Shared Transformation Issue 11
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE
What exactly is Kundalini? The Hindus regard her as the divine mother, the earth goddess
indwelling in all form and phenomena. G.S. Arundale tells us that the verb kund means "to burn" and
is significant in relation to the fiery aspect of Kundalini. He goes on to say that kunda refers to a hole or
a bowl -- "Here we are given an idea of the vessel in which the Fire burns." And kundala represents a
coil, spiral or ring, which expresses the way the inner fire unfolds. "Out of all these essential derivatives,"
says Arundale, "the word Kundalini is born, giving creative femininity to the Fire, Serpent-Fire as it is
sometimes called, the feminine creative power asleep within a bowl, within a womb, awakening to rhythmic movement
in uprushing and downpouring streams of Fire" (from Kundalini: An Occult Experience). Kundalini has also
been called the lifeforce; she is the vital, animating current within all creation. In Kundalini: The Secret of
Life, Swami Muktananda says that Kundalini is "Shakti, supreme energy... She is the active aspect of the formless,
attributeless Absolute." This lifeforce or energetic expression of the divine is known by many names in other
cultures. The Dakota Indians speak of wakan; the Hurons of oki; the Algonquian of manitou; the African Sotho of
moya; the Bantu of nzmbi; the Australians of joja; the Dajak of Indonesia of petara; the Batak of Sumatra of tondi;
the Hebrews of ruach; the Chinese of ch'i and the Japanese of ki. (from Shamans, Healers and Medicine Men by Holger
Kalweit) Kundalini is also hidden in the trinity represented in the Christian mythos of the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost. Yogananda sees a parallel between the Christian and Hindu trinities. God is the "vibrationless void
beyond phenomena," Christ is the "perfect intelligence that permeates the universe," and the Holy
Ghost is the "divine vibratory power that produces all forms in the cosmos" (from Sayings of Yogananda).
It is evident from this that the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) and the Kundalini are one in the same. The Holy
Ghost is symbolically represented by a flame. Many of the Christian saints who were not familiar with the Eastern
concept of Kundalini suffered from mysterious illnesses in which they claimed to be "burning" with love
or with the spirit of God within them. The traditions that speak in terms of triple aspects of the divine are
not really saying that these are separable. Whether it is called Power, Consciousness, Mind, the Tao, the Great
Spirit, All That Is, God or Goddess, etc., what is being communicated is the greater-than-self omnipresent Whole.
Being integral to this Whole, there is nowhere in the universe where Kundalini is not.
It can seem very confusing. If Kundalini is present in all creation, what is a Kundalini awakening? Well, it is a quickening of this pervasive energy. Imagine that Kundalini is water, and that across most of the planet, it is so cold that this water is frozen. In some places, the water heats up a bit, and becomes liquid. And in places where it heats up a great deal, it turns to steam. We might think of a Kundalini awakening as the process by which we are changed from this ordinary "ice" state to the much faster vibrational state of "steam." Another way of putting it is that while Kundalini is active in everything, there are certain places (power spots) and people in which she is more concentrated. Those with a risen Kundalini have much more lifeforce in their systems than those who have not begun this process.
Kundalini is alive in all of us, and in her most active form, she catalyzes quantum leaps in personal and spiritual growth. This does not conversely mean that anyone who is experiencing physical or mental illness, or that anyone who goes through life changes and revises their outlook, values or behavior has an awakened Kundalini. Such individuals, using the previous analogy, might be turning into "liquid water," but they are not vibrating at the "steam" level. In other words, every life crisis is an invitation to inner growth, but not all inner growth is propelled by the risen Kundalini.
Although no one seems able to predict which people will be transformed by Kundalini, it does not seem to be a random process. In Energies of Transformation, Bonnie Greenwell tells us that "exposure to many practices, especially meditation, and deep concern about the meaning of life can be found in the histories of people who report Kundalini symptoms... Openness of mind, heart and/or body seems to promote it." Lee Sannella, Kundalini researcher and author of the excellent book, The Kundalini Experience, speculates that the process "is more readily triggered in people who are naturally more sensitive and psychic." Spiritual teacher Richard Moss has observed that "the likelihood and depth of the opening" tends to correlate with "a life of intensity, creativity and service, with the ability to stand in one's own light and simultaneously enter into deep rapport with others." Like Greenwell and Sannella, he sees a parallel between awakening and "innate sensitivity," particularly as reflected in suffering "in the existential sense." (from The Black Butterfly) An awakened Kundalini manifests not only in outward change, but also in an unmistakable energetic increase in the body and psyche. When this energy vibrates rapidly, it produces a metamorphosis on the physical, mental, emotional and psychic levels. When this happens, one becomes transformed. This does not necessarily mean that one will become fully enlightened, or perfectly wise, or mentally or spiritually superior to someone who does not have an awakened Kundalini. It simply means that one's consciousness has been expanded. How one chooses to respond to the realizations and psychic gifts available at this expanded level determines much of the outcome of the process.
We can say that Kundalini is both the all-pervasive energy of the cosmos and the ultimately
mysterious bioenergetic impetus to personal evolution. As the Wiccans say, "She changes everything she touches,"
but some of us she touches and changes more deeply than others.
--El Collie