The Goal of Meditation With Shri Anandi Ma

Shri Anandi Ma is the spiritual leader of the Dhyanyoga Center. Shri Anandi Ma offers public programs and meditations, shaktipat (transmission of spiritual energy), and intensive retreats throughout the United States, Europe, and India. Please contact the Dhyanyoga Center for a complete schedule.

In the modern stress-reduction toolbox, meditation has taken a central place. From the Mayo Clinic to classes in how to meditate in minutes, professionals are touting meditation's ability to relax the body, clear the mind, increase vitality, and even decrease the stress-related effects of chronic conditions such as heart disease, arthritis, and depression.

But can the benefits of meditation go beyond wellness of body and mind? According to a master of an ancient yoga tradition which has a local presence, the answer is a definite yes.

Shri Anandi Ma is the heir of a lineage of yoga masters extending back thousands of years, she holds a perspective on what meditation is and why we practice it that goes well beyond the goals of stress management.

According to Shri Anandi Ma, the practice of meditation can lead to fulfillment of "the most important goal of life, Self-realization." Since the beginning of creation, she says, "the search for eternal and complete bliss has been a constant for human beings." As a result, over the centuries many different paths and different techniques have been discovered that can lead serious practitioners to experience their oneness with divine energy. Formerly kept hidden for several thousand years, the path of kundalini maha yoga is the path Shri Anandi Ma teaches, and meditation is one of the most important techniques used on this path.

The term "kundalini" broadly refers to the infinite, universal energy that existed before creation, that brought all of creation into being, and that will continue to exist after everything created disappears. On a personal level, kundalini also refers to the manifestation of this universal energy in every human being. Yogis have often described the personal aspect of kundalini as like a serpent; when it is fully active, the kundalini rises up the human spinal cord from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, bringing enlightenment.

When an individual's kundalini energy is dormant, Shri Anandi Ma states, spiritual evolution is not possible. "This inner force needs to be activated through whatever techniques, whatever belief systems," she says. "The simplest and most direct way to activate the kundalini is through shaktipat."

Shaktipat is the direct transmission of universal energy from an adept to a student. As a master of kundalini maha yoga, Shri Anandi Ma has performed shaktipat on several thousand persons, imparting to each the energy that awakens and activates their individual kundalini. Once the individual kundalini is activated, it begins its journey to the crown of the head. Along the way, the energy affects every aspect of the person's life—physical, mental, and emotional—always with the ultimate goal of enlightenment or Self-realization.

What, then, is the role of meditation in this process? "Once the kundalini is awakened," Shri Anandi Ma says, "all the person needs to do is practice, to meditate regularly." Time spent in meditation each day encourages the active kundalini to continue its rise along the spine. In this sense, meditation is a way of carefully adding fuel to an already burning fire. Assisted by the process of meditation, the individual kundalini continues to move toward its eventual union with the universal kundalini, where the oneness of self and divine energy is realized.

Shri Anandi Ma agrees that meditation also brings about the day-to-day benefits noted by proponents of stress reduction, such as enhanced physical strength, a clearer mind, better immunity, and even spontaneous healing. "But most of all, meditation brings inner peace and balance," she says. "These are the most important factors for happiness while we are still in the physical body."

Beyond even these, however, is the ultimate goal of knowing the Self to be no different from that energy which created the cosmos. Meditation is key to this knowing because "the inner experience first has to be had with and from the energy within," Shri Anandi Ma states. "Kundalini maha yoga is a universal science of spiritual growth, and the most important thing is the direct, personal, inner experience."

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