Topic: persistent kundalini "demon"? would you be concerned ?

[Феофан]

Ultimately, though, it is your life, and you are free to do with it as you please.  But when you keep putting yourself and your self-diagnoses out there and make snide remarks against those who have tried to help you with advice with which you disagree, don't sanctimoniously pretend to be a victim.         

ahh... OK,  it might have been better for me to have chosen a subject line like "former cult member continues to experience "siddhis".

The first time I saw this light I was looking at a photo of Swami Muktananda on the back of one of his books which is a classic and almost common kind of introduction for "devotees".  They considered this to be a spontaneous awakening of kundalini energy - like dry wood catching fire from a small spark.  I remember reading a book by an American psychology professor who described seeing this electric blue light coming out of Muktananda's eye entering his own and circulating back to Muktananda. His book wasn't specifically about Siddha Yoga he just mentioned it parenthetically in a scientifically objective way. 

If my disputants here really care about me or the topic they should research Siddha Yoga / Muktananda and the kinds of things happening to people back then because I was one of them.  My particular experience was classic and completely in keeping  with other supposed "adepts" in that cult.  God knows what we were really experiencing but it's very unlikely it was retinal failure (in my opinion). 

Obviously I experienced seeing this light much more frequently when I was actively participating in the cult but it's exactly the same when I experience it again now - 25 years later.

[NicholasMyra]

I've been on sabbatical.

Please don't Judaize on the public fora.

[TheTrisagion]

I've been on sabbatical.

Please don't Judaize on the public fora.

[bearpaws]

Visual hallucinations don't generally start and stop happening in relation to spiritual focus.

Of course they can, spiritual focus is mental focus after all. Many things can trigger hallucinations, from stress to anticipation. You may be so focused on it, consciously or subconsciously, that your brain playing tricks on you. People with certain mental traits can be easily talked into various visual effects which may not be persistent, but for some people it stays for the life (like flashing lights in anxiety disorders, for some it stays long after treatment).

[Феофан]

Visual hallucinations don't generally start and stop happening in relation to spiritual focus.

Of course they can, spiritual focus is mental focus after all. Many things can trigger hallucinations, from stress to anticipation. You may be so focused on it, consciously or subconsciously, that your brain playing tricks on you. People with certain mental traits can be easily talked into various visual effects which may not be persistent, but for some people it stays for the life (like flashing lights in anxiety disorders, for some it stays long after treatment).

In your opinion would this be equally true for everyone in the Siddha Yoga cult who experiences this?

[bearpaws]

I have no opinion really, I don't know how many of them experienced anything and how many just said they did. Unguided, regular meditation can be harmful for people with preexisting mental and even physical conditions, it is that easy to induce things on your own, so what kind of effects can be produced with meditation guided by guru who want certain things to occur? Look at pentecostal movements in christianity, what charismatic leader can do to the whole congregation.

Anyway, answering your question from the title, I would ignore it.

[Jetavan]

I've been on sabbatical.

Please don't Judaize on the public fora.

Oy vey.

[Феофан]

[...] so what kind of effects can be produced with meditation guided by guru who want certain things to occur? Look at pentecostal movements in christianity, what charismatic leader can do to the whole congregation.

Yes, I find charismatic Christianity disturbing but have no direct experience of it.  Do you think those people are just deluded in their own minds or are some of them actually "channeling" demons?  Either way it's disturbing (to me).

[TheTrisagion]

[...] so what kind of effects can be produced with meditation guided by guru who want certain things to occur? Look at pentecostal movements in christianity, what charismatic leader can do to the whole congregation.

Yes, I find charismatic Christianity disturbing but have no direct experience of it.  Do you think those people are just deluded in their own minds or are some of them actually "channeling" demons?  Either way it's disturbing (to me).

I doubt there is any channeling of demons, but I do think there is a very strong sense of self-delusion.

[bearpaws]

[...] so what kind of effects can be produced with meditation guided by guru who want certain things to occur? Look at pentecostal movements in christianity, what charismatic leader can do to the whole congregation.

Yes, I find charismatic Christianity disturbing but have no direct experience of it.  Do you think those people are just deluded in their own minds or are some of them actually "channeling" demons?  Either way it's disturbing (to me).

When it comes to fundies there is always some major brainwashing going on. Some like to call everything demonic, but truth is people are most of the time far worse than demons, and a lot harder to deal with 

[Феофан]

Some like to call everything demonic, but truth is people are most of the time far worse than demons, and a lot harder to deal with 

I think human goodness is a dim reflection of divine goodness and human evil is a dim reflection of the demonic. Without the protection of God I doubt humans would stand a chance against fallen angels . 

[hecma925]

Lol, "fundies."