Kundalini

'coiled snake', pronunciationⓘ) is a form of divine feminine energy (or Shakti) believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the muladhara.

It is an important concept in Śhaiva Tantra, where it is believed to be a force or power associated with the divine feminine or the formless aspect of the Goddess.

It derives its name from its focus upon the awakening of kundalini energy through regular practice of mantra, Tantra, yantra, asanas or meditation.

[12] According to David Gordon White, this feminine spiritual force is also termed bhogavati, which has a double meaning of "enjoyment" and "coiled" and signifies her strong connection to bliss and pleasure, both mundane physical pleasure and the bliss of spiritual liberation (moksha), which is the enjoyment of Shiva's creative activity and ultimate union with the Goddess.

[13] In the influential Shakta tradition called Kaula, Kuṇḍalinī is seen as a "latent innate spiritual power" associated with the Goddess Kubjika (lit.

[14] According to the scholar of comparative religion Gavin Flood, Abhinavagupta links Kuṇḍalinī with "the power that brings into manifestation the body, breath, and experiences of pleasure and pain", with "the power of sexuality as the source of reproduction" and with: the force of the syllable ha in the mantra and the concept of aham, the supreme subjectivity as the source of all, with a as the initial movement of consciousness and m its final withdrawal.

A popular Vaishnava text called Narada Pancharatra gives a detailed, although somewhat different description of Chakras and Kundalini Shakti compared to Shaivism and Shaktism.

[16] When awakened, kuṇḍalinī is described as rising up from the muladhara chakra, through the central nadi (called sushumna) inside or alongside the spine reaching the top of the head.

[17]: 5–6 Swami Sivananda Saraswati of the Divine Life Society stated in his book Kundalini Yoga that "Supersensual visions appear before the mental eye of the aspirant, new worlds with indescribable wonders and charms unfold themselves before the Yogi, planes after planes reveal their existence and grandeur to the practitioner and the Yogi gets divine knowledge, power and bliss, in increasing degrees, when Kuṇḍalinī passes through Chakra after Chakra, making them to bloom in all their glory..."[18] Yoga gurus consider that Kuṇḍalinī can be awakened by shaktipat (spiritual transmission by a Guru or teacher), or by spiritual practices such as yoga or meditation.

The active approach involves systematic physical exercises and techniques of concentration, visualization, pranayama (breath practice) and meditation under the guidance of a competent teacher.

[20] The twentieth century yogi and mystic Gopi Krishna, who helped to bring the concept of Kuṇḍalinī to the Western world, stated that[21] As the ancient writers have said, it is the vital force or prana which is spread over both the macrocosm, the entire Universe, and the microcosm, the human body...

[21] The American comparative religions scholar Joseph Campbell describes the concept of Kuṇḍalinī as "the figure of a coiled female serpent—a serpent goddess not of "gross" but "subtle" substance—which is to be thought of as residing in a torpid, slumbering state in a subtle center, the first of the seven, near the base of the spine: the aim of the yoga then being to rouse this serpent, lift her head, and bring her up a subtle nerve or channel of the spine to the so-called "thousand-petaled lotus" (Sahasrara) at the crown of the head...She, rising from the lowest to the highest lotus center will pass through and wake the five between, and with each waking, the psychology and personality of the practitioner will be altogether and fundamentally transformed.

[24] Another hatha yoga text, the Khecarīvidyā, states that khechari mudra enables one to raise Kundalini and access the stores of amrita in the head, which subsequently flood the body.

[25] The spiritual teacher Meher Baba emphasized the need for a master when actively trying to awaken Kuṇḍalinī:[26] Kundalini is a latent power in the higher body.

The intensity of this rising kundalini force was so tremendous that my body lifted up a little and fell flat into the aisle; my eyeglasses flew off.

[20] According to Hindu tradition, in order to be able to integrate this spiritual energy, a period of careful purification and strengthening of the body and nervous system is usually required beforehand.

Paramahansa Yogananda in his book God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita states:[33] At the command of the yogi in deep meditation, this creative force turns inward and flows back to its source in the thousand-petaled lotus, revealing the resplendent inner world of the divine forces and consciousness of the soul and spirit.

Yoga refers to this power flowing from the coccyx to spirit as the awakened kundalini.Paramahansa Yogananda also states: The yogi reverses the searchlights of intelligence, mind and life force inward through a secret astral passage, the coiled way of the kundalini in the coccygeal plexus, and upward through the sacral, the lumbar, and the higher dorsal, cervical, and medullary plexuses, and the spiritual eye at the point between the eyebrows, to reveal finally the soul's presence in the highest center (Sahasrara) in the brain.

[34] Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936) – also known by his pseudonym Arthur Avalon – was a British Orientalist whose published works stimulated a far-reaching interest in Hindu philosophy and Yogic practices.

Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the developmental phases of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation, with sensitivity towards a new generation's interest in alternative religions and psychological exploration.

A similar alignment of "theory" and "practice" seemed to be embodied in the yogic texts that moreover had developed independently of the bindings of Western thought.

"[37]: xviii–xix The American writer William Buhlman began to conduct an international survey of out-of-body experiences in 1969 in order to gather information about symptoms: sounds, vibrations and other phenomena that commonly occur at the time of the OBE event.

His primary interest was to compare the findings with reports made by yogis such as Gopi Krishna who have referred to similar phenomena, such as the "vibrational state" as components of their kundalini-related spiritual experience.

The basic premise is to encourage the flow of Kundalini energy up the spine and toward the top of the head—the crown chakra—thus projecting your awareness into the higher heavenly dimensions of the universe.

"[43] Among the psychological difficulties associated with intensive spiritual practice we find "Kundalini awakening," "a complex physio-psychospiritual transformative process described in the yogic tradition.

[45] The differentiation between spiritual emergency associated with Kuṇḍalinī awakening may be viewed as an acute psychotic episode by psychiatrists who are not conversant with the culture.