[Advaita-l] Kundalini as a product of not-yet-understood biol ogy?

[praveen.r.bhat at exgate.tek.com]

humble praNAm to all,

Sorry to step into the discussion and picking these pieces alone. I'm just 
trying to understand this and relate it to some of the things I read
recently 
on Kundalini, including Gopi Krishna. Also apologies in advance if some
things 
seem rude or just well-known facts, needless to mention.

Maheshji said:
> Knowledge of Brahman without Jnana
> leads to utter confusion and sometimes can be fatal. The book "Living
> with Kundalini" by the Kashmiri pandit Gopi Krishna brings this out
> very well. His Kundalini was raised but he was not aware of its
> significance till much later. So is the case with Sri Ramana Maharshi
> who realized first and then understood much later in life.

If you're saying that a person is realized and doesn't know then, Ramana 
also said that any person is always realized. And he also said that 
Atma-vichAra leads to the proper understanding that one is always realized!
Advaita recommends differentiating between the real and unreal and negating 
the unreal. Although slightly different in approaches, Ramana also said that

knowledge of Self (by enquiring "who am I?") alone liberates, wherein Self 
is brahmaN from advaitic viewpoint.


Maheshji said:
> Which opens up a pandora's box which has been nagging me also: If as
> per the shastras, on the realization of Brahman, one is freed from the
> cylce of brith and death, then is it true for one whose Kundalini is
> raised but who does not understand it's significance? 

If you're saying that on realization of brahmaN and not *understanding* the
way 
you mentioned so in above statements, then one has not realized as per
advaitic
terms. jnAna alone can liberate. Even tripurA rahasya says that experience
of 
samAdhi is common. Between two thoughts, what is experienced is samAdhi, but

one doesn't know of it and without understanding one cannot liberate from
the 
cycle of birth & death.

Raising of kunDalini raises the awareness/consciousness that is undoubtedly 
understood from various teachers like Swami Sivananda, etc. But as is the 
experience of samAdhi, so is the kunDalini. Once raised, it doesn't remain
so. 
It has to go all the way to sahasrAra chakra and open it. There are many 
different arguments on whether that in itself would liberate the person or 
not! (As such, there are different ways among kunDalini practioners
themselves 
wherein some raise it, while others lower it and yet some others do both)


Maheshji said:
> And so if you
> wish to carry this to an extreme, can the Kundanlini be just a product
> of not-yet-understood biology and has nothing to do with spirituality?

What Gopi Krishna tried to do is link the biological effects of kunDalini 
and suggested such an investigation. Since biology itself would not have 
much to do with a person's consciousness being raised per se, saying that 
kunDalini itself is not-yet-understood biology is like saying, vis-a-vis, 
biology/science can also be seen as not-yet-understood spirituality! :)

jai bajrangabali,
--praveeN