Rohan James
Elephant Journal

All of us have heard the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible, but how many of us really understand the true teaching behind this parable? 

The “tree of life” represents the human body, Adam represents the masculine energy in our bodies (yang in Chinese Theory) and Eve represents the feminine energy in our bodies (yin in Chinese theory). The snake or serpent represents the sexual/life-force energy inside our bodies (known as “Kundalini” in Yoga, which is also represented as a snake or serpent).

The teaching behind this story is that through proper control—and by control, I do not mean suppression of our sexual/life-force energy—we can become a fully liberated human being and live in a state of complete bliss, i.e. the “Garden of Eden”, like a Jesus, a Buddha or any of the thousands and thousands of other not so well-known saints.

However, as the story goes, Adam (male aspect) was tempted by Eve (female aspect) to taste the forbidden apple, i.e. his own sexual energy. By wasting his own sexual energy, he (humanity) was led on a downward slide, i.e. banished from the Garden of Eden. This parable indicates that the unwise expression of our sexual energy is very detrimental to our well-being, and causes a lot of unhappiness in the world. Wasting our sexual energy means that we can never live in paradise (Garden of Eden), i.e. we can never live in the blissful state experienced by a Jesus or a Buddha.

On the other hand, this story is also the key to our liberation. But unfortunately, not many religious leaders understand this, and if they do, they will probably not share this information. Why? Because it will give the power back to the individuals where it belongs and the organized religions will no longer be required. Yes, they will be out of a job and there will be some prime real estate up for sale!

Adam & Eve and Yoga

Yoga is a scientific, practical and experiential approach towards man’s happiness and well-being that has been proven over a five thousand-year history (that we know of). Yogis believe that most of our unhappiness is created by too much “thinking” or “incorrect thinking” which leads to wasting sexual/life-force energy. Too much thinking causes too much stimulation of the Ida and Pingala nadis, and too much stimulation of the Ida and Pingala nadis (caused by emotional imbalance) causes too much thinking, which in turn creates an even busier and more unbalanced mind.

This vicious cycle of thinking-stimulation-thinking becomes self-perpetuating, dragging the individual down physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. In order to break this harmful downward spiral, Yogis use a combination of dietary adjustments, physical postures, breathing techniques and creative visualizations to slow down the movement of energy through the Ida (female) and Pingala (male) Nadis. As the energy in these two nadis slows down and stabilizes, the mind becomes quieter and the excess (sexual/life-force) energy that was previously wasted in the unwise expression of sexual energy and in useless mind chatter now becomes “stored” within the body.

The “storage” occurs at the triangular bone at the base of the spine—the sacrum. It is interesting that we in the West use the term “sacrum” to represent this area of the body because sacrum etymologically means “sacred” and this area of the body is the seat of the organs of procreation i.e. the home of our sexual energy; suggesting that our forefathers were well aware of the sacredness of our sexual energy.

With continued regulation of sexual energy, together with the purification (balancing) of the Ida and Pingala nadis using Yoga practices, the “dormant (balanced) serpent (sexual/life-force) energy” stored at the sacrum will enter the Sushumna at the base of the spine and with ongoing (Yoga) practices the energy will rise up the Sushumna nadi to meet the Sahasrara (Crown Chakra) at the top of the head.

When this happens, the Yogi becomes a fully liberated human being—enlightened, Self-realized, living in a state of complete inner peace and bliss, i.e. living in the Garden of Eden! This state is represented in the previous illustration by the wings sprouting from the centre at the top of the head.

The similarities in these two illustrations above are amazing, and yet, in organized religion, the power is always given to something outside of the individual when in fact the power has always been there, right within us the whole time.

What is also interesting is that many medical associations around the world also use the same symbol.

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