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KUNDALINI
CHAKRAS
- THE ENERGY CENTRES-2 |
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According
to Gandharvatantra Kundalini moving up from muladhara to Anahata
chakra, shining like molten gold is known as Fire Kundalini; from
Anahata to Visuddha, as bright as a million suns, as Sun Kundalini;
from Visuddha centre to the end of Sushumna-nadi, lustrous as a
milllion moons, as moon Kundalini. The aspect of Kundalini which
is beyond Sushumna becomes supraconscious, embracing all forms of
sound and light.
The essential, however,
is not in the complexities of the chakras, symbolism but rather
in their function within the subtle body, the role they play at
the moment the Kundalini, rising through the Sushumna channel toward
the top of the head, touches each one on her journey. The chakras
represent a symbolic theory of the psyche. In the system of
chakras we find that each phase of energy is represented by an element,
in ascending order earth, water, fire, air and ether.
Each
of the five vortices signifies a new quality, and each is both an
extension and a limitation of another. Thus at the root centre Muladhara
associated with the element earth the quality is cocontent, experiencing
no desire to change or to expand into any other state. At the same
time, just as the root of a tree implies the possibility of its
growth, the earth centre denotes an opportunity to expand the awareness.
Likewise the second chakra, Svadisthana, has the nature of its corresponding
element, water: an energy that tends to flow downward.
The
third chakra, Manipura, associated with the element fire, has an
upward, consuming movement like flames. The fourth chakra, Anahata,
associated with air is characterized by a tendency to revolve in
different directions and to relate itself to other possibilities.
Here ‘air’ is not vital breath but the atmosphere the immensity
of soace and the conveyor of sound. The name of the chakra implies
that it emits a mysterious cosmic vibration, as of unstruck (anahata)
sound that is sound beyond the realm of the senses. The fifth
chakra, Visuddha associated with ether, is like a vessel within
which all the elements mingle. |
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The
process of becoming is not unilinear that is, moving in one
pushes at every level. The Kundalini energy does not shoot up in
a straight line, but at each stage of its unfolding unties the knots
of different energies. Each successive unlocking brings transformation.
In Tantric teachings the purusha is first seen at the fourth
chakra, the heart chakra Anahata. Purusha is the essence of man,
the Supreme man.
In the recognition of feelings
and ideas one sees the purusha. This is the first inkling of a being
within whom one is contained greater and more important than oneself
but which has a purely psychic existence. Traditionally, the two
interlocking triangles within this chakra symbolize the union of
the male principle (the upward-pointing triangle) and the female
principle (the downward-pointing triangle), so that here they indicate
a cosmic universal value. |
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To
cross from Anahata to the fifth chakra visuddha, one must admit
that all one’s psychic ‘facts’ have nothing to do with material
facts. If one has reached this stage one is beginning to leave Anahata
because one has succeeded in dissolving the ‘union of material external
facts with internal or psychic facts’ the element ether related
to visuddha is the one that is placed above the five others’ and
transcends them. The presence of the syllable Om within the inner
triangle of Ajna, the sixth chakra is a clear indication that the
associted symbolism is that of the origin the beginning of all things
and also of their end.
Om
is in equal measure the sonic vibration from which all things emerge
and that into which they must eventually be reabsorbed at the end
of the cosmic cycle.the elements and other symbols associated with
the vortices must be understood as referring to the positive and
negative polarities functioning within the personality. As kundalini
ascends through the planes of the psychic centres the initiate experiences
an interplay of visionary experences, with sensations of sound,
light and colour. |
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At
the level of the sixth chakra, Ajna the centre between the eyebrows,
the dialectical functioning of the personality is constrolled by
means of a power to command that can harmonize the energies. Just
as Jung’s subjects in the process of individuation transcend the
barriers of polarities interacting within their personalities with
the help of a therapist so in kundalini-yoga the initiate learns
through long apprenticeship under the guidance of a guru to balance
the dialectical processes of the lower chakras. Once a balance is
attained psychic individuation results in an entirely new awareness;
so too with the adept when all functions are equilibrated at the
level of the Ajna chakra. |
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The
seventh and last chakra Sahasrara, has no associated element, colour
or sound. As a lotus Sahasrara has a thousand petals, but there
is no other specific symbolism connected with it. The colour white,
the syllable Om, and the element universal consciousness of the
Ajna chakra admit nothing beyond themselves, unless it be the Absolute
Brahman.
To attain Sahasrara is thus
to attain the world of Brahaman in which liberation is symbolically
located. One ought therefore to say that this chakra is located
above the crown of the head in order to stress that it is differentiated
from the other six. The best graphic representations, indeed show
it in the form of an inverted lotus emitting a radiance that bathes
the subtle body in its entirety like the aura. |
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Terminating
her journey at Sahasrara, the Kundalini Sakti which has the brilliance
of lightning and is composed of three gunas [qualities], after piercing
the unmanifest, lustrous abode of Siva, which is in the form of
Bindu [the transcendental centre] and which is situated in the midst
of eternal bliss and divine nectar, having the brilliance of million
moons and suns, returens to her resting place, Muladhara. |
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How
long the aspirant will have to stay at each chakra depends on his
attachment and karmic action. The root chakra Muladhara, fourth
chakra Anahata and fifth chakra Ajna are the greates obstacles to
the rising of Kundalini. Three chakras are associated with the Brahma,
Vishnu and Rudra knots (granthis), and with psychic blockages called
lingas (the Svayambhu, Bana and ltara lingas respectively). The
Sanskrit word lingam is derived from the roots, if to dissolve,
and gam to go out which symbolizes dissolving and evolving again.
To clear the Brahma knot is to get established in totality ; to
clear the vishnu knot to perceive the existence of a universal life-principle
; to clear the Rudra knot to attain the non-dual state, realization
of one-ness the universal joy. |
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In
tantric symbolism the state of samadhi is the union of Siva and
Sakri. If it is true that this total union knows no end, it means
that the aspirant who has achieved this condition will not return
will never again return from his free state as a jivan-mukta as
liberated while yet living’. |
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