Even though I’m a self-admitted hinduphile, and am — at best — a student of traditional ashtanga yoga (yeah, the 8-limbed tree / 8-fold path, not “power yoga”), I’ve never been a big believer of kundalini, that is: the flow of spiritual energy back up the spine; the spine often symbolized as a serpent, and kundalini is that serpent uncoiling itself.
Well, I’m reading “The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita” written by Swami Kriyanada. The book is his retelling of his time listening to Paramhansa Yogananda as that great guru-to-many was writing his own commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.
I just read an interesting passage that basically showed the connection in allegory between the Pandava sons (of the Mahabharata, the great epic) and the 5 chakras / energy centers. It breaks down like this:
| Sahadeva | coccyx center (muladhara) |
| Nakula | sacral center (swadisthana) |
| Arjuna | lumbar center (manipura) |
| Bhima | heart / life-force center (anahata) |
| Yudhisthira | throat (bishuddha) |
I find it so terribly intriguing that Arjuna represents the first of the non-lower chakras. “Lower” here is not a socialized term, to me. There is nothing “low” about the chakras that reside around or near the anus or the sex organs. However, those two chakras do represent the two most common issues people have (in my opinion): feeling grounded / having a base, and their sexual expressiveness. Further, it’s not really those areas that one has issues with, but it’s obsession and attachment to those things.
Anyways, so there Arjuna is seated. At the beginning of the higher path; still unsure of himself and where he is going, as he tends to be and do, but looking upwards, away from the pettiness of attachment.
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