The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
1 For this reason the Sahasrāra is also called Bhāloka (from the root bhā, “to shine”).
under the lure of Māyā takes his body and egoism to be the real Self, and thus goes round the wheel of life in its unending cycle of births and deaths. When the Jīva thinks the world to be different from himself and the Brahman, it is through the influence of Kundalinī who dwells within him. Her sleep in the Mūlādhāra is, therefore, for the bondage of the ignorant.¹ As long as She remains in the Mūlādhāra lotus—namely, in that state of Hers which is the concomitant of the cosmic appearance—so long must that appearance endure. In short, when She is asleep man is in the waking state (Jāgrat). Hence it is said² that the Shakti of the initiate is awake, that of the Pashu asleep. She is therefore aroused from sleep, and when awake returns to Her Lord, who is but Herself in another aspect; Her return is, in fact, the withdrawal of that activity of Hers which produces the world of appearances, and which with such withdrawal disappears. For on Her upward Path She absorbs into Herself all the Tattvas which had emanated from Her. The individual consciousness of the Yogī, the Jīvātmā, being united with the world-consciousness in Her, or Kundalī, then becomes the universal consciousness, or Paramātmā, from which it appeared to be different only by reason of the world-creating and bewildering activity of Kundalī which is thus withdrawn. The establishment through Her of the pure state of Being- Consciousness-Bliss is Samādhi.
In short, Kundalī is the individual bodily representative of the great Cosmic Power (Shakti) which creates and sustains the universe. When this individual Shakti manifesting as the individual consciousness (Jīva) is merged in the consciousness of the Supreme Shiva, the world is for such Jīva destroyed, and Liberation (Mukti) is obtained. Under, however, the influence of the Cosmic Shakti, the universe continues for those who are not liberated until the great Dissolution (Mahāpralaya), at the close of which the universe again evolves into those Jīvas whose Karma has not been exhausted, and who have therefore not been liberated. The rousing and stirring up of Kundalī or Kundalī Yoga is thus a form of that merger of the individual into the universal consciousness which is the end of every system of Indian Yoga.
1 Shāndilya Upanishad, Ch. I.
2 Kulārnava Tantra, Ch. V. Mandalabrāhmana-Up. Tamas is destroyed there.
Pandit R. Ananta Shāstrī says¹ that “The Samaya method of worshipping Shakti, called the Samayāchāra,² is dealt with in five treatises whose reputed authors are the great sages Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatkumāra, Vashishtha, and Shuka. The following is a summary of the teachings contained in these Samaya Āgamas, each of which goes after the name of its author:
“The Shakti or energy, the development of which is the subject of these treatises, is called the Kundalinī. The place where it resides is called the Mūlādhāra (original abode). By a successful development and working of this Shakti, the liberation of the soul is attained. In the ordinary condition Kundalinī sleeps quietly at the Mūlā- dhāra. The first purpose of the practitioners is to awaken this sleeping snake, and this is effected in two ways:
“(1) By Tapas. Here Tapas refers to the process of Prānāyāma, which means the regulation of the breath and holding it for stated periods of time. This is also the course advocated by the Yoga Shāstras.
1 Ānandalaharī, p. 8. The passage is given by way of citation only. There are statements in it which I have not verified, and some from which I dissent, and some which I do not understand.
2 This term is apparently of varying significance. It seems to be used here in a sense opposed to, some forms at least of, Kulāchāra, and is yet used in the Kaula Shāstras to denote their worship with the Panchatattva.
“(2) By Mantras. The pupil is initiated in the chanting of certain Mantras which he has to repeat a fixed number of times at particular hours of the day, all the while having before his mind’s eye the figure of the Mūrti or God connoted by the Mantra he chants. The most important of these Mantras is said to be the Panchadashī.
“When it is thus roused up, the Kundalinī ascends from (1) Mūlādhāra, where it was sleeping, to the next higher centre, called the (2) Svādhishthāna (own place). Thence with great effort this Shakti is carried to the following centres in regular ascending order: (3) Manipūra (full of rays); (4) Anāhata (sound, not emanating from the collision of bodies)—the Shakti here is transformed into sound; (5) Vishuddhi (place of purity)—here it becomes a pure Sattvic element; and (6) Ājnā (ā-jnā, a little knowledge). At this stage the practitioner may be said to have so far been successful in securing a command over this Shakti, which now appears to him, though only for a moment, in the form of a sharp flash of lightning.
“The passage of the Kundalinī from the Mūlādhāra through the above centres of energy up to Ājnā constitutes the first part of the ascent. The disciple who takes to this practice has to undergo a course of Upāsanā (contemplation and worship of the prescribed Deity) and Mantra Japa (chanting of incantations),¹ into which he will be initiated by his Guru (teacher and guide). The six centres of energy above enumerated from Mūlādhāra to Ājnā, joined together by imaginary straight lines, form a double-faced triangle—a hexagon, the six-pointed star— which is called the Shrīchakra in Sanskrit. The Anāhata centre (the heart) is the critical point in the course of this ascent, and hence much is found written in the Āgamas about this centre.
1 In this and other citations from the Pandit the English equivalents of Sanskrit terms are incorrect, as might be expected in one to whom English is not his own tongue. Japa is not “chanting”. In fact, in Upāngshu Japa nothing is heard, and “incantations” provoke another set of ideas to the English mind.
“These centres in the body of man (Pindānda) have their correspondence in the cosmic planes, and each of these has its own quality, or Guna, and a Presiding Deity. When the disciple ascends centre by centre, he passes through the corresponding Lokas, or cosmic planes. The following table gives the correspondences, Guna, and Presiding Deity:
NO.
PSYCHIC CENTRE IN
MAN’S BODY
LOKA, OR COSMIC
PLANE
GUNA, OR
QUALITY
PRESIDING
DEITY
p. 1
Mūlādhāra at the stage when Shakti is roused up
Bhuvarloka
Tamas
Agni (Fire)
p. 2
Svādhishthāna
Svarloka
p. 3
Manipūra
Maharloka
Rajas
Sun
p. 4
Anāhata
Janaloka
p. 5
Vishuddhi
Tapoloka
Sattva
Moon
p. 6
Ājnā
Satyaloka
“If one should die after attaining any of these stages, he is born again having all the advantages of the stages gained; thus, a man dies after leading the Shakti to the Anāhata: in his next birth he begins where he has last left, and leads the Shakti onwards from the Anāhata.
1 For this reason the Sahasrāra is also called Bhāloka (from the root bhā, “to shine”).
under the lure of Māyā takes his body and egoism to be the real Self, and thus goes round the wheel of life in its unending cycle of births and deaths. When the Jīva thinks the world to be different from himself and the Brahman, it is through the influence of Kundalinī who dwells within him. Her sleep in the Mūlādhāra is, therefore, for the bondage of the ignorant.¹ As long as She remains in the Mūlādhāra lotus—namely, in that state of Hers which is the concomitant of the cosmic appearance—so long must that appearance endure. In short, when She is asleep man is in the waking state (Jāgrat). Hence it is said² that the Shakti of the initiate is awake, that of the Pashu asleep. She is therefore aroused from sleep, and when awake returns to Her Lord, who is but Herself in another aspect; Her return is, in fact, the withdrawal of that activity of Hers which produces the world of appearances, and which with such withdrawal disappears. For on Her upward Path She absorbs into Herself all the Tattvas which had emanated from Her. The individual consciousness of the Yogī, the Jīvātmā, being united with the world-consciousness in Her, or Kundalī, then becomes the universal consciousness, or Paramātmā, from which it appeared to be different only by reason of the world-creating and bewildering activity of Kundalī which is thus withdrawn. The establishment through Her of the pure state of Being- Consciousness-Bliss is Samādhi.
In short, Kundalī is the individual bodily representative of the great Cosmic Power (Shakti) which creates and sustains the universe. When this individual Shakti manifesting as the individual consciousness (Jīva) is merged in the consciousness of the Supreme Shiva, the world is for such Jīva destroyed, and Liberation (Mukti) is obtained. Under, however, the influence of the Cosmic Shakti, the universe continues for those who are not liberated until the great Dissolution (Mahāpralaya), at the close of which the universe again evolves into those Jīvas whose Karma has not been exhausted, and who have therefore not been liberated. The rousing and stirring up of Kundalī or Kundalī Yoga is thus a form of that merger of the individual into the universal consciousness which is the end of every system of Indian Yoga.
1 Shāndilya Upanishad, Ch. I.
2 Kulārnava Tantra, Ch. V. Mandalabrāhmana-Up. Tamas is destroyed there.
Pandit R. Ananta Shāstrī says¹ that “The Samaya method of worshipping Shakti, called the Samayāchāra,² is dealt with in five treatises whose reputed authors are the great sages Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatkumāra, Vashishtha, and Shuka. The following is a summary of the teachings contained in these Samaya Āgamas, each of which goes after the name of its author:
“The Shakti or energy, the development of which is the subject of these treatises, is called the Kundalinī. The place where it resides is called the Mūlādhāra (original abode). By a successful development and working of this Shakti, the liberation of the soul is attained. In the ordinary condition Kundalinī sleeps quietly at the Mūlā- dhāra. The first purpose of the practitioners is to awaken this sleeping snake, and this is effected in two ways:
“(1) By Tapas. Here Tapas refers to the process of Prānāyāma, which means the regulation of the breath and holding it for stated periods of time. This is also the course advocated by the Yoga Shāstras.
1 Ānandalaharī, p. 8. The passage is given by way of citation only. There are statements in it which I have not verified, and some from which I dissent, and some which I do not understand.
2 This term is apparently of varying significance. It seems to be used here in a sense opposed to, some forms at least of, Kulāchāra, and is yet used in the Kaula Shāstras to denote their worship with the Panchatattva.
“(2) By Mantras. The pupil is initiated in the chanting of certain Mantras which he has to repeat a fixed number of times at particular hours of the day, all the while having before his mind’s eye the figure of the Mūrti or God connoted by the Mantra he chants. The most important of these Mantras is said to be the Panchadashī.
“When it is thus roused up, the Kundalinī ascends from (1) Mūlādhāra, where it was sleeping, to the next higher centre, called the (2) Svādhishthāna (own place). Thence with great effort this Shakti is carried to the following centres in regular ascending order: (3) Manipūra (full of rays); (4) Anāhata (sound, not emanating from the collision of bodies)—the Shakti here is transformed into sound; (5) Vishuddhi (place of purity)—here it becomes a pure Sattvic element; and (6) Ājnā (ā-jnā, a little knowledge). At this stage the practitioner may be said to have so far been successful in securing a command over this Shakti, which now appears to him, though only for a moment, in the form of a sharp flash of lightning.
“The passage of the Kundalinī from the Mūlādhāra through the above centres of energy up to Ājnā constitutes the first part of the ascent. The disciple who takes to this practice has to undergo a course of Upāsanā (contemplation and worship of the prescribed Deity) and Mantra Japa (chanting of incantations),¹ into which he will be initiated by his Guru (teacher and guide). The six centres of energy above enumerated from Mūlādhāra to Ājnā, joined together by imaginary straight lines, form a double-faced triangle—a hexagon, the six-pointed star— which is called the Shrīchakra in Sanskrit. The Anāhata centre (the heart) is the critical point in the course of this ascent, and hence much is found written in the Āgamas about this centre.
1 In this and other citations from the Pandit the English equivalents of Sanskrit terms are incorrect, as might be expected in one to whom English is not his own tongue. Japa is not “chanting”. In fact, in Upāngshu Japa nothing is heard, and “incantations” provoke another set of ideas to the English mind.
“These centres in the body of man (Pindānda) have their correspondence in the cosmic planes, and each of these has its own quality, or Guna, and a Presiding Deity. When the disciple ascends centre by centre, he passes through the corresponding Lokas, or cosmic planes. The following table gives the correspondences, Guna, and Presiding Deity:
NO.
PSYCHIC CENTRE IN
MAN’S BODY
LOKA, OR COSMIC
PLANE
GUNA, OR
QUALITY
PRESIDING
DEITY
p. 1
Mūlādhāra at the stage when Shakti is roused up
Bhuvarloka
Tamas
Agni (Fire)
p. 2
Svādhishthāna
Svarloka
p. 3
Manipūra
Maharloka
Rajas
Sun
p. 4
Anāhata
Janaloka
p. 5
Vishuddhi
Tapoloka
Sattva
Moon
p. 6
Ājnā
Satyaloka
“If one should die after attaining any of these stages, he is born again having all the advantages of the stages gained; thus, a man dies after leading the Shakti to the Anāhata: in his next birth he begins where he has last left, and leads the Shakti onwards from the Anāhata.
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