What is Kundalini?

The kundalini represents the coming consciousness of mankind.

Kundalini is the name of a sleeping dormant potential force in the human organism and it is situated at the root of the spinal column.

In the masculine body, it is in the perineum, between the urinary and excretory organs.

In the female body its location is at the root of the uterus, in the cervix.

This center is known as mooladhara chakra and it is actually a physical structure. It is a small gland which you can even take out and press.

However, kundalini is a dormant energy, and even if you press it, it will not explode like a bomb.

To awaken kundalini you must prepare yourself through yogic techniques.

You must practise asanas, pranayama, kriya yoga and meditation.

Then, when you are able to force your prana into the seat of kundalini, the energy wakes up and makes its way through sushumna nadi, the central nervous canal, to the brain.

As kundalini ascends, it passes through each of the chakras which are interconnected with the different silent areas of the brain.

With the awakening of kundalini there is an explosion in the brain as the dormant or sleeping areas start blossoming like flowers.

Therefore, kundalini can be equated with the awakening of the silent areas of the brain.

Although kundalini is said to reside in mooladhara chakra, we are all at different stages of evolution, and in some of us kundalini may have already reached swadhisthana, manipura or anahata chakra. If this is so, whatever sadhana you do now might start an awakening in anahata or some other chakra.

However, awakening of kundalini in mooladhara chakra is one thing, and awakening in sahasrara, the highest center of the brain, is another.

Once the multipetalled lotus of sahasrara blossoms, a new consciousness dawns. Our present consciousness is not independent, as the mind depends on the information supplied by the senses. If you have no eyes, you can never see; if you are deaf, you will never hear.

However, when the superconsciousness emerges, experience becomes completely independent and knowledge also becomes completely independent.

How man discovered kundalini

Man came to understand that within every individual there is a special form of energy. He saw that in some people it was dormant, in others it was evolving and in a very small minority of people, it was actually awakened. Originally, man named this energy after gods, goddesses, angels or divinities.

Then he discovered prana and called it prana shakti. In tantra they called it kundalini.

What the various names for kundalini mean

In Sanskrit, kundal means a coil.

So kundalini has been described as “that which is coiled”.

This is the traditional belief, but it has been incorrectly understood.

The word kundalini actually comes from the word kunda, meaning “a deeper place, pit or cavity”.

The fire used in the ceremony of initiation is kindled in a pit called kunda.

Similarly, the place where a dead body is burned is kunda. If you dig a ditch or a hole it is called kunda.

Kunda refers to the concave cavity in which the brain, resembling a coiled and sleeping serpent, nestles. (If you have the opportunity of examining a dissection of the human brain you will see that it is in the form of a coil or snake curled up upon itself.)

This is the true meaning of kundalini.

The word kundalini refers to the shakti or power when it is in its dormant potential state, but when it is manifesting, you can call it Devi, Kali, Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi or any other name according to the manifestation it is exhibiting before you.

In the Christian tradition, the terms “the Path of the Initiates” and “the Stairway to Heaven” used in the Bible, refer to kundalini’s ascent through sushumna nadi.

The ascent of kundalini and ultimately, the descent of spiritual grace, are symbolized by the cross.

This is why Christians make the sign of the cross at ajna, anahata and vishuddhi chakras, for ajna is the center where the ascending consciousness is transcended and anahata is where the descending grace is made manifest to the world.

Whatever happens in spiritual life, it is related to the awakening ot kundalini. And the goal of every form of spiritual life, whether you call it samadhi, nirvana, moksha, communion, union, kaivalya, liberation or whatever, is in fact awakening of kundalini.

Kundalini, Kali and Durga

When kundalini has just awakened and you are not able to handle it, it is called Kali.

When you can handle it and are able to use it for beneficial purposes and you become powerful on account of it, it is called Durga.

Kali is a female deity, naked, black or smoky in color, wearing a mala of 108 human skulls, representing the memories of different births. Kali’s lolling tongue of blood red color signifies the rajo guna whose circular movement gives impetus to all creative activities.

By this specific gesture, she is exhorting the sadhakas to control their rajo guna. The sacrificial sword and the severed head held by the left hand are the symbols of dissolution. Darkness and death are by no means the mere absence of light and life, rather, they are their origin.

The sadhaka worships the cosmic power in its female form, for she represents the kinetic aspect, the masculine being the static which is activated only through her power.

In Hindu mythology, the awakening of Kali has been described in great detail. When Kali rises in red anger, all the gods and demons are stunned and everybody keeps quiet. They do not know what she is going to do.

They ask Lord Shiva to pacify her, but Kali roars ferociously, throwing him down and standing on his chest with her mouth wide open, thirsty for flesh and blood. When the devas hold prayers to pacify Kali, she becomes calm and quiet.

Then there is the emergence of Durga, the higher, more refined and benign symbol of the unconscious. Durga is a beautiful goddess seated on a tiger. She has 8 hands representing the eightfold elements of man.

Durga wears a mala of human heads to symbolize her wisdom and power. These heads are generally 52 in number, representing the 52 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, which are the outer manifestations of Shabda Brahma or Brahma in the form of sound. Durga is the remover of all evil consequences of life and the giver of power and peace that is released from mooladhara.

According to yoga philosophy, Kali, the first manifestation of the unconscious kundalini is a terrible power; it completely subdues the individual soul, represented by her standing on Lord Shiva. It sometimes happens that by mental instability some people get in contact with their unconscious body and see inauspicious, ferocious elements - ghosts, monsters, etc. When Kali, the unconscious power of man, is awakened she goes up to meet the further manifestation, being Durga, the superconscious, bestowing glory and beauty.