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THE LAMB, THE HERO, AND THE MAN GOD transcended, and the state of the yogi becomes that of nirvikalpa samādhi: realization of the identity of Ātman with the Brahman “beyond all limitations” (nirvikalpa), where both the subject and its highest object are annihilate.63
"There is one simple test whether the sakti (= kundalini) is actually aroused,” writes Sir John Woodroffe. "When she is aroused intense heat is felt at that spot, but when she leaves a particular center the part so left becomes as cold and apparently lifcless as a corpse. The progress upwards may thus be externally verified by others. When the Sakti (Power) has reached the upper brain (sahasrūra) the whole body is cold and corpselike; cxcept the top of the skull, where some warmth is felt, this being the place where the static and kinetic aspects of Consciousness unite.” 64
"Sometimes the Spiritual Current rises through the spine, crawling like an ant,” Rāmakrishna told a circle of his intimate friends. "Sometimes, in samadhi, the soul swims joyfully in the occan of divine ecstasy, like a fish. Sometimes, when I lie down on my side, I feel the Spiritual Current pushing me like a monkey and playing with me joyfully. I remain still. That Current, like a monkey, suddenly with one jump reaches the Sahasrāra. That is why you see me jump up with a start.
"Sometimes, again, the Spiritual Current rises like a bird hopping from one branch to another. The place where it rests feels like fire. It may hop from Muladhāra to Svādhisthāna, from Svādhisthāna to the heart, and thus gradually to the head. Somnetimes the Spiritual Current moves up like a snake. Going in a zigzag way, at last it reaches the head and I go into samadhi.
"A man's spritual consciousness is not awakened unless his Kundalini is aroused. The Kundalini dwells in the Mūlādhāra. When it is aroused, it passes along the Suşumņa nerve, goes through the centers of Svādișțhāna, Manipūra, and so on, and at
68 Cf. supra, pp. 436-437. B4 Avalon, The Serpent Power, pp. 21-22.
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