[Advaita-l] some doubts on kundalini...

[Amuthan Arunkumar R]

namo nArAyaNAya!

dear shrI satIsh arigela,

thanks a lot for the references on tantra.  

--- Satish Arigela <satisharigela_at_yahoo_dot_com>
wrote:
> 
> They are probably concepts similar to the pa~ncha
> kosha-s like annamaya kosha.... Anandamaya kosha.
> Surely these kosha-s arent something which can be
> perceived by the physical eye. Likewise the concept
> of
> these various chakra-s I guess.
> 

annamaya kosha can definitely be perceived by our
physical eyes. it is nothing but our own body. the
rest of the kosha-s cannot be 'seen', but they can
only be experienced.

the characteristics of each kosha are clearly
explained in the taittirIya upaniShad. for instance,
for the annamaya kosha, it is taught 'tasyedameva
shiraH. ayaM dakShiNaH pakShaH. ayamuttaraH pakShaH.
ayamAtmA. idam puchChaM pratiShThA.' here, it is
possible to clearly show the head, and the various
parts of the body (which is nourished by food) and
thus clearly define annamaya kosha. 

these kosha-s denote the way we perceive ourselves as
we advance. a laukIka identifies himself with the
annamaya kosha. the penultimate stage (the one before
the stage where our personality vanishes) is that of
one who does yoga/vichAra. this is described when
teaching the nature of vij~nAnamaya kosha as 'tasya
shraddhaiva shiraH. R^itaM dakShinaH pakShaH.
satyamuttaraH pakShaH. yoga AtmA. mahaH puchChaM
pratiShThA.' 

thus, the kosha-s are not some abstract concepts, but
stuff that can be directly experienced. actually, by
default, we experience the annamaya kosha throughout
our waking life. 

but this is not the case with chakra-s. maybe it
requires a lot more effort to understand the existence
of chakra-s. but the question is: how relevant are
they to a vedAntin? for instance, for one following
vedAnta vichAra, the body itself is only an elaborate
fabrication of the mind and it is not necessary to
know the details of the body any further than the fact
that it is asat. thus, the complicated theories about
the existence of chakra-s at various locations of the
body seem unnecessary. 

may be they have some vedAntic interpretations. i'll
do my best to check out the references you have given.
but if anyone knows a vedAntic way of understanding
chakra-s, kundalini etc. please do post that.

vAsudevaH sarvaM,
aparyAptAmR^itaH. 

Amuthan Arunkumar R,
Final year, B.Tech/M.Tech Dual Degree,
Dept. of Aerospace Engg., IIT Madras.

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