FEATURE STORY

Kundalini: What This Mystical Force Can Do and Why It Should Be Handled With Care

What exactly is kundalini? Sadhguru reveals its inner workings, step-by-step effects, as well as necessary preparations and precautions before tapping into this seemingly unlimited source of energy.

Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. My question is pertaining to kundalini. What is kundalini, how does it rise, and what happens when it goes through the chakras?

Sadhguru: What is kundalini? I am speaking right now – this is kundalini. You are able to listen – that is also kundalini. Insects are humming – that is also kundalini. A dog is barking – that is also kundalini. The grass is growing – that is also kundalini. The energy behind everything that manifests as physicality is called kundalini. But generally, when we talk about kundalini, we are talking about the dimension of energy within us which is not manifest but latent.

Latent Energy That Can Make You Look Superhuman

If you manifest eight to ten percent of your kundalini in your life, people around you will think you are extraordinary. Average human beings do not even manifest one or two percent of their kundalini. If you manifest anywhere over twenty percent, they will start calling you superhuman.

In Yoga, we are trying to make the body flexible and fit to take and handle different and larger dimensions of energy within you. The purpose is to make your body conducive enough to activate that which is latent, and still not freak out. This human mechanism should become fit enough to handle all the energy that you have. Otherwise, if a little kundalini rises, you will see people freaking out.

Average human beings do not even manifest one or two percent of their kundalini.

If you can manage it without freaking out, then it will manifest in the form of action in so many ways. You will seem to have endless energy to do things because you are able to suck a little deeper from the reservoir that is there in everyone. The question is only of manifestation. There is energy in everything. There is energy in sunlight – we must be able to catch it and generate it. Similarly, there is energy in everyone. The question is if you are able to dip into it, or if you are just at the surface.

The word kundalini is generally used to refer to the latent energy, but that is not what it means. Everything, both manifest and unmanifest, is kundalini. There are yogic practices that are designed to prepare the body for a higher dimension of energy. And there are certain practices that are designed to activate the energy. Some will activate it in a forceful manner; some will just open the lid so that it will manifest slowly.

You May Actually Already Be Working Toward It

In everyone who is practicing even a simple yogic practice like Shambhavi Mahamudra, slowly, kundalini will manifest. Your sleep quota will drop. The amount of food you need to eat will go down. You will be a little more energetic because you will be taking a little more from your latent energy or kundalini. Once you begin to touch it, there will be a higher manifestation of energy, more creativity. You will be able to do things that you never before thought you would do. You will become bolder, crazier. When you become bolder, people around you will think you are crazier – it does not matter.

These changes are because kundalini is manifesting in a slow manner once we have learned to open the lid. But we have not learned to pump it up because if you pump it up, you need to be in a place where you are constantly cared for in that sense. In certain programs, we are pumping it up in a huge way. There were times when even in the basic programs, like Inner Engineering or Isha Yoga program initiations, we had to carry eighty percent of the people out of the halls. If we had a hundred participants in the program, we needed a hundred volunteers because some nursing had to be done there.

Why It Needs a Conducive Atmosphere

We have toned those things down because in today’s world, though people are always talking about change, they cannot handle any change within themselves – they want the world to change. If anything changes within themselves, they will go crazy. So we are going a little slowly. But still, in Bhava Spandana and Samyama, simply sitting there, it is getting pumped up. But these are controlled situations, so we do not have apprehensions. We can blow them away and again tone them down before they leave.

Your system needs to be able to manage both high and low voltage in an equanimous manner.

But suppose we teach you practices that will go in that direction at home, then your home and work situation should be conducive. Your life should be managed in such a way that certain compulsions are not there about work, family, and other situations. That means you could be in any state you want, and it is okay because you have a very understanding family. But right now, they want you in the state that they want you to be in; any other state is not acceptable to them.

Because these things are not possible for most people, it is best such practices are limited to brahmacharis and certain others who have the advantage of not having a family. We can keep raising and lowering their energy so that the system gets used to any kind of energy. If the energy goes down, you must also be able to handle it; otherwise, people will become mentally depressed. Your system needs to be able to manage both high and low voltage in an equanimous manner. If this freedom comes, we know your whole mechanism is conducive. Then we can go in a different direction.

How Kundalini Finds Expression in Different Chakras

Since you were asking about chakras, we can tell you what will happen if kundalini enters one chakra, and what will happen when it enters the next ones. But I am not interested in people going in stages. Let them live well for some time, not losing their focus on the spiritual process. When their time comes, we will blow them out. I do not believe in going one step in one lifetime and you coming back sixteen lifetimes. I do not have such patience, nor am I going to be around that long.

If the kundalini or energies are dominant in muladhara, food and sleep will be dominant in your life. If your energies move to swadhishthana, you will become a little more creative and sensuous; your ability to experience things of the world will be enhanced. If your energies move into manipuraka, you will be strong in the world; you will want to do things; you will want to manifest things in the world.

If your energies hit sahasrar, then you will be experientially ecstatic and blissed out all the time.

If your energies move into anahata, it can manifest as very pleasant emotions in you, or as creativity and a certain perception of aesthetics. If you want to be creative, suppose you want to do a pencil sketch of a particular leaf, you need a certain sensitivity of perception. You must be able to grasp every aspect of that leaf. Most eyes will not grasp it, nor have they ever looked at a leaf as it is. They have never paid attention to those things.

If your energies move into vishuddhi, your presence will be powerful. Power not over someone else – simply powerful by your own nature. If your energies move into agna, you will be sort of intellectually enlightened. That means you have grasped the nature of the universe, in understanding, in knowing; but experientially, you are still not there. If your energies hit sahasrar, then you will be experientially ecstatic and blissed out all the time. But it is important you stay there long enough so that your blissfulness is stable; otherwise, you will be giggling through the day.

Why the Necessary Preparation of Body and Mind Is Essential

As your energies are moving into different stages of the body’s structure, accordingly, they may find expression. People may go into certain states of experience, but the problem is their body and especially their mind may not be ready. If your energy rises and there is a little madness in you, it becomes big madness. Whatever your quality is will get enhanced when energies flood your system.

Before rising kundalini in any serious way, it is important that physiologically and psychologically, we bring ourselves to a certain state of balance and equanimity.

If you are feeling joyful and your energy rises, it will increase the joy. If you are feeling miserable and your energy rises, it will increase the misery. If you are feeling depressed and your energy rises, you will feel more depressed. So, before raising kundalini in any serious way, it is important that physiologically and psychologically, we bring ourselves to a certain state of balance and equanimity so that if energies rise, nothing goes sloshing all over the place.

Whatever yogic practice you are doing is either in preparation, preparing the mechanism for a higher dimension of energy, or mild pumping, or some forceful pumping. Forceful pumping will lead to situations where you may need a little management. You may not be able to manage yourself when it is new. And if you are doing it properly, every day, you will have situations you will not know how to handle because they will be entirely new to you. So, such practices must be done under proper guidance and care.