Please don’t be confused on this point. In the eastern traditions, there is a concept called ‘illusion’. There is also a delineation of levels of awareness;

But, what on earth does this have to do with Kundalini?

Stages of Wakefulness (or sleep)

The four states of consciousness — jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti, and turīya — map deeply onto Deity Yoga in classical tantra, especially within Śākta, Śaiva, and Vajrayāna traditions, where deity practice isn’t mere visualization, but a profound alchemy of awareness.

Those in the know say that Jāgrat means Wakefulness and indicates a state in which consciousness is turned outward through the senses. It’s how we engage with the external world.

Svapna is Dreaming—but not that dreaming, the other one! The one where you create worlds in your mind and transfer them onto your waking experience.

Suṣupti is weird; it’s a kind of Deep Sleep where the mind and ego are said to be inactive yet consciousness remains, in a seed form. Say what!?

And Turīya, the transcendent—everybody’s epitome of excellence—Gurdjieff’s Fourth? Pythagoras’s fifth? It’s a state of purity that we simply cannot conceptualize, so what’s the point of writing much? It is the ground of being itself, the ground of all states, the silent witness that is always present.

In Deity Yoga, Jāgrat (Wakefulness) is the beginning stage where you invoke the deity consciously, with intention. It involves Visualization of the deity form, Mantra and Ritual Action, using the senses to enter a sacred space—smell (incense), sight (yantra), sound (mantra), etc. You’re in the ordinary waking world but using your will (icchā śakti) to transform perception. The waking state becomes a platform for transfiguration. How cool!

Svapna (Dreaming) is the inner ritual space—the dream-like, symbolic consciousness activated once you enter deeper into the practice. Here the deity becomes alive within you. Boundaries between you and the deity begin to blur. Carl’s Archetypes and Symbols along with their meanings begin to emerge intuitively.

Inner alchemy has entered the crucible stage. The mind moves into a mythic-dream space, where identity is pliable. You become the deity in imagination, which in the tradition is a real and powerful energetic state (bhāvana).

In Suṣupti (Deep Sleep) we realize what the Buddhists refer to as no form, pure presence, and silent absorption. The non-conceptual union, like samādhi, but that term’s got twelve layers, too, so… At this stage though, you’re not “doing” Deity Yoga—you are the deity yoga, beyond thought, beyond image. The ego, for all intents and purposes, dissolves.

Lol—who on earth can come back and describe the pure, witnessing awareness that is Turīya? Once You realize the deity as your own innermost Self, is there a You anymore anywhere?

No you can play, in any state, play (līlā) as the One Awareness. Play, not just in your mind, but on the ground of being, Life itself your playmate.

But besides the parameters of this philosophy – and that’s what this is – philosophy! There is still physical life. What physics calls 3D. And it is REAL. Your body is real. If you fall down, it hurts. There are laws which you must obey, like gravity, etc. Don’t confuse on this point, please. It is a point on which far too many get lost. Life is NOT an illusion. The way you perceive life, however, often is.