The Key is to establish the link between you and the Sun

[Sharing Lights]

The true potential of the aura
But if we want to know what the aura can truly be, we must turn to initiates and great masters.

Through their elevated thoughts and their love for the Creator they develop their causal, buddhic, and atmic bodies, whose emanations form an aura of extraordinary splendour with colours in perpetual motion, like fireworks.

Their aura is also very vast.

It is said that the aura of Buddha stretched several leagues.

Yes,

great masters are capable of extending their aura so far that they can take an entire region under their protection, and at the same time their aura penetrates the aura of all those who live there, thus impregnating them with their luminous and beneficial influences.

Great masters have no other desire, no other goal but to widen their aura so as to reach and take under their wing the greatest possible number of creatures.

It is through their aura that they purify the atmosphere around them, that they embellish, illuminate, and vivify creatures.

It is through their aura that they work on the vegetation, that they change atmospheric currents.

(SL: Collective thinking and overall energy field produced by cities and nations (people) can affect the weather on Earth literally.

Many nature's disasters are not caused by the natural events; people's thinking and negative feelings, spilling into hate and malice or despair can alter the electromagnetic field on Earth as thinking and feelings do produce the electromagnetic waves according to the prevailing frequencies invoked.)

And it is also through their aura that they achieve a knowledge of things that far surpasses intellectual knowledge.

Thanks to their powerful and luminous aura they soar upwards to the sublime regions where they learn how God created the world and discover what he has written in the stars, the mountains, the lakes, the birds, the animals, and the plants.

An initiate who has spent thousands of years working on developing love, wisdom, purity, and disinterestedness within himself possesses an immense aura in which creatures come to bathe, in which they sense that they are nourished, pacified, strengthened, and led in a divine direction.

This is why disciples can receive great blessings from the aura of their master, but only if their consciousness is awakened, because if it is not, whatever their master does, they will remain closed to his influence.

How to work on the aura
Disciples should not be content, however, simply to benefit from their master's aura.
They too must work on their own aura, and in order to do this they must improve the way they live, endeavour to behave justly and with nobility, and have disinterested thoughts and feelings.

Those who believe that the way they act and think and feel is not important, because morality and religion have now become outdated and must be discarded, darken their aura, and it begins to produce only dirty, lifeless colours, chaotic and inharmonious vibrations.

They should not be surprised, then, if they so often meet with failure: it is because their aura is rejecting everything that would be beneficial to them and attracts everything that is detrimental. People who seek strength, light, and love must learn to work on their aura.

So how does one work on one's aura?

You can do this in two ways.

1) The first is through conscious effort, in other words, by concentrating on the purest and most luminous colours.
You contemplate them, you nourish yourself with them.
But in order to gain a correct idea of the seven colours you need a prism.

The colours you see in nature, on flowers and birds, are never exactly those of the light of the sun, whereas with a prism you will see what red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet really are.

And once you have visualized these colours well, you can begin to practise imagining that they flow from you and surround you, and that your thoughts and feelings, as they pass through this luminous and colourful sphere, are charged with this light and these colours, in order to transport them into space.

2) The second way is to work on the virtues of purity, patience, leniency, generosity, kindness, hope, faith, humility, justice, and altruism.


You work on these virtues, and it is the virtues themselves that form your aura. This method is, of course, the most reliable. For if you concentrate on your aura every day, but at the same time you are living a totally mundane life and violating the divine laws, you will be building up on the one hand, but tearing down on the other.

to be continued

[Sharing Lights]

Ideally, therefore, the two methods should be used concurrently, in other words,

by leading a pure and honest life, full of love, while, at the same time consciously working on your aura through your imagination.

As long as you do nothing to change your mediocre life, all your exercises of concentration on your aura will be useless.

It is exactly the same when it comes to your health: if you are content to take medicines without changing your life style, those medicines will be merely palliative.

How difficult it is to make human beings understand that the only truly effective method is to change their way of life!

Using a prism can be helpful
A pure aura will bring improvements within you, but it will also transform the atmosphere around you, and this is why other people will begin to love you.

Without knowing why, they will feel good when they are with you.

In reality, what they are feeling is a presence, the presence of luminous beings that your aura has attracted. Unfortunately, most human beings are so unaware that they never know why or how they attract what is good or what is bad.

I have worked with the colours of the prism all my life, and to me it is one of the most pleasant and poetic exercises that exist, so I invite you to do the same.

Take a prism, direct it towards the light of the sun, and see how it diffracts the light into seven colours as it passes through it.

When you have gazed on the true colours for a while, close your eyes and imagine you are surrounded by violet, then by blue, then green, and so on. Or you can begin with red to finish with violet, visualizing each colour in turn for a few minutes.

When you repeat this exercise every day you will feel so good it will astound you.

And when someone in your family or one of your friends is unwell, unhappy, or discouraged, if you really want to help them, do the same for them.

Send them the most beautiful colours of the prism. Yes, so many good things can be achieved with the aura and colours.

You can do all these exercises on colour in the morning as the sun rises. Look at the sun, see the aura that surrounds it.

See how the colours flow from it and spread out into space, and say: ‘I too want to surround my being with lights: blue, violet, gold...', then immerse yourself in this splendour.

Contemplate these colours, imagine they travel far, very far, that all creatures are bathing in this marvellous atmosphere, that they are all swimming in this light, that they are impregnated with this light, and your aura will become a blessing for them. You can do this.

There are no limits. It is human beings who set limits for themselves.

You must have a ravenous ambition for what is good. Set yourself a very high goal and tell yourself: ‘I shall reach that goal.' Even if you do not reach it, this distant, inaccessible ideal will continue to pull you upwards.

Disciples who have understood the teachings of their master reach the point one day of being able, like him, to send their love to the entire creation, to the entire universe, and this love reaches beyond the stars. Yes, for some this is a reality.

They send their love to the stars, and the love of the stars returns and breaks over them like a wave, and they swim in love, they live in universal love.


From ‘You Are Gods’, by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov,

[Sharing Lights]

Mysteries of the Solar Plexus

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Part I


It is often said that the heart is the organ that understands, that discernment is a faculty of the heart.
Even the Gospels speak of the heart that understands.

But what heart are they talking about? Not the physical heart, obviously, the organ which pumps blood through the body. No, the true heart of man, the Initiatic heart, is the solar plexus.

The true organ of comprehension

It is the solar plexus which senses, grasps and comprehends the great truths of the cosmos.

The brain can only study a little, write and talk and, above all, show off, even if it has no very clear idea of what it is talking about! If you look around you today, you will see a great deal of writing and discussing going on, but no real understanding, for the brain is incapable of true comprehension.

Things have to be experienced in order to be understood, experienced with every fibre of one's being.

When you feel an emotion, terror, anguish or love, you don't feel it in your brain or even in your physical heart; you feel it in your solar plexus.
When the Initiates said that man's true heart was in the solar plexus, therefore, it showed that their knowledge of human anatomy and physiology was far more complete and accurate than that of the modern biologist who only sees the material, physical aspects.

The solar plexus and the brain

You must realize that the solar plexus controls the majority of the functions of the physical body and, above all, that it is the solar plexus which created and which continues to nourish the brain.

Yes, the brain is the creation, the offspring, of the solar plexus.
This is why the solar plexus feeds the brain and keeps it supplied with everything it needs.

If it ceases to do so a person becomes incapable of activity, he has a headache
or feels drowsy and cannot think any more.

The brain is not cut off from the solar plexus, but it has not yet learned how to communicate with it, and this is why it cannot always take advantage of the support provided by the solar plexus.

The solar plexus is a brain, but a brain in reverse,

for in the brain the grey matter is on the outside and the white matter on the inside,

whereas in the solar plexus it is the opposite.

The grey matter which is composed of nerve cells makes it possible to think,
while the white matter, composed of nerve fibres, makes it possible to feel.

Thanks to its outer layer of white matter, therefore, the solar plexus can feel everything that goes on in the body, in every single cell, and is therefore able constantly to restore order and balance.

The brain feels nothing at all until things have reached very serious proportions, and even then it doesn't know what to do about it.

If your heart is beating too fast or too slowly, or if you have a stomach ache, the brain can do nothing about it and, what is more, that is not its job! But if you make sure that the solar plexus has the conditions it needs to function correctly, it can soon put everything right.

You couldn't begin to imagine what an extraordinary pharmacopoeia it possesses and, as it is in touch with all the organs of your body and with each and every cell, it can intervene where necessary. It is far better equipped, therefore, than the brain.

With the development of the brain man attained the self-awareness which enabled him to become an individual. The solar plexus, by contrast, being the seat of the subconscious, maintains man's contact with the ocean of universal life, with the whole cosmos, and this is something the brain cannot do – at least, not yet. One day this communication will be possible, but the brain was formed too recently and is still insufficiently developed, whereas the solar plexus has existed far longer.

The human brain is still not fully organized, but this will come, for its mission is to record the totality of knowledge and to give birth to notions still beyond our ken.

But, I repeat, the one in charge at the moment, the one who controls and commands all the others, is the solar plexus in conjunction with the Hara centre, situated a little lower down.

Re-discovering our inner sun

That is why, if you don't develop your solar plexus everything will be centred in your brain, and however diligently you watch the sunrise or meditate or do various exercises, you will not get any good from them.

None of these things will really do you any good until your solar plexus starts to show signs of life, and you begin to feel that your consciousness has at last reached even to your bowels.

Modern man is engaged in his own destruction because the greater part of his activities are cerebral: study, calculations, worries, and so on.

And as the brain is not designed to stand up to so much strain, much of the nervous ill-health so prevalent today stems from the fact that the brain is overloaded. You must learn, therefore, to divide the burden between the two centres: the solar plexus, in the belly, and the brain in the head.
This is the only way to be balanced. It is a law of mechanics: if you want to balance a pair of scales you have to put something in both pans, not only on one side.

The brain is only an instrument, it is not an independent organism, and any instrument has to be properly looked after if it is to work properly. Take the example of a motor or an electric torch: if you reduce or cut off the power supply it will work less efficiently.

The human brain is like a torch which can be switched on and which can see reality and reason about it. Yes, but the trouble is that, in most people, the torch is not very efficient, it is often no more than a candle, and it doesn't give out much light. So it has to be plugged in to an inexhaustible source of energy which will allow it to develop its full potential; and that source is the solar plexus.

Why did the ancients call it the ‘solar’ plexus?

Because it is linked to the sun, and the sun is the heart of our planetary system.


to be continued

[Sharing Lights]

Part II

The brain is active and dynamic but it tires very quickly if the solar plexus doesn't subsidize it regularly.

For this reason, before undertaking any major intellectual task, a disciple should first prepare the solar plexus.

The brain is capable of great things, but on condition that the solar plexus keeps it supplied with energy.

The source, therefore, the projector, is the solar plexus and the brain is the screen which manifests, expresses and publishes whatever the plexus feeds to it. The pictures projected onto the screen of the brain come from the plexus.

So when you want to meditate or to undertake any intense intellectual activity, don't rush into it or try to concentrate suddenly, without preparation, otherwise your brain will just seize up and you won't accomplish anything worthwhile. Begin by concentrating on your solar plexus and then, when you feel that you have reached a state of peace and inner warmth, you can begin to work because your brain will be sustained and nourished by the energies flowing from your plexus.

Touching the heart of the universe


When you want to meditate you choose a spiritual subject on which to concentrate and then you can watch your thoughts unfold, as it were, as they follow the contours of the subject. This is an activity of the brain. But when your meditation takes you onto a higher plane, you feel that your brain ceases to be actively in charge and the solar plexus takes over.

You no longer grasp things analytically, with the intellect; instead you have a synthetic grasp of reality and you begin to vibrate in harmony with the subject of your meditation, to enjoy a marvellous sense of fulfilment: your meditation becomes contemplation.
Your thought, your mental activity, has become contemplation of things so shining and wondrous that your vibrations become more and more intense. Without realizing just how it can be so, you know with absolute certainty that you understand things far better than when you use your intellect.

es, and this is simply because you have touched the heart of the universe.

When you study, ponder and understand things intellectually it does not mean that you have touched the heart of the universe: no, this activity of the brain is no more than a first approach.

You can only touch the heart of the universe with your own heart. When your heart – your solar plexus – begins to feel and love and vibrate with great intensity, then, yes!

You can then touch and move the heart of the universe, the heart of God Himself, and the life-giving, illuminating currents, forces and energies of that heart will flood into you. When a powerful stream of love pours out from your solar plexus, the law of affinity, the law of echo reflection, triggers a response from the heart of the universe, for then you are vibrating on the same wavelength as it does.

And since the heart of the universe is the source of all happiness and all loveliness, the source of all poetry and music, of all that is splendid and divine, then you will receive that life, that happiness, and all that splendour! Then you will taste fulfilment.

When you touch someone's heart he is ready to give you everything you ask for; he opens his doors to you and gives you all he has. There are days when you make speeches to the powerful entities on high in an attempt to impress them or move them to pity, but your efforts are in vain.

They slam the door in your face, saying, ‘We don't know what you're talking about!’ On other days you need say nothing at all; you just look, and they welcome you: ‘Come in! Come in! Here, you can have this.... Take that too: it's yours!’ Can you explain this? You will have to find the secret.

I remember that I spoke to you, one day, about the old-fashioned crystal sets.

Some fifty or sixty years ago, when radios were less efficient and far less widespread than they are today, people used to make their own crystal sets. In order to receive radio waves you had to move a very fine needle over the surface of a galenoid crystal until you made contact.


As soon as the needle reached a certain spot one heard music or voices, while on other spots nothing came through. This phenomenon gave me matter for much reflection!

You can slide your little needle back and forth across the crystal and hear nothing – and yet the needle is in contact with the surface. Yes, but you're not touching its heart, for that crystal also has a heart!

As soon as you touch the heart you can hear music.

And in the universe, also, there is a heart, but we are ignorant of its laws so we can't make contact or get onto its wavelength to receive its signals and the revelations they hold.

In order to touch the heart of the universe you have to intensify your love. And this is something that has to be done with the solar plexus.

As I have said, when you do this your mental activity ceases: you project a powerful beam of energy, a strong current of love, and although you are in control, yet your brain remains at rest.

You understand, you are conscious and you direct your energies, without tension or activity of the brain. How is this possible?

The explanation is that there is another form of thought, another kind of comprehension – that of the solar plexus – and this is what you need to discover.

[Sharing Lights]

White matter



Dictionary
white matter
n.
Whitish nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord, consisting chiefly of myelinated nerve fibers.





Neurological Glossary
White matter
A substance, composed primarily of myelin fibers, found in the brain and nervous system that protects nerves and allows messages to be sent to and from the brain and various parts of the body. Also called white substance.





Medical
white matter
n.
Whitish nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord, chiefly composed of myelinated nerve fibers and containing few or no neuronal cell bodies or dendrites. Also called alba, substantia alba, white substance.



The noun white matter has one meaning:

Meaning #1: whitish nervous tissue of the CNS consisting of neurons and their myelin sheaths
Synonym: substantia alba







white matter
White matter is one of the two main solid components of the central nervous system. It is composed of myelinated nerve cell processes, or axons, which connect various grey matter areas (the locations of nerve cell bodies) of the brain to each other and carry nerve impulses between neurons. Cerebral and spinal white matter do not contain dendrites, which can only be found in grey matter along with neural cell bodies and shorter axons.

Generally, white matter can be understood as the parts of the brain and spinal cord responsible for information transmission; whereas, grey matter is mainly responsible for information processing. Changes in white matter known as amyloid plaques are associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. White matter injuries ("axonal shearing") may be reversible, while grey matter regeneration is less likely.

White matter forms the bulk of the deep parts of the brain and the superficial parts of the spinal cord. Aggregates of grey matter such as the basal ganglia

(caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, nucleus accumbens) and brain stem nuclei (red nucleus, substantia nigra, cranial nerve nuclei) are spread within the cerebral white matter.

The cerebellum is structured in a similar manner as the cerebrum, with a superficial mantle of cerebellar cortex, deep cerebellar white matter (called the "Arbor Vitae") and aggregates of grey matter surrounded by deep cerebellar white matter (dentate nucleus, globose nucleus, emboliform nucleus, and fastigial nucleus). The fluid-filled cerebral ventricles (lateral ventricles, third ventricle, cerebral aqueduct, fourth ventricle) are also located deep within the cerebral white matter.

In 1983, M. C. Raff et al. discovered that tissue samples originating from rat optic nerve contained two morphologically distinct types of astrocytes. So-called Type 1 astrocytes had a fibroblast appearance and resided in both grey matter and white matter, whereas Type 2 astrocytes has a neuron-like appearance and resided in white matter alone (Sherman, Chris).

In general, pathological liars have 22% more white matter compared with non-liars.[1]

Notes
^ Biever, Celeste (2005). Liars’ brains make fibbing come naturally. New Scientist. URL accessed on 13 May 2006.

[Sharing Lights]

gray matter
n.
Brownish-gray nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord, composed of nerve cell bodies and their dendrites and some supportive tissue.
Informal. Brains; intellect.





Neurological Glossary
Gray matter
Areas of the brain and spinal cord that are comprised mostly of unmyelinated nerves.




Thesaurus
gray matter

noun

The seat of the faculty of intelligence and reason: brain, head, mind. See thoughts.




Idioms
gray matter
Brains, intellect, as in If you'd only use your gray matter, you'd see the answer in a minute. This expression refers to actual brain tissue that is gray in color. Agatha Christie's fictional detective, Hercule Poirot, constantly alludes to using the little gray cells for solving a crime. [Late 1800s]



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Medical
gray matter
n.
Brownish-gray nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord, composed of nerve cell bodies and their dendrites and some supportive tissue. Also called gray substance, substantia grisea.




The noun gray matter has one meaning:

Meaning #1: greyish nervous tissue containing cell bodies as well as fibers; forms the cerebral cortex consisting of unmyelinated neurons
Synonyms: grey matter, grey substance, gray substance, substantia grisea



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



grey matter


Grey matter is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of nerve cell bodies and short nerve cell extensions/processes (axons and dendrites).

Grey matter is distributed at the surface of the cerebral hemispheres (cerebral cortex) and of the cerebellum (cerebellar cortex), as well as in the depth of the cerebral

(thalamus; hypothalamus; subthalamus, basal ganglia - putamen, globus pallidus, nucleus accumbens; septal nuclei), cerebellar (deep cerebellar nuclei - dentate nucleus, globose nucleus, emboliform nucleus, fastigial nucleus), brainstem (substantia nigra, red nucleus, olivary nuclei, cranial nerve nuclei) and spinal white matter (anterior horn, lateral horn, posterior horn).

Grey matter structures (cortex, deep nuclei) process information originating in the sensory organs or in other grey matter regions. This information is conveyed via specialized nerve cell extensions (long axons), which form the bulk of the cerebral, cerebellar, and spinal white matter.

In general, men have nearly 6.5 times more grey matter than women, whereas women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter of men.[1]

Notes
^ Carey, Bjorn (2005). Men and Women Really Do Think Differently. LiveScience. URL accessed on 6 May 2006.

[Sharing Lights]

solar plexus
n.
The large network of sympathetic nerves and ganglia located in the peritoneal cavity behind the stomach and having branching tracts that supply nerves to the abdominal viscera.
The pit of the stomach.
[From its radially branching ganglia.]





Encyclopedia
solar plexus, dense cluster of nerve cells and supporting tissue, located behind the stomach in the region of the celiac artery just below the diaphragm. It is also known as the celiac plexus. Rich in ganglia and interconnected neurons, the solar plexus is the largest autonomic nerve center in the abdominal cavity (see nervous system). Through branches it controls many vital functions such as adrenal secretion and intestinal contraction. Popularly, the term “solar plexus” may refer to the pit of the stomach. A blow to that area, if it penetrates to the true solar plexus, not only causes great pain but may also temporarily halt visceral functioning.


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The noun solar plexus has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a large plexus of sympathetic nerves in the abdomen behind the stomach
Synonyms: coeliac plexus, plexus celiacus, abdominal nerve plexus



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Solar plexus

The right sympathetic chain and its connections with the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic plexuses. (Label for celiac plexus at center right.)


Note that it is Right and not Left for a reason.
Think why?


The celiac ganglia with the sympathetic plexuses of the abdominal viscera radiating from the ganglia.


The solar plexus, also known as the celiac plexus, plexus cœliacus or plexus solaris, is an autonomous cluster of nerve cells (see Plexus) in the human body behind the stomach and below the diaphragm near the celiac artery in the abdominal cavity.

The solar plexus consists of two ganglia, called celiac ganglia, and a nerve network connecting the two ganglia.

The solar plexus controls functions of the internal organs as for example adrenal secretion and the contraction in the intestines.

A blow to the stomach, halfway between the navel and the heart may also put pressure on this nerve cluster, creating great pain. The blow can cause a temporary paralysis of the diaphragm, resulting in difficulty in breathing - a sensation commonly known as "having the wind knocked out of you". More powerful blows may be life-threatening.
Other similar nerve centres are the cardiac plexus near the heart, or the hypogastric plexus in front of the last lumbar vertebra.

The solar plexus is also considered an energy node according to Hinduism, called the manipura chakra.

[Sharing Lights]

Please try to Comprehend this fully,
as this is one of the Great Mysteries!

The solar plexus is a brain, but a brain in reverse,

for in the brain the grey matter is on the outside and the white matter on the inside, whereas in the solar plexus it is the opposite.

while the white matter, composed of nerve fibers, makes it possible to feel.

Thanks to its outer layer of white matter, therefore, the solar plexus can feel everything that goes on in the body, in every single cell, and is therefore able constantly to restore order and balance.

The Solar Plexus responds to the Sun and is controlled by its activity.

We, as humans, are directly tied up to the Evolution of the Sun and the Cosmic events that affect our Sun.

Anything occurring on the Sun, or to the Sun, affects our Solar Plexus.

It can be stated that Cosmos affects our Sun, which affects us through its "ethereal cord" and physical spectrum via our Solar Plexus, which has the innate ability to respond to such.

The impulses from the solar Plexus, then, travel to our brain, which evolves in accordance with the processes governing our Solar Plexus.

Therefore, our intelligence is directly related to the harmony of the Solar activity, which is controlled by its internal cycles as well as the common flow of the movement of our Galaxy and its relationship on both levels:

1) all other solar systems on the galaxy,

2) as well as all other solar systems in other galaxies
ion the direct proportion of the common gravity field,
as well as of the other spectrum of energy permeating all.

We live in Cosmos which is not stationary but ever changing as we all move in vastness of space and we change together with Cosmic Evolution in one, common flow.

That is why the sages studied the movement of the celestial objects as discovered that mystery ages ago.

PS.
Scientific Astrology is the tool of the true Evolution of Cosmos.


Commercial Astrology is a pitiful imitation the great laws of Cosmos.


Always discern which is which?

[Sharing Lights]

Part I


Chakra

In Hinduism and in some related Asian cultures, a chakra is thought to be a nexus of metaphysical and/or biophysical energy residing in the human body. The New Age movement, and to some degree the distinctly different New Thought movement, have also adopted and elaborated on this theory.

Contents [hide]
1 Introduction
2 The seven basic chakras
3 Origins and development
4 Chakras and the endocrine system
5 Various models
5.1 The tantric chakras
5.2 Hesychastic centres of prayer
6 Scientific basis
7 References in fiction
8 Footnotes
9 Reference material and books
10 See also
11 External links



Introduction
The word comes from the Sanskrit cakra चक्र meaning "wheel" or "circle" (also cognate to both words), and sometimes also referring to the "wheel of life". The pronunciation of this word can be approximated in English by chuhkruh, with ch as in chart and both instances of a as in yoga (the commonly found pronunciation shockrah is incorrect). Some traditional sources describe five or seven chakras, others eight.

The chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each chakra is associated with a certain color, multiple physiological functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other distinguishing characteristics.They are visualised as lotuses with a different number of petals in every chakra.

The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with interactions of a physical, emotional and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, (also called shakti), which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis. The function of the chakras is to spin and draw in this Universal Life Force Energy to keep the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of the body in balance.

Traditional Chinese medicine also relies on a similar model of the human body as an energy system.

The New Age movement has led to an increased interest in the West regarding chakras. Many in this movement point to a correspondence between the position and role of the chakras and those of the glands in the endocrine system. Some people in New Age also claim that other chakras, besides the above, exist — for instance, ear chakras — and have described many more chakras than made reference to in traditional texts. Frequently references are made to the chakras in the New Age "sacred sexuality" or neotantra movement.

The chakras are described in the tantric texts the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, in which they are described as emanations of consciousness from Brahman, an energy emanating from the spiritual which gradually turns concrete, creating these distinct levels of chakras, and which eventually finds its rest in the Muladhara chakra. They are therefore part of an emanationist theory, like that of the kabbalah in the west, lataif-e-sitta in Sufism or neo-platonism. The energy that was unleashed in creation, called the Kundalini, lies coiled and sleeping at the base of the spine. It is the purpose of the tantric or kundalini forms of yoga to arouse this energy, and cause it to rise back up through the increasingly subtler chakras, until union with God is achieved in the Sahasrara chakra at the crown of the head.

Apart from this primary text from India, different Western authors have tried to describe the chakras, most notably the Theosophists. Many New Age writers, such as the Danish author and musician Peter Kjaerulff in his book, The Ringbearer's Diary, or Anodea Judith in her book Wheels of Life, have written their opinions about the chakras in great detail, including the reasons for their appearance and functions.

The seven chakras are said by some to reflect how the unified consciousness of humanity (the immortal human being or the soul), is divided to manage different aspects of earthly life (body/instinct/vital energy/deeper emotions/communication/having an overview of life/contact to God). The chakras are placed at differing levels of spiritual subtlety, with Sahasrara at the top being concerned with pure consciousness, and Muladhara at the bottom being concerned with matter, which is seen simply as crudified consciousness.

to be continued

[Sharing Lights]

Part II




The seven basic chakras
The following table sets forth some of the properties associated with each chakra:

Chakra Color Primary Functions Associated Element
Crown
(just above the head)
sahasrāra, सहस्रार white or violet; may assume color of dominant chakra connection to the divine space
Third eye
ājñā, आज्ञा indigo intuition, Extra-sensory perception time
Throat
viśuddha, विशुद्ध blue speech, self-expression life
Heart/Lung
anāhata, अनाहत medium green devotion, love, compassion, healing air
Solar plexus
manipūra, मणिपूर yellow mental functioning, power, control, freedom to be oneself, career fire
Sacrum (Hara)
swadhisthana, स्वाधिष्ठान orange emotion, sexual energy, creativity water
Root
mūlādhāra, मूलाधार red (indian red or coral red) instinct, survival, security earth

It is claimed to be very important to know the right color tone for a specific area because the wrong hue of color can allegedly do different things to the energetic system. Yet different systems differ in the colors they ascribe.

The colors above simply represent, in order, the colors of the rainbow. In other words, all monochromatic colors.

For a discussion on chakra petals see Petal (chakra).

Additionally, some teachers describe a Transpersonal chakra above the crown chakra. There are also said to be many minor chakras, for example between the major chakras.


Origins and development
The earliest known mention of chakras is found in the later Upanishads, including specifically the Brahma Upanishad and the Yogatattva Upanishad. These vedic models were adapted in Tibetan Buddhism as Vajrayana theory, and in the Tantric Shakta theory of chakras.

It is the shakta theory of 7 main chakras that most people in the West adhere to, either knowingly or unknowingly, largely thanks to a translation of two Indian texts, the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, by Sir John Woodroffe, alias Arthur Avalon, in a book entitled The Serpent Power.

This book is extremely detailed and complex, and later the ideas were developed into what is predominant western view of the Chakras by the Theosophists, and largely the controversial (in theosophical circles) C. W. Leadbeater in his book The Chakras, which are in large part his own meditations and insights on the matter.

That said, many present-day Indian gurus that incorporate chakras within their systems of philosophy do not seem to radically disagree with the western view of chakras, at least on the key points, and both these eastern and western views have developed from the Shakta Tantra school.

There are various other models of chakras in other traditions, notably in Chinese medicine, and also in Tibetan Buddhism. Even in Jewish kabbalah, the different Sephiroth are sometimes associated with parts of the body. In Islamic Sufism, Lataif-e-Sitta ( Six Subtleties ) are considered as psychospiritual "organs" or faculties of sensory and suprasensory perception, activation of which makes a man complete. Attempts are made to try and reconcile the systems with each other, and notably there are some successes, even between such diverged traditions as Shakta Tantra, Sufism and Kabbalism, where chakras, lataif and Sephiroth can seemingly represent the same archetypal spiritual concepts. In Surat Shabda Yoga, initiation by an Outer Living Satguru (Sat - true, Guru - teacher) is required and involves reconnecting soul to the Shabda and stationing the Inner Shabda Master (the Radiant Form of the Master) at the third eye chakra.

to be continued