Kundalini is the Mind

Sri Lakshmana Swamy

Q: I have read different books on yogic and tantric traditions and they all speak if the kundalini rising from the muladhara chakra to the sahasrara chaka. They say that when the kundalini reaches the sahasrara, this is the final state, moksha, or liberation.

LS: It is not final. It has to go from the Heart to the sahasrara and then back to the Heart again for realization to occur. Kundalini sakti means the mind. It rises from the Heart-centre tot he brain. When it goes back into the Heart and dies there, that is moksha, the final state.

Kundalini sakti means mind. You feel it rise it from the Heart-centre to the brain only on the day of Self-realization. Before that day you cannot feel it. The mind rises from the Heart daily after sleep, but you are not aware of it. It rises to the brain, looks at the world through the five senses and enjoys what it sees. Then it goes back to the Heart again. But none of this is felt by the devotee. 

Q: So the kundalini tradition is not speaking from the highest standpoint?

LS: The kundalini tradition is not speaking from the highest standpoint because it does not teach that the mind must go back to the Heart for the final realization to occur. When you speak of the kundalini rising to the sahasrara you are speaking of the yogic state which is not the highest state. Making the kundalini rise to the sahasrara may be useful if you want siddhis, but it will not bring about Self-realization. What is kundalini sakti? It is only the mind rising from the Heart to the brain. 

Q: It is said that when the kundalini rises to the sahsrara, shiva and shakti merge. Is this so?

LS: No. Shakti means mind. It has to return back to its source, the Heart which is Shiva, and die there. 

Q: So you are saying that kundalini is in the mind. Is this correct?

LS: No, that is not correct. It is the mind. My direct experience is that the mind rises from the Heart to the brain, never from the muladhara to the sahasrara. That is only a yogic state which people can attain if they want to perform miracles.

A woman once came here and said that 19 years before her kundalini had gone from the muladhara to the sahasrara and that she had had a vision in the form of a flash of light. This is something that can be achieved by the practice of yoga but it has nothing to do with Self-realization. When yogis make the kundalini go from the muladhara to the sahasrara, it all takes place within their mind or their imagination. They may be able to do miracles as a result, but what use are miracles? Performing miracles will not help one to realize Self.