Kundalini is a Sanskrit term meaning ‘coiled up’. It looks like this: कुण्डलिनी in Sanskrit.
A serpent, figuratively and symbolically, is what is coiled up at the base of the spine in all humans. It is said to be coiled 3 and a half times. This means your spine, my spine, everyone’s spine within the sacrum bone or the Muladhara chakra is this immense force. The reason behind this 3 and a half number is to do with the Gunas, which is another Sanskrit term for cord, strand, and in some more abstract forms, subdivision. There are 3 major Gunas: Rajas Guna (creation) Sattva Guna(preservation) and Tamas Guna (destruction).
This serpent, also known as the Goddess Shakti, lies dormant in all people until She is Awakened. ‘Shak’ is Sanskrit for force. She represents the cosmic forces that rule the Universe. In Hinduism, she is the divine feminine power and in Kundalini terms she is the ‘psycho-spiritual force’ behind it all. There is an integrative technique for Awakening the Kundalini called the “Shaktipat” that many of my online companions have undergone successfully, and are now active.
As I said, Shakti, the Serpent, or this the latent fire energy lays dormant in most people. Once awakened, it communicates with the entire body and mind but also allows the person to become aware, if they were not already, of what is called the “Subtle Body.” Most people are at least somewhat aware of this body. It tends to manifest itself (inside and outside of a Kundalini circumstance) in the realms of sixth senses, general awareness of energy, deeper perception, entities, etc. Many people even taste the Kundalini in different moments in their lives without fully activating Her. From the book Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda:
This serpent, also known as the Goddess Shakti, lies dormant in all people until She is Awakened. ‘Shak’ is Sanskrit for force. She represents the cosmic forces that rule the Universe. In Hinduism, she is the divine feminine power and in Kundalini terms she is the ‘psycho-spiritual force’ behind it all. There is an integrative technique for Awakening the Kundalini called the “Shaktipat” that many of my online companions have undergone successfully, and are now active.
As I said, Shakti, the Serpent, or this the latent fire energy lays dormant in most people. Once awakened, it communicates with the entire body and mind but also allows the person to become aware, if they were not already, of what is called the “Subtle Body.” Most people are at least somewhat aware of this body. It tends to manifest itself (inside and outside of a Kundalini circumstance) in the realms of sixth senses, general awareness of energy, deeper perception, entities, etc. Many people even taste the Kundalini in different moments in their lives without fully activating Her. From the book Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda:
“Thus the rousing of the Kundalini is the one and only way to the attaining of divine wisdom, super-conscious perception, realization of the Spirit. The rousing may come in various ways; through love of God, through the mercy of perfected sages, or through the power of the analytic will of the philosopher. Wherever there has been any manifestation of what is ordinarily called the supernatural powers of wisdom, there a little current of the Kundalini must have found its way into the Sushumna. Only, in the vast majority of such cases, the people had ignorantly stumbled on some practice which set free a minute portion of the coiled-up Kundalini. All worship, consciously or unconsciously, leads to this end. The man who thinks he is receiving a response to his prayers does not know that the fulfillment comes from his own nature, that he has succeeded, by the mental attitude of prayer, in waking up a bit of this infinite power which is coiled up inside himself.”
A full Kundalini Awakening, however, is much different and about a thousand times more powerful than these moments of clarity or genius. Instead of a mere trickle through a tap, a full Kundalini Awakening is like the complete force of Niagra Falls bursting through a cylinder an inch in diameter.
The Subtle Body consists of four things: the Nadis, Bindu, Prana and the Chakra system. The Nadis are channels within the body for psychospiritual energy to travel through, Prana is the energy itself, the Chakras are specific ‘hubs’ of energy that house different aspects of the self, and Bindu are points within these hubs of immense energetic potential. All of the aspects of the Subtle Body will be explained more thoroughly in Part II of What is Kundalini?
Once the Kundalini is Awakened, Shakti makes her way up the spine, through the Nadis, and if the Crown (the top of the head) has been attained She may then reunite with Shiva, her male counterpart.
Once the Kundalini is Awakened, Shakti makes her way up the spine, through the Nadis, and if the Crown (the top of the head) has been attained She may then reunite with Shiva, her male counterpart.
So, what does all of this DO in the body? What exactly does it feel like? How does it affect an individual? What is the point of it all? We will continue to explore this in the other sections.
© Shannon Naithair Teine, 2011.
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