Short Lecture On Kundalini & Cakras

If you are interested in learning what kundalini and cakras really were to the yogis and want to learn about the origins of these two concepts based on academic research, then this lecture may be of interest to you. Learn and grow.

Transcript

Hi,

My name is Shaun Ramps and welcome to this short lecture on Kundalini.

It's interesting to note that in the current world we're living in,

The study of Kundalini is being thrown around left,

Right and centre and being used by new age people who seem to have little understanding of it and is commonly not taught or taught as a secret practice within yoga.

For me personally,

It is extremely important that when we look at old theories,

We need to be able to combine them with modern science.

When we do this,

We create a situation and a scenario where we are able to take old sciences and make them better or take old sciences that are not scientific and throw them away.

Meditation,

For example,

Has been proven over and over again in tier one peer-reviewed journals such as Nature that show and convey the various benefits that meditation can give to us.

Now when we look further into the benefits of meditation,

We see that meditation can be used as an offline technique for anxiety.

By offline,

For example,

We mean when the person is not actually anxious as opposed to online.

Now from modern research we know that manipulation of the out-breath in particular is extremely useful and important for anxiety and slowing down the heart rate.

This once again is an old technique that we can use in the modern world.

On that point,

You might be interested to know how scientifically does the long out-breath slow down the heart rate and initiate the parasympathetic nervous system and the calming actions of the body.

And this is because when we breathe in,

The diaphragm goes down by which there is a relatively less amount of blood supply going through the heart by which the brain tells the heart to beat faster.

When the diaphragm is up,

Such as on the out-breath,

And there's more pressure so the blood flow is going through the heart,

The brain tells the heart to beat slower.

So these type of methods are extremely useful and very important.

Now getting back to the point of Kundalini,

Kundalini is something that at the moment has no scientific literature or research or proof whatsoever.

My view is that when we come across a subject like this that is not backed by science,

What we can at least do at the bare minimum is look at the original idea,

The original concepts and what it was all about.

So the primary goal of hatha yoga was,

And still is for some schools,

To send energy,

Whether it be Kundalini,

Bindu,

Prana or hamsa,

Depending on the tradition,

Up the central channel which is called sasumna.

They did this to achieve liberation,

Immortality or health.

So in terms of this sending the energy up the central channel,

The sasumna channel,

There are actually two models.

The first model is what we can call the Bindu model,

And the second model is called the Kundalini model.

It is the Bindu model though which was the first and which the Kundalini model was somewhat based on.

So in the first model,

The Bindu which is in your brain or head,

Is prevented from dripping downwards.

Now Bindu really could be translated as sperm or vital essence,

If you want to use that word.

And the head was seen to be the moon.

So when this Bindu drips downwards in ordinary bodies,

People that weren't trained,

This semen is either ejaculated outwards or burnt in the stomach which was seen as the solar area.

So let's just go over this one more time.

You've got Bindu in the skull,

A type of sperm that drips downwards,

It's either ejaculated out or it is burnt up in the digestive system known as the solar as opposed to the head which was the moon.

And this leads to aging and death.

So the yogi wanted to reverse this by impelling the Bindu back up the central channel into the head through various mudras and thereby attaining what they called immortality.

Interestingly,

This Bindu model does seem to have its early origins in other texts within India which were based on preventing the loss of semen at all costs.

This is why,

For example,

The headstand for a long time has been the king of all asanas.

So this is model 1,

The Bindu model.

The second model,

We can call it the Kundalini model,

Originally called the Kundalini model of layer yoga because this incorporates all the associated chakra systems which were not found in the early Bindu orientated Hatha texts.

So in this model,

Kundalini rises up the central channel sasumna where it reaches in the head this store of amtra or nectar of immortality which then floods downwards through the entire body giving you immortality.

One of the key aspects that was related to these two models is the Kachari mudra which is when you put your tongue or the tip of your tongue to your palate.

So in the Bindu orientated model,

What happens is that that Kachari mudra stops and helps prevent the Bindu from dripping downwards.

In the Kundalini model,

The Kachari mudra is different whereas when the Kundalini arises to the top of the head and this nectar is released you put the tip of your tongue to your roof so that it then goes downwards and can flow throughout the entire body.

So here we've got the two models,

The Bindu model where the Kachari mudra is used to stop leaking and then we've got the Kundalini model where the Kachari mudra is used to help the body be flooded with this nectar amta.

It's very interesting to note here that the Chinese also had a similar model which you can just about guarantee comes from the Indian yogas and their interaction with the Chinese daoists which is called the heavenly circle model or the small heavenly circle orbit,

Sometimes also called the microscopic orbit,

Where they also use a Kachari mudra and they suck up the anus to connect what in Chinese medicine is the conception governing vessels together by which the chi can orbit and circle around the body.

But this clearly is taken from India.

So now that we've got the two models,

The Bindu model and the Kundalini model,

We can take a little bit of a further look into the idea of chakras and how Kundalini related to that.

So if you want further information on this,

You can look at David White who is one of the leading scholars on the history of chakras.

So originally there seemed to have been a fourfold chakra systems and these chakras have always sat aligned on the spinal column of the yogic subtle body.

So just remember here that we have a nervous system now.

The ancient yogis also thought there was a nervous system and that nervous system they call the subtle body.

Sometimes they call it the yoga body,

Which incorporates all these ideas of Kundalini and mudras and the five vayus or winds etc.

Etc.

But that's beyond the scope of this talk,

So we'll continue on this.

So the first system of chakras actually seems to have been developed by Tibetan Buddhists and were probably initially related to the mystic locations of the mind,

Such as waking,

Dreaming and enlightenment type of states.

The goal right from the very beginning was to bring this energy up the central column of the yoga body.

Because remember the yoga body being a type of old system nervous system,

Includes things like the acupuncture points that we now know of,

Which were called mama points in India,

Also included things like the channels,

Which were meant to be nerve pathways,

Etc.

Etc.

So the goal from the beginning was to send energy up the central channel,

So sumna,

And this energy was called Kundalini,

Or at least became later called Kundalini.

Kundalini is actually a female energy with a very strong relationship to Sakti.

And it always resided somewhere in the lower chakras or the base of the spine.

It's interesting to note that initially all these chakras were affected by sounds through mantras,

And only later on were they affected by mudras and bandhas and asana and pranayama.

Initially each chakra had a yogini at it.

So according to David White,

The yoginis at each chakra played an especially important role through this cremation ground-based concept of yogis and dakinis.

As the Kundalini,

Which has a very close relationship to sperm,

Reached each level or each chakra,

The yogini living in each chakra was given a sort of fuel or food,

By which they would in turn endow the yoga practitioner with a certain power,

Which was called Siddhi,

As the chakra opened.

Eventually all chakras would open,

Giving various powers,

Until the chakra,

The skull,

Opened,

By which the entire process was complete.

So this may have some complexities to it to some degree,

But it's actually quite simple.

So initially in ancient India there is an idea of sending the energy upwards.

This idea most likely came from the fact that in ancient India they thought that the soul comes in through the gap at the top of your head,

As your child,

The foreteller,

And comes downwards and into the body.

Now what they want to do is when you die,

They want you to go to heaven and not to the hell,

And therefore exit the body again through the top part of the head,

The foreteller,

And not downwards.

This is why it was very auspicious to die in spring and summer when the energy is moving up and out,

As opposed to dying in autumn or winter when the energies are moving downwards.

So we've got this basic idea in ancient India.

Then the next step comes along,

Where they're now focusing on making sure that whatever is happening to them,

They're sending this energy upwards.

And as India initially may have been a matriarchal society in the Indus Valley,

But later on became a very strict patriarchal society,

Where we see this idea of sperm must go upwards and not be leaked outwards,

Because leaking outwards leads to death and aging,

Whereas sending the sperm upwards leads to health and longevity.

Now as time goes on,

We start to get this bindu orientated system in the Hatha Yoga texts,

Where it's now very clear,

Where now they're using mudras and bandhas to send the sperm up the central channel satsumna,

Within the yoga subtle body.

You prevent the leaking of that through putting the tongue,

Tip of your tongue,

To your palate,

Whereby when it finally does reach the head,

It's come back to where it originally leaked from,

And you have health and longevity.

Now the Tibetans come along,

Which a lot of people don't know,

Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists,

A very big part of their culture was based on this idea of gaining powers through meditation,

Through chakras,

And various forms of exercise.

So it's not surprising that these chakra systems,

Which probably developed from the mama points of Ayurvedic medicine in India,

There's no evidence for that,

But it's very likely that it developed from these mama points,

And that the Tibetan Buddhists created these systems which were based primarily on gaining powers.

First we have this fourfold chakra system,

And the chakra system again was most likely originally based on the four elements,

Slash five elements of the universe,

Air,

Water,

Earth,

And fire,

And that they meditated on these areas with visualization and mantra,

Which created vibrations by which they were opened.

This system may originally have been based on this idea of the yoginis idea.

Now the yogini cremation idea was the fact that there are these ghosts living in cremation grounds that eat the rotting flesh of humans,

And by eating the rotting flesh of humans,

It gives these yoginis power to keep flying.

So it seems as though that this concept was then put into the concept of chakras,

By which as each chakra opens,

A gift of power or magic is bestowed to the practitioner,

And by sending the sperm back up,

The yogini gives them this in return,

As it allows the yogini to keep flying.

So anyway,

As time goes on,

We now start to see this Kundalini model developing,

Also based on the chakras,

And here we start to see that the Kundalini model arrives,

Where now they're sending this female energy up the spine,

So sumna,

To the brain,

By which it releases this nectar of immortality which floods through the body as you use the Kuchari mudra.

Now we also see the same type of things used even now,

Where the king of asana is the headstand,

Which again is to send the energy up and stop the leaking.

We also see that the Chinese idea,

Having to suck up your anus so that you stop the leaking of sperm,

And the idea of the microscopic orbit,

Also used by the Chinese,

The idea of renunciation and Taoism,

Etc.

Etc.

All these things end up coming to the same original principles which derived out of India.

Up till now,

If we were to look at,

There is no science portraying that any of these things have any form of benefit.

It was interesting to note that Krishnamacharya said,

Don't get involved with these chakras because this is in the realm of a type of negative form of black magic,

Or something along those lines.

So now that we see the models of the Kundalini model,

The Bindu model,

The idea of sending energy up,

The idea of where the soul comes into the body,

Where the soul should leave,

Why we want to send the energy up,

The early theories of the chakra systems with the elements and the mantra and the visualization and the idea of the cremation ground yoginis,

Now it empowers us to have some idea of if we really want to engage and spend our time practicing such things,

Which as we currently see,

Have no scientific basis.

Thanks for listening and have a nice day.

Reviews

Very interesting