Sahaja and the ascending Kundalini

The origins of the word Sahaja are buried in the midst of time. By the time Kabir began using the word in his Hindi songs/poems in the fifteenth century, Sahaja had been in use amongst the mystics of northern India for at least seven hundred years, and most probably much longer.

The Sahajiya Buddhists emerged in Bengal in eastern India somewhere between the 8th and 10th centuries. Saraha, Kanha, Bhusuka, Lui, Tio, and others are known today only through their dohas and caryas (short songs), written in a now defunct language, Apabrahmsa, and in old Bengali. Many of the themes used in their songs can also be found in the work of the later saints such as Kabir , Dadu and Sundardas . Also in the verses and prayers of Nanak, the founding guru of the Sikh tradition, as well as in the work of later mystics in Bengal.

The Nath yogis seem to have emerged in the 10th to 12th centuries in the hills and mountains of northern India. Their main teacher was Gorakh (12th century?) who wrote extensively about the arousing of the Kundalini and the attainment of the Sahaja state. The secret knowledge of the Naths was passed on from teacher to pupil, and also shared with other mystics who were ready for self-realisation. Thus Nath concepts can be found in the songs of the Rajasthani saints Mirabai, Dadu , and Sundardas , the Kashmiri saints Lalla and Rupa Bhavani , and many of the Marathi saints, notably Jnaneshvara, Muktabai, Namdev, Eknath, and Tukaram Oblique references can also be found in the songs of some of the Sufi saints, notably Bulleh Shah (Punjab) and Sachal and Shah Latif (Sind).

In South India several of the Tamil Siddhis have described the ascending Kundalini, including Thirumoolar (6th century) in his Thirumanthiram and Avaiyar (14th century - not to be confused with the earlier saint of the same name) in her Vinayagar Agaval

In the 20th century the South Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) spoke of the sahaja samadhi. More recently, the Maratha saint, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has used the term Sahaja Yoga to describe her Kundalini yoga



Note: There have been distortions and deviations in the Sahaja tradition. In Bengal the Sahaja tradition, handed down from the Sahajiya Buddhists and the Nath yogis, has been distorted by tantric practices. A similar situation has occured in the Buddhist traditions of Nepal and Tibet. Using vibrational awareness, any Sahaja Yogi can differentiate the true Sahaja from the deviant.