What is kundalini?

Kundalini is the power of coherent awareness, which moves snake like; hence called the SERPENT POWER. It is spontaneous, unpremeditated, subconsciously motivated action. It has its own laws of working. It can defy gravity easily. It is life itself, which possess awareness.

That it can defy gravity is very easy to see. When you get up from the chair, your center of gravity goes up, against gravity. All life exhibits this property. The closest examples I can think of to describe the power of Kundalini are the following:

 Have you seen the movie called ABYSS? If not see it. In the deep down of the ocean, the movie visualizes a coherent wave of water. This water mass, moving snake like, is fully aware. It is intelligent, conscious. It can understand, imitate and make faces. It is loving and compassionate. If approached with violence or hate, it lashes out with tremendous disruptive force. It can raise against gravity. it is capable of breathing life into a dead person and give the most delightful of visionary experiences. Its harmony is, to put it mildly, unbelievable. The supreme harmony stems from its coherence.

 The second example I can cite is the not so familiar quantum fluid-liquid Helium II. Forming at very very low temperatures almost close to absolute zero degrees Kelvin, it stems from the NON-LOCAL nature of the wave function of the Helium atom. Hence it tends to de-localize, spread, overlapping other atoms. It is almost as if its love expanded to include all its neighbors. At low temperatures where disorder is low, the combined wave function exhibits coherence. It climbs up the walls of its container, defying gravity, almost like a conscious being. Super conductivity is also a similar phenomenon, which I won't describe here.

 The third example I can think of is the familiar laser beam. One light quantum stimulates another to be in step with it. Preserving the integrity of the wave is the essence of the laser beam. Here again the coherence comes through the harmony of the individual light quanta working together.

The fourth example is that of Holography. A hologram is formed when every element of it contains in it the information about the whole picture. 

 When we look at all these examples, one point becomes clear. Coherence is the HARMONIOUS WORKING OF INDIVIDUALS, AN EXPRESSION OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY. It comes about by merging: taking a little of the individual and mixing with every other's little, allowing the whole to work as a single entity rather than a mere sum of parts. It does not demand individuality to be destroyed; yet it assumes its tremendous impact by group harmony. Individual letters group into words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, etc. Each letter has not lost its individuality, but they are able to convey a message which they are unable to do if they were disordered. A misplaced letter causes confusion. COHERENCE IS THE MOVEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL TO THE HARMONIOUS GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS. Each one does exactly what is right. The notion of right and wrong is then simply definable as coherent or disruptive action.

Coherent, purposive behavior, not unbridled, random disruptive behaviors; that then is the life giving, life affirming, life enjoying power of Kundalini. It forces an individual in a group to behave as a harmonious member of the group. It demonstrates that whenever there is unity in diversity, the beginnings of life is there. Life is an organization. Kundalini is the discipline that preserves the freedom of the GROUP; it forbids action that disturbs harmony, but preserves total right to purposive, coherent, joyful action. Kundalini is life itself. It wins life from the random disorder of chaos.

When you function as an individual, you cannot harness much power. When you function as a coherent group, your arms are multiplied, so you can do more; you eyes are multiplied, so you can see more; your feet are multiplied, so you can cover more ground; your minds are multiplied, so you can think more; your capacity to act is multiplied, so you can achieve more. Coherent knowing, coherent doing in the harmony of a continuum of goals has this power. we will close for now with this following example:

Have you been to Puttaparthy? When Swami comes, Sai Ram, there is a hushed silence falling over a crowd, even it is a 100,000 strong. All minds are still, all are concentrated on looking at Swami. No doubt, some small ripples of thought arise, like, for example, "I want Swami to look at me." They pass without causing incoherence. This is the miracle of group Kundalini, all tuned by the trigger, Sai Ram. All satsangs, bhajans are the tuning process for the family of Sai devotees to happen. So, if Sai, meaning the assembly, expresses a wish to build a hospital, 50 Crore Rupees pour in from a million Sai Ram. That is Kundalini working.
Amritananda