The chakras. A monograph

THE CHAKRAS

brilliant golden rays. An example of that may be seen in Madame Blavatsky's precipitation the occult process of making an image appear on paper through spiritual means of the aura the field of subtle energy surrounding a person of Mr. Stainton Moses, which hangs in the Shrine Room of the Theosophical Headquarters at Adyar. It is reproduced, though very imperfectly, on page 364 of volume I of Colonel Olcott's Old Diary Leaves.

These chakras wheels or force-centers naturally divide into three groups: the lower, the middle, and the higher. They might be called respectively the physiological, the personal, and the spiritual.

The first and second chakras force-centers, having but few spokes or petals, are principally concerned with receiving into the body two forces which come into it at that physical level. One is the serpent-fire kundalini from the earth and the other is the vitality from the sun. The centers of the middle group, numbered 3, 4, and 5, are engaged with the forces which reach man through his personality. These come through the lower astral in the case of center 3, the higher astral in center 4, and from the lower mind in center 5. All these centers seem to feed certain ganglia clusters of nerve cells in the body. Centers 6 and 7 stand apart from the rest, being connected with the pituitary body and the pineal gland respectively. They come into action only when a certain amount of spiritual development has taken place.

I have heard it suggested that each of the different petals of these force-centers represents a moral quality, and that the development of that quality brings the center into activity. For example, in The Dhyānabindu Upanishad An ancient Sanskrit scripture concerning the "seed" of meditation. the petals of the heart chakra force-center are associated with devotion, laziness, anger, charity, and similar qualities. I have not yet met with any facts which definitely confirm this, and it is not easy to see exactly how it can be. The appearance is produced by certain readily recognizable forces. The petals in any particular center are either active or not active according as these forces have or have not been aroused. Their unfoldment seems to have no more direct connection with morality than has the enlargement of the biceps. I have certainly met with persons in whom some of the centers were in full activity, though the moral advancement was by no means exceptionally high. In other persons of high spirituality and the noblest possible morality, the centers were scarcely yet vitalized at all. There does not seem to be any necessary connection between the two developments.

There are, however, certain facts observable which may be the basis of this rather curious idea. Although the likeness to petals is caused by the same forces flowing round and round the center, alternately over and under the various spokes, those spokes differ in character. The inrushing force is subdivided into its component parts or qualities. Therefore, each spoke radiates a specialized influence of its own, even though the variations are slight. The secondary force, in passing each spoke, is to some extent modified by its influence, and therefore changes a little in its hue. Some of these shades of color may indicate a form of the force which is helpful to the growth of some moral quality. When that quality is strengthened, its corresponding vibration will be more pronounced. Thus the deepening or weakening

11

A detailed circular diagram representing the Spleen Chakra force-center framed within a black square. The chakra is depicted as a radiant disc with six distinct segments or petals. Each is filled with vibrant, multi-colored streaks of yellow, orange, red, and violet. At the center is a dark core surrounded by a lighter pinkish-red circular field.

67