Kundalini, Fact not Fiction

“As one opens the door with a key, so the yogi should open the gate to liberation with the kundalini. The great goddess sleeps, closing with her mouth,, the opening through which one can ascend to the brahrnarandhra… to that place where there is neither pain nor suffering. The kundalini sleeps above the kanda… she gives liberation to the yogi and bondage to the fool. He who knows kundalini, knows yoga. The kundalini, it is said, is coiled like a serpent- He who can induce her to move is liberated.” Hatha Yoga Pradipika v. 105-111

With our present limited state of consciousness, bound by sense experiences which become dull and monotonous through endless repetition, and unable to break out of our tensions, problems and anxieties, modern man is facing both a material and spiritual crisis. This crisis is a two-edged sword, Kundalini both binds and liberates. On the one hand it is ‘bad’, for it creates anxiety and depression and has precipitated a plague of psychosomatic disease and suffering unparalleled in former times. On the other hand, it is ‘good’, a blessing in disguise which is forcing us to change and grow, to evolve ourselves at individual and social levels.

We are witnessing a tremendous upsurge of interest in yoga, meditation and spiritual values. There has been a revival of the yogic lifestyle and knowledge. Yoga and its related sciences are now recognized as valuable tools within the healing professions and have added tremendous depth and height, a new dimension to psychology and philosophy. Scientists have been inspired to probe deeper into the mysteries of yoga, to investigate the means by which it works and to make the teachings of the ancient rishis and yogis more readily understood and expressed in modern scientific terminology. We are seeing that science is not actually discovering anything new but is substantiating the ancient knowledge of the yogis.

Scientific investigation into yoga and the allied sciences has made this knowledge more accessible by incorporating it into a whole new set of therapeutic techniques and new methods to develop our potential, for example, biofeedback, autogenic training, mind control techniques, psychic healing, and a myriad of other similar processes. New branches of medicine have come into being, and the recognition of mind, begun by Freud in the early part of this century, has finally filtered down into common acceptance. Stress medicine and psychosomatic medicine are examples of our deeper understanding of this interaction of energy, mind and body, an understanding developed through our rediscovery of yoga.

In an effort to penetrate the mysteries of prana shakti, the physical side of psychic energy, and chitta, the mental side of psychic energy, a few respected and eminent pioneers, honoring the rigorous demands of the scientific method, have accumulated a solid core of evidence which explains in scientific terms the phenomenon of psychic energy and validates the teachings of yogis. Science has substantiated the yogic knowledge that a subtle energy exists which is body-based and has both physical and psychic properties. This energy, which powers our awareness and transforms and expands our conscious dimensions, is not just a myth or idea; it is not a metaphysical concept, but a fact. Kundalini is defined as the ultimate, most intense form of this energy, which lies dormant within each and every one of us. Parapsychology Phenomena such as telepathy, psychic healing, psychokinesis (the moving of matter by mind power), dowsing, telegnosis (psychic reading of history and association of objects), and other paranormal events, are receiving serious attention from the more pioneering members of the international science community as a means of understanding the relationship of energy and consciousness. Hard-headed scientists in the USA, UK, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and Australia, are taking the lead from the scientists of the Soviet Union, many of whom are financed by their governments. Called bioelectronics or paraphysics in some circles, this field of study is generally known as parapsychology. In Czechoslovakia it is known as psychotronics, and one of the leading Czech researchers in this field is Dr. Zdenek Rejdak, whose association with Swami Satyananda began in the early seventies when he stayed at the Bihar School of Yoga. Speaking in Japan at the fifth annual conference of the Internationa! Association for Religion and Parapsychology in 1976, Dr. Rejdak defined psychotrotiics, and therefore, the whole field of parapsychology as, “the science which, in an interdisciplinary fashion, studies the distant interactions between living organisms and their environment, internal and external, and the energetic processes underlying these manifestations in order to supplement and widen man’s understanding of the laws of nature.” Psychic energy Psychic energy has been found to affect a whole range of laboratory equipment, from voltmeters to Geiger counters to magnetometers. Yet this does not mean that psychic energy is electrical, magnetic or radioactive. Rather, it seems to both encompass and go beyond these properties. Most researchers agree with the Soviets who state that psychic energy may have its origin in electrical activity, but the nature of the energy is entirely different. However, yogis state that prana is the substratum of our material universe, interpenetrating and organizing all matter and being the common ground for all energy. They see prana from a different and higher perspective. It is also generally accepted by scientists that psychic energy, most widely known as bioenergy, is body-based and affects both the physical and mental spheres as indicated by yogis. It has also been measured as a force field surrounding the body up to a distance of twelve feet by Yale neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Leonard Ravitz. (1) This seems to support the yogic concept of the subtle pranic body which interpenetrates and is interdependent with the physical structure, motivating it to function. There is considerable support for this hypothesis, gathered from the monitoring of the physiological changes experienced by psychics during laboratory tests of paranormal events. For instance, as part of his usual experimental procedure, Dr. Grenady Sergeyev of the A.A. Utkomskii Physiological Institute (a Leningrad military lab.), took readings of the brain waves, heartbeat and pulse rates of Neyia Mikhailova during her numerous demonstrations of psychokinesis. (2) He found that while Mikhailova was causing objects to move without touching them, his instruments recorded a tremendous vibration throughout her body and its surrounding force field which pulsed in the direction of her gaze. Her heart and brain waves also pulsed in unison with this energy vibration, indicating that the energy Mikhailova used in her psychic feats is intimately connected with her whole body. Reports go on to state that: “After doing these tests, Mrs. Mikhailova was utterly exhausted. There was almost no pulse. She’d lost close to four pounds in half an hour. The EEG (brain wave pattern) showed intense emotional excitement. There was high blood sugar and the endocrine system was disturbed. The whole organism was weakened as if from a tremendous stress reaction. She had lost the sensation of taste, had pains in her arms and legs, couldn’t coordinate and felt dizzy.” (3) At one time, after making a seven hour film of her abilities, Mikhailova was temporarily blind. Other Soviet investigators have recorded changes in brain wave patterns which coincide with the reception of telepathic signals, and researchers in the USA have shown that the volume of blood in the body alters during telepathic interactions. This evidence leaves no doubt that psychic energy, or bioenergy, is from the body and is the same energy that activates every aspect of our metabolism, from the functioning of the glands, to the brain and heart. It is the power behind the emotions and the operation of the senses. At the same time, prana, though based on and affecting the physical structure and function, has a wider range of properties and is associated with clairvoyance, clairaudience and other forms of extrasensory perception. It has a mental or psychic component and it is both gross and subtle. Psychic energy can affect matter without any apparent physical intermediary or medium. There is some undetectable energy at work which we cannot measure though we can see its results. It can even be used in healing. Sister Dr. Justa Smith in America, has demonstrated that psychic energy affects enzymes. (4) She has found that trypsin, a digestive enzyme which is damaged and decreases activity when exposed to ultraviolet light, increases activity when exposed to a high intensity magnetic field. When a water damaged trypsin solution was held in the hands of a recognized psychic healer for 72 minutes, irypsin increased its activity. R. Yaeger has shown that when a practitioner of kundalini yoga performed certain pranayama techniques and then sat next to an onion for 15 minutes with his hands in a fixed position, about two feet from the experimental plant, cell division, and therefore metabolic energy increased by 108%. (5) A control subject sitting in the same position, but without doing pranayama, had no effects on the plant. We have a clear evidence from these experiments that there is a new kind of psychic physiological energy that fits the description of prana and kundalini as set forth in the yogic texts and verbal traditions.

Summary

Modern science has been able to ascertain that psychic energy is a real and physically-based phenomenon. Though it does not fall into the known categories of modern science, its effects can be experienced and recorded repeatedly. No one really doubts its existence. What it is and how it functions, its relationship to our body and mind and its potential use as an evolutionary tool require further research from scientists who will find guidelines in the perspectives and experiences of dedicated yogis.

This research will soon be under way at Bihar School of Yoga where we intend to investigate these phenomena in all their varied aspects. Through this, we will be better able to understand the relationship of mind and body and this will have tremendous repercussions on studies in to psychosomatic medicine, psychology and other important fields. As we ourselves learn to appreciate that great joy and good health that come from developing and being sensitive to psychic energy, a large and forgotten area of our being, we will extend our possibilities, develop our innate potential and speed up our spiritual evolution.