These lyrics refer to meditation or yoga; the medical symbol (the caduceus of classical Hermes) depicting a rod with two snakes coiled about it is a metaphor of the process of meditation. The goal of meditation is to reach a state of unconsciousness similar to the dream state, but to keep an anchor to reality that is absent in sleep. The rod is symbolic of the human backbone, the bottom of which was believed to be the root of the human essence. For this reason, people practicing yoga sit in a lotus position, with the bottom of their backbone anchored to the Earth so that they do not lose complete touch with reality. Through meditation, the snakes would twine up the backbone:
"...the Indian diagram of seven spinal centers touched and wakened to consciousness in Kundalini yoga by the rising Serpent Power."
The process of yoga involves the removal of the noise that permeates and invades our mind through the senses. The collective unconsciousness of humanity was considered a vast lake; each person an individual ripple on the lake. By deliberate sensory deprivation, the water would calm and the inner voyage would be complete, providing a clear and unobstructed view of the lake that is humanity.
"Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything, it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through any one that suits you...and that's why poetry appeals to me so much—because it's so eternal. As long as there are people, they can remember words and combinations of words. Nothing else can survive a holocaust but poetry and songs. No one can remember and entire novel. No one can describe a film, a piece of sculpture, a painting, but so long as there are human beings, songs and poetry can continue."
