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Those interested in pursuing the path of Tantric Sexuality
will immediately begin to read about the seven amazing power
centers of the body called "Chakras".
Currently
there is quite a lot of dubious information passing around
in their name, so it is important to go back to the term's
origins to better understand their current veracity, purpose
and role in the evolution and expansion of consciousness.
First
of all, the word itself is a Sanskrit term meaning wheel,
disk, center or hub. While, in the West, it is most
frequently associated with the centers of the body, the word
has a variety of other applications as well.
If
you've noticed any of the ubiquitous illustrations of Hindu
gods and goddesses sprouting up these days, you might also
have noticed a halo-like apparatus hovering around one of
their fingers. These "Ninja star-like weapons" are
often referred to as chakras, and in the inimitable Hindu
way have as many names, past times, and legends attached to
them as do the Gods and Goddesses themselves.
I
remember how my old Bengali Guru (sounds like a song) used
to allude to various towns and villages as being "chakras"
as well. So clearly, the word has a wide variety of
practical meanings that can help to demystify the term for
all of us.
Today,
a lot of what we hear or read about the chakras has been
misinterpreted or is just down right fallacious. Other
questionable efforts have been to psychologize and assign
all manner of dysfunction and disorder to them, as if this,
too, will help validate their usefulness in the modern age.
When confronted with these unfortunate efforts I can't help
but recall the old Buddhist admonition: "Don't turn
your gods into demons." And who was it, who once
remarked, All the gods have become diseases.
Only
in the West do we feel the need to validate an idea or
concept by attributing all manner of left-brain values to
it. More often then not this uniquely Western obsession only
results in the original idea being marginalized out of
existence in the first place. The need to validate
everything by filtering it through blunt conventional
Western values tells us more about the psychological
deficiencies of the person doing the filtering, than they do
the chakras themselves.
Let's
make one thing perfectly clear.
The
Chakras exist; they do not need proving, validating,
aligning or tune-ups.
They
are not a metaphor, a simulacrum, an analogy, nor are they a
bunch of "mystical symbols of transformation".
They are real and can be exercised and developed as any
muscle in the body.
The
only thing MYSTICAL about them is the fact that we seem to
be so mystified by them in the first place. So let me
repeat.
THE
CHAKRAS ARE AS REAL AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE.
Does
this mean they don't have mystical, psychological, emotional
and even spiritual properties? No!
But it
is essential to "get it" that the chakras are
anatomical, scientific and physical.
While
you may still stumble upon a few spiritual numb-nuts out
there waxing Air India about their "Sh-sh-shakras being
out of alignment"; it doesn't take a village idiot to
know that we all have seven major regions in our body, and
all of them are important power centers:
1.
First Chakra- Rectum (Base of the Spine)- Muladhara
2. Second Chakra- Genital- Svadhisthana
3. Third Chakra- Stomach- Manipura
4. Fourth Chakra-Heart- Anahata
5. Fifth Chakra- Throat- Vishuddha
6. Sixth Chakra- Pineal gland (Third Eye) Ajna
7. Seventh Chakra- Cerebrum (Crown)- Sahasrara
It
does not require a Herculean imagination either to
understand that the nerve builds up in these intense,
multi-functional regions, and their corresponding centers in
the spine, are intensely populated "intelligent"
metropolises.
Enlightened
physicians, like Dr. Andrew Weil, have only just begun
educating us about how our bodies are not just these heaping
lumps of mass, but whole universes of socialized cell
structures cooperating, surging, thriving, communicating and
functioning both separately and together.
If
this is true then doesn't it make infinite sense to learn
how to exercise, visit and be in relationship with these
centers for optimum health and well being?
I'm
usually not a big stickler for the proprietary meanings of
past traditions, but I do have to take exception to some of
the weird fairy tales being spread about the Chakras. The
following are a few of the ones that have my eyes rolling
around in the back of my skull.
1. The
Chakras move around and often fluctuate from place to place.
(Right and I thought I saw one following Elvis then other
day).
Ennnh,
wrong. The Chakras are stable and emulate and extend outward
like effulgent energy spheres along the spine. One's
awareness of them can and does shift, but they themselves
remain fixed.
2. The
second Chakra is located at the tip of the lingam in a man
and in a woman in the goddess's pearl. (Remember the Yogi
Berra of Tantra, this is one of her idiot malapropisms).
Wrong again. These hyper sensitive zones are extensions of
the Second Chakra and indeed act like separate energy
centers, but they are more like satellites of the number two
chakra known as Svadhisthana.
3.
There are twelve chakras: seven in the body and five more in
the ethereal realms above the head.
I know
a few bubbleheads who seem to support this theory, but no,
this too, is incorrect. There are seven main chakras and all
of them thankfully located in the wondrous miracle of the
human body and brain. Now, does this mean that consciousness
ends at the skull? No, not at all. Consciousness emulates
outward in all directions, but the Supreme Chakra known as
Sahasrara remains in the Crown of the Cerebrum.
4. The
first Chakra combines both the Anus and the Genitals. Sorry,
wrong again.
This
confusion was made initially due to the difficulty early
illustrators had in graphically distinguishing between the
first Center at the base of the spine and the second center
which lies closely above it. Some schools went so far as to
disastrously and erroneously lump them together. The truth
is that the anus and the genitals are served by two
different Chakras, the Manipura and the Svadhisthana,
respectively.
The
First Chakra is located at the "Base of the Spine"
and can be exercised and tapped through the Anus, sphincter,
and rectal region.
The
Second Chakra lies straight above the first and powers the
body's sexuality, reproductive and other pleasure centers.
It can be accessed through the Perineum and PC muscles, as
well as through more traditional means of arousal.
5. The
seven Chakras are also located in the brain, as well as the
Spine.
Ding!
This, alas, is true!
All
the chakras have originating and corresponding centers in
the brain. There are useful Mantras (chants), Yantras
(Visual aids) and Mudras (hand positions) you can learn that
are designed to activate your awareness and relationship
with all these power centers
6. The
Third eye is located above the nose, in the middle of the
forehead, and between the left and right eyes.
This
is not exactly wrong, but only partially right.
The
third eye is located in the Middle of the brain in the
Pineal gland. (Not to be confused with the Pituitary Gland
which lies in close proximity).
If you
touch your tongue to the soft palette on the roof of your
mouth, (towards the back) the Pineal Gland is located above
there, between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Descartes called it the Seat of the Soul.
The
Third Eye experienced in the middle of the forehead, is
actually an extended power center of the Ajna Chakra, and is
known as the Soma Chakra. When this center is exercised and
accessed one becomes acutely perceptive to the point of
heightened extra-sensory awareness.
Throughout
this essay, I have used the expression "building an
awareness of the chakras".
I
stress this point because their existence often eludes the
most earnest of seekers. Let me say this, I have been
knowledgeable of the chakras for over thirty years, and yet
I was never really "aware" of them until I started
meditating on them on a daily basis. Like so many things in
life, the direct experience of a phenomenon depends upon our
getting the correct information, and the amount of time,
effort and discipline we're willing to devote it.
The
single most important reason to meditate on the chakras is
not, as is so often described, to either
"activate", realign, or adjust them, but to build
an increasing and expanded "awareness" of them.
Awareness
of the Chakras creates a more intelligent, well rounded,
healthier and expanded you.
The
chakras don't need activation because they all operate and
function with or without your turning them on. It is not so
much an act of "activation" as it is an act of
intensifying your awareness.
Like
hard working municipal laborers, these intelligent cities of
the anatomy benefit by having some conscious attention from
the master planner from time to time. Meditating on them is
like a benevolent Ruler visiting the vital business centers
of Her Kingdom. By lavishing attention on them, they will
bless you a thousand-fold with conservation, pleasure, will
power, love, speech, extra sensitivity and ultimate divine
awareness; neglect them, and in time, they will grow as
fetid and decayed as the black hole of Calcutta.
©Copyright
2001 Mentor Press. Sudaka International. All rights
reserved.
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Michael
The Red, CTE is an accomplished writer, lecturer,
instructor, Certified Tantric Educator and Professional Daka.
He is the author of numerous books, tapes and magazine
articles on Tantra, Mythology and Consciousness and the
On-line editor of the immensely popular website www.tantraman.com.
His next book is 10 Steps to Male Sexual Mastery.
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