Kundalini : The Coiled Energy Reserve

Whenever you hear someone say, “Give it more than your 100%”, it rather signifies that the person wants you to give it your best. But literally speaking, can you really bring out more than what you are normally capable of? Most certainly not. Not unless you have a hidden energy reserve somewhere in your body which you can unleash anytime. But sadly this is not an age of superheroes where you may possess such supernatural powers. Supernatural as it may sound but such an energy reserve might be present inside each and every one of us in a dormant form, waiting to be invoked. Believed to be the residual power of pure desire, this energy is called the “Kundalini Energy”.

The word "Kundalini" is derived from Sanskrit which literally means “coiled”. As its name suggests, it is believed to be like a coiled-up sleeping serpent, hence referred to as the “Serpent Power” in a number of English renderings. In Hindu mythology, the knowledge of the Kundalini dates back to as old as the Upanishads. Over the centuries, its power has been advocated in one form or the other by notable spiritual leaders and saints such as Adi Sankaracharya, Gyaneshwara, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Paramhans Yogananda, Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, Sri Mataji Nirmala Devi and many others. It even finds mention in other religions like Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Taoism and Buddhism.

The backbone of the Kundalini concept is interestingly our very backbone! This is because the human spine is believed to be not just the source of this mysterious energy but also the carrier of it. The source is the sacrum bone lying at the base of the spine while the carriers are the three major nadis or “nerve currents” known as the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna which flow inside the left, right and central hollow parts of the vertebral column respectively. When invoked, the Kundalini is believed to traverse a path of seven chakras or “psychic wheels” opening them one by one like blooming flowers. It rises from the Muladhara, or Root chakra up through the subtle Sushumna, and from there to top of the head merging with the Sahasrara, or Crown chakra. The final state has been experienced to be of infinite bliss and absolute purity where one attains what may be referred to as "awakening of inner knowledge". This in effect is comparable to the state of self-awareness in meditation.

To reach this final stage a period of careful purification and strengthening of the body and nervous system is needed. This is achieved using various ways as prescribed by different schools of thoughts. Ancient traditions have it that Kundalini can be awakened by a Siddha-guru through shaktipat which essentially involves conferring of spiritual energy from Guru to the disciple using sacred mantras or touch or the Ajna chakra (third eye). Some schools of yoga also teach that the Kundalini can be awakened through spiritual practices such as hatha yoga and meditation. Sometimes spontaneous awakenings may occur for no obvious reasons at all, triggered by intense experiences. Nowadays, Sahaja Yoga technique of meditating (by Sri Mataji Nirmala Devi) has been adopted worldwide by many for Kundalini awakening which results in a feeling of cool breeze across palms and top of the head after the Kundalini rises up the spinal column.

But what is the reason behind this mysterious “chill down your spine” which delivers an inexplicable feeling of ecstasy later. Researchers in the fields of psychiatry and transpersonal psychology describe a complex pattern of sensory, motor, mental and affective symptoms associated with the concept of Kundalini, sometimes called the “Kundalini syndrome”. Most notable work is a physical-physiological model developed by Itzhak Bentov who is noted for his published works on consciousness.

According to the model, while sitting immobile in meditation, the pumping heart creates micro-motions (mechanical vibrations) in the upper body stimulating an electrical loop circuits in the sensory brain cortex which oscillate at 7Hz (EEG Theta waves). This creates different bodily sensations starting in the toes and moving up the spine to the head, which signifies the Kundalini awakening.When these closed-loop currents pass through the limbic system, it stimulates the pleasure centres in amygdala thereby initiating the so called “kindling” phenomenon. This kindling tends to spread from the midbrain in an orderly sequence to hippocampus, the occipital lobes and finally to the frontal lobes. EEG measurements of the same depict an increase in amount of Alpha waves spreading from the occipital to the frontal cortex, while Beta and Gamma waves prevail in the dormant frontal area. Hence the whole brain begins to vibrate as a unit, generating coherent, high amplitude waves within a broad frequency spectrum. This leads to awakening of the whole brain.

Interestingly, there have been attempts by enthusiasts to explain the Kundalini using modern physics too. The theory revolves around the concept of superconductors which follow the “Bose-Einstein condensate” phenomenon. A scientist named Herbert Frohlich experimented that just like superconductors, living cells also depict a high degree of order and coherence when fed with extra energy. Likewise if the human brain has a sufficient supply of high-grade energy, the neurons tend to line up in the most orderly and condensed way. This is also called the neurological coherence. So when the Kundalini is awakened the brain tends to turn into a superconductor and the attention like a laser beam.

According to famous Indian writer and awakened master, Gopi Krishna: “The human reproductive system functions in two ways, both as the evolutionary and the reproductive mechanism. As the evolutionary mechanism, it sends a fine stream of a very potent nerve-energy into the brain and another stream into the reproductive region. By the arousal of Kundalini we mean the reversal of the reproductive system and its functioning more as an evolutionary mechanism.” Hence, though being a spiritual aspect, the Kundalini is inspired from the human anatomical pattern. No wonder, the four transverse ridges joining the sacral bone together appear more like the three and half coils depicting the Kundalini.

The various physical and neurological aspects of Kundalini are so vivid and intricate that they cannot be comprehended easily by everyone. However, what lies within everyone’s potential is to discover that hidden energy which can unlock the hidden subtle mysteries of the universe.