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Chakras and Kundalini

Chakras and Kundalini Explained — Awakening Energy the Safe and Traditional Way

Quick answer: Chakras are energy centres described in Tantra and Hatha Yoga along the spine, from the base to the crown. Kundalini is the dormant potential energy, pictured as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine, that is said to rise through the central channel (Sushumna) when practice, purification and grace come together. These are subtle-body concepts, not physical organs. Where do the ideas of chakras and Kundalini come from? They come from the Tantric and Hatha Yoga traditions, in texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and the Kundalini Upanishad. The seven-chakra picture most people know today was shaped by the Sat-Chakra-Nirupana, a 16th-century Tantric text by Purnananda, which Sir John Woodroffe translated as The Serpent Power in 1919. Older texts...

Atman and Brahman

Atman and Brahman — Who Am I Beyond the Body and Mind?

Quick answer: Atman is your innermost Self, the unchanging witness within. Brahman is the infinite reality behind everything. The Upanishads declare that the two are one, in the famous words Tat Tvam Asi, “You are That” (Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7). Yoga is the practice of removing whatever hides this truth. Where does the question “Who am I?” come from? Every seeker reaches it sooner or later. You can name your body, your job, your family and your thoughts, and still feel that none of these is quite you. In the Himalayan forests, the rishis asked this very question, and the Upanishads are the record of what they found. In modern times sages like Ramana Maharshi made the question itself the practice: simply keep asking, “Who am I?” The teaching...