Kundalini descent

Kundalini Descent - What is it?

In the introduction to this website, I mentioned that even the dictionary describes Kundalini as an entity that lies at the base of the spine, and upon arousal through yoga, rises up the back into the head of the person producing “enlightenment”. So this would suggest that the Muladhara Cakra, the Cakra at the extreme lower part or base of the spine is the seat of operations of the Kundalini, and to some extent this is not incorrect, but an extremely limited understanding.

The concept of Kundalini Descent is that the Kundalini is operating out of Sahasrara Cakra. In order to get a modest grip on how this works, a few key points must be understood.

In this context, the Sahasrara is not only functioning as the Sahasrara Cakra, but it also is functioning as the “Maha Bindu”, a causal vector (point) in the ‘womb’ of the Hiranyagarbha. These caual vector points form the very fabric of the Hiranyagarbha, a great massive all pervasive plane, lying through all reality and space, that serves to reduce the Consciousness of Siva as Caitanyatma down to the manifestation and therefore consciousness of all living beings.
As life evolves from its spiritually driven impetus, specifically in this case human beings, the driving vector of consciousness for this evolutionary phenomenon is the vector of Sahasrara. The Kundalini as the inherent divine pranic consciousness of the Sahasrara itself, also being emanated from said Sahasrara, directs the Sushumna Nadi to form with its construction of concentric layers. One of these layers is the Citrini Nadi, which contains causal Kundalini prana, natural to its source, the Sahasrara. As this Kundalini prana emanates down the Citrini Nadi, more causal vector points form along it stretching along the spine. These causal vector points become the bindus, the vector centers of the cakras that exist within our spine. Hence, the Kundalini prana as a divine consciousness, flows down the Citrini, manifesting the cakras, from Ajna to Muladhara, as well as their consequential physical fields that constitute ultimately, the physical body. Picture it like this: imagine someone holding a flashlight in one hand, and shining it down to their other hand one above the other. As the beam shines down to the other hand, even though you can’t see the beam between the hands, you know it is shining down because the beam is reflecting on the lower hand. The beam between the hands is the Sushumna, and the Cakra bindus are forming in the beam, just as they do in the Citrini Nadi, reflecting down from the Sahasrara. Therefore the Kundalini perpetually reflecting pure consciousnesses down the Citrini acts as a constant continuum, creating the Cakras and the consciousness they emanate as our ego self, but is reduced by the action of the cakras, parts and parcels of the Kundalini as well. This is Kundalini descent.
One important note here: There is pre-ascent descent, descent that is occurring before the Kundalini is awakened or shifted out of Her dormant frequency, as I like to put it, or post ascent descent, which is a descending the Kundalini performs after Her ascent to Sahasrara, after Her awakening and shifting out of Her dormancy. We are talking about “pre-ascent’ descent here. Her descent before awakening out of Her finite dormancy.

The Cakra / Nadi / Prana Paradigm

The Body of the Kundalini

The Kundalini is not some lofty mystical entity hiding within us that you beckon through Yoga or some occult or esoteric practice. Technically, the Kundalini creates the entire human organism, both from the time of primordial antiquity (through spiritually driven evolution) as well as from the end point that we all have undergone, that is of embryonic, i.e. the growth of ourselves in the womb of our mothers.

Very commonly when you read various books on Kundalini, the cakras are brought out typically in the stance that the cakras are the source of the Kundalini. Technically, the opposite is true. The Kundalini is the source of the cakras, the psychic network that extends from them, as well as the prana, a reduced or lower Kundalini energy that emanates from the cakras, and flows through the nadis to various organs and structures in the human body. These three modalities are the body of the Kundalini, connect to and accordingly manifest the functioning bodily structures, and are the psychic modalities that are sought to be affected by the higher yogas of Hatha, Kriya and Laya Yoga. So, the Kundalini does not come from the cakras - instead they are manifested and sustained by Her bindu manifesting function, described above in the information on Kundalini descent.

Cakra Structure is Significant

Years ago, when I first heard of the Sahasrara being referred to as the Maha Bindu, “The Great Bindu or Great Point” in certain advanced Laya Yoga texts, I was confused, because I always thought of the Sahasrara being this super illuminated lotus of thousands of petals, that was the center of the Absolute Consciousness in man. It is indeed this and more. However, as my Sadhana advanced over time with my awakened Kundalini accessing the Sahasrara more and more, the causal significance of the Bindu and its divine nature began to become more apparent. Indeed, I began to experience how the various higher cakra bindus of the Ajna and Sahasrara were the creational structures that served to manifest the divine consciousness I was moving through daily.

The Kundalini is a divine sound modality, and this point will be further elucidated on in the material below. But at this point we want to focus on cakra structure, because their structure is significant in how the Kundalini manifests our bodies and consciousness. If you look at a typical diagram of a cakra, you have its circular center, and the petals that extend outward from its center, with various Sanskrit letters on certain petals depending on the cakra. The center of the cakra is its “bindu”, and the petals actually represent appendages of what really amounts to a circular field of pranically directed divine sound emanating from the bindu center. As detailed above in the Kundalini Descent article, the actual cakra bindus originate in the Citrini Nadi and the cakra manifestation and its action are emanating from this point. So the emphasis here is the cakra’s center as a bindu, which is a causal modality, meaning the Kundalini prana it exudes forth has a creational component that allows it to manifest a form of sound consciousness that serves to create our thinking linguistic mind.

Simply put, as the Kundalini prana emanates from the bindu center of each cakra, as it moves through the various Sanskrit letters around that cakra, the sound propensity the letter is indicative moves up a given nadi into the mind, being experienced as thought or feeling within the mind. Therefore, through the cakras as one of the facets of the body of the Kundalini, the Kundalini creates our linguistic/thinking consciousness second to second as we move through life.

Kundalini, the Divine Sound Entity of Shabda Brahmin

Shabda Brahmin is a Sanskrit term that indicates God as a form of Divine sound. Although God creates all reality with this sound, here we are concerned with the creation of our human consciousness. Ever thought about how you think in the terms of words? This is natural because we mentally navigate our entire lives, within and without through a linguistic lens, a lens of language. Therefore, our consciousness operates through a modality of language. The Kundalini is the source of this language modality.

The divine causal sound propensity of Kundalini is technically known as Para Shabda.[1] Para Shabda refers to a divine sound function that pertains to the Kundalini specifically. The word “Para” is an abbreviated form of the Sanskrit term, “Param”, which designates a level of supremacy in the order of divine causation. Hence, Para Shabda refers to a level of divinity that is on par with Absolute Siva as far as being the source impetus for creation. Therefore Para Shabda as a denotation of Shabda, pertains to a level of divine sound causation that refers only to the Kundalini agency.

Para Shabda Kundalini actually consists of the causal sound mechanism of pranava, which represents “Om”, the actual divine sound sub-strata, that demonstrates itself as the underlying linguistic potential of Consciousness. Note that this word pranava has the root of “prana”. This has immense ramifications which will be further revealed as we move through the text. This divine sound potentiation of pranava has causal latencies within it that lead to the language generating aspect of what becomes the Matrika[2], an agent of the Kundalini that has the inherent purpose of manifesting our consciousness with the undercurrent of thought/language and its communicable capacity. Hence, Para Shabda Kundalini possesses the integral capacity to create all aspects of our interactive consciousnesses with the sound and thought medium we know of as language.

Georg Feuerstein in his eminent work “ The Encyclopedia of Yoga” says this of the sound potentiation of Kundalini in the human in the letters of the cakras, “ Since these centers (the cakras) are traditionally said to constitute the body of the Kundalini, the Kundalini itself can be regarded as embodying - or being the psycho cosmic force behind the entire alphabet. Indeed, the Kundalini is considered to be the Sonic Absolute, the Shabda Brahmin.[3]

In fact, the preeminent tantric text, The Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, states this explicitly, “The Kula Kundalini is Shabda Brahmin, and is the mother of all cakra mantras and vrittis”.[4] The text goes on, “For this reason, as the Mother of all mantra whose substance is “letters”, She is known as Matrika, the sound Genetrix of all the universes. She is the World Consciousness- Jagaccaitantya, the Virat consciousness (macro living consciousness) of the world as a whole”.[5] This stance essentially puts the Kundalini in the position of being the divine entity behind all language and sound communication in all humans throughout all of time.

To reiterate, Om as Nada Kundalini is the divine sound vibratory substrate of Matrika. Matrika is present within the causal nature of Om, and is indicative of another stage of divine sound creation. Matrika refers to the causal formation or development of the specific letters that through a linguistic medium of thought (vrittis) can create various consciousness states, hence Matrika is attributed to being the source of Mantra. Technically it represents a sound latency that is revealed in divine consciousness states, hence as already re-iterated is present in the Atmic field. With Matrika having its source as the divine atmic field of consciousness, mantras created with it affect that field or consciousness.

However, Matrika represents more than a mere potentiation for the creation of mantra. Matrika could well be seen as “The Word That Was God” as the Kundalini, inherent in Shabda Brahma and of course Absolute Nada, and as the soon to be described cakras represent the body of the Kundalini, the Matrika plays an intrinsic role in their function as the distributors of finite consciousness.

The first Sanskrit letter is “A”, and the last letter is “Ha”. When letters end in a vowel, an “M” is added. That would make the two letters combined with the M the word “Aham”, which is the word for “Being”, in Sanskrit. Hence, the entire Sanskrit alphabet when all of its words are combined into this single word, indicate Being, Absolute Being .

Technically, Sanskrit is not known by that term in India, but is called Devanagari, which is defined as “the city of God” This is a significant designation. It points directly to its divine origins. Ultimately Devanagari has as its origin the Matrika, which being the source for all linguistic modalities is as already said also the source of all mantras.

In essence, the Kundalini as the Matrika forms the basis for the causal sound alphabetical matrices the cakras contain. The combined alphabetical causal structure of the cakras generates the vritti thought consciousness we experience. Consequently, mental consciousness that is experienced through the lens of language stems from the aspect of the cakras that are associated with creating thought, the Matrika laden “petals” of the cakras. Hence, as prana moves through the cakras, thoughts in the form of verbage are created, and brought up the appropriate nadi and experienced as thought waves we have already designated as vrittis.

The entire thought based consciousness creation process is controlled under the auspices of the Matrika function of the Kundalini. Therefore absolute Siva as God directly creates our thinking minds and any creativity that looms forth over the eons of time with the sound aspect of the Kundalini as the Matrika.

Synopsis Notes

Note 1

In the above information, I have attempted to bring out certain material on Kundalini in order to point out the all encompassing nature this divine agency has in the creation of our living experience. The Kundalini literally creates our minds and thought from second to second as we move through the day. How can this be, one might say?

The cakras within you have formed your present mental and physical being, as they formed your body in your mother’s womb from the karma of your past life. So they are pregnant with your past life karma that has lead to your current being. This is how God creates our personal egos. The linguistic nature of the Matrikas that come into your mental sphere as you’ve grown with speech capacity and so forth, come into your head via the Ida and Pingala nadis. As you live, grow, while interacting in the world, this matrix of pranic operation literally is what animates us. The pranic/cakra machine is the spiritual engine that is the body of the Kundalini, and is God as the Divine Mother.

But can you experience this by reading about it, and then try to sense it as it happens as your mental self? Probably not. Part of the Kundalini’s mechanism is tasked with concealing her existence. This is part of the function of Her “dormant frequency”, what is called Her sleep. The Kundalini is never asleep-She is aware of your being and its thinking reality as She creates it. She literally bifurcates Herself and holds Her own Divine Consciousness intact while manifesting your persona as well.

Only by awaking Her through the self offering of a yogic sadhana and experiencing Her consciousness shift bringing Her Divine Self Consciousness into your ego sphere of awareness, can you experience and understand Her most sublime divine function.

Note 2

The above mentioned prana, an intrinsic part of the Cakra/Nadi/Pranic paradigm, is the agency of the Kundalini that carries on the “flowing or moving” aspect of the psychic energy modalities that transports the mental and physical impressions that gives us our living experience. This prana is emanating from the bindus of the cakras, hence it has direct causal propensities. It acts to carry the Matrika vrittis to the mind, and the reaction to them back to the requisite cakra. Prana also serves to control and direct various biological functions from the appropriate cakra, such as the digestive orders from Manipura, The cardio system from Anahata, and so forth.

The before mentioned Ida and Pingala nadis, the curving psychic channels seen in most cakra diagrams, that curve upwards from Muladhara to the forehead center out from Ajna, the Bhrumadya.. These two nadis are paramount in the conduction of the lower cakras karmic impressions to the mental center of the Ajna. The overall interactions of all of the lower cakras with the Ajna serve to create the individual persons experience of living throughout their life. This entire paradigm is understood to be the body of the Kundalini, as it is this overall mechanism as the Devi Kundalini Herself that brings us into the world at birth, sustains our living through life, and accordingly brings us to our demise, depending on one’s karma.

This is a very rudimentary explanation of the process that the cakra/nadi/prana paradigm performs in the execution of our life performance, and is left in this simplistic stature for the sake of brevity. Oral presentations in the video series of this site will go into further detail about this and many other functions of the Kundalini.

Note 3

Manipulating prana in one way or another, especially in the Ida and Pingala Nadi circuits is a primary method of application of the higher yogas of Kriya, Hatha, and Laya yogas. As this pranic/nadi circuitry provides us with basic ego consciousness, affecting and ultimately interrupting this flow serves to induce the Kundalini to reverse Her outward consciousness producing affect and serves to cause Her to revert back into the cakras, ultimately moving up the Sushumna Nadi back to Sahasrara, giving the yogic practitioner the experience of divine consciousness.

All of the techniques that will be described in this site, i.e. Pranayama, Meditation, Kriyas, Mudras, Bandhas and even the body position techniques known as Asanas, have as their intended purpose of effecting Kundalini prana.

Shyam, Sundar Goswami, Laya Yoga, reference to Para Shabda being an aspect of Shabda Brahmin, p. 272,Inner Traditions International, 1999.
Georg Feuerstein, Encyclopedia of Yoga, “Matrika as ‘little Mothers of thought creation’”, p.18, Shambala Publications, 1997.
Author Avalon, Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, reference to Kaula Kundalini as Shabda Brahmin, p.225, Ganesh and Co., 1995.
Author Avalon, quote, Sat-Cakra-Nirupana “Kula Kundalini is the Mother of all mantras and vrittis”, p.225, Ganesh and Co., 1995.
Author Avalon, Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, quote “Paramesvari Kundalini as the world consciousness of Jagat Caitanya” p.225, Ganesh and Co., 1995.