06-20-2005, 07:52 PM
From Pioneer, 20 June , 2005
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Awakening the kundalini </b>
Paramahansa Yogananda
The word "serpent" (kundalini, circular) has been very commonly used by wise men to illustrate anything mysterious, subtle, hidden, and powerful. It is dangerous and can be tamed only by those who know how to charm it.
Unseen forces that govern the body have also been spoken of as very subtle, hidden and hard to control. Thus, Hindu sages call the outgoing force of life energy, at the base of the spine in the coccyx, the "serpent force" or "kundalini." This is because it runs down through a circular passage coiled like a snake into the sexual nerves.
This is the outgoing force that tempted Eve (feminine nature of feeling and sensation in woman) which in turn tempted Adam (the masculine, self-controlled nature in man) to "eat the apple", that is, to indulge in sexual union (instead of the spiritual union of feeling and knowledge).
"Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," that is, he withdrew the current which stimulates sexual consciousness into his brain. Withdrawing of this force into the brain temporarily is not real awakening. Through higher forms of meditation (kriya) and by awakening the coccyx centre, one can permanently cause the outgoing kundalini force to flow into the brain. Only through these super-psycho-physical methods of awakening the muladhara (coccygeal plexus) can one possibly control the sexual consciousness wholly. There is no other way.
The average person, ignorant of the impelling force of the power of kundalini, becomes overpowered by sexual troubles. All aspirants on the spiritual path ought to know how to first awaken the kundalini and then to direct it to the medulla oblongata and the brain. This force in man, uniting with the force in woman during sexual union, causes not only the loss of physical substance, but also the loss of life energy.
We must understand what the snake symbolises. The snake swallowing its own tail represents Nature devouring the Infinite, that is, the two are different and are always warring. But the truth is that the snake symbolises power and if this power is misused one is bound to get poisoned.
Snake on the head symbolises that "the kundalini was lifted up 'in the wilderness'". Some spiritual men in India tie their hair on top of the head; this symbolises that the snake is bound by the mind. Lord Shiva has a snake on his head. This signifies that the coiled kundalini when lifted up through the passage of the spine goes back to the Infinite.
The snake also represents Nature, which is both powerful and poisonous. If you conquer both the snake and Nature, you will realise God. "In the wilderness" means that this was done in the quiet of the soul (through meditation). When you withdraw the senses from the eyes, ears and so forth, the life force goes back into the coiled passage of the spine and enters the ida and pingala canals. Then it dissolves into the sushumna canal (the middle of the spine). The current is then taken up through the medulla oblongata and into the infinite.
The kundalini passage is called the "gateway of the life force". Moving from the medulla battery down through the inner spinal centres, the life force is conducted through the cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal regions to the whole body. This kundalini gateway is responsible for flooding the life current from the soul region of the medulla to the physical region of the different senses of sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing, including the earthbound, physical, creative force of sex.
The life force flowing down from the medulla oblongata through the spinal centres, and especially through the coiled kundalini gateway at the coccyx, is called the "sleeping kundalini". It is called "sleeping" because it serves as the medium to establish communication with and to draw the attention of the ego to the bodily senses, sex and the material world.
Kundalini awakening means withdrawing the life force from the senses and directing it into the spinal passages. This can be achieved through the practice of the kriya technique. In death it goes through the spine without your consciousness. So why not go consciously? As your soul and life pass through the Sushumna passage at death, you lose consciousness. But the advanced yogi can consciously go through this passage any time, and at death he can take his soul consciously through this passage.
This life force is not responsible for the attachment of the ego to the senses, just as electricity in the telephone is not responsible for a robbery arranged through its medium. By using different techniques, the yogis teach how to reverse the life force.
The life force moving through the channels of the five senses reveals to a man the glory of the visual, auditory and tactual objects causing him to become attached to them. But when the kundalini is withdrawn from the senses and is flowed into the brain through the spine, it reveals the presence of the finer spiritual forces, and God.
(Courtesy: The Yogoda Satsanga Society of India)
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Awakening the kundalini </b>
Paramahansa Yogananda
The word "serpent" (kundalini, circular) has been very commonly used by wise men to illustrate anything mysterious, subtle, hidden, and powerful. It is dangerous and can be tamed only by those who know how to charm it.
Unseen forces that govern the body have also been spoken of as very subtle, hidden and hard to control. Thus, Hindu sages call the outgoing force of life energy, at the base of the spine in the coccyx, the "serpent force" or "kundalini." This is because it runs down through a circular passage coiled like a snake into the sexual nerves.
This is the outgoing force that tempted Eve (feminine nature of feeling and sensation in woman) which in turn tempted Adam (the masculine, self-controlled nature in man) to "eat the apple", that is, to indulge in sexual union (instead of the spiritual union of feeling and knowledge).
"Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," that is, he withdrew the current which stimulates sexual consciousness into his brain. Withdrawing of this force into the brain temporarily is not real awakening. Through higher forms of meditation (kriya) and by awakening the coccyx centre, one can permanently cause the outgoing kundalini force to flow into the brain. Only through these super-psycho-physical methods of awakening the muladhara (coccygeal plexus) can one possibly control the sexual consciousness wholly. There is no other way.
The average person, ignorant of the impelling force of the power of kundalini, becomes overpowered by sexual troubles. All aspirants on the spiritual path ought to know how to first awaken the kundalini and then to direct it to the medulla oblongata and the brain. This force in man, uniting with the force in woman during sexual union, causes not only the loss of physical substance, but also the loss of life energy.
We must understand what the snake symbolises. The snake swallowing its own tail represents Nature devouring the Infinite, that is, the two are different and are always warring. But the truth is that the snake symbolises power and if this power is misused one is bound to get poisoned.
Snake on the head symbolises that "the kundalini was lifted up 'in the wilderness'". Some spiritual men in India tie their hair on top of the head; this symbolises that the snake is bound by the mind. Lord Shiva has a snake on his head. This signifies that the coiled kundalini when lifted up through the passage of the spine goes back to the Infinite.
The snake also represents Nature, which is both powerful and poisonous. If you conquer both the snake and Nature, you will realise God. "In the wilderness" means that this was done in the quiet of the soul (through meditation). When you withdraw the senses from the eyes, ears and so forth, the life force goes back into the coiled passage of the spine and enters the ida and pingala canals. Then it dissolves into the sushumna canal (the middle of the spine). The current is then taken up through the medulla oblongata and into the infinite.
The kundalini passage is called the "gateway of the life force". Moving from the medulla battery down through the inner spinal centres, the life force is conducted through the cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal regions to the whole body. This kundalini gateway is responsible for flooding the life current from the soul region of the medulla to the physical region of the different senses of sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing, including the earthbound, physical, creative force of sex.
The life force flowing down from the medulla oblongata through the spinal centres, and especially through the coiled kundalini gateway at the coccyx, is called the "sleeping kundalini". It is called "sleeping" because it serves as the medium to establish communication with and to draw the attention of the ego to the bodily senses, sex and the material world.
Kundalini awakening means withdrawing the life force from the senses and directing it into the spinal passages. This can be achieved through the practice of the kriya technique. In death it goes through the spine without your consciousness. So why not go consciously? As your soul and life pass through the Sushumna passage at death, you lose consciousness. But the advanced yogi can consciously go through this passage any time, and at death he can take his soul consciously through this passage.
This life force is not responsible for the attachment of the ego to the senses, just as electricity in the telephone is not responsible for a robbery arranged through its medium. By using different techniques, the yogis teach how to reverse the life force.
The life force moving through the channels of the five senses reveals to a man the glory of the visual, auditory and tactual objects causing him to become attached to them. But when the kundalini is withdrawn from the senses and is flowed into the brain through the spine, it reveals the presence of the finer spiritual forces, and God.
(Courtesy: The Yogoda Satsanga Society of India)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->