Snakes and mysticism

Wherever there is an exploration or experience of mysticism, whatever the culture or the religious background in whatever part of the world – whether it is the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt, Cambodia, Vietnam, and of course India – there will be snakes in abundance, either symbolically or in reality. Mysticism and snakes cannot be separated.

One aspect of it is symbolism, because yoga uses a coiled up snake as the symbol for kundalini. Snakes have earned that symbolic status because beings who are of a celestial nature, who are in consciousness and capability, superior to what human nature is, have always chosen to take the form of a snake whenever they are here in this dimension of existence.

This is an experience you can trace back in every mythology on the planet. All the goddesses anywhere in the world – the Middle Eastern ones, the North African ones, the Mesopotamian ones, the Asian ones, the South East Asian and Central European ones – are always symbolized together with snakes. This is because a snake has a certain sense of perception which even humans lack.

If one becomes very meditative, the first creature which is drawn towards meditativeness is the snake. This is the reason you always see snakes in images of sages and seers with anthills growing around them. This is just to honour this creature which has such a sense of perception that it is able to perceive certain dimensions which human beings are desperate to know.

A snake is stone deaf but he uses his whole body as the ear. His whole body is in touch with the ground and his sense of perception with regard to even the smallest movement in the planet is so very keen and sharp that he will know any fundamental change – even the slightest – that happens in this planet.

In the Indian mythology and all over the world, you have always heard that the nether world is the Naga Loka where there is a whole society of not just snakes, but also of human beings known as Nagas. The Nagas belong to the snake clan and played a very important role in shaping the consciousness of this nation and of literally every other culture.

Today, we know that the great temples of Angkor, Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat of Cambodia, were built by Naga descendents. These Nagas went from India, interbred with the indigenous people and established the kingdom.

So, mysticism and snakes cannot be separated because this creature has come endowed with a certain dimension of perception. That is why the highest form of perception, which is the opening of the third eye in Shiva’s forehead, is punctuated by the presence of the snake.

This is a reptile which must be crawling on the ground, but Shiva has got it over his head to indicate that it is above even him. The indication is that in some ways, the snake is even better than Shiva.

By: Sadhguru