The Chakras – Part 5

The evolution of sexual desire

The ‘intense and primitive – sexual – desire’ that Eileen Garratt describes as the first level of awakening inner power, is really an experience of the lotus above the genitals. Although at first it seems to involve the sexual organs, it then appears to fold back’ upon itself, and what was naked sexual desire turns into a warm outgoing feeling.

It has been said that the lotuses are separate expressions of the one creative power – sound – or word in us. It is therefore foolish and perhaps dangerous, to concentrate or meditate just on the one Chakra. This may simply arouse intense sexual desires and then what do we do with them? The only time we can approach any lotus separately is when we have first centred ourself in the essence of them all, the Overself or Infinite which directs the activities of our being.

The power that whirls into the Chakras is from the One primal energy, and the Chakras dependence on the One must always be remembered if balanced development is to be maintained. In fact, attunement with the One or Overself, brings development of the Chakras naturally, in their own time, and without concentration or meditation on any one of them.
negative and positive

We saw that in the root Chakra, the creative energy was released and projected into the rest of our being. The next level of its expression is in the Svadhisthana lotus. At this point the energy becomes negative and positive – creative and destructive. Its creative power is expressed outwardly in the sexual organs, its destructive power in the rectum, and in the ejection of faeces. This centre is therefore the sense organ informing us of these forces in other people, and all nature. Through it, as we become aware of it functioning, we begin to perceive the negative and positive forces in plants. The magnetic attraction and repulsion – the forces of which create the sex organs in plants is felt by us through this Chakra. That is, we become aware of the invisible forces of attraction and repulsion creativity and destruction which cause physical changes in people, animals, plants and in the cosmos.

The state of sexual attraction or repulsion in another person is felt by us through this organ. We know how the person, plant or world responds to us and to life in general. As this deals with invisible forces, we can also be aware of the dead through this centre, but only in as much as they are expressing those forces common to this sense organ. Wilhelm Reich classes this as the same body zone we dealt with under the root Chakra.
the flower with ten petals

Next comes the ten petalled lotus, Manipura Chakra or navel centre. The element of this is Fire, its colour is blue (Yoga) or yellow (Cayce). The Shat-Chakra Nirupana says, ‘By meditating on this Navel Lotus, the power to destroy and create (the world) is acquired. Vani with all the wealth of knowledge ever abides in the Lotus of His face’.

This is often called the Solar Plexus centre, and connects with the plexus epigastricus, and with the adrenal glands. The Hopi Indians say that this centre is in the region of the navel, and is the seat or throne of the creative power in man. Eileen Garratt describes the sensations of lotus activity here by saying, ‘I become aware of a movement which sways upward and outward from the solar plexus and then folds back towards the base of the spine. In that moment, a welling up of strength transforms the original primitive desire into a pleasurable state of suspension and anticipation’

Two other people describing the sensations of Kundalini working on the Chakra here say, ‘It feels as if my digestion is upset, there is a feeling of movement or trembling in the Solar Plexus and I can’t eat all day.’ And, ‘when it reaches the Solar Plexus, it is accompanied with a feeling of hunger. When it is really charged with the energy I sometimes feel sick.’
mysterious process

Gopi Krishna, in his book Kundalini, describes some of these activities after the Kundalini awoke in him. ‘It was obvious’, he says, ‘that by some mysterious process, the precious secretion of the seminal glands was drawn up into the spinal tube, and through the interlinking nerves transferred into a subtle essence, then distributed to the brain and the vital organs. The suction was applied with such vigour and in the early stages, with such violence, as to cause actual pain.

Gopi Krishna also found that his appetite increased enormously. Aware of the Kundalini as a subjective light, he says ‘I could distinctly perceive a tongue of the golden flame searching my stomach for food and moving around along the nerves lining it. I took a few bites of bread, and another cup of milk, and as soon as I had done so I found the halo in the head contracting and a larger tongue of flame licking my stomach. I lay awake, dumb with wonder, watching this living radiance move from place to place through the whole digestive tract.’

Strangely enough, Gopi Krishna never became aware of the Lotuses, and never saw them. But neither did he develop the abilities and perceptions that come with them. The only two he experienced were the root and crown, and with these he received the allied inner experience. His comments on the seminal fluid rising do tie in very strongly with the Edgar Cayce’s comments in ‘Search for God’ (A.R.E. Press).

Cayce says:

With the arousing of the image, or ideal, this life force rises along what is known as the Appian Way or Silver cord, to the pineal centre in the brain, whence it may be disseminated to those centres that give activity to the whole of the mental and physical being.

It rises then to the hidden eye in the centre of the brain system – Pituitary body – which is just at the back of the middle of the forehead. Thus on entering meditation, there arises a definite impulse from the glands of reproduction that passes through the pineal to the pituitary.

adrenal glands

However, getting back to the navel lotus, we can understand more of its activity by knowing something of the adrenal glands. Adrenal secretion energises the muscles of the body, especially those of the circulation and digestion. These secretions also provide the base for saliva, pepsin, hydrochloric acid, and other digestive juices.

These glands prepare the system ready for stress, fight or flight, by raising blood pressure, making ready the voluntary muscles, speeding the heart and releasing energy. The adrenal centred type is usually dark, hairy, stocky, very energetic, aggressive and robust.
assimilation

This is therefore the centre of self preservation, physical energy and assimilation. Assimilation is, in a very real sense, dependent upon relatedness. We cannot assimilate that with which we have no sympathy, no associations, no desires or need for.

This centre therefore deals with relatedness in a finer sense than the abdominal Chakra, which dealt mostly with attraction and repulsion.

Once things have been attracted to each other, there comes an inter-blending or interaction which produces or creates a quite different situation. Thus, sugar added to tea becomes different to sugar or tea when separated. The Manipura Chakra, or ten petalled lotus, is a sense organ, informing us of these subtle interrelations.

Because of this, when this lotus is well developed, we become aware of how people will relate to certain situations or events. This gives us the ability to arrive at an understanding of their talents, tendencies, failings, proper vocation and usefulness. This applies also to herbs, minerals, natural forces. We begin to see through this Chakra, how they will relate combine – assimilate, with other conditions, thus understanding their medical or general use.

As a centre of outgoing energy, we find this lotus pouring out those feelings which bind others to us warmly, or pushing them away. In his book ‘A Separate Reality’, Castenanda reports his teacher, Don Juan, as saying that this centre can extrude subtle limbs to grasp things like a web or tentacles. Through it too, terror or human warmth can reach us.

Rudolph Steiner says that to develop this centre, we must closely watch our impression of things outside us. We must dominate or scrutinise the source of our inner feelings or presentiments. Steiner gives the example in ‘Knowledge of the Higher Worlds’ of a man unconsciously seeing (in a newspaper) a notice of a famous man’s illness. The next day he reads of the man’s death, and claims he had a presentiment of this – whereas in reality the presentiment arose from the unconscious impression of the previous day. Unless we can cut through the confusion of such inner feelings it is difficult to see clearly, those arising from this Chakra.
letting go of tension

Wilhelm Reich describes the muscular blocks in this area as concentrating on the abdominal muscles and the lateral muscles – transversus abdominus. These an be felt as hard and often painfully tense muscles. It is fairly easy to learn to let go of this tension once we become aware of it.

The solar plexus is the largest of the body ganglions. These nerves connect with the digestive organs and glands under the diaphragm. We can summarise the functions of this lotus, as assimilation of matter (food) and its transmutation into energy. The energy is expressed to perform particular functions or relationships.

In fact, it is in this area of relationship that the traditional descriptions miss mention of a fundamental and important process. It is here at the navel that we were connected in a life giving relationship with another person – our mother. This connection and the profound sense of loss that might occur in the break of a loving relationship, remain, or are felt, in this part of our being. So this centre deals with the deep and fundamental connections we forge with others, the breaking of such connections as independence occurs, and the possible pain of loss.
love

The Anahata or Heart Chakra, is one of the big three, being the Love centre. It is said to have twelve petals of orange red (Yoga) or green (Cayce) colour. Some say it connects with the physical heart, and they show it actually above this organ.

Yoga positions it between the breasts on the midline of the body. As a vortice of energy, combining negative and positive, this would seem true, as the midline is the vortice of left and right nerves – as shown by the right and left lobes of the brain etc.

Cayce gives this Lotus as connecting with the Thymus gland, on the midline, just above the breasts. The Shat-Chakra-Nirupana says that he who meditates on the heart lotus is, ‘Foremost among Yogis, he is ever dearer than the dearest to woman, he is pre-eminently wise and full of noble deeds. His senses are completely under control. His mind intense in concentration, is engrossed in thoughts of Brahman. His inspired speech flows like the Devata who is the beloved of Lakshmi and he is able to enter another’s body.’
Vibration of life

The Hopi Indian says that the heart is a vibratory organ or centre pulsing with the vibration of life itself. In his heart man felt the good of life, its sincere purpose. He was of one heart that is, of one purpose with life and the Creator. But there were those who permitted evil feelings to enter. These were said to be of Two hearts.

Eileen Garratt describes her sensations in this area as leading ‘to an expansion of the torso and a stimulation of the circulation of the breath throughout my being; this change of tempo causes the spine to relax and become flexible.

Another woman, with very marked awareness of Kundalini says, ‘I figured I would see Divine Light best if I put out my own candle. My knowledge now seems to come from deep within me without any conscious thought on my part, and in my silence I learn something different every day’. This is the same woman who said, ‘still climbing, it reaches my chest, around the heart. It seems to be groping for the very innermost centre as if the very soul resided there. This brings forth groans. I feel like pouring forth all the love in my being.’ Echoing this, a man says, ‘I experienced it as a melting of my being, a willingness to be a fool for love.’

Why have men and women, for thousands of years referred to the Heart as the home of their soul? Can one really be heartbroken? Are these statements intuitions of the role lotus plays in our life?