Experiences of the Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive
from Siddha Yogis and New Seekers
The Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive is a sacred event in which Gurumayi Chidvilasananda bestows shaktipat initiation, the awakening of Kundalini Shakti in a seeker. In 1974, Baba Muktananda held the first Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive in Aspen, Colorado, USA. Now, each year in October, Siddha Yogis and new seekers in countries around the globe participate in the Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive in Honor of Baba Muktananda’s Mahasamadhi.
On this page, Siddha Yogis and new seekers share their experiences of participating in a Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive. To share your experience, please click the link below.
After the Shaktipat Intensive, I found that when I meditated, I could enter a deep place inside where I would experience great love and peace. Now when I come out of meditation, I often feel a lightheartedness and a connectedness to all things around me and go about my day saturated in positive vibrations and contentedness.
London, United Kingdom
Michigan, United States
Throughout these twenty-four years I continue to feel that many scales have been falling from my inner eyes that had not let me see the Truth earlier. Shaktipat was, is, and will be the magnificent initiation that every sincere seeker deserves!
Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Argentina
I grew up in a difficult household, which caused a lifetime of struggle. My greatest wish was to have peace in my heart and help my family heal, but I didn’t know how. During the last two meditations, I saw flashes of family photos, and a vision of an energy burst rippling through time. I heard a woman’s voice say clearly, “How can you save them if you can’t save yourself?”
Thanks to the Guru’s infinite love and grace, I have been experiencing wholeness and peace, and actually enjoying visits with my family. There has been a pronounced shift in my family relationships, in me and in their response to me. For the first time in my memory, I am able to sleep well. I am grateful to Gurumayi for this greatest, most beautiful gift of healing and wholeness.
Illinois, United States
Two days after my participation in the Shaktipat Intensive, I realized during meditation that this separation had melted away. I was repeating On Namah Shivaya as if it were the contours of my own body, as if I’d said my own name! The grace I received in the Shaktipat Intensive unified me. My Gurus’ teaching about the mantra has passed from intellectual understanding to my lived experience.
Crozon, France
This was my first time participating in a Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive after being introduced to the Siddha Yoga path two years ago.
Toward the end of the Intensive, I started to cry. I knew, somehow, that these were tears of recognition and love. I had always wanted to be loved, but never really believed before that it could be possible. I felt so much love from the people around me in the Intensive hall, even though some of them didn’t know me very well.
That night, after the Intensive, I had an experience in which the space around and within me expanded. I was surrounded by bright, golden light, so strong that it felt as if I had swallowed the sun. I became so drenched in this light that I was convinced that I was radiating it.
I believe that the Shaktipat Intensive has given me access to something that was previously hidden from me—something very beautiful and divine. I am filled with so much love that it seems like my body cannot contain all of it.
Russian Federation
The atmosphere of the Shaktipat Intensive is incomparable and unique. For me it is as if I am sitting in a room whose silence and power awaken me and make me aware that I am inwardly and outwardly in the presence of God. This divine presence has a most positive influence on my being, my consciousness, my feelings, my future, and my destiny.
For me, taking part in a Shaktipat Intensive is the greatest and most precious gift I can offer to my soul. After each Shaktipat Intensive I feel freer, lighter, more awake, stronger, and grateful for the divine life I am able to experience.
Konolfingen, Switzerland
After more than thirty years, I’m being brought back to this experience. In a meditation on Om Namah Shivaya that I had one day last week, I saw Gurumayi turn to look at me. And her eyes were once again as I had seen and experienced them in that Intensive years ago.
In a meditation the day after the Intensive, I heard Gurumayi tell me, Live in the fire of my love. After that meditation I wrote a poem about my experience; I gave it those seven words as the title, as the teaching was coming through, along with wisdom and marching orders for my life.
What a joy to feel Gurumayi’s presence with me!
Texas, United States
Dombivli, India
Kolkata, India
I am immensely grateful to the Gurus of the Siddha Yoga lineage.
Panvel, India
At that very moment, the electricity went off while the Intensive participants were doing a call-and-response chant. I interpreted that as Baba telling me that chanting Om Namah Shivaya is what I should do. When I understood this, the heaviness I had felt was gone, and I felt light.
This is what I have to practice now.
Dombivali, India
I offer pranam in gratitude.
New York, United States
It dawned on me that throughout the Shaktipat Intensive, I was learning to be a more effective charioteer of my mind and navigate it with more skill and precision toward the destination of my choice. With this realization, my focus shifted away from a challenging stream of thoughts I had been dwelling on. I was able to observe them without being swept up in my mind’s activity. At that point, as I glided into a vast spaciousness, my inner state became calm.
West Vancouver, Canada
Washington, United States
After the Intensive, as I allowed space for further reflection, I experienced waves of grace, and my heart and mind became immersed in a state of love and peace.
Connecticut, United States
Georgia, United States
Mumbai, India
Salutations to our Gurus for their teachings and love!
New Delhi, India
I came to the understanding that, through shaktipat, the Guru gives us a glimpse of our true nature, and that this is analogous to the fifth act of Lord Shiva—the bestowal of grace. Now, as a seeker, I see that it’s my duty to keep engaging in regular practice to maintain the experience of grace and my true nature until they become my permanent experience.
Thane, India
During a Reflection Satsang at the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland, I found the courage to share my experience with other Siddha Yogis. Sharing this revelation deepened my sense of wonder at the grace inherent in the Siddha Yoga path.
California, United States
The second time I immersed myself even more deeply. It felt magnificent and beyond the mind. During the meditation sessions, I felt that my Self, the Guru, God, and the world are one and the same, and this awareness felt so simple and natural! When the Intensive concluded, I felt distinctly lighter, from deep within—and I still do.
California, United States
As my breath brings me into the present moment, I notice that my thinking becomes clear, my shoulders relax, and my spine lengthens. Then I feel able to move forward with whatever needs to be done.
Florida, United States
During the namasankirtana I made up my mind to be fully present regardless of some pain in my legs, and I surrendered to the power of my breath. I had very few thoughts, and I was completely still, in body and mind, for some time.
After participating in the Intensive, I began waking up at dawn without any outer alarm and meditating regularly.
Dombivli, India
At the conclusion, when we were asked to journal about our experience, the following poem emerged:
I am the breath
The breath is breathing me.
The sound and the breath are one,
without boundaries.
Nothing exists except the breath
going up, going down,
one with the universe.
Florida, United States
Mumbai, India
California, United States
Late in the day, as we were chanting, I was conscious that the discomfort was still present. I decided to surrender to the experience and think of myself as a coconut being offered to the fire of yoga. I closed my eyes, and immediately I saw the Blue Pearl, suspended in a vast space of swirling blue, white, and black light. The chanting poured from the meditation hall directly into me, as though a great waterfall had dissolved my discomfort. I experienced that all that existed was the point of blue light in the slowly dancing space of the chant. I felt so much love and ease.
That experience of bliss has stayed with me. No matter what has been happening in my day, I have been aware of a sense of deep stillness in my heart.
Watson, Australia
Freiburg, Germany
During the first meditation session of the Shaktipat Intensive, something let go in the area of my lower chest and my breath opened so deeply that, at first, I thought my inhalation would just go on and on! The sensation felt so freeing, and I began deeply drinking in the breath. I experienced the nourishment of the breath penetrating into my cells and my mind became stable and silent.
Afterward, I began to practice Gurumayi’s Message for 2017 and I could actually feel it viscerally. I also had the insight that I can receive her Message as a direction, an intention, and an invitation. This Intensive has illuminated a doorway for me into Gurumayi’s Message, and I’m excited to begin my newly enlivened exploration and study.
Toronto, Canada
And then, tears of great joy poured down my cheeks as I thought, “I can unite with Gurumayi’s breath at any time, not only when I’m providing translation during Siddha Yoga events!”
It was yet another experience in my sadhana when I understood Baba’s teaching that the Guru and the disciple are one. It was beautiful.
Warsaw, Poland
My heart felt deep gratitude to Gurumayi ji for taking us on this path of enlightenment.
Gurgaon, India
Washington, United States
Chanting Om Namah Shivaya with the awareness that many other Siddha Yogis in the global sangham were, or would soon be, chanting it as well—while participating in different countries, across different time zones, and speaking diverse languages—gave me a sense of profound unity, within and without.
Now that I have returned home, I will have the opportunity to participate in the Shaktipat Intensive again. This is indeed a blessed opportunity for me to refine my understanding of how my own breath relates to the primordial acts that govern the universe. In turn, I know this will uplift my day-to-day life and deepen my awareness of my creative responsibility.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
After chanting Om Namah Shivaya in the first session, we were invited to attend Gurumayi’s darshan in Guru Chowk. When I came before Gurumayi and bowed to the padukas at her feet, the darshan assistant introduced me to Gurumayi. Gurumayi gazed into my eyes and gave me an exquisite smile. I bowed again and knew that my vessel was already full.
That night, I slept like a baby. Following the Intensive, I was very indrawn, speaking little and just savoring the gift of shaktipat. Something had subtly changed in me. I felt that participating in the Intensive had made my mind “gentle,” enabling it to “uphold the auspiciousness of every moment.”
New Jersey, United States
I had prayed many years earlier for inner peace, and this is what I experienced; I received what I most longed for. This inner peace continues to be both my experience and my goal as I continue sadhana with Gurumayi’s guidance in the company of my enthusiastic fellow Siddha Yogis.
Nelson, Canada
Eventually, a thought occurred: “So this is bliss.” For the duration of the thought, I became an individual, with a body and a mind. Then I once more was light and love. Another thought, “I want this!” brought another glimpse of my usual identity. Thoughts then came more and more rapidly. Each time they replaced the blue light with ordinary awareness until the thoughts were seamless, and “I” was back in the hall, the meditation session over.
Baba had shown me who I truly am—and the nature of my forgetfulness. He said to meditate so that this experience of who I am would become permanent. I have been a daily meditator ever since.
California, United States
I then entered the state that transformed my life forever. I became love, divine love, unconditional love. Everyone and everything was love. No separation existed—just different manifestations of the same love. I remained in this state for two weeks. The perception of myself and life that had led to past suffering has never returned. How could it when I had experienced my true Self?
The Guru’s grace had turned darkness into light, and the grace of shaktipat continues to unfold. I feel gratitude every day for having received the greatest gift a human can receive: the gift of experiencing my own divine light.
Central Coast, Australia
In April 1980, in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Melbourne, I participated in my first Shaktipat Intensive. I had been attending satsangs at the Ashram for a few months, and I was particularly drawn to Baba Muktananda’s teaching: “God dwells within you as you.” These words triggered something deep within, long-forgotten, that was echoing and calling for my attention.
When I entered the hall on the morning of the Shaktipat Intensive, the atmosphere felt ancient, alive, and suffused with sacredness. Very naturally, my head bowed.
In the first meditation session, I felt as if I were floating down a deep, velvet-lined well. When I arrived at the bottom of the well, I lay suspended on waves of gently pulsating energy. Rising and falling in time to an ancient rhythm, I felt deeply soothed. Although I had never experienced such a thing before, there was a familiarity about this stillness; the cells in my body were remembering a long-forgotten code, and with this, the awareness that my essence was pure and divine. I felt humbled and amazed, absorbed, and nourished. All I could hear was Baba’s teaching “God dwells within you as you” reverberating through my being.
In the years since receiving shaktipat-diksha, the understanding that arose within—the awareness of my own divinity—has become the true north for my life. This beautiful awareness constantly guides me, bringing me into alignment with the most refined and pure essence of my being.
Dulwich Hill, Australia
I participated in my first Shaktipat Intensive in October 1996 at Shree Muktananda Ashram. The Intensive was titled “Baba Muktananda, the Ocean of Enthusiasm” in honor of Baba’s Mahasamadhi.
I began this special day by reciting Shri Guru Gita in the early morning. As I recited the verses, I felt energy ascending from the base of my spine. This movement was gentle and winding. It continued upward to the crown of my head, and I remained aware of the pleasant, rising pulsation as I continued the recitation.
Later that morning when the Shaktipat Intensive began, one of the Siddha Yoga meditation teachers described Kundalini Shakti and the unfolding movement of this sacred energy when it is awakened from its dormant state. I recalled the extraordinary experience I had while I was reciting Shri Guru Gita, and understood it to be the awakening of this mystical spiritual power.
Then, during one of the meditation sessions in the Intensive, I saw a beautiful green garden with a path winding through it. The flow of the path mirrored precisely the movement of the energy that had spiraled up my spine. At that moment, I knew with certainty that I had been awakened to a magical inner world. And I knew that the journey through this world would be filled with grace, wonder, and beneficence. It has been so.
New York, United States
I participated in the Shaktipat Intensive for the first time in December 1993 in Oslo, Norway. I had begun attending Siddha Yoga satsangs just a few months earlier, and in the weeks leading up to the Shaktipat Intensive, I joined the other satsang participants in preparing for the event.
I will never forget the moment I entered the meditation hall on the morning of the Shaktipat Intensive—the energy was soft and gentle but also joyous and bubbly. When the Intensive began, we chanted the mantra with Gurumayi on video. Later, during meditation, I felt light pressure in the space between my eyebrows, and I remember feeling like my body and mind had come to a complete state of rest and stillness. I was cradled in that deep and gentle state. This was the first time I had meditated for any extended period of time, and I was happy to have achieved this state; however, since I did not have any amazing visions or see lights, I wondered if I had really received shaktipat.
Then, during the reflection time at the end of the Shaktipat Intensive, I closed my eyes, and I had a vision. I was a large mountain of ice. I could see the frozen tip of the mountain sticking out of the water. It looked massive, permanent, and immobile. Then, the vision shifted to deep below the surface of the water, at the foundation of the mountain, and I saw that a crack had formed all the way across the base. I knew that sooner or later that crack would lead to the next stage in the mountain’s evolution: to break loose and glide freely in the ocean.
This image helped me realize the power of shaktipat-diksha, a force strong enough to shift an immense mountain from its base and at the same time gentle enough to cradle me in meditation. I knew then that I had received shaktipat-diksha. The same initiation that others experienced with visions of light, I had felt as a subtle power at the depth of my being. I might have looked the same on the outside, but deep inside a process of transformation had begun, and it held the promise that one day I would be totally free.
British Columbia, Canada
In the spring of 1994, a friend told me that a Shaktipat Intensive was going to be held at the Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Wroclaw, Poland. She suggested that I come with her. I hesitated, because I already had plans. A few days before the Intensive, however, I made up my mind to participate.
The very same night I signed up for the Shaktipat Intensive, I had a dream. I was climbing a staircase of stone steps, and I saw a man standing at the top. He was wearing a white cloth around his waist. I felt unconditional love radiating from his presence—love which felt beyond time and space. When I got closer, he embraced me and we danced. Then he touched the space between my eyebrows, and everything melted into pure energy. There were no shapes, no different forms: all became one, and it was all red-colored energy.
When I woke up I was in an ecstatic state. The love I felt in the dream was still with me, and I knew it was God’s love I was feeling.
A few days later, when I walked through the doors of the Intensive Hall in Wroclaw, my eyes were immediately drawn to a picture near the puja. I recognized the man from my dream. A sevite at the meditation center told me that this was Bhagavan Nityananda, Baba Muktananda’s Guru.
I have heard many Siddha Yogis share that the Shaktipat Intensive begins as soon as they register for it—whether it’s their first Shaktipat Intensive or their twentieth. This was certainly my experience. Just a few hours after signing up for the event, I received shaktipat from a Siddha Yoga Guru! This experience of shaktipat, and the eternal love I felt in my dream, has transformed my life. Since then I know in my heart that there is not a single second when God’s love is not with me. I know that I am not alone; God’s love, the Guru’s love, is always here. The awareness of this love is the foundation of my life, bringing me peace and expanding my joy within.
Oregon, United States
I can feel to this day the moment when Baba’s peacock feathers touched my head. I saw a brilliant white light in the space between my eyes. I became very still and my entire being dissolved in soft blue light. In that divine light I experienced the overwhelming presence of God’s love for me. I felt perfectly safe, pure, and full of joy.
Something had been awakened in me that was deeper and more significant than I could ever imagine. In that touch from the Guru I had received initiation and become aware of my inner divinity. That awareness has never left me.
Quebec, Canada
Following this experience, I began to notice an essential change in my behavior: I was listening to what people were saying when they spoke to me, whereas before I had mostly waited for them to finish speaking. Today, as a teacher and a writer, the essence of my work is listening: to my students’ stories and to my own creative voice within.
It was through shaktipat initiation that a light in me was turned on, a light that can never be turned off. Every Thanksgiving I celebrate my initiation. And every day of the year I give thanks for the gift of shaktipat, for Gurumayi, and for the Siddha Yoga path.
Los Angeles, United States
The Guru has revealed my true nature and the truth of my existence. My wish is that everyone receives this awakening and that we all realize the bliss of our own nature.
New York, United States
That first Intensive set me on a clear path that dramatically changed my life. Gradually, I began to see the world as a manifestation of God and my own daily activities as a flow of energy between God within me and God around me. I’ve come to experience that I am not alone; God’s love is always with me.
Vermont, United States
Since then, through seva and devotion to the Guru, I have received countless excellent blessings and such great love.
Osmanabad, India
It wasn’t until my first day back at school that I realized what I had received. To my surprise, within minutes of seeing friends, they were saying, “What happened? You’ ve changed!” And I began to understand then that shaktipat had opened up an entire inner universe and, with it, a spiritual foundation that was unshakeable.
Gurumayi bestowed upon me the priceless gift of an awakened life, and when I even stop for a second to think about it, I cry with gratitude.
Bath, United Kingdom
From that experience I understood that the Self is real, tangible, and is within me, within everyone, and that it is absolutely accessible through the Siddha Yoga path. It was this direct perception of the Self that has fueled my longing for God. And, sustained by meditation and the Siddha Yoga practices, it continues to do so forty years later.
This is the magnitude of the Intensive.
New Jersey, United States
London, United Kingdom