The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
45. sumēru madhyaśṛṅgasthā 46. chintāmaṇi gṛhāntasthā
She who sits on the middle peak of Mount Sumeru.
She who sits in the house built of chintāmaṇi. (the wish-full-filling gem).
Devī not only appears as the skin, semen, etc. in our body, She also ascends Mount Sumeru and stations Herself in the middle peak called merudaṇḍa or brahmadaṇḍa. This mountain is not visible externally. It is inside the body, in the middle of the spinal cord that stretches from the bottom of the spine (mūlādhāra) to the crown of the head (sahasrāra). It is the foundational pillar that supports the entire structure of the human body. If the pillar is damaged, the body will no longer function as it should.
On the left and right side of the brahmadaṇḍa (spinal cord) are two nāḍī-s (channels) called ida and piṅgala through which śakti flows upwards. In the center, between these two, is the suṣumṇā nāḍī, which also flows upwards. Yogis call this energy kundalini (coiled female serpent) because, like a serpent that uncoils itself and crawls out of its nest and rests in a cave, suṣumṇā nāḍī starts from the root chakra and crawls upwards to the crown chakra and rests there.
The seeker who recognizes this upward movement of the śakti will realize his true nature and be liberated. This upward movement of śakti manifests in the seeker as the desire to know the Self (Self-inquiry) and the recognition of the Self. To liberate the seeker, śakti enters the cave of his intellect in the form of Self-Knowledge and waits for his realization. That cave or intellect is the house of chintāmaṇi. chintā refers to the activity of the mind and intellect. The ongoing flow of thoughts are like a string of gem stones (maṇi). The mind is like an ocean, and the thoughts that arise from in it are like the waves in the ocean. Repetitive thoughts harden into tendencies (vāsanā-s). Like the lingering scent of the kadamba tree, these tendencies cling to the tree called the body. Devī pervades this entire tree, from its roots to its crown. She is chintāmaṇi, the supreme intelligence that resides in our intellect, that can free us from vāsanā-s and liberate us. Hence, Devī is both the means and the end. There is nothing outside Her power.