The Sacred Chakras - A modern perspective - Part 1
Hello all,
Namaste! Last week we discussed how the flower 'Lotus' signifies the sacred chakra on top of the head called 'Sahasrara'. We also had a small discussion on the solar plexus chakra called 'Manipura'.
This week why don't we analyze all the chakras from a modern viewpoint. Before that let us dissect, what are these chakras? Can we relate anyway to our modern world and living?
The 'Chakras' in Hindu mythology ( not sure whether it is mentioned in other mythologies) are considered sacred energy centers where life energy or in other words 'Jiva' is thought to be situated. Now, what is this Jiva? It is the essence or the energy, which make us living and breathing human beings and which makes us alive.
Now, this Jiva is considered concentrated in seven energy centers along the spine of our body. (Disclaimer: To be honest, all these information I have acquired through reading and I have done absolutely nothing to activate the Chakras and I don't intend to.) Do these chakras help us to live a fruitful life? Are they needed in case they are present in our body? If we know the underlying significance, can we use it to our advantage? Why don't we analyze it? Today we will discuss the first four and remaining three we will analyze in the next post. Let us start with the first chakra thought to be situated at the base of the spine.
1, Muladhara (Root Chakra): In Sanskrit, Moola means base or root and adhara means to sustain. So this chakra literally means the basis for our sustenance. So now think, we all are living in this world. Each one of us has a right to live without fear and danger.
If we are always worried about our safety and security, then we will not be able to do anything with our life. So the first chakra signifies our safety and security and asks us to live from a place of no fear or danger of our life. Okay, now everyone may not be lucky enough to have a safe place to dwell or a life without trauma and tragedy. So then what should we do?
Doesn't every one of us have our free will and a god given life? Then it becomes our duty to strive our best to get out of a fear ridden life and lead a life from a place of happiness and contentment. Once we are able to achieve that status and live from a place of no fear, this chakra starts to get activated and it starts opening. Only after making this chakra active or start living life from a place of fearlessness, we can proceed to the other chakras or do other activities with our life. So this is the base to all the other chakra and this chakra forms the foundational energy to our Jiva.
2, Swadhishtana (Sacral Chakra): This is the next chakra, which is considered situated at the sacral portion of the spine. What does this chakra symbolize? Swa means Self and adhisthana means place of residence.
So what does it means? This is the place where Swa rests, means this is the value we give ourselves. Now consider a person who has self-esteem issues and gives oneself very low value. Will he/she be able to take decisions for his/her life? Most probably others may be giving orders to him/ her and because of the low value they assign for themselves, they live the life according to other's demands and wishes. Then how does this chakra open? It will have to remain closed.
What do all the inspirational books and leaders say? "You have to stand in your true power and lead a life of authenticity!". This chakra symbolizes the energy that comes with standing tall in one's power and giving value to one's intentions and actions. Remember, each one of us is created by the all encompassing divine and each one of us has that same right to live a true and authentic life. So if someone is obstructing that power in oneself, we have to make them realize the way they are leading a life with value, we also have the same right given to us by the divine.
So once we start living our life from a place of value and true power in oneself, this chakra gets activated and it starts to open. So by having a chakra that opens only by giving ourselves our worth it is showing that each one of us is a unique individual and each one of us has our unique value and we are a very important part of the whole Universal system. Let nobody tell you otherwise.
So see, these two chakras are very important. One asks us to live without fear and the next one asks us to treat ourselves worthy of our life. Only after clearing the issues with these two chakras can we even think of proceeding with the other five. Now let us go to the next one. This we already discussed a little in our last post.
3, Manipura (Solar Chakra): This is the third chakra situated above the navel near the solar plexus region in each and everyone called 'Manipura'. In Sanskrit, Mani means a bell or a gem and Pura means a city. This is the city or the place where the bell or the gem resides. What does a bell signify? It is usually rung to show that a person is coming or approaching. So what does it mean?
This next chakra shows how confident in ourselves we are. We should be so confident in ourselves that when we approach someone it should be as if a person (or a guard) is walking in front of us ringing a bell declaring our arrival. Another way to put it is as if we are the confident person shining like a gem. There is a difference between confidence and pride. Pride is being full of us without knowing ourselves fully. Confidence is being ourselves fully knowing who we are to the core, our talents, and our potential.
So this chakra asks us to fully know ourselves, being confident in our talents and capabilities and stand tall as if a bell is announcing our arrival. What a charm, isn't it? Only when we are truly confident in ourselves this chakra becomes active and open. So for that first, we need to analyze ourselves to the core, know our talents and capabilities and work towards strengthening them and improving. Then slowly we start becoming confident in ourselves and we can blossom into a truly confident person.
4, Anahata (Heart Chakra): This is the fourth chakra which occurs near the heart area of our spine. This chakra is called Anahata or the unbleached or untarnished. What does that mean? Okay, let us go step by step.
Once we are confident in ourselves by awakening the Manipura chakra, naturally what is the next step? We would have to interact with the world to show case our talents or capabilities. As the proverb says, "No man/woman is an island". So we will have to interact with others and find our space in the world.
How we have to find our place in the world? By having a spotless nature or character (or in other words unbleached or untarnished), without any wrong emotion or intention for others and having a loving, kind nature realizing that all of us are co-travelers in this train called life. This type of attitude makes the heart chakra fully open.
It is said that in awakened souls and spiritual masters this chakra is fully open. Think about a spiritual master one has come across. Don't they have love and care for everybody? Don't they try to promote universal brotherhood and love? Do they have bad intention or emotion towards anyone? Don't they feel like love incarnate? This is the attitude all of us should develop and cultivate. This is what the opening of the Anahata chakra helps us to strive towards.
So now let us reiterate once more. We should be able to lead a life without fear, finding value in ourselves and being confident in ourselves and having unlimited love for everyone around us. Once we cultivate such an orientation, all the lower chakras start to open and awaken. Awakening these chakras means to work on ourselves, investigate or observe ourselves to the core and transforming our attitudes and viewpoints so that our fellow human being and the world as a whole benefits from our existence.
But instead, what do we do? We go to Kundalini awakening meetings or chakra opening sessions and try to find a shortcut to it than working on ourselves and transforming ourselves fully. It is due to these short cuts and temporary band aids that after a few months we find ourselves falling back to our old ways of doing things. Instead, we should keep our mind focused, put an intention to transform ourselves fully and lead an authentic life so that the chakras start to open fully without us consciously working towards it. We will discuss the upper three chakras in the next post.
Wishing every one of us to lead an authentic and awakened way of life with full of intent and purpose!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you the first Friday in September! 😉
Foot note: As I have a few engagements in my family, I am taking a hiatus of two weeks. I will be back with my next post on September 1, 2017. Wishing all of you good times and happiness. In the mean time if there are any topics You, the readers want me to blog on, please let me know using comments or email. Thank you for making my blog a part of your life. All the very best - Swaroopa.
Week of September 1: The Sacred Chakras - A modern perspective - Part2
Note: All the images are taken from Wikimedia Commons
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
© SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017.
Namaste! Last week we discussed how the flower 'Lotus' signifies the sacred chakra on top of the head called 'Sahasrara'. We also had a small discussion on the solar plexus chakra called 'Manipura'.
This week why don't we analyze all the chakras from a modern viewpoint. Before that let us dissect, what are these chakras? Can we relate anyway to our modern world and living?
The 'Chakras' in Hindu mythology ( not sure whether it is mentioned in other mythologies) are considered sacred energy centers where life energy or in other words 'Jiva' is thought to be situated. Now, what is this Jiva? It is the essence or the energy, which make us living and breathing human beings and which makes us alive.
 |
| The Sacred Chakras By LordtNis - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Now, this Jiva is considered concentrated in seven energy centers along the spine of our body. (Disclaimer: To be honest, all these information I have acquired through reading and I have done absolutely nothing to activate the Chakras and I don't intend to.) Do these chakras help us to live a fruitful life? Are they needed in case they are present in our body? If we know the underlying significance, can we use it to our advantage? Why don't we analyze it? Today we will discuss the first four and remaining three we will analyze in the next post. Let us start with the first chakra thought to be situated at the base of the spine.
1, Muladhara (Root Chakra): In Sanskrit, Moola means base or root and adhara means to sustain. So this chakra literally means the basis for our sustenance. So now think, we all are living in this world. Each one of us has a right to live without fear and danger.
If we are always worried about our safety and security, then we will not be able to do anything with our life. So the first chakra signifies our safety and security and asks us to live from a place of no fear or danger of our life. Okay, now everyone may not be lucky enough to have a safe place to dwell or a life without trauma and tragedy. So then what should we do?
 | ||
| Muladhara By Morgan Phoenix- Own work, CC BY SA 3.0 |
Doesn't every one of us have our free will and a god given life? Then it becomes our duty to strive our best to get out of a fear ridden life and lead a life from a place of happiness and contentment. Once we are able to achieve that status and live from a place of no fear, this chakra starts to get activated and it starts opening. Only after making this chakra active or start living life from a place of fearlessness, we can proceed to the other chakras or do other activities with our life. So this is the base to all the other chakra and this chakra forms the foundational energy to our Jiva.
2, Swadhishtana (Sacral Chakra): This is the next chakra, which is considered situated at the sacral portion of the spine. What does this chakra symbolize? Swa means Self and adhisthana means place of residence.
So what does it means? This is the place where Swa rests, means this is the value we give ourselves. Now consider a person who has self-esteem issues and gives oneself very low value. Will he/she be able to take decisions for his/her life? Most probably others may be giving orders to him/ her and because of the low value they assign for themselves, they live the life according to other's demands and wishes. Then how does this chakra open? It will have to remain closed.
 |
| Swadhishtana By Morgan Phoenix- Own work, CC BY SA 3.0 |
What do all the inspirational books and leaders say? "You have to stand in your true power and lead a life of authenticity!". This chakra symbolizes the energy that comes with standing tall in one's power and giving value to one's intentions and actions. Remember, each one of us is created by the all encompassing divine and each one of us has that same right to live a true and authentic life. So if someone is obstructing that power in oneself, we have to make them realize the way they are leading a life with value, we also have the same right given to us by the divine.
So once we start living our life from a place of value and true power in oneself, this chakra gets activated and it starts to open. So by having a chakra that opens only by giving ourselves our worth it is showing that each one of us is a unique individual and each one of us has our unique value and we are a very important part of the whole Universal system. Let nobody tell you otherwise.
So see, these two chakras are very important. One asks us to live without fear and the next one asks us to treat ourselves worthy of our life. Only after clearing the issues with these two chakras can we even think of proceeding with the other five. Now let us go to the next one. This we already discussed a little in our last post.
3, Manipura (Solar Chakra): This is the third chakra situated above the navel near the solar plexus region in each and everyone called 'Manipura'. In Sanskrit, Mani means a bell or a gem and Pura means a city. This is the city or the place where the bell or the gem resides. What does a bell signify? It is usually rung to show that a person is coming or approaching. So what does it mean?
This next chakra shows how confident in ourselves we are. We should be so confident in ourselves that when we approach someone it should be as if a person (or a guard) is walking in front of us ringing a bell declaring our arrival. Another way to put it is as if we are the confident person shining like a gem. There is a difference between confidence and pride. Pride is being full of us without knowing ourselves fully. Confidence is being ourselves fully knowing who we are to the core, our talents, and our potential.
 |
| Manipura By Morgan Phoenix- Own work, CC BY SA 3.0 |
So this chakra asks us to fully know ourselves, being confident in our talents and capabilities and stand tall as if a bell is announcing our arrival. What a charm, isn't it? Only when we are truly confident in ourselves this chakra becomes active and open. So for that first, we need to analyze ourselves to the core, know our talents and capabilities and work towards strengthening them and improving. Then slowly we start becoming confident in ourselves and we can blossom into a truly confident person.
4, Anahata (Heart Chakra): This is the fourth chakra which occurs near the heart area of our spine. This chakra is called Anahata or the unbleached or untarnished. What does that mean? Okay, let us go step by step.
Once we are confident in ourselves by awakening the Manipura chakra, naturally what is the next step? We would have to interact with the world to show case our talents or capabilities. As the proverb says, "No man/woman is an island". So we will have to interact with others and find our space in the world.
 |
| Anahata By Morgan Phoenix- Own work, CC BY SA 3.0 |
It is said that in awakened souls and spiritual masters this chakra is fully open. Think about a spiritual master one has come across. Don't they have love and care for everybody? Don't they try to promote universal brotherhood and love? Do they have bad intention or emotion towards anyone? Don't they feel like love incarnate? This is the attitude all of us should develop and cultivate. This is what the opening of the Anahata chakra helps us to strive towards.
So now let us reiterate once more. We should be able to lead a life without fear, finding value in ourselves and being confident in ourselves and having unlimited love for everyone around us. Once we cultivate such an orientation, all the lower chakras start to open and awaken. Awakening these chakras means to work on ourselves, investigate or observe ourselves to the core and transforming our attitudes and viewpoints so that our fellow human being and the world as a whole benefits from our existence.
But instead, what do we do? We go to Kundalini awakening meetings or chakra opening sessions and try to find a shortcut to it than working on ourselves and transforming ourselves fully. It is due to these short cuts and temporary band aids that after a few months we find ourselves falling back to our old ways of doing things. Instead, we should keep our mind focused, put an intention to transform ourselves fully and lead an authentic life so that the chakras start to open fully without us consciously working towards it. We will discuss the upper three chakras in the next post.
Wishing every one of us to lead an authentic and awakened way of life with full of intent and purpose!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you the first Friday in September! 😉
Foot note: As I have a few engagements in my family, I am taking a hiatus of two weeks. I will be back with my next post on September 1, 2017. Wishing all of you good times and happiness. In the mean time if there are any topics You, the readers want me to blog on, please let me know using comments or email. Thank you for making my blog a part of your life. All the very best - Swaroopa.
Week of September 1: The Sacred Chakras - A modern perspective - Part2
Note: All the images are taken from Wikimedia Commons
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
© SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017.
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