Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

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Snake

Imagery of snakes and serpents often appear in sacred poetry and art. This can cause confusion because Christian iconography focuses so heavily on the image of the serpent in the Garden of Eden as an expression of evil or the Devil. But among Eastern spiritual traditions (as well as pre-Christian traditions in Europe), snakes represent the Divine Feminine. And in Yogic terminology the snake is the sacred Kundalini Shakti, the energy of spiritual power found within each individual as well as the power of manifestation in the universe.

In most individuals this energy is coiled up and dormant at the base of the spine. Through spiritual practice and stillness of mind, or occasionally through trauma, the Kundalini is awakened and it rises up the spine to the crown.

Sometimes this rising of the Kundalini serpent can be so powerful that trembling or, in extreme cases, convulsions and unconsciousness result. Spiritual practice and increasing familiarity with the energy minimizes these more disruptive expressions.

Although initially overwhelming, the awakening of the Kundalini is a profoundly blissful, liberating state of awareness that beautifully clears the mind. Reality is perceived directly, without the coloring of our "normal" mental filters. Everything is new and alive in a way not perceived before.

When you allow yourself to go deeply into the awakening of the Kundalini, your normal sense of identity, the little self, the ego, disappears. There is no "you" left, just the radiant state of Being.

The shift in consciousness is so profound that it is often compared with waking up after a deep sleep. It is the initiation of spiritual enlightenment.

Snakes and the Kundalini also represent specifically women's power. Although the shape of a snake is phallic, its serpentine movement and ability to shed its skin bring to mind the cycle of seasons and the moon -- feminine expressions in nature.

The Kundalini itself is considered a Goddess or an expression of the Goddess energy within Hindu traditions. It is the feminine aspect of the (apparently) divided spiritual energy. When it is awakened and rises, it rejoins the masculine aspect of the Divine (Shiva) which resides at the crown (the mountaintop).

Poems with the theme of Snake

	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said On Unity's Way:
	Allama Prabhu When the toad
	Andal O great deep ocean
	Attar, Farid ud-Din The Valley of the Quest
	Avaiyar Vinayagar Agaval
	Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
	Govindasvami Holy sixth day
	Granger, Ivan M. Medusa
	Hanh, Thich Nhat Contemplation
	Hirshfield, Jane The Envoy
	Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku Roll the Dharma thunder (from The Song of Enlightenment)
	Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [17] The incomparable lion-roar of doctrine (from The Shodoka)
	Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [27] A bowl once calmed dragons (from The Shodoka)
	ibn Gabirol, Solomon Before I was, Thy mercy came to me
	Jayadeva You rest on the circle of Sri's breast (from The Gitagovinda)
	Lowitz, Leza Waiting
	Milosz, Czeslaw A Song on the End of the World
	Mipham Rinpoche, Sakyong To My Father, to the Vajra Sangha
	Mirabai The Music
	Nasimi, Imadeddin At love's most sumptuous feast was I with love made drunk
	Pampattic Cittar Dance o snake
	Pampattic Cittar Like the drops of water that will not adhere to the leaf of the lotus
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Kulakundalini, Goddess Full of Brahman, Tara
	Ravidas When I existed
	Roethke, Theodore In a Dark Time
	Rosenstock, Gabriel snake unwinding (from Uttering Her Name)
	Ryuzan Clear in the blue, the moon!
	Shih Shu Emptiness is a long story
	Solovyov, Vladimir The Sign
	Soseki, Muso Buddha's Satori
	Soseki, Muso Old Creek
	Trungpa, Chogyam Purifying and Invoking the Four Directions
	Tukaram Smaller than the smallest atom
	Yun, Hsu Feelings on Remembering the Day I first Produced the Mind

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Snake

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World