It starts in your basic body; if your first three layers aren’t ready, the sudden power can get stuck and hurt, but with some preparation it flows safely and uplifts.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
On which plane does shaktipat take place in the meditator and on which plane does grace take place? If the meditator's first, second and third bodies are not fully developed, what effect will shaktipat and awakening of kundalini have on him?
I have already told you that shaktipat takes place in the first body and grace in the fourth. If shaktipat takes place in the first body and the kundalini is not awakened, it will awaken -- and with great speed. Then we will have to be very careful, because with shaktipat what ordinarily happens in the course of months happens in a few seconds. Therefore, before shaktipat there should be a deep preparation of the first three bodies. A sudden shaktipat on a person who is not at all prepared, on any Tom, Dick or Harry, can be harmful. Therefore, a little preparation is necessary before shaktipat. No elaborate preparation is necessary; only enough to bring the three bodies in focus. That is the first thing. The next is that there should be a line of connection between the three so that the energy does not become blocked anywhere. If…
Osho, in which of a seeker's bodies does the event of shaktipat occur, and in which body does grace occur? If the seeker's first, second, and third bodies are not fully developed, what effect will kundalini awakening and shaktipat have?
It is difficult, isn’t it! A woman came two days ago. She said, “I am near death now, I am old; when will it happen for me? Do it quickly! Do it quickly, otherwise I will die, I will be gone, finished. So make it happen quickly!” I told her, “Come for meditation; do meditation for two or four days. Then we will see how you move in meditation, and then we will think about what comes next.” She said, “No, don’t entangle me in meditation; I want it done quickly.” This is a search for something without paying any price at all. Such a search proves dangerous. You don’t get anything from it; something can break instead. A seeker should not have such an aspiration. We should trust that we always receive exactly as much as our preparation warrants. It does come. In fact, a person never receives less…
Osho, in yesterday’s talk you said that a seeker should first be concerned with becoming a vessel, and should not go about begging from place to place. But the very meaning of a seeker is that he has obstacles in practice. He doesn’t know how to become a vessel, how to prepare. So if he does not go asking, what should he do? How difficult it is to meet the right guide!
But searching and begging are two different things. In fact, the one who does not want to search is the one who begs. Searching and begging are not the same; they are opposites. He who wants to avoid searching begs; a seeker never begs. And the processes of searching and begging are entirely different. In begging you have to keep your attention on the other—the one who will give. In searching you have to keep your attention on yourself—the one who is to receive. It is true that there are obstacles on the path of the seeker. But if we understand rightly, saying there are obstacles on the path of the seeker means the obstacles are within the seeker; the path too is within. And to understand one’s obstacles is not very difficult. So we will have to speak a little more extensively on what the obstacles are and how…
Yesterday you talked to us about the effect of shaktipat and kundalini awakening on persons whose first three bodies are not prepared for it. Please explain further what kind of effect will take place if the second and third bodies are not prepared. Also, how should a meditator prepare his physical, etheric and astral bodies for the event?
There are other processes of the second body which can be known by other methods. For instance, you see a man perfectly healthy, perfectly normal. Now if someone tells him he has been given a death sentence he will turn pale at once. No change has taken place in his first body but there is an immediate change in his etheric body. His etheric body is ready to leave the physical body. If the owner of a house comes to know that he has to vacate the house immediately all joyfulness and lightness will disappear; everything will be disturbed. The second body has broken its connections with the first, in a sense. The execution is to take place after some time or maybe not at all, but his connection with the first body is broken. A man attacks you with a gun or a lion attacks you in the jungle:…
Questioner: how is intense breathing and the asking of the question "who am I?" related with the process of the awakening of the kundalini and its penetration into the various centers or chakras of the body?
There is a relationship, and a deep relationship at that, between the two processes. In fact, it is the breath that connects the soul with the body; breath forms the bridge between the two. That is why with the cessation of the breath life ceases to be. Life goes on even if the brain is damaged. One can survive even if one's eyes or other bodily limbs are amputated. But if the breath stops, life will come to an end immediately. Breathing really joins the body to the soul. And it is at the junction of the soul and the body, at their meeting point, where the energy known as kundalini resides. Kundalini, or whatever name you give it, is the same energy, and it resides at the junction of the body and soul. Therefore this energy has two forms. When this energy flows towards the body, it becomes sex;…