Yogashikha Upanishad (critical study)
by Sujatarani Giri | 2015 | 72,044 words
This page relates ‘Kundalini and its Location� of the English study on the Yogashikha Upanishad—a key text from the Krishna Yajurveda, focusing on the pinnacle of Yogic meditation. This essay presents Yoga as a crucial component of ancient Indian philosophy and spirituality and underscores its historical roots in Vedic literature—particularly the Upanishads and Vedant. The chapters of this study are devoted to the faculties of the mind and internal body mechanisms such as Chakras as well as the awakening of Kundalini.
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Part 1.1 - ṇḍī and its Location
In the ū lies aspects the great Goddess ṇḍ, who is the energy of the self. She has the form of a serpent having three and a half coils.[1] Health is said to be the gift of ṇḍnī. ṇḍī is the mother of joy, of sweet rest of sleep, of faith, of wisdom. ṇḍī is the queen and guide of lives that breath, i.e. of all verte-breath animals. According to Ჹṻⲹ-yoga-徱辱, the ṇḍnī is said to be lying dormant guarding the opening of the passage that leads to the seat of Brahma. This seat is said to be the Brahma-randhra, that is the cavity of the brain.[2]
The Yoga-ṇḍnī 貹Ծṣa and the ղ 貹Ծṣa is given the location of ṇḍnī is the same. The description given by the ղ 貹Ծṣa. In the space between the and the genital organ is the triangular ū. And that is the refulgent abode of Lord Ś in the form of semen. That is the place where the ṇḍnī the ultimate energy is established. This ṇḍnī is the progenitor of the air, which stimulates the fire. This ṇḍnī also produces semen, stimulates sound (岹) produces the breathing process (exhale and inhale). It is also the cause of the mind.
The six (plexuses) viz, ū etc. are said to be the places of this śپ, i.e. ṇḍnī. Above the throat and upto the head is states to be the place of Ś.[3]
According to Ś Saṃhitā�
There is a four ṅgܱ (about 3� (ft)-4� (ft) wide base lotus ( padma) in the space which is two ṅgܱ (1 ½�) above the and two ṅgܱs below the genital organ. In the pericarp of this lotus is the yoni (womb) which is beautiful and triangular. There resides the great Goddess ṇḍnī, which is of the form of a streak of lighting. It has three and a half coils (like a serpent) and is blocking the way to ṣuṇ� ḍ�. This Goddess of speech, which can not be described in words, it always engaged in construction, being the very incarnate of the creation of the universe. The God ever and always, bow before her.[4]
But the ۴DzśDZ貹Ծṣa locates ṇḍnī there above the ṇḍ, the moral being the mid point of the ṇḍ which is about 7�-8� above the ū.[5] Some other 貹Ծṣa also locate it there.
Location and Description of the ṇḍ:
According to ۴DzśDZ貹Ծṣa ṇḍnī is said to be the sleeping above the ṇḍ and the shape of the ṇḍnī between these points has been described as being like a serpent. To understand the exact extent of this ṇḍnī, we must locate the position of the �ṇḍ� in the body. Different authors have given slightly different locations to this �ṇḍ�, but they all agree in this that, it is placed in the agree in this that, it is placed in the lower part of the body above the and that its size is about four ṅgܱ i.e. about 3 inches in length and an equal number of inches in breadth; that it has the shape of a leaf or triangle or that of a birds egg, broad above and narrow below and that it is covered with a soft, filmsy, plaited white cloth.
Though the different Yoga manuals have given different wordings for the location of ṇḍ, yet they agree as to its root which is a point between the naval and the penis.
This ṇḍ is also called ū-ṇḍ or ū, that is the root-bulb or root-support, probably of the ܻ岹ṇḍ. This ū is said to be the receptacle of a plexus or a cakra called ū cakra; it is also said to form the posterior boundary of the Dzī; perineum. The soft white plaited cloth with which it is said to be covered.
The ḍi are emanate from the bulb i.e. ṇḍ. There itself is located the wheel of the ḍi, which has twelve spokes, and it is there that the ṇḍī is situated and this ṇḍī is the sustainer the mainstay of the body.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
�Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā III-49.
[3]:
ղ� 貹Ծṣa-V-50-53.
[4]:
Śi. Sa�.-II-21 to 24�.