“Everybody, whether householder or sannyasin (renunciate) must remember that the awakening of kundalini is the primary purpose of human incarnation.” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
Kundalini is the energy which brings alive our subtle body system by way of activating the chakras. It is traditionally said to lie as a serpent coiled three and a half times deep within the depths of our foundational chakra, the muladhara. The aim of the practitioner of kundalini yoga is to blast open the muladhara in order to release this ancient energy. The chakra is located on the perenium right at the base of the spine and it is said to be the secret abode of Lord Ganapati, the Remover of Obstacles. Once the energy has been activated it ascends the subtle yogic channel known as sushumna which runs the length of the spine and into the brain. Its resting place is the brow chakra, ajna, known in meditation as the Place of Command which rests on the pineal gland. From ajna it might then be possible for this kundalini-shakti to ascend higher, to the crown chakra, the sahasrara, otherwise known as the Thousand Petalled Lotus which once opened showers indescribable bliss down through the whole of the body both subtle and physical.
Kundalini is an ancient energy which comes from the sun, just like the rest of us in terms of our bodily system, but in comparison with mind/thought and flesh/bone it is immensely more powerful. But of course it lies deep within and the cosmic joke if you like, the Play of Lila, is for its location to be chosen as the point which lies between the sexual and excretory organs. This holy of holies you see, is located exactly there, upon the perennial gland, which needless to say is a million miles away from where the average person would imagine the source of such wonder to be. However within the quest for the Philosopher’s Stone, one of the greatest secrets which you will ever be likely to hear is that the Tree of Knowledge is upside down. What you might regard as low, filthy and expendable in terms of ever seriously considering it, is actually the home of something so sacred and spiritual that it is the very location in which you will find gold.
The task for the meditator – male or female it makes no difference – is to awaken the serpent, to bring it out into the open by way of it ascending this central yogic channel known as sushumna located in front of the spine and for this kundalini to land on ajna which lies at the top of it. Once resting upon ajna the power of kundalini illuminates the Third Eye through which you can practise meditation whilst bathed in bliss. So then, what we have is –
muladhara – foundation – place where kundalini lies as a serpent three and a half coiled in the
secret abode of Lord Ganapati, Remover of Obstacles.
awaken kundalini to ascend the central yogic channel – sushumna – running the length of the spine and from the top of it into the brain to rest upon ajna, the brow chakra located on the pineal gland and known to the yogic meditator as the Place of Command through which you can open the
Third Eye.
“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.” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
“The meaning of the three coils of the serpent is as follows…(they) relate to the three states of consciousness: waking, sleeping and dreaming…The half coil represents the state of transcendence, where there is neither waking, sleeping or dreaming. So the three and a half coils signify the total experience of the universe and the experience of transcendence.” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
If we put this in the language of Advaita Vedanta the three coils represent the three states of jagrat (waking), swapna (dream) and sushupti (sleep) whilst the half coil represents the fourth state, the state of transcendence known as turiya which is the state of jagrat – sushupti, wakeful sleep – Self Realisation.
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