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The
Awakening of Kundalini |
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| Kundalini
comes from the world 'kundala', which means 'coiled'. The
image of a serpent coiled up while resting conveys the idea
of kundalini. The word shakti comes from the root shak, to
have power or to be able. Taken together, these two Sanskrit
words might be translated as the coiled-up power, or the resting
potential.
SHIVA AND SHAKTI
According to this ancient philosophy, the
entire universe is a manifestation of pure consciousness.
In manifesting the universe, this pure consciousness seems
to become divided into two poles or aspects, neither of which
can exist without the other. One aspect retains a static quality
and remains identified with unmanifest consciousness.
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In
Tantra this quality is called Shiva, and is conceptualized
as masculine. Shiva is depicted as being absorbed in the deepest
state of meditation, a state of formless being, consciousness,
and bliss. Shiva has the power to be, but not the power to
become or change. |
He has no power to act or to manifest. He is the power holder,
but has no energy in his own right.
The other part of this polarity is a dynamic, energetic, or
creative aspect that is called Shakti, the great mother of
the universe, for it is from her that all form is born. She
manifests herself as the entire universe including matter,
life, and mind.
Shakti is a projection of consciousness that
veils the consciousness from which she was projected, in the
innumerable illusory manifestations (maya) that she brings
forth and that we call the universe. The scriptures say that
when karma ripens, Shakti "becomes desirous of creation, and
covers Herself with her own maya.
We know from physics that energy exists in two forms:
(1) Dynamic or active and
(2) Latent or potential, power at rest.
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Any
activity or force must have a static background. When consciousness
manifests itself as the creative or dynamic principle (shakti),
she in turn polarizes herself into these two forms. In the
manifestation of the universe, part of the energy of shakti
becomes involved in the manifestation itself, while a still
greater part remains dormant. The dynamic aspect is shakti
in specific differentiated form. |
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