Please welcome guest writer Rajarshri Nandy, a long time participant and support of #SanskritAppreciationHour. After much persuasion, he has agreed to write a piece for this blog. Rajarshi is a sadhaka whose path includes, but is not limited to KaliKula Shaktism practices and homas (fire rituals). He is an admirer of Sri Aurobindo and Aghori Vimalananda. Kundalini is very difficult to explain in words, Rajarshi confesses, until experienced. Here's hoping all of you will be inspired to walk the path. You can follow him on Twitter via his handle @TheRajarshi.
Philosophical roots of Shaktism.
Among the various paths within Indian
spirituality, one of the most important is Shaktism – or the worship of Shakti
(Power/Energy) which is personified as the Goddess. The philosophy is known as
Shaktism and an adherent of the path is called a ShaktA. Some believe that this branch of spirituality
originated at an ancient time from the root idea called Samkhya, which saw the
world as a duality between Purusha – the male principle and Prakriti – the female
principle. While the term Prakriti means
Nature in general, the term Shakti specifically indicates energy/power. Shakti always invariable involved some form of
movement, for manifested energy and power is best understood through the sense
of movement, while Purusha indicated that point of stillness or immobility with
respect to which the movement is perceivable.
Shiva therefore represented the ultimate transcendental stillness while
Shakti or the Goddess became the sum total of all motions in the Universe. The
ShaktAs took this idea to an
extreme proclaiming that world as we know it is entirely Shakti. In one sense they were not wrong. Consider a
simple example. At any given point the earth is in motion around the sun; the
whole solar system is in motion around the center of the galaxy; the galaxy
itself is in motion around some point in the Universe known as the Great
Attractor and so on. Therefore our whole existence as a species is subject to a
constant play of subtle cosmic movements overlapping with each other in ways
which we may not be able to understand consciously. And therefore the ShaktA scriptures
proclaimed that it was the Goddess – Shakti personified – who creates, sustains
and destroys this Universe.
Overtime in the course of its natural
evolution, Shaktism practically bifurcated into two major schools – the SriKula
and KaliKula. SriKula considers Lalita Tripursundari as the main form of the
Goddess, while Kalikula considers Kali as the chief form of the Goddess. There
were other methods of classification too,
based on geographical regions, but those became less prominent with the
passage of time.
Tantra
Though much misunderstood and occasionally
reviled, one of the most fascinating offshoots from Shaktism has been Tantra. Simplistically expressed, Tantra concerns
itself with the practical application of Shakti (energy) to achieve certain
desired results in the world. The more
esoteric aspects of Tantra deal with the idea and practice of awakening a
latent spiritual energy inside the human body which can aid an individual’s
spiritual growth. This energy is traditionally referred to as Kundalini Shakti.
To achieve this aim Tantra utilizes a wide range of tools like mantras
(mystical chants), yantras (mystical diagrams), specific visualizations along
with worship of different archetypal forms of the Divine Feminine energy.
Kundalini
Some believe that the idea of
Kundalini was first established as a
powerful tool by the Hatha Yogis and Tantric Yogis of the original Naths
Parampara. Possibly the earliest reference and explanation of this term comes
from Sant Dhyaneshwara’s exposition of
the Srimadbhagwata Gita in Marathi, known as Dhyaneshwari. The knowledge was
passed down by competent Gurus to fit disciples. In the last century British
writer Arthur Avalon and the Theosophists translated some of the Tantric texts
into English. This brought forth the knowledge and idea of Kundalini into the
public consciousness in a massive scale.
A textual definition of the term Kundalini
refers to the coiled up residual Divine Shakti at base of the human spine,
which remains in a ‘sleeping’ state until it is awakened by force of sadhana
(spiritual practices) and made to move through the six spinal centers, thus
energizing them, until it finally merges with the Absolute, allegorically
represented by the thousand-petalled lotus above the head. This, the Tantras said,
was Shiva and this fantastic union of Shiva and Shakti- the awakened Kundalini
- results in a most terrific state know
as Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
However inspite of mass dissemination and
wide use of the term Kundalini, the actual phenomenon still remains as much as
mystery today as it was centuries ago. For no understanding of Kundalini is
practically possible without an understanding of a related term, ahamkara, of
I-ness. Akamkara is the force that binds and holds the human personality to the
body and gives it a unique and individualized character. It is what makes each
one of us separate and different from the rest of humanity. In order to
maintain this personality, with all its various likes/dislikes, habits,
tendencies, attachments etc, a tremendous amount of energy (Shakti) is used. By
dint of sadhana when this force is made to disengage from its daily and
continuous job of maintaining this limited human personality and some part of
the energy is freed up, then that free energy becomes the Kundalini Shakti of
an individual. And just like the
ahamakara clings to ideas, opinions (of oneself) and attributes of the
personality, similarly the free Kundalini
can be made to attach itself to something more subtle and Divine, like the form
and personality of a Devata.
One of the most important ideas pertaining
to the Tantras is that the human personality is not a constant but is a product
of various conditionings acquired over many lifetimes along with the
environment and experiences of this lifetime. And it can be changed if the
conditioning is changed. But this ordinary personality is flawed, ignorant,
weak and temporary. The aim therefore is to reconfigure or finish this
personality with all this attributes and transform it into a more abiding,
eternal, flawless personality from one of the archetypal energies, known as
Devatas. And that is possible only when the ahamkara is fully (theoretically
speaking) or partially (practically speaking) made to disengaged, or forget its
ordinary existence, and align itself to this greater form. One must slowly dissolve to the mundane in
order to get recreated into the spiritual. And naturally such a process is not
without its many difficulties, hazaards and dangers, unless one has a strong
Guru to guide, either internal or external.
Once the Kundalini is awakened in an
individual, as per Tantras, it is then made to self-identify with a form of the
Divine Mother who then safely guides the journey of this transformation
process. For an awakened Kundalini can also accentuate/blow-up various pre-existing weaknesses or identify
with something other than the Divine and eventually wreck havoc on the
individual. It is because of this danger
associated with the process that the ancients would guard this knowledge and
made sure that the experience is transmitted only through the medium of a
competent Guru who was capable of protecting the disciple from missteps and
damage. On the other hand, for the right individual, it was/is one of the
fastest means of spiritual progress.
Sometimes
as the Kundalini Shakti passes through the various chakras in the subtle body,
it can manifest different supernatural abilities in an individual. But this is
not compulsory and varies from person to person. However what definitely
happens with a Kundalini awakening is a marked change in the personality and
behavior of the individual in some way or the other. New worlds open up and
many older ideas and habits and rigid notions can get replaced totally or in
parts, and this is easily noticeable to others. In some extreme cases an
awakened Kundalini can shoot up straight to the head and produce fantastic
spiritual experiences and generate a virakti – detachment and dislike – for the
world around. But that is rare.
One interesting problem with trying to awaken
this Shakti is that the more one thinks of Kundalini, lesser the chance of
experiencing an awakening. For the I-ness has to learn to forget the
constituents of the personality, including mental ideas about ourselves and
what we want to be, or not want to be, before Kundalini can awaken. It is
difficult to experience the Kundalini, however the far greater difficulty lies
in purifying and deconditioning this Shakti until it reaches the Absolute. For
that needs a transformation, as opposed to forceful suppression, of the six
ripus – Kama (lust), lobha (greed), krodha (anger), mada (arrogance), moha
(attachment), jealousy (matsarya) – or energies which distort the purity of this Shakti.
Mostly this is
lifelong process. The lesser is the ego attachment to these things, the greater
is the Shakti available to an individual. Or stronger is the identification of
the Kundalini Shakti with the Devata, greater is the manifestation of the
Devata’s energy in the sadhaka’s life. No two cases of Kundalini Shakti
awakening are exactly equivalent, even though the two people maybe worshiping
the same form of the Devata. Therefore, because of the extremely
individualistic nature of this path, dogmatic ideas are mostly unhelpful, and
may they cause more hindrance to the sadhaka.
One may wonder why exactly is Kundalini
referred to as the Mother in Tantra. Is it mandatory to do so? No it is not,
but it is a good safeguard. Shakti, any shakti, is a force almost mechanical in
its activity. A knife can cut through anything including the wielder of the
knife. And this is no ordinary Shakti but a vast amount of force. By
personifying and indentifying this force
with the concept of the Divine Mother assures a protection for the sadhaka
against many pitfalls and dangers, for once the bond is forged, indeed it
behaves as a mother to a child (the sadhaka).
Though each experience of Kundalini has its
own uniqueness, yet there are some broad classification that can be done.
Again, to understand this, we have to understand our Ahamakara properly. This I-ness works not only through our mind,
but also through our pranas and the physical body. So depending on which part
or parts of the being cause a turning of Ahamkara into Kundalini, will open
certain possibilities and limit certain others. This also explain, if properly
understood, why in some cases of Kundalini awakening may lead to various kinds
of trances, or a remembrance of past lives, or even certain occult abilities. But
this is too complex a topic to be dealt with completely in this writeup.
Moreover the very act of writing down things whose reality is at a most subtle
level can cause much distortion in the idea. Loss in transmission is a very real
possibility in such things!
Kundalini in Tantra
Now that we have a basic understanding of
what Kundalini maybe, we will see how this helps in Tantra, or for that matter any other aspect of life. One
of the typical features of a powerfully awakening Kundalini is a tremendous inner concentrated
ability of focus. This is way beyond normal powers of concentration. It is infact
so intense that it can create a reality or open up occult realities for the
sadhaka. Now Tantra deals with the art of using rituals for various purposes.
In every ritual there are two components – the rules of the ritual and the
Shakti of the individual. Togther they bring success. Which means if a person
without sufficient Shakti performs a ritual with perfection, yet it may produce
no results. So whenever a person has the freedom to use his own Kundalini
Shakti, it gives a strong energy at his disposal which can be used for
perfection in any ritual worship, or for that matter many other mundane areas
of life.
This is one of the biggest practical uses of the Kundalini Shakti. All
sorts of magical or occult practices succeed based on the usage of this Shakti.
Of course, one can turn this entirely to the spiritual realms and not bother
with anything mundane, but that is a matter of individual paths. One example
best illustrates this point. Once Swami Vivekananda, not yet world famous, had
exorcised a haunted house where he and his brother disciples were staying using
a fistful of sand from the banks of a river nearby. In most cases that would be
an impossible thing to do, but Swami Vivekananda could do it because of the
tremendous force of an awakened Kundalini Shakti working through his mind and body.
Conclusion.
Thinking about awakening Kundalini is often
a fruitless exercise. Rather a seeker is better off trying to reduce the impact
of the six ripus on his consciousness, such that when an awakening happens,
there will be lesser amount of troubles and hazards to deal with. Except for
rarest of rare cases, having a competent master/mentor/friend/guide/guru who can
help one digest the effects of Kundalini is almost mandatory.
Please welcome guest writer* Saiswaroopa Iyer. In this
passionately written piece, she examines the interstices between caste and
power, and ponders on the instrumentality of the varna
system in systemic oppression today. You can follow and interact with her on Twitter via her
handle @Sai_swaroopa. A Venture analyst
by profession, Sai is a dreamer at heart and an aspiring author. She is
enthusiastic and passionate about Indian epics, history, literature and
classical music. She dreams of a life where reading, writing and singing form
the way of life. 
