What is “Shaktipat” and

the Charismatic Relationship?

Shaktipat is a term that is used to describe the touch of a guru.  The guru is considered to be a manifestation of the one divine Reality:  Brahman. Usually the guru will place his hand to the worshipper’s forehead, resulting in the worshipper falling down to the ground in a state of ecstasy.  The ecstatic state is a powerful manifestation of what is believed to be a divine encounter.

Kali, the wife of Shiva the destroyer, is the most feared and revered deity in Hinduism.  Her power is greater than any Hindu deity, including Shiva, Ganesh, and Hanuman.  Kali is also known as Shakti, which literally means power.  The demonstration of power in the touch of a guru is representation of Brahman that is the one force in the universe.

The administration of the shaktipat by the guru happens from him becoming a channel of power, the underlying force of the whole universe, embodied in Shiva’s consort Shakti (Kali).  The tremendous experience of power from the goddess Shakti, administered through the guru’s touch, causes the worshipper to fall to the floor in a state of ecstasy, or he may see a bright light, experience a trance vision, whereby he receives an experience of enlightenment or inner illumination, or else may have some other mystical or physic experience.

In his book, Feast of Fire, pastor John Kilpatrick of the Brownsville Assembly of God, believes such experiences are proof of revival.  Whether the experience is called shaktipat, resting in the Lord, or slain in the spirit the source is the same.  Kilpatrick believes otherwise and writes, “something is happening inside those ‘horizontal before the Lord.’”1

The question must be asked if this is really necessary for God to minister to these people or if He would even do so in the way described.  Secondly, there is no biblical justification for such experiences.  The experiences of those involved in occult practices and the charismatic who claims these phenomenons are of God must explain the striking identity with the world of the occult.  Only the spiritually inept would not recognize the occult connection.

The emphasis in charismatic revivals is on fire and power.  In the occult, the kundalini, or serpent force, changes into fiery form, or “shakti.”  The manifestation of kundalini awakening is characterized by “a rich spectrum of emotional and bodily manifestations” and “sensations of energy and heat.”  Violent shaking, jerking, and twisting often overcome the person’s body.  The manifestations are uncontrollable and are usually followed by unnatural laughter, speaking things previously unknown, and a variety of animal sounds.  The experiences can range from visions of the divine and demonic.2

Clearly, the experience called “slain in the spirit” is not of God, but it is a counterfeit experience of a true fellowship with God through His Word.  There is no doubt that the experience is real, but the phenomenon itself is wholly demonic.  Even though adherents of the slain in the spirit phenomenon provide what they believe are biblical examples of the experience, these are proven to not be biblical in any manner. 

Scripture proof texts used to support the phenomenon does not stand even a causal scrutiny.  For instance, the disciples at the transfiguration fell on their faces in fear when God spoke (Mt. 17:6).  The Philippian jailer fell on his face out of fear for his life (Acts 16:29).  None of the few examples cited can build a case for being slain in the spirit.  Out of reverence for God men fell down on their faces before the Creator and they were always doing so in a conscious state apart from the touch of a guru.

1 John Kilpatrick, Feast of Fire (Pensacola:  In Times Like These, 1995), p. 100.

2 Christina Grof and Stanislav Grof, The Stormy Search for the Self (New York:  Tarcher/Putnam, 1990), pp. 78-79.