CHAKRA

The Chakras
The respective powers of Ida and Pingala nadis create ripples in the two channels. The chakras are created at the points where these ripples meet. Each chakra has a certain number of petals which express its qualities. Just as each chakra has a plexus as its gross correspondent in the nervous system, so each petal corresponds to a sub-plexus. For example, the Swadisthan chakra has six petals, the aortic plexus has six sub-plexuses. The chakras lie on the horizontal plane looking from above like over-lapping circles, and when in action, rotate in a clockwise direction. Each of these subtle centres is a storehouse of energy for the gross plexuses supplying the physical, mental and emotional demands of the sympathetic nervous system. For instance, if the Swadisthan chakra looks after the abdominal organs, it also supplies energy to creative action and thought and depth to the aesthetic sensibility. Before Kundalini awakening, the energy in the chakras is limited and exhaustible, as in a battery. After realisation, they are connected by Kundalini passing through Sushumna (the middle channel) to the infinite current of the universal superconscious, to the all-pervading power of divine love.
The chakras are all milestones in the path of evolution, each evolving and developing at particular stages of our history. The Visuddhi centre for instance, in the throat, developed fully at the time when man first raised his head.
After Self-realisation, as Sahaja Yogis we are empowered to awaken the Kundalini and open the chakras. The seven main chakras each relate to a specific area of the hands. The chakras also have signal points in the head, feet, joints, limbs etc. Through the science of Sahaja Yoga, we check their condition by interpreting the codified sensations which we feel there. For instance, an obstruction in the right heart chakra will show itself as heat, tingling, numbness or pulsation in the little finger of the right hand. Problems in the chakras can also show themselves in other parts of the body. For instance, our nabhi chakra is expressed in our knees and elbows People who suffer from diseases like arthritis can be helped by having a Sahaja Yogi take out the vibrations from these joints. H. H. Shri Mataji has elaborated in such detail on the science of Sahaja Yoga that after realisation, we can all master the art of awakening of chakras, balancing of energy, protection of the instrument and all that is required to keep the yoga sustained.
There are various techniques of clearing and maintaining the chakras. But more important than any of these techniques is our attitude. When we stop identifying with our own problems and put our loving attention to those of others, then we stop catching on our own chakras and sirnply feel others. Developing this witness state, we become true instruments of the divine, just watching the whole play working through us. ‘We become the recording and correcting machine - the doctor and the medicine together.’

• Mooladhara Chakra
Qualities: innocence, wisdom, chastity, eternal childhood.Gross expression: pelvic plexus.Place on hand: heel of palm.Manifestations: sex, excretionCauses of catch: sexual ‘liberation’, adultery, perversions used in tantrism, lustful attention, constipation.Number of petals: fourSymbol: swastika (clockwise)Element: earth
The mooladhara chakra is placed below the Kundalini at the very base of the instrument. “Moola” means the root which is the kundaiini, and ‘adhara’ means the support. The fundamental quality of the chakra is innocence, which forms the basis of every righteous (dharmic) character.
This is the centre which governs the sexual aspect of human beings. Since the mooladhara chakra is placed below the Kundalini and she does not pass through this centre, there can be no question of awakening her through sex. This is the greatest sin you can commit against Kundalini, who is your holy loving mother. Those who imagine they can find liberation in this way are only surrendering themselves to the bondage of the senses, and playing into the hands of the satanic forces who move under the guise of tantrism trying use sex to excite the Kundalini.
Sex has its place in human life as the most sublime physical expression of love within the marriage. Through this channel, realised souls of tremendous power are waiting to take their birth. As Sahaja Yogis, we must understand the relative importance of sex. Then it should make no further demands on our attention outside of the married relationship. Only after this collective blessing of society can the real romance of that state be enjoyed between two persons.
After realisation, you learn to develop the proper esteem and respect for your own chastity and the chastity of others. A sense of chastity is essential for the development of your own gravity and power. It is your foundation; the realisation of innocence. The mooladhara chakra can be gradually cleared and that innocence is established within you.
• Mooladhara
Qualities: purity, virginity, chastity, motherly love, holiness of mother.Gross expression: in women-uterus, in men-prostate gland.Place on hand: just above heel of palm.Manifestations: parasympathetic nervous system.Causes of catch: imbalance of sympathetic nervous system, false gurus, materialism, fanaticism, primitive thinking, no spiritual seeking, constipation and after-effects of sedentary habits (Right side); perversion of sex, sex before or without marriage, immorality, mental activity in sex, flirting, money or ego-oriented sex even with your own wife or husband (Left side).
The Mooladhara chakra is outside the mooladhara which is the abode of Kundalini. The triangular bone at the base of the spine in which it resides, the sacrum (kumbha), was called sacred by the ancient Latin people when they discovered that this bone did not burn with the rest of the body. This is the sanctuary of the Kundalini and it is inviolable. If unauthorised unwelcome advances are made to her, for instance by false gurus, through other chakras, the Kundalini rises but falls down, but through Mooladhara chakra (sex) if anyone tries to raise the Kundalini, she gets frozen and does not rise. If the advance persists it is likely that she will freeze altogether and she may never rise.
How can we realize the absolute purity and the supreme dignity of the Kundalini if we do not know how to respect her as our holiest and dearest mother who has been with us for ages, waiting for a chance to give us our rebirth.
• Swadishtan Chakra
Qualities: creativity, inspiration, aesthetics, intellectual perception.Gross expression: aortic plexus.Place on hand: thumb.Manifestations: liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas, uterus.Causes of catch: too much thinking or planning, too much involvement in art, making money out of your talents, alcohol, drugs, bad eating habits, artificial or crude false gurus, extreme obedience, extreme political ideas, domination or slavery, ego-oriented life, spiritualism, black magic.Number of Petals: Six.Element: Fire.
The Swadisthan Chakra is suspended like a satellite on a chord from the nabhi chakra (3) and moves around the void (IV) giving sustenance (Dharma) to weak areas of its ten petals which represent the ten commandments. When Kundalini first rises it passes into the nabhi chakra then along the chord to enlighten the swadisthan then returns into the nabhi.
Here, the energy for our creativity is generated. The urge to be unique to compete or be recognized for our intellectual and creative abilities comes from ego, which has a direct relationship through pingala nadi to right Swadisthan. The most important function of this centre is that it is responsible for breaking down fat particles in the abdomen to replace the grey and white cells of the brain, so generating the energy which fuels our thinking. But too much thinking drains the central channel as the right side pingala nadi is exhausted. The ego swells further to envelop the brain, pushing the super ego down to minimum and effectively severing the connection with the central channel which is governed by the Spirit, the true creative source. Instead of a sponge, the brain becomes like a rock, losing all power of absorption. The extreme effort to create kills all spontaneity which is why most modern art, whether drama, music or painting, becomes gross and lacking in joy-giving qualities. This is due to ego’s demands for pampering, which it enjoys as happiness, setting an unbreakable vicious circle.
As the pingala nadi tries to recharge itself from the centre, an imbalance is created. The problem often manifests as left nabhi freezing, and can even extend to the whole left side. In such cases, diseases like diabetes are developed. When the ego grips the heart organ which is the abode of the Spirit one gets heart disease; when such a person neglects the Spirit and runs after other things, heart attacks could result. The Swadisthan Chakra along with the Nabhi Chakra, also looks after the liver. As this centre busies itself with the thinking process, the other organs it is supposed to look after are neglected and the liver which has to work hard producing fat cells for the brain, suffers. Problems here are indicated by tingling in the thumb and middle finger of the right hand or by prickling sensations in the hands. This organ is particularly important in that it is the seat of our attention (chitta). Attention should not be confused with thought which comes from ego or super ego, it is pure concentration minus thought, which is mental activity. The liver sustains our attention and purifies it by filtering out all kinds of dirt filth and poisons. Before realization, our attention is always running after external things, getting carried away on the waves of thought and feeling and being dissipated through uncontrolled eyes. We cannot consciously take the attention inside our being. Something has to happen there. The sudden awakening of Kundalini pulls it in and then unites it to the Spirit. This is where it should rest, in enjoyment of the Spirit, pure and still in thoughtless awareness. The joy of the heart, where the Spirit resides, nourishes the liver and helps to sustain the attention. Thus the chitta (attention) becomes enlightened with spiritual joy, ananda.
Anything to do with spiritualism, black magic, disturbing or depending on the dead, using guides, occultism, getting involved in clairovoyance, ESP causes Swadisthan to catch badly. The reason for this is that we become dependant on external entities which leech on our energies depleting them. The quality of Swadisthan is pure knowledge (Nirmala Vidya), knowledge of things as they are in the absolute sense. This knowledge needs to be experienced by ourselves directly not through an external agency.
The key to true creativity is in achieving the state of thoughtless awareness (nirvichar samadhi). Like a lake, silent and still, all the beauty of the creation around You, is reflected within. You become the flute, an egoless channel for the divine music of vibrations. You are, in the words of the Poet, ‘a heart that watches and receives’.
Because of the connection with ego, which completely takes our attention from the self, the Spirit, it is very important for us at this center to develop real humility, i.e. knowing in our hearts of who we are, acknowledging our place in this creation, which for a realised soul is just to be an instrument of the divine.
• Nabhi Chakra
Qualities: Sustenance (Dharma), Ten Commandments, righteousness, welfare, Wealth (Laxmi tatwa), seeking, evolutionGross expression: Solar plexus.Place on hand: Middle fingerManifestations: Intestines, stomach, spleen, liverCauses of catch: Family and household problems, money-mindedness, alcohol, dominating husband or wife, fanaticism, asceticism, fasting, too much interest in foodNumber of Petals: TenElement: Water
Kundalini passes first through the Nabhi chakra, piercing it from side to side. Through vibrations, after realisation, we gain real understanding of why and how a pure and righteous life should be led. We truly realise the need for Dharma. Thus wisdom grows within.
As guidelines to our realisation and subsequent way of life, we have the Ten commandments: the divine statutes that keep human beings in the centre. Those who have always followed these principles of human sustenance achieve a powerful and lasting experience of Self-realisation. And those who did not understand the need for Dharma before realisation now become aware of it. It means that after realisation, if you do anything against Dharma your stomach revolts against it. Actually, those who have tried to test their enlightened sustenance have been amazed to see how their stomach becomes sensitive to Adharma. It can also be tested very clearly on vibrations. These experiences convince you of your new human awareness. Moreover, due to the manifestation of the Spirit’s beauty, one enjoys oneself so much that the seeker does not want to indulge in rubbish after tasting the nectar of life.
These precepts are there for you to follow, but you are still free. In Sahaja Yoga you are your own judge and jury. The vibrations state the case to you. Then it is up to you in your wisdom to give the verdict and pass the sentence. This is possible after realisation when you stop identifying with your weaknesses and become a witness to your self. This is how the Last Judgement is manifesting.
Through the grace of Sri Laxmi, who is the power of Sri Vishnu, we get our physical and material well-being (Kshema). On the left of the chakra is the place of the Grihalaxmi-the wife, the Goddess of the Household. The wife must be respected and be the embodiment of respectability. We catch on this side of the chakra when we have problems in the household or if we worry too much about money. After realisation, we learn to have faith in Providence, that our Father, God Almighty is taking care of us. We gain the strength to face our responsibilities and start to enjoy the duties we must take on. We realise that the family, as the most important unit in our society, has to be supported, and must flourish in an atmosphere of love, respect and unity.
Drinking alcohol, eating the wrong food, too much interest in food (”gourmet”)-whether it shows itself in gluttony or in fasting, will naturally cause the Nabhi to catch. After Kundalini awakening, such desires quickly fade. The temptation for particular dishes disappears and you start enjoying the food which gives the best vibrations. The whole attitude becomes very subtle and detached, and you find that your appetite is very easily satisfied.
“Satisfaction” is actually a key word for Nabhi. Because of liver problems and the consequent irritability people often develop the habit of expressing discontent at the slightest provocation. For them, life without worry is an impossibility.
When the Spirit manifests, you see things in their true perspective, through purified attention, and give up worrying. In the peace of thoughtlessness, you can only be content. Then you know the Spirit is not bothered with passing fads and trends, a button missing here or there. The mantra for Nabhi is : “In my Spirit I am satisfied.”
• Void
Qualities: Principle of Primordial MasterPlace on hand: base of fingers and outer ring on palmManifestations: fanaticism, fantasy, false gurus, faulty sustenance. Void affects the Nabhi chakra in particular and also Swadisthana and centre heart.Element: Water, fire
Within the instrument, the void is the gap between the Kundalini and the vagus nerve of the parasympathetic system. It represents the Bhavasagara, the ocean of Creation, obscured by the veils of illusion (Maya), that vacuum which seperates our awareness from the Absolute while we are still in the unenlightened state. It represents all space and time from the beginning of Creation to the peak of our evolution in human awareness, and contains the two centres of sun (Surya) and moon (Chandra) chakras. The Void is created by the outermost circular movement of the Swadisthana around the Nabhi chakra.
All the great Prophets who came to give knowledge of the higher reality are placed here: Abraham, Moses, Lao-Tse, Janaka, Nanak, Mohammed, Sai Nath of Shirdi are all embodiments of the principle of Primordial Master (Adi Guru), and it is they who have taught us the ways of righteous living that mainatain the balance of our dharma.
When the Kundalini fills the Void and rises, our attention is led out of the confusion and Maya and into the awareness of that higher reality. This movement has been symbolised in our evolution with Moses leading his people across the Red Sea.
Now, in Sahaja Yoga, we look to those great masters for guidance and knowledge of the divine statutes, and we can verify the truth of their knowledge through the new vibratory awareness. The teachnings of the genuine masters, and even their names, give cool vibrations. If we ask about false teachers or institutions who are organising religion in an unauthorised way in the name of even the real incarnations, the vibrations become hot or just stop. Such falsehood breeds fanaticism. Sahaja Yogis have to be normal people with respect for what is genuine, otherwise they lose the vibrations. Because the vibrations are such an absolute judge, you can actually feel when something is true and when something is false.
• Heart Chakra
Also known as Riddhaya or Anahat Chakra
Left Heart :Qualities: Existence, love, truth, joy, after realisation Joy-Attention-Truth (sat-chit-anand).Gross expression: Heart organ and left cardiac plexus.Place on hand: Left little finger.Manifestations: Heartbeat (Anahat-sound that is without percussion).Causes of catch: Extreme physical, mental activity, bad heartfelt relations (especially mother’s), outside attention, ( physical ) hatha yoga, drugs, no seeking, no faith in God, anti-God activities.
Centre Heart:Qualities: Mother of the Universe, physical mother, sense of security, creation and nourishing of antibodies.Gross expression: Center of Cardiac plexus, also partly left cardiac plexus,sternum bone in childhoodManifestations: Breathing, breasts.Causes of catch: Sense of insecurity, mother or motherhood problem, possessions, fear.Number of petals: Twelve.Element: Air.
Right Heart:Qualities: Dutiful life as a king, father, husband, gracious auspicious boundaries (Maryada)Gross expression: Cardiac plexus (right side).Place on hand: Right little finger.Causes of catch: Father or fatherhood problem, emotional aggression, arrogant or inconsiderate behaviour, unlawful (anti-divine) domination.
Heart is the home of Self, Soul, Spirit, Atma, all one and meaning the same. Time and time again Her Holiness Shri Mataji has told us : “You are nothing but your eternal Spirit.” as if according to Her, Spirit is the only thing we had to become and realise, as if the rest becomes futile. Mother (physical) plays a very important role in your heartfelt emotions and this affects the quality of your seeking.
After realisation, losing our false identifications with body, mind, feelings, we really become that Spirit. With enlightenment alone we can take our attention to our heart and cleanse it. The Spirit can only manifest where the heart is open and clean and into such a vessel it pours eternal joy of perfecting the purpose and meaning of the creation, of our meaning. We have to clean our hearts through our attention, and by reciting mantras like ‘I am the Spirit’ we can gradually become that (of course, this is after realisation - before realisation everything is mechanical.) Shri Mataji says, ‘What is the use of using a phone which is not connected to the mains (all pervading power)?’
In the Sahastrara, the seat of the heart chakra is placed in the brahmarandra at the crown of the head. This is where the union of the individual consciousness through the Kundalini is united with the universal consciousness.
This centre has to be treated with the greatest respect and understanding. Subjecting the heart to undue exertion in our day-today life should be conscientiously avoided. For instance, so-called ascetic disciplines, prolonged mental or heavy physical labour, or Westernised Hatha Yoga without any consideration of God’s love which concentrates on developing the body alone, at the expense of the spirit. If we have gone against the Spirit, or God Almighty, we can awaken it after realisation by asking forgiveness. Problems in the centre arising out of in-security can cause palpitations and breast problems.
Real security means more than just a favourable environment. The left side of the heart chakra is also affected by our own physical mother, while our father has his place in the right heart. Once we realise that our parents have this place within us, then we do not try to escape or just to run away from the problems in the family. H.H. Shri Mataji says we actually choose our parents, in which case we must also be aware of our responsibilities towards them. At all times we should treat them with the love and great respect which is their due. Parents, whose children have their places in their own hearts, should raise them in a pure life properly suited to their spiritual development. They should love them without attachment or fear, knowing that they are the trustees of their children, who are to get their realisation or who may be born with it. If the parents do not practise what they preach, they cannot influence their children. They should be brave and respectable to be respected.
At the right Heart we have embeded the auspicious and gracious boundaries by which human beings should live and be governed. These boundaries we need when we seek to know the Spirit. When the attention is not contained in any boundaries, it spreads indiscriminately like a shallow puddle on the ground. When we keep within the boundaries, it cuts deep like a river and our attention deepens within.
Pure love, which enlightens all, is the true quality of the Heart. In the unrealised state, we rarely love for love’s sake. Because of our conditioning, we confuse feelings of love with those of possession, sex and selfishness, and the object of love becomes the object of desire. Pure love is detached. It gives without interest. Like the tree which gives shade to one and all, it is without prejudice. Like the river, it just flows. Her Holiness Shri Mataji says : “I will tell you again and again that Sahaja Yoga is nothing but a manifestation of love, love, love.”
• Vissudhi Chakra
Left VisshudhiQualities: brother-sister relationshipPlace on hand: left first fingerCauses of catch: guilt, immorality, foul tongue, sarcasm
Centre Visshudhi:Qualities: divine diplomacy, playful witness, collective consciousness (Virata, Akbar)Gross expression: cervical plexus (thyroid)Place on hand: first fingers (both hands when Virata)Manifestations: neck, arms, mouth, tongue, faceCauses of catch: arrogance, impure relations, lack of sense of collectivity, speaking against God’s universality, fanaticismNumber of petals: sixteenElement: ether
Right Visshudhi:Qualities: witness of selfPlace on hand: right first fingerCauses of catch: smoking, swearing, chanting, cold, sinus or problems of bronchial tubes.
For us to enter the witness state, we must begin by practising detachment: from involvements, thoughts, plans, conditioning, emotions. As we mature in the ability to be a witness after realisation, we see all these things as existing outside ourselves, and if they are outside, we must realise that we are not that. In this way, we strip away the layers of identity to reveal our fundamental and indivisible essence, the Spirit. “We see our own acting, and the whole world becomes like a drama” says Her Holiness Shri Mataji.
One of the most pervasive of all attachments is guilt. Nurtured on the milk of self-accusal, we cling to guilt, wrapping ourselves in its cloak. Hidden among its recesses, we only put off the day when we have to face up to our weaknesses and do something about them. Guilt attacks the left Vishuddhi and we have found it to be one of the most obstinate barriers to Kundalini raising. The fundamental cause is immorality, which arises out of our confusion over the universal relationship of man and woman, which is that of brother and sister. The attention must be made pure. After realisation, we realise that the Spirit, which is pure, does not accumulate guilt. It is actually a superego problem. Using simple techniques in Sahaja Yoga we can overcome these weaknesses very easily. “I am not guilty” is the mantra of the left Visuddhi.
The Vishuddhi chakra has sixteen petals, each with different qualities and functions. On the physical side, it looks after throat, arms, face, mouth, teeth, etc., so they must all be taken care of. For instance, protecting yourself from the cold, avoiding tobacco, taking proper dental care, and so on. This is particularly important for your vibratory awareness, as the nerves which register the vibrations in the hands pass through this centre.
For the right Vishuddhi, which governs speech, we must pay attention to how we use the voice; praising rather than criticising, aspiring to auspiciousness and dignity in speech rather than frivolity. We should never be harsh or sarcastic, ‘witty’ at another’s expense. This will only throw us into guilt on the left side. We should always speak from the heart.
Needless to say, using the voice in the wrong way will have a very damaging effect on right visshudhi, for instance by swearing or using unauthorised chants and mantras.
The visshudhi is also the place of the Virata, God’s manifested form, described in vivid detail in Chapter II of the Bhagavad Gita’ :
‘And Arjuna saw in that radiance the whole universe in its variety, standing in a vast unity in the body of the God of gods.’
As cells in that body, united by the thread of Kundalini, we should meditate on that oneness, our brotherhood in spirit with humanity and with the universe. We should not divorce ourselves from the whole with feelings of inferiority or arrogance. The ‘rugged individual’ inhabits his own private myth. It is for us to become universal beings.
We must seek ourselves in others, feel the spirit of another person, with the attitude that we are going to smell a flower’s fragrance, with great sweetness (madhuri). ‘Establish your love in another person’, as Her Holiness Shri Mataji says, and find ‘universality through sweetness, the sweetness of relationship.’
Hamsa chakra is part of visshudhi chakra and is placed at a point between the eyes. This centre is related to the union of man and woman in marriage. The marriage institution is to be revered, each partner holding the other in the utmost esteem and respect.
There should be no confusion of identity: a man must be a man, and a woman must be a woman. And there should be no confusion as to the purpose of a Sahaja mariiage, which is to spread their love throughout the whole community, and to become parents to those realised souls now waiting to take their birth,
• Agnya Chakra
Left Agnya:Qualities: superegoGross expression: right templePlace on hand: left ring fingerManifestations: conditioning, memoriesCauses of catch: harm to self, habits
Centre Agnya:Qualities: forgiveness, resurrectionGross expression: crossing of optic thalamus (pineal & pituitary glands)Place on hand: ring fingersManifestations: sight, hearing, thoughtCauses of catch: roving eyes, bad companyNumber of petals: twoElement: light
Right Agnya:Qualities: egoGross expression: left templePlace on hand: right ring fingerManifestations: ‘I-ness’Causes of catch: wrong ideas about God, worries, harm to others
The Agnya Chakra, sometimes called the third eye, is placed at the centre of the brain. When Kundalini passes through the chakra, our thought waves elongate so that the space between two thoughts grows wider. As the petals of the chakra open, silence blossoms in the centre and spreads outwards, pushing the thoughts to the periphery of your awareness. In thoughtless awareness, you actually feel this beautiful silence which is at the heart of creation. Just like the vibrations, this expansion of silence is a wave created without percussion. Absolute and therefore beyond causality, all you can say is that it is.
The human mind is divided into an ego (ahankara) and a superego (manas). They are the culminations of the channels of pingala and ida nadi which cross here at Agnya.
Everything which passes into the left side; memories, conditioning, all that is past, accumulates in the super-ego on the right side of the brain. Like the ego, the superego is a dead end and so overactivity of the left side makes it swell up like a balloon. This can be caused by the exercise of a highly emotional temperament, by wishing harm to yourself, by indulging in habits and so on. For problems of this nature you should do the same as for a weak left side.
The superego is in the subconscious realm, where all your past knowledge and experience is stored. Bordering the individual subconscious is the collective subconscious and existing there are spirits of the dead (bhoots) still tied to this earth by chains of passion and appetite. Spiritualists, mediums, necromancers, work in this realm.
The ego, (ahankara) is on the left side of the brain and is the balloon into which the fumes of right side activity rise. As we burn energy in working, thinking planning, losing our tempers, the subsequent heat generates these fumes in the right side as in a furnace chimney. But instead of escaping to the atmosphere these fumes only inflate the ego balloon. This is why, at a relatively early age, the fontanele area calcifies and hardens and we begin to develop our separate identities and our concept of ‘I’. As the heart is enveloped by ego, we lose sight of the spirit and identify only with the one we call ‘I’.
To deflate the balloon and pull the ego back into proportion with the rest of the instrument, we have to prick it with the pin of humour. By watching the ego as a witness, you begin to see its subtle tricks and manipulations and then it becomes a joke. We cannot fight the ego, it is a contradiction in terms. We can only bring it down with our laughter. Then the heart can break through its stranglehold.
It is not that we want to kill the ego. It has after all its place in the instrument; without it we would not act. But we want to bring it into balance with the superego, in order to create the space for the Kundalini to pass through into Sahasrara.
In the same way that the spirit does not accumulate guilt, it does not accumulate sin or karma. Karma is the result of past action of ego, and once we are in the Spirit, beyond ego, we are beyond karma.
The ego is in the supraconscious, the realm of the future. Clairvoyants, power seekers, visionaries, go to this side.
Ambitious people who have led extremely egocentric lives, possibly dominating nations with the power of their ego, may, on dying, pass into the collective supraconscious from where they may possess people of similar ambition.
Exploration of either realm is extremely dangerous. Shri Mataji says they are essentially the same : ‘It makes no difference if it is the black fumes of the coal (subconscious), or the yellow fumes of the benzol (supraconscious). Both are equally suffocating.’
En route to the Sahasrara Chakra, sushumna nadi passes through centre Agnya. To cross the agnya chakra we must develop the power of forgiveness. We must learn to forgive ourselves and others. Once we see that our anger is self-destructive, that it is only we who suffer as the result of that emotion, then it becomes easy to forgive. We realise that forgiveness itself is a myth. The person we are forgiving remains unaffected. All that happens is that we lose our chains. Furthermore forgiveness relaxes the Agnya, thus allowing the Kundalini to pass through the narrow crossing point of the optic chiasma.
Because agnya governs our sight, we should respect the eyes as a gift with which the beauty of God’s creation is revealed to us. We should not waste or abuse that gift. If you want to stop your eyes from wandering, fix them on the earth. You can also clear this centre through the other elements, by looking at a clear sky or into the candle flame.
Being the gateway to the sahasrara, the purest realm,the agnya will not allow Kundalini to rise above it if there are still impurities in the mind. So we must purify our minds, purify our attention which in the realised state, is the instrument of our perception. Shri Mataji says, ‘this eternal light encompasses the whole world, and you see the whole world within yourself.’
• Sahasrara Chakra
Qualities: collective consciousness, integration, silenceGross expression: limbic areaPlace on hand: centre of palmManifestations: vibrations, cool breezeCauses of catch: doubt in God, doubt in Shri MatajiNumber of petals: one thousandSymbol: bandhan.
In the sahasrara, the whole instrument is integrated. Each chakra has its place here. Only now do we go beyond the relative, above the three gunas (channels), and into the absolute realisation of heaven on earth. This is a country far beyond our wildest imaginings, so much more than our words can even seek to imply, our ultimate destination, stretching out forever.
When Kundalini reaches Sahasrara the lotus petals open and enlightenment (samadhi) takes place. You may feel a powerful pulsation in the crown of the head, followed by a melting sensation and a flow of cool vibrations from the fontanele bone area. This is the baptism by which you know you are truly born again.
Vibratory awareness begins now. As Kundalini unites our individual consciousness to the universal, the atma to the paramatma, we are suddenly tuned in to the universal wavelength of vibrations. These vibrations Pervade the cosmos, but before realisation, while we are still in the egg, we know nothing of them. When Kundalini breaks the shell, we emerge into God’s kingdom, the collective unconscious, and we are singing the song of the unconscious, with the vibrations playing through the divine musical instrument which we have become.
As human awareness is united to the divine, we move into the subtlest level of communication, into collective consciousness. In becoming vessels for that universal power we become one with all the other vessels. We learn to appreciate the real depth and beauty of another person in vibrations. The beauty of art and nature now manifests itself as vibrations. We no longer judge on opinions, but on vibrations. Just ask the question and a positive answer comes as a flow of cool vibrations. Sit as for meditation and ask the vibrations. It is conversation at its most sublime.