Activities of the Sushumna 191 



vital force in the Sushumna, for the state of in- 

 creased activity and density and vastly increased 

 velocity is also one of rising temperature. The 

 spinal Sushumnd, which we have now specially to 

 consider, is a hollow canal in the center of the spinal 

 cord. In ordinary persons who are absorbed in 

 trivialities and purely material interests, it is closed 

 at the base, the point of union between the Pin- 

 gala and Ida, where the residual nervous action 

 the memory of sensations is stored in the sacral 

 plexus. This canal is the so-called Occult channel 

 of Prdna, through which, when roused to activity, 

 the coiled-up latent Prdna, or Kundalini, ascends 

 from the sacral plexus to the brain, and striking 

 upon the pituitary body (the will-energizer) stim- 

 ulates it to such activity that it in turn kindles the 

 spiritual fire of the pineal gland. The first hint 

 the student has that he is rousing this slumbering 

 power is a sensation of warmth in the basic plexus 

 the Mulddhdri of the Yogi where it is 

 " coiled-up " ; and as the soul-governed will con- 

 trols Prdna and holds it to the ascent through the 

 canal, the heat increases. 



All aspirations for higher things, all exaltation of 

 prayer and worship, tend to set free a minute por- 

 tion of this Kundalini, the " coiled-up one." Thus, 

 you see, the path to " the Mystic Realm of the 

 Undiscovered " leads through the Sushumnd. We 

 enter it in meditation. Often unknowingly, it is 



