Kundalini.Tantra.by.Satyananda.Saraswati

Swami Vivekananda: This basic sexual energy that Gopi Krishna has written about is
actually the sattvic or subtle essence which can be perceived when the consciousness
becomes very sensitive. This is the essence of the kundalini experience, the sublimation
of sexual energy, the basic life force which is the source of all generation, regeneration
and reproduction. Gopi Krishna felt that what he was seeing was semen being converted
into energy and distributing itself throughout the body. I feel that what he was perceiving
was a clairvoyant view of energy given off by the simple nerve fibers in those organs he
was talking about. But he identified it as semen because that is what is written in the
scriptures. I do not know what women are supposed to have, he did not mention that and
I do not think the scriptures do either. I sometimes have a funny feeling that women did
not exist until about 20 years ago.
Swami Nischalananda: The Hatha Toga Pradipika and certain tantric texts do talk
about women, however, generally that side has been neglected. According to yoga the
sexual energy in men and women is sublimated and transmuted into the ascent of the
kundalini. The starting point, the trigger, is mooladhara. For some reason, the Buddhists
say that the ascent commences at manipura, not mooladhara. How is it that the
enlightened Buddha completely bypassed the two lower chakras? Actually the whole
concept of where kundalini lies is a matter of experience. I don't think that Buddha
actually said that kundalini starts in manipura; more likely he stated that real spiritual
evolution starts from manipura. Swamiji has said many times that only when the
kundalini reaches manipura is it stabilized. It starts in mooladhara but stabilizes in
manipura.
I think this apparent discrepancy comes because of the philosophy of Buddha who
was a gyani, and he didn't get much into kundalini yoga. Vajrayana, on the other hand,
which was an offshoot of Buddhism at a later date, is very much concerned with
mooladhara. But let us get back to the functioning of mooladhara.
Swami Shankardevananda: Mooladhara chakra has two basic modes of function, one
is energy depleted and the other is energy activated. Within that system there is a sick and
a healthy mooladhara. What are the symptoms of these different states of mooladhara
chakra? It is simple - you are either sick or healthy, balanced or unbalanced. If you are
unbalanced you are going to have ida over or under active or pingala over or under
active. You are going to have physical and mental symptoms, fear, insecurity and all
those things. Freud said that everyone who denies mooladhara becomes constipated and
hoards money. Every miser is constipated. These symptoms may be mild or very
extreme. In the fully awakened state they are either going to rip you to pieces or take you
to a higher awareness. So what is the basic quality of a well functioning mooladhara
chakra?
Swami Vivekananda: Renunciation.
Swami Shankardevananda: We can say that security and renunciation are
interchangeable in the mooladhara system. We can say that in this chakra basic security is