Sahasrara Chakra: Seven Gates To The Universe, Seventh Gate

Sahasrara, meaning thousand, is the "Lotus of the Thousand Petals" located four finger-breadths above the crown of the head. Sahasrara chakra is the upper terminal point of Sushumna nadi, the central channel. From Saharara the nectar of immortality (Amrita) flows in a constant stream.

Location: Top of the cranium
Name: Thousand petaled
Plane: Truth and reality

Sahasrara chakra is the seat of the parabindu (supreme bindu). It is the location of the merging of Kundalini Shakti and Shiva. By this union the adept attains liberation while living which is considered in Indian life to be the highest experience: an union of the individual with the universe.

Sahasrara chakra is located above Brahma-randhra, "the cave of Brahma". It is a hole in the crown of
the head through which the soul is said to escape at death. When the Yogi separates himself from the physical body at the time of death, this Brahma-randhra bursts open and the soul comes out through this opening (Kapala Moksha). This opening is also called the ‘Door to Pure Consciousness’ or door of liberation.

Once the Kundalini Shakti, also called "Serpentower", has ascended through Sushumna to Sahasrara, it is made to reverse its course and return to rest in the base center again. Immortality is achieved within Sahasrara Chakra. Before attaining to this chakra the yogi is unable to reach the unconscious conscious state called asama-prajnata-samadhi. In this state there is no activity of the mind and no knower, no knowledge, nothing to be known: knowledge, knower, and known all become unified and liberated.

When the Kundalini is raised up to Sahasrara chakra, the illusion of individual self is dissolved. The yogi becomes realized, one with the cosmic principles that govern the entire universe within the body. One is no longer subjected to birth or death.

Samadhi is the pure bliss of total inactivity. Up to the sixth chakra the yogi may enter a trance in which activity or form still remains within the consciousness.

In Sahasrara Chakra the prana moves upward and reaches the highest point. The mind establishes itself in the pure void of Shunya Mandala, the space between the hemispheres.

At this time all feelings, emotions and desires, which are the activities of the mind, are dissolved into their primary cause. The union is achieved. The yogi is sat-chit-ananda, truth-being-bliss.

He is his own real self, and as long as he stays in his physical body he retains nondual consciousness, enjoying the play of lila without becoming troubled by pleasure and pain, honors and humiliations.

When the actions of Yogis are, through the service of the Lotus feet of their Guru, in all respects good, then they will see above the Aajna Chakra the form of the Mahaanaada, and will ever hold in their hand the Siddhi of Speech. The Mahaanaada -- which is the place of dissolution of Vaayu -- is the half of Shiva, and like a plough in shape [i.e., Shiva is Hakaara; if the upper portion of the letter Ha is removed, the remaining portion resembles an Indian plough in shape]; it is tranquil and grants boons and dispels fear, and makes manifest pure Intelligence [buddhi].

Above all these, in the vacant space wherein is Shankhinii Naadii, and below Visarga is the Lotus of a Thousant Petals [i.e., the Sahasraara]. This Lotus, lustrous and whiter than the full Moon, has its head turned downward. It charms. Its clustered filaments are tinged with the color of the young Sun. Its body is luminous with the letters beginning with A, and it is absolute bliss [kevalaananda-ruupam].

Within the Saharaara is the full Moon, without the mark of the hare [i.e. the "Man in the Moon"], respendant as in a clear sky. It sheds its rays in profusion, and is moist and cool like nectar. Inside it, the Candra Mandala, constantly shing like lightning, is the Triangle and inside this, again, shines the Great Void [Shuunya; i.e. the Parabindu], which is served in secret by all the Suras [i.e. Deities].

Well concealed, and attainable only by great effort, is that subtle Bindu [Shuunya], which is the chief root of Liberation and which manifests the pure Nirvaana-Kalaa with Amaa-Kalaa. Here is the Deva who is known to all as Parama-Shiva. He is the Brahman and the Aatmaa of all beings. In Him are united both Rasa and Virasa, and He is the Sun which destroys the darkness of ignorance [ajnaana] and delusion [moha]. [A Shakta commentary adds, "His beloved is the lustrous One [i.e., Shakti] who may be gained with difficulty by the Brahman Road (brahma-vartma). The Para-Brahman is but the effulgence of Her lotus feet." Other commentaries place both Shakti and Shiva as one and the same as the aspirant's Guru.]

By shedding a constant and profuse stream of nectar-like essence, the Bhagavaan instructs Yatis [i.e. those whose minds are unified with the object of their worship] of pure mind in the knowledge by which they realize the oneness of the Jiivaatmaa and the Paramaatmaa. He pervades all things as their Lord, who is the ever-flowing and spreading current of all manner of blass, known by the name of Hamsah Parama, or Parama-hamsah.

The Shaivas call it the Abode of Shiva; the Vaishnavas call it Parama Purusa; still others call it the the place of Hari-Hara [Vishnu and Shiva combined into a single form]. Those who are filled with a passion for the Lotus feet of the Devi call it the excellent Abode of Devi; and other great sages [Munis] call it the pure place of Prakriti-Purusa [i.e., Shakti-Shiva].

Those most excellent persons who have controlled their minds [citta] and known this place are never again born in the Wandering [Samsaara; the world of birth and rebirth], as there is nothing in the three worlds which binds them. Their minds being controlled and their aim achieved, they possess complete power to do all that they wish, and to prevent that which is contrary to their will. They ever move toward the Brahman. Their speech, whether in prose or verse, is ever pure and sweet.

Here is the excellent sixteenth Kalaa of the Moon [i.e. Amaa-Kalaa; see Verse 42 above - DB]. She is pure, and resembles the young Sun in color. She is as thin as the hundredth part of a fiber in the stalk of a lotus. She is lustrous and soft like ten million lightning flashes, and is downturned. She is the receptacle of the stream of excellent nectar which comes from the blissful union of Para and Paraa [i.e. Shiva and Shakti].

Inside Amaa-Kalaa is Nirvaana-Kalaa [again referring back to Verse 42 above - DB], more excellent than the excellent. She is as subtle as the thousandth part of the end of a hair, and of the shape of the crescent moon. She is the ever-existant Bhagavatii [Goddess], who is the Deity who pervades all beings. She grants divine knowledge, and is lustrous as the light of all the suns shining at one and the same time.

In the middle of the Nirvaana-Kalaa shines the Supreme and Primordial Nirvaana-Shakti; She is lustrous like ten million suns, and is the Mother of the three worlds. She is extremely subtle, like the ten-millionth part of the end of a hair. She contains within Her the constantly flowing stream of happiness [prema], and is the life of all beings. She graciously carries the knowledge of the Truth [Tattva] to the minds of the sages.

Within Her is the everlasting place called the Abode of Shiva [according to Vishvanaatha, "the Unmanii state of Shakti, where there is neither kaala (time) nor kalaa (space)" - DB], which is free from Maayaa, attainable only by Yogiis, and known by the name of Nityaananda. It is replete with every form of bliss, and is pure knowledge itself. Some call it the Brahman; others call it the Hamsa. The wise describe it as the Abode of Vishnu, and the righteous speak of it as the ineffable place of knowledge of the Aatmaa, or the Place of Liberation. [As the Padma-Puraana puts it, "Shaivas, Sauras, Ganeshas, Vaishnavas and Shaktas, all verily come to me like rain water to the ocean." - DB].

SAHASRARA CHAKRA - Table

Terminology	Tantric	sahasrara, sahasrara padma, sahasrara mahapadma, sahasrara ambuja, sahasrara saroruha, sahasradala, sahasradala padma, pankaja, or kamala, sahasrachchada panikaja, sahasrabja, sahasrapatra, sahasradala adhomukha padma, adhomukha mahapadma, wyomambhoja, wyoma, shiras padma, amlana padma (or parikaja), dashashatadala padma, shuddha padma
	Vedic (late Upanishads)	sahasrara, sahasradala, sahasrara kamala (pankaja, or padma), sthana, kapalasamputa, wyomambuja, wyoma, akasha chakra
	Puranic	sahasrara, sahasradala, sahasrara kamala (parikaja, or padma), sahasrapatra, sahasraparna padma, shantyatita, shantyatita pada, parama
Position		in void-region, as the upper part of the guru chakra
Petals	number	1000, arranged from right to left, in 20 layers, each containing 50, and the arrangement of the petals gives the appearance of the sahasrara as bell-shaped
	colour	white, red, yellow, golden, changing colours of white, red, yellow, black and green
Matrika-letters	on petals	50 in number in each layer: Ang to L(rh)ang or Kshang, arranged from right to left
	colour	petal-colour, or normal colour
Pericarp colour		golden
In the pericarp  (see diagram below)		the circular moon-region the luminous triangle (inside the moon-region) ama-kala (inside the triangle) ama-kala is subtle, shining in colour and crescent-shaped (in one-half coil) nirvana-kala (inside ama-kala) nirvana-kala is very subtle, shining red in colour, and crescent-shaped (in one-half coil) nirodhika-fire (within nirvana-kala) nirvana shakti (inside nirvana-kala) nirvana shakti is extremely subtle, and shining red in colour void (inside the triangle) void is in the form of a circle and is the centre of Supreme Bindu Visarga; its first point is just beyond ama-kala, and the second point is just below Supreme Bindu Divine Sharikhini who is above the second point of Visarga, and extends from Supreme Bindu, passing through Supreme Nada, Shakti principle to Sakala Shiva in coils, and then is absorbed into Parama Shiva [the Absolute]

The 1000 petals of the Sahasrara, arranged in 20 layers, each containing 50 petals and the arrangement of the petals giving (as a cross-section?) a bell-shaped appearance