The other day, per my wife’s demand, we went to watch the 3D animation movie “Tangled”. “Tangled” is based on the old fairy tale of Rapunzel.
Just as the movie was about to start, Divine whispered in my right ear, “Rapunzel is the story of Kundalini (the spiritual power inherent in us)”. Of course, without using essential discretion I relayed the message to my wife, “Parul, Rapunzel is the story of Kundalini”. Now, of course, her expected question was, “how?”. This meant that after the movie was over, I needed to focus on the story and open up its universal (“akashic”) records. This required some meditative hard work but the answer to the “how” needed to be given. So here it is.
Rapunzel represents the spiritual power inherent in a human being – the “Kundalini”. Her long hair is the “Sushumna” – the central channel in the astral spinal cord through which the golden Kundalini ascends (in a yogi) to reach its ultimate goal of spiritual union - in the kingdom of Shiva and Shakti. One way to make this ascent possible is through the chant of a secret mantra. This is represented by the song Rapunzel sings to energize her hair.
The witch Gothel who kidnaps Rapunzel is the Ego. Ego doesn’t want to die. It wants to remain forever young. Therefore, our Ego imprisons our spiritual power Kundalini to keep the former energized. Therefore, Rapunzel forgets her true identity and becomes our deluded mind –“mann”. Our mind is sustained by our inherent spiritual power but it forgets that fact.
Rapunzel, as the deluded mind, lives confined in the worldly tower busying her with daily chores such as cooking, cleaning, exercising and painting. Her chameleon Pascal represents the innocence of such a mind. Pascal takes on the color of its surroundings – tries to “blend in”. Don’t we all try to “blend in”? This is how our mind remains entangled in our little world with no realization of our greater glory in the spiritual kingdom of Shiva and Shakti (or, simply put, God). Our ego, the witch Gothel, creates artificial needs and fears in us to make sure we keep the former alive and not become aware that we are heir to an egoless limitless spiritual kingdom.
However, our mind sometimes gets the glimpses of this spiritual kingdom when it gets bored of the repetitive and mundane nature of our worldly pursuits. This is represented by Rapunzel looking out the window at the lights from the floating lanterns. When one starts meditating ones sees the glimpses of such spiritual lights inviting us to return to our spiritual kingdom.
Flynn Rider, the handsome young man, represents our pure intellect – “Buddhi”. However, without any spiritual guidance this intellect is engaged in petty theft trying to steal diamonds and shiny jewels. Flynn Rider’s innate nature is to find greatness but without the guidance of a Guru, or a scientific technique, he is misled by his two accomplices and engages in theft. These two accomplices represent the moon and the sun channels in the astral spine – the “Ida” and the “Pingala” respectively. Yogic scriptures clearly tell us that the energy of a worldly person keeps flowing in the ida and pingala channels which makes the person either lazy or aggressive (unbalanced). This is the unbalanced state our intellect is in. Only through proper spiritual training can our energy flow through the sushumna – the central channel – the royal pathway, and reach the spiritual kingdom.
Now, Rapunzel, the deluded but potentially spiritual mind, and Flynn Rider, the deluded but potentially pure intellect, meet and the fun begins! With the help of the royal horse Maximus, after a series of adventures and the destruction of the Ego, they reach their true glory – in the spiritual kingdom of Shiva and Shakti.
What does Maximus represent?
Maximus, the royal horse, is the technique of Raja (royal) Yoga or, simply, a properly instructed spiritual discipline.
This is the true spiritual story of Rapunzel – the spiritual power, or Kundalini, within us.
The Europeans of the past were great storytellers. They were inspired by the story of “Rudaba” from the Persion “Shahnameh” written in the 10th century A.D. The “Shahnameh” tells the mythical and historical past of ancient Iran and, I believe, contains stories with hidden spiritual meanings. Many Persian stories follow the same undercurrent of spirituality.
The word Roodabeh consists of “Rood" and "ab". "Rood" means child and "ab" means shining i.e. shining child. “Kundalini” comes from the Sanskrit root “Kunda” meaning (fire) pit. Kundalini means that which emerges from the (shinning fire) pit.
I write this explanation to answer my wife’s, “how?” However, I also hope that the teenage kids who are now part of the Divine Heart Center understand the deeper meaning of this story, ponder upon it, and direct their energies towards finding spiritually inspired beauty and joy in this world. And, of course, if the kids do their practice regularly, may be I will elaborate the spiritual significance behind other stories. Cinderalla, maybe!
All the best,
Shailesh