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Kundalini, An Advanced Stage And Intricate Part Of Yoga

Literally speaking, Kundalini means ‘coiled snake’. Yogis tell us that there is a huge, enormous store of ‘vital energy’ called Suksham (subtle) Prana lying at the base of the human spine in the form of a coiled, sleeping snake. To awaken one’s Kundalini; the practitioner has to go through intense physical and mental tapah (austerities). In this, he is taught to control his latent energies through his breath and his sensory control, also called Pratyahara. Kundalini Yoga is an advanced stage of Yoga, an intricate part of the large body of Yoga, but can only be practised under the strict, personal supervision of an adept practitioner, whose Kundalini has already been awakened.

Once a person’s Kundalini has been awakened, an energy is unleashed in which the practitioner realizes a deep awareness of his physical as well as cosmic energies. Just this realization automatically leads to a transformed physical and mental state as well as a heightened state of consciousness.

Ancient Yogic texts describe this heightened state of bliss that one achieves through the practise of Kundalini Yoga as the attainment of Siddhis (supernatural powers). These supernatural powers are of eight types and include the power to grow so large that one is able to perceive the workings of the solar system. Likewise, one develops the power of supernatural hearing, so subtle that the person is able to even hear grass grow. In certain ancient illustrations of the chakras (subtle nerve centers in the body) the dramatic workings of the body in relation to the functioning of the universe have been mapped out on a physical body (that of a yogi practising Kundalini Yoga). This clearly indicates the relationship between workings of the human body with that of cosmic space.

Kundalini Yoga practitioners tell us that the human body is made up of a complex network of nerve channels called Nadis. These subtle nerve channels are astral tubes believed to convey psychic currents. The most important of them is called the Sushumna or central Nadi that is said to run alongside the central canal of one’s spinal column. There are the said to be six main chakras (literally meaning nerve centers or plexus) situated along the central Nadi that are also vessels of vital energy. The chakras (nerve plexus), shaped like petalled lotuses, are seven in number and the number of petals on each of them is said to be determined by the number of nadis surrounding them.

When the Kundalini energy is awakened, it means all the se nadis and chakras have been opened and cleansed of the impurities of lifetimes and the bio-energy is now able to flow freely through them right through to the Sahasrara Chakra or 1000-petaled lotus said to be situated in the crown of the head. This result in emancipation, moksha, nirvana or that heightened state of consciousness, but it takes a long time to achieve.

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