Swami Khecaranatha has been teaching Kundalini Sadhana since 1972. With a mastery etched from five decades of inner practice and selfless service, he is an authentic adept of Tantric Shaivism and an initiated carrier in the Shakti Transmission Lineage of Bhagavan Nityananda and Swami Rudrananda (Rudi). Khecaranatha is the spiritual leader of Heart of Consciousness, which is based at Nityakash, his retreat center on Maui, Hawaii.

Swami Khecaranatha was not born to privilege or in a spiritual environment, but to an American family in circumstances comparable to those of most of his readers. While living in an ashram for thirty years he also held several “real-world” jobs, including that of CEO of a multimillion-dollar publishing/consulting business. This personal experience has strengthened Swami Khecaranatha’s conviction that it is possible to live fully in the world while developing and maintaining one’s conscious connection with the Divinity within. From this platform, he is able to discuss spiritual growth in language that is relevant to students’ daily lives, giving them specific tools to actualize the radical transformation of consciousness that is available to anyone willing to work in-depth, over time.

Books:

• Merging With The Divine: One Day at a Time
• Depth Over Time: Kundalini MahaYoga: A Path of Transformation and Liberation
• The Heart of Recognition: The Wisdom and Practices of the Pratyabhijna Hrdayam
• Shiva’s Trident: The Consciousness of Freedom and the Means to Liberation

Website: heartofc.org

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded October 5, 2013.

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to Swami Khecaranatha (Nathaji)
• 00:03:29 – From Disbelief to Spiritual Awakening
• 00:07:12 – The Grace of Meeting Rudi
• 00:11:39 – Rudi’s Break from Muktananda
• 00:15:14 – The Kundalini Awakening and Meditation Techniques
• 00:19:18 – Kundalini Yoga: Becoming aware of energy frequencies
• 00:22:44 – The Transmission of Shaktipat
• 00:26:26 – The Initiation from Rudi
• 00:30:28 – Kundalini Awakening and the Potential Dangers
• 00:34:17 – The Intensity of Kundalini Awakening
• 00:38:02 – Burning with Emotions
• 00:41:35 – The Divine Force that Created Us
• 00:45:25 – The Zoomed-In Microscope and God’s Plan
• 00:48:53 – The Four Upayas
• 00:52:29 – Rudi’s Accelerated Growth
• 00:55:45 – The Intensity After Rudi’s Passing
• 00:59:02 – Siddhis and Enlightenment
• 01:02:34 – Finding Joy in Life
• 01:06:01 – The Seduction of Enlightenment
• 01:09:44 – The Challenge of Describing Enlightenment
• 01:13:46 – The Origins and Development of Shaivism
• 01:17:15 – Awakening the Psychic Body and Ascending Consciousness
• 01:21:15 – The Ultimate Reality within Ourselves
• 01:24:01 – Tantra as a Practice in Kashmir Shaivism
• 01:27:59 – The Journey to Becoming a Swami
• 01:31:42 – Rudi’s Teaching and Tantric Shaivism
• 01:35:21 – Swami’s Personal Life and the Levels of Sannyas
• 01:39:09 – Surrendering to God and the creation of Rudramandir
• 01:42:43 – Thriving Amidst Challenges and Authenticity
• 01:45:57 – Concluding Remarks and Next Episode Preview
• 01:48:19 – End credits

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Stuart Perrin, an American spiritual master of Kundalini Yoga who has been quietly teaching small groups of students around the world for the last thirty-nine years, and is a direct disciple of Swami Rudrananda, more commonly known as Rudi. Stuart studied six years with Rudi. In 1973, Rudi died in an airplane crash and Stuart was one of three survivors.

Stuart Perrin was born August 10, 1942 in the Bronx, New York. The first child and only son of Sylvia and Michael Perrin, he began his spiritual quest at the age of sixteen. Sitting at his father’s deathbed, he was shocked and awakened to a simple reality. “Why,” he asked himself, “is it the first time I’ve seen my father in such a profound state of inner peace? Why did he have to wait till the last moments of his life to be filled with so much love and serenity?”

Stuart realized he’d have to find someone to train him in deep meditation practice. His search for a spiritual teacher took him to Europe, Africa, Mexico and all over the United States. Stuart spent nine years looking for a master only to find him in his hometown, where he met Rudi, who trained Stuart in the fine art of deep inner work and Kundalini Yoga. “What did you see when we first met?” Stuart once asked Rudi. Rudi answered, “I saw my spiritual son lost in the universe. I pulled you in the door of my shop.”

Stuart’s training with Rudi was filled with profound and ancient teachings, “streetwise yoga”, humor, and more than a few swordstrokes to the ego. “See that weed in the sidewalk crack. It’s got more life in it than you,” Rudi once said to him while they were walking on a Manhattan street when Stuart complained to Rudi about his living situation. After four years of intense training Stuart became a teacher in Rudi’s lineage. Besides the formal technique of deep inner work, a technique that uses the mind and breath to strengthen the chakra system and build a link between the spiritual practitioner and Higher Creative Energy in the Universe, Rudi taught Stuart the necessity of using spiritual work in everyday life. “We must live here and there at the same time,” Rudi told him. “If we don’t master day to day living, we never work out our karma. We are never free.”

Stuart taught meditation at Rudi’s New York City center for two years. Then Rudi asked him to teach at a newly-formed meditation center in Denton, Texas. While in Texas, Stuart started meditation programs for hungry and homeless people, for people in prison and ex-offenders, addicts and ex-addicts, the elderly, high school students, and other people in all walks of life. He also initiated devoted disciples into the mysteries of inner work, and he, in turn, created new teachers of meditation.

In February 1973, Stuart and Rudi were in a plane crash in the Catskill Mountains, a plane crash that took Rudi’s life. “I never feel he is gone,” Stuart wrote of his guru. “When I wish to be with him, to learn from him, I just open my heart. He is there, sitting, smiling, sharing his teachings. The moment he died, I felt his soul pass into me.”

Stuart moved back to New York City in 1980 and continued his work as a spiritual teacher. He continues to train many more people, and has meditation centers in the U. S., Israel, and Brazil.

A well-known and respected author, Stuart has published The Mystical Ferryboat (1983), Leah (1988), A Deeper Surrender: Notes on a Spiritual Life (2001), Moving On: Finding Happiness in a Changed World (2004), an essay for Kundalini Rising (2009), and most recently Rudi: The Final Moments (2011)

Interview recorded 9/29/2012

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction and Background of Stuart Perrin
• 00:03:27 – A Transformative Experience
• 00:06:19 – The Rigorous Training for Spiritual Enlightenment
• 00:09:44 – The Need for a Spiritual Life
• 00:11:46 – The Will to Have a Spiritual Life
• 00:14:04 – Using the Mind and Breath in Meditation
• 00:16:26 – Wisdom and Compassion in Tibetan Buddhist Teachings
• 00:18:21 – The Fire of Compassion
• 00:20:18 – Spiritual Teachings and Ego
• 00:22:03 – Awakening and Consciousness
• 00:23:55 – Building Consciousness in Ourselves
• 00:25:38 – Learning to Get Out of the Way
• 00:27:31 – Buddha and Shankara’s Enlightenment
• 00:29:31 – The Twinkle in Their Eyes
• 00:31:23 – Transformation at Ramana Maharshi’s Ashram
• 00:33:07 – A Life of Spiritual Experiences
• 00:34:33 – Meeting Rinpoche in Texas
• 00:36:01 – The Discipline of Tummo and the Teachings of Kala Rinpoche
• 00:38:00 – The Universe Sending Teachers
• 00:40:08 – The Need for Avatars and Teachers
• 00:42:21 – Individual Consideration and Practical Teaching
• 00:44:34 – Absorbing the teachings
• 00:47:49 – Rudi’s Journey to Nityananda and Muktananda
• 00:50:36 – Profound Influence and Root Guru
• 00:53:05 – The Significance of Sexuality in Spirituality
• 00:55:50 – Mastering Energy and Meditation
• 00:57:57 – Cannibalism and Consuming Energy
• 01:00:23 – The Transformation of Suffering
• 01:02:23 – Finding Joy and Flow in Life
• 01:04:38 – A Conversation with Stuart Perrin
• 01:06:11 – Ways to Stay Connected to the Interview Series on batgap.com

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Siddhananda’s journey began in her teenage years. It wasn’t until she was around 30 that her journey and seeking of truth began in earnest.

At this time, Spiritual practices were picked up on her own, and Kundalini spontaneously awakened due to a sincere prayer of wanting to be of service to humanity. She was not prepared or had any idea what this awakening would open or where it would lead.

With this awakening, many phenomena, shifting states of consciousness and radical mood changes manifested which left her extremely ungrounded and shaken. After a long period of struggling to understand what was taking place and being unsuccessful at coming to any balance or peace within, Siddhananda found her Guru, GuruSwamiG.

Siddhananda has been with her Guru for 10 years. Increasing stability, deepening states as well as balance slowly filtered in during this time  due to  her Guru’s  grace and guidance.

Recently, a profound shift took place in which all sense of separation and individuality suddenly dropped. Spontaneously, a starkly different reality was revealed–an immediate non-dual, pure beingness in which there never existed an “other”.  This presence (One without a second) has remained and is known without a doubt that it is the truth of what all of humanity truly is at the core.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded 1/18/2011.

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to Siddhananda’s spiritual journey
• 00:02:39 – Facing Fears in Graveyards
• 00:04:31 – The Poetry of Krishnamurti
• 00:06:01 – Debilitating Experiences and Mystical Insights
• 00:08:00 – The Pull of Spiritual Awakening
• 00:10:08 – From Darkness to Light
• 00:12:33 – Discovering Kundalini Energy
• 00:14:33 – The Potency and Caution of Spiritual Experiences
• 00:16:35 – Five Years of Intensity
• 00:18:58 – Kriyas and Spiritual Awakening
• 00:21:23 – Connecting with a Kundalini Guide in Seattle
• 00:23:36 – A Life-changing Encounter in India
• 00:25:35 – Finding Stability and Balance
• 00:28:20 – The Importance of a Guru Guide
• 00:31:14 – The Blessing of Suffering and Desperation for a Guru
• 00:33:52 – Submitting to a Teacher
• 00:37:30 – Trusting in the Inherent Intelligence of the Universe
• 00:40:47 – The Blessing of Guruji
• 00:43:26 – Vibrating Thoughts and Fluid Consciousness
• 00:45:49 – Devotional Experiences and the Practice of Mantras
• 00:49:00 – The Illusion of Seeking Phenomena
• 00:52:38 – The Experience of Non-Dual Consciousness
• 00:57:02 – The Dissolution of the Ego
• 01:01:39 – The Illusion of Separation
• 01:06:51 – The Revelation of Non-Dual Presence
• 01:13:28 – The Mystery of Personality and Identity
• 01:20:43 – The Nature of Ego and Suffering
• 01:25:45 – Working with Students in the Online Ashram
• 01:31:32 – The Temporal and Eternal Qualities of the Substratum
• 01:37:21 – Transmission and Bliss
• 01:44:34 – Trusting the Universe

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