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| KUNDALINI
THE
AROUSAL OF KUNDALINI |
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| Kundalini
is aroused through ‘sense with drawal or pratyahara, concentrating
all his attention on a single point (dharana) until normal mental
activity is totally suspended. The will-power is directed inwards
to the vital air (Prana) that is inhaled and held in Pranayama guiding
its circulatory movement through ida and ida and pingala down to
the base of the spine into the space where Kundalini lies coiled.
The entry of Prana produces an abrupt effect like sudden combustion
in a confined space, and its trance-sleep (yoga-nidra). This discipline
of psychosomatic regulation and breath-control is the contribution
of kundalini-yoga to tantric ritual. Pranayama reinforces the power
of meditative practices, and it is upon this technique that the
Tantras lay the strongest emphasis. |
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| Breath
provides the means of symbiosis between different forms of life
and also between existence and awareness. Yoga is concerned to direct
this bio-motor force towards the expansion of consciousness in the
human organism. It is through the science of breathing that the
body’s subtle centers are vitalized. Yoga has developed systematic
techniques of breathing, regulating its speed, depth and rhythm.
In normal circumstances lation shallow but they lack harmony. While
every individual’s respiratory cycle reacts dynamically upon the
latent kundalini a reaction that takes place about 21,600 times
a day, that is at a frequency more or less equal to the individual’s
number of breaths this respiration is shallow and rapid, filling
the lungs to only a fraction of their capacity, and supplying a
current of oxygenated energy flowing downwards to strike kundalini
that is wholly inadequate to awaken her. |
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| Yogananda
in his autobiography, while narrating his guru’s explanation that
the ancient yogis discovered the secret of the link between cosmic
consciousness and breath-mastery writes that: The kriya yogi mentally
directs his life energy to revolve upward and downward, around the
six spinal centers (medullary, cervical dorsal, lumbar sacral and
coccygeal plexuses), which correspond to the twelve astral signs
of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One half – minute of revolution
of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man affects subtle
progress in his evolution that half-minute of kriya equals one year
of natural spiritual unfoldment. |
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| Pranayama
is reinforced by such yogic practices as asanas (sustained postures),
mudras (gestures), mantras (seed-sound syllables) and bandhas (internal
lock or muscular contraction). A compact and relaxed bodily position
that may be sustained for long periods is first adopted. In padamasana,
the lotus posture one sits cross legged with the right foot resting
on the left thigh and the left foot crossed over the right leg;
in Siddhasana the posture of accomplish-ment the left heel is pressed
firmly on the perineum and the heel of the right foot is placed
on the left thigh touching the abdomen. In both these positions,
the body is upright with the head neck and spinal column balanced
naturally on their axis. The eyes are directed towards the tip of
the nose for deep concentration while the hands are laid on the
knees. Yogis explain that sitting cross-legged in either of these
postures provides a stable triangular base which sustains the closed
circuit of the energy field. The first step in Pranayama is to regulate
the breathing. Rhythm is all-important as it is this that supports
concentration and harnesses the impulse of the autonomic nervous
system. By taking deeper and fuller breaths we begin to absorb the
maximum pranic current with each inhalation. To proceed further
a knowledge of the phasing of respiration’s units is required. Each
unit consists of three parts: inhalation retention of breath at
any point during inhalation the chief method of absorbing energy
from the atmosphere; and exhalation of the used air. Balanced rhythm
in breathing depends on achieving the correct ratio between these
three units. The ideal phasing of inhalation (puraka), retention
(kumbhaka) and exhalation (rechaka) is 1:4:2. |
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The
air is inhaled slowly through the left nostril (which is connected
with the lunar channel ida) while the right nostril is closed with
the thumb. The breath is then held while meditating on the seed-sound
syllable yam, and exhaled in the correct rhythm. The same procedure
is repeated using the right nostril (which is connected with the
solar channel, pingala) and the seed-sound syllable ram. Ida and
pingala as they rise from the region of the coccyx entwine around
the sushumna, crossing from side to side at nodes between the chakras.
(it is interesting to note that the same spiral pattern is seen
in the double-helix configuration of the DNA-molecule containing
the genetic code of life.) |
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In
the practice of Pranayama, these pathways are purified (cleansing
of the nadis) to allow the free flow of psychic forces. During this
yogic discipline, the primal sound Om (A-U-M), or a similar seed-sound
syllable drawn from the Sanskrit alphabet is uttered repeatedly,
not only as a measure of duration but to provide a sound-vibration
which has a connection with the subtle channels and chakras; for
each chakra has a corresponding sound and colour vibrating at different
frequencies. Starting with the root chakra and working up to the
top of the head, these vibration-rates are given by the Tantric
texts as 4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 2, 1,000; and the number of rays, of
tattvas (subtle elements) has been mentioned as 56 for Muladhara,
62 for Svadhisthana, 52 for Manipura 54 for Anahata, 72 for Visuddha
and 64 for Ajna. One of the vital airs of prana is the Apana, which
controls the situation it occupies below the navel region. It is
associated with the colours purple and orange, and is linked from
below with the fire element. Purple and orange, and is linked from
below with the fire element. According to the yoga kundalini Upanishad
(42-46), when one causes the downward Apana to move upwards [by
constriction of the sphincter muscles of the rectum], it is known
as of the fire [element], the flame of fire, caused by the vital
air [Prana] to ascend, increases its intensity. When the fire and
Apana reach the heated prana a current is generated in the body.
by that current the sleeping Kundalini being very much heated, is
roused, and like a snake belaboured with a stick becomes erect with
hissing and by way of entering its hole, reaches the interior of
the Brahma-nadi. |
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| Each
of the chakras, according to the Tantras, corresponds to one to the
elements of which the known world is compounded, and of which the
individual constitution is but a simulacrum. Muladhara represents
solidity; Svadhisthana, liquidity; Manipura, the gaseous; Anahata
the aerial; Visuddha, the etheric, or space. One can see the whole
process as a progressive transformation of the elements, with an increase
of volatility. |
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In
the Visuddha centre, of space (akasa), the principle of vacuity.
There one steps beyond the empirical world; as it were beyond the
‘world of concepts’. C.G. jung, using the language of archetypes
(or the residual images retained in the collective unconscious that
surface in dreams, in myths, and in the creative psyche), has suggested
the mandala or cone of experience by which to visualize this journey.
He sees it as a spiral climb inwards and upwards from the circumference
of the sphere of the base of the cone into the point-experience
or crest-experience at the center of being. |
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A
dynamization, transformation and sublimation of the physical, mental,
and spiritual state is only possible with the arousal of the Kundalini
Sakti and her reorientation from downward to upward movement as
she rises to unite with Siva, resulting in the flooding of the whole
being with indescribable bliss. The aspirant raises himself from
the grosser elements to the subtler, and realizes, in a transcendental
experience, his union with Siva-Sakti, to become a ‘cosmic man’. |
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