13/02/2026
Kundalini, Fact and Fiction
The general idea prevailing about Kundalini, in both the East
and the West, is of a mysterious and fabulous power lying dormant
in men, which, when roused to activity, can confer amazing
psychic gifts and transhuman states of consciousness on the
successful initiates. The belief is current in India and elsewhere
that those, in whom the energy vivifies the seventh centre in the
brain, are transmogrified and attain unlimited dominance over the
forces of nature. This belief is fostered by the high claims made in
the ancient literature on Kundalini-Yoga about the infinite
possibilities for the elevation and deification of those who
propitiate this divine power. The ascent of Kundalini from Cakra*
to Cakra is attended, it is said, with progressively increasing
psychic powers until in the seventh centre the mortal becomes one
with supreme Reality, or Lord Shiva, the Creator, Preserver,
Destroyer of the three worlds. The Yogi, it is averred, gains limited
powers of domination over men, fascination for women and
sovereignty over the forces of nature. Thus in Mahanirvana Ta**ra (vii. 39,40,41,50) it is said that he who worships the AdyaKali (kundalini) Mistress of the three worlds “Becomes in learning
like Brhaspati (the Guru of the Celestials), in wealth like Kubera
(the god of riches). . . . Men bow with respect at the mere mention
of his name. The eight siddhis (i.e., the power to become
exceedingly large or extremely small or light as a feather, to float
in space, or to become invisible to sight, or to enter the bodies of
others, to be clairvoyant, clairaudient, or to have domination over
all the forces, etc.), he looks upon as mere bits of grass.”
There is no end to the siddhis (supernatural powers) promised in
the ancient writings to those who succeed in awakening kundalini.
Thus in Sat-Cakra-Nirupana (vs. 21) it is said: “By meditating on
this Navel Lotus (Nabhi-Padma) the power to destroy and create
(the world) is acquired. Vani, (the goddess of speech) with all the
wealth of knowledge ever abides in the lotus of his face.” Again in
verse 31: “He who has attained complete knowledge of the Atman
(Brahman) becomes, by constantly concentrating his mind (citta)
on this Lotus, a great sage (Kavi), eloquent and wise, and enjoys
uninterrupted peace of mind. He sees the three periods (past,
present, and future), and becomes the benefactor of all, free from
disease and sorrow, long-lived, and, like Hamsa, the destroyer of
endless dangers.”
The possibility offered by the Ta***ic Sadhana to gain longevity,
health, and miraculous powers seems to have been exploited to the
full by the ancient exponents of the system to attract the attention
of the multitudes and to gain followers for the cult. The promise of
these extraordinary achievements was not extended to men only
but also to women. Thus it is stated in Hathayoga-Pradipika
(iii.l02): “The woman who (with the practice of Vajroli Mudra),
applying suction with her female ge***al organ) directs the
reproductive secretion in the upper direction (i.e., draws it into the
head), becomes a Yogini with the power to know the past, present,
and future and to float in air.” I have quoted these passages to show
that what many modern seekers expect from Yoga, in the wildest
flights of their fancy,is already offered in the old manuals and, according to some of
them, can be had merely for the asking.
It is easy to see that the achievements are highly exaggerated, a
common tendency among ancient authors, and that there is not
only no end to the glowing promises held out but also undisguised
contradictions in the statements. For while some emphasize
lifelong effort and hard discipline to gain the favour of the goddess
to achieve this or that siddhi, others consider mere efficiency in but
one asana or in some single Pranayama or repetition (japa) of a
mantra sufficient to gain the most rewarding supernatural gifts.
The pity is that no attempt has been made to separate the chaff
from the wheat, and in the current literature on the subject only the
old rituals, down to the most obscene ones, the old practices,
formulas, and promises are being interminably repeated without
any effort at clarification to show what deserves credence and what
should be rejected as mere superstition or exaggeration, impossible
of acceptance in this rational age. It can be confidently asserted
that there is a solid core of truth in the assertions of the ancient
authors which has been so exaggerated and embellished that a
doubt is cast over the whole system. What is more important, from
the present-day point of view, is that this solid core has the unique
possibility of providing empirical evidence for its support to the
satisfaction of even the most skeptical of intellects. The aim of this
work is to lay open this possibility by subjecting the ancient as well
as the current ideas and theories about Kundalini-Yoga to a critical
analysis in the light of modern knowledge about the human mind
and body. The attitude adopted in India during the past several
centuries in respect to the ancient treatises on Yoga, has been and
still is one of uncritical acquiescence under the impression that the
authorities are too lofty and the subject too sacrosanct to be
critically examined in this profane age. This supine attitude has
done no good to anyone but, on the contrary, has resulted in
pushing into oblivion one of the greatest discoveries ever made by
man, for the simple reason that the discovery at present is
represented in a manner which is repugnant to commonsense.
It is unfortunate that there is no book on Kundalini-Yoga,
written by a modern intellectual, well acquainted with the presentday concepts of science, based on his own experience of the divine
power. Most of the writers on the subject either merely copy the
ancient books or try to interpret the writings in the light of their
own spiritual and metaphysical ideas. The nature of the mysterious
force has not been defined or elucidated in a rational way in any
treatise ancient or modern. The general impression about the
awakening among those interested in the subject is, therefore, of a
sudden leap from the visible world of rigid cause and effect to a
transmundane state of existence where everything becomes
possible; a dangerous position in this age of reason, fostered by
writers with a predilection for the supernatural and the uncanny for
whom every word of the ancient manuals has the weight of a
gospel. Except for the nature of nerve energy, which carries out the
multifarious activities of the body in a most amazing manner and
every moment flashes thousands of signals from the various organs
and limbs to the brain and vice versa, modern physiology has
drawn an almost complete picture of the human frame, its organs
and their functions, and no obscure region or crevice has been
omitted, save for some portions of the brain and the spinal cord,
about which knowledge is still extremely meagre. There is
apparently no visible biological device in the body capable of
generating a spiritual energy of the fabulous kind, as is mentioned
in the literature on the subject. The organs at the base of the spine
are the re**um and the sexual parts and their functions are well
known. How can this area, the skeptics may reasonably ask, be the
seat of a magical force which cart effect such a radical change in
the human system as to make it capable of superhuman feats?
The ancient exponents of this Yoga meet this obvious objection
by the argument that kundalini, in the wider sense of the term, is
the Cosmic Life Energy or Prana-Shakti, the source of all the
Phenomena of life in the universe, and that in the microcosm,
represented by man, She (Shakti), in a corresponding form, resides
at the base of the spine in the form of a serpent, coiled three and a half times, closing with her mouth the lower entrance to the
passage leading to the abode of Shiva or Brahman in the crown of
the head. In average men and women She lies asleep, or in a static
form, i.e., coiled, conditioning the human consciousness that,
forgetful of its own divine, immortal nature, it allows itself to be
caught in the toils of the constantly changing, phenomenal world.
When roused to activity with appropriate methods She, a streak of
lightning, darts through the Susumna, clearing the darkness that
holds the embodied spirit bound to the earth. According to the
concept of the ancient authorities, therefore, kundalini is divine in
nature, the superintelligent creative aspect of Lord Shiva, the
Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer of the world, one with Him in the
unmanifested state; but while He even in the unmanifested state
continues to bide without any change or modification, unaffected
by the emergence and dissolution of the Cosmic hosts, She, as the
Creatrix, manifests Herself both as the objects and the energy that
sustains them. “She is the Omnipotent Kala who is wonderfully
skilful to create,” says Nirupana (vs. 12), “and is subtler than the
subtlest. She receptacle of that continuous stream of ambrosia
which flows from the Eternal Bliss. By Her radiance it is that the
whole of this universe and this Cauldron is illumined.”
In fact for Her devotees She has the same absolute position and
the same unlimited powers as are associated with God, Isvara,
Allah, or Jehovah by the religious-minded. With such a conception
of the divine energy (kundalini) it is no wonder that ancient authors
have been most lavish in their praises and exhausted the power of
their genius in investing her with all the attributes and all the
powers—Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience—befitting
the Creatrix and the absolute Ruler of the world. The reason for
assigning an almost divine position to Gurus who succeed in
establishing rapport with Her and investing them with all the
virtues and unrestricted supernatural powers, befitting those who
have won the favour of the Almighty Controller of the universe,
thus becomes apparent. It is the same old idea, expressed in a different way, that by propitiating the
mighty Unseen Power behind the Cosmos through austerity,
worship, and various other forms of spiritual discipline, one can
attain the lofty position of a direct inner contact with Him, paving
the way to superhuman attributes and supernatural powers, which
is prevalent in almost all the existing great religions of mankind
and which acted as a powerful guiding factor in primitive cults and
religious practices as well. In the microcosmic form the allpowerful Creative Energy (shakti) is symbolized in the form of a
coiled serpent, i.e., in a state of inaction, residing at the base of the
spine in the human body. The aim of Kundalini Yoga is to awaken
the serpent and to force her, stage by stage, to ascend the spinal
canal, known as susumna, until She reaches the seat of Shiva in the
highest centre in the brain. This ascent, it is stated, takes years to
accomplish, though in exceptional cases only a short time,
constantly attended by divine manifestations. At each of the five
lower cakras, or lotuses, the ascending shakti dissolves one of the
five primordial elements of which the visible cosmos is constituted
(namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether) into the basic substance,
which is consciousness, until after dissolving the mind and ego,
which are also the forms of primeval shakti, the liberated spirit
finds itself in ecstatic union with the Eternal Conscious Reality to
which it owes its being.
Sursa: Kundalini -
The Secret of Yoga
GOPI KRISHNA
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