consciousness.
Assuming kundalini exists,Body needs to be strong to handle rise of the spiritual energy i.e serpent power.
This author had well built body hence he could handle rise of serpent power.
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