Readers ask Osho Live about kundalini, the chakras and the third eye more than almost any other subject. Osho spoke about them often, and almost always with a warning: kundalini is your own life energy, not a spectacle, and imagining its rise is easier than experiencing it.
The passages below come from his discourses, several of them from Osho Live's own English translations of his Hindi talks.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks on kundalini — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, why is the serpent considered the symbol of Kundalini energy? Please mention all the reasons. The Theosophical emblem shows a circular snake with its tail in its mouth. In the Ramakrishna Mission emblem, the tail touches the serpent’s hood. Please clarify their meanings as well.
The serpent is a very apt symbol for Kundalini—perhaps the best there is. That is why, not only for Kundalini, the serpent as a symbol has traveled far and wide; there is hardly a corner of the world where at some time the serpent has not entered the religion of that place. The serpent has many qualities that harmonize with Kundalini. First, the moment you think of a serpent you think of slithering. And the first experience of Kundalini is the feeling that something has slithered—just as a snake slides. Second, when you think of a serpent you remember it has no legs, yet it moves; it has no visible means of locomotion, no feet, and still it moves. Kundalini too has no feet, no instrument—sheer energy—and yet it travels. Third, when a serpent is resting it sits coiled. When Kundalini is in repose—when our body’s energy has not awakened—it…
Why has the serpent been chosen as a symbol of kundalini? Please explain all the reasons. In the symbol used by theosophy, a coiled serpent with his tail in the mouth is shown. In the symbol of the ramakrishna mission, the tail of the serpent touches the hood. Please explain the meaning of these.
The serpent symbol for the kundalini is very apt and meaningful. Perhaps there is no better symbol than this. Therefore, not only the kundalini but also the serpent has undergone a great many travels in the symbol form. Nowhere in the world is there a religion in which the serpent has not been depicted somewhere. This is because the serpent has many qualities that tally with the kundalini. The very first thing that occurs to the mind at the mention of the serpent is the motion of sliding -- crawling. The very first experience of kundalini is that of something moving within. You feel as if something has moved within -- just as a serpent moves. Another thing that comes to mind with the very notion of a serpent is that it has no legs, yet it moves. It has no means of movement -- it is sheer energy --…
Osho, you also said that this is a method of transformation through extremes. So you take us to the extreme of tension so that the extreme of relaxation becomes available. Then is Kundalini practice a practice of tension?
Absolutely, it is a practice of tension. Absolutely, it is a practice of tension. In fact, any practice of energy will be a practice of tension. Energy itself means tension. Where there is tension, there energy is produced. Just as we have generated such immense energy from the atom—because we put even the subtlest particle under tension; split it into two parts and put both under tension. So the entire practice of energy is a practice of tension. If you understand it rightly, tension itself is energy; what you call tension is energy.
Question: is kundalini a psychic phenomenon?
The obsession with the objective must go. Subjective reality is as real as objective reality, but the moment you conceive of it, you give it a fragrance of your own. You give it a name of your own, you give it a metaphor of your own. And this way of perceiving it is bound to be individual: even if someone experiences the same thing, the records will differ. Even two snakes will differ, because the metaphor has come from two different individuals. So these metaphors -- that the feeling of kundalini is like the movement of a serpent -- are just symbolic, but they correspond with reality. The same movement is there; the subtle movement, just like a snake, is there. The force is there, the golden appearance is there -- and all of this corresponds to the symbol of the snake. So if that symbol is congenial to you,…
Read 8 more passages on kundalini
Question: in the awakening of the kundalini, in the opening of the passage, isn't there an increase in sexual power?
The increase in sexual power and the opening of the kundalini passage are simultaneous -- not the same, but simultaneous. The increase in sexual power will be the thrust to open up the higher centers; so sexual power will increase. If you can be aware of it and not use it sexually -- if you do not allow it to be released sexually -- it will become so intense that the upward movement will begin. First the energy will try its best to be released sexually, because that is its usual outlet, its usual center. So one must first be aware of one's downward "doors." Only awareness will close them; only noncooperation will close them. Sex is not so forceful as we feel it to be. It is forceful only momentarily: it is not a twenty-four-hour affair, it is a momentary challenge. If you can be noncooperative and aware, it…
Osho, I want to be rich, I want a high position, and I want a beautiful woman too. What should I do?
A man once placed an advertisement—meant for people like you: “Send two rupees and learn the formula to become a millionaire overnight.” Now who wouldn’t want to become a millionaire for two rupees! Almost a hundred thousand people sent their money. A week later, everyone who had sent the two rupees received the reply: “Do exactly what I did.” He had indeed become a millionaire overnight! One lakh people sent two rupees each—two lakhs landed in his lap. This is how you’re being duped—through gambling, matka. And it’s not only people who run these scams; governments do it too. Governments that claim to be Gandhian run lotteries! A lottery is gambling—a cheat dressed up nicely. But the greedy get hooked: “Just one rupee for a chance at lakhs. If it comes once, that’s enough…!” But what will you do after getting lakhs? There’s a famous story by Tolstoy: A tailor…
Osho, why do Shankara and you, before telling us to sing the praises of Govinda, always address us as fools?
Edison said, people say I know a great deal. My condition is like that of a small child on the seashore who has gathered a few shells and conches. That is the extent of my knowledge—just a few shells in my fists—while the vast ocean lies there, unknown to me. Your little knowledge seems very big to you! You have lit a small lamp; its flickering light falls a little around you, a small area gets illuminated—and you call this knowledge! And the infinite lies there filled with darkness; you have no awareness of it! When you understand your foolishness, you will say, “Is this knowledge—the flicker of a tiny lamp!” The infinite lies ahead to journey through, to explore, to search—and I, clutching these shells in my hands, am posing as a wise man! Then you will drop even this “knowledge.” And the day you know that you are…
Questioner: is the sadhana or discipline of kundalini psychic or is it spiritual?
It is just spiritual... You know that eating is physical, but if you don't eat, the soul will soon leave your body. So although food goes into the body, yet it is necessary that the body be in a particular state so the soul stays in it. The same way although the kundalini is psychic it is necessary that the kundalini be in a particular state so that you can reach the soul. If the kundalini is not in a particular state, if it is different from what it should be for you, then it is not possible to reach the soul. So although kundalini is psychic, it serves as a stepping stone to the spiritual. It is not spiritual in itself, and if somebody says so he is wrong. If somebody says that eating is spiritual, he is wrong. Eating is physical, but it serves as a base for…
Understand it like this. There is a small child; he knows nothing yet of lust. Lust is hidden in him, but the sex-center has not yet become active. As soon as he becomes mature sexually, the sex-center will become active, and his whole mind, his whole personality, his whole conduct will be filled with lust. Thinking, getting up, sitting, dreaming — lust will surround him. Only one flavor will remain everywhere. What has happened? Such a sudden transformation in the entire personality! Therefore, between fourteen and eighteen, children fall into great restlessness and trouble. They themselves do not understand what is happening. This age between fourteen and eighteen is an age of great restlessness. They can tell no one, and no one tells them anything. So many transformations are occurring within, and their whole consciousness is so badly besieged by lust that nothing else occurs to them.
Osho, in kundalini sadhana there is talk of the ascent and the descent of kundalini—arohan and then avarohan. So this descent—does it mean sinking back into the kund, or is it something else?
In truth, sinking into the kund is neither descending nor ascending. In sinking into the kund, both these notions disappear. It is not going up or coming down; it is dissolving, ending. When a drop falls into the ocean, it neither descends nor ascends. Yes, when a drop dries in the sun’s rays, it ascends toward the sky; and when, cooled in the cloud, it falls to the earth, it descends. But when it reaches the ocean there is no ascending or descending—there is sinking, dissolving, dying. So this talk of going up and coming down—of descent—is meant in quite a different sense. It means that the energy we raise from the kund sometimes has to be sent back to the kund. We do raise this energy, and many times we have to return it as well. There can be many reasons. The chief reason is that often more energy…
As soon as we think of sex, our mind begins to flow toward the genitals. So, the instant the genitals are drawn inward, all the doors leading outward are closed. And the energy that has arisen—if in that moment we close the eyes, and begin to look in such a way as if we are looking within toward the dome of the head—the energy begins to flow upward. With a month’s practice this can bring any person into an unprecedented experience. Whenever the sexual thought arises, at once draw the sex-center, the muladhar, inward; close the eyes and begin to see from within as if looking upward toward the roof of the head. And within a month—within twenty-one days—you will find that within you something has begun to move from below to above. It will be an actual experience that something is flowing upward, something is rising.
The name of the sleeping power at the sex-center is Kundalini. She sleeps coiled, as a serpent sleeps. If she awakens, she rises like a hood all the way up. On some Jina Tirthankara idols you have seen the serpent-hood raised above them. Do not think that some snake came to shelter them, or that such stories were fabricated. Those are symbols—symbols of that power which has uncoiled and whose hood has fully opened, blossomed, and revealed itself above. That coiled power is hidden in each. Its name is life-force. And in all of us she lies asleep at the center of kama, unable to rise above. Whether we become householders or run to be sannyasins, if our consciousness roams around kama—whether for or against—our center remains there; we cannot rise above. To raise it above is a scientific process.
Kundalini in Osho's Words
The threads that run through his discourses on kundalini.
Your Total Potential
Osho describes kundalini not as something exotic but as human energy itself.
As far as human existence is concerned, this energy is kundalini energy. Kundalini is the focused energy of the human body and human psyche. ... Kundalini means your total potential, your total possibility. But it is a seed; it is the potential. The ways to awaken kundalini are ways to make your potential actual.The Psychology of the Esoteric, Chapter 4 →
The Coiled Power
The image of the serpent, explained.
The name of the sleeping power at the sex-center is Kundalini. She sleeps coiled, as a serpent sleeps. If she awakens, she rises like a hood all the way up. ... That coiled power is hidden in each. Its name is life-force.Jeevan Kranti Ke Sutra, Chapter 2 →
Let the Feeling Come First
Osho warns against visualizing chakras and manufacturing experiences.
That is why it is good to proceed in meditation completely unaware of kundalini, of chakras. If you stumble upon them, then it is good. You may come to feel something; only then, ask. You may begin to feel a chakra working, but let the feeling come first.Meditation: The Art of Ecstasy, Chapter 6 →
A Kind of Death
The real danger of awakening, as Osho saw it.
What is the danger? It is also a kind of death. When the inner energy awakens, you—who you were before—will die, and within you a totally new person will be born, one you have never been.Jin Khoja Tin Paiyan, Chapter 1 →
The Third Eye
On the ajna chakra, the point between the eyebrows.
When your life energy comes to rest at the ajna chakra, your entire inner sky is crowned with a radiance. A light spreads. For the first time you are awake. For the first time you attain to meditation. Hence Patanjali called it the ajna chakra.Jin Sutra, Chapter 52 →
Questions Osho Answered on Kundalini
39 questions in the library — the most sought-after:
You feel a clear inside feeling of energy going up from your belly to your head—like warm fire or a snake uncoiling—and you just know it’s happening.
Don’t try to wake the ‘snake power’; you can grow spiritually without it, and forcing it can hurt you.
When kundalini stirs, your sexual urge grows; if you stay watchful and don’t spend it in sex, it rises inside, blossoms into deep joy, and connects you with the whole.
We use a snake to describe Kundalini because it feels and behaves like one—coiled when asleep, sliding up when awake, opening wide at the top, powerful, wise, and...
Kundalini is a real inner energy you feel, not a physical thing, and we use images like snakes or rockets just to describe it.
Kundalini builds power by safely creating inner tension—like pulling back a bowstring so energy can be released.
We use a snake for kundalini because it sleeps curled up, then uncoils and rises by its own energy, and is gentle yet powerful—just like our inner life-force.
It’s a good, helpful practice that wakes up your inner energy so you grow clearer, kinder, and stronger inside.
Frequently Asked
Human life energy itself: your total potential, lying mostly dormant as a seed. The methods of awakening it are ways of making that potential actual.
Osho advised against it. The mind can easily imagine a rising kundalini, so it is better to meditate without thinking about chakras and to ask only after something is actually felt.
Osho said the danger is a kind of death: the person you were dies and a new one is born. He treated it as a profound transformation, not a technique to play with.