on Kundalini

 

© Adamantios Tegkelidis 2021 artwork all rights reserved

The very word Kundalinī is not mentioned as such in western books or article titles before the 1970’s.

KUNDALINĪ¹: [depending on how one is unfolding the words in Sanskrit kund to burn (Dixon p tbc); kunda to coil or to spiral or circular, winding (Mohan, p 13)] so-called because it is believed to lie like a serpent in the root chakra Mūlādhāra at the base of the spine² coiled in a spiral shape³ [depicted either flattened out or 3 and ½ times⁴ around the Śiva Lingam source: Yogakuṇḍalinī⁵, Chapter I]. It is also encountered as kuṇḍalinī-shakti⁶. The unfolding and raising of the Kundalinī [metaphorically⁷] are the important works of an adept to master the forces of nature⁸ [ibid], since when sitting dormant, she is supporting the physical body while spiritual life is believed to be impeded [Campbell, 2000; Lochtefeld, 2001, Svoboda p 57]. It is metaphorically rendered in the Hindu stories of Krishna and his love for the Gopi-s [Svoboda pp 191ff] (manifested through a [platonic]-love agape αγάπη relationship between the student and his soul) and that of Raja (King) Rama and his companions in the Ramayana [the soul as the student King] [ibid p 237ff].

This process⁹ is the means toward the goal of yoga i.e. the transformation of the entire being of the individual [ibid]: this is the original, Vedantic view [Vishnuswaroop, 2017]. Starting from the base point, the upward linear movement of Kundalinī, unhindered from any external stimuli, is a symbolical reference to the straight line of development i.e. the principle of all development as such [Daniélou p 408] and it is a counteract to the cosmological evolution of matter as described in the Indian science of Sāṃkhya. Thus, she must be understood as a process, the vector of which is opposite to ahamkara [Svoboda pp 53ff] and considered metaphorically as the hidden, secret key provided by Puruṣa itself to involute toward the Divine¹⁰. Seemingly, Kundalinī, although manifested in the evolutionary scheme of Sāṃkhya, is fundamental [next to all of the terms the yoga novice is encountering through her / his journey e.g. chakras, nadis, prana, etc.] primarily in the dissolving process of the ego as described by Sāṃkhya, on which yoga is based [?].

The Yogakuṇḍalinī Upaniṣad does give directions for accessing the hidden serpent power but hardly describes the concept, which apparently, was something relatively known these days. It is a major part of the scripted works and teaching of Tantra [the possibility that she originates from different eras and cultures is still debatable], thus, given little attention by the Vedic scholar cultures¹¹, the religious sects of which were trying to establish themselves as ultimate bearers of the only truth, more or less like every other religion that existed on this planet. Tantric texts are primarily symbolical – compared to the more abstract, mystical content of Vedic-era texts – and as such, they can be read using multiple keys [liturgical, yogic, tantric etc]. Considering that tantra’s goal is the transubstantiation of every [supposedly] concrete experience, the concept of Kundalinī through the yogic lense is breaking the texts’ down to the various stages of meditation they are referring to [Bharati p tbc]. The symbol of Kundalinī is the medium or tool [read: yantra] that helps the Sādhaka to indulge in the practice of deep meditation [by means of chakras etc] only after having grasped the inner reality and having it crystallized into his imagination [Jung et al p xxxix]; in that sense it is identical to the dual-polarized scheme of Patañjali [ibid] which is developed some centuries ago, against the teachings of the Vedas [tbc].

The description of Kundalinī in later texts and bibliography is a mixture of information in the threshold of new-age philosophies that seem to be expanding and going beyond what is found in the ancient texts [tbc]. Kundalinī is a psycho-spiritual energy, the energy of the consciousness¹²; a concentrated field of intelligent, cosmic, invisible energy, intrinsic and vital to life. Reputedly beginning in the base of the spine when a man or woman begins to evolve as wisdom/Presence is earned through spiritual surrender. Kundalinī has been described as liquid fire and liquid light [Dixon p tbc, sources are missing¹³] and is an aspect of Shakti, the divine female energy and consort of Śiva [source: Yogakuṇḍalinī Upaniṣad]; shakti is the power through which the ultimate pure consciousness Śiva evolves into mind and matter¹⁴ (according to both the Sāṁkya and the Yoga Darśana-s) [Mohan, 2000]. The ultimate outcome of Kundalinī is the union of Will¹⁵ (shakti-Kundalinī), Knowledge (prana-Kundalinī) and Action (para-Kundalinī)¹⁶ [Dixon p tbc]; thus, the yogi is regressing [or involuting¹⁷: Mohan 2000 p 18 schema] the natural flow of creation to unite the dual aspects of the cosmos back to the primal entity. The inner fire [i.e. agni] is the most potent of all forces, for it knows no limits and penetrates the fabric of space, matter and time [Dixon p tbc, possible ref: Svoboda p tbc] and despite fascinating and potent it tends to be equally dangerous and destructive.

There is a debate as to the function of Kundalinī in the body when tethered by means of yoga-meditation prāṇāyāma and mudrā¹⁸:

T Krishnamacharya was a strong believer of what the author of Yogayājñavalkya¹⁹ scripted i.e. that Kundalinī is blocking the entrance of the base of the suṣumṇā Nadi and thus, must be expelled, to allow prana to flow upward. This abides with the general conundrum that, in most cases Kundalinī is regarded as a blockage²⁰, and specifically in Śaiva traditions [for which she was an integral part] she is represented as having blocked with her mouth the central canal, thus, the need to wake her up and move aside is needed²¹ [Birch 2020]; interestingly, this mode of thinking seems to coincide with the western science of the mind: around the same time that Krishnamacharya was teaching in India, C G Jung [1932] was unfolding the concept of Kundalinī in the west, right before the storm of the second world war, aided by universal symbolism and archetypal mythological imagery; [since it contradicts that original tantric view we might call this the modern version]. Note however that Jung’s effort to approach the Eastern system from a Western point of view is fundamentally faulty [as he himself acknowledging²² (Jung et al. pp 9, 13] later allowing the New Age movement to borrow and built upon this mode of thinking even further. The imagery of the snake symbol guarding [i.e. blocking] the ultimate treasure ["sacred spring of immortality"] that every human craves forms a patterned mythological story found among many religious and cultural including the Old Testament and the story of the Greek Argonauts or the Tree of Life [Eliade 1957 p164ff].

On the opposite spectrum Kundalinī is alias from prāṇa: it stands as a representation of our evolutionary brain circuit described equally with scientific terms. She is normally pinned-down on the base of the spine due to 1 gravitation and 2 our own evolutionary history i.e. the evolution of humanoids from protocell organisms [to then, fish… etc also rendered as stages sealed with a chakra] [Maehle 2021].

It seems that many authors of that era approached all these techniques with caution and informed their audience about their dark aspects, as we have seen by comparison of other texts that refer to similar yogic practices such as prāṇāyāma etc. The general idea was that practice required great vitality and that it took a long time to bear fruit. Yoga was a fire that would eventually consume the yogi [Remski 2018]. Gopi Krishna is famous for having multiple negative experiences from the awakening of the serpent power and C G Jung was also equally concerned with the impediments of a westerner undertaking and delving into the Kundalinī transformative path, without however abolishing the meaning and effects inherent to her presence as archetypal metastory²³.

"Raising Kundalini can be utilized for (1) creativity (2) increase of intellect and (3) memory (4) achievements in the fields of arts and (5) science, (6) mystical states and revelations. [...] it can further be abused (7) for the satisfaction of one's egotism" [Maehle 2022]. 

Aliases:

1. Vidyut lata i.e. the lightning creeper [Svoboda p 61]

2. The ego (not the Freudian or western notion) [Svoboda p 60]

3. Kundalinī-shakti (as individualized Adya) [Svoboda p 59]

4. Chit-shakti (as opposing Maya-shakti: Ahamkara I-ness) [Svoboda p 53]

5. Ma or God the Mother alias of Shakti [Svoboda p 56]

6. The Goddess with a Kundala [Svoboda p 63]

7. Kubjikā i.e. the Hunchback [ibid]

8. Whore or Harlot [colloquial: specific to the Naths, Svoboda p 75, 85]

9. Savioress [sic] Herself, in Liquid Form [Woodroffe p tbc]

10. Prana-Kundalinī (Knowledge) [Dixon p tbc]

11. Para-Kundalinī (Action) [Dixon p tbc]

12. Kula-Kundalinī [Svoboda]: the purest or Her Forms; usually encountered in Ajna Chakra

---

1 The root of the word is kundala i.e. coiled rope [Lochtefeld, 2001] or earring [Svoboda 1993 p 210]: there is a connection between the earring (i.e. the pierced ear) and kundalinī; the ear is full of important nadis, which is why the Chinese have gone in for ear acupuncture in such a big way. Nath sadhus aka Kan-Phatas (Pierced-Ears) are expected to be celibate, and one reason why they pierce their ears is because when you pierce the earlobe in just the right place (if not, it will cause serious implications) you can prevent hydrocele, which may become a complication of celibacy. The earring should remain there for the rest of their lives and if it breaks the sadhu should immediately commit suicide.

2 Visual references for this claim are provided tbc: note dates of the images and all relevant info.

3 Dixon is apparently not referring to the image rendered in the Yogakuṇḍalinī Upaniṣad i.e. the Uroboros. However, there are artistic references tbc to this idea found only in paintings but also in sculpture in different places and cultures: There is in the Musee Guimet, in Paris, from China of the Chou Dynasty, c. 1027-256 BC, a coiled bronze serpent, showing just three and a half turns, which to me at least, very strongly suggests the Kundalinī in the Mūlādhāra [Kieffer, 1988 p 14]; possibly the spiral artistic depiction was the closer rendering to something being coiled.

4 The three refers to the three guṇas and the one-half to the cobra’s mouth, the seat of the ego: it is one half because ego is Shakti, which is only half Śiva, the Shaktiman or controller of Shakti [Svoboda p 69]. They are also representing the three and a half letters of the word OṂ: A, U, M and anusvāra (nasalization) at the end (excluding the bindu: orthographic dot over the anusvāra [ibid p 78].

5 The title Yoga-Kundalinī Upanishad literally means the secret doctrine of Kundalinī yoga [Lochtefeld, 2001]; the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, 1 yujir yoga (to yoke i.e. join) or 2 yuj samādhau (to concentrate or to stay, to be absorbed) [Dasgupta, 1975 p 226]; the first root implies movement and the second root stay; In some texts, Yoga is defined as a means (or movement) and in other texts it is defined as the end (or staying) [Mohan, 2000] which presents as with the paradox of action and in-action at the same time.

6 The word is of feminine gender and connotes the Mother Goddess and Her power, Shakti [Mohan p 13]; in that context Kundalinī is an individualized version of Adya [creative power], the original Shakti of the Universe [Svoboda p 59].

7 The symbol of the snake is commonly linked with transcendence, because it was traditionally a creature of the underworld — and thus was a mediator between one way of life and another [Jung et al pp 152(149)].

8 This is metaphorically [or mythologically] represented as the re-union of Śiva and Shakti, and the creation of the eternal form of Śiva, Sadashiva [Svoboda p 69].

9 but not the one and only way to (spiritual) liberation.

10 i.e. reversing the outward projection of energy that led to incarnation [Svoboda p 57]; one of the most common ways to access that key and its possibilities is by means of sadhana: Sadhana is a matter of preventing Kundalinī from identifying with a limited human personality so that She can identify with a cosmic personality [ibid p 120] and this where visualisation comes strongly into play, assisted by mantra repetition [image and sound are fundamentally bound in Tantric traditions just like in the Judea-Christian and many others]; both of which are reinforcing your new cosmic image.

11 Tantra [esp. the left-hand practices] being a more extroverted, physical and pleasure-seeking philosophy i.e. The sects that followed left-handed tantric practices worshipped the womb of women externally, and also indulged in meat eating, drinking alcohol, and sexual practices for realization, worshipping the Divine Kundalinī as a mother Goddess called Tantropasana [notice the intermingling with the word āsana here tbc]; however, this should be read next to the fact that materialistic philosophies were pre-existing in the time of the Vedas [Mohan pp 15-16]. I can understand that simply as another manifestation of a similar approach to life that did its cycle and re-manifested later; similar to the course of many other philosophies that have sprung around the globe.

12 i.e. consciousness in eastern terminology and not according to the western idea.

13 This is a possible ref to the external sacrificial vedic practices, including consumption of drink made of the soma plant; aka “the Savioress [sic] Herself in Liquid Form” [Woodroffe p tbc] tantric traditions substituted the extracted liquid of soma with wine or other intoxicants that were previously liturgically cleansed through intense sadhana techniques [Svoboda 1993 p 123].

14 This is the process of evolution in cosmology and biology that begins with the breaking of the monad into the dual; tbc

15 […] it is the highest possible expression of one’s will-power [Svoboda p 60].

16 The union of Will and Action is [also?] an Alchemical Idea; it is very deliberately described in the book a Vision [1925] by W B Yeats [tbc pp 72ff], a rather mystical and hard-to-decipher text with many metaphors and symbolic language: the symbolism that Yeats is using to refer to this union is the opposite triangles also found in the eastern representation of the heart chakra Anāhata. Dixon seems to be open to alchemical interpretations and symbolism, [such as the concept of agni as purifying power: Mohan 2000] in the book as well. The crossing of the two triangles is also the yantra of the union of Śiva and (Kundalinī) Shakti [also for Prana and Apana]; thus, a connection must be made [tbc]. Yogic techniques are also found to be metaphorically referred to or referenced as alchemical processes [e.g. Kumbhaka the alchemical pot source: The Luminescent 2020 the Yogic Breath, on-line webinar].

17 The basic principle in all forms of contemplation and meditation in Kuṇḍalinī yoga is that the energies should involute back to the primal source. The grosser elements of the subtle body should dissolve in the subtle elements; each class of bhutas (gross elements) is dissolved into the next class of tattvas in the ascending order (subtle elements) [see Sāṃkhya diagram]. Śiva Saṁhitā [1. 78] explains: the earth [Mūlādhāra] becomes subtle and dissolves into water [Svādhiṣṭhāna]; water is resolved into fire [Maṇipūra]’ fire similarly merges into air [Anāhata]; air is absorbed into ether [Viśuddha]; and ether is resolved into avidyā, which merges into great Brahman [Sahasrāra] [Khanna, 1981 p 123].

18 Mudrā [metaph. eating grain] in this context is the holding of the body in a certain posture to encourage free movement of Kundalinī within it [Svoboda p 96].

19 the book dispels much of the aura of mystery surrounding the concept of Kundalinī, by explaining it logically and relating it to other terms and concepts in Vedic thought, such as Agni, Prana, the nadis, and so on [Mohan, 2000 p 2].

20 ref P Jois: in Sanskrit Kundalinī means ignorance, you will release your ignorance through the practice you are learning; the author analyzed this statement as follows: ignorance is a cause of stress. Yoga practice releases and transmutes the bound-up tension from stress. This is the alchemy of yoga, releasing Kundalinī and increasing prana, converting negative energy to healing energy [Williams, D. My Search for Yoga, 2020]; A G Mohan also refers to Kundalinī as a representative of ignorance that is blocking the main Nadi [sushumna] guarding the door of the Divine [2000, pp 13(18)ff].

21 More on this subject: other forms of yoga such as Iyengar, hardly ever make mention of her at all; it mostly depends on tradition and how they perceived liberation and despite the fact that most teachings deviate from the means of achievement, they generally agree to the fact that prana should be raised across the spinal canal Sushumna with samadhi ensuing when it reaches the top of the head [ibid].

22 There are many different kinds of yoga and Europeans often become hypnotized by it, but it is essentially Eastern, no European has the necessary patience and it is not right for him. The more we study yoga, the more we realize how far it is from us; a European can only imitate it and what he acquires by this is of no real interest. For Jung, the danger was one of mimetic madness: the European who practices yoga does not know what he is doing. It has a bad effect upon him, sooner or later he gets afraid and sometimes it even leads him over the edge of madness. This led him to conclude that in the course of the centuries the West will produce its own yoga and it will be on the basis laid down by Christianity [Jung, Yoga and the West, in Collected Works, vol. 11, §876]. In his account of spontaneous Kundalinī experiences in the West Lee Sannella also highlighted a notable divergence from the Eastern depictions, i.e. by contrast, the clinical picture [in the west] is that the Kundalinī energy travels up the legs and the back to the top of the head, then down the face, through the throat, to a terminal point in the abdominal area [ibid The Visions Seminar, vol. 7, 30–31].

23 Archetypal i.e. a story constructed so that you can push beyond it: fundamentally abstract […] since it is obviously the common theme among multiple stories [Peterson 2017 Maps of Meaning Lecture 11: the flood and the tower link].

A Story from Deep Within

Photo credits © author taken on the outskirts of Lumbini, Nepal January 2018
 

“Dying each other's life, living each other's death”

-       Heraclitus

The day of the ceremony, you meet with your guide; this a person from the group that performs these ceremonies - nothing uncommon here - a very normal guy with a normal family, living in a normal house of a very quiet and normal town out of Amsterdam. This is your guide, your DJ, your nurse, your friend; he is everything you are going to need on your trip. In the beginning I felt scared. Getting inside a car with a stranger, going someplace unknown and having said to no one what you were about to do. Your superego is shouting to you “dude, what the fuck are you going to do” and other shit like that so that you chicken out and go back to your normal everyday life, your normal routines, your virtual safety. 

Once we enter the house, he guided me up to the attic, where he had modified the entire floor as a calm place for people to enter the true nature of the world. I laid down on an amazing sofa, covered myself with a blanket and took of my clothes except the underwear. He told me some stuff to remember during the trip because although it is all happening inside your head you are still able to feel your body. 

By the time he was finished with the “protocol”, he filled a small glass with a yellowish thick fluid (like a smoothie) with the pulp of the Ayahuasca tree and told me to hold it in my arms. We meditated for a few moments, while listening to some ambient music that replicated an exotic atmosphere of mystery and magic, something transcending that by this time you were unable to decipher. After that, you take the first sip; it smells like shit. Not surprisingly, it also tastes the same. However, it compensates for the 3-day liquid fast and I just drunk the hell out of it in one sip. I laid down on the leaning sofa waiting for the second glass. Drinking this one was no less than a martyr.

After that you just cover yourself to feel the warmth of the blanket while at the same time a night-mask covers your eyes. I closed my eyes as well and tried to relax. 

I cannot really find a certain point or incident that marked the exact time where everything started to happen. I remember that the music was all I was feeling and that in a sense I kind of saw or thought I saw some liquid patterns in the dark, or maybe the crests of these patterns as would have shined If the sun was hitting them with his rays. I remember that my mouth had still the nauseating taste of the plant pulp and that part of it was drooling out of my lips that were now open as if I was in a coma. And then I felt what I thought it was the cosmic power, the nature itself revealing itself out of the void of my mind, exposing her real rage and fury, making me feel so small and helpless as if saying: you pity human, you are just dust in the wind, a grain of sand that I can blow and weather away. I can do whatever I want to you, my power is immense. And she said that I felt that her power grabbed me from the torso, lift me up into the sky and then pushed me back, abruptly into the sofa, passing as a wave through my belly; I felt the middle of my body expanding, unlocking in a sense. 

Then I remember that in this darkness, I saw a dark face starting to form just in front of me, as if looking straight into a mirror from a close distance; just a black figure, no characteristics, as if trying to scare me. And then…I just burst into laughter! I had been laughing for about 10 min or more straight. I cannot remember having laughed so much and so hard in my life ever. I couldn’t remember having laughed during my life in the UK at all actually. And then I started sawing images of very serious people, tv personas saying the nightly news and other serious blocks talking seriously and started laughing again. I laughed so hard that my belly hurt and Rob started laughing as well, sitting next to me and holding my hand, saying “I know Adam, Mother also has a lot of humor as well!”.

The order of the following is possibly not right; time is not really a thing that you get a grasp on during the ceremony. I remember that at some point I felt as if the lower part of my jaws and the rest of the head started moving with away from each other, as if caught into a vortex. I remember feeling my entire body shaking in the rhythm of the music, as if the air around me was water, and I was a thin leaf in the middle of a lake while the wind was just blowing a bit its surface. Starting from my toes all the way up to the head, I was literally dancing while lying on the sofa, my every cell was in tune with some invisible energy that surrounded me and called me to dance with it. I could stop it, but I didn’t want to. I tried to stand up just to see how it feels, and noticed immediately that my body was 10 times more flexible and agile that normal. I felt as if I could perform any demanding yoga posture in the blink of an eye, every effort now seemed insignificant, all I had to do is just to do it. There was no thought, no breath, and no warm-up before that. Everything was in place, as if the entire universe was moving me; not just moving me, passing through my body and flowing through my veins. I was the king of the universe, the One being, the King of the galaxy; the smallest and the largest at the same time. There was nothing else around me but pure love, joy and happiness there. I cannot possible describe it right with words…

Meanwhile, inside the dark, my brain created a sphere around my body as the center. Inside this 3dimensional sphere, there had been floating images, memories and stories, dreams and reality of my past, my future and the present, alternative timelines and fairy-tales that might never come true. All I did I was just literally dive into these segmented thoughts or dreams. It was as if my subconscious had created a space for me to look into and try to figure out things. 

I saw myself married with a girl and being all together with my family back in my homeland during summer, out in the sun, eating outside, beneath a large porch. I saw me struggling to do some sort of yoga postures, failing miserably, and then saw a kid doing it, just doing it, simple and elegant, no effort, and then looking at me and smiling. I saw lots of stuff. I saw soldiers in the war just before killing innocent people. I was one of them. Time paused, for everyone there, but me, and then saw a personalization of consciousness (the Self?), trying to talk to me while holding a gun in hands, trying to shoot a kid against me ready to drop a Molotov cocktail on us. He [i.e. the Self] said about the absurdity of everything I am about to do, killing those people, taking my self so serious inside that suit, trying to make the world a better place by killing. I am about to talk back to him, he just pokes my eye and laughs. “What are you doing? What are you supposed to be doing? Don’t you see that this is all empty of any rational thinking? Think! Why are you here? Stop trying to make arguments! Think for god’s sake! Think out of the box! What are you supposed to be doing here! This is NOT your enemy! Wake up! You could have been so much more!”…and somewhere around mine/his mumbling I saw it. Another world, where humans, both killers and victims work together, up-cycling the material used for weaponry to make technological breakthroughs, disassembling rifles to create something to that would help humanity grow further. A soldier and a kid, dropping down their weapons and looking at each other. The time flows again. The rest of the soldiers waiting for a command that will never come; the kid afraid having dropped his cocktail and a soldier standing there trying to figure out what happened, giving order to the rest of his band to throw their weapons away. 

I was living the whole thing right there.

I saw a man, inside an artist studio creating the world, the earth, as we know it; he formed it with materials and fresh paint as a small sphere next to his desk. He created the world. But I don’t think I remember more from this story. I don’t know even if I remember it right in the first place. Those parts though are correct. I just cannot remember more.

The trip lasted for about 6 hours.

Before you sip the pulp, you have to ask a question for Mother Ayahuasca so that she can answer for you. I asked: “what am I afraid of”. I couldn’t really figure out by that time. I never stopped thinking about it. After a few months, as I was thinking about it again, I finally saw it, I saw the answer. I am afraid of doing the step, taking the leap forward, moving to something new. My fear holds me back, the fear of failure, of anything new. 

I know understand that I have to do the things I have to do without fear. I will survive it because I have people (my friends and my family) who will always be next to me to support me even if I mess up big. Move forward to find your true nature, what you really are. It is the only way.    

You will never have your moments back. For us pity humans, time is linear. And you can't always have what you want. But you can definitely find someone to share the burden of life together. You are so young and healthy so don't contain yourself and don't follow the path of other people. Move forward and one day you will find something that will tell you to stop. If that moment is now though don't let it slip. At least tell him how you are feeling. Because times goes fast and there might be no other moment to say it.

Clarifications:

Please note that the entire experience is not something common for everyone. Everyone “feels” it in a different way, this is simply because each and every one of us is different and unique, and his/her uniqueness is its beauty; we also tend to have different experiences during the years of our lives and these experiences affect us, sometimes unconsciously, therefore what “mother Ayahuasca” (sometimes called “mother Earth” or “mother Nature” will show you, depends on you and on you only. If you decide to go all the way and do it, there are some things that you have to study and do first. It is important to follow these “guidelines” so as to ensure a deeper and more fulfilling trip. 

There is a set of actions and non-actions that one must perform (these are optional of course, but I did them anyway). That is a very strict diet (try to eliminate animals and animal products) for at least a month (no problem here cause I was doing plant-based anyway), so sexual activity for two months (including masturbation) and 3-days prior to ceremony, only juices and soups for cleansing. It went fine in every aspect of it. The 3-day fast just before the ceremony, will make you feel so light (both physically and mentally) that you‘d wish to remain like that for the rest of your life. I had some trouble going back to my regular habits of eating but nothing serious. 

--

We could never have these moments back. For us pity humans, time is linear. We can't always have what you want. But you can definitely find someone to share the burden of life together. You are so young and healthy so don't contain yourself and don't follow the path of other people. Move forward and one day you will find something that will tell you to stop. If that moment is now though don't let it slip. At least tell him how you are feeling. Because times goes fast and there might be no other moment to say that.

Further Thoughts on the Yoga Sūtras

It must had been primarily hard for a mystic – among mystics – such as Patañjali to dress into words the understanding of experience(s) beyond the realm of immediate perception, which in a sense justifies the use of laconic language that most of the times baffles the contemporary reader. The knowledge that this ancient mystic is trying to articulate in the sūtras falls into the buffer or grey zone that forms the perimeter of the human cognitive perception amidst the chaos of concepts beyond our mental understanding[1]^,[2]: this area can be rendered as the circumference of a cycle tainted with emotional-dreamy traits[3] [see fig. a01]. Despite our inability to articulate them, we as humans are able to physiologically grasp them by means of bodily experiential feedback. Even more so, we still possess the capacities to engage with them emotionally or develop an inherent understanding through self-reflection and dialectics. The latter, is a process that was initiated through the implementation and re-reading of the original text that lead into various approaches or descriptions known as commentaries or Bhāṣya-s.

fig. a01 the Realm of Cognitive Awareness [visualisation based on J Peterson's Biblical Lectures Youtube]

 

Back then Patañjali’s efforts to unite the shambolic ideological systems that had sprung from the earlier yoga traditions must have been a rather strenuous task. The natural, inherent tendency that we possess as humans, to cling into ideologies and self-proclaim ourselves protectors of their constricted boundaries had been immanent all around the world that Patañjali used to live in – gravely separating instead of uniting the human spirit in order to bring about something good[4]. The values of the compiled aphorisms were not a by-product of logical thinking but the fruits of a journey into the dreamy realm[5]^,[6].

 

Trying to make sense of the Yogasūtra-s only as a piece of literature will naturally constrict us to our narrow sphere of apprehension that is established onto things of non-firm, non-conceivable reality[7] – one will eventually act out dreams that she / he does not feel, stemming from an internal disassociation. In order to grok their meaning, studying and reading the text itself will be of little value; humans have a tendency to read and apprehend a lot, but are usually found to act along a vector pointing toward a diametrically opposite direction. Thus, practice is paramount i.e. the physical and physiological experience of the described axioms as perceived by the most apt, tangible parts of our bodies and senses. 

 

The importance of the text draws even further on. There are very clear references to what Freud conceptualized as the subconscious mind, conceptualized as God in the ancient times; an obscure layer that overrides our voluntary control mechanisms and seems to indirectly affect our conscious decisions. This idea is then transcended into the psychoanalytical concept of the human being as a fragmented puzzle of personalities with independent characteristics of which jurisdiction can hardly be applied successfully. 

 

The ineptitude to curb and discipline oneself can be magnified in the contemporary world due to the enhanced stimuli which in turn seem to be working on the unconscious mind. The very early eras of human existence that preceded Patañjali were lacking such context, and thus made it easier for people to be in closer contact with the divine [read subconscious mind]. Disassociated from the intimidating self-imposed artificial reality, early humans found solace in nature and further on through the overwhelming, altruistic offering of her juices that were amply used to mingle the human consciousness with the divine. Long-extinct plants such as soma were the primary means of melting the concreteness of reality, fusing it into the spiritual realm[8]. God, and whatever can be framed inside this notion, was manifested in the human soul, erasing any need of scripting down in literary form the rules and principles that helped toward this path. 

 

Ideologies are parasites on an underground religious [do you mean spiritual?] substratum according to which people are trying to organise their thinking; they are likened to crippled religions, wrapped and twisted, falsely representing a pure but yet inconceivable foundation. Nietzsche proved that when the aforementioned substratum is diffused, humanity is oscillating into extremes, magnificently represented by the clash of polarized ideological strongholds. On top of that, he thoroughly predicted the loss of millions of lives in contemporary societies, that followed the efforts to rationally interpret the dreamy or emotional states with faulty rational representations(?). 

 

Little information can be obtained on the history that preceded Patañjali and the practices of yoga amidst the vedic periods [vedanet.com the original teachings of yoga: from Patañjali back to Hiranyagarbha[9]]; the very fact of the traditions’ oral character combined with our failure to sustain enough scriptural evidence makes the investigation as to what had been practically going on, even harder. Assuming that there has been worshiping of multiple different deities and thus, various corresponding representative schools – which were actually teaching the same thing in different forms - paints an image of Patañjali as a peacemaker amidst the chaos: one could easily draw connections to the role that Moses played during the Jews spiritual and physical wandering in the desert i.e. both men were encouraged to compile a set of rules, commands [in the case of Moses] or aphorisms [in the case of Patañjali] that bound the spiritual cosmonauts into a united philosophical common-ground that was fundamental in order to settle and progress through the coming eons not as fragmented sub-groups but through strength-by-unity. 

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[1] This can be simply viewed as a misty realm for which nothing is known at all.

[2] Contemporaries of Patañjali have also fallen into the same trap when trying to explain something beyond human apprehension: a common example would be the translation of 4^th dimension into words and / or images, a task usually performed by artists or writers with debatable results. Still, although the point is taken for granted, the actual experience is hardly generated. 

[3] This is the realm into which the mystics and artists live or pay visit when the situation demands – they are the mediators between the unknown and what we know for sure. Although incomprehensible at first, it is possible to be rendered by employing anything humanly invented especially by means of art. Words and text is always harder to carry the meaning as such, since logos is already infected by humane memories and preconceived notions or ideas in its very essence.  

[4] Even nowadays, people around the Indian subcontinent find themselves disputing and arguing over their god-centred belief systems – with discussions leading up to misunderstandings and even brawls; there is hardly any difference when such phenomena are multiplied in global scale. 

[5] This grey area has been shaping itself since always by the extrapolation of empirical, behavioural knowledge of humanity by means of art, literature, mythology etc and as such is constituent in aiding us understand ourselves and why act the way we do. Yoga as such, provides the student with a key to open the doors of this unknown realm that seem to have been informed with the principles that shape our very human nature – and this justifies the very fact that many of her researchers have come to describe regularly as a form of art. This is what is also suggest by Joseph Campbell too [see Mythos II, ep 2]    

[6] as a yogi and physicist liked to point out to me, it is an action that very much resembles the digital cloud principles, into which one is able to connect to, find what he is looking for and then download it back into reality as we experience; these truths and values had always been there, and they will always remain there intact, so that the mediators will be able to access them, when the times demand to do so. This is also proving – up to a certain degree – how detached this entire process is, compared to the superhuman aka überman concept as developed by Nietzsche – the axioms are not developed by humans who are looking towards becoming god themselves. Although people need belief-systems in order to exist and maintain psychological and sociological stability, they usually incorporate such rigidity that turn their supporters into a raging, totalitarian, blood-thirsty mob. 

[7] One can alternatively picture this as a castle built upon moving sand i.e. unsteady foundations; living in such a place or simply trying to raise it in the first place would be impossible based on our development as a species. 

[8] The ambiguity of Vedic traditions and texts cannot solidly draw any conclusion as to which plants were used for the extracting of the sacred juice – that very much resembles practices of later customs found in the Amazon – but the significance of soma was disseminated through linguistics into the same ancient Greek word that translates as (human) body: the annihilation of the source-plant forced humanity to use and manipulate the human body as such, in order to extract the necessary liquid substance that will journey the mind to its very origin, according to Richard Freeman’s poetic account of events in the Yoga Matrix.

[9] source: https://www.vedanet.com/the-original-teachings-of-yoga-from-patanjali-back-to-hiranyagarbha/ accessed June 18, 2020.