Uhm, I've been having that most of my life. Usually happened when I was deeply moved by a piece of music that I loved - definitely NOT Jehovah's Witness songs! Felt good; hasn't happened for a while but I can prompt it to happen by entering a certain mental state, playing certain music, and dancing. (Took up belly dancing after leaving JWs and it happened frequently during those dances...)
Eventually I ended up living a couple of doors down from an artist who's exhibited at the Denver Art Museum a couple of times; he looked at my work and called me an artist too (I always thought of myself as a craftsperson), then he asked me about the "Divine Shiver"... It's the same thing as the energy surge of the Kundalini, basically... He's a devout Catholic, so I guess he wouldn't feel too comfortable viewing it as a manifestation of Hindu God/Goddess energy. I recently read a book titled "Daughters of the Goddess" by Linda Johnsen, which touches on this phenomenon... Here's a quote from that book:
“How long does it take to realize the Goddess? To become one with her?” I ask Swami Veda Bharati. “The blink of an eye”, he smiles. “All it requires is a glance from the Mother of the Universe.” And then, because he loves to tell stories, Swami Veda speaks of the Gods. Brahma, the creator of our particular universe (there are, of course, many others) lives for 311,040,000,000,000 of our earth years. Everything that we experience as real is merely Brahma’s dream. But Brahma himself was born from the dream of Vishnu, an infinitely vaster intelligence. A thousand times the length of Brahma’s life is just a few hours to Vishnu who himself lives some 671,846,400,000,000,000,000,000 of our years, according to the reckoning of the yogis. Brahma is born and dies, is reborn and dies again, over and over in the boundlessness of Vishnu’s dream, creating galaxies, withdrawing them, creating galaxies, withdrawing them. In every instant untold millions of other Brahmas are also taking birth and dying in Vishnu’s being.
But all of Vishnu’s existence is barely a breath in the lifespan of Mahadeva, “the Great God”; Shiva himself. Millions and billions of Vishnus are taking birth at every moment in the infinity of Shiva’s meditation. And the yoginis, who should know, say Shiva himself lives for 87,071,293,440,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of our years. At the end of that eternity, even Shiva must pass away.
“And 1,000 of Shiva’s lifespans,” Swami Veda closes his eyes, “is one glance from the Mother of the Universe.”
She is Maha Kali, the Devourer, eternity itself. But because she is beyond time she can manifest in time. Because she is limitless, she can limit herself. “The supremely auspicious One, my Mother, is ever pure and transparent. She is wider than space itself and tinier than an atom. She is omniscient, yet she knows nothing; she does everything, yet she never acts; she holds everyone, yet no one holds her. All forms exist in her, but she is formless. Everything belongs to her, but she claims nothing. Through her everything that can be known is known, and yet she cannot be known. She is bliss, yet she herself is beyond bliss. Everything, even the gods, vanish into her; she alone never dies. She has no father or mother, yet innumerable are her daughters, like me,” the seeress Hemalekha taught her husband.
The matrix of being is without limit yet She measures the measureless. That is why the sages call her Maya, “the measurer”. She gives us the idea that the stars can be counted and that our own lives have a beginning and an end. This is so that we can grasp what she herself cannot; finitude.
Watching Sri Ma sit before her linga, reciting mantras ancient before the God of my own culture was born, and then merging into perfect stillness, I realize that the Goddess dwells beyond the outer reaches of thought, yet because she is the source of sound, those who listen to silence can hear her speak. The voice of the Goddess resounds “like thunder in the sky of the mind” according to the Tantra:
“I am the intelligence from which the universe emanates and in which it inheres, like a reflection in a mirror. The ignorant believe I am merely inert matter, but the wise experience me as the pure Self within themselves. They glimpse me when their minds become as still and clear as an ocean without waves..."
There's a brief discussion of the various types of yoga in this book, also, and what they are actually supposed to represent:
Ma Yoga Shakti was given the title Maha Mandaleshvar; she is the only woman of whom I am aware who has been granted this honorific in recent times. It literally means “Lord of the Great Mandala” but its connotations are very complex. A common practice of Indian yogis and yoginis is to worship a mandala or yantra, a geometric design whose every line, angle, circle, and petal represents a particular Goddess. Each Goddess in turn is the symbol of a specific divine power or quality such as creation or destruction, heat or cold, love or wisdom, hatred or jealousy. (Yes, negative qualities and emotions are also seen as part of the divine play in the Indian tradition.) Through intense concentration on the Goddesses of the mandala, and repetition of the mantras associated with them, the worshipper unites with and finally masters the powers they represent. Therefore to call a woman a mandaleshwar is a poetic way to acknowledge that she has mastered the mandala of her own mind and body, that she has mastered herself.
Ma Yoga Shakti is an advanced yogini. In the West we tend to think a yogini is a woman who has become particularly adept at hatha postures. This is not at all the meaning of the term in India . “Hatha yoga is only a preliminary practice to keep the body healthy. There are four steps of yoga. First is karma yoga, second is bhakti yoga, third is raja yoga, fourth is jnana yoga. They are not different paths; they are one and the same. First you solve your daily problems, karma yoga. Be efficient, expert in your daily work. Bhakti means you purify your emotions, your heart, your mind. Then you are a good person in the family and in the nation also. When you love god[dess], you love his/her creation also. Creation is a manifestation of God[dess]’s glory.”
In raja yoga, one sits for meditation. Ma typically sits for five hours. Ultimately the meditative state should persist whether one is sitting erect with eyes closed or working busily in the world. “If mind is always in control, every second, that is called sahaja samadhi.”
Jnana yoga is often translated as the yoga of knowledge. Ma quickly clarifies: “Liberation is not intellectual. Intellectually you can’t understand it. The intellect is helper and intellect is barrier also. One is bound by nothing else but his own mind...” “The first mantra and message and wisdom teaching of the Vedas is ‘Everything here is permeated by divine energy. God[dess] is everywhere in all forms. Nothing is bereft of divine energy....”
Don't be afraid of this energy. It is your life force [in conjunction with the life force of the universe!] manifesting itself - often it is a sign of surging creativity yearning to be released into the universe. Enjoy!! Zid
