The term 'kundalini' means the power that is the 'Shakti' , the creative power of Lakshmi. Lakshmi is also called kunda devi, Sarasvati. This power of creation is called the 'serpent-power' by Sir John Woodroffe, who has written extensively about this in his books, 'The Garland of Letters', 'Kundalini- the Serpent Power', etc. Osho, too, has written a volume on this 'kriya-shakti'. This is also represented by Lord Ganapati, created by Devi Parvati, and seated at the basal plexus, muladhara as the deity, the Lord of all Elements or gana (bhutaadi). We remember how "Parvati created a toy of clay in human form and infused life into it and instructed him (ganapati) to keep a watch" (Shiva purana). The later part of the story gives it an 'elephant head', symbolically removing the human, to give a more divine one, an 'elephant head'- symbolic of keen eyes, sharp ears, a long poking nose, and a broad head, in order to protect the world. Thus the kundalini shakti is nothing but the Ganapati who represents us, the elemental bodies with divine power of creation, albeit, in a limited way! We all are in away represent Ganapati, the son of the soil, clay toys infused by prana shakti (life-force). This is kundalini in a dormant state. The yoga teaches us how to activate this and reach the sahasrar, or the brahm level of pure consciousness.
The story of creation as stated in the scriptures states the following:
When the Lord, parabrahmn willed, He expressed Him Self as the phenomenal objective world- the Sun, the Moon, the Earth and other planets, in which we, the humans are the vibrant energy, the prana-shakti, on this Living Planet Earth. When the lord created man, just as Parvati created Ganapati, it was not functioning! So He, Him Self entered it as chaitanya, prana, prajnya and it started functioning. This energy got sealed up at the base level and is the support- mula and adhara. This is the seat of our creative power. Incidentally, it is also the annamaya kosha that uses food obtained from soil and water and survives! All the animals live at this level- just eting and sleeping and a bit of procreation.
The kundalini is described as a three and one-half inch curled up serpent-like muscle/tissue organ; it has to be activated in order to increase our creative power! Our consciousness at the individual level is hughly restricted, limited, just to be aware of our basic needs to live, grow and multiply! Onc this limitation is realized, some may think of enhancing this power and the yogis have shown the way. They have shown how 'yoga' (kundalini yoga) helps to move up the ladder, and reach up to brahmn.
Sri aurobindo has put this in a beautiful way as follows:
We, the humans have four levels of existence-
The Physical; the Ethereal (Pranic); the Mental; and the Spiritual.
Each one of the above has physical, ethereal or pranic, the mental and the spiritual again subdivisions as follows:
Physical- physical, ethereal or pranic, the mental and the spiritual;
Ethereal- ethereal-physical, ethereal-ethereal, ethereal mental, and ethereal spiritual;
Mental- mental-physical, mental-ethereal, mental-mental and mental-spiritual;
Spiritual- spiritual-physical,spiritual- ethereal, spiritual-mental and the spiritual-spiritual; and, this spiritual-spiritual is the ultimate state of pure consciousness.
As humans, we are all physical body sustained by breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner and drinks. There exists nothing outside of this life, initially. This physical life is found in plants and animals, too, and there is slight improvement in the animals as evolution progress. The primates- the monkeys, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Orangutan, and Gibbon have developed mind, but only the homo sapiens have a slightly higher mind, but not enough to live a human level of existence. Most live as animals with a high propensity of animal instincts since evolutionary progress has just begun! However, some examples show to what extent a person from sheer anila existence could reach to a level of a scientist, a philosopher,or a spiritual being. But, so far, no one has reached the highest spiritual-spiritual level of yogi, saint or Rishi during the last 2500 years. This requires lots of refinements in all the said four faculties- body, mind, senses, ego, buddhi, etc.
Evolution is a slow process. However, this can be accelerated by yoga and kundalini yoga brings quick success, it is stated, but not sure! It is dangerous to try this. It involves a very rigorous training under a strong yoga teacher. The body and mind have to be extra-strong in order to withstand the flow of high frequency, high tension, highly powerful electric/energy current in the body and our nerves are not capable for that.We may have nervous break-down, or evn die of brain-haemorrhage.
The story of creation as stated in the scriptures states the following:
When the Lord, parabrahmn willed, He expressed Him Self as the phenomenal objective world- the Sun, the Moon, the Earth and other planets, in which we, the humans are the vibrant energy, the prana-shakti, on this Living Planet Earth. When the lord created man, just as Parvati created Ganapati, it was not functioning! So He, Him Self entered it as chaitanya, prana, prajnya and it started functioning. This energy got sealed up at the base level and is the support- mula and adhara. This is the seat of our creative power. Incidentally, it is also the annamaya kosha that uses food obtained from soil and water and survives! All the animals live at this level- just eting and sleeping and a bit of procreation.
The kundalini is described as a three and one-half inch curled up serpent-like muscle/tissue organ; it has to be activated in order to increase our creative power! Our consciousness at the individual level is hughly restricted, limited, just to be aware of our basic needs to live, grow and multiply! Onc this limitation is realized, some may think of enhancing this power and the yogis have shown the way. They have shown how 'yoga' (kundalini yoga) helps to move up the ladder, and reach up to brahmn.
Sri aurobindo has put this in a beautiful way as follows:
We, the humans have four levels of existence-
The Physical; the Ethereal (Pranic); the Mental; and the Spiritual.
Each one of the above has physical, ethereal or pranic, the mental and the spiritual again subdivisions as follows:
Physical- physical, ethereal or pranic, the mental and the spiritual;
Ethereal- ethereal-physical, ethereal-ethereal, ethereal mental, and ethereal spiritual;
Mental- mental-physical, mental-ethereal, mental-mental and mental-spiritual;
Spiritual- spiritual-physical,spiritual- ethereal, spiritual-mental and the spiritual-spiritual; and, this spiritual-spiritual is the ultimate state of pure consciousness.
As humans, we are all physical body sustained by breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner and drinks. There exists nothing outside of this life, initially. This physical life is found in plants and animals, too, and there is slight improvement in the animals as evolution progress. The primates- the monkeys, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Orangutan, and Gibbon have developed mind, but only the homo sapiens have a slightly higher mind, but not enough to live a human level of existence. Most live as animals with a high propensity of animal instincts since evolutionary progress has just begun! However, some examples show to what extent a person from sheer anila existence could reach to a level of a scientist, a philosopher,or a spiritual being. But, so far, no one has reached the highest spiritual-spiritual level of yogi, saint or Rishi during the last 2500 years. This requires lots of refinements in all the said four faculties- body, mind, senses, ego, buddhi, etc.
Evolution is a slow process. However, this can be accelerated by yoga and kundalini yoga brings quick success, it is stated, but not sure! It is dangerous to try this. It involves a very rigorous training under a strong yoga teacher. The body and mind have to be extra-strong in order to withstand the flow of high frequency, high tension, highly powerful electric/energy current in the body and our nerves are not capable for that.We may have nervous break-down, or evn die of brain-haemorrhage.
We should never try this. However, even a little bit of activations makes us a great scientist, a great philosopher, a great spiritualist and a noble human! All our modern scientific progress, art and culture have come from such activation of kundalini, now and then in small measure. Only the Buddha has attained it!
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