Some about Kundalini and the Tantra

"The general idea prevailing about Kundalini, both in the East and in the West, is of a fabulous power... lying dormant, waiting to be roused..." --The Secret of Yoga by Gopi Krishna

When the subject turns from more commonly known Western ideas present in Judeo-Christian mysticism such as Incarnation,  to ideas prevalent in the East then brought West, such as Kundalini Yoga or other Hatha practices, quickly it becomes apparent that there is little credible information about this aspect of Hatha Yoga translated into English or available for use in the West. Why so? To Westerners accustomed to an intellectual system of Scholasticism, books and works of the mind alone are an immediate draw. Yet like many elements of Eastern philosophy, person to person transmission of many types of knowledge is critical, and cannot be obtained from any text. It is like the "Golden Rosary." These texts are said to be "secret" yet for aspirants and postulants they are available with direction and guidance through oral transmission.

So the secret is that they are secret, not secret-- like a good Buddhist Koan. Within the question is the answer. One of a handful of texts written on the subject for English audiences is written by Gopi Krishna. Writing in The Secret of Yoga, Krishna delves into some of the facts and fictions of Kundalini practice. He states that one of the popular conceptions of this practice is that a person who attains the highest Chakra, "attains unlimited dominance over the forces of nature..." There is no end to the natural powers attained by "those who succeed in awakening Kundalini (Adya-Kali)... many modern seekers expect from Yoga in the wildest flights of their fancy."

But what does Krishna say Kundalini is then, beyond Adya-Kali? Well, first of all he notes that the ancient texts are undoubtedly containing great wisdom, yet knowledge of the human body through much of the time periods that the ancient texts were written was woefully inadequate. For example, until the 1920s it was not well understood how a woman became pregnant; what the hormonal processes that developed into a monthly cycle were comprised of. Most of the most basic hormones relating to reproduction were not known until further into the 20th century.

Krishna argues then for a modern Kundalini, one that is informed by this age for this modern world. Kundalini he argues is a potent energy force, one that "has not been elucidated in any rational way in any text, ancient or modern." Kundalini, the Divine energy is often described by many writers both ancient and modern as "cosmic, astral, or psychic force without any biologic connection to the human body." And yet Hatha Yoga in all its forms is intimately concerned with the body as much as the spiritual nature of such body.

Krishna also calls into consideration the notion of a Chakra. Chakras are thought to be pathways for energy flow, increasing consciousness and leading to the emergence of the Kundalini in an aspirant. Yet Krishna notes that in Buddhist Tantric practice there are only four such pathways, rather than the much discussed seven-- as though seven were the usual number. In fact he argues that the notion of "seven lotuses (chakras) on the cerebro-spinal axis is of comparatively recent origin... under the cloak of weird formulations, fantastic formulations and mythical beings... of ignorance from the past, it is not surprising that... a whole host of divinities, and strange formulations in the body account for the bewildering effect of Kundalini. But now a rational explanation is called for."

And yet Gopi Krishna does not for a minute deny that a mysterious power of energy flowing throughout a body is Kundalini. And so he writes, " it is no secret that we live in two worlds [simultaneously], one spiritual and one physical... this is the reason why real success in yoga is so very rare.' ...an overhauling of the human body is necessary to effect the transformation most often sought.... And super-normal gifts such as prophesy and clairvoyance... become available to the successful initiates within limits." This, he says, in a nutshell, is the message of all the Tantras and all the ancient treatises dealing with Kundalini-Yoga. "For the aim of every religious practice is to bring the mind into Cosmic Consciousness or the Infinite Universe of Life, hidden from the ordinary mind.

Jung and the West, Regarding Kundalini*

"If some great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it, and goes out to meet it." --C.S. Jung
In 1932 renowned psychologist Carl Jung, former student of Sigmund Freud, delivered a scholarly paper, now collected into a book, Visions, at a psychoanalysis conference in which he discussed the practice and symbolism of Kundalini Yoga. He also revealed to his listeners a startling correlation in the West between the practice of this type of Yoga, and the experience of a sudden, and perhaps not easily reversible sudden break with the realized world in some individuals. He describes this break as a psychosis, in which the individual believes himself unable to contact with, or function in the everyday world. He is then, psychotic by Western standards, Jung states.

On 16 November 1932 at the same conference, from the transcripts which survive, C.S. Jung says, " the child has grown into a peculiar sort of tree which is human above and snake below... the Kundalini. And below the diaphragm it is all snake... And what is worm below is divine above..." "In the Chakras, the Kundalini was always separate...We must never forget that the Kundalini system is a specifically Indian production, and we have to deal here with Western material... You know that Kundalini changes on her way up to Ajna, the lower part, the part of darkness where the Purusha does not appear, is the black snake; there one is absolutely swallowed up in nature, in emotion, and everything beyond emotion is not perceived because it is not perceptible....Jung continues, "So, to a primitive, a man who thinks is most uncanny, a very bad man, a sorcerer full of hatred who will surely poison you... When you have that point of view, you are inside of the monster. When you come through the diaphragm, you are outside of the monster, and then you can see what really held you was that divine being which appeared to you, when looked at from the inside, as a big snake.

That is the reason why this being is monstrous...."There is an intuitive philosophy taken over from Proclus, the Neo-Platonist, who extolled, "Where there is time, there is creation. Thus time and creation are the same... " Jung further discusses in this same lecture the evolution of Gnosis in the Greek world and the development of Christianity. He notes that Saint Paul first was a gnostic before his conversion; the prevailing ideas of both gnosis and the phrenes of Homer. "In those days Christ ranked with Bacchus or Dionysus. In the case of the phrenes, when the hero is killed, the phrenes leave him by the mouth, or by above, but that which goes to the lower regions is the psyche... It is exactly the same in Chinese philosophy where the shen is the masculine soul that goes [rises] up to the gods; the kuei soul is female; It sinks down to the darkness... you see, the Chinese understood man as consisting of two parts...Now this kuei soul according to Eastern and Greek tradition is not immortal...it slowly loses its form and vanishes into the lights of the Heavens... The little flame from my breast rushed forth and sought to merge with this figure.

What has happened here? Well, a sort of mystic union. The ego attempts to merge, or unite with the universal Self. The ego-self shows vivid desire; flame is always vivid desire to merge-- and where would that lead? To a seeming death--or to something new. Jung concludes, to the Western mind, the overly close parallels of opposite, of black and white, of hot and cold, of far and near, etc. creates a complete state of unconsciousness, a collapse of clarity. In its place, complete confusion, a state much like insanity comes to reign. Opposing factors coming too close together would render many people in a state of complete disorientation. They lose their values, their sense of rightness and have no idea what is wrong with themselves. They just feel that they simply don't care. In the mind of Kundalini, is the snake darkness? Is it light? Is it male or female? Perhaps it is both. How so? With new consciousness, what then am I? Is my 'self' enlightened, or a self, dis-integrated? However, the self may be righted again, says Jung, by dropping deeper into the Chakras system, into the water to quench the fire.

* This article, a reader favorite appeared her previously April 9, 2009

Kundalini Yoga, Fact and Fiction

"The general idea prevailing about Kundalini, both in the East and in the West, is of a fabulous power... lying dormant, waiting to be roused..." --The Secret of Yoga by Gopi Krishna

When the subject turns from more commonly known Western ideas present in Judeo-Christian mysticism such as Incarnation,  to ideas prevalent in the East then brought West, such as Kundalini Yoga or other Hatha practices, quickly it becomes apparent that there is little credible information about this aspect of Hatha Yoga translated into English or available for use in the West. Why so? To Westerners accustomed to an intellectual system of Scholasticism, books and works of the mind alone are an immediate draw. Yet like many elements of Eastern philosophy, person to person transmission of many types of knowledge is critical, and cannot be obtained from any text. It is like the "Golden Rosary." These texts are said to be "secret" yet for aspirants and postulants they are available with direction and guidance through oral transmission.

So the secret is that they are secret, not secret-- like a good Buddhist Koan. Within the question is the answer. One of a handful of texts written on the subject for English audiences is written by Gopi Krishna. Writing in The Secret of Yoga, Krishna delves into some of the facts and fictions of Kundalini practice. He states that one of the popular conceptions of this practice is that a person who attains the highest Chakra, "attains unlimited dominance over the forces of nature..." There is no end to the natural powers attained by "those who succeed in awakening Kundalini (Adya-Kali)... many modern seekers expect from Yoga in the wildest flights of their fancy."

But what does Krishna say Kundalini is then, beyond Adya-Kali? Well, first of all he notes that the ancient texts are undoubtedly containing great wisdom, yet knowledge of the human body through much of the time periods that the ancient texts were written was woefully inadequate. For example, until the 1920s it was not well understood how a woman became pregnant; what the hormonal processes that developed into a monthly cycle were comprised of. Most of the most basic hormones relating to reproduction were not known until further into the 20th century.

Krishna argues then for a modern Kundalini, one that is informed by this age for this modern world. Kundalini he argues is a potent energy force, one that "has not been elucidated in any rational way in any text, ancient or modern." Kundalini, the Divine energy is often described by many writers both ancient and modern as "cosmic, astral, or psychic force without any biologic connection to the human body." And yet Hatha Yoga in all its forms is intimately concerned with the body as much as the spiritual nature of such body.

Krishna also calls into consideration the notion of a Chakra. Chakras are thought to be pathways for energy flow, increasing consciousness and leading to the emergence of the Kundalini in an aspirant. Yet Krishna notes that in Buddhist Tantric practice there are only four such pathways, rather than the much discussed seven-- as though seven were the usual number. In fact he argues that the notion of "seven lotuses (chakras) on the cerebro-spinal axis is of comparatively recent origin... under the cloak of weird formulations, fantastic formulations and mythical beings... of ignorance from the past, it is not surprising that... a whole host of divinities, and strange formulations in the body account for the bewildering effect of Kundalini. But now a rational explanation is called for."

And yet Gopi Krishna does not for a minute deny that a mysterious power of energy flowing throughout a body is Kundalini. And so he writes, " it is no secret that we live in two worlds [simultaneously], one spiritual and one physical... this is the reason why real success in yoga is so very rare.' ...an overhauling of the human body is necessary to effect the transformation most often sought.... And super-normal gifts such as prophesy and clairvoyance... become available to the successful initiates within limits." This, he says, in a nutshell, is the message of all the Tantras and all the ancient treatises dealing with Kundalini-Yoga. "For the aim of every religious practice is to bring the mind into Cosmic Consciousness or the Infinite Universe of Life, hidden from the ordinary mind.