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| Deities within the Vishuddha Chakra - counterclockwise from the bottom: Ambara, Sadashiva, Shakini |
“Intense focus and meditation on the subtle element corresponding to this center of force is defined in the Yoga texts as the special, beatific expansion known as Akashi Darana. The person who practices this form of meditation will not die or disappear at the dissolution of the world. This person will obtain the knowledge of the past, present and future as well as the control over the mysterious energies of time.” (Swami Sivananda)
Location: the fifth energy center, Vishuddha chakra is located in the physical body around the area of the neck.
Represents: pure consciousness and creativity.
Symbolical representation: it is the dwelling of sound, dreams and the symbol of purity.
On the psychic level: it governs the awakening of inspiration, expression, eloquence and archetypal models. This center of force is closely connected to the feeling of acceptance, superior reception and subtle protection.
On the physical level: it coordinates the activity of the vocal cords, the hearing system, pharynges, esophagus, as well as the spine. The corresponding glands are thyroid and parathyroid. This center of force is connected to the complex process of nourishment.
Characteristic reactions due to an energy disturbance: the person in whom the energies characteristic to Vishuddha chakra are disturbed will face an imbalance on the level of the above-mentioned glands. The emotional factors triggering this disease are important to keep track of. These factors are translated into symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety and depression.
Characteristic element: the subtle energies of ether.
Sensory Organ: the ear.
Sense: hearing.
VISHUDDHA CHAKRA - Table
| Terminology | Tantric | vishuddha, vishuddhi, kantha, kanthadesha, kanthapadma, kanthapankaja, kanthambuja, kanthambhoja, shodasha, shodasha-dala, shodashara, nirmala-padma, dwyashtapatrambuja, akasha, shodashollasa-dala, shodasha-patra |
| Vedic (late Upanishads) | vishuddha, vishuddhi, kantha chakra | |
| Puranic | vishuddha, vishuddhi | |
| Position | externally, neck-region | |
| Petals | number | sixteen, arranged from right to left |
| colour | smoke colour, shining smoke colour | |
| Matrika-letters | on petals | sixteen in number; Ang Ang Ing Ing UngUng Ring Ring Lring Lring Eng Aing Ong Oung Ang Ah, arranged from right to left |
| colour | deep red, red, golden | |
| Vrittis | on petals | sixteen in number, arranged from right to left |
| name | 1 Pranava (mantra Ong [Aum]); 2 Udgitha (the Sama-mantras); 3 Hung (a mantra); 4 Phat (a mantra); 5 Washat (a mantra); 6 Swadha (a mantra); 7 Swaha (a mantra); 8 Namak (a mantra); 9 Amfita (nectar and seven (musical) tones, viz. 1 nishada; 2 riskabha; 3 gandhara; 4 shadja; 5 madhyama; 6 dhaiwata; 7 pañchama | |
| In the pericarp | circular akasha-region a triangle inside the akasha-region circular lunar region inside the triangle | |
| colour | akasha-region; white, transparent or smoke triangle; sky-blue or smoke lunar-region; white | |
| Akasha-bija | Hang inside lunar region | |
| colour of Akasha-bija | white | |
| Form of Akasha-bija | deity Ambara (Akasha) | |
| Concentration form of Ambara | Ambara is white in colour; four-armed, holding a noose and a goad, and making the gestures of granting hoons and dispelling fear; seated on a white elephant | |
| In the bindu of Hang | deity Sadashiva | |
| Concentration form of Sadashiva | Sadashiva as Ardhanarishwara: The right half of the body (the Shiva aspect) is white, and the left half (the Shakti aspect) is golden; five-faced, three-eyed; ten-armed, holding a trident, a chisel (or an axe), a sword, the wajra, fire, the great snake, a bell, a goad and a noose, and making the gestures of dispelling fear; clad in tiger's skin | |
| Presiding divinity | power Shakini | |
| Concentration of Shakini | Shakini is shining white, or yellow in colour; five-faced, three-eyed, four-armed, holding a bow and arrow, noose and goad; or a noose, a goad and a book and making the attitude of jñanamudra; or a bow, a trident and a book and showing jñanamudra; or a noose, a trident, and a and showing jñanamudra; or two-armed, holding the Vajra and a staff; clad in yellow raiment or black raimeot; seated in a red lotus | |
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| Vishuddha Chakra |
The effects of meditating on this chakra are inner calm, serenity, purity, melodious voice, the awakening of artistic inspiration, the ability to interpret sacred writings/scriptures and the ability to understand the hidden message of dreams.
The person under Vishuddha Chakra’s influence will no longer find the distractions and pleasures caused by the senses and intellect attractive or important.
Such a person will seek real knowledge beyond the limits of time, and beyond hereditary or cultural conditioning. Entering its field of energy equals the freedom from the whirlpools of this world and the control over our ego.
The balanced development of the three centers of force leads to the formation of a balanced and harmonious personality.
The fourth center of force, Anahata Chakra is an intermediary stage, a central point that unifies the inferior levels with the upper levels, the sphere of survival, social living, and assertion of ones personality with the subtle, refined levels of manifestation.
It is not by accident that Anahata Chakra is the center of the heart, of love and awakening of the soul. The next stage is then to acquire a superior state of receptiveness and to open up towards divine inspiration.
In a way, Vishuddha Chakra corresponds to the process of nurturing, both physically and subtly, referring to an energy based nourishment through access to the superior worlds of the universe.
On this stage, the notion of “superior inner consciousness” becomes accessible, and the person may intuitively discover the mysteries of divine manifestation.
TIME IS THE MIRROR OF ETERNITY
- The state of receptiveness towards the superior, elevated worlds makes it possible to open some access points into these universes. These experiences can appear spontaneously in meditations, or they may be reached through divine grace. The psychologist Abraham Maslow named them “peak experiences”.
- For all the people who had such experiences, in their moments of ecstasy, intuition and transcendence, these experiences represent the most important thing in their lives and are considered the most precious aspects of life, that give it its value and measure.
- They may be experienced as overcoming and transcending ones individuality, or simply as a sensation of existing outside normal time.
- The following quotation from “Memoir In the Defense of Caligostro” (from Serge Hutins book “The Secret Societies From Yesterday till Today”) expresses quite well, the superior level of consciousness a human being can attain:
- “I do not belong to any age, and I do not belong to any space. I permanently feel that I am outside time and space. My spiritual being experiences in its essence the eternal existence, and if sometimes if let myself sink into the cosmic thought, climbing back up the course of ages, if then I reach my almighty spirit towards a superior way of living, different from that which you are familiar with, I experience the paradise-like ecstasy and I become that who I want to be. Participating fully and consciously to the reality of the Supreme Being, I conduct almost all my actions while guided by divine inspiration that constantly helps and surrounds me.”
This type of superior inspiration appears only in the more, or less conscious moments of superior receptiveness. Great composers, artists, even scientists have had such moments of brilliance.
Any kind of artistic experience or realization can not only re-create art, but also transform the receivers personality, because through symbols received telepathically or created exteriorly, the artist is capable of reintegrating certain aspects and of reaching new and elevated levels of consciousness.
More than this, the act of creation and the act of being created are complementary parts of the same phenomenon. Through contrast, when art and the inspiration are constantly and considerably embarrassed by the ego, creativity stagnates.
When the ego becomes exacerbated, art disappears, and when the ego disappears, universal art flourishes at its own will. When the artist is crushed by the ego, allowing him to be dominated by petty calculations he begins to “imitate” himself and he is no longer capable of transmitting that which is sublime to others. The divine inspiration he receives no longer transforms him and his personal inner growth stops.
GENIUS IS NURTURED WITH ESSENCES
In the genuine act of creation, free and uninhibited, aracterized by a “crazy” spontaneity, the artist will first and most importantly nurture and support himself. At this point, he can offer a lot to others.When a person offers himself or herself to the world, they accept the subtle guidance and inspiration of the inner superior consciousness. From this point of view and in a manner of speaking, we may say that the superior act of nourishing is in fact equal with being nurtured. Through Vishuddha Chakra, brilliant artists express their ineffable identity with their inner voice, through their art.
In the case of a person who can maintain their consciousness at this level, his or her role will be divided equally between distributor and receiver of the divine grace. Through the sublime experience of receiving grace, the individual consciousness nurtured with the nectar of the divinity goes up to the next center of force, Ajna Chakra.
Here the person realizes the great mystery, that the one who gives and the one who receives are in fact one and the same, fused in ineffable unity, just as a drop of water that has reunited with the ocean it used to be a part of.
For a better understanding of the 5th center of force, we shall explain a few key words:
Akasha – subtle fundamental element that the yogis discovered thousands of years ago as pertaining to and maintaining everything in the universe. In some secret texts, it is depicted as the ether of space that comprises and records everything.
In the East, Akasha or the all-encompassing ether is the subtlest of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether). The wise advanced yogis claim that Akasha is a fundamental substance that fills and pertains to everything in the universe and that it is the basic support of life and sound. In Akasha everything that occurs in the universe is instantaneously recorded; these images may be read by clairvoyants and are called akashic records.
Eternity – that which is truly divine and exists beyond time. The states of genuine spiritual elevation, which propel us to the peaks of ecstatic consciousness and act as tangents to the perception of Reality.
In the spiritual realm, eternity is the spiritual counter-part of time in our event driven world. Even Plato once said, “Time is a moving image of eternity”.
Intuition – represents the direct, immediate knowledge of truth, through resonance and without involving a lot of thinking done by the mind. C.G. Young defined intuition as one of the four fundamental psychological functions of the human being; the other three are thought, feelings and senses.
He describes intuition as a function of exploring the unknown, which offers possibilities and implications that are apparently difficult to be perceived consciously. Intuition is not an act of will; it is a state of attention and inspired reception.
Inspiration – state of resonance and inner communion that leads to a certain sublime experience, idea and/or action.
It is characterized through the revelation of some experiences, on a subjective level, representing a psychic condition auspicious to the act of creation. This reason determined Plato to rightfully conceive it as a message of the divinity that pertains to those who allow themselves be taken into or can reach ecstatic states of trance.
For Schopenhauer, the inspiration was the eternal and subtle world of divine ideas, and for Nietzsche it was the expression of the Dionysian drunkenness giving birth to brilliant creations.
Time – the universal property of all forms enclosed into a certain subtle energy, heading simultaneously or successively towards one another. The entire creation is subject to this subtle energy and only through the pure divine consciousness can it transcend change and time.
Because it is in essence a subtle energy, the dimensions of time are characteristically molded by the structures of the individual and cosmic consciousness.
Thus, the information referring to past, present or future events is recorded or stored in a kind of magnetic support for the universe, a reality which in yoga is called the “akasha-ic records or clichs”.The advanced yogi can recall and re-live these traces deposited in the energies of time, after the experience has occurred at least once. Furthermore, people that have the native ability of recalling the akasha-ic records can also do it, but these cases are very rare.
The presence and accessibility of such information in akasha tattva is mentioned even in the current theories of modern physics, for example, the theory of “implied order”, issued by David Bohm, suggests that there is a certain phenomenal and structural order in the universe and that this order has nothing to do with change or temporality.
Scientists who lived around the end of the 20th century have proved that our ability to sense and tell time is in fact a distortion of reality.
