It is interesting to see the link between the yogic symbolization of kundalini and the ancient Greek myth of Asklepius. In tantric texts kundalini is conceived as the primal power or energy illustrated as a sleeping serpent in mooladhara (base) chakra.The serpent has always been a symbol of efficient consciousness.
In the traditional descriptions of kundalini it is said that kundalini resides in the mooladhara chakra in the form of a coiled snake and when the snake awakens (through yogic techniques) it uncoils and shoots up through sushumna, the central nandi that flows inside the central canal of the spinal cord awakening all the chakras, one after the other.
When total awakening occurs, when kundalini reaches the sahasrara (top) chakra, man becomes a junior God, embodiment of the divine. The concept of kundalini is represented in Indian culture by the symbol of shivalingam, the oval-shaped stone or pillar with a snake coiled around it. Asclepius, the great Healer in Greek mythology is depicted holding a staff with his sacred single serpent coiled around it. Asclepius was the son of god Apollo and the nymph, Coronis. While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis secretly took a second, mortal lover. When Apollo found out, he sent Artemis to kill her. While burning on the funeral pure, Apollo felt pity and rescued the unburned child from the corpse. Asclepius was taught about the occult serpent knowledge of kundalini by the centaur Cheiron. Cheiron also taught him about medicine and healing and Asclepius became so skilled that he succeeded in bringing one of his patients back from the dead. Zeus felt that the immortality of Gods was threatened and killed the healer with a thunderbolt. At Apollo’s request, Asclepius was placed among the stars as Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer.
All the ancient myths of any culture are run through by the secret universal wisdom, we can also find another correspondence of kundalini's symbolism in the story of Tiresias. When Tiresias –the ancient Greek seer found two copulating snakes, he separated them by sticking his staff between them. Immediately he was turned into a woman, and remained so for seven years, until he was able to repeat his action and change back into a male.
The transformation power in this story, strong enough to completely reverse even physical polarities of male and female, comes from the union of the two serpents, passed on by the wand. Tiresias’ staff, complete with serpents, was later passed on to Hermes. Many medical organizations use the ancient Greek symbol called ''Karykeion'' of Hermes, the Greek god and the messenger of all gods. In occult Hermetic philosophy the Caduceus of Hermes represents the potentiality of the masculine, as a central phallic rod surrounded by the writhing, woven Shakti energies of two coupling serpents. The rod also represents the spine (sushumna) while the serpents conduct spiritual currents (pranas) along the inda and pingala channels in a double helix pattern from the chakra at the base of the spine up to the pineal gland.
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