CHAKRA (cakra), Skt., lit. wheel, circle; in Hinduism a circle of worshipers.
Term for the centers of subtle or refined energy (prāna, kundalinī) in the human energy body (astral body). They concentrate, transform, and distribute the energy that streams through them. Though chakras have correspondences on the coarse, bodily level (for example, heart or solar plexus), these correspondences are not identical with them but belong to another level of phenomenal reality. The chakras are points where soul and body connect with and interpenetrate each other. The seven principal chakras of Indian kundalinī-yoga (these centers are known under other names in other cultures) lie along the sushumnā, the principal channel of subtle energy, located in the spinal column, through which kundalinī rises in the course of spiritual awakening. The first six chakras are located within the coarse body and the seventh outside of it above the crown of the head. When the kundalinī is aroused, which is generally brought about by the special practices of a yoga based on this system, it rises from the first, i.e., lowest, chakra, activating one chakra after the other, up to the seventh and highest. In every chakra to which the yogi brings the kundalinī, he experiences a particular kind of bliss (ānanda), acquires a particular psychic power (siddhi), and realizes a particular form of knowledge. Thus the chakras are also known as centers of consciousness (chaitanya). From each chakra radiate a specific number of energy channels (nādi).
Mediumistically gifted persons who can see the human astral body describe the chakras as “lotus blossoms” with varying numbers of petals; this is the way they are traditionally depicted in illustrations. The number of petals of a given chakra corresponds to the number of nādis radiating from it. These “lotus blossoms” are in circular motion, hence the impression of a wheel (for example, a whirling wheel of fire) and the name chakra. According to the system of kundalinī-yoga each chakra corresponds to specific psychophysical properties, which are expressed through various symbols (shapes, colors, mantric syllables, animal symbols, divinities, etc.). The seven principal chakras and their most important attributes are as follows.
(1) Mūlādhāra-chakra. It is located at the lowest part of the sushumnā between the root of the genitals and the anus. In the mūlādhāra-chakra (in the unawakened state), the kundalinī, which is depicted as a coiled snake (whence the epithet “serpent power”), reposes, providing power and energy to the other chakras. Four nādīs radiate from this chakra, representing the four petals of the lotus. The symbolic shape is a square, its color is yellow, the associated seed syllable is lam, the animal symbol is an elephant with seven trunks, and the divinities are Brahmā and Dākinī, Brahmā’s shakti.
The yogi who by spiritual practice penetrates to the mūlādhāra-chakra conquers the quality of earth (prithivī-tattva) and no longer fears bodily death. Concentrating and meditating on this chakra, he attains “complete knowledge of kundalinī and thus the means to arouse it. Arousing it, he receives the darduri-siddhi, the power to levitate and to control breath, consciousness, and seed. His prāna enters the central brahma-nādī. His sins are wiped away. He knows past, present, and future and enjoys natural bliss (sahaja-ānanda)” (trans. from German edition of Sivananda 1935).
(2) Svādhisthana-chakra. It lies in the energy channel sushumnā at the root of the genitals. It corresponds to bhuvarloka, and its bodily correspondence is the plexus hypogastricus, which controls the inner organs of elimination and procreation. From its center radiate six nādis, or petals. The symbolic shape is the half-moon, its color is white, the seed syllable is vam, the animal symbol is the crocodile, the associated deities are Vishnu with the lesser divinity Rākinī as shakti.
“One who concentrates and meditates on the devatā has no fear of water and completely masters the water element. He acquires various psychic powers, intuitive knowledge, complete mastery of his senses, and knowledge of the astral essences. Desire, wrath, greed, deception, pride, and other impurities are wiped away. The yogi becomes victorious over death [mrityuñjaya-siddhi]” trans. from ibid.).
(3) Manipūra-chakra. It lies within the energy channel sushumnā in the navel region. The corresponding bodily center, the solar plexus, controls liver, stomach, and so on. From this chakra radiate ten nādīs, the petals of this lotus. The symbolic shape is the triangle, its color is red, the seed syllable is ram, the animal symbol is the ram, the ruling deities are Rudra and Lākinī.
“The yogi who concentrates on this chakra attains satala-siddhi and is able to find hidden treasures. He is freed of all diseases and knows no fear of fire. “Even if he were thrown into a blazing fire, he would remain alive and without fear of death.” (ibid.).
(4) Anāhata-chakra. It lies in the heart region within the sushumnā energy channel. The bodily center corresponding to it is the plexus cardiacus, which controls the heart. From this chakra radiate fifteen nādīs, the petals of this lotus. The symbolic shape is the double-triangle star, its color is grayish blue, the seed syllable is yam, the animal symbol the gazelle, the ruling deities Īsha and Kākinī.
“In this center, the sound anāhat [anāhata-shabda], the sound of shabda-brahman, is evident. One perceives it very distinctly when one concentrates on this center. Whoever meditates on this center completely masters the vāyu-tattva (quality of air), which is full of sattvas (harmonious properties). He can fly through the air and enter the bodies of others (bhuchari-siddhi, kechari-siddhi, kaja-siddhi). Cosmic love and other divine qualities come to him” (ibid.).
(5) Vishuddha-chakra. It lies in the sushumnā nādī at the lower end of the throat and is the center of the ether element. From this chakra, which corresponds to the bodily center, plexus laryngeus, radiate sixteen nādīs, the petals of this lotus. The symbolic shape is the circle, its color is white, the seed syllable is ham, the animal symbol an elephant with six tusks, the ruling deities are Sadā-Shiva and the goddess Shākinī.
“Concentration on the qualities (tattva) of this chakra is called ākāshi-dhāranā. One who practices this concentration will not perish even with the destruction of the cosmos (pralaya), for he attains complete knowledge of the four Vedas. He becomes a trikāla-jñāni [trikāla-jñāna] and knows past, present, and future” (ibid.).
(6) Ājñā-chakra. It lies in the sushumnā nādī and has its physical correspondence in the space between the eyebrows. In Western esoteric systems this chakra is known as the “third eye.” This lotus has two petals, i.e., it has two nādīs radiating from its middle. Its color is milky white, the seed syllable is short a, the associated deities are Parama-Shiva in the form of Hamsa and the goddess Hākinī. This chakra, the corresponding physical center of which is the plexus cavernus, is regarded as the seat of consciousness.
“One who concentrates on this chakra destroys all karma from previous lives. Thus the benefits of such meditation, which transforms the yogi into a jīvanmukti (jīvanmukta), one liberated in this lifetime, are indescribably significant. The yogi acquires all the higher and the thirty two lesser siddhis” (ibid.).
(7) Sahasrāra-chakra. This chakra is located above the crown of the head, thus outside the coarse body, above the upper end of the sushumnā. As the name of the chakra indicates, this lotus has a thousand petals, that is, a thousand, or countless, nādīs radiate from it. The physical correspondence of the sahasrāra-chakra is the brain, its seed syllable is om, the sacred utterance (pranava). The fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet run twenty times around the thousand petals of this lotus so that this lotus blossom represents the totality of all seed syllables and all chakras, which the sahasrāra-chakra, set above all the other chakras, encompasses. It radiates light “like ten million suns” and belongs to a higher level of reality than the other six chakras, which as the six chakras (shat-chakra), constitute the chakras in the narrower sense of the word.
The sahasrāra-chakra, which is regarded as the abode of the god Shiva, corresponds to cosmic consciousness. “If the kundalinī is unified with the god Shiva in the sahasrāra-chakra, the yogi experiences supreme bliss (paramānanda), superconsciousness, and supreme knowledge. He becomes a brahmavid-varishta, a perfect jñāni” (ibid.).
A detailed exposition of the chakras and their many aspects according to the teaching of kundalinī-yoga can be found in Arthur Avalon’s The Serpent Power (see Woodroffe 1919).
Although developed by Hinduism, the system of the chakras also plays a role in Buddhism, especially Tantric Buddhism (Tantra, Vajrayana, Tibetan Buddhism). In basic outline the system of energy centers (chakras) and connecting channels (nādī) is the same as in kundalinī-yoga. The symbolism connected with it, however, is taken from Buddhist iconography, and the meditation practice based on it is significantly different in many respects from that of kundalinī-yoga. An exposition of Buddhist chakra-yoga can be found in Govinda 1959.
CHAKRABANDHA (Cakrabandha), Skt. ; a state in which all the chakras are activated, thereby enabling the kundalinī to rise to the seventh center of subtle energy (sahāsrara) and thus bring about illumination.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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