18/10/2020
“The concept of kuṇḍalinī is confused by many imprecise definitions, and even a text such as the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā contains contradictory descriptions of it. The definition that follows is derived from what in my opinion is the best, the clearest, and the most coherent text on this subject, the Yoga Yājñavalkya. There kuṇḍalinī is defined unambiguously as an obstacle. What is to enter the suṣumṇā at some stage or other through your yoga practice is, according to this text, not the kuṇḍalinī itself, but simply prāṇa. Many books say that it is the kuṇḍalinī itself that rises up through the suṣumṇā, but this does not make sense if we follow the Yoga Yājñavalkya, one of the oldest texts that deals with this aspect of yoga. One of its central concepts is that prāṇa and the various forms it takes in the body are linked to the practice of yoga, and it says that if we are successful in our practice, the kuṇḍalinī is burned up, making the way clear for prāṇa.“ A snake killed while lying in a curled position unfolds and streches out, the muscles no longer able to keep it coiled. It is said that when the fire in the body, agni, has killed the snake, the kuṇḍalinī unrolls and the passage is open to the flow of prāṇa. This does not happen overnight. Even when parts of the kuṇḍalinī are destroyed, it remains capable of blocking suṣumṇā for a long time.
If you closely consider this image, it becomes clear that kuṇḍalinī is another way of depicting what we call avidyā. In the same way that avidyā can become so powerful that it totally prevents us from seeing puruṣa, kuṇḍalinī blocks the prāṇa and prevents it from rising through the suṣumṇā. The moment the kuṇḍalinī is burned is the same moment that avidyā ceases to exist. Then prāṇa is able to enter the suṣumṇā and slowly move upward. We can also understand haṭha yoga as part of rāja yoga, which is defined as the process in which prāṇa, the friend of puruṣa, gradually rises upward. When it gets to the top, puruṣa unfolds and the king within us emerges. When the emphasis is primarily on the concept “of kuṇḍalinī, then we speak of the practice as kuṇḍalinī yoga." Desikachar
