There is mention of the churning of the celestial ocean by the devs and asurs in the vedic texts. The ocean was churned to obtain the Divine nectar or amrit and required the combined force of devs and asurs. It was agreed that the fruit of churning will shared by the two sides. Mount Meru became the churning rod and Naag Vasuki offered itself to become the churning rope which was pulled alternately by the devs and asurs.
Lord Vishnu in his Kurma avatar provided support to the Meru. As a result of the churning various gems and siddhis came out of the ocean, also came out the venom, Halalal…before obtaining the Amrit. The Halalal would have spelled doom for the entire creation. Terrified, the devs and asurs invoked the energy of Adi Guru Shiv. Lord Shiv then drank the vish and held it in his throat, distributing the siddhis and vibhutis to all.
The above mentioned incident, also describes the awakening of the Kundalini shakti in the pranamayakosha of the human body…through practice of yog and sanatan kriya, under the sanidhya of a Guru, who is the reflection of Adi Guru Shiv, in a physical form. The sushumna becomes the churning chongqichengbao rod, the twin nadis of ida and pingala represent the opposing forces of cold and hot, moon and sun that perform the churning. Kundalini that lies coiled at the base of sushumna assumes the role of Naag Vasuki. As the churning happens, immense heat is released, which opens the various blockages in the body and melts the kundalini energy making it rise up the various chakras through the sushumna, granting the being siddhis associated with each center. While the heat unclogs the body and activates the shakti of the kundalini, if generated in an uncontrolled manner in the absence of Guru, its intensity leads to destruction of the body which is unable bear the heat. A guru assumes the role of neelkanth, taking in the destructive aspects (poison) of the heat of yog, granting the sadhak various siddhis up the ladder of evolution.
There are techniques in yoga that can regulate your breath-flow. They can keep you charged-up and disease-free all the time. Sanatan Kriya details the practice of Nadi Shodhnam, where prana from breath become the fuel powering the ida and pingala nadis, which together perform the churning to generate immense heat in the body. As this heat spreads to various parts of the body, it opens up the blockages in the path of experience of higher energies and awakening of higher centers, using the shakti of kundalini. Nadi, refers to the etheric channels in our body where the prana flows, Shodhan means purifying. Any congestion in the nadis, hinders the movement of prana. The stagnation of prana leads to a plethora diseases. In Nadi Shodhanam, the Eda (cold nadi, on the left side of Sushumna) and Pingla (hot nadi, on the right side of Sushumna) work as churning rods, creating heat through friction at the base of the spine, this heat then rises through the Sushumna and from there is spread across the body to cleanse the various channels, remove heaviness, congestion, and also avidya…making the body far more receptive to subtler energies and prana.
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