Chapter 3
The dangers of Kundalini
UCH stress is, therefore, laid on the dangers of arousing Kundalini. Let us examine their nature. First and foremost there is the danger of sexual stimulation so that the individual becomes drained of his vitality through sex-obsession. Mental unhingement lies along this line. Sexual vitality and activity are very closely allied to Kundalini, for both are supremely creative in their nature, and the development of the one is bound to stir the development of the other. All sexual urge must be under complete control, at the will of the individual, and must be in a condition of what may be called sublimation, that is to say it must be recognized as a sacrament and therefore to be used in reverence and in a spirit of dedication. Sex-differentiation in all its various implications is one of God's earliest gifts to His children—often abused and grossly used, but at last learned to be approached as the true priest approaches the altar. Only those who thus approach the divinity of sex may be safely entrusted with that later gift of Kundalini, which can be handled with safety and profit by the tried and trusty alone.
Second, there is the danger of upsetting the physical rhythmic equilibrium through the uncontrolled stimulation of the various centres of the body—the possibility of injury to the heart, to the nervous system through the solar plexus, the individual becoming a chronic invalid with general physical deterioration of the brain, producing a strain also ending in mental unhingement. These dangers are avoidable provided the individual is in very sound health, has already gained an ample measure of self-control, thinks quietly and clearly, never narrowly, and is free from any servility to sexual impulses, has in fact little if any sexual tendency at all. It must be remembered that, however much he may be helped to awaken Kundalini, its development depends largely upon himself. He must watch the various symptoms and regulate them. How? He will know how, if he is ready for the awakening. No further guidance need be given here, for the sign of an individual being ready for the awakening of Kundalini lies in the intuitive knowledge of what to do, and in the help of the Wise.
We must never forget that the physical body is denser, and therefore less adaptable, than all others, and that there tends to arise a concentration of force in a particular area, not a general distribution over the whole. If we look at, say, the astral and mental bodies, we notice that each body is in one sense one great organ. Functions which to a certain extent are in the physical body associated with particular parts of the body are, in the case of the inner bodies, more universal. To a certain extent, perhaps, we may speak of localization in regard to the inner bodies, but it is more or less the whole of the astral body that feels, that receives impressions, that communicates. It is the same with the mental body. The whole of it thinks.
Now with the physical body, while feeling is distributed throughout, and while special centres are affected by feelings and sensations of an unusual kind, the brain acts as the principal channel of communication between the physical and astral bodies. Numb the brain, numb the nerves which communicate with the brain, and feeling disappears, so far as the waking consciousness is concerned, though its effects may remain, as witness the shock after an operation which, by reason of an anaesthetic, has been temporarily painless.
Similarly, it is the brain which is the main channel between the physical body and the mental body. I feel sure that the mental body impresses itself in some measure upon all parts of the physical body, so that all parts " think " to a certain extent, just as all parts feel. But the brain is the main centre, the great junction for the outer world. We may, therefore, visualize the inner bodies as exercising pressure throughout the physical body, but with the pressure greatest at the brain junction. The brain bears the brunt comparatively easily in normal cases and with the ordinary individual, since only very small channels are in fact allowed to be open between the various bodies.
But Kundalini will inevitably flow, apart from its normal channels, so as to vivify those centres which are most sensitive, have greatest receptivity. Hence the already existing concentration will be considerably intensified, generally when the organ involved is already bearing a full load. An individual in whom, for whatever cause, Kundalini tends to stir, is certainly living at what is to all intents and purposes high pressure. He is likely to be intensely alive. He is likely to have deep concentrations of force in his various organs, the concentrations varying in strength according to the use he makes of one rather than of another. Kundalini may very well be "the last straw," and hurl the unfortunate individual down into cruel darkness, if he be not a spiritual athlete trained to bear the strain.
Doubtless there will have come into existence, at this stage of the evolutionary process, channels between the inner worlds and the individual mainly Jiving in the outer world. But such channels are not likely to be deep, and if suddenly a rush of force whirls through one or another of them, or directly into a physical organ, they may well " burst," and bring about catastrophe.
When the physical, emotional and mental bodies are beginning to become resolved into their higher counterparts, as in the case of those who are concluding human existence so far as imprisonment in it is concerned, then Kundalini flows naturally and without encountering more than a minimum of obstruction. There is beginning to be but one Fire, one Life. It is at stages earlier than this that extreme circumspection is vital, for the Serpent-Fire does not discriminate. It consumes. It tends to flow along the lines of least resistance, and sometimes such lines may lead downwards and not upwards, with indescribably disastrous effect.
As development takes place, and as the higher consciousness gradually gains permanent ascendancy, the interpenetration becomes more rhythmic, and the whole of the lower agency responds far more immediately and richly to higher stimulation.
What then does the awakening of Kundalini effect? To all intents and purposes it breaks down barriers ; or, to put this in another way, it flings wide open the sluice gates, which hitherto have been opening slowly and gradually, and which, in the case of the ordinary individual, are open only to a very limited extent. There begins to be complete communication between all the bodies, though the use and interpretation of such communication are necessarily a matter of some considerable time after the preliminary communication has been established. The lower bodies begin to reflect in increasing clarity the characteristics of the higher bodies—higher mental and lower Buddhic. States of consciousness begin to interpenetrate, so that there arises a hitherto unexperienced continuity of consciousness. This means enormously increased sensitiveness throughout all the bodies, demanding that large measure of self-control, which is so constantly emphasized.
Nowadays, in the case of many, Kundalini must be developed in the market-places, where the danger is great, and not in the forests, where the danger is minimized. Time is too precious for isolation from the world, especially in these days ; and risks must be run. The whole of the physical body, becoming a wonderfully sensitive instrument, becoming refined out of all relation to its surroundings, can easily, therefore, be shaken to pieces as a result of the impact of coarse and violent vibrations from without. Sturdy physical health is thus a sine qua non for the arousing of Kundalini, and the health of an adult rather than that of a youth.
But there is still more. Though the whole of the physical body becomes enormously more sensitive, the brain has to bear the brunt. Pressure upon the physical brain is very greatly increased, since the brain is the main junction between the physical and the inner bodies. Can the brain stand the pressure? This is, perhaps, the principal question with regard to the arousing of Kundalini. The answer largely depends upon the extent to which the physical grey matter is sufficiently developed, steeled and reinforced, through self-control, to stand the strain. The condition and number of the spirillae are, perhaps, a determining factor, for these indicate the condition of the channels of contact and of what seems to be — I can think of no other words—the stretching power of the physical matter itself. It must be able to bend so that it may not break. I do not use the word " bend " literally, perhaps the word " adapt " would be more accurate. I think of the pressure from the inner bodies as in the nature of the flow of a fluid, of an almost irresistible flow. Can the brain shape itself to the flow, yield to it, adapt itself to it? If so, all may be well. But rigidity is fatal, and by rigidity I mean not merely, as it were, physical rigidity, but mental and emotional rigidity; that is to say, a crystallization or hardening of certain parts of the mental and emotional bodies, which hardening translates itself into the setting up within the brain, and indeed also within the heart, of grooves which will break but will not expand.
It is all a very complicated matter, for fundamentally the wisdom of arousing Kundalini depends largely, though by no means entirely, upon the condition of the lower mental and emotional bodies, and upon the extent to which the Causal and Buddhic vehicles are beginning to make contact and assert themselves. But physical conditions have also to be taken into account, though these are but reflections of inner conditions. The question then is: Are the inner bodies adequately developed and controlled, and is the physical vehicle recovered from such educative misuse as must inevitably have taken place during the long ages of development? For even though the physical body changes from life to lire. as generally do the emotional and lower mental bodies, each new body is moulded to reflect, and to express, the stage of development reached. It may in fact be a case of the spirit being willing but the flesh being weak, a case of the Ego being ready but the lower bodies being weak, for the reason that the physical body in its existing condition is unable to stand the strain of Kundalini. In such cases, it may be necessary to wait for another life, so that existing forms may be broken up and more malleable forms substituted. It is clear from all this how complicated the process of the awakening of Kundalini really is, and how foolhardy an individual would be who sought to arouse it without wise sanction, and without a certain amount of guidance. It is almost certain he would come to terrible grief. Hence, the brain is a great danger-point, for disaster will be the result of an overstrained brain. The path of occultism, it is said, is strewn with wrecks. I venture to think that the path of the arousing of Kundalini, even if only in the very first stages, is strewn with even more wrecks.
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring,
said Pope. Before anyone seeks to arouse Kundalini let him know much about it, especially of its dangers, let him be intimately acquainted with these. He will then leave it alone until advised to begin. A little knowledge may incline him to foolishness. When he drinks deep he will realize that duty forbids experiment, the results of which, when made in ignorance, lead to disaster, first to the experimenter, which might not much matter one way or the other except to himself, but also to those immediately around him, and involving danger to the community as a whole—and to this he has no right to subject them.