KUNDALINI AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

Unless the Kundalini is roused, spiritual awakening never takes place. The Kundalinil lies dormant in the

1 Kundalini. sometimes translated as 'Serpent Power' is the dormant spiritual potentiality of man, located in the root Chakra (force-centre) known as Muladhara. This power is the Divine Sakti in man. Spiritual progress is sometimes described in terms of the rousing up of this latent energy and elevating it along the spinal channel called Sushumna, through the six centres, Svadhishthana, Manipura, Anahata, Visuddha and Ajna, until it reaches the crown centre known as Sahasrara. As the Kundalini ascends man gains higher and higher spiritual experiences.

Muladhara. When She is roused, She enters into the Sushumna and passes through Svadhishthana, Manipura, and other centres, and finally reaches the cerebral centre, and then comes Samadhi. I actually saw all these.

One of the signs of God-realisation is that the Great Energy (Maha-vayu) wakes up with a sudden start and goes to the head . Then one falls into Samadhi and gets God-vision.

Describing his experience of the rise of Kundalini, the Master once said: Something rises with a tingling sensation from the feet to the head. So long as it does not reach the brain, I remain conscious, but the moment it does so I am dead to the outside world. Even the functions of seeing and hearing come to a standstill, and talking then is out of the question. Who is to speak ? The very distinction between ' I' and you vanishes. Sometimes I think I would tell you everything about what I see and feel when that mysterious power rises up to this, or even this (pointing to the heart and the throat). At that stage it is possible to speak, which I do. But the moment it has gone above this (pointing to the throat), somebody stops my mouth, as it were, and I am off my moorings. I make up my mind to relate to you what I feel when the Kundalini goes beyorid the throat, but as I think over it, up goes the mind at a bound, and there is an end of the matter 1" Many a time did the Master attempt to describe this state, but every time he failed. One day he was determined to tell those present about these experiences and went on with his description of them up to the stage when the energy rises to the level of the throat. Then pointing to the sixth centre, opposite the junction of the eyebrows, he said, " When the mind reaches this point, one catches a vision of the Paramatman and falls into Samadhi. Only a thin, transparent veil intervenes between the Jiva and the Paramatman. He then sees like this ..." And as he attempted to explain it in detail, he fell into Samadhi 1 When his mind came down a little, he tried it again, and again he was immersed in Samadhi! After several fruitless attempts like this, he said with tears in his eyes, " Well, I sincerely wish to tell you everything without concealing a bit, but Mother won't let me do so on any account. She gagged me!"

Again referring to the different ways in which the Kundalini rises to the brain, the Master would often say, " Well, that which rises to the brain with a tingling sensation does not always follow the same kind of movement. The scriptures speak of its having five kinds of motion. First, the ant-like motion: one feels a slow creeping sensation from the feet upwards, like a row of ants creeping on with food in their mouths. When it reaches the head, the Sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) falls into Samadhi. Second, the frog-like motion : just as frogs make two or three short jumps in quick succession and then stop for a while to proceed again, in the same way something is felt advancing from the legs to the brain. When this reaches the brain, the man gets Samadhi. Third, the serpentine motion: as snakes lie quietly, straight or coiled up, but as soon as they find a victim in front, or get frightened, they run in a zigzag course, in like manner the coiled up power rushes to the head, and this produces Samadhi. Fourth, the bird-like motion: just as birds in their flight from one place to another take to their wings and fly sometimes a little high and sometimes low without however stopping till they reach their destination, so that power progresses and reaches the brain, and Samadhi ensues. Fifth and last, the monkey-like motion: as monkeys going from one tree to another take a leap from one branch to another and thus clear the distance in two or three bounds, so the Yogi feels the Kundalini going to the brain, and Samadhi ensues."

These experiences he would detail at other times from the Vedantic standpoint, as follows: ' The Vedanta speaks of seven planes, in each of which the Sadhaka has a particular kind of vision. The human mind has a natural tendency to confine its activities to the three lower centres—the highest of these being opposite the navel—and therefore is content with the satisfaction of the common physical appetites, such as eating and so forth. But when it reaches the fourth centre, that is, the one opposite the heart, the man sees a divine effulgence. From this state, however, he often lapses into the three lower centres. When the mind comes to the fifth centre opposite the throat, the Sadhaka cannot talk of anything but God. While I was in this state I would feel violently struck on the head if anyboy raised worldly topics before me. I would hide myself in the seclusion of the Panchavati where I was safe from these inflictions. I would flee at the sight of worldly-minded people, and relatives appeared to me like a yawning chasm, from which there was no escape if I once fell into it I would feel suffocated in their presence,—

Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

almost to the point of death, and I would feel relieved only when I left the spot. Even from this position a man may slip down to the three lower centres. So he has to be on his guard. But he is above all fear when his mind reaches the sixth centre opposite the junction of the eye-brows. He gets the vision of the Paramatman and remains always in Samadhi. There is only a thin transparent veil between this place and the Sahasrara or the highest centre. He is then so near the Paramatman that he imagines he has merged in Him. But really he has not. From this state the mind can come down to the fifth, or at the most, to the fourth centre, but not below that. The ordinary Sadhakas, classed as Jivas' cannot come down from this state. After remaining constantly in Samadhi for twenty-one days they break that thin veil and become one with the Lord for ever. This eternal union of the Jiva and the Paramatman in the Sahasrara is known as getting into the seventh plane."