Chakras — The Seven Gates to Freedom

What Are Chakras?

Chakras are centers of energy that go up through the middle of our bodies (called the astral spine) from the base of the spine up through the top of the head.

Each chakra expresses a different quality, such as love or power. These qualities can manifest in a positive or negative way, depending on which direction our energy is heading. When we raise our energy inward and upward, it also raises our consciousness, which clears away bad habits and desires, and eventually we attain liberation.

First (Muladhara) Chakra

This chakra is located at the base of the spine near the anus. It represents security. When our consciousness is going downward in this chakra, we become too attached to material things or become stubborn. When we raise our energy up through this chakra, it becomes our ability to concentrate, and persevere.

Second (Swadisthana) Chakra

The second chakra is about an inch and a half above the first, in the area of the reproductive organs. This chakra, in its lower form, can cause us to become fixated on sexuality or become indecisive. As we raise our state of consciousness in this chakra, we become creative, open-minded, and more receptive to divine inspiration.

Third (Manipura) Chakra

The manipura chakra is in the stomach area, just behind the navel. Its lower form can cause the desire for personal power. When we raise our energy up through this chakra and free it from all of its “baggage”, it becomes fiery self-control and will power. We develop the ability to achieve whatever we set our minds to.

Fourth (Anahata) Chakra

The fourth chakra, also known as the heart chakra, located in the center of the chest. This chakra is all about love. In its highest form, this love is all-embracing and unconditional, the love of God. When our energy goes downward through this chakra though, it becomes restricted, confining our love to only one country, family, or only our own desires. It can also cause strong emotions. Romantic love can be a lower kind of love, unless we take that love and expand it to encompass all creation.

Fifth (Bishudha) Chakra

The Bishudha chakra is in the throat area. It gives us calmness and inner peace. As we rise through this chakra, we realize there is something more in us than just our minds and bodies. When our energy is directed downward in this chakra, we experience the opposite of peace and calmness: restlessness and fear of expansion.

Sixth (Agya) Chakra

This chakra has two poles, positive and negative, like a battery. The negative pole is at the base of the skull, where the medulla oblongata is in the brain. This is where our ego, our sense of self, is, and where life and energy enter our body. It is by rising through this chakra and losing our sense of self that we attain our true Self.

The positive pole of the sixth chakra is between your eyebrows in the frontal lobe area of your brain. It is also called the “spiritual eye” or “third eye”, and is where the energy of the lower chakras must be brought upward to in order to achieve enlightenment. This chakra may sometimes be seen in deep meditation as a tiny silvery-white star in the middle of a circle of blue, with a gold halo surrounding it. When our energy is going backward from the spiritual eye into the medulla, can become too coldly intellectual.

Seventh (Sahasrara) Chakra

The seventh chakra is at the top of the head. It’s also known as the crown chakra or thousand-petaled lotus. It is at this chakra where we completely merge with God and achieve final liberation. It can only be reached by first attaining enlightenment in the sixth chakra. When that happens, a passage will open upward from the sixth to the seventh chakra, and we will flow out into infinite freedom.

Try This

Imagine a current coming up the center of your body from the base of your spine to the medulla (base of your skull), and then through your brain to the point between your eyebrows. As the current passes through each chakra, feel it and visualize it as a flower blossom opening up as the current streams into it, offering its energy up to the one above it. Let the energy pool at the spiritual eye, filling your vision with divine radiant light.

Further Study

Online courses

Know Your Chakras: Understanding Their Role in Your Spiritual Evolution

The Anatomy of the Astral Body: An Exploration into the Subtler Realities of Your Own Self

The Chakras and Your Relationships

Restorative Ananda Yoga® for the Chakras: A Guided Experience of the Chakras for Deep Rejuvenation

Other resources

A Guided Chakra Meditation Nayaswami Savitri

Awakening the Chakras  Nayaswami Gyandev

A Mindful Meditation and Conversation with the Brain by Tyagi Jayadev

Understanding the Chakras video series Nayaswami Asha

Chakras for Starters by Savitri Simpson

Yoga to Awaken the Chakras by Gyandev McCord

Kirtan—A Musical Journey through the Chakras Tyagani Naryani and Tyagi Shurjo