Ritual

A manuscript page illustrating
Sakti with Kundalini. Rajasthan,
c. 19th century. Gouache on paper.
152
the brain centre. In most cases the Kundalini may lie dormant all
through one's life time, and an individual may be unaware of its
existence. The closest parallel to this concept in modern terms is
what contemporary behavioural scientists term the gap between
our potential and actual self. According to their findings, the
average individual uses only 10% of his capacities while the greater
part of his potentialities, talents and abilities remain unrealized.
The Kundalini Sakti, however, should not be confused merely
with an individual's creative capacities but should be conceived as a
force which has the potency to awaken an undeniable psychic
power inherent in all of us. No tangible description of the
Kundalini in symbolic or physiological terms will suffice, for it is a
highly potential ultra-subtle vibration which eludes the 'surgeon's
knife'. However elusive its nature, its efficacy can be judged only
by experiencing it and the effect its arousal produces in the human
body.
It is believed that man, within his corporeal frame, embraces all
the subtle planes of the universe; beyond his physical existence
there is a parallel 'etheric-double' which constitutes his subtle
body. The subtle envelopes are related to the gross body at several
psychic points. The numerous etheric channels are known as nadis