Editing Kundalini (section)

== Description ==

[[File:Kundalini serpent in yogin's belly.jpg|thumb|Detail of [[:File:Yogin in meditation chakras kundalini snake.jpg |manuscript painting of a yogi]] in meditation, showing kundalini serpent coiled in belly around [[Sushumna|sushumna nadi]] below [[chakra]]s and the muladhara chakra with its presiding deity [[Ganesha]] above it.]]

According to William F. Williams, kuṇḍalinī is a type of [[religious experience]] within the Hindu tradition, within which it is held to be a kind of "cosmic energy" that accumulates at the base of the [[Vertebral column|spine]].<ref name="ps">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=W. F. |title=Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy  |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vH1EAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT211 |year=2000 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-135-95522-9 |page=211 |chapter=Kundalini}}</ref>

When awakened, kuṇḍalinī is described as rising up from the [[muladhara]] [[chakra]], through the central [[nadis|nadi]] (called ''[[sushumna]]'') inside or alongside the spine reaching the top of the head. The progress of kuṇḍalinī through the different chakras is believed to achieve different levels of awakening and a [[mystical experience]], until Kundalini finally reaches the top of the head, [[Sahasrara]] or crown [[chakra]], producing a profound transformation of consciousness.<ref name="Sarawati">{{cite book |last1=Saraswati |first1=Swami Satyananda |author-link=Sivananda Saraswati |title=Kundalini Tantra |date=1984 |publisher=[[Bihar School of Yoga]] |location=Munger, Bihar, India |isbn=978-8185787152 |pages=34–36|edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|5–6}}

Swami [[Sivananda Saraswati]] of the [[Divine Life Society]] stated in his book ''Kundalini Yoga'' that "Supersensual visions appear before the mental eye of the aspirant, new worlds with indescribable wonders and charms unfold themselves before the Yogi, planes after planes reveal their existence and grandeur to the practitioner and the Yogi gets divine knowledge, power and bliss, in increasing degrees, when Kuṇḍalinī passes through Chakra after Chakra, making them to bloom in all their glory..."<ref name="Swami Sivananda">{{cite book |last=Saraswati |first=Sri Swami Sivananda |title=Kundalini Yoga |date=2010 |publisher=The Divine Life Trust Society |location=Himalayas, India |isbn=978-81-7052-052-8 |page=27 |edition=14th}}</ref>