Chakra, Kundalini, Folk Tales and Renaissance Art By Swami Anandakapila Saraswati (Dr.Jonn Mumford) The basic psychic anatomical Tantric map of humans has been eagerly espoused in the West. Many people believe this is a unique and new perspective. However this knowledge exists in the collective worldwide unconscious, probably since the inception of Homo Sapiens. The Seven Chakras and their associated major three channels are a transcultural phenomenon that shows up everywhere. Photo courtesy of Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry South India. February 2002 Ananda Ashram conducts 6 month intensive Yoga Teacher Training Courses based on the Rishi culture teaching of the late Guru Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri. Contact Details: Contacts may be made through Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani MBBS, ICYER, Tamil Nadu, 605104, email abb@doctor.com Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani MBBS 25, 2nd cross, Iyyanar Nagar Pondicherry - 605 013 Tel; 0413 622902/241561 Let us start with the main, or central pillar, Sushumna, an Etheric counterpart of the spinal column, which houses a bowel of fire (the Kunda) together with a female force ("Kundalini") tending it disguised as a coiled serpent. When Kundalini awakens, the quiescent cosmic fire erupts up the Sushumna, rather like a chimney fire into the heavenly crucible. This receptacle, at the microcosmic level, physically manifests as the Skull Chalice. Two subsidiary channels exist on either side of the Sushumna, the left hand tube of lunar energy called “Ida”, and the right hand pipe of ”Pingala” conveying solar force. Through the European tradition of story telling evolved the sanitized Fairy tale of "Cinderella": 'Cinderella', the lady of the 'cinders' obediently serves by the fireplace at the command of her two stepsisters - who, (Dr Swami Gitananda Giri maintained) in the original German, were called 'Ida' and 'Pinga'. I will leave you to contemplate the rest as 'Cinderella' meets the prince and awakens to her full potential as "Kundalini". When we turn our attention to the 7 chakras, the universal motif of hidden centers deep within us turns up again in folklore. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a wonderful paradigm of "Chakra and Kundalini". You can guess who 'Snow White' really is, who under the good auspices of her kind stepmother, was awakened by Shiva. Shiva disguised as the "prince" who pushes his way through the tamasic brambles to discover her. This universal allegory, as evident in the parallel “Sleeping Beauty” has fascinated Freudian analysts who interpret the overgrown “bramble bushes” as “pubic hair”, implying both emergence from pre-pubescence and a much more literal “kiss of consciousness” than exists in versions suitable for bedtime reading. The “Seven Dwarfs” (Seven Chakras), of course, work busily away in subterranean depths, getting about their work, regardless of the attention or non-attention we give them. A particular artist that fascinates me is the 'Leonardo' of Germany, Albrecht Durer, (1471-1528). This genius was the first commercial artist in history who immediately realized the significance of the "Black Art" with the invention of the Guttenberg Press and the potential therein to distribute his engravings and woodcuts across Europe. Notice the central Tree Trunk (reminiscent of Sushumna) Eve to the left (Ida?) Adam to the right (Pingala) and the Serpent half way up the trunk (Kundalini awakening?) all frozen into the moment before "awakening" of consciousness to 'Good and Evil". The cluster of animals represents the medieval personality typology of the Four humors, or temperaments, aligned with the elements i.e. · The Melancholic Elk symbolizing Earth (Muladhara Chakra?) · The Phlegmatic, clumsy Ox representing Water (Swadhishthana Chakra?), · The fiery Choleric Cat (Manipura Chakra?) · The fleet Rabbit incarnating the principle Air and the restless Sanguine (Anahata Chakra?) character. (see"Magical Tattwas" (Llewellyn Publications, USA, 1997) 'The Five Elements', Chapter One, for a full discussion of personality typology and the elements) During the 1950's, when I was studying with Yogamaharishi Dr Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj (Mahasamadhi Dec 29^th, 1993 ), he frequently made the analogy of Christ on the cross with the thieves to Christ's right and left as representing Pingala, Sushumna and Ida. Pingala (Solar heating energy) and Ida (Lunar cooling Energy), in his view, represented channels, which "steal" energy that could be channeled into Sushumna (the Crux) thus achieving "Krishna ('Christ') Consciousness". I did not take this analogy seriously until I encountered Albrecht Durer's Crucifixion depiction while working on my Magnum Opus, "A Chakra & Kundalini Workbook". I immediately included Albrecht Durer's portrayal in my book and commented: Allegorically, Sushumna is said to represent the channel of "Christ Consciousness" in us all which is kept vacant or "crucified," by the emotions running rampant in Ida and Pingala (the two thieves hanging on either side of the crucified Christ). Albrecht Durer, generally acknowledged as the greatest of German Renaissance artists, has a magnificent portrayal of the Crucifixion, with the thieves hanging on either side of Christ. The Sun (Pingala) is above the thief on the right, while the Moon (Ida) crowns the thief hanging to the left." (A Chakra & Kundalini Workbook, 4^th Edition, Page 75, Llewellyn Worldwide, USA.) A later woodcut by Albrecht Durer carries the theme further in a way that would be instantly interpreted by a Tantric as a true substantiation. The thieves have been transformed into angels (with the Sun and the Moon still hovering over their heads). collecting the precious blood from the dying Christos in the throes of illumination I am not suggesting Albrecht Durer consciously understood the concept of Chakras and Kundalini; however, I am suggesting the pattern is ingrained into the Collective Unconscious of all humans. From a Tantric viewpoint, the angels are the transmuted channels of Ida and Pingala now positively serving the Sushumna energy. Sushumna is transmitting the Kundalini into the Sahasrara (hence the radiation from Christ's head) while Ida and Pingala recycle the Ojas or fine prana, catching the blood in chalices. As startling as this image may be, and as unusual as you may find my interpretation, we must remember that Albrecht Durer, and his contemporaries, were deeply imbued with the Alchemical symbology and Neo-Platonism bursting upon the renaissance dawn of the 16^th century. My insights are sourced from Tantric Tradition and examining the original folk tales upon which the famous "Grimes" versions were based, we discover a much less 'antiseptic' world in which real issues of being a human incarnate are explicitly depicted. (For a wonderful analysis of the universal messages within "fairy tales" peruse Professor Samuel Denis Forhr's "Cinderella's Gold Slipper". Dr. Forhr is a professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and his approach is more from a Vedantic and Samkhya viewpoint while my approach is a Tantric perspective.) Cinderella's wicked stepsisters, in the original 1800 manuscript, were punished with having their eyes pecked out by pigeons. This is the transmutation of Ida and Pingala in which the lure of the outer world is 'blinded' (forced 'Pratyahara' or sensory withdrawal) so that the inner alchemical work of Kundalini uniting with Shiva may take place within an interior space. Ida and Pingala no longer dissipate energies into the material 'earth' but rather extract the gold of 'realization'. A TRANSCULTURAL ALCHEMICAL ALLEGORY "At the base of the spinal cord (Sushumna) is the conus medullaris: an inverted witch's hat containing a cone of astral power. Here sleeps Shakti (Sleeping Beauty) awaiting Shiva (Prince Charming). Shiva's kiss of consciousness can release her from trance, allowing them to ascend into the medulla oblongata ('oblong cube' or Mason's "Ashlar"). They consummate within the cranial nuptial chamber, termed by anatomists "thalamus" (Greek for "bed chamber"). Shakti is a widow (Isis)' a virgin (Snow White - served by the seven chakras, "dwarfed" in the unawakened). She is the bride Cinderella (i.e., "Lady of the Cinders") whose latent alchemical fire is tended at the fireplace (Kunda), ever ready to ignite as Kundalini blazing up the chimney (Sushumna). She is the lady of the lake, constantly bathing her hair (cauda equina) in a cistern of alchemical water (cerebrospinal fluid), and one day she will thrust up Excalibur to be received by Arthur. This is both a reference to the ancient Vedic horse sacrifice and the secret contractions of the Yogi. Shakti is a widow, a virgin, and a bride but also a wife, mother, and divorcee: humankind has forgotten the Athanor within the sacred sacrum foundation of the body temple. This microcosmic furnace extracts gold from sulphur, silver from mercury, unites (yokes) the sun and the moon, the red rose and white rose, distills the tincture from the principles, the quintessence from the elements, and gently heats the "Philosophers Egg" within the alembic of the skull, ultimately manifesting the Lapis Philosophorum." (A Chakra & Kundalini Workbook, 4^th Edition, Page 82-83, Llewellyn Worldwide, USA.) Folk tales and Art express perennial themes concerning the mystery of the dance between matter (mater) and energy (élan), Shakti and Shiva, Purusha (consciousness) and Prakrit (manifestation). This thread of continuity is not something noticed just by moderns and indeed it represented a source of fascination for 19^th century Scholars: Consider the following plates, depicting the wonder of divinized mother, eternal virgin and child as an ineffable tribute to the sacredness of the Goddess. The plates respectively display graphic art of Egyptian, Indian and European civilizations. They are all extracted from a wonderful volume in my research -a gift from Umeshanand and Veenanand in New York, USA. Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Exposed And Explained by Thomas Inman, M.D. (London) Trubner & Co.: 1874 Great Art and great Literature cannot exist without eulogizing or divinizing the awe that is Shakti, Kundalini or, as Goethe expressed it, "The eternal feminine". Quite literally "Shiva without Shakti is a corpse (Shava) " "this is taken from a photograph of a small bronze image in the Mayer collection of the free Museum, in Liverpool. The figure stands about nine inches high, and represents Isis, Horus, and the fish. It is an apt illustration of an ancient custom, still prevalent amongst certain Christians of reverencing a woman, said to be a virgin, giving suck to her child, and of the association Isis, Venus and Mary with the fish. Friday, for example, is with the Romanists both "fish day", and "dies veneris." Fish are known to be extraordinarily prolific." Page 1: Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Exposed And Explained by Thomas Inman, M.D. (London) Trubner & Co.: 1874 "Plate XIV is a copy of a small Hindoo statuette in the Mayer Collection in the Free Museum, Liverpool. It probably represents Parvati, the Hindoo virgin, and her child. The right hand of the figure makes the symbol of the yoni with the forefinger and thumb, the rest of the fingers typifying the triad. In the palm and on the navel is a lozenge, emblematic of woman. The child, perhaps Crishna, equivalent to the Egyptian Horus and the Christian Jesus, bears in its hand one of the many emblems of the linga, and stands upon a lotus. The monkey introduced into the group plays the same part as the cat, cow, lioness, and ape in the Egyptian mythology, being emblematic of that desire which eventuates in the production of offspring." Page 18: Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Exposed And Explained by Thomas Inman, M.D. (London) Trubner & Co.: 1874 "Plate V is a copy of a mediaeval Virgin and Child, as painted in Della Robbia ware in the south Kensington Museum, a copy of which was given to me by my friend, Mr. Newton, to whose kindness I am indebted for many illustrations of ancient Christian art. It represents the Virgin and Child precisely as she used to be represented in Egypt, in India in Assyria, Babylonia, Phoenicia, and Etruria; The accident of dress being of no mythological consequence. In the framework around the group, we recognize the triformed leaf, emblematic of Asher; the grapes, typical of Dionysus; the wheat ears, symbolic of Ceres, L'abricot fendu, the mark of womankind and the pomegranata rimmon, which characterizes the teeming mother. The living group, moreover, are placed in an archway, delta, or door, which is symbolic of the female, like the Vesica Pisces, the oval or the circle. This door is, moreover, surmounted by what appear to be snails, whose supposed virtue we have spoken of under Plate i. ". Page 8: Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Exposed And Explained by Thomas Inman, M.D. (London) Trubner & Co.: 1874 Dr Jonn Mumford drjonnm@ozemail.com.au (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati) Consultations: http://www.jonnmumfordconsult.com/ Swami Anandakapila's OM Kara KriyaT Graduate Teachers http://www.geocities.com/anandakapila/ Swami Anandakapila's Ashram Links http://www.geocities.com/ashramlinks/ Kriya Tantra WebRing: http://S.webring.com/hub?ring=kriyatantra Official OM Kara KriyaT WebRing: http://F.webring.com/hub?ring=officialomkarakr ............................ LINEAGE INFORMATION: Om-Kara KriyaT Net http://www.omkarakriya.net Om-Kara KriyaT Org http://www.omkarakriya.org
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