Tao/Kriya or Chi/Kundalini?
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 5 years before Jun 09, 2017
unlimitedsun 5 years ago
Tao/Kriya or Chi/Kundalini?
I find it noteworthy that my experience of practicing from Mantak Chia’s manual of cultivating the male chi energy was immediately more productive/evident than my practice of Kriya as fostered by Yogiraj Madhvacharya. Shortly after beginning to practice I started to successfully apply the lock following the breath inhalations that are indicated in the book. I was able to do this only by reading the book without any direct observation of a practitioner or a session with such.
I recall one instance when I was in Mali in West Africa (this was over a decade ago) and practiced just standing in front of the mirror according to relatively very short and non-ceremonial sessions. I came back to external awareness after falling onto the bathroom floor from the chi effect. I was not even aware that there was a need to control the energy as it surged. In that region of the world and during that season it was very hot, in addition my body was younger.
It just so happens that in cultivating the male chi energy the breath is inhaled and once it reaches the lower chakras it is then compressed into the sexual elements, as one pushes the energy upward, from that region into the higher chakras, towards the top of the head by way of the spinal cord. I recall that it is explained that semen is similar to the substance of the spinal fluid which in turn is akin to the gray matter in the brain. So the trick is to reconnect these elements (?), and one gains enlightenment. One drop of semen is worth so many drops of blood, so much so that when rejuvenated and efficiently energized with sun energy semen harbors as much as nuclear energy. A strong case for evolving to a higher plane.
Yes, the methodology is at a simple look very similar to that of Kriya. Bhastrik however does not aim at only infusing the lower chakras, but it is also concerned with the whole material body only with the intent to dissipate all sexual energy from the region at large; as well as all other parts of the body. The energies addressed by the pranic breathing include apanic energy, organically akin to lactic acid. It is a wholesome approach to energizing the subtle body and that for some other objectives.
Cultivating the male chi energy on the other hand in my judgment, by focusing primarily on the seminal/reproductive fluid reservoirs; results in reinforcing/reinvigorating the sexual apparatus.
These seemingly very similar mechanisms are utterly opposed. Their intent or purpose is contrary to one another, so much so that the end results are when looked at, at relatively deeper level are not only far from one another, but also opposed!
Just as the cultivation of (sex) chi is obsessed with validating/gratifying the sexual aspect of the body as essential tools to increasing vitality, hence donning eternal live; so is Kriya obsessed with frustrating the sexual elements (in the search of pleasure), as their comfort will only favor their adherence of Kundalini; a self-defeating position to Kriya practice.
Circles that advocate the cultivation of sexual energy including practitioners of tantric sex are very comfortable in group sessions where both genders engage in titillating the sexual organs. It is an environment where sporting a solid erection is king, it attests to a sign of vitality, and a good stock of youth elixir, absolutely nothing to be ashamed, rather something to celebrate.
The meditation piece is also missing in tantric, but not in the practice of a Taoist such as Charles Luk. I have no qualification whatsoever to say anything of his writings, since I have not read them (yet) neither have I practiced his path. But from a quick look at the diagrams shared by Charles Luk, I can notice a keen resemblance to the ones that are ever so carefully depicted by Yogiraj Madhavacarya in his books; the only ones (to my knowledge).
So, as tantric yogis the like of Mantak Chia advance in a opposite direction to Kriya yogis, Taoist the like of Charles Luk go along the path of Kriya yogis like Michael Beloved. This is only an opinion. My position is that Kriya yogi is the ultimate pathway to the subtle, and beyond. And, the material body thus becomes not so much a vessel but a mere tool.
