BACK TO THE STATES: Where It All Began

The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we
are for what we could become…

~ His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

In honour of this special day of January 5th, 2024, the birthday of our dear Teacher and Guide, Igor Vamadeva Kufayev, we invite friends, followers and Sangha to celebrate with us, join us on a time travel to the beginnings of the teaching and savour a darshan from one of Igor’s first US immersions from the archives…

BEGINNING OF THE TEACHING YEARS

Ever since Igor’s decision to step out and begin teaching after emerging from his years of radical transformation and the furnace of love, it was a leap of faith into the unknown. In 2013, still based in Costa Rica with his family, Igor began to travel extensively in the States to share his direct insights into Being, the neurophysiological path to Self-realisation and the universal teaching of nondual Shaiva Tantra. Organically, people of all walks of life began to welcome him with open arms and gather around him, as the hearts here were tuned to receive his life-affirming perspective, cutting-edge vision and a down-to-earth spirituality for our time. It was here, on this side of the Atlantic, where many of Igor’s first talks found their emphatic mark and created strong ripples in the spiritual community – of which can be felt to this day.

…How many times have we ignored the still voice within, silencing the whispers of intuition? Life, with its ever-flowing hymn of temptation, steers us hither and thither with the promise of fulfilment that is always within an arm’s reach… a hair’s breadth, and yet…

IMMERSIONS AND INITIATION OF SHAKTIPAT

The work took off in California, where the first weekend immersion on the theme of Vibrant Self was offered in 2013 at the legendary retreat centre “Mount Madonna”, near Santa Cruz. Even after Igor and his family moved to Europe, to the Mediterranean island of Mallorca in 2015, Igor would still return to North America twice a year to offer his transformative work in California, Sedona and British Columbia in Canada.

This was an incredible time of new beginnings, filled with synchronicities, heart-felt and impactful encounters, and an effortless flow from one place to another – to share the bliss of Being. Many of those who would become Igor’s close companions came into the work during this time, to be of service to its unfolding. Igor presented at SAND (Science and Nonduality) conferences in California, held intimate in-home gatherings, and eventually, began to offer larger programs that he coined as “immersions” – a term indicating what should become the heart of Igor’s work, the immersion into one’s own divinity (Samavesha in Sanskrit).

…Never was there gain without a certain risk. The kind of spiritual work we do is not for the faint-hearted and requires a form of courage – a willingness to see through, an openness to be taken in, to be radically transformed…

In a prophetic and unexpected turn of events, the Feminine Powers of God immersion in 2014 in Ralston, CA, marked a profound shift in the way the teaching was delivered. It was here that the first spontaneous vocalisations were collectively experienced and captured during the group meditations. They would become one of the rare features of Igor’s transmission-based work – an expression of the awakened prana shakti reclaiming the instrumentality of the human body. As Igor recalls, even he did not anticipate that this would be the direction in which the work would unfold…

…When human physiology is finely tuned, we come to live the awe that all of life speaks… listen, listen…

Participants of various US-based immersions in involuntary yogic movements – yoga asanas, mudras, vocalisation (kriyas) – during meditation sessions with Igor Kufayev.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEACHING

From thereon, the work intensified and grew, as more and more people gravitated towards the potency of what was happening in these unique containers as the birthplace of new consciousness. Igor was recognised as one of the very few living Kundalini masters and experts today, capable of not only bestowing the power of Grace and initiating the awakening of Consciousness, but also facilitating and safeguarding the awakening process through all its successive stages. 

Over the next years, Igor began to deliver the Perennial teachings in particular themes – Luminous & Self-Aware, Tantric Christ, The Heart of Shiva, Transformative Power of Beauty, to name a few – which gave additional angles and richness to the body of the Advaita Tantra teaching itself, revealing new insights and breaking new ground, which set the stage for how the teaching has been presented today. 

The following darshan from one of the first week-long immersions that Igor delivered at Joshua Tree in California, under the theme of HUMAN BEING: The Gate, the Altar and the Offering, will offer a glimpse into this time.

So you can interpret a lot of mystical poetry and mystical verses in that way. To take the thorn out of the heart, we use another thorn [paraphrased]. Have you heard that line? It belongs to Rumi, one of Rumi’s verses. To take the thorn out you require another thorn.

So, there’s no God outside of me; there’s no me outside of God. Just as I create everything that I look at here – taste, smell, perceive, cognise – so every one of you, every single being, does that. And the collective sum total goes into that, where the prevalent vibrations, where that wave moves – only then to collapse into particles, and then reality, alternative reality, is born into existence. Otherwise, we remain stuck in that patriarchal dualistic spirituality: “There is God and there’s me. There is God and there is creation”. And we are constantly delegating, negotiating – continuously dealing, bargaining even. It takes courage to take a stand as Consciousness. It takes real courage and it also takes maturity.

– Igor Kufayev, excerpt from a Darshan from the immersion “HUMAN BEING: The Gate, the Altar & the Offering” at Joshua Tree, California in May 2014. Watch the full archival darshan on our YouTube channel.

BACK TO THE STATES

It was in this part of the world where the most emphatic addresses were given on the subject of beauty and art, which eventually formed itself around and as Igor’s debut book Camatkāra: The Hidden Path, published in Spring 2023. There is so much that was initiated, unfolded and gained momentum in the States, and these foundational years carry more than just sweet memories, but the resonance of the silent melody behind this living teaching, which was and is received by all those hearts tuned to the whispers of love. So, it is with great joy that we can share today that Igor will finally be returning to where it all began, deep in the American evergreen forests, in the cradle of it all – singing as consciousness, standing tall as the mountain. 

We will offer a week-long immersion in North Carolina, at the well-established Art of Living centre in the Blue Ridge mountains in Sept/Oct 2024 – making it Igor’s debut in the East Coast. And then just two weeks later, Igor will be at the Mt. Madonna retreat centre on the West Coast in Northern California, where we historically held one of the first weekend immersions ever.

HERE IN THE HEART OF IT ALL

We are incredibly excited to bring the teachings into the States again and to reunite with everyone who has been eagerly waiting for Igor to return, anticipating the spontaneous orchestration of the Shakti, the mover and shaker of this universe, the Grace behind this work. 

We give our utter thanks and appreciation for all the supporters of Igor’s work, for our friends, followers, Sangha and the World family, as we sense the glory and beatitude which awaits, when we gather as One.

“This conversation is like the song heard at the distance, we don’t know its name, we don’t know its author; it’s a folk song but it’s been sung there by our ancestors and the echo of this song fills the valley with that shared purpose of what it means to be alive, here and now.”

Igor Kufayev


For more information on our long-anticipated, upcoming week-long immersions in the States with Igor Kufayev in the Autumn of 2024, please visit the following pages:

7-day Immersion September 2024 in Boone, NC, USA

7-day Immersion October 2024 in California, USA


Photos taken during events and immersions with Igor Vamadeva during the years 2012-2016. Courtesy of Flowing Wakefulness.

Responses

  1. Dearest Vamadeva
    My heart feels infinitely grateful right now and always that you are our beloved Teacher and I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart.
    I wish for the upcoming events that there will be many hearts waiting for you on the other side of the big pond, welcoming you with open arms and recognizing the greatness of your holy teachings.
    I wish you a wonderful birthday with your loved ones and all the best and Love.
    Durga Ananda Ma

  2. Dearest Master,

    may you be gifted with everything your heart fills with joy and ease. May there be lots of good tea, yummi food and warm embraces! May you and your family be healthy and safe. Happy Birthday, my dear teacher – or as we say in Indonesia: Selamat Ulang Tahun 😉

    My greatest gift is being able to be in your presence, learn from and be guided by you in this lifetime. Bowing down in deepest gratitude. Jai Guru Dev 🙏🏾

  3. Dearest Vamadeva,

    Thank you for all the transformations that I have been blessed with in my life. And the many different ways my life has been unfolding after I have met you and been in your Grace.
    May your light and beauty touch countless others and bring the Divine into everyday life for everyone on our beloved planet. ☀️

    Jai Guru Dev 🙏