1
THE SUBTLE BODIES AND THE CHAKRAS
Although our physical bodies appear to be dense and solid, at the most fundamental level they are composed of trillions of molecules and atoms, or energy in constant transformation. In addition to the physical body, the soul (the in-dwelling pure spirit — the reality of who we really are) has several interdependent non-physical, subtle bodies or vehicles surrounding and interpenetrating the physical form, each of which is a field of energy vibrating at a particular frequency level and density.
The individual soul expresses itself through five sheaths (koshas), which are divided between three bodies — the physical body and two surrounding subtle bodies, known as the astral body and the causal body (see figure 1).
The physical, astral and causal bodies serve respectively as mediums for our daily experience in the three states of mind — waking (jagrat), dream (swapna) and dreamless sleep (sushupti). The soul is beyond these three states, being a witness to them.
So there are five sheaths divided between three bodies, which are the vehicles for the expression of the soul consciousness, which is distinct from them all (see figure 2).
THE PHYSICAL BODY
The annamaya kosha (the food sheath) is the physical sheath of the gross body, which is subject to birth, growth, disease, decay and death. It is called the food sheath because of its dependence on gross prana in the form of food, water and air. (Prana is the vital life-energy, which sustains life and creation. Prana permeates the whole of creation and exists in both the macrocosmos and the microcosmos. Without prana there is no life. Prana is the link between the astral and physical bodies, when this link is cut off, then death takes place in the physical body. Both the prana and the astral body depart from the physical body.) It is also formed by the five elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth).
Figure 1 The subtle bodies and the chakras
Figure 2 The five sheaths of consciousness
THE ASTRAL BODY
The astral body is composed of five subtle elements — akash (ether), vayu (air), tejas (fire), jala (water) and prithvi (earth) — which produce the five gross elements on the physical plane.
The astral body is divided into three sheaths.
THE PRANAMAYA KOSHA
This pranic body (the vital or etheric sheath) provides energy and vitalizes the physical body. It is approximately the same size and shape as the physical body.
The vital sheath is composed of five pranas (life-energies), which have distinct functions in the working of the physical body (see figure 3).
Vyana, ‘outward moving air’, is the vital air that regulates the overall movements of the body, co-ordinating the other vital airs. It permeates the whole body.
Udana, ‘upward moving air’, functions between the throat and the top of the head, activating the organs of sense: eyes, nose, ears, tongue. It has an upward movement that carries the kundalini shakti (a person’s potential spiritual energy or vital energy force, lying dormant at the base of the spine, in the muladhara chakra or base energy centre. This creative, vital energy force passes through the main subtle nerve channel (sushumna nadi) in the centre of the spinal cord, when awakened, to the crown chakra (sahasrara), the seventh energy centre located at the crown of the head.
At death, udana separates the astral body from the physical form.
Figure 3 Body regions of the five vayus (vital airs)
Prana (vital life-energy) is a specific manifestation of cosmic prana (the cosmic life-energy that pervades both the macrocosmic universe and the microcosmic unit of the body). The cosmic prana enters the body through the medulla oblongata at the base of the brain. It then descends and ascends through the astral spine, where it is modified by the chakras and differentiated into the vital airs (vayus — pranic air currents).
Prana, ‘forward moving air’, functions between the throat and the top of the diaphragm, activating the respiration. It also raises the kundalini shakti to udana.
Samana, ‘balancing air’, functions in the abdominal area between the navel and the heart, activating and controlling the digestive system, the heart and the circulatory system.
Apana, ‘air that moves away’, functions from the region of the navel to the feet, activating expulsion and excretion. It has a downward movement, but carries the kundalini upwards to unite with prana.
These five vital airs (vayus) are conjoined with the five subtle organs of action (speech, hands, legs, organs of evacuation and procreation), which have their gross counterparts in the physical body.
THE MANOMAYA KOSHA
This is the mental sheath, and is more subtle than the vital pranic sheath. It holds the annamaya and pranamaya koshas together as an integrated whole. The mental sheath functions as a messenger between each body, communicating the experiences and sensations of the external world to the intelligent sheath, and the influences of the causal and astral bodies to the physical body.
The mental sheath is formed of the volitional mind (manas), the subconscious and the five sense organs of perception in their astral form (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch).
THE VIJNANAMAYA KOSHA
The intelligent sheath functions as the knower and the doer, and being the subtlest of all the aspects of the mind, it reflects the radiance of soul consciousness.
It is composed of the cognitive mind (buddhi), the intellect and ego conjoined with the five subtle sense organs of perception.
THE CAUSAL BODY
The anandamaya kosha (the bliss sheath) is the subtlest and innermost of the three bodies that reflects the blissfulness of the soul. It is the cause of both the subtle and gross bodies.
In dreamless sleep the mind recedes from the physical waking state and the astral dream state to the causal body. It enters a subtle state in profound dreamless sleep, in which the functions of the mind and the sense organs are suspended. In this blissful, restful state there is no sense of ego and no thoughts.
THE SOUL
The soul, in-dwelling self or spirit resides within all three bodies (physical, astral and causal), witnessing all of their activities. The soul is the ever-shining consciousness, perfect and complete, having no limits and without beginning or end.
DEATH, SAMSKARAS AND KARMA
At the time of physical death (which is not the end or annihilation of an individual) the soul, or the self, which animates the body, withdraws from the physical form clothed in the astral and causal bodies. The lifeline which transmits life-energy (prana) to the physical body becomes severed; the consciousness frees itself from the limitations of the physical and becomes associated with the subtle body.
The soul continues to exist in the vehicle of the astral body (mind, ego, subtle sense organs and vital airs). This carries with it samskaras (past impressions) or karma of all one’s actions, thoughts and desires.
Samskaras are the dormant impressions of our past lives (actions, desires, thoughts and memories) that are linked to the soul with the subconscious mind. Our past samskaras motivate our present actions — what we sow, we reap.
Karma comes from the sanskrit root kri, meaning ‘to do’, ‘to make’, ‘to act’. Not only is karma the cause and seed for the continuation of the life process after death (rebirth), but even in this present life, our actions or karma produce good and bad results, having a decisive influence on our present character and destiny.
The soul is subject to three types of karma.
• sanchita karmas — those that have accumulated in several previous lifetimes
• prarabdha karmas — results of past actions which are producing fruit in the present
• agami karmas — the actions which are being done in this present life and will bear fruits in a future life
The sanchita and agami karmas are destroyed by attaining self-realization (God-realization), but prarabdha karmas can only be exhausted by experiencing their fruits in the present life.
SLEEP AND DEATH
Every night when we fall asleep, we die to everything we know. Like death, sleep is a transition from the plane of material existence to a plane that is more subtle. What we call death is our impression of change over which we have no control. Similarly sleep is also a change, but unlike death we gladly surrender, relax and ‘let go’ into sleep. Why? Because we have done it so many times and remember sleep as being painless and refreshing. But can you remember ever dying?
The awareness of consciousness is continuous, we feel that we existed even during sleep, and when we awaken in the morning we are aware of the ‘I’ consciousness, which has remained exactly the same as before we went to sleep. The ‘I’ consciousness or the self has not changed. For a moment or two as we awake from our night’s sleep, we may feel disorientated, especially if we have had a very unconscious type of sleep. Then we become more orientated and aware of our familiar surroundings. We awake from the night’s dream to begin the day dream, and so it goes on like the cycle of births and deaths.
When we lie down to go to sleep, we are aware of sensations, smell, touch and sounds. Then, as our consciousness begins to withdraw, we fall asleep. The subtle body withdraws from the physical form and the mind-ego and thoughts go into a subtle state. During sleep there is no awareness of the physical body and there is no feeling of pain. It is only when the mind and senses are connected with the body that pain arises. The Self, our true spiritual nature, is not touched by pleasure or pain.
In the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna reminds us of our immortal and eternal true nature.
As we observe in this life the change of a youthful body to an old one, so too after death, the soul adopts another body. Those who have understood the true nature of life are not deluded by these changes.
2:13
The indwelling Self never takes birth and will never die. It has always existed and shall never cease to be. For it is birthless, eternal, immortal and unchangeable. It is not slain when the body is killed.
2:20
As a person discards worn-out clothes and acquires new clothes, so also the embodied soul abandons a worn-out body and enters into another one which is new.
2:22
The Self is beyond the power of any weapon to injure or of fire to burn it. It neither becomes moistened by water, nor dried by the winds.
2:23
The Self is indivisible and indissoluble and cannot be transformed by fire or air. The soul is everlasting, omnipresent, unwaveringly steady and ever-existent.
2:24
Realize that the soul, the spirit-self, is unmanifested, it is beyond the mind’s ability to conceive and cannot be changed. Therefore, knowing this, transcend your unfounded anxieties and grief.
2:25
THE CHAKRAS: YOUR INNER UNIVERSE
Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘wheel’ or ‘revolving disc’. The chakras are subtle revolving vortices of energy, situated within the astral body. They connect the five sheaths (koshas) that embody the soul, to the functions of the physical body, primarily through the endocrine glands and the nerve plexuses in the spine.
The chakras serve as transformers and act as regulators to receive, assimilate and distribute energy (pranic life-force) to the subtle body, which then distributes the energy to the spinal nerve plexuses where it is in turn transferred to the blood circulation and organs of the physical body.
The subtle pranic life-force enters the body at the base of the brain (medulla oblongata) and flows to the higher brain centres. Then it filters downward through the six major chakras or energy centres. As this energy and light filters and spirals down through each chakra, it increasingly becomes more dense. At the lowest chakra at the base of the spine (muladhara chakra), the vibrational frequency is lower and slower than at those above it. The higher the chakra, the more subtle and finer the vibrational frequency. These higher chakras are closely related to the innermost sheaths and higher levels of consciousness.
The energy that filters down through the chakras, ultimately spirals down from cosmic energy, produced from cosmic light, which is created by the will and energy of God — the Cause of all cause.
Figure 4 The seven chakras (centres of consciousness) are situated in the astral body. Here they are shown in relation to the physical body.
Consciousness descends in a spiralling movement of energy and, as it descends, subdivides and stretches out, it becomes matter. Consciousness moving becomes energy and when the movement is slowed down, it becomes matter. As it condenses into matter it forms the five elements: ether (space), air, fire, water and earth — first the subtle elements, then the gross elements. The difference between one element and the other is a difference in their vibratory wavelength frequencies.
As consciousness descends and moves in space, it becomes air. When air moves there is friction and therefore fire, and when the gases collide and fire is generated, water is also generated; and then water condenses into solid substances (earth).
The chakras represent these subtle elements. For their position in relation to the physical body, see figure 4. The earth centre (muladhara chakra) is that part of your anatomy which comes into contact with the earth. A little above there is the water element (swadisthana chakra), the next subtle element, located where water collects. At the navel centre (manipura chakra) is the fire region — when we talk about digestion, we think of the gastric fire there. Above the navel is the heart region (anahata chakra), which represents air — the region in which the lungs and oxygenation operate. Above the heart is the throat region (vishuddhi chakra) — a little space (ether) in the throat. Higher still is the spiritual eye (ajna chakra) at the point between the eyebrows, which represents the mind.
The chakras vibrate at different frequencies as they transmit energy. Each is associated with a vibrational frequency, a characteristic colour, a sound, an element, a planet, a spiritual quality and a presiding deity.
Kundalini Yoga, Laya Yoga, Tantric Yoga and Kriya Yoga are the main branches of yoga that specifically concentrate on the chakras. On the path of Kriya Yoga as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda and his great line of Kriya Masters, the chakras are concentrated on in the higher techniques of Kriya meditation.
There are psychic people and advanced yogis who have the psychic vision to see these subtle energy centres and fields of energy as they look into the auric field of a person. They see the chakras as funnels of dynamic, revolving vortices of energy and light, with colours, moving rapidly in cross-section.
THE NADIS
The chakras are connected to the physical body by subtle nerve channels (nadis) located in the astral body and invisible to the physical eye. The subtle solar plexus in the astral body is the centre from which 72,000 (350,000 according to the Shiva Samhita, 2:13) nadis, invisible energy currents, flow out to the entire subtle circuitry of the astral body (see figure 5). The solar plexus is the main storage battery of prana and large amounts of prana can be stored to give vitality to the body, through the practice of pranayama. The nadis can be purified by this practice particularly through anuloma viloma pranayama (alternate nostril breathing). If the nadis are not purified, then the prana cannot flow into the sushumna nadi.
Figure 5 The chakras and nadis (subtle nerve pathways) in the astral body
The life-energy or prana which flows through the nadis is used by the soul in its expression through the physical and astral manifestations. Without the light of the in-dwelling self or soul, the brain, mind, body organs and even prana cannot function. It is the self that sustains the body by the agency of prana.
The three primary nadis that connect the chakras together are the sushumna, the ida and the pingala. The ida (negative lunar current) begins at the muladhara chakra on the left side of the sushumna, and the pingala (positive solar current), begins at the muladhara chakra on the right side of the sushumna. They cross each other at the junction of each chakra, like the two snakes of the caduceus, and meet at the ajna chakra. The chakras are polarized by the upward and downward movement of energy through the ida and pingala nadis. Paramhansa Yogananda stated in his Autobiography of a Yogi that the six chakras become 12 by polarity, corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac.
THE MAJOR CHAKRAS
The six important chakras are positioned horizontally within the astral spine (sushumna nadi). They are transformers for the main dynamo of energy, the seventh and highest chakra, the sahasrara chakra (1,000-petalled lotus), located in the upper brain and beyond. This crown chakra is often illustrated in portraits of saints and Jesus, the Christ, as a halo of bright light around and over the head, indicating illumination and liberation of consciousness.
The chakras are also referred to metaphorically in the yoga scriptures as lotuses, their rays of energy forming the petals. Each chakra has a certain number of petals. In the ordinary person whose mind is operating in the lower centres or planes of consciousness, these petals are turned downwards, their rays of energy flowing out toward the senses.
The yogi, through yoga practice (Asana, Pranayama, Kriya meditation) and right attitude turns the petals upward, pointing toward the brain, creating an upward flow of energy to the higher chakras. Sri Kriyananda says in his 14 Steps to Joy, ‘Right attitude keeps the whirlpool of self-realization expanding outward to infinity, instead of becoming locked in a narrow cycle of ego-limitation.’
The dormant kundalini pranic energy stored at the base of the spine is awakened by the practice of yoga techniques, spiritual practices (sadhana) with a spiritual consciousness. When this powerful kundalini energy is activated it rises upwards through the astral spinal pathway piercing each chakra as it ascends. When the kundalini reaches the highest chakra at the crown of the head (sahasrara) the yogi becomes perfectly detached from his or her body and mind, and enters into nirvikalpa samadhi, the blissful superconscious state in which the yogi realizes his or her oneness with God. In this state the enlightened yogi is freed from all limitations caused by time and space. After the experience of this samadhi, the yogi continues to live and move in the world like any other person, but with one difference: the yogi’s consciousness is always of the highest realization, in which there is no distinction between him or her and God.
The Muladhara Chakra (First Centre)
The muladhara chakra is also referred to as the base or root centre. The Sanskrit word mula (pronounced ‘moola’) means root. It is the first chakra located at the base of the spinal column, where the dormant kundalini is likened to a serpent which rests in a coil, and like a spring can release its potential energy when it strikes. When kundalini is aroused, she awakens, uncoils and begins her journey upwards, piercing each chakra as she ascends, until she merges with shiva (consciousness) in divine union (samadhi) in the sahasrara chakra (crown centre).
Muladhara is symbolized by a deep red lotus with four petals. Inside the lotus is a yellow square and within the square is a downward-pointing triangle.
This chakra embodies the earth element (symbolized by the yellow square) because it is the grossest part of the body, concerned with the physical body and the material plane. It has the qualities of solidity and inertia. It is also the seat of annamaya kosha, the sheath of nourishment, connected with the absorption of food and elimination of fecal matter. It is related to the sense of smell.
The muladhara chakra is concerned with basic existence and survival instincts: feelings of fear, guilt, paranoia, personal security, food, shelter, defensiveness, aggression, gratification of the senses, the instinctive drive to have sex and reproduce. An example of the most basic survival instincts and energy centred in the muladhara chakra is the animal which lives in the wild with its primitive responses to life-threatening situations. It hunts and kills another animal to eat it, or it fears being hunted itself.
It is here, also in this centre, that our lowest samskaras (deep mental impressions produced by past experiences) and karma (past actions, which will lead to certain results in a cause-and-effect relationship) are embedded.
The Swadhisthana Chakra (Second Centre)
The Sanskrit word swa means ‘one’s own’ and adhisthana means ‘dwelling place’ so swadhisthana means ‘one’s own abode’.
Swadhisthana is the second chakra, located in the sacral region of the spine, at the level of the coccyx, behind the sexual organs. It is associated with the element of water and physiologically related to the urinary system, sexual organs and reproductive systems.
Swadhisthana is symbolized as a six-petalled vermilion or orange-red lotus, within which is a white crescent moon, symbolizing the element of water and the unconscious mind.
Swadhisthana is the seat of pranamaya kosha.
The sense connected with this chakra is taste, which is also related to the sexual organs, because the taste of food stimulates our emotions, which can create exciting, pleasurable sensations. If a person has his or her energy focused in this chakra – they will be preoccupied with sensuality and sexuality — they will be seeking sensual pleasure, whether it be food sensations, sexual pleasure or excitement.
The consciousness of feelings primarily experienced in this chakra is both pleasurable and painful — feelings of vulnerability, the longing to feel loved and emotionally secure, fear of being rejected, loneliness, sensual and sexual desires, romantic feelings, emotional insecurity.
The way to rise above sensual and sexual desires is to transmute the sexual energy into more creative and refined spiritual forms of expression. We need to rechannel our passionate self-seeking inwardly into compassion and selfless service so that the heart unfolds, and a higher spiritual love begins to manifest.
The Manipura Chakra (Third Centre)
The Sanskrit word manipura is derived from two words, mani meaning ‘jewel’ and pura meaning ‘city’. Manipura means ‘city of jewels’.
This is the third chakra, located opposite the navel, in the spine. It is related to the solar plexus, which controls the digestive fire and heat regulation in the body. It radiates and distributes pranic energy throughout the entire body systems. It is also the seat of pranamaya kosha.
Manipura is symbolized as a ten-petalled bright yellow lotus. In the centre of the lotus is an inverted red triangle that symbolizes the fire element. This chakra is a centre of power, energy, will and achievement. Here we have both the fire of desire and the power of emotions to deal with. Ego-centred consciousness with its arrogance, anger, power games and desire to control, possess and dominate is the negative quality associated with the third chakra.
As we purify our consciousness and expand our awareness, our emotional life becomes more integrated and channelled towards a more positive and higher consciousness.
Manipura is related to the sense of sight.
The Anahata Chakra (Fourth Centre)
The Sanskrit word anahata literally means ‘unstruck’. It refers to the inner subtle sound vibration (nada) experienced in meditation. It is called ‘unstruck’ because it is not created by physical friction.
There are two kinds of nada:
• ahat nada, all external or struck sounds, such as musical instruments played
• anahata nada, all sounds which do not have any external source, or ‘unstruck’ sound
The anahata chakra is the fourth centre, located at the level of the heart. It is symbolized as a blue lotus with 12 petals. Its element, air, is located in the smoke-coloured centre, within which are two intersecting triangles, representing the higher and lower aspects of our nature. In Judaism, this triangle symbol is called the Star of David.
The anahata chakra is known as the heart centre, the centre of spiritual or divine love. When this chakra is fully awakened love is experienced as being unconditional, selfless and compassionate.
Many of the great saints and sages who have fully awakened the heart chakra give great importance to developing the natural love of the heart: to love all beings as expressions of God’s omnipresence. By opening our hearts to God’s love, we become love.
The great celestial sage Narada wrote in his Sutras on the Philosophy of Love:
The path of love is the highest path.
Love of God is supreme; devotion to God
is devotion to eternal truth.
Sutra 81
Yogananda’s guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar said:
Until one develops the natural love of the heart, it is impossible to take a single step on the spiritual path.
Jesus Christ said:
Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
The heart chakra is a point of transition between the three lower chakras, which are related to survival, security, sensuality, sex and power, and the chakras above, related to a higher and more evolved consciousness.
The anahata chakra governs the sense of touch.
The Vishuddhi Chakra (Fifth Centre)
The Sanskrit word shuddi means ‘to purify’.
Vishuddhi is the fifth chakra and is located in the cervical plexus, directly behind the base of the throat. It is symbolized as a violet or smoky purple-coloured lotus of 16 petals, corresponding to the number of nadis associated with this centre. Within the centre of the lotus is a downward-pointing triangle, containing a white circle, like the full moon, representing the element of ether (akasha) or space, which is more subtle than air.
On the physical level this chakra is related to the throat, neck, thyroid and parathyroid glands.
Vishuddhi is associated with the sense of hearing and is the centre for communicating, creativity, self-expression, and learning to accept and receive.
The Ajna Chakra (Sixth Centre)
The Sanskrit word ajna means ‘to obey’, ‘to follow’ or ‘to know’. In the literal sense it means ‘command centre’.
The ajna chakra is the sixth centre, located in the brain directly behind the space between the two eyebrows. It is linked to the pituitary gland.
Traditionally in yoga texts, the ajna chakra is symbolized by a two-petalled lotus, light grey in colour like a rainy day, or silvery-white like the moon. On the left petal is the Sanskrit letter ham and on the right ksham. These are the bija (seed) mantras for shiva and shakti (consciousness and energy). The left petal represents the moon (ida nadi) and the right petal the sun (pingala nadi). Inside the lotus is a circle with an inverted triangle, which represents shakti — creative energy and manifestation. Within the triangle is the shivalingam, not a phallic symbol but a symbol of the astral body. Above the shivalingam is the traditional symbol of om. This sound vibration is the bija mantra for this chakra.
Paramhansa Yogananda described the spiritual eye, which we can see during deep meditation, as a ring of gold light with an opalescent, violet-blue field within, and a five-pointed silvery-white star in the centre. Both the spiritual eye and the physical eye are reflections of the medulla oblongata (the base of the hind brain at the top of the spine). By concentrating on the point between the eyebrows (spiritual eye) one can see the medulla reflected as one light. This is the meaning behind Jesus Christ saying, ‘If, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.’ (Luke 11:34—35)
The medulla oblongata is where the life-force (prana) primarily enters into the body. The prana is stored in the sahasrara chakra (seventh centre) and distributed throughout the whole body through the subtle network of nerve pathways (nadis). The medulla is also the seat of ego-consciousness, symbolized by the moon. The moon only reflects the sun’s light, so the ego has no reality of its own, no light but that which it reflects from the soul.
What we need to do is transform ego-consciousness into soul-consciousness by deep and prolonged concentration at the spiritual eye, until the centre of consciousness becomes established at that point.
It is interesting to note that Lord Shiva is depicted with the moon symbol in his hair, in the sahasrara chakra, showing that his ego-consciousness is totally one with the cosmic Consciousness.
Sri Kriyananda said:
The spiritual eye and the physical eye are reflections of the medulla oblongata, which is a cross-section of the spine itself and shows the various sheaths for the energy in the spine. There are three concentric passages there. The outer passage is reflected in the spiritual eye as a ring of gold, and in the human eye as the white of the eye. This represents the energy world, the astral world. As you meditate deeply on it for many years, you will begin to see the spiritual eye elongate, and you will see a golden tunnel. As you go more deeply, you will see the blue field elongate into a tunnel. Going into that, you will go into the Christ Consciousness, which is also the causal world. The star in the centre represents the Kingdom of God beyond all creation.
The main nadis, ida, pingala and sushumna, merge into one stream of consciousness from the ajna chakra and flow up to the highest centre of consciousness, the sahasrara chakra.
By meditating on this chakra one can gain intuitional knowledge and self-mastery, and destroy the karma of past lives.
The spiritual eye is the seat of will-power, so by concentrating at this point one can gain extraordinary will-power and spiritual strength.
The Sahasrara Chakra (Seventh Centre)
The Sanskrit word sahasrara means 1,000. It is for this reason that it is called the 1,000-petalled lotus. In fact, we cannot comprehend the magnitude of this vast lotus, with its infinite number of petals. It is said to be brighter and whiter than the full moon, tinged with the colours of the morning sun.
Sahasrara is also referred to as the crown chakra. It is the seventh and highest centre of consciousness, expanding above and beyond the six chakras below it. It is the store and distributing centre of power for them.
Sahasrara is the centre of divine union – when kundalini shakti ascends through the chakras and reaches sahasrara, the moment of self-realization or samadhi begins. The experience, the experienced and the experiencer become one and the same. The yogi experiences complete bliss in this superconscious state of samadhi. To reach this divine union in sahasrara we must first awaken the ajna chakra, which is the gateway to it. During deep meditation when the mind is concentrated at the spiritual eye (seen as a circular field of blue light, surrounded by a ring of gold light) a psychic passage opens up and connects the spiritual eye to the top of the head.
Until we awaken ajna chakra we remain in delusion, with our mind functioning within a limited sphere.
The sahasrara chakra is linked to the pineal gland.
Figure 6 The endocrine glands
| Gland | Chakra |
| Pineal | Sahasrara |
| Pituitary | Ajna |
| Thyroid | Vishuddhi |
| Thymus | Anahata |
| Pancreas | Manipura |
| Gonads and ovaries | Swadhisthana |
| Adrenals | Muladhara |
ENDOCRINE/CHAKRA RELATIONSHIP
On the physical level each chakra is related to and has a significant effect on a ductless gland. The endocrine glands are ductless structures which secrete hormones directly into the circulation to regulate all the functions of the body (see figure 6).
When there is a balance between the astral and physical systems, the life-current energy becomes harmoniously connected and synchronized. However, if the flow of energy is blocked and imbalanced in the chakras, the corresponding endocrine gland will be affected, causing malfunction in the physical body, with mental and emotional changes.
NERVE PLEXUS/CHAKRA RELATIONSHIP
The chakras are also related to the nerve plexuses, which are located along the physical spinal cord (see figure 7). Each nerve plexus is like a telephone exchange that receives and transmits nervous impulses and energy to the various body parts.
LOCATING THE CHAKRAS
The following is an exercise for locating your chakras.
Sit in a comfortable meditation posture with your spine upright and relax. If you are unable to sit with your legs crossed, then sit in an upright chair. It is important to keep your spine upright so that the energy can flow to the higher brain centres.
First, become aware of your astral spine by placing your left hand at the base of your spine and your right hand at the base of your skull (medulla oblongata). Close your eyes and calmly look into your spiritual eye (the point between your eyebrows). Inhale and feel your breath rising up from the base of your spine to the medulla oblongata. Exhale and feel the breath moving down through the astral spine. Practise 12 breaths.
Now place your left hand at your spiritual eye, while keeping your right hand at the medulla oblongata. As you inhale, feel the breath flow through the psychic passage in the brain from the medulla to the spiritual eye. Exhale and feel your breath and energy flow from your spiritual eye to the medulla.
Figure 7 The nerve plexuses
| Nerve Plexus | Chakra |
| Cavernous plexus | Ajna |
| Laryngeal plexus | Vishuddhi |
| Cardiac plexus | Anahata |
| Solar plexus | Manipura |
| Sacral plexus | Swadhisthana |
| Coccygeal plexus | Muladhara |
In the second part of this exercise we will contract and relax certain parts of the physical body, and visualize each chakra as a lotus flower.
Muladhara. Contract and relax the anus sphincter muscles. During contraction visualize a lotus with its petals closed and pointing downwards. Then visualize this lotus turning through 180 degrees so that it is pointing upwards, opening its petals. Now mentally chant ‘om’ three times. Relax the contraction and direct the energy (the lotus rays of energy from the petals) up to the next chakra.
Swadhisthana. Contract and relax the sexual organs. Repeat as above, visualizing the lotus and mentally chanting ‘om’ three times. Direct the energy up to the next chakra.
Manipura. Contract and draw the navel sharply in towards the spine and hold it there. Repeat the visualization and mental chanting as above and move the energy to the next chakra.
Anahata. Contract and pull the shoulders back. Repeat the lotus visualization and mental chanting as above and direct the energy up to the next chakra.
Vishuddhi. Stretch the neck backwards to feel a sensation in the throat. Repeat the visualization and mental chanting as before and move the energy to the next chakra.
Ajna. Concentrate deeply at the point between the eyebrows by turning the eyes upwards toward this point.