Kundalini: Up, Down, or ?

by Peter Holleran

   Some say that for spiritual realization the kundalini or serpent power must ascend up the spine and reach the sahasrar chakra at the top of the head and merge therein. Others teach, no, that the kundalini and the mind must then also descend from the sahasrar back down into the formless heart on the right. Still others say that the kundalini or shakti is eternally ascending and descending within the body-mind in a circle, and nothing need be done with it or to it in order to realize prior consciousness itself. In this article we will examine these different views and try to make sense out of all of the seeming contradictions.

   Lakshmana Swamy (b. 1925) is believed by some to be a Self-Realized devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi. His point of view on the kundalini or serpent power is, not surprisingly, similar to that of Ramana, but radically different from that taught in most yoga paths. His view that the mind must die in the heart is quite opposed to those schools that teach the kundalini must merge in the sahasrar for realization to occur. Lakshmana has taught that the life force or attention must descend via a terminal pathway from the sahasrar into the causal heart center for realization of the Self, which Ramana originally said was felt intuitively from the bodily point of view to be on the right side of the chest, 'two digits from the midline.' As will be shown, however, this view is not exactly the same as that of Ramana in his full maturity, nor that of most contemporary non-dualist teachers, who do not teach that full inner trance absorption in the heart on the right or anywhere else is required for awakening or enlightenment. After we have discussed the life and realization of Lakshmana Swamy we will offer a brief life sketch of Swami Sivananda, as an example of one who disseminated the traditional yogic view that the kundalini must reach the sahasrar for realization. With small modifications, this general view is similar to that taught by Swami Muktananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, at times Ramakrishna, and also Swami Shiv Dayal Singh of the Radhasoami school.

   As a child Lakshmana never had any interest in either school studies or religion, although he did have an aptitude for line drawings. He was active in sports at school, yet liked to spend much time sitting quietly by himself. His schoolmates were very fond of him because of his keen sense of humor and ability to make everyone laugh.

   At the age of seventeen Swamy had an experience which dispelled his scepticism of spirituality. He felt an "evil force" descend upon him, like a weight crushing his chest. He spontaneously began to repeat the Rama mantra ("Rama, Rama"), which had the effect of dispelling the force. After this he made it a habit to rise at 3 A.M., go for a swim, and engage pranayama (breathing exercises) and japa (mantra repetition) until 5 A.M. He grew increasingly dispassionate, and resisted all efforts by his family to get him married and settled into a normal life. He entered college, but after his first year he had a spiritual experience in which he saw a "sudden flash of light within. The divine light shone in its full magnificence.” (1) Swamy tried to repeat the experience but was not successful, and he felt more and more the need of a human guru for further guidance and grace.

   Swamy heard of Ramana Maharshi from one of his college professors, who was a disciple of the sage, and after twice failing his second year exams he began to intensify his meditations. In 1948 he met Ramana at his abode in Tiruvannamalai, and shortly afterwards experienced the permanent death of his 'I '-thought in Ramana's company.

   "There was 'a lightning flash and a flood of divine light shining within and without.' Sri Ramana' s face was smiling 'with more radiance than that of innumerable lightning flashes fused into one. In that ineffable bliss tears of joy welled down in unending succession, and they could not be resisted.' Finally, the 'I'-thought went back to its source, the picture of Ramana Maharshi disappeared and the Self absorbed his whole being." (2)

   Lakshmana spent the next year in trance samadhi most of the time and let his body waste away for want of attention. Finally he moved near his family in order that his physical needs be taken care of. For two or three years he spent most of his time in the hut provided for him, eating little and speaking less. People heard that he was a great ascetic and began gathering around him, and he eventually consented to give his darshan, first only once a year, then, from 1951-1972, twice a year. In 1974, Swamy met Mathru Sri Sarada (1959- ), a young girl whom he had seen in a vision twenty years before. Within four years, she, too, according to their report, realized the Self, and during the period of her sadhana Swamy was much more available for darshan. The story of Sarada' s realization contains an account of an interesting phenomenon, one which may be unique in the literature of the spiritual traditions.

   "Just before Sarada realized the Self her 'I '-thought tried to escape by breaking her skull. If I (Swarny) had not been present the experience would have killed her. The 'I '-thought would have broken her skull and escaped to the higher regions where it would have been born again." (3)

   Sarada said that this was like an axe trying to split her head open from the inside. She put her head on Swamy's feet in surrender and her 'I'-thought "subsided forever." It was a year after this before she was able to function normally in the world again, as she had lost all interest in it and was continually on the verge of dropping the body. It was only her love for Swamy that brought her back to the world. At the present time she helps Swamy look after devotees. Whatever one is to make of Sarada's realization experience, it is certain that the peculiar dramatic nature of it is rare. Neither Ramana Maharshi nor Lakshmana Swamy felt the 'I'-thought threaten to break their skull in its flight from the Heart. Others, however, have reported experiences of pain and pressure in the head due to the force of the kundalini energy, and these accounts are worth examining.

   Two points must be made regarding the nature of the kundalini phenomenon before proceeding further. One, as mentioned in numerous places in this book, the testimony of the ancient sages who authored the Vedas and Upanishads is that the primary locus of spiritual realization is associated with the heart, and not with the sahasrar as claimed by contemporary exponents of kundalini yoga and other similar yogic traditions. Secondly, many yogis mistake the trance states associated with the ascension of attention to the ajna chakra (the center behind the eyes in the brain core) for the passage of attention, to the sahasrar (which is above the brain core). They explore the “sky of mind” in the braincore, the blue pearl of Muktananda, or the cosmic blue of Yogananda, etc., and do not pass to egoic dissolution at the heart or at the sahsrar.

   If Sarada had been directed towards yogic ascent she would have followed the (apparently) awakened kundalini (in her case) to the crown of the head and, indeed, experienced her 'I'-thought being reborn into further destiny on the subtle planes. with the help of her guru her 'I'-thought became "cauterized" in the heart, thus providing her with the right foundation for true and radical ascent at some future time. Her tendencies for ascent were strong, as evidenced by the fact that even after her heart-realization she had difficulty staying in the body. This may be the remnants of a karmic liability, or it may illustrate a common disposition in those newly self-realized. Many individuals spend significant time after initial self-realization in states of internal absorption. This was the case with Sarada, Swami, Ramana Maharshi, Meher Baba and others.This is because the first awakened Self tends to assciate the manifest realms with bondage, but until the Self is realized under all conditions true lasting and full realization is not achieved. In other words, the very revulsion or turning away from experience that accompanies the intuitive awakening of Self-Realization is a tendency that could delay entry into the ultimate stage. It is not clear if Swamy or Saradi have made this transition, despite their concession to continue living in the world.

   It appears, in the case of Sarada, that, perhaps, due to her young age, brevity of sadhana, and other reasons karmically unique to her, that a dramatic and painful transition occured, during which she was fortunate to have had the immediate help of her guru. Yet this does not necessarily have to happen. Heart-communion with the master can enable one to avoid many of the dangers and obstacles, as well as 'shoals and sandbanks' in the sea of spirituality. However, sometimes it is the inherent character liabilities of an individual that prevent that transmission of the heart or hridaya-shakti of a sage or master from being effective and sufficient. An example of this is found in the practice of Ganapati Muni, a famous disciple of Ramana Maharshi, who experienced rare and remarkable yogic phenomena, yet was not successful in attaining Self-Realization. Ganapati Muni met Maharshi after twenty years of fruitless spiritual efforts, and inunediately recognized that he was no ordinary man but rather a great sage of the highest type. It was Ganapati who gave him the name Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and became his most ardent supporter. He chose to do much of his spiritual practice away from Ramana's direct company, but after two years he returned to Ramanasramam to be with the sage. Along the way he experienced a spontaneous, forceful awakening of the kundalini-shakti (which he confessed was not caused by any intention on his part, but, rather, was the "result of the grace of his Guru and God"), and which began a strenuous, two-week ordeal in which he endured the yogic phenomenon known in the Taittirya Upanishad as vyapohya sirsha kapale, or "the breaking of the skull". Ganapati began to experience a flood of energy through his body at all times, with a stream of bliss piercing his head making him completely intoxicated He felt totally out of control of his body and went to Maharshi for guidance. The sage blessed him with a pat of the hand on his head and said not to worry.

   "That night Ganapati suffered terribly. There was an unbearable burning sensation throughout his body...It looked as though his head would break into pieces at any time. He suffered unbearable pain. Suddenly a sound was heard, something like smoke was seen. The Kundalini had caused an aperture at the top of his skull... After that experience for ten days something like smoke or vapour was found emanating from the orifice at the top of the skull. By that time the burning sensation subsided. The play of force became bearable. The long story of suffering, pain and agony ended. The body was filled with the flow of cool nectar of bliss. The face of the Muni reflected an ethereal splendour. His eyes bore the effulgence of the supernatural. After this extraordinary experience of kapalabheda, the Muni lived for fourteen years.... " (4)

   This event awed the disciples of Ganapati Muni, who were knowledgable about the practices of kundalini yoga but were unprepared for such a rare and unusual phenomenon. There are few references to the "breaking of the skull" in the traditional literature, and it is essentially unknown in the teachings of contemporary yogis. What references there are, particularly in the Tibetan tradition, usually mention that such an experience can happen to a yogi only at the time of death.

   In spite of the unusual nature of Ganapati's transformation, Maharshi affirrned that he had not attained enlightenment. When asked whether the Muni was realized after his death, Ramana replied, "How could he? His sankalpas'(inherent tendencies) were too strong." In other words, in Ganapati Muni's case the overwhelming awakening of the kundalini was yet not sufficient to unlock the "knot of self" that was still alive at the heart.

   Adi Da , in his autobiography, revealed an extraordinary and transformative yogic experience quite similar to that of Ganapati Muni, in which he endured painful "incisions" in the skull over the course of a few nights, at the end of which he noticed that the terminal chakra, the sahasrar, "had fallen off like a blossom." After this experience he felt as if he had been liberated from identification with the chakra system and its polarization of ascending and descending energies. He claims to have seen that the chakra system from the point of view of the Heart was an arbitrary and unnecessary structure for the play of energy.

   "The Shakti, which previously had appeared as a polarized energy that moved up and down through the various chakras or centers producing various effects, now was released from the chakra form. There was no more polarized force. Indeed, there was no form whatsoever, no up or down, no chakras. The chakra system had been revealed as unnecessary, an arbitrary rule or setting for the play of energy. The form beneath all of the bodies, gross or subtle, had revealed itself to be as unnecessary and conditional as the bodies themselves...Consciousness had shown its radical freedom and priority in terms of the chakra form. It had shown itself to be senior to that whole structure, dissociated from every kind of separate energy or shakti. There was simply consciousness itself, prior to all forms, all dilemmas, every kind of seeking and necessity." (5)

   This did not occur with Ganapati Muni as he had not yet realized the causal heart or the all-pervading, formless Self. He had apparently not made the ultimate surrender required for true Self-realization.

   Another disciple of the Maharshi reported the awakening of the kundalini with radically different results, including the awakening of his heart center. See: Nothing Existed Except the Eyes of the Maharshi by By N. R. Krishnamurti Aiyer .

   J. Krishnamurti wrote of a process of several decades in length during which he suffered intense pain inhis head and spine, yet he, apparently failed to complete the full course of yoga. In his case, he repudiated his early yogic experiences, arguing principally for what he termed "choice less awareness", and in so doing confused (at least for his listeners) the profundities of advanced practice of identification with the Witness consciousness with a basically cognitive exercise in releasing the conceptual mind.

   Many teachers have warned about the dangers of the premature awakening of the kundalini energy. Great heat can be created in the body, with possible damage to the brain and nervous system. In order to be prepared for the circulation of spiritual energies in the body-mind, the aspirant must be purified of ego, and equipped with the enobling virtues of humility and self-surrender. This is accomplished through self-understanding or clear seeing and the accompanying opening of the feeling being. Then the energy can move freely without the obstruction generated by egoic contraction.

   The teaching of Iakshmana Swamy is very similar to that of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Three points in particular, however, are arguable. One, Lakshmana Swamy holds that a living guru is essential for liberation. He maintains that without such a teacher the most one can hope to attain is mental concentration, or an "effortless, thought-free state" (perhaps similar to that proposed by J. Krishnamurti), but in order for the mind to be "pulled into the Heart and die there", a living guru is necessary. The current non-dualists would disagree here on the point of the mind needing to be pulled into the heart, in a yogic sense, in order to die. They say there is no need for the mind to die, but only for clear seeing to arise. Nothing needs to be changed, and no experience is required for awakening. Nor is a guru necessary n all cases. If the experience of the "death of the mind in the Heart" is not had while your guru is alive, however, according to Swamy, then one will need another guru to accomplish it. Swamy gives the example that, in his own case, he had experience of the Self briefly through his own efforts but needed a guru to make it permanent. He does allow that there may be a few rare exceptions to this, such as his guru, Ramana Maharshi, who apparently became realized without the help of a human guru, but he maintains that in most cases it is not possible. There are others, however, who do not agree with Lakshamana Swamy on this point. Paul Brunton asserted that a human guru is required until the disciple transcends the gross personality, but that at a certain point ones individual Overself takes over and bestows its grace, leading attention across the threshold into the Heart. Kirpal Singh taught that once a disciple is initiated by a true Master that even if that Master should die he would still help the irldividual and be his gurudev once the disciple was capable of transcending body-consciousness, and that he would still help the disciple in many ways even if the latter did not know it. He held that the company of another Master would be useful for spiritual development but was not necessary for initiatory purposes. Sant Darshan Singh has said, however, that in such a case where a guru has passed on his successor may have to take on some of the disciple's karmas, if that is necessary, for to do so requires a body. (6)

   A second distinguishing feature of the teaching of Lakshmana Swamy is the notion that a jnani (self-realized sage) could not continue to exist after death on the subtle planes because his 'I'-thought is dead, and since it is the 'I'-thought which takes on a new form, it would not be possible for the jnani to do so. This was also Ramana Maharshi's view, at least on one occasion. Clearly, however, the testimony of other sages is that just as a Realizer, can assume physical form in order to do spiritual work, so can he take on (or retain) subtle 'bodies' for the same purpose. Furthermore, it is not quite correct to say that the mind has to die for realization to be the case, but only that identification of the conscious Self with the mind must cease. It is a potential limitation of the practice of the jnana paths to assume that complete cessation of the mind is necessary for (or the equivalent of) realization. The Tripura Rahasya ( a favorite text of Ramana Maharshi) argues that cessation of the mind is only the case in the middle class of jnanis, but not in the highest. (7) The highest stage the “hidden teaching beyond yoga” position, allows for more creativity than that which dwells on the Witness position, even "allowing" creation (or manifestation) itself to be as it is. Annihilation is not required, only realization. Nothing need be annihilated except ignorance.

   Thirdly, Lakshmana’s viewpoint on kunalini differs markedly from that of the common yoga tradition. This is discussed fully in the section below on Swami Sivananda. In brief, Lakshmana says that “kundalini is the mind” and as such arises from the Heart and not from the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine as is most commonly supposed. This view is understandable if “kundalini” is here equated with the more general term, “shakti”, which is the manifest power of prior consciousness, or “shiva”, which is not limited to the energies within the gross body-mind. Ramana also said something similar to Lakshmana here when he remarked, “it is wrong to say the Self is down here (the muladhara) or up there (the sahasrar); in other words, to think is not your nature.” (Talks) All of the chakras and worlds are ultimately in the imagination, and therefore cannot be the way to realization itself.

   The Russian contemplatives (see St. Seraphim of Sarov and Theophane the Recluse in Those Amazing Christians) spoke more often on a descent of the spirit or grace, as opposed to the kundalini traditions of India which emphasize the ascent. This can be understood if one allows for a full circle of conducted energy in the body-mind. The Taoist sages taught this full circuitry. Baha u'llah also spoke of a descent of grace:

   "During my days I lay in the prison of Tihran...I felt as if something flowed from the crown of my head over my breast, even as a mighty torrent that precipitated itself upon the earth from the summit of a lofty mountain. Every limb of my body would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments my tongue recited what no man could bear to hear." (8)

   The force, after awakening or insight into the Overself consciousness, is felt as coming just as much if not more from "without", as a form of baptism, than from within. This, makes sense in the light of PB's comment in The Wisdom of the Overself, "the Overself's without is our within." One standing in that position will find such experiences safer and less deluding, having already undergone the "second birth," or awakened to the witness consciousness, as they may then be experienced from a more impersonal point of view, beyond or apart from the sense of encasement in the body-mind. There is also then less chance of "getting fried," as many practitioners have reported.

   None of this has to happen; it is just that it does happen, and these are some of the possibilities thereof.

   John the Baptist, whom some say was a prophet, while others that he was Jesus' initiatory guru, said:

   "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." (Matthew 3:11).

   In this instance, it can be assumed that "water", a universal symbol for the emotional nature of man, represents the purification of baser feelings and animal passions. This is the necessary conversion of heart to prepare the individual for the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire, which represent the initiation by the higher process of kundalini-shakti, or spirit-power, as is common in the yogic traditions of the East, and which was presumably the province of Jesus the Christ (or such a one as he). PB hinted at the different stages of this baptismal process when he stated:

   "There is, further, a difference between the baptism by the Holy Ghost and the baptism by fire. The baptism by the Holy Ghost arouses and awakens the potentialities of the dynamic Life-Force, raising its voltage far above the ordinary. This process is usually accompanied by thrills, ecstasies, or mystical raptures. it represents the first awakening on the spiritual level as it filters through the partially cleansed emotional nature. Baptism by fire represents the next and highest stage after this event, when, the thrill of the new birth has subsided and when, in a calmer and steadier condition, the intelligence itself becomes illuminated in addition to the feelings, thus balancing them." (9)

   Thus, the kundalini as it arises from the Muladhara is really only an apparent rnovement, perceived to ascend (or descend), only after body-identification has already been assumed. The truly significant arisal of kundalini, life-energy, and mind does occurs at the heartroot, prior to body-consciousness, and it is to that locus, if any, that one's attention needs to be directed, not to its apparent extensions in the circuitry of the body-mind. And in the highest stage, even this locus, conceived objectively, as an exclusive site of realization, is transcended.

   For one who is involved in a kundalini practice or experiences, Paul Brunton has written these words of instruction and warning, pointing out the need for preparation and purification:

   "Why did so many primeval cultures in Asia, Africa, and America worship the serpent? A full answer would contain some of the most important principles of metaphysics and one of the least known practices of mysticism - raising the force symbolized under the name of the "serpent fire." The advanced occultists of Tibet compare the aspirant making this attempt to a snake which is made to go up a hollow bamboo. Once aroused, it must either ascend and reach liberty at the top or it must fall straight down to the bottom. So he who seeks to play with this fiery but dangerous power will either reach Nirvana or lose himself in the dark depths of hell. If a man seeks to arouse kundalini before he has rid himself of hate, he will only become the victim of his own hatreds when he does raise it from its sleeping state. He would do better to begin by self-purification in every way if he is to end in safety and with success...The intense fire of love for the higher self must be kindled in the "mystic" heart, kindled until it also shows a physical parallel in the body, until the latter's temperature rises markedly and the skin perspires profusely. Deep breathing is an important element in this exercise. It provides in part the dynamism to make its dominating ideas effective. The other part is provided by a deliberate sublimation of sex energy, through its imaginative raising from the organs in the lower part of the body to a purified state in the head.

   The strange phenomena of a mysterious agitation in the heart and an internal trembling in the solar plexus, of sex force raised through the spine to the head in intense aspiration toward the higher self accompanied by deep breathing, of a temporary consciousness of liberation from the lower nature, are usually the forerunners of a very important step forward in the disciple's inner life. A twofold trembling may seize him. Physically, his diaphragm may throb violently, the movement spreading like a ripple upward to the throat. Emotionally, his whole being may be convulsed with intense sobbing...The agitation of his feeling will come to an end with the calm perception of his Soul. The kundalini's activity being primarily mental and emotional, the diaphragmatic tremors and quivers are merely its physical reactions. The necessity for keeping the back erect exists only in this exercise, not in the devotional or intellectual yogas, for such a straight posture permits the spinal column to remain free for the upward passage of the "serpent fire." The latter moves in spiral fashion, just like the swaying of a cobra, generating heat in the body at the same time. If the trembling continues long enough and violently enough, a sensation of heat is engendered throughout the body and this in turn engenders profuse perspiration. But all these symptoms are preliminary and the real mystical phenomena involving withdrawal from the body-thought begin only when they have subsided. This exercise first isolates the force residing in breath and sex, then sublimates and reorients it. The results, after the initial excitement has subsided, are (a) a liberating change in his consciousness of the body, (b) a strengthening development of the higher will's control over the animal appetites, and (c) a concentration of attention and feeling as perfect as a snake's concentration on its prey. It is a threefold process yielding a threefold result. In those moments when the force is brought into the head, he feels himself to be liberated from the rule of animality; then he is at the topmost peak of the higher will. Power and joy envelop him. The attainment of this state of deep contemplation and its establishment by unremitting daily repetition bring him finally to an exalted satisfied sense of being full and complete and therefore passion-free and peace-rooted." (10)

   * * *

   For a more traditional view on the kundalini we may look at the life and teachings of Swami Sivananda (1897-1963). He was born, by his own confession, into a family "of saints and philosophers". He was a very mischievious boy whose pranks often brought angry hearts of embittered villagers to reconciliation. He was an excellent gymnast and would frequently arise at three or three-thirty in the morning and sneak out of the house to pursue his training. He admitted that he could fool his parents, who did not look too favorably on his gymnastics, by putting a pillow on his bed and covering it with a blanket to make it appear as if he was still asleep.

   Sivananda studied at Tanjore Medical Institute, and, in his own words, "was a tremendously industrious boy" at the school. He spent all of his free time learning from the doctors and professors, and at the end of his first year he had admittance to the operating theater and was able to answer questions that even senior students could not. After graduation he traveled to Malaya and was the manager of a hospital on a rubber estate for seven years, and subsequent to this he worked three more years at the Jayore Medical Clinic. Sivananda was well-liked by his patients, but his mind wasn't on business and he often forgot to charge for treatment or medications [that’s my kind of guy]. He started a popular medical journal called The Ambrosia which he ran for four years. In order to maintain it at a high quality he let his own financial reserves dwindle, but Sivananda didn't care: his overruling passion was to disperse knowledge that would aid the sick and needy.

   Medical work drove home to him the fact of pain and suffering in this world, and, remembering the verse, "the day on which one gets vairagya (dispassion), that very day one should renounce the world," in 1923 he left Malaya for India and began a rigorous life as a wandering mendicant. Through hot sun, cold rain, bare-headed and bare-footed, sometimes with food, sometimes without, Sivananda went from place to place in search of a spiritual guide or true Guru. He met many yogis. and sadhus on his journeys, including the sage, Narayan Maharaj at whose ashram he spent a few days (Narayan Maharaj was said to have enlightened Upasani Baba with a piece of food, and was one of five allegedly perfect masters that worked with and prepared the way for the 'avatar' Meher Baba). Sivananda arrived at Rishikesh in 1924 and took initiation from Viswarananda Saraswati of the Sringeri Math of Sri Sankaracharya. He stayed in Rishikesh and practiced intense austerities and meditation, even though his Guru moved elsewhere. Sivananda considered moments spent in idle pursuit and without purpose as time highly wasted. Throughout his life a favorite motto of his was "Do it now!"

   Along with a life of strict austerity (tapas), Swami Sivananda was very active in service to the sick, the poor, and other sadhus in his vicinity. On the advise of another mahatma in the area, he opened a medical dispensary for just that purpose. He tended the deathly ill without fear of contagion, taking no special precautions and not even bothering to wash his hands after treating a diseased person. He was a fearless servant of mankind.

   For his personal sadhana he maintained a rigorous, exacting daily schedule. To ward off the spiritual aspirants who came to him in ever-increasing numbers he had a barbed-wire fence erected around his hut, and he locked the gait. He also had the ever-increasing number of personal disciplines that he assumed recorded in a notebook which he called "The Whip". He was a strong man and kept up a daily routine of physical exercise as well as up to sixteen hours of meditation. In 1936 he started the Divine Life Society to spread yoga teachings throughout the world. He went on a tour of India and Ceylon in 1950, and in 1953 convened a World Parliament of Religions. He was a friend of Sant Kirpal Singh who continued such endeavors. Overall he wrote more than three hundred books, often published at phenomenal spead: up to three two-hundred page books a month! Sivananda was a highly respected guru, perhaps because he gave out a pure, undiluted yoga teaching, with little accompanying dogma, and also because he demanded much of his students.

   Sivananda was an outstanding example of a karma yogin as well as a supreme realist:

   "Service gives me joy, I cannot live without service even for a second."

   "I never said or did anything to tempt people with promises of grand results like Mukti (liberation) from a drop of Kamandala water, or Samadhi by mere touch. I emphasized the importance of silent meditation for a systematic progress in the spiritual path. Invariably, I asked all aspirants to purify their hearts through selfless service to mankind." (11)

   The specifics of his sadhana in his own case are not clear; apart from mentioning that he spent alot of time in meditation, and served the general community of renunciates where he lived, his autobiography gives few details of what actually occured spiritually during the years 1924 to 1929, when he achieved his realization. His writings provide, however, a complete elaboration of yoga philosophy and practices. The book, Kundalini Yoga, in particular, presents his view on realization:

   “If he reaches the spiritual center in the brain, the sahasrar chakra, the yogi attains Nirvikalpa samadhi or (the) superconscious state. He becomes one with the non-dual Brahman. All sense of separation dissolves. This is the highest plane of consciousness or supreme Asamprajnata samadhi. Kundalini unites " with Siva. The yogi may come down to the center in the throat to give instructions to the students and do good to others (Lokasamgraha)." (12)

   “Brahmarandhra” means the hole of Brahman. It is the dwelling house of the human soul. This is also known as “Dasamadvara,” the tenth opening or the tenth door. The hollow place in the crown of the head known as anterior fontanelle in the new-born child is the Brahmarandhra. This is between the two parietal and occipital bones. This portion is very soft in a babe. When the child grows, it gets obliterated by the growth of the bones of the head. Brahma created the physical body and entered (Pravishat) the body to give illumination inside through this Brahmarandhra. In some of the Upanishads, it is stated like that. This is the most important part. It is very suitable for Nirguna Dhyana (abstract meditation). When the Yogi separates himself from the physical body at the time of death, this Brahmarandhra bursts open and Prana comes out through this opening (Kapala Moksha). “A hundred and one are the nerves of the heart. Of them one (Sushumna) has gone out piercing the head; going up through it, one attains immortality” (Kathopanishad).

   "Sahasrara Chakra is the abode of Lord Siva. This corresponds to Satya Loka. This is situated at the crown of the head. When Kundalini is united with Lord Siva at the Sahasrara Chakra, the Yogi enjoys the Supreme Bliss, Parama Ananda. When Kundalini is taken to this centre, the Yogi attains the superconscious state and the Highest Knowledge. He becomes a Brahmavidvarishtha or a full-blown Jnani." (13)

   This is the traditional yogic view where the highest realization takes place in an ascended form of samadhi (Nirvikalpa); however, it is generally the case that when an individual returns to bodily consciousness from this samadhi he feels a sense of limitation, depending on his background. Some yogis, therefore, as Sivananda mentions, only allow their consciousness to descend as far as the throat center, where they are able to communicate with others while still feeling relatively free of the body. If they were not already feeling identified with the body, however, they would have less need to ascend to regain or maintain their realization, so say the sages. Thus the urge towards ascent is motivated by identification with the body-consciousness, in most cases.

   Compare this position of Swami Sivananda with that of Ramana Maharshi; Lakshmana Swamy, and even Shiv Dayal Singh: none of them would agree that the kundalini unites with Siva (Divine Consciousness) in the sahasrar, but for different reasons.

   Shiv Dayal Singh (and the path of Sant Mat, or shabd yoga) holds that the sahasrar is but the first of many ascending inner stages on the path to Self and God-Realization. The other sages generally have testified that the separate ego-consciousness must , at least provisionally, trace a course from the sahasrar down, via the terminal course of the sushumna nadi, to its root in the Heart (intuited from the bodily point of view to be on the right side of the chest; but in itself, as Ramana said, all-pervading) for true Self-realization to occur.

   Lakshmana Swamy interprets the kundalini-shakti in a rather unique manner, as mentioned above. He says that it is actually equivalent to the mind, which arises from the Heart and ascends to the brain through the channel called the amrita nadi ("current of nectar", or "current of immortality"). By this interpretation, Siva and Shakti, or Siva and the kundalini-shakti, do not unite in the sahasrar when said kundalini rises; rather, the kundalini-shakti (or mind) must return to its source (or its original locus relative to the bodily self) , which is the heart centre, and die there. Kundalini-as-the-mind, according to Lakshmana Swamy, arises from the heart, therefore, and not from the Muladhara chakra at the base of the spine as yoga maintains. The arising of kundalini through yoga practice is only apparently such; it is actually a mental or imaginary phenomenon, only appearing as substantial to the non-Heart-realized individual. Swamy's use of the word "imaginary" is interesting and it was similarly used by Ramana Maharshi. It simply means, "in consciousness", or "Mind". Paul Brunton used the philosophic term "mentalism" to the same effect. It is not meant to obliterate the distinction between gross and subtle phenomena, although that may in fact be the intention of some teachers, but its basic meaning is that all phenomena arise in consciousness (or to and as consciousness), and the true vision of things is generally not had without the transcendence of the ego in the heart. This can be, as stated above, attained with the provisional descent of the mind into the heart, or simply through clear seeing that all is mind in ordinary life (i.e., outside trance).This grants the true understanding of the kundalini energies as well.

   Swamy states:

   "The kundalini tradition is not speaking from the highest standpoint because it does not teach that the mind must go back to the heart for the final realization to occur. When you speak of the kundalini rising to the sahasrar you are speaking of a yogic state which is not the highest state. At the moment of realization the 'I' -thought goes down the channel (amrita nadi) and is destroyed in the heart. After realization neither the amrita nadi nor-the heart-center are of any importance. The jnani then knows that he is all-pervading Self.” (14)

   [Here he does acknowledge the higher point of view, although he insists that the Witness position must be achieved first. All sages are not in agreement on this point].

   The true Kundalini-Shakti is a profoundly transformative and potentially disorienting process, serving to repolarize the energies and attention of the being to the crown (sahasrar); this in itself, however, according to sages, only preparatory to the advanced forms of inquiry that lead attention to its root in the Heart. Ramana Maharshi and Lakshmana Swamy speak of the Amrita Nadi as arising out of the Heart and projecting to the sahasrar above, as well as simultaneously to the body-mind as a whole, and as being the actual structure or current of conscious life in the realized soul. While Lakshmana speaks of attention or mind as going down the channel of amrita nadi into the heart, he leaves us to decipher that, this once accomplished, the amrita nadi reappears as regenerated pathway, the heart and its light, realized after the transcendental Self is known.

   Even this causal pathway is generally not acknowledged in the yoga schools. A modern exception to this, however, is Swami Yogeshwaranand Saraswati. He argues:

   "A stream of rays pertaining to the life-force arises from the bliss sheath (The causal body in the heart) and goes to the astral body (manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas in the brain) and from there to the physical body." (15)

   Even among the Greeks one finds this view:

   "Aristotle regarded the heart and not the brain as the thinking or control centre of the body. He also spoke of certain very fine thread-like tendons that went from the heart to all the larger tendons of the body as in a marionette. Hence the notion of one's "heart-strings' being tugged." (16)

   Ramana once said "You doctors say that the heart is at the left side of the chest. But the whole body is the heart for yogis. Jnanis have their hearts both within and without." A devotee of his, Ranaky Matha, claims to have had her liberation under Bhagavan's grace when her kundalini rose to the sahasrara, after which she realized the One, Universal, Transcendental Self as Heart-Light and Amrita Nadi as a "pillar of light", rising up to the sahasrara and above, as sometimes described by Ramana. She once almost had the experience of Ganapati Muni of the kundalini trying to break out of the top of the skull but it subsided when she cried out to Ramana. Maharshi said of her that she was born realized, that he was only the causal (karana) guru for her. See Sri Janaky Matha for an inspiring account of this bhakta devotee of Sri Bhagavan.

   Non-dual philosophy teaches that there is nothing to attain. Kundalini may appear to rise, or the devotee may appear to ascend through the chakras, but really this is only an appearance, or even a play of attention. The ascending motion, in any case, is only part of a greater process, including descent, ascent, and prior identification with consciousness itself. It is of no concern to the devotee on the right path, for he knows through understanding that whatever it is that ascends, or what the process of ascent is altogether, can only be observed or known properly first from the point of view of the witness position, or witness consciousness. The ego-soul may appear to ascend, but such is only an illusion based on identification with the psycho-physical or bodily self itself. This identification is undermined through insight by realization of the witness position or most fundamentally, in the ultimate stage, of the all-pervading Self, which is, as far as words permit, of the nature of “no-self.” If the ego-soul is an illusion, for instance, based on misplaced identity, how can it really be said to ascend? Yet such is the commonly held assumption, based on traditional views of the death process and the early mystical or yogic experiences of many individuals, but from the point of view of reality it is only apparent. In the advanced stages, the lllusion is seen for what it is, and with the right inquiry and practice, the truth is intuitable even from the beginning. Adi Da stated:

   "Simply because the world exists doesn't mean that Shakti is separated from Siva and must return, or that the yogi is somehow separated from Siva, and must return to Siva in the form or vehicle of Shakti. All that arises is already the union of Siva and Shakti. It is not necessary to raise the kundalini one inch. It is already raised. It is continually rising. And it is continually descending. It is a circle of conductivity about the Sun, the Heart. When manifest existence is lived from the point of view of the Heart, all ascent and descent is already and continually accomplished. But when a man lives purely from the point of view of the descended nature, he also has a great deal to accomplish." (17)

   PB said the same thing in a somewhat different way:

   "Were the World-Mind [for which, being individuated into emanated Overselves, we can reasonably substitute the word Soul here] beyond, because outside, the finite universe, then it would be limited by that universe and thus lose its own infinitude. But because it includes the universe completely, it is genuinely infinite. World-Mind is neither limited nor dissipated by its self-projection in the universe. If World-Mind is immanent in the universe, it is not confined to the universe; if it is present in every particle of the All, its expression is not exhausted by the All." (18)

   The task, therefore, is not to manipulate or pursue the experience of subtle energies for their own sake, but, rather, through profound seeing or self-understanding, and self-submission or surrender, to permit consciousness itself and the divine spirit-current to carry away all exclusive, fixed identification with the body-mind itself. This is a great and ancient yoga that is almost unknown in the popular spiritual traditions of today. The summary point in this discussion is that the apparent ascent of consciousness in the chakra system and the rising of the kundalini is part of a larger process, and is even illusory from the point of view of realization itself.

1. David Godman, No Mind, I Am The Self (Nellore District, A.P., India: Sri Lakshmana Ashram, 1986), p. 10
2. Ibid, p. 18
3. Ibid, p. 4.
4. "The Muni and the Maharishi," Part III, The Mountain Path 14, No.3 (July 1978), pp. 147-148
5. Da Love-Ananda, The Knee of Listening (San Rafael, CA: The Dawn Horse Press, 1986), p. 117-118; Also see: David Todd, "The Severing of the Sahasrar," Vision Mound, Vol. 2, No.8 (April 1979), (Clearlake Highlands: The Free Communion Church)
6. Darshan Singh, Spiritual Awakening (Bowling Green, Virginia: Sawan Kirpal Publications, 1982), p. 261-262
7. Sri Mungala S. Venkataramaiah, Tripura Rahasya, or the Mystery Beyond the Trinity (Tiruvannarnalai, S. India: Sri Rarnanasramam, 1962), p. 167-16, 172
8. Baha u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette, Illinois: Bahai Publishing Trust, 1953), p. 22
9. The Notebooks of Paul Brunton (Burdett, New York: Larson Publications, 1988), Vol. 12, Part 1, 5.39-40
10. Ibid, Vol. 4, Part 2, 2, KUNDALINI
11. Swami Sivananda, Sadhana (Shivanandanagar, India: The Divine Life Society, 1978), p.
12. Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga (Shivanandanagar, India: The Divine Life Society, 1980), p.
13. Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga, p. 32-33
14. David Godman, op. cit. p. 98-100
15. Yogesh Satyeswaranand Saraswati, Science of Soul (New Delhi, India: Yoga Niketan Trust, 1987), p. 238
16. Benjamin Walker, Encyclopedia of Esoteric Man (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977), p. 120
17. Da Love-Ananda, The Method of the Siddhas (San Rafael, CA: The Dawn Horse Press, 1986), p. 85-86
18. The Notebooks of Paul Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 16, Part 3, 2.25