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Kundalini (kuṇḍalinī कुण्डलिनी) Sanskrit, literally "coiled". In Indian yoga, a "corporeal energy"¹ - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent coiled at the base of the spine,²³⁴ hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent power'. Kundalini is considered a part of the subtle body along with chakras (energy centres) and nadis (channels). Each chakra is said to contain special characteristics ⁵. The overall concept has many points in common with Chinese acupuncture.

Yoga and Tantra propose that this energy may be "awakened" by such means as austerities, breath and other physical exercises, visualization and chanting. It may then rise up a subtle channel at the spine (called Sushumna) to the head, bringing psychological illumination. Yogis tend to attempt this alone, Tantrics in couples, both usually under the instruction of a guru.

When Kundalini Shakti is conceived as a goddess, then, when it rises to the head, it unites itself with the Supreme Being (Lord Shiva). The aspirant becomes engrossed in deep meditation and infinite bliss.⁶⁷

Indian sources

A number of models of this esoteric subtle anatomy occur in the class of texts known as Āgamas or Tantras, a large body of scriptures, rejected by many orthodox brahmins.⁸ In early texts there are various systems of chakras and nadis, with varying connections between them. Over time a system of six or seven chakras up the spine was adopted by most schools. This particular system, which may have originated in about the 11th century AD, rapidly became widely popular.⁹ This is the conventional arrangement cited by Monier-Williams, where the chakras are defined as "6 in number, one above the other".¹⁰

The most famous of the Yoga Upanishads, the Yogatattva, mentions four kinds of yoga, one of which, laya-yoga, involves Kundalini.¹¹ Another source text for the concept is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika written by Swami Svatmarama (English translation, 1992) somewhere between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.^{12citation needed}

Western interpretation

Sir John Woodroffe (pen name Arthur Avalon) was one of the first to bring the notion of Kundalini to the West. A High Court Judge in Calcutta, he became interested in Shaktism and Hindu Tantra. His translation of and commentary on two key texts was published as The Serpent Power. Woodroffe rendered Kundalini as "Serpent Power".

Western awareness of the idea of Kundalini was strengthened by the Theosophical Society and the interest of the psychoanalyst Carl Jung (1875-1961)[2]. "Jung's seminar on Kundalini yoga, presented to the Psychological Club in Zurich in 1932, has been widely regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought. Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the development of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation".¹³

In the early '30s two Italian scholars, Tommaso Palamidessi and Julius Evola, published several books with the intent of re-interpreting alchemy with reference to yoga.¹⁴ Those works had an impact on modern interpretations of Alchemy as a mystical science. In those works, Kundalini is called an Igneous Power or Serpentine Fire.

Another popularizer of the concept of Kundalini among Western readers was Gopi Krishna. His autobiography is entitled Kundalini—The Evolutionary Energy in Man.¹⁵ According to June McDaniel, his writings have influenced Western interest in kundalini yoga.¹⁶ Swami Sivananda produced an English language manual of Kundalini Yoga methods. Other well-known spiritual teachers who have made use of the idea of kundalini include Osho, George Gurdjieff, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rudi (Swami Rudrananda), Yogi Bhajan and Nirmala Srivastava.

Kundalini references may commonly be found at present in a wide variety of derivative "New Age" presentations, and is a catchword that has been adopted by many new religious movements. However, some commentators, such as transpersonal psychologist Stuart Sovatsky, thinks that the association of Yogic sanskrit terminology (chakras, kundalini, mantras, etc.) with the superficiality of new-age rhetoric, has been unfortunate ¹⁷.

Recently, there has been a growing interest within the medical community to study the physiological effects of meditation, and some of these studies have applied the discipline of Kundalini Yoga to their clinical settings ^{18 19}. Their findings are not all positive. Some modern experimental research ²⁰seeks to establish links between Kundalini practice and the ideas of Wilhelm Reich and his followers.

However. Intensive spiritual practices, associated with Asian traditions, are not unproblematic. Psychiatric literature ²¹ notes that "Since the influx of eastern spiritual practices and the rising popularity of meditation starting in the 1960's, many people have experienced a variety of psychological difficulties, either while engaged in intensive spiritual practice or spontaneously". Among the psychological difficulties associated with intensive spiritual practice we find "kundalini awakening","a complex physio-psychospiritual transformative process described in the yogic tradition" ²². Also, researchers in the fields of Transpersonal psychology,²³ and Near-death studies²⁴²⁵ describe a complex pattern of sensory, motor, mental and affective symptoms associated with the concept of Kundalini, sometimes called the Kundalini Syndrome.

See also

Notes

References

• Cromie, William J. Research: Meditation changes temperatures: Mind controls body in extreme experiments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Gazette, 18 April 2002

• Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1996). ISBN 0-521-43878-0

• Greyson, Bruce (2000) Some Neuropsychological Correlates Of The Physio-Kundalini Syndrome. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol.32, No. 2

• Harper, Katherine Anne; Brown, Robert L. (2002). The Roots of Tantra. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-5306-5. 

• Kason, Yvonne (2000) Farther Shores: Exploring How Near-Death, Kundalini and Mystical Experiences Can Transform Ordinary Lives. Toronto: Harper Collins Publishers, Revised edition, ISBN 0-00-638624-5

• Krishna, Gopi (1971) Kundalini: the evolutionary energy in man. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala

• Lazar, Sara W.; Bush, George; Gollub, Randy L.; Fricchione, Gregory L.; Khalsa, Gurucharan; Benson, Herbert (2000) Functional brain mapping of the relaxation response and meditation [Autonomic Nervous System]. NeuroReport: Volume 11(7) 15 May 2000 p 1581–1585 PubMed Abstract PMID 10841380

• McDaniel, June (2004). Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195167902. 

• Palamidessi, Tommaso (1948) Alchimia come via allo spirito, ed. EGO, Turin

• Rudra (1993), Kundalini die Energie der Natur die Natur der Energie im Menschen, Wild Dragon Connections, Worpswede, Germany, ISBN 3-9802560-1-4

• Scotton, Bruce (1996) The phenomenology and treatment of kundalini, in Chinen, Scotton and Battista (Editors) (1996) Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry and psychology. (pp.261-270). New York, NY, US: Basic Books, Inc.

• Selig, Zachary; Selby, Jon (1992). Kundalini Awakening, a Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-553-35330-3 (0-553-35330-6). 

• Sovatsky, Stuart (1998). Words from the Soul: Time, East/West Spirituality, and Psychotherapeutic Narrative. New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-3950-X.  Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology

• Svatmarama, Swami (1992) Hatha Yoga Pradipika. London: The Aquarian Press, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. Translated by Elsy Becherer, foreword by B K S Iyengar, commentary by Hans Ulrich Rieker

• Turner, Robert P.; Lukoff, David; Barnhouse, Ruth Tiffany & Lu Francis G. (1995) Religious or Spiritual Problem. A Culturally Sensitive Diagnostic Category in the DSM-IV. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease,Vol.183, No. 7 435-444

Further reading

• Bentov, Itzhak: Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness, Destiny Books (1988), United States, (ISBN 0-8928-1202-8)

• Collie, El: "Branded by the Spirit"

• Kieffer, Gene (1988): Kundalini for the New Age - Selected Writings of Gopi Krishna, (ISBN 0-533-34433-1)

• Laue, Thorsten: Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Tee und das Wassermannzeitalter. Bibliografische Einblicke in die Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) des Yogi Bhajan. Tübingen: 2008. Online abrufbar unter: http://tobias-lib.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/volltexte/2008/3596/ [in German]

• Laue, Thorsten: Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Tee und das Wassermannzeitalter. Religionswissenschaftliche Einblicke in die Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) des Yogi Bhajan, Münster: LIT, 2007, ISBN 3825801403 [in German]

• Narayanananda, Swami (1979): The Primal Power in Man or the Kundalini Shakti, N.U. Yoga Trust, Denmark, (ISBN 87-87571-60-9) (6th rev. ed., (1st ed. 1950))

• Sannella, Lee (1987): The Kundalini Experience, Integral Publishing, California, United States, (ISBN 0-9412-5529-9)

• Tweedie, I., Daughter of Fire: A Diary of a Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master, 1995, The Golden Sufi Center, ISBN 0-9634574-5-4

• White, J, edt. (1990) Kundalini. Evolution and enlightenment. New York: Paragon House

External links

• Kundalini at the Open Directory Project