Unifying the Microcosm with the Macrocosm: the Implications of the Spinal Cord in the Development of Religions

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All of Hinduism’s deities are fragments of the same, as is all of creation. To understand this journey of energy through the Chakras, Hinduism tells the tale of Shakti and Shiva. Johari relays the tale as thus:

“The scriptures of Tantra Yoga are dialogues between Shiva, the infinite supreme consciousness, and Shakti, the divine mother, the eternal energy of the supreme consciousness. When Shakti becomes manifest as Shiva’s counterpart to enact his divine lila (sport, play) in time and space, she asks him questions about methods to live in peace and how to use one’s lifetime in a fruitful manner. Knowing that people with only common insight have difficulty in grasping the truth of the sacred (vedic) teachings, Shiva simplifies and modifies them…This simplified version of the sacred teachings was termed Tantra Yoga by the followers of Shakti. In Tantra Yoga the aspirant has to see himself or herself as a microcosm…The journey is not outside buy inside, starting from the Muladhara Chakra, one’s own base, where spiritual energy is dormant and coiled up. The spiritual energy is the divine mother Shakti herself in the form of Kundalini. She is longing for union with her beloved, the supreme Shiva, who is in eternal bliss in the Sahasrara Chakra at the top of the cranium” (Johari 6).

This tale represents the journey of Kundalini, dormant, spiritual energy coiled up at the base of Sushumma channel, through the seven chakras or levels of consciousness to reach and unite with the cosmic consciousness, thus becoming enlightened.

Activation of the Kundalini is done through various exercises and practices, primarily introduced by yoga. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj which means “to unite.” The primary step in yoga in pranayama, which is to control prana in a way that unifies the chakras through the arousal of Kundalini in the root chakra to the crown chakra. Through yoga, unity is made between interior and exterior rhythms; the upper (self/cosmic consciousness) and lower (subconscious) parts of the brain; and the two hemispheres of the brain. Yoga was the first system to transcendentally unify all aspects of the brain and the body, which follows the unity of brain (Johari).

The spinal column is central to the body’s development in science as it is in the religious system of the chakras. In Hinduism, the physical is an extension of the mind. In science, the body is an extension of the brain and spinal column. In the embryonic development of the fetus, the neural plate is the first structure to develop (Inside Pregnancy). In the third week after conception, It begins to fold in on itself and a neural tube is formed. Cells, along with the remaining ectoderm, join to the neural plate and form the neural crest. At the same time, this neural tube begins to form cephalically and caudally, very similar to the path that prana takes on its journey upward through the chakras. It continues to grow like a plant and as it grows, more cells bind to it becoming neuroblasts and spongioblasts, early neurons. More layers are created at the neural crest along with more specialized cells or now, neurons. Sensory neurons are made from the cells binding to the neural crest which turns into the basis for the central nervous system. The neural tube serves as the basis for the development of the spinal cord. As the spinal cord develops so do ventral and dorsal roots that run along the length of it. In week 4, the cephalic neural tube has three enlargements, each being the 3 portions of the brain: forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Cell columns extend from the brain to lengths of the spinal cord and allow for the directive nature of the brain to the spinal cord and outward to the rest of the body (Marino). Could it be possible that the chakras, being different modes of consciousness, could be the foundation for not only the creation of the human spine, which results in the creation of the body, but also the foundation for all of creation? According to those who view the human body as a microcosm, I would have to deduce that the answer is yes.

It is not surprising that when studying the cerebrospinal system of man, much seemed peculiar and different from the rest of the body. The electrical energy supplied to the body from the brain and spine would have seemed remarkably different and holier than the rest of the processes of the body. Their belief in prana correlates greatly to the energy of the nervous system. In Hinduism, it is believed that this energy of the cerebro-spine supplied the rest of the body with spiritual energy and consciousness through the Nadis.

The cardiovascular system was believed to unify life, as it is the heart that gives life to the body, as it is in all other life forms that were capable of being studied by the ancients. They believed that the heart was a universal supplier of life to the body. This is different from their belief that the energy of the spine and brain gave life to the soul; these two are easily mistaken for each other (Palmer).

Finally, the results that one feels when attempting this journey of energy through the chakras, yoga, correlates greatly with the scientific aspects of yoga. It is increasingly becoming evident that yoga plays a part in effecting the endocrine glands of the body, which have a profound effect on the temperaments of the mind. Johari explains that the changes in temperament due to yoga “are understood by neurobiologist as chemical changes produced by the endocrine glands, ductless glands whose secretions mix into the body’s blood stream directly and instantaneously)” (Johari 2). Another yogi states:

“Mahaprajna adds to his understanding of yoga explicit physiological functions that are usually tied to the effects of the subtle body on the hormonal activity of the physiological body. Mahaprajna maintains that the endocrine glands act as the intermediary forces between the subtle body and the physiological body. In other words, the endocrine system gives the subtle body physiological function” (Jain).

In essence, he is saying that the endocrine glands are the means by which the activation of chakras physically expresses itself. He does not attribute the effects solely to the endocrine glands, but as a cause from the chakras. This stimulation of the endocrine glands by practices of yoga are deemed necessary as a part of concentrating the mind into the ways of thinking required to pass through the upper chakras (Jain).

In Hinduism, the chakras make perfect sense as a plausible way to becoming enlightened and rejoining the cosmic consciousness that is Brahman. It is only through the chakras that one can transform his mind and can only do so with the spiritual energy rising up and passing each of the levels of consciousness.