KUNDALINI, the chakras and Raja Yoga of Lord Shiva.

KUNDALINI, the chakras and Raja Yoga of Lord Shiva.

Kundalini is the latent energy force present in each of us in her microcosmic aspect, symbolised in the form of a sleeping serpent ,and yogis teach that this force needs to be raised from its lowest residence, passing through various stations, called chakras,to the highest, where lord shiva himself resides. When she does reach the summit and merge into her lord,one is supposed to be 'enlightened',having really found himself (that's why you may have noticed a portayal of a serpent head over the head of many of our saints...)

And this whole inner journey of arousing the energy and raising it to its highest potential, is supposed to be the summary purpose of human evolvement to a higher being, carefully systemized under Raja Yoga marg by Lord Shiva.And this divine power, itself permeates both the inner and the outer world,and, speaking of the outer, or macrocosmic dimension of the force, while Tibet ,Egypt, and many other civilizations learnt of the force,even the gnostics of western tradition knew of it, but the ancient indian science of spirituality ,is now becoming truly becoming international! or should we say kundalini has risen above geographical boundaries ,in her macrocosmic arousal! and we find a whole lot of literature, esearch and teaching going on the world over.

In india, of course our peers have always known of the chakkers! but extensive work has been done on this esoteric science right in jammu and kashmir,from Lal ded,Abhinav Gupt,down to Swami Lakshman jee and pandit Gopi krishna in our own age, have been doyens in teaching of this sacred science.

The very basics of the science ,state that a human has seven major levels of existence, each corresponding to a stationwithin his own body,like a vortice or dominative energy field of that particular realm of existence,

so , we have

1)Muladhar, the base chakra below the spinal cord, where kundalini sleeps, happy with her shelter,and if this chakra is not transcended,one would lead an existence of food/shelter needs.

This can go on for years, as in the human evolution itself,and we know that our forefather, the first man, lived as a cave dweller for years before he wandered out to explore.
Even today, though the human race as a whole has evolved past just looking for shelter, the first chakra dwellers would be those individuals who never rise above material realms.So it can be a moneyed man or even a nation that does not think beyond materialism.

2)Svadhisthan,the second chakra at the root of the progenitive organ, which,appropriately, stands for the procreative need of the individual or race.

3)Manipura, the third chakra,at the navel, symbolising the 'power' need, a sort of umblical cord of the individual to his higher potential.

4)Hrdya, the fourth, at the heart,denoting the emotive need.Behaviours may be better understood at this level.

5)Visudhha, the fifth at the throat, denoting eloquence .An appreciation of arts and crafts leads to 'culture'.

6)Ajna, the sixth, at the forehead, also the third eye, or gyan chakshu,denoting intuition, again, appropriately,the sixth sense.

7) Sahasrara, the seventh, over the roof of the head,meaning literally,the thousand petalled, or, symbolically, where the individual becomes, anant, endless,or the universal itself.

Interestingly,in the outer macrocosm, this is true of sacred geography,and so you may understand even yatras, to be gradual ascents,for example, at Vaishno deviji yatra, say from kol kondoli ,to charan paduka, ardh kawari, haathi matha and finally mata darbar at vaishno devi,or at our Amarnath yatra , beginning from Pahal gam, chandanwari, sheshnag,panchtarni, the mahagunas, and finally the linga at the top, called Amarnath!

Of course, this is true for even the geographical abode of Shiva ,Kailash! where one traverses through various stations,before the culmination of kailash darsana itself.
You may even realise that the older day maharajas had gardens,palaces, even cities designed in the chakra weave, Jaipur , with its pols(gates) may be a fine example of sacred geometry.Such was the importance given and pointers erected in honour of kundalini.

Aum Namah Shivaya!!