[Advaita-l] Kundalini as a product of not-yet-understood biol ogy?

[praveen.r.bhat at exgate.tek.com]

praNAm-s all,

(perhaps, changing the subject line was a mistake on my part, but now I'll 
let it be.)

Maheshji,

Most of what I say is my own understanding. Jaldharji would be able to give 
appropriate shruti vAkya-s.

According to advaita, all mArga-s that you talk of are only for chitta
Shuddhi,
they're *means*, not the *goal*, jnAna alone can liberate.

But, IMHO, if you're following multiple paths as your question seems to
suggest, 
apart from adding to definite confusion, it puts things back onto your
*faith*.
In that case, you end up drawing parallels between different mArga-s and
then, 
it may well also be said that no matter what path you follow, it is bound to

purify, indirectly raise the kuNDalini, generate Bhakti, add to knowledge,
etc.

When you say "the heart has its ways which the mind can seldom understand",
mixing 
up paths will also lead to saying: "the mind makes you believe that the
heart has 
its ways, that the mind can seldom understand"!


Maheshji said: 
> In closing, one final question: From what I have read, realization is
> only possible when the Kundalini is raised to the crown chakra or
> Samadhi is achieved. Do you both agree to this? According to
> Praveenji, I understand, Samadhi without Jnana is meaningliess since
> Samadhi is happening all the time but we don't realize it. 

As Raviji said in another thread:
"bhakti, upAsana, aatma vichaara, etc. also awaken the kuNDalini and 
move it up, etc. And it happens automatically without their conscious 
knowledge and control."

Maheshji said:
> But is the
> opposite possible i.e. can there be realization with Jnana alone and
> without Samadhi?

AFAIK, from tripurA rahasya, mere knowledge is not sufficient. But, in
advaitA, 
jnAna is not mere knowledge in modern terms. Being a jnAni would mean
understanding 
the real as a substratum for everything. Having said that, jnAni would
perhaps 
know various samAdhi-s too and then it would be being as known from
"brahmavid 
brahmaiva bhavati".

Sorry, I've also jumped into as many places in trying to reply and my
sincere 
apologies if I've crossed over across the list's scope.

(In closing, I would also like to ask others of what is the position of
tripurA rahasya 
in Shankara advaita vedAnta for my better understanding?)

jai bajrangabali,
--praveeN