As the kundalini force rises through the spine it is a powerful and overwhelming experience, that leaves no one indifferent. There are many books about kundalini within the new age, as well as yoga practicies to activate this energy. At the same time relatively little is written about kundalini in the esoteric books, with the explanation that this is a process that must be left alone, without mans interference.

At first I was a little disturbed by the fact that the esoterics would give such an important subject so little attention. Being in the middle of my own "kundalini rising" with all its difficulties I searched for any serious litterature that could describe my situation. Over and over again I had to realize that the only books where I could find myself was Baileys (DK:s). As time went along I also understood why the process is described so short here. We simply have no possibility to understand this complex process with our threedimensional mind. The best attitude seems to be just to take it easy and "follow the flow".

This article is an attempt to describe the kundalini process in short terms, based on Baileys litterature, own experiencies (and others) of the energy, different visions and information recieved over a number of years. The following is the way I understand the kundalini process as far as I can see it today.

In this way (with silver chords) I was once showed the energy channels in my body. The purpose seemed to be to make me understand the complexity of the system. We have thousands of energy channels going in all directions, and they all depend on and influence each other.

The central channel goes along with the spine and connects our seven main centers (chakras). It also connects with a large number of smaller centers and channels throughout all parts of the body. The central channel is divided into three parts, with one in the middle (Sushumna) and the other two moving parallell at each side, Ida and Pingala. The energy flows downwards through Sushumna and upwards in the other two.

Within the new age you can sometimes get the impression that a "rising kundalini" is the final goal for man, he will then even be "enlightened" and reach some "nirvanalike" condition. I don´t hesitate to say this is totally wrong. An opened channel is more of a first step to be able to begin the energy work. What some people call enlightment and nirvana is something one can experience being in the highest emotional (astral) level, and that´s all there is to it. Here man still hasn´t reached higher mental levels, not to mention causal.

How an opening process develops is individual. We have different main rays (seven types) and different blockings etc, depending on experiencies in this life and earlier. It all affects in wich order our chakras and channels gets activated. In my own case the order was like this: the chrown chakra, the heart- the navel- the solar plexus- the chrown chakra again and after that the opening of two blockages. This process took about 5 years. After that the energy could start rising, activating all chakras, taking an additional 8 years. The activation of a chakra probably means opening up one step in a series of many steps, but every time this is very powerful.

People on the emotional levels who experience a rising kundalini probably get some widening of the Sushumna channel. This channel is open to some degree on the normal man (especially those on higher emotional levels), while the other channels don´t reach over the navel chakra. I have been showed it in about this way. (see picture) The chakra wee can see to the left of the stomach area is the spleen chakra. This centre seems to have a central role on higher mental levels but shows little activity before that. For this reason information about this centre is rare and mostly totally wrong within the new age.

On higher mental stages the Ida channel, the "feminine" energy, gets activated. It is parallell to Sushumna, about 2-3 cm at the side. The spleen chakra seems connected to this channel and gets activated as the Ida energy reaches the solar plexus, and forms a triangel with solar plexus- navel- and spleen chakra. Later on this triangel is replaced with another, the heart-, solar plexus- and spleen chakra. This triangel is then to be connected with yet another one situated in the head. The mental energy in the head centres meets the emotional energy from the lower triangle wich seems to be nessecary to reach subjective causal concious-ness, or causal intuition.

Finally even Pingala, the "masculine" channel gets activated. A smaller center, at the individuals right side, also gets activated. This center seems to be connected to the Pingala channel. Finally the three channels melt together into one, and now we have a fully developed kundalini force. Here man can reach objective causal conciousness and become a "causal self". It hardly needs to be said that it takes a large number of lives to go through all this process, from beginning to end.

The terminology is the same in all esoteric litterature I have read, Bailey, Laurency, Leadbeater, Blavatsky etc. There is some confusion within the new age as previously mentioned, both concerning the spleen chakra and the channels, names etc. In my own case the left channel is always represented by a woman and the right by a man, in the symbols I have recieved.

It is very difficult to exactly describe the opening procedure. In some esoteric litterature the central channel is said to be the last one activated. Maybe this channel gets fully activated after previous openings and balancing of all three. All esotericians seem to agree that the three channels, in the final stages, at the transition to causal conciousness, melt together and form one single channel. We can expect the whole process to be much more complex than I have suggested here, with openings in small steps, probably quite different from one person to another. (confirmed by the persons investigated here)

An other alternative that some esotericians mention is that the side channels are curved upwards, not straight. As I have felt the Ida channel, after once been turned off, being turned on again by pressing up through my back (quite painful) I can definitly state that it can be felt in a straight line, at least in my back. At other occations I have felt the Pingala going in the same way to the right. At the same time I have been shown (with different images and symbols) that the energy moves in a spiral shape, and with many small parallell channels. Maybe we should concider the possibilty that astral and mental energy follows a different line than the etheric, the one who can be felt strongest.

A couple of warnings should be mentioned about the kundalini energy. As it grows stronger the etheric body, the natural protection against astral energy, weakens. If we get some inbalance at some centre the energy can open up a "hole" in the etherical body that could cause real damage to the individual (The door to your house is open, anyone could get in). A fully developed, balanced kundalini is a good protection in itself, but after observing my own problems, together with almost everyone I know with an active spleen chakra (they are not many) I would say this is something to think about. Not experimenting to much always seem to be the sollution to this problem.

A kundalini that rises too quickly can cause overstimulation in the lower chakras, producing for example difficulties to sleep, agression or oversexuality. (I have seen a couple of these cases.) At the worst case the individual could totally lose his mental control, this is not a game. This kind of problem is due to the fact that the lower levels hasn't been cleansed enough, before the opening was forced. Once again, the solution is not to experiment. Instead work on the inner qualities. This cleans up the system, which opens automatically in pace with the cleansing.

This seemingly basic fact is something that many "courseleders", trying to activate peoples kundalini and chakras, seem to have missed. To after that, which I also have seen, recommend meditation to get rid of the problems, is about the same as pouring gasoline on a fire.

M O