The serpent
represents the cosmic force in Siva, the Supreme Yogi. According to Raja Yoga there runs
through the spinal chord of man, a canal, called Sushumna, at the base of which is a
plexus called Mooladhara and at the crown in the brain another called Sahasrara, thousand-
petalled lotus. In the Mooladhara is, stored the cosmic energy, one infinitesimal fraction
of which is distributed through the body by the sensory and motor nerves through the Ida
and the Pingala Nadis on either side of Sushumna. This
canal, though existing in all animals, is closed except in the Yogi. He dispenses with the
aid of the sensory and motor nerves and opens the canal and sends through it all mental
currents, makes the body a signatic battery of the Will and raises the vast coiled-up
power from the basic plexus to the thousand-petalled lotus in the brain, i.e., from
Mooladhara to Sahasrara. |