As Joseph Campbell documents in his book The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, the force that the Tantras call Kundalini has been represented as a ser pent in many world cultures, including the Sumerian, Chinese, ancient Irish, Aztec and Greek (the caduceus). Images of Kundalini as the Serpent Power predominantly reflect Her power of possessiveness, of Maya. Indian cosmology describes seven netherworlds beneath the surface of the earth in which dwell asuras (the “selfish” or “jealous” gods) and nagas (semi-divine snake beings). In the microcosm the ‘surface of the earth’ is the Muladhara Chakra; ‘dwelling beneath the earth’s surface’ means living wholly in objec tive reality, within the realm of Maya, which is the skin of the universe.
So long as aharnkara predominates within you, Kundalini exists for you as a snake. After Kundalini has been awakened and controlled, the once deadly snake turns protector. Vimalananda explains:
“Snakes are usually poisonous, and as long as your ego, which is a frag ment of the Kundalini Shakti, self-identifies with your body and your lim ited personality you will be full of the poison of the samsara, which is the poison of selfishness. Once Kundalini frees herself of all limitations, that poison is transmuted into Amrita, the nectar of immortality. The Jain reli gion talks about Twenty-Four Tirthankaras, or ‘Ford-Makers.’ A Tirthankara is one whose Kundalini has successfully passed through all Six Chakras (24 = 2 + 4), who learned how to ford the river of samsara, to pass over from imperfection to perfection, the other shore of existence.
“In Jain iconography some Tirthankaras are always represented with a ser pent hooding their heads. That serpent is a symbol for Kundalini, the Ser pent Power, and the fact that it is above their heads shows that their Kundalinis have entered the Sahasrara. The serpent acts as an umbrella for the Tirthankara; here, an umbrella indicates protection. Such beings are protected from pollution by reason of their fully awakened Kundalinis. The snake above the head of the Tirthankara has filled that Tirthankara with Amrita, and if you follow him you can obtain that same Amrita, as well as the bliss of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Sometimes you see Buddha depicted with a snake as well; the meaning is the same. And Vishnu, of course, sleeps on Shesha Naga, the Cosmic Serpent.
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KUNDALINI
Although the snake is regarded as demonic in the mainline Judeo-Chris tian tradition, the Gnostics believed that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was trying to free Adam and Eve from bondage to a limited world-god and to give them knowledge of the Absolute. Vimalananda, who refused to entertain the concept of Original Sin, also regarded the story of Adam and Eve as a Kundalini myth, a representation of the descent of consciousness into matter. Because Kundalini’s self-identification with matter is essential for embodied life, Vimalananda argued that Adam and Eve first had to leave the Garden of Eden that they might eventually consciously return to the perfected state.
Jesus Himself used snake imagery when in conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:14) He likened Himself to the serpent of bronze elevated by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:5-9), and Campbell’s book reproduces a striking image, possibly originating from the ‘ophitic’ tradition (ophis = ser pent in Greek), of Christ-as-Serpent on the cross flanked by the two thieves. It does not seem unreasonable to draw a parallel between this image and that of Sushumna, filled with Shakti, flanked by the Chandra and Surya Nadis.
Another implication of Kundalini as serpent: as long as She sleeps, you and your temporary personality can remain ignorant and healthy, but once you rouse Her from Her slumber you must either digest Her venom or die; there is no other alternative. Only if you are ready for such a jolt, as Moses was, will you survive Her. In Biblical times it is said that a priest would enter the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem once yearly, bells on the hem of his robe and a rope tied around one leg. An unconsecrated priest would not survive; the bells would testify to this calamity, and his body would then be dragged out with the rope. Some would say that God killed him, when in fact he had killed himself by pouring God’s Shakti into his unprepared nervous system.