What is Kundalini?The name is Sanskrit in origin and is the name
by which the process is currently known in the west as well as in India. The name is feminine and refers to a coil, so kundalini is sometimes likened to a coiled serpent and the process is sometimes called serpent power. Put simply, it is a release of energy that can result in spiritual transformation so that the recipient is more perceptive, and more in touch both with nature and with the divine. In this respect it ranks with (or more likely, out-ranks) other processes that have been recognised as having transformative effects, including near death experiences, revelations, channelled messages, encounters with extra-terrestrials, powerful dreams and other "religious experiences". Kundalini is generally reckoned to be a feminine force.
As a release of energy in human bodies, it can be expected that the effects of kundalini can vary in intensity and in symptoms, from person to person. To judge from contemporary literature, this is indeed the case. Moreover the release often occurs spontaneously: not only when deliberately initiated.
Tantra in Kundalini
According to the philosophy of Tantra, the entire universe is a manifestation of pure consciousness. In manifesting the universe, this pure consciousness seems to become divided into two poles or aspects, neither of which can exist without the other. Each requires the other in order to manifest its total nature.
The other aspect, Shakti, is feminine, dynamic, energetic and creative. Shakti is the Great Mother of the universe, for it is from her that all form is born.
According to Tantra, the human being is a miniature universe. All that is found in the cosmos can be found within each individual, and the same principles that apply to the universe apply in the case of the individual being.
In human beings, Shakti, the feminine aspect is called Kundalini. This potential energy is said to rest at the base of the spinal cord. The object of the Tantric practice of Kundalini-yoga is to awaken this cosmic energy and make it ascend through the psychic centers, the chakras, that lie along the axis of the spine as consciousness potentials. She will then unite above the crown of the head with Shiva the pure consciousness. This union is the aim of Kundalini-yoga: a resolution of duality into unity again, a fusion with the Absolute. By this union the adept attains liberation while living which is considered in Indian life to be the highest experience: an union of the individual with the universe. Once Kundalini Shakti has ascended to above the crown of the head and merged with Shiva, it is made to reverse its course and return to rest at the base of the spine.
In Tantrism the state of ultimate bliss is a transcendence of dualities male-female, energy-consciousness, Shiva-Shakti...
When and where does Kundalini start?Spontaneous Kundalini arousal whether full or partial is often associated with a history of meditation, yoga or prayer. Typically, the energy release begins in the lower part of the body and moves upwards. It often starts in the feet, but many say that it starts with the lower chakra, the mooladhara, that is located near the perineum. It does not necessarily originate in the lower parts of the body, however, and can start at the crown or heart chakra, for instance. The order and progression of the energy through the chakras varies with each individual. This internal transfer of energy, which can be extremely powerful, is accompanied by many different feelings, usually new to the recipient and is therefore bewildering or even frightening. Spontaneous arousal can occur at any age.
The classical literature tells us that pain is experienced only when there is a blockage in the chakra, or chakras, through which the Kundalini energy is attempting to pass. It would have to be acknowledged that not many of us are 'pure'.
Another theory is that the Kundalini energy may have missed the Sushumna, the central passage, and diverted to either the Ida or Pingala which intertwine around the length of the Sushumna (see nadis). It is not possible to comment on these hypotheses.
My experience would tend to bear out the premise that the Kundalini energy gets blocked by inevitable impurities in the chakras which are to be found in most individuals at this stage of the evolvement of consciousness.
