Kundalini

According to kundalini yoga and tantra, man is a composite of two main forces, ida and pingala, mind and body. When these two forces are perfectly balanced a third, latent force, sushumna, comes into existence. Then kundalini shakti can awaken and ascend from mooladhara, piercing the chakras until it finally reaches sahasrara. Kundalini is cosmic energy, or mahaprana, and its awakening and ascension lead to cosmic consciousness or self-realization in which the individual consciousness merges with the highest consciousness.

When kundalini wakes up, it is as though we have ignited the booster of a rocket ship. We are propelled into higher consciousness and our whole being is electrified, exhilarated and intoxicated. This is the birth of our spiritual life, a rebirth which kindles in us an awareness which we cannot understand from our present standpoint in evolution. This is the basis and aim of yoga and all practices eventually lead to this goal, an immortal, omniscient, omni powerful and omnipresent state.

With our present consciousness, limited by the senses and our mundane experiences, we have lost access to higher states of awareness. For most of us, without experience of such states, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to understand and accept that they exist, let alone to practise and attain them. It is difficult to understand exactly what the terms themselves mean. Many people, especially doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers and scientists, are demanding proof that such states and experiences exist and that they are desirable.

Kundalini: An Impersonal force

Kundalini is universal energy and is, therefore, not something which lies within the domain of the personal, individual ego. It is the uniting, creative force out of which all individuality came into existence. Just as in the physical body there is one force which permeates all the cells and unites them into a cohesive, integrated whole called the body, so kundalini unites every planet, star and galaxy in the universe. It is an impersonal force, which is not conditioned or subject to the barriers or limits of society, culture, race, creed, religion or philosophy. It will continue when all philosophy has vanished and all intellectual speculation and writing has ceased.

Carl Jung, the well-known Swiss psychiatrist, referring to kundalini as an impersonal force, states that if we claim it as our own creation we do so at our own peril. The price is ego inflation, false superiority, obnoxiousness, or madness. Kundalini is an autonomous process which arises out of the unconscious and uses us as a vehicle. Kundalini has created us and awakens us; we do not awaken her.

Ramakrishna told his disciples: "There are five kinds of samadhi......one feels the sensation of the spiritual current (kundalini) to be like the movement of an ant, a fish, a monkey, a bird, or a serpent. Sometimes the spiritual current rises through the spine, crawling like an ant. Sometimes, in samadhi, the soul swirls joyfully in the ocean of divine ecstasy, like a fish. Sometimes, when I lie down on my side, I feel the spiritual current pushing me like a monkey and playing with me joyfully. I remain still. That current, like a monkey, suddenly with one jump reaches the sahasrara. That is why you see me jump up with a start. Sometimes, again, the spiritual current rises like a bird hopping from one branch to another. The place where it rests feels like fire......Sometimes the spiritual current moves up like a snake. Going in a zigzag way, at last it reaches the head and I go into samadhi. A man's spiritual consciousness is not awakened unless his kundalini is aroused." 

The spiritual consciousness which Ramakrishna and all the great saints, mystics and sages from all traditions, times and countries have spoken about is also called samadhi, nirvana, God-consciousness, and so on. It is a vast consciousness which requires enormous amounts of energy to initiate or trigger and sustain. This energy is far beyond anything that we as individuals can handle, let alone understand.

The whole aim of spiritual experience is the absorption of the individual into the unitive life, higher awareness in which we identify with our true nature, Shiva, pure consciousness. It is as though this mortal body and limited mind is but an egg or seed from which we attain rebirth into a progressively higher and greater existence. Kundalini is the process of germination of this seed or cracking the shell of our individuality so that we merge, consciously, with the source of all existence. As such, kundalini does not belong to one person, one time, or one culture. It is a universal phenomenon.

Gross Cultural Research

Kundalini, as a transcendental phenomenon, is one which lies outside time and space, and, therefore, outside the scope of machinery, measurement, assessment or any other kind of intellectualisation. We cannot really understand how great the power of kundalini actually is. It is said to be the equivalent of setting off an atomic bomb at the base of the spinal cord.

Most of our knowledge of kundalini is second hand, from the reports of those adepts who have succeeded in awakening the serpent power and who have come back to testify to its existence and lead a few selected disciples to its awakening. These people have no need for research or any kind of search, as they have found the answers to the questions of existence; they know. With the awakening of kundalini one moves into a totally new level of evolution, as much beyond our understanding as our state of evolution is to the animal consciousness.

Carl Jung stated that, "When you succeed in awakening the kundalini, so that it starts to move out of its mere potentiality, you necessarily start a world which is totally different from our world of eternity." Jung observed that the rising of this force had rarely, if ever, been seen in the west.

Few people actually awaken kundalini, and of those who do, we know of none who have allowed themselves to be subjected to scientific research, dissection and analysis. Christ, Krishna, Mohammed, Buddha, Mahavir, Zoroaster and other great personalities of recorded history are said to be examples of an awakened kundalini.

In the Chinese Taoist tradition it is said that when prana, the vital principle, has accumulated in the lower belly, it bursts out and begins to flow in the main psychic channels causing involuntary movements and sensations such as pain, itching, coldness, warmth, weightlessness, heaviness, roughness and smoothness. It may cause the body to brighten and even illuminate a dark room. Yin Shih Tsu reported that he felt heat travel from the base of the spine to the top of the head and then down over his face and throat to his stomach.

Kundalini: A Universal Occurrence

The very fact that similar phenomena, philosophies and concepts are reported in geographically and temporally isolated areas and cases implies the existence of kundalini, or some similar phenomenon, as the factor responsible for heightened consciousness, ecstasy, bliss and higher knowledge in all cultures and at all times throughout history.

Gopi Krishna comments, "This mechanism, known as kundalini, is the real cause of all genuine spiritual and psychic phenomena, the biological basis of evolution and development of personality, the secret origin of all esoteric and occult doctrines, the master key to the unsolved mystery of creation, the inexhaustible source of philosophy, art and science, and the fountainhead of all religions, past, present and future."

Kundalini is a universal phenomena locked into the genetic structure of the DNA helix (which greatly resembles the ida-pingala helix) and deep within the shared archetypes of the unconscious mind where the most primitive, powerful and awesome energies, forces, instincts, urges and drives of homo sapiens are found. These forces impel us and give our lives the necessary momentum.

All human beings are subject to the same basic life force that makes the cells of the body grow and reproduce, that ensures the breath and heartbeat continue unabated. We cannot stop acting and reacting while we are alive and the motivating, driving force which propels us, the mainspring hidden deep within the tissues of the body, whose impulse motivates the cellular mechanisms and animates and causes us to think, speak and act, is shakti, energy. But this energy is just a drop of kundalini shakti.

Imagine that we can peer deep into the nucleus of a cell, and deeper still into the genetic material of the nucleus, and then even deeper into the atoms and molecules which are linked by cohesive forces and inter-atomic tensions which have electric and magnetic properties, and then deeper still into the immense, stupendous forces inside the atom ( which when unleashed can destroy cities and are some of the most powerful forces we know of today). Then we would start to approach the abode of kundalini. Hence, the meaning of kundalini is, 'that which abides in a coiled or potential form in a deeper place'.

Actually, kundalini resides even deeper than the intra-atomic level, for she is the basis of all matter (which is merely a grosser vibration of energy), and energy (which is a subtler vibration of matter). She is Mahaprana Shakti, the creative force in the universe, the thermonuclear reaction within the sun, the awesome forces of the black hole which magnetises and traps light, and she is the limitless expanse and darkness of infinite space stretching out beyond the mind's capacity to grasp.

"With an infinitesimally small atom of the dust of Thy (kundalini) lotus feet, Brahma has created this universe, which with great effort and in multifarious ways Vishnu sustains; while Shiva bedaubs himself with it (dust) as holy ashes."

Ananda Lahari, verse 2 

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Kundalini: Medical & Psychological theories

According to Hatha Yoga Pradipika, "Just as a door is opened with a key, the yogi opens the door to liberation with kundalini," (chapter 3, verse 105). If classic, texts like Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita or Shiva Samhita consider kundalini so important, it should be taken seriously by medical and psychological research too. It has been, to a certain degree, and it can be useful to review medical and psychological theories of kundalini.

Autonomous nervous system theory The pioneer in this area was an Indian doctor Varant G. Rele whose book "The Mysterious Kundalini" was published in 1927, and has been reprinted many times since then. The core of his theory is the idea that the upward movement of kundalini can be identified with the activation of the right vagal nerve.

Most of us probably feel that kundalini is not simply the flow of impulses along the autonomous nerves. In this way it would be difficult to explain the kundalini awakening caused by Bhakti Yoga, Mantra Yoga or Guru's grace. But at the same time there may be some relationship between kundalini and the autonomous nervous system. Many powerful traditional approaches, to awaken kundalini stimulate this system.

Special energy theory

According to them, kundalini is a special form of energy new to Western science. For example, Motoyama considered kundalini to he (he life force called "chi" in Acupuncture and Chinese medicine which moves along certain acupuncture channels or meridians. He claimed that it is possible to measure it and depict it with electronic equipment (Motoyama, 1981).

Kirlian photograph) has been considered to be able to picture and measure the level of "energy" in living beings too (e.g. Bluen and Holstock, 1981).

The advantage of these theories is that they can explain the effects of many practices in which little stimulation of the autonomous nervous system takes place. For example, the effects of meditation Can be understood as the communication with cosmic energy or prana removing the blocks of energy that flow in the body (Carrington, 1986).

The concept of life energy may be too vague and the proof of its existence not convincing enough for some people, but let me quote the well-known German physicist G.F. von Weizsacker: "Prana is not necessarily incompatible with physics. Prana is spatially extended and vitalising. Hence, above all it is a moving potency quantum theory designating something not entirely remote from this..."

Psychoanalytic theories

The notion that sexual energy can be transformed and that it is overtly or covertly, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly the most important motivating force in humans is very close to Freud. Sigmund Freud used the word "sublimation" to describe the transformation of sexual impulses and their indirect expression in art or creative work. His renegade disciple C. G. Jung, was very interested in eastern systems like Yoga. According to him, kundalini is synonymous with "anima", female aspect of human psyche (Jung, 1975).

It is interesting that it was a Jungian therapist who discovered Mr. Gopi Krishna for the West and wrote a commentary to his book (Krishna, 1971). Gopi Krishna's idea that kundalini is an evolutionary energy in man seems to me closer to the world of Jungian archetypes than to Darwin.

Psychoanalysis is greatly dependent on introspection which is its most important research tool for understanding the human mind. It is its strength and weakness at the same time. For some people, subjective and differing psychoanalytic theories are not either understandable or acceptable. Others may argue that to explain the mysterious kundalini by the not less mysterious "anima" is not enough.

Biomedical Model by Bentov

It emphasises the resonance of the vibrations by the heart-aorta system. The vibrations within an individual may be harmonised, and even attuned with vibrations of the Earth and other planets. Bentov described a typical sequence of symptoms when kundalini is awakened, and its journey from the left foot to the spine, the head, and down to the front of the body. The symptoms appear only when this journey is not "stress-tree" (Bentov, 1977).

The best known author adopting Bentov's theory is probably Dr. Lee Saunella (1979). She tried to help people with what she considered awakened kundalini to overcome possible difficulties. Any acceptable explanation giving one's painful experience positive meaning or framework can he helpful. That is why some professionals may not be convinced that the improvement after Lee Saunella's treatment is the proof that the symptoms were caused only by kundalini awakening.

Silent brain awakening theories

According to Cn. Hills, kundalini awakening does not take place in the spinal passage but in the brain; it is only projected to the different parts of the body. Even it this theory may go too far, many experts would agree that the awakening of kundalini activates the silent or unused areas of the brain and in this way increases one's mental and spiritual abilities (e.g. Teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati, 1981)

Synthesis of different theories

The above mentioned theories are not mutually exclusive; it is quite common that some experts use Or combine the elements of different theories. The complex phenomenon of kundalini may have many levels reflected, more or less, by different approaches. The following part of this paper summarises some practices associated with kundalini, Perhaps this will help you to select your favourite theory of what kundalini is.

Practices:

If we consider the need "to purify" the body and to prepare oneself for safe kundalini awakening, most, if not all, yogic practices can be related to kundalini in One way or another.

1. Selfless service to people in need, the Guru, mankind, etc. This may be understood in different ways. A traditional explanation may include the concept of karma, sometimes described as past conditioning. Karma, which would otherwise interfere in the awakening, is burnt out in this way. The more psychological explanation emphasises the reliable anchoring in external reality before going deep inside. In this way self control and self discipline are developed. This is well reflected in Paramahamsa Satyananda's idea that a good balanced sadhana (practice) comprises thirty minutes of meditation to every eight hours of hard work.

2. The chakras are "purified" and prepared by particular asanas, surya namaskara with concentration on the chakras, bandhas and some other practices (Satyananda, 1984, 1973).

3. Nadi shodhana balances and purifies the nadis (channels of energy).

4. Yama, niyama, detachment, or the witness attitude are often mentioned as important preparatory techniques.

5. Sushumna (or the central channel of energy) is purified by the shatkarmas, the so-called cleansing practices (Satyananda, 1984).

6. Easily digestible, well cooked and light vegetarian diet is recommended (Satyananda, 1985).

7. Most authorities agree that a competent teacher or Guru with personal experience is crucially important to make the process predictable and safe.

According to Satyananda (1984) there is awakening by birth, mantra, tapasya, soma (herb), Raja Yoga, pranayama, Kriya Yoga (The elaborate system combining mental practices like visualisation, pranayama and bandhas), tantric initiation, shaktipat and sell surrender. The same author mentions elsewhere kirtan, music, selfless service, karma yuga and rituals.

Before his kundalini awakening, Gopi Krishna practised concentration for many years (Krishna, 1971).

Classical texts like Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Shiva Samhita and Gheranda Samhita mention especially pranayamas, bandhas, mudras, and Guru's grace.

The Tibetan technique Tumo or Tum-mo produces heat and helps the yogi to survive in the cold Himalayan climate, but essentially it may be a kundalini practice with the main objective being the state of bliss. Here a combination of Mantra Yoga, pranayama, and visualisation is utilised. According to Benson (1985) "This wind (prana or energy) is then directed into an alleged main channel through the central part of the body, where the swirling winds ignite an internal heat. The heat proceeds to melt a generative fluid that is supposed to be located in the head. Finally, as the generative substance is drawn down and then up through the central channel, the meditator produces succeedingly greater states of bliss." A more elaborate description is available by David-Neel (1971). The "seat" of kundalini is not at the base of the spine but in the middle of the abdomen according to Tibetan tradition.

How to handle possible complications

Lee Saunella advises an appropriate expiration and positive reframing, a heavier diet, suspension of meditation and vigorous physical activity in the case of too rapid kundalini awakening.

Grof and Grof (1989) dealing with "spiritual emergencies" (i.e. not only kundalini awakening) besides the already mentioned items, suggest a competent spiritual teacher with personal experience. The process can be speeded up by techniques enabling full expression of emotions like dreams, screaming, body movement*, working with dreams, dancing, painting, diary, music, breathing, and by so-called holotropic breath-work devised by these authors. If the speeding up is not appropriate or possible, the process may be slowed down by the discontinuation of certain practices, heavier diet, simple manual work. Closer supervision and emotional support are desirable.

The two great forces in Human

It is said in the Gita that there are two eternal forces known as purusha and prakriti. They are the beginningless and endless forces behind the whole cosmos and our human existence. Prakriti is the matter, the totality or manifestation. Purusha is the consciousness manifesting itself further in the realm of mind, manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara. Existence and the individual being arise when purusha and prakriti come together.

For ages and ages throughout the cycle of reincarnation and evolution, these twin realities have moved and lived together as an inseparable unit. Even today in our individual existence we are a composition of matter and consciousness. The eternal union between these two aspects of creation has been so great that it has not been possible for an ordinary man with a gross and intellectual mind to separate them. The philosophy and practices of tantra aim at breaking this inseparability. Therefore yoga involves a process of separation (viyoga), and when pure consciousness is disconnected from entanglement with the mind and the manifested world, union (yoga) is the result.

In relation to the micro cosmic unit, within our physical body there are two forces: chitta and prana. Prana is the life force and chitta is the totality of awareness- the conscious, subconscious and unconscious states of the mind. Combined they are responsible for our knowledge and action. They control the karmendriyas (senses of action), the gyanendriyas (senses of cognition), and the functions of mind and consciousness.

Prana and chitta are channelled through our physical body in two nadis known as ida and pingala, which flow within the framework of the spinal column. In the same way as radioactive waves pass through the different lines in a transistor radio but are not perceptible to our naked eyes, the flow of mental and pranic consciousness in ida and pingala is not perceivable even after anatomical dissection of the spinal cord. Nevertheless they are realities.

Ida flows through the left nostril and pingala through the right nostril. Ida represents coolness, the moon and the mental and psychic functions. Pingala represents heat, the sun, energy and activity. Recent scientific investigations have shown that the temperature of the left nostril is slightly less than the right nostril supporting the age-old yogic theory.

The word nadi is generally translated as nerve channel, but the yogic definition differs. Nadi comes from the root word 'nad', to flow. It is not a vehicle or a nerve channel, which indicates a physical part of the body. Ida nadi is the flow of mental consciousness and pingala nadi is the flow of pranic consciousness. Prana and chitta flow throughout the body controlling every part, every organ, activity, impulse, every action and reaction of the whole gross, subtle and causal bodies.

These two nadis emanate from the base of the spinal cord at mooladhara chakra and terminate at the top of the spinal cord in ajna chakra. In the masculine body, mooladhara chakra is situated in the area of the perineum between the excretory and the urinary system. In the female body it can be found at the posterior side of the cervix. Mooladhara chakra is known as the seat of kundalini, the great mahashakti. Ajna chakra corresponds to the most important controlling gland in the human body known as the pineal gland. It is situated at the top of the spinal cord directly behind the mid-eyebrow centre in the area of the medulla oblongata. From mooladhara, pingala goes to the right and ida to the left and they curve and cross each at swadhisthana, manipura, anahata, and vishuddhi, finally terminating in ajna.

Finding the balance

The third and most important channel flowing up the centre of the spinal cord is known as sushumna, the synthesis or spiritual nadi, The force of sushumna is kundalini. In tantra, kundalini is said to be sleeping in mooladhara chakra in eternal nidra, in eternal potentiality, wrapped in tamoguna. As long as sushumna and kundalini are in this dormant state, they are considered to be a tamasic force. But when ida and pingala are balanced, this tamasic force is activated and awakened. If the awakening of kundalini takes place prior to the balancing of ida and pingala, however, the sadhaka may suffer severe physical, mental and emotional disturbances.

Ida and pingala nadis are of prime importance when we talk about kundalini yoga. All the karmas, samskaras, frustrations and jealousies, and all that the mind and prana are made up of, are contained in the flow of ida and pingala. This means that all you have experienced in the past remains in the system of ida and pingala in a micro cosmic form. Unless these samskaras and karmas, both good and bad, painful and pleasant, are exhausted and purified, the awakening of sushumna may result in total imbalance of the nervous system and in extreme cases a person may suffer insanity or become a criminal.

Psychic awakening in an individual does not necessarily take place with the awakening of sushumna. Sushumna is an independent system and does not lie across ida and pingala. Many experiences which aspirants have may correspond to the awakening of prana in pingala or consciousness in ida. The hatha yoga shastras clearly explain that harmony and balance between the mental and pranic forces are absolutely necessary before the awakening of sushumna, the experience of samadhi.

When ida flows, the right side of the brain functions, and when pingala flows the left side of the brain operates. When the flow in sushumna is activated the whole brain participates in the activities of life. Sushumna is the pathway for the upward ascent of kundalini; it does not flow through any other nadi. When ida and pingala flow at the same time, when their temperature is equal, when the differences between prana and consciousness are broken down and all the various aspects are in perfect balance, kundalini is compelled to travel through sushumna nadi to brahmarandhra, a higher centre in the brain.

It is clearly written in the shastras that one should not awaken kundalini without first awakening sushumna. If you have a motor car but there is no roadway leading from your home, what are you going to do? In the same way when kundalini wakes up you have to give it a passageway. The opening up of sushumna becomes the means of communication between the lower and higher worlds.

Necessity of practices

Before the awakening of sushumna the practices of hatha yoga, including asanas, pranayama, mantra yoga and so on are essential in order to purify the functional and structural form of ida and pingala. It is important for the aspirant to understand that the process of awakening of this divine consciousness needs thorough, complete and expert planning. It must be done gradually under the guidance of one who has gained previous knowledge of the path.

The word hatha in tantra is a composition of two syllables 'ha' and 'tha', representing the two forces prana and mind, shiva and shakti, sun and moon, Ganga and Jamuna and so on. The definition of hatha yoga has been misunderstood and mistranslated as physical practices, but it is an esoteric system intended to balance these forces and awaken man's deeper personality. Asanas are not physical exercises merely for the health. They are designed to give a mild stimulus to the chakras so that when the awakening takes place one will not be startled. Now we have come to understand this more clearly in the light of modern scientific research.

In the same way, the practices of pranayama are not deep breathing exercises for increasing the supply of oxygen into the body. Oxygen alone is not the pranic force that helps you in yoga. What is important are the ions which are released from oxygen after a process of separation induced by the practices of pranayama. For example, in nadi shodhana pranayama a concentration of these ions, or pranic energy, occurs around ida and pingala nadis, increasing in intensity according to the number of rounds practised. In normal breathing this does not happen. With continued practice of alternate nostril breathing, over a long period of time, this concentration is harmonised and sushumna awakens.

Some people who are not familiar with Sanskrit misinterpret pranayama as 'control of breath' but the word pranayama is composed of 'prana' and 'ayama'. Ayama is a dimension or field. As there are radioactive and electromagnetic fields there are also pranic fields in the physical body. So far, in the scheme of our evolution, we have been able to extend the prana into only the first three dimensions of our existence: the gross, subtle and causal bodies corresponding to the waking, dreaming and sleeping states. However, there are seven bodies- one that we can see, two that we can feel, and four others that we can neither see nor feel. They correspond to the chakras and to the seven planes of consciousness - bhu, bhuvah, swaha, maha, jana, tapa and satyam. The purpose of pranayama is to extend the permeation of prana into these other bodies, into the realm of samadhi and beyond.

When prana which is now controlling the karmendriyas and gyanendriyas is withdrawn from every part of the body and is no longer bound to mooladhara chakra, kundalini breaks out. When Hanuman ate the sun he stopped the flow of pingala nadi, also known as surya nadi. As a result the function of prana stopped, the heart and the brain ceased to work, and the other organs were nominally existing. He transcended the waking, dreaming and sleeping states, and the three worlds went dark. Feelings, sensations and the functions of the mind ceased. This is achieved through the practices of moola bandha, uddiyana bandha and jalandhara bandha. When you practise these three bandhas in combination with pranayama you are directing the prana into another ayama, into the field of kundalini. Pranayama stimulates prana and the bandhas direct it to the required centre, preventing dissipation.

Hatha yoga, asanas and pranayama are intended initially to prepare the sadhaka for bearing, enduring, holding and understanding the experiences of kundalini yoga. Awakening of kundalini influences the physical elements in the body, so it is understood in kundalini yoga that the physical body should be rendered free of toxic elements. The body that has been purified by the fire of yoga will be the most permanent and most trustworthy base for the awakening of kundalini. For kundalini to arise the body must be able to cope with its force and the nervous system must be strong, healthy and mature. When these preparations are complete the practice of dhyana begins.

It is believed by some practitioners of yoga that dhyana is a method of concentration, but in tantra and kundalini yoga it is said that concentration is an injustice to the free flow of the mind. The nature of the mind is to expand and to flow. You can direct the mind but you can't control it. In kriya yoga you will find that no effort is made to force the mind or to concentrate it on one single point. Supreme awakening does not depend on concentration. It has nothing to do with the functions of the lower mind. The purpose is not to change the nature of the mind because the mind is not an ethical, moral, religious or national entity. This life is a force; the mind is a vritti, a formation. Therefore, in kundalini yoga we don't waste time fighting or interfering with the natural behaviour of the mind.

Then what do we do? For a few years work on hatha yoga, kriya yoga, and pratyahara. Practise nadi shodhana until it is perfected. Then Gayatri mantra can be incorporated into it. For example, perform pooraka, antaranga kumbhaka, rechaka and bahiranga kumbhaka with the mantra in the ratio 1:2:2:1. Maintain this ratio without fail. In addition, practise jalandhara and moola bandha in antaranga kumbhaka; and jalandhara, uddiyana and moola bandha in bahiranga kumbhaka.

After one round of nadi shodhana, pause for a while in chin mudra and fix your gaze, with eyes closed, at the nose tip, nasikagra mudra. When your pranas become quiet and tranquil, start another round. After the second round of nadi shodhana, again pause and practise nasikagra mudra. In this way continue for five rounds of nadi shodhana pranayama coupled with bandhas and combined with your own mantra or Gayatri mantra. If you use Gayatri let one mantra form one unit; if you use some other mantra you will have to adjust the ratio according to your capacity.

Prepare yourself

The rising of kundalini is an historical event in life, when a man departs from his involvement with lower forms of knowledge into higher realms of understanding. In the evolution of consciousness there have been definite historical landmarks. One was when it departed from unconsciousness to consciousness in the vegetable kingdom; another when it departed from vegetable life to sensual life in the animal kingdom, and another when it departed from animal life to human life. Now man lives in the mind by logic and mathematics. The awakening of kundalini is the most important landmark in the history of mankind when he shall make an absolute departure from the realm of reason into the realm of intuition. Kundalini yoga is intended to revolutionise the consciousness of mankind to fully understand the concepts previously known only through our intellect. Kundalini is the opening of that era in human life when the ordinary mind becomes a super mind.

Today the thinking individuals, belonging to any religion in the world, are becoming more and more aware. They want to know how to make an exit from their present existence and its limitations. They want to know the purpose of living and the end they are working towards. All over the world people are seeking the truth. Can it be found in the church, temple or mosque? Can it be read in the scriptures? Is it the awakening of kundalini?

We have been searching for a long time and from all that I have seen and experienced in life, I am not going to accept anything else but the practical side of yoga. It is the one way that is open to all. The practices are available and you are not asked to change your vocation, to renounce your family, or to believe that marital life is sinful. Tantra is one of the few philosophies throughout history that regards marital life as the holiest relationship that a man can have with a woman. It is known as dharma and is the primary philosophy of tantra and yoga. Marital life is the rock base on which kundalini yoga is situated.

The yoga shastras are dedicated to one purpose only: how to prepare the millions and millions of different people all over the world- people with sensual, animalistic, passionate, fearful, intellectual, and sattvic natures- for the awakening of kundalini. It is for this purpose that the concepts of dharma and karma have evolved, that ashrams and temples were built, that the order of guru and shishya was created.

Finally, please do not be in a hurry for this experience. First train your mind. In order to discover if you are ready for the experience of the beyond, test yourself to see whether you can endure anger, worry, love and passion, disappointment, jealousy, hatred, memories of the past, sufferings and sorrows for the dead. If you can maintain a balance of mind in the face of these minor mental and emotional conflicts, if you can still feel joy when the scales are heavily loaded against you, then you are the aspirant for kundalini yoga. When all your preparations have been made, sit down, practise your kriyas and wait for the bomb to explode. Kundalini will awaken from its slumber, bringing about an historical change in your life.

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Kundalini Therapy

Kundalini therapy is the healing technique of the near future which will result from the change in consciousness presently sweeping the world. It is the culmination of all healing methods, from yoga to allopathy. The word kundalini is derived from two roots - kunda meaning 'pit' and kundali meaning 'coiled'. Kundalini is the coiled energy which resides at the base of the spine and in the depths of our consciousness. Therefore kundalini therapy helps to remove disease by utilising this energy.

To achieve total health we can tap this energy through asanas, pranayamas, mudras and bandhas which stimulate certain endocrine glands. This in turn releases energy from the chakras and rebalances the nervous system, thus affecting all the body organs. When we stimulate mooladhara chakra, energy rises up the spinal cord and enters the brain-mind complex. This is not what is referred to as an arousal of the kundalini, it is merely tapping a drop of the life-giving energy force to strengthen the body, remove and prevent disease. At the same time the body is prepared to receive the tremendous bolt of energy which rises up the spine when kundalini awakens.

Endocrine / Chakra Relationship

The endocrine glands manufacture certain chemical compounds called hormones which regulate all the functions of the body. The body and personality are dependent on the proper functioning of the endocrine glands for the maintenance of good health. For example, an over secretion of thyroxin makes us irritable, tense, overexcited, speedy. Thoughts race around and the body metabolism speeds up. This is the opposite picture of under secretion. To attain optimum health, every gland must work efficiently and in harmony with the other glands. Together they form an axis controlled by the master pituitary gland and brain.

The major endocrine glands form the basis of kundalini therapy. They are closely linked with the chakras: gonads - swadhisthana, adrenals - manipura, thymus- anahata, thyroid - vishuddhi, pineal - ajna, pituitary- sahasrara. Mooladhara chakra doesn't have an endocrine gland equivalent. However it is associated with the perineal body, a vestigial gland which has lost its function in man and must be reactivated so that it can awaken the dormant kundalini. This is achieved through yogic practices.

At a more subtle level the glands are channels for pranic energy which enters the body via the chakras. According to William A. Tiller, Ph.D., Professor of Material Sciences at Stanford University, the endocrine/chakra pairs are transducers that allow energy to enter the body. When there is balance between the two systems then the energy harnessed is coherent and synchronised. However, if the chakras or glands are even slightly out of balance, this energy is dissipated rather than utilised fully and improper function of the bodily organs and systems results.

Chakras can be thought of as whirling vortices of energy, but in most people they are not whirling nor are they in line. The aim of kundalini therapy is therefore two-fold. On the psychic level it opens up the chakras so that more energy can be transmitted through them. On the physical level it rebalances the endocrines so that this energy can be received and properly relegated for the promotion of health and vitality throughout the whole body-mind complex.

With the awakening of kundalini, new hormones are released by the pituitary and the balance of the chakras and endocrines nears perfection. Thus all body functions are ordered and total health results.

The central nervous system

The brain, which controls the whole nervous system, is the physical correlate of sahasrara, the highest chakra. It is the means to control all the other centres of the body-mind. To achieve total health it is important that all the brain circuits are integrated, ordered and harmonised. Within the brain are all the switches and faculties of higher awareness waiting to be turned on at the correct moment.

The brain is like a flower and the spinal cord its stem. When energy ascends the spinal cord from mooladhara, it rises as a spark, piercing through the various chakras. Eventually it reaches the brain and there it opens many dormant centres, thus expanding our awareness. Kundalini therapy is designed to bring the unconscious faculties of the lower brain into conscious awareness, just as the lotus unfolds its many petals. This will increase your potential for living and give you control over your bodily functions and what happens to you.

The central nervous system is the master controller of the body; it gives split-second reactions to internal and external bodily needs. The endocrine system is much slower, being designed to regulate the body metabolism and other functions over a period of minutes to days. The endocrine and nervous systems are linked together and with the chakras for more complete control. An increase of prana in the body helps to rebalance the neuro-endocrine interaction, which in turn stimulates the body organs to function more efficiently. This is a delicate process and requires the touch of a master.

Try to remember that kundalini is not just energy in the nervous system; it is the sum total of cosmic energy. This energy is transmitted through the nervous system, so you can imagine how strong you need to be to handle such a force. Awakening the kundalini is like sitting on top of an atomic-bomb blast.

The third eye

Ajna chakra is situated at the eyebrow centre. Its physical correlate is the pineal gland. When this chakra begins to function, through practices such as moola bandha, shambhavi mudra, meditation and so on, internal visions take place. This is the opening of the third eye, the eye of intuition. Eventually, when ajna is opened more fully, you receive visions of the chakra itself as a circle with an aum symbol in the centre and two smoky-grey petals on either side of it. For the two petals to appear, both sides of the brain must be working and co-operating with each other in an ideal relationship. The symbol appears when brain and mind are integrated, and the nervous system and bodily functions are balanced.

Within each side of the brain is a fluid-filled chamber called a ventricle. When the brain is seen front-on, these ventricles look like the two petals of ajna chakra. Their fluid is a smoky colour. The pineal gland is in the centre of the head and is represented by the central circle of the chakra.

Thus ajna chakra, the receptor of intuition and instructions from the highest consciousness, is manifested on the physical level. The two petals are the ventricles containing cerebrospinal fluid and the aum in the centre is the pineal gland. When we open our third eye through kundalini yoga, we begin to perceive things on the psychic level. Because the psychic and physical planes are intimately related, the mental form is a reflection of the physical matter.

Through yogic practices you can awaken your third eye, thus affecting the correct functioning and integration of the pituitary-pineal gland complex and the brain. When this is accomplished, the whole mind-body complex becomes healthier because you can consciously control your nervous system and hormonal secretions

Travelling through the 10th gate

During the last stage of kundalini awakening, the aspirant goes from ajna to sahasrara, just above the head. This is the most difficult stage of yoga and it requires the guidance of a guru to voyage successfully through the labyrinth. The aspirant must travel from the pineal gland through the maze of fifteen billion neurones to gain access to the central sulcus, the space between the two sides of the brain. He then travels through the fluid in the sulcus and pierces the top of the skull to enter sahasrara. Some schools of yoga claim that the skull actually opens and when this occurs the yogi can leave his body at any time he wishes. He is no longer dependent on the physical body and sense organs to maintain consciousness.

Techniques

All yogic techniques are part of kundalini therapy, the path to perfect health, from the simplest asanas onwards. Some techniques, however, are more direct than others.

Asanas such as padmasana and siddhasana create magnetic circuits, and this flow is especially concentrated in the spine. Asanas and pranayama remove obstructions to the flow of consciousness through the nadis.

Bandhas such as jalandhara bandha (throat lock), uddiyana bandha (navel lock) and moola bandha (anal lock) are powerful methods to stimulate the endocrine glands and chakras. They liberate vast amounts of energy.

Mudras, gestures or symbols with deep, archetypal meaning, are methods to control the flow of energy. Through mudras we can control the amount of energy coming into the body and become aware of the inner energies of the body.

Asanas, pranayama, mudras and bandhas have been integrated into one system called kriya yoga. This powerful method increases and directs the pranic flow of consciousness to the psychic centres of the body and awakens them from their dormant state.

The above techniques should only be practiced under the guidance of a master who is aware of the many pitfalls which await unwary, impatient or unskilled practitioners. The master knows which organs should be injected with prana in order to balance our whole personality. Then the appropriate psychic, spiritual or occult faculties spontaneously start to manifest and enhance our lives.