Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsRudimentary! Not well explained and no coverage of the technical aspects of Kundalini which is very much required for a beginner
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 20 February 2017
For someone like me, who is reading the book Serpent Power by Arthur Avalon, Kundalini: An Untold Story is very childish and immaturely written. Its like a flyer on Kundalini.
As I flipped the pages, in the chapter "Five elements of Chakra Meditation" the author mentions "...the various letters on each petal have no role. The quality, intensity and duration of concentration are the only real factors." and after flipping two pages I found "...The sacred syllable of each mantra is a potent seed of energy." It is clear that the author is contradicting his own statement. Then, the author mentions "..you can't do visualization and mantra at the same time." This is ridiculous! In fact, it is fruitful to visualize the form of Gods and Goddesses(Color in this case) and repeat a mantra belonging to that deity. In that way, your mind is concentrated on the diety.
Again, I found "Start from the root chakra and keep progressing one step at a time." Very little is written about the Mooladhara Chakra, which is the most important and the most difficult to conquer. He has not mentioned the dangers of the 'hissing serpent' rising from the Mooladhara Chakra. There are cases where people have gone mad! One needs a guru. When the Shakti rises, the body needs to be strong to hold the rising power, hence the asanas and the bandhas. Else, you will only gain a limited power and be satisfied with it all life thinking you've conquered the self!
As the text passes, the author touches the topic of sex and exemplifies Lord Krishna for Divya Bhava. Have you heard of any of the true yogis like Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Paramahamsa Yoganananda, Sri Yukteshwar Giri and Sri Aurobindo indulge in romance or animal acts? Perhaps the relation between Lord Krishna and the Gopis is the most misunderstood of all the relationships on Earth. Where there's purity, there no sex. Period! These animal instincts must be overcome else we'll always be stuck in the Slough of Despond.
In the Sahasrara Chakra chapter, the author begins with, "...The word Sahasra means multifold, literally for one thousand." Then after flipping couple of pages you'll find "...The word thousand in this verse is meant to signify not strictly one thousand but a large number." Which verse? There's no verse mentioned in the book before or after. Contradictory statement! Eh?
To summarize, the title is cleverly crafted and the author touches the rudimentary information about the Kundalini Shakti. Its just the tip of the iceberg! He misses to emphasize on the most important point, that is, the dangers of Kundalini, the tantra sadhana. Awakening Kundalini Shakti is not just reading some book, sitting cross-legged and concentrating on a certain chakra for a lengthy period period of time. Certainly not for an average guy! There must be some preparations made beforehand! Even a simple meditation technique such as Pranayam has many hidden dangers. It is clearly mentioned in the book Lights on Pranayama by Sri B K S Iyengar, a guru of Pranayama
If you want to know about Kundalini Power in detail, I'd suggest Serpent Power by Arthur Avalon. The technical details are very well mentioned and clearly explained. After all, what power will you meditate on, if you don't know in total what it is! :-)
