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God Agni as Kundalinī by Jeanine Miller
The cult of fire as the inner immortal ruler who
raises the mortal to the level of immortals, as the link between heaven
and earth, the messenger between gods and men, the divine sacrificial
priest whom man evoked at break of dawn, reached its apotheosis in early
Vedic times. Subsequently, however, it was reduced to a mere ritual bereft
of its original pristine spiritual significance. Yet the early
understanding was not completely lost, because the knowledge of the secret
fire reappears as kundalinī in the later Upanishads, the Tantras,
and the medieval scriptures of Hatha-Yoga. This again bespeaks of the
astounding continuity of transmission of spiritual from the early Vedic
era to classical Hinduism.
Although the word kundalinī is not used in the
Rig-Veda, nevertheless direct and indirect references to the
discovery and actual arousal of such a dynamic psycho-spiritual power as
leads to immortality, can be found in several addresses to God Agni, which
clearly points to the antiquity of this esoteric lore.
Agni (Latin: ignis, "fire") is
repeatedly declared to be that which lifts the mortal to highest
immortality and is constantly praised in that quality. Whether these
insights into the spiritual meaning of the sacred fire had already been
systematized into an esoteric science is another question to which the
Vedic Samhitās unfortunately can provide no definite answer. They
only hint at certain ways of approachby exertion of concentrated
thought or by mantrasand certain results, specifically the
discovery of the nectar of immortality. The highly symbolic language
employed by the Vedic seers (rishi) lends itself to reasonable surmises
but not to absolute certainty.
Expressions like "winds steed" (vātasya
ashvo), "winds friend" (vāyoh sakhā)1
and "he endures/bears the fire" (agnim bibharti), 2
as well as others which will be discussed shortly are undoubtedly pointers
to a certain body of knowledge concerning powers latent in the human being,
though they do not demonstrate how far that arcane science had been
developed. But given what we know about the intellectual and spiritual
sophistication of the Vedic seers, we may justifiedly expect that they did
in fact develop an early form of Kundalinī-Yoga.
The kundalinī is the dynamic power (shakti)
inherent in the material body and is typically characterized as being of
the nature of fire or luminosity. This aspect is borne out clearly in such
passages as the following from the Shat-Cakra-Nirūpana
(13): "By meditating thus on Her who shines within the mūla-(ādhāra-)cakra
with the luster of ten million suns . . ."
The kundalinī is the power or energy of Shiva,
the transcendental Consciousness (cit). There is no real difference
between the kundalinī and Shiva; whereas Shiva is unchanging, the
static aspect of Consciousness, the kundalinī-shakti is the
kinetic, active aspect of the same transcendental Reality. The word kundalī
or kundalinī is derived from the verbal root kund ("to
encircle") and means literally "she who is coiled," that is,
a serpent.3 The coils of the kundalinīgiven as being
three and a half or eightsuggest potentiality. What is implied is that
this power must be deliberately awakened, stirred into action. In the
ordinary person it is said to be "asleep." Hence the ordinary
person also is "asleep," that is, unaware of the subtle
dimension of existence. Indeed, the Tantric scriptures insist that the
dormant kundalinī is responsible for a persons bondage (bandha),
that is, entrapment in the world of change and suffering. In the "awakened"
person, who has become Shiva, the kundalinī also is fully aroused,
making available its full potential manifesting in bliss (ānanda).
In broad terms, the impact in the human being of the
action of the serpent fire can be summed up as the movement from
heterogeneity to homogeneity, from chaos to cosmos, from multiplicity to
unity. Its dormancy is an expression of matter (i.e., the human body) in
its primordial, formless, unorganized state. But when aroused and rendered
active, the serpent power becomes the means whereby matter is energized
and organized into one harmonious whole.
It is noteworthy that it is the combined action of mind
and life force (prāna) that produce that individual cosmos. The
intimate link between mind and life force (via the breath) was a discovery
of the Vedic seers or perhaps even earlier navigators of the spiritual
realms. It became a cornerstone of Yoga practice, particularly Hatha-Yoga.
As the Hatha-Yoga-Pradīpikā (2.3) declares:
So long as the "wind" remains in the body, that long there
is said to be life. Its [the breath's] departure is death. Therefore one
should [carefully] restrain the "wind."
The serpent (ahi) of legendary fame, Vritra,
which Indra smites with his thunderbolt, may have been an early Rig-Vedic
representation of the idea of kundalinī . For Vritra is the
constrictor, that which holds the waters, or the riches of heaven, back
from flooding the earth, but which when brought under control by the mind,
symbolized by God Indra, who strikes Vritras head with his thunderbolt
or light of clear consciousness, lets out that which had been kept hidden.4
Whatever geographical or metereological interpretations
we may want to attach to this Vedic myth, we cannot ignore its
symbolic-metaphysical import. Words like "unawakened" (abudhya)
or "fast asleep" (abudhyamāna) used to describe Vritra
distinctly point to a process in consciousness. They are not employed
arbitrarily, as the Vedic seers were masters of language and poetic
metaphor.
Heaven itself, declares the seer of hymn 1.52.10 in
glowing hyperbolic language, "reeled back in terror" when
Indras thunderbolt with might rent asunder the head of Vritra, the
latter being described as the "constrictor of both worlds." A.
A. Macdonell, an early translator of the Rig-Veda, was of the
opinion that there was an earlier meaning to Vritra because of the use of
the word in the plural, which "can hardly be derived from a
generalization of the proper name Vritra but must be based on an earlier
meaning such as obstruction, then obstructor."5
A somewhat similar idea of obstruction is found in the
Babylonian creation myth where Marduk dismembers the dragon Tiamat or
chaos and from this action the world comes into being. Similarly, from the
dismembered body of the giant Ymir (as also the Vedic Purusha) in the
Norse cosmogony the world is fashioned. But whereas these myths deal
primarily with the creation of order out of chaos on the cosmic level, the
idea of kundalinī creating a cosmos out of chaos applies to the
individual or microcosmic level.
The ambivalence of the kundalinī energy, its
life- and death-giving power, is hinted at in one of the earlier works on
Hatha-Yoga, the Goraksha-Shataka (58) where the word itself is used:
kanda-ūrdhvam kundalī-shaktir ashtadhā kundala-ākritih,
bandhanāya ca mūdhānām yogīnām moksha-dā smritā.
"Above the bulb the kundalī power, coiled
eightfold, is said to lead the foolish to bondage and to grant
emancipation to the yogins."
In the Rig-Veda, God Agni in his manifold
manifestations is the mighty energy ("thou Agni art highest vital
power," 2.1.12), the life- and death-bestowing flame, the healer and
the killer, at the root of all things, including human beings (cf. 2.1).
He is the treasure found far away (3.9.5) in heaven or the highest
firmament (1.143.2), but also is deeply hidden (guhā, 1.141.3) or
crouching in the "cavern," holding dynamic might in his hand
(1.67.2). This particular aspect of the Vedic fire, insofar as it may
reveal a connection with the science of kundalinī, has hardly been
investigated.
Several descriptions in the Rig-Veda bear a
resemblance to those of the later literature on the kundalinī and
are worth examining in that respect. Hymns 1.148, 1.141.3, 7.1.1, 6.16.13
all have the idea of "churning up" the fire, which could be
taken as examples of the Vedic method of kindling fire, but when
juxtaposed with such medieval texts as those of the Yoga-Kundalī-Upanishad
and the Hatha-Yoga-Pradīpikā may also bear another meaning. The
Tantric texts commonly use the ancient term manthana ("churning")
to describe the process by which the serpent power is aroused.
This immediately reminds one of the Puranic myth of the
churning of the primordial ocean to produce precious objects: The gods (deva)
and antigods (asura) respectively gripped the head and tail of the
cosmic serpent, which was wrapped around the cosmic mountain, and twirled
the mountain at great speed, thus churning the waters. According to some
Tantric schools, the sleeping place of the serpent power in the human body
has associated with it Shivas emblem, the linga, a
representation of omnipresent creativity but often misinterpreted as a
phallus. Some texts even describe the serpent power as being wrapped
around the linga, covering with the lingas top with its
head.
Perhaps the Vedic figure of Ahirbudhnya, the serpent of
the deep, expresses the same idea. Significantly, according to Yāskas Nirukta,
the term budhnya ("depth") refers to the body. Moreover,
the same fundamental notion could be preserved in the classical symbolism
of God Vishnu reclining on the cosmic serpent, Shesha (or Ananta).
In stanza 3 of the Rig-Vedic hymn 1.141, the process of
drawing forth the fire is described, and though it may be argued that only
fire by attrition can be referred to here, since the fire is produced by
means of strength (savas), there is no certainty that this strength
is purely physical, that it does not refer as well to mental concentration
which is also a "power," required both for kindling the fire
physically and raising the kundalinī. Hymn 7.1.1 mentions the arani
as producing fire, but also "deep thought":
"Men absorbed in deep meditation, have with their hands fast
motion produced auspicious Agni from the kindled-wood."
This could be contrasted with the Yoga-Kundalī-Upanishad
(1.11-12):
"The wise man . . . should, by his own effort, move [the vital
energy stirring up the kundalinī ] from right to left again and
again for a period of two muhūrtas [i.e., 48 minutes]
without fear."6
The motion from right to left bears a strange
resemblance to the kindling of fire by friction. On the other hand, the
idea of physical force necessary for the production of fire according to
the Vedic method may be compared with the moral force or courage necessary
to arouse the inner, spiritual fire which prepares man for the nectar of
immortality by granting him vigor and courage. This is clearly expressed
in the Rig-Vedic hymn 3.25.2:
"Agni, the knower, procures heroic might, procures vigor,
enhancing it for immortality."
A curious statement of Agni reclining upon "auspicious mothers"
is made in hymn 1.141.2:
"Self-sustaining, wondrous, eternally rich in nourishment is he;
secondly, he reclines upon the seven auspicious mothers; thirdly, the
songs of praise make him manifest so that, from that mighty one, the
tenfold provider may be drawn forth."
The meaning of the seven "auspicious mothers"
is controversial. Sāyana explains them as the rain which fertilizes the
seven worlds. In this particular context the mothers could be taken to
refer to the "wheels" (cakra) of potent energy, the seven
main centers of the life force which are pervaded by latent fire but
become active only when the kundalinī rises, stirs them up and
bathes them completely. According to the Rig-Vedic hymn 1.141.5, Agni,
pure, unharmed, pervaded the mothers, and in them increased in size; such
a description could be read as the kundalinī rising along the cakras,
activating each of these, such action in turn reacting upon the fire
itself; this, according to Kundalinī-Yoga is supposed to confer upon the
consciousness a deepening and a widening beyond imagination. This idea
could be indicated by the words urviyā vivavridhe, "he
waxes widely."
In the last pāda of 1.141.2, the word yoshanā
given out as "maiden" in dictionaries, may, following Sāyanas
hints, be equivalent to stuti or "hymn." Already the
first stanza of the same hymn had declared that the songs of the rite or
voices (considered as cows) have caused their breath to fall on him (i.e.,
Agni) that inspired thought (matis) may thus "succeed" (sādhate).
All these strange metaphors may imply that by means of their rhythmic
chants the priests were able to draw forth or "milk out" the
treasures of Agni, those treasures which are elsewhere described as "immortal
bounty" (1.72.1), as vāja, for whomsoever strives after
immortality (3.25.2); "treasures" very similar to those granted
by the kundalinī .
Concealment and power and treasures latent in Agni are
the three basic ideas worth further investigation. Concentration, patience,
steadiness, are part of that will power which has to be exerted to arouse
the kundalinī and which as the words īshānāsah and savasā
of hymn 1.141.3 give us to understand are similarly qualities necessary
for bringing forth Agni:
"Whenever from the depth of his mighty form priests with power
brought him forth through their prowess as when of old Mātarishvan
churned him up in order to stir the ambrosia as he lay hidden."
Agnis concealment, churning, and the goal expressed
above as "stirring the ambrosia," or in hymn 3.25.2 as "striving
after immortality," attest to an early knowledge of the fire not in
its mere physical aspect which by itself is no means of attaining
immortality. Rather, these motifs suggest a psycho-spiritual meaning that
envisages a purposive activity designated by the seers as the "ruler
of thought" (4.6.1) and as that power which can be aroused by thought
and enhanced by songs (8.44.19). If Agni were purely the physical fire,
what could be the meaning of the following wish?
"As cows reach their dwelling at eve, so may we [too reach] the
kindled-god." (1.66.5)
In hymn 1.65.1, the story is retold of the gods tracking
Agni "like a thief lurking in a dark cave." In another hymn
(1.67.2) he is found "seated in secret place." The sight of Agni
"deeply hidden" may "strike the gods with fear"
because of the mighty power which they realize he holds in his hands. No
other power save that of the kundalinī can arouse such awe.
Yet this first part of 1.67.2 lends itself to a
different translation, for ama means "strength,"
"power," "violence" as well as "terror";
thus, "he stabilized the gods in power" is a possible rendering.
Either translation, however, accentuates the idea of might. Furthermore,
it is clearly stated that men absorbed in deep reflection find him there,
i.e., concealed or abiding in the cavern.
This hiding place also described as kha
("cave," 4.11.2) or vavra ("cavern," 4.1.13) is
the innermost center whence emerges the visionary thought that enlightens
and makes the seer what he is. Kha is a cavity or hollow, and from
this depth Agni is begged in hymn 4.11.2 to draw out or release the
inspired vision (manīshā) lying latent therein. These words are
the equivalent of the "heart" and therefore of the "hollow"
in the heart, as used in the Upanishads. This discovery of Agni
hidden in the cave is furthered by the pronouncing of certain sacred mantras
formed within mens heart (1.67.2).
Meditating in their heartthat center where Varuna set
kratu, or divine understanding (5.85.2), which alone gives depth
and power to any thought or utterance revealing divine wisdom
(1.105.15)they find the effectual words to strike the right keynote;
through its vibratory power this keynote evokes a response from the center
where Agni-kundalinī is lying at rest. We have here a combination of
thought concentration that effects the sounding of the required note,
which in turn will result in arousing Agni or discovering him "crouched
in the cavern."
Such is the typical method of the Rig-Vedic seers, whose
knowledge of sound seems to have been much deeper than is generally
conceded. Hymn 8.44.19 states that "by means of thoughts . . . those
who understand," the wise ones, stimulate Agni. So let our songs,
adds the verse, that is, let the power of the word or sound, "enhance
thee." Such a verse confirms the Vedic belief that the fire can be
aroused and stimulated by the vibratory power inherent in sound, if the
concentration is deep enough.7 The whole idea, which hinges
upon concentration of mind, can thus be brought into line with the later
doctrine that through concentrated thought acting upon prāna,
which presses upon the cakra at the base of the spine, the kundalinī
is aroused. Hymn 1.67.4 gives further insights:
"Whosoever has perceived Agni abiding in secret and whosoever
has watched the direction of the ritual (rita) [a term which also
means "law," "order," and "truth"], when,
working in accordance with the ritual they release him [i.e., Agni], to
such a one has he promised riches."
This verse, it may be argued, refers only to the
sacrificial rite, but it may be counter-argued, the arousal of the kundalinī
strangely resembles a ritual, an inner ritual that bestows blessings
or riches that are not merely material, and immortality can be gathered
from many of the verses that describe him.
"Agni is the rich lord of riches," declares
hymn 1.72.1, but the treasures he grants are of the immortal kind. In him
the sacrificers discovered hidden the thrice seven seats by which they
lovingly protect the nectar of immortality (1.72.16). The state of
immortality seems thus concealed in Agni: he is the "lord of abundant
amrita" (7.4.6) and is made the center of immortality by the gods
(3.17.4).
In like manner, the kundalinī, when it pervades the top cakra,
dissolves the last barriers of limited consciousness and opens up full
cosmic awareness untrammeled by any limitation of time and space and
thereby confers immortality.
The very emphasis on concealment and on power, not
merely necessary to draw forth Agni but actually conferred by Agni on his
devotees granting them that energy which strives after immortality
(3.25.2), should indicate that there is in question not something purely
physical or imaginary, but a very potent force hidden in the human being;
in other words, the kundalinī dynamic energy may be described here
in a language that precedes that of the Tantras and which therefore
had its own vocabulary different from that of later periods.
The idea of law, "righteousness," "truth"
as well as "rite" contained in the Vedic word rita,
points in the same direction. Agni is lord of the ritual, but the ritual
is a microcosmic expression of the cosmic law. The danger of arousing kundalinī-shakti
without being morally prepared has been sufficiently emphasized not to
need any comment here,8 except to point out the Vedic linking
of the idea of law, righteousness, and Agni. In this respect, hymn 1.67.4
could be interpreted thus: Whosoever watches the stream of holy law,
whosoever performs righteous deeds and thereby reflects the true order of
things, Agni will call down blessings upon him.
Agni rises from the "womb of the ritual"
(4.1.12), which is the expression of the law, the balance between the
outgoing and ingoing forces, the law of give and take, of offering and
receiving, for he is "born in order" (6.7.1). The idea of law
and sacrifice as combined in the thought of Agni can be seen in the
following:
"By the path of rita we invoke that performer of sacrifice."
(1.128.2)
Therefore he can be found only insofar as man abides by
law. Sacrifice is part of the Great Law, life itself is a ritual. It is
characteristic that Atharvan, one of the early seers who is related to
have drawn Agni out of his hidden dwelling, practiced austerity:
"Atharvan first laid down the paths through sacrifice."
(1.83.5)9
This Atharvan, furthermore, is reported to have "churned
up Agni from the lotus flower" (6.16.13)a doubly significant verse,
because the verb "churn" is used in connection with the "lotus,"
the latter being explained in the Mahābhārata as a metaphorical
expression for the "heart," or heart cakra. When it is
remembered that the cakras were in the post-Vedic age compared to
lotus flowers, this verse could be taken as evidence that Agni is already
being described here in his kundalinī aspect: he is churned up
from the cakra in order to be manifested.
The question of sacrifice is bound up with that of tapas,
a word that has many shades of meaning. A. C. Boses definition stresses
". . . not self-mortification, but self-awakening by activising the
spiritual power within oneself."10 It is not mere
austerity or mere heat, though the physical reaction to contemplative
exertion does result in heat, but fundamentally the spiritual energy
liberated from the innermost center of the human being through the process
of concentration, absorption, enstasis.
In the Yoga-Sūtra (2.1;32), tapas
is connected with purification, contentment, self-study or discipline,
austerity and surrender to the divine willall spiritual practices that
throw some light on the real meaning of the word. In the Yoga-Sūtra
(2.43) it is stated that through fiery aspiration (tapas) and
through the removal of imperfections, the perfecting of the bodily powers
and sense organs is brought about. Through the practice of tapas,
impurities are destroyed.
But tapas was also considered as that power which
underlies the process of cosmic unfoldment, for through its creative and
liberating dynamism the worlds were brought into manifestation. According
to hymn 10.129.3, through the flame-power of tapas the universe was
made manifest:
"Enwrapped in voidness, that which flame-power (tapas)
kindled to existence emerged."
Again in hymn 10.190.1 we have:
"Cosmic Order (rita) and truth (satya) were born
of blazing tapas."
It was through his "glowing with tapas"
that Indra won heaven (10.167-1). The practice of tapas thus leads
to the conquest of light, in other words, to an awakening to a higher
state of consciousness. The verbal root of pari-tap, as used
in the above quotation, means "to burn all around," or "to
set on fire," a setting on fire obviously beyond the physical
kindling, since it leads to heaven (svar). The fire of the spirit,
which in one hymn of the Atharva-Veda (7.61.1) the poet
invokes in order "that we may kindle the fire of the spirit by this
very fire," must be referred to in the Rig-Vedic hymn 8.60.16, where
Agni is reputed to "cleave through the rock with his tapas and
radiance." This fire is that spiritual energy which cleaves through
the rock of matter, or inertia, and arouses man to inspired deeds.
In consonance with typical Vedic imagery and myths
according to which the sun is rent from his hiding place in the mountain
cave and the kine or rays of light are set free, we may have here a
reference to Agnis action as the kundalinī cleaving through the
various plexuses of the body. This recalls hymn 10.136.7, where Vāyu, the
master of prāna, is said to pound or grind and churn up the "unbendable"
(kunamnamā)material nature summed up in the term tamas
or "inertia," one of the three primary qualities or energies of prakriti,
which has to be brought under control and therefore made a pliable tool
before the yogin can achieve mastery over himself.
Cleaving through the rock, pounding the unbendable, and
churningthese three ideas point to the significance of Agnis work,
namely a bringing forth out of the rock-like nature of that which the fire
must overcome, of the treasure locked in matter or entombed in the body:
the very action of the kundalinī . Here again we are reminded of
the myth of the dragon-serpent Vritra who has to be slain or brought under
control before the real work of molding chaos into cosmos can be
accomplished. In the mythological language of the Rig-Veda, as a
result of the taming of that which obstructed, the waters are released and
the sun is set up on high, i.e., the spiritual element is set free, and
Indra modifies the darkness by means of the sun. Furthermore, Indra finds
the nectar of immortality in its triple splendor stored away in heaven
(6.44.23).
Agni is said to have been brought by Mātarishvan "from
far away" (1.128.2). Apart from the fact that the word mātarishvan
is a name and, moreover, very probably a name borne by one of the first
men to have achieved supreme realization, it has a specific meaning, which
may throw some light on the particular aspect of Agni under consideration.
It is composed of two parts, matari and shvan (from shvi
"to swell"): that which swells or expands in the mother, here
presumably the fire or dynamic energy which animates all things in the
mother, Aditi, or primordial substance. Agni, "when formed in his
mother is mātarishvan" says hymn 3.29.11, but, the verse
continues, he becomes the "gust of wind" in his wandering.11
Mātarishvan, as the messenger of Vivasvat who
represents the divine, solar origin of the human race since Yama (the son
of Vivasvat) is the father of mortal man, brought forth Agni from afar
(6.8.4). He brought him forth "churned about" (3.9.5) "from
far away, from the gods." The idea of "far away" or "from
the gods" should preclude any purely physical origin of the fire as
hidden in wood, or stone and brought to manifestation by friction. This
fire is the gift of the gods and makes of man an immortal, "Thou
raisest the mortal to highest immortality" (1.31.7).
That immortality is also kept in Vātas home
(10.186.3), an interesting remark, as Vāta or Vāyu is the Lord of prāna,
and the right wielding of prāna in turn arouses the kundalinī
by which the nectar is released.
Agni, as the gods tongue, is the guardian of this
ambrosial liquid, the "undeceived keeper of immortality"
(6.7.7), and in him is hidden "the thrice seven seats" whereby
the gods, of one mind, protect the amrita (1.72.6). This is quite a
revealing verse if we consider Agni as kundalinī. The word pāda
may mean "step," "abode," "locality" and
possibly "state" and "ray" of light. Griffith
translates this part of the verse as "thrice seven mystic things
contained within thee." Does the enumeration imply degrees of a
deepening state of bliss-consciousness, so that pāda would here
mean states of enlightenment such as are experienced when the kundalinī
"bathes" each cakra, and such as open up in man and
take him step by step to supreme consciousness? The Rig-Veda,
as always, gives no answer.
As Agni pervades all things and is the immortal
"guest" or "king immortal of the mortals" (3.1.18),
the envoy from the gods, he is naturally the conductor to that thrice
hidden abode, that mysterious seat where the unborn (aja) holds
sway, which hymn 8.61.9 describes as the "lofty, unshakable"
home of Varuna. It may be surmised that the immortal essence, which is
Agnis flame and gift and which the Yajur-Veda (34.1-6)
explains as "the light immortal in all creatures without which no
single action could be performed," hints at the twofold course of
lifeinvolution and evolution: thus the hidden potentiality has to be
lifted out of the subconscious or dark level of nature or man where it is
embedded as the reflection of heaven on earth, to the realms of light and
divine freedom, for actual realization.
Unconscious in nature, it becomes conscious in man. In
other words, only when the full union is effected between prakriti
and purusha, between energy-fire and light spirit, or the kundalinī
and Shivawhen Agni has linked heaven and earth in mancan there
be conscious liberation. For Agni in the Rig-Veda, as the supreme
agent in matter and in man, raises up the potential immortality hidden in
nature and natures child, man, to the loftiness of actual immortality,
i.e., unlimited consciousness. This is the great work of Agni,12
as it is that of the kundalinī .
NOTES
1. Rig-Veda 10.136.5.
2. Rig-Veda 10.136.1.
3. For a study of the kundalinī, see A. Avalon [Sir John
Woodroffe], The Serpent Power (Madras: Ganesh, 10th ed. 1974).
4. The slaying of Vritra symbolizes not the "production," as
Wilson would have it, but the conquering of matter after which the
"light of heaven" is won. Cf. Rig-Veda 1.51.4; 1.52.8;
2.19.2; 8.89.4.
5. A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1897), p.159.
6. Cf. also Hatha-Yoga-Pradīpikā (3.112):
"the serpent should be made to move daily for about an hour and a
half morning and evening."
7. Cf. Rig-Veda 1.127.7; 10.122.5.
8. The Gandharva-Tantra lists the requirements for a sādhaka
to be accepted as such, as intelligence, sense control, harmlessness, good
deeds, purity and faith. See A. Avalon, The Serpent Power, p. 201.
See also the Shat-Cakra-Nirūpana (50).
9. Cf. Rig-Veda 1.80.16; 10.87.12; 10.92.10.
10. A. C. Bose, Hymns from the Vedas (London, 1966), p. 8.
11. It may be of interest to note that as the kundalinī rises,
it is reported to produce a hissing sound like the wind.
12. Cf. Rig-Veda 1.31.7; 1.96.6; 6.7.7.
© 1998 by Jeanine Miller. All rights reserved.
Jeanine Miller, M.Litt., is a specialist on the Vedas and has
authored several books, including The Vedas: Harmony, Meditation and
Fulfilment and The Vision of Cosmic Order in the Vedas. She also
coauthored with Georg Feuerstein A Reappraisal of Yoga (reissued under the
title The Essence of Yoga).
Tratto dal sito YREC
- Yoga Research and Education Center
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