Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

AWAKENING

KUNDALINI

“It is said that the praanic force is

omnipresent and omniscient; It knows all

about the past, present, and future.”

Serpent Power

The

kundalini shakthi,

the

fiery serpent power that lies

dormant at the base of the hu-

man spine can under certain

conditions be aroused and led

upwards along the spine, irradi-

ating various

chakras

or centres

on the way, until it bursts in

splendour into the cortex and il-

luminates the highest of these

chakras,

the thousand-petalled lotus in

the head. Surely this is the rite or cere-

mony of the head to which the seer refers,

and which, indeed, is a rare achievement.

—

Dr. Karan Singh

is called

apraana,

the force involved in the

process of cleansing : it expels things that

are not needed in the body.

Samaana

is the

force which assimilates the food we eat and

the water we drink.

Udaama

is the

praana

that helps us move forward, figuratively,

mentally and physically.

Udaama

relates to

the process of purification, stability of mind

and control over the modifications of the

mind.

Vyaana

is the

praana

that helps us

expand and control. These are the five main

praanas.

There are five more

praanas naga,

koorma, krikala, devadatta

and

dha-

nanjaya.

Praana

travels through energy

channels called

naadis

which branch

out in all directions. The three main

nadis are

ida, pingala

and

sushumna.

They are in the trunk of the body.

Ida

on the left of the spine and relates to

the right nostril and

sushumma

is the

centre. There is a difference in the

quality of air when taken in through

each of the two nostrils.

The 12 other main

naadis

are :

gaandhari,

hastigihvika,

kuhu,

sarasvathi,

pusa,

sarikhini,

payaswami,

varuni,

alumbusa,

Viswadhari, yashaswani

and

koorma.

Koorma

in Sanskrit means tortoise or

turtle.

Koorma naadi

is related to

koorma praana.

In the

Yoga Sutras

(jl

11.30) it is said,

Koormanadyam st-

haiyarnam"

while

practising

samyama

(concentration, meditation

and

samaadhi

) on

koorma naadi,

one

attains stability of mind and thereby

the stability of the body.

Where is this

koorma naadi

and

what does it do? Many

Yoga

manuals

and commentators say that it is at the bot-

tom of the spine between the anus and the

genital organs, the location for

ashwini

mudra.

By practising

samyama

(concentration,

meditation and

samaadhi)

koorma naadi

and thereby attaining control over

koorma

vaayu

one attains stability of the mind and

body.

The practise of

praanayama,

the

yoga

prana, allows one to develop control over

the

koorma naadi.

By doing

praanayama

all

kinds of koormic impurities are destroyed -

- since breath is a conscious force that

knows everything and a knower of breath

knows the secret of everything and by puri-

fying oneself one prepares for the rising of

kundalini.

The first movement of

kundalini

begins

at the spine, at

koorma naadi

which is the

centremost part of one's body when one is

sitting in the

padmaasana

posture with

head, neck and trunk straight. The

kundalini

rises through seven centres of conscious-

ness, the seventh of which is located in the

brain. When the

kundalini

reaches the sev-

enth centre one attains transcendetal con-

sciousness

— Pandit Rajmani Tigunait

—

"Inner Light",

Vol. 3, No. 4

Praana

means energy combined

with consciousness; intelligence that

knows. “I am moving”; that force

whose motion or movement is self-

regulated and not governed by any-

thing else; that which is not blind

force; and that which has purpose in

vibrating, throbbing and animating in a

particular pattern or manner. That

self-intelligent force is called

praana.

In the

Vedas

and

Upanishads,

Yoga,

nothing is unintelligent or un-

consciousness. It is only a matter of

degree or gradation. Consciousness

alone exists; therefore there is no

unconsciousness, inert or dead matter

anywhere.

Praana

is the force from

which other forces of nature — grav-

ity, electricity, and magnetism -

evolve. We have always assumed

that these forces are not intelligent.

Even scientists are now discovering

that this is not true and these are in-

telligent forces.

If it is true that the life force is there why

do we need to breathe.

Yoga

says that only

an infinitesimal part of that life is in its

awakened state; the rest is dormant. Ac-

cording to yoga the purpose of life is to

unfold the dormant force.

The nourishing aspect of the force is

also called

praana.

Another different aspect