Kundalini is a psycho-spiritual energy, the energy of the consciousness, which is thought to reside within the sleeping body, and is aroused either through spiritual discipline or spontaneously to bring new states of consciousness, including mystical illumination. Kundalini is Sanskrit for "snake" or "serpent power," so-called because it is believed to lie like a serpent in the root chakra at the base of the spine. In Tantra Yoga kundalini is an aspect of Shakti, the divine female energy and consort of Shiva.(see also Tantrism)
The power of kundalini is said to be enormous. Those having experienced it claim it to be indescribable. The phenomena associated with it varies from bizarre physical sensations and movements, pain, clairaudience, visions, brilliant lights, superlucidity, psychical powers, ecstasy, bliss, and transcendence of self. Kundalini has been described as liquid fire and liquid light.
Indian yoga, with its emphasis on the transmutation of energy to higher consciousness, was the chief contributor to the cultivation of kundalini and the preservation of its knowledge prior to present times. Kundalini was a rarity in the West before the 1970s until more attention became centered upon the consciousness. In 1932, for example, psychiatrist Carl G. Jung and others observed that the kundalini experience was seldom seen in the West.
However, an examination of mystical literature and traditions showed that kundalini, called by various names, seems to have been a universal phenomenon in esoteric teachings for perhaps three thousand years. Kundalini-type descriptions or experiences are found in esoteric teachings of the Egyptians, Tibetans, Chinese, some Native Americans, and the !Kung bushmen of Africa. Kundalini has been interpreted from the Bible as "the solar principle in man," and is referenced in the Koran, the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers, alchemical tracts (the philosopher's stone), and in Hermetic, Kabbalistic, Rosicrucian, and Masonic writings.
There has been an awakening of kundalini knowledge among the Western populations since the 1970s because of two major reasons: more people who are trained in the spiritual disciplines are likely to release the energy, and the increased number of people that are aware of kundalini are more likely to recognize its symptoms or benefits.
Not all kundalini experiences are identical to those classical awakenings experienced in yoga, but may vary in intensity and duration. Typically the yogi meditates to arouse the kundalini and then to raise it through his or her body. (It should be remembered though, not all types of yoga are devoted to the arousal of kundalini.) First, the yogi feels the sensation on heat at the base of the spine, which may be intensely hot or pleasantly warm. The energy then travels up a psychic pathway parallel to the spinal column. The sushumna is the central axis, crisscrossed in a helix by the ida and pingala. As it rises the kundalini activates the chakras in succession. The body becomes cold and corpse-like as the kundalini leaves the lower portions and begins to rise. The yogi is likely to shudder, tremble, or rock violently, feel extreme heat and cold, hear strange but not unpleasant sounds, and see various kinds of lights including an inner light. The length of the kundalini may be fleeting or last several minutes. The objective is to raise the kundalini to the crown chakra, where it unites with the Shiva, or the male polarity, and brings illumination. The yogi then attempts to lower the energy to another chakra, but not below the heart chakra because descent to lower chakras is thought to produce ego inflation, rampant sexual desire, and a host of other ills. By repeatedly raising the kundalini to the crown, the yogi can succeed in having the energy permanently stay there.
It is said that kundalini opens new pathways in the nervous system; the pain associated with this apparently is due to the nervous system's inability to immediately copy with the energy. Yogis assert that the body must be properly attuned for kundalini through yoga, and that a premature or explosive awakening can cause insanity or death.
Other individuals, it has been determined by Western psychologists and psychiatrists, have experienced kundalini awakenings but not the explosive kind. One notable characteristic of these lesser awakenings is that the individual thinks, acts, and feels remarkably different. Symptoms may involve involuntary and spasmodic body movements and postures; pain; abnormal breathing patterns; paralysis; tickling itching; vibrating sensations; hot and cold sensations; inner sounds, such as roaring, whistling, and chirping; insomnia; hypersensitivity to environment; unusual or extremes of emotions; intensified sex drive; distortion of thought processes; detachment; disassociation; sensations of physical expansion; and out-of-body experiences (OBEs). Generally the elimination of such symptoms can be brought about by a heavier diet and temporary cessation of meditation. The phenomena of these lesser kundalini awakenings seem to indicate that the definition may have to be expanded from that of the coiled serpent of yoga. Such experienced awakenings are difficult to definitely define though because scientific research of kundalini energy is still in its embryonic stages, little is known of the energy's nonphysical nature, and many of its symptoms are similar to those associated with mental disturbances and stress.
One of the most dramatic instances of classic kundalini awakening was experienced by Copi Krishna (1903-1984), of India, who meditated for three hours every morning over seventeen years. On Christmas Day, 1937, he had his explosive awakening with kundalini pouring up his spine. By his personal account, he rocked out of his body and was enveloped in a halo of light. His consciousness expanded in every direction, and a vision of luster unfolded before him; he was like a small cork bobbing on a vast ocean of consciousness. This extraordinary experienced occurred once again, and then Krishna was plunged into twelve years of misery, during which he "experienced the indescribable ecstasies of the mystics…and the agonies of the mentally afflicted." Following twelve years his body apparently adapted to the new energy and stabilized, but he was permanently changed. Everything in his vision was bathed in a silvery light. He heard an inner cadence, called the "unstruck melody" in kundalini literature. Eventually he could experience bliss just by turning his attention inward. He became, as he said, "a pool of consciousness always aglow with light." His creativity soared allowing him to write poetry and nonfiction books.
Krishna devotedly spent most of the remainder of his life learning the secrets of kundalini. He considered it "the most jealously guarded secret in history" and "the guardian of human evolution." To him it was the driving force behind genius and inspiration. He also thought within the brain is the blueprint to evolve humankind to a higher consciousness, one that makes use of kundalini. Too, he believed kundalini could improve the health of humankind with its ability to regenerate and restore the body, to lengthen life, and eradicate such conditions as mental retardation.
Krishna made ever effort increase the cultivation of kundalini in the West. Many researchers followed him, but some disagreed with the importance that he gave kundalini.
Tantrism
A system of yoni-worship, or female-centered sex-worship, which allegedly begun thousands of years ago in India by women of a secret sect called Vratyas, the processors of the devadasis or sacred harlots. The religion was associated with later written scriptures known as Tantras, therefore, it became known as Tantrism. Its primary objective was the adoration of the lingam-yoni, sign of the male and female principles in conjunction (the god Shiva and the goddess Kali). Tantrism is still practiced in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet.
The basic tenet of Tantrism was that the woman possesses more spiritual energy than the man; therefore, the man could achieve realization of the divinity through sexual and emotional union with a woman. A fundamental rite was controlled sexual intercourse, maithuna, Latin, coitus reservatus; sex without male orgasm. In theory the man must store up his sexual fluid rather than expelling it by ejaculation. Through Tantric training, he learned to absorb through his penis the fluid engendered by his partner's orgasm and to prolong sexual intercourse for many hours. In this way he became similar to Shiva, the God in perpetual union with the Goddess. Theoretically, the concept was that the conserved vital fluids would be stored in the man's spinal column, working their way up through the chakras to his head, and there flower the inspiration of divine wisdom. The Tantras explains the purposes of the various rites and the philosophy underlying them.
The most sacred mantra expressing Tantric worship was Om mani padme hum, the Jewel (penis) in the Lotus (vulva). The symbolic lingam-yoni often took the form of an altar shaped like a penis in a vulva.
The practice met with opposition as did its Christian counterparts, namely the Ophites and Montanists. Orthodox Buddhism was based on opposition to the female principle and believed in order to saved their souls men must avoid sex. The vitality of the soul was retained by the conservation of semen, and the concentration (see Meditation) on the Self. Buddhist monks claim their prophet commanded them to quell all sexual desire, and to never see or speak to a woman.
Tantrism was never completely destroyed. It has been practiced in different forms or versions throughout the centuries. It was practiced by some early Christians who called it synesaktism, the Way of Shakti, which was a form of Goddess-worship that had come from the Orient through Pythagorean and Neoplatonic mystics. Plotinus equated the mind's progress toward Ineffable to "the sight of a beautiful lady." The ascent of the mind toward the realization of divinity was divided into six steps, the first being the perception of woman's beauty to the culmination with the contemplation of Universal Beauty.
However, as with everything which incorporates natural tendencies but also denies them this form of Goddess-worship traveled a bumpy road. One big obstacle was when the Christian Church declared that the sole purpose of sex was for the propagation of children. This lead to the obstacle of others being suspicious of those practicing it, thinking promiscuity was occurring among them.
Some early Christian sects such as the Gnostic Ophites practiced a form of Tantrism by adoring their Goddess symbol of Sophia. She was thought of as the Holy Spirit, the feminine soul or the Shakti of God. They called their rite a spiritual marriage which was completely misconceived by the orthodox Church which condemned it. Certain members of these sects laid naked together while copulating. Their rite was suspicious in that they say they only avoided male orgasm. As previously mentioned promiscuity was suspect.
Christians were not the only ones attacking such practices, the Islamic leaders also were attacking the Sufi cults of love. Sufi mysticism survived underground, carried on by troubadours calling themselves Lovers and adoring the feminine principle as a world-sustaining power. The Sufi worship eventually influenced the European troubadours, who founded cults of Courtly Love in the centuries following the crusades. Such troubadours were branded sinful by the Church because they loved women instead of God; and, women were equated with the devil by the theological opinion of the time. The patriarchal authority was not going to approve something that was natural as good, such an act would seem to grant the right of sexual pleasure to women.
Although Courtly Love practiced Tantric maithuna under the name of drudaria, a sort of love associated with male self-denial, it was anything but chaste. To the contrary, its poetry was highly erotic. The bardic verse indicated Tantrism origins, especially when Peredur's mystic lady-love revealed that she came from India or when Tristan told his lady-love Iseult that his name was the syllabically-reversed Tantris.
There are indications that Tantrism was present throughout the history of western nations. It was either taught through secret teaching or discovered independently. Medieval goddess-worshippers, valified as "witches" apparently knew of it. There are indications that it was taught and used as a birth-control technique. Many alleged witches were midwives whom the Church thought were teaching birth control. Also, there is no evidence of women becoming pregnant after returning from witches' sabbats.
Maithuna was heard of once more, in 1848, when John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Creek Community, rediscovered the technique which he called "male continence' or karezza. Noyes' initial reason as to protect his wife from "the horrors and the fear of involuntary propagation" after she had four disastrous pregnancies. Afterwards Noyes trained members of his community in the technique and they began experimenting in what was called "complex marriage" where the various partners had no fear of unwanted pregnancies.
Some occult groups in the 19th and 20th centuries used Tantric coitus reservatus for various reasons. However, maithuna was not widely practiced by Western men because of Christian and cultural teachings.