KUNDALINI YOGA –

THE RELEASED AND SOARING DORMANT ENERGY –

CHAKRAS AS POINTS OF CONTACT

For the adept and practitioners of the agamic-tantric system, liberation is not to be
experienced only after death, but here and now. Moksha and its concomitant ananda can
be achieved in this life itself through a process called yoga – a framework of theory and
practice, both spiritual and physical, for achieving the ends and values of life. Freedom
does not mean a mere negation of bondage, but a positive realization, which brings pure
joy so that universal knowledge becomes as it were, self-knowledge. A state of union in
which there is the experience of oneness with creation and divinity is the ultimate goal of
tantra. This unitive state is the yogic state which is “to join” the practitioner within
himself, with creation and with his chosen deity. The final experience of Shiva-Shakti-
hood resulting from the internalization and identification with cosmic forces is Yoga.

The way to fulfillment is through the recognition of the wholeness linking man and the
universe. The external and the internal are no longer polarized; they do not exclude one
another, nor are they actually separate, but are integrated into a cohesive whole. Thus the
tantrikas see the universe as though it were within themselves and themselves as though
they were within the universe. The forces governing the cosmos on the macro level
govern the individual in the micro level. Man himself becomes the cosmos as his body is
seen as condensing the entire universe.

The human body thus acquires a unique role and is considered the most perfect and
powerful of all Yantras. What is counseled is not a withdrawal from existence or a cold
ascetism, which teaches us to sever our links with life, but a gathering up of existence
into our own being. This gathering up is affected by cosmicizing the body, treating it as a
“tool” for inner awareness by taming it with yogic rituals, awakening zones of
consciousness and activating its latent subtle energies.

To illustrate the natural correspondence of the human body and the cosmos, tantra has
created a system of psychic cross points in which the infinite world of time and space are
seen as reflected in the psychophysical structure of man. The cosmos, according to the
Tantras, consists of seven ascending planes of existence, starting from earthly, gross
existence, and this hierarchy is mirrored in the psychic vortices functioning as invisible
Yantras in the human body.

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The seven major points of power in the subtle body function as Yantras for inner
meditative experience in Kundalini-yoga. They are visualized in geometrical figures, as
wheels (chakras) or lotuses, spaced on the vertical axis of the subtle body, the sushumna,
which corresponds roughly to the spinal column and brain. Since these chakras embrace
the entire psycho-cosmos, each is associated with a sound vibration, element, colour,
deity or animal symbol.

Dr RASHMI PODDAR

GLOSSARY

Sushumna: Central channel of the subtle body

Ida: Nerve current – lunar channel – left

Pingala: Solar channel – right

Kundalini: Emblem of microcosmic energy

Yoga: Abhava + Mahayoga

Abhava: Self is meditated upon as zero, and bereft of quality

Mahayoga: Self is seen as full of bliss and bereft of all impurities, one with God
8 steps to Yoga: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana,
Samadhi.

Yama: 1) Ahimsa – non-injury

2) Satya – truthfulness
3) Asteya – non-covetousness
4) Brahmacharya – chastity
5) Aparigraha - not receiving anything from another

Niyama: Regular habits and observances

1) Tapas – austerity
2) Svadhyaya – study
3) Santosh – contentment
4) Shaucha – purity
5) Ishvarapranidhana – worshipping God

Asana: Posture

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Pranayama: Controlling the vital airs of one’s body. Divided into 3 parts:
Rechaka – rejecting or exhaling
Puraka – inhaling
Kumbhaka – restraining, stationary

Pratyahara: Bringing the indriyas or sense organs inwards by control of the will,
gathering towards one self.

Dharana: Fixing the mind to the center of the heart, or center of the forehead.

Dhyana: Meditation.

Samadhi: Oneness of the mind