Chakras

Vinayaka Vijayam is a 70’s Telugu movie that they used play on Doordarshan (Indian Government run channel) every Vinayaka Chathurthi when I was a kid. Yesterday, my wife was reading the Katha (story) on the birth of Ganesha as part of the ritual. Gajasura was given the boon by Lord Shiva that he would reside in Gajasura’s stomach. This caused commotion with the Devas and Maa Parvati pleaded with Lord Vishnu to help. Lord Vishnu took the help of other Devas and Nandi and went to Gajasura incognito. They performed various acts and Nandi gave a wonderful dance performance to Gajasura (reminds me of the many 70’s bollywood plots like “Amar Akbar Anthony” etc. where the good guys dress up as performers and go to the villians). Gajasura was very pleased by Nandi’s dance and asked them for any boon. He had the ego that I am no less than Lord Shiva. The devas (who came in as Jangama performers a Shaivite sect mostly in Karnataka) asked for the Linga in his stomach. He wanted to keep his word, but said the Devas can take the linga out of his stomach as he will not be able to take out with his own hands. Nandi charges into his stomach with his horns and lets Shiva in the form of the linga come out of Gajasura stomach. Now why am I telling you this story? It reminded me of what my Jyotish Guru Shri Deepanshu Giri ji taught about a 12th house Guru in the Rashi Chakra. This yog is formed if one was not careful about giving away knowledge to undeserving people.

Maa Parvati meanwhile creates a boy (prana Prathishta) out of the Turmeric paste that she uses for bathing. She keeps the boy as a guard at the entrance and asks him not to allow anyone in. When Lord Shiva returns after the death of Gajasura, the boy does not allow even Lord Shiva inside. All Hindu stories are symbolic like its iconography. Now this hindrance to even Lord Shiva is symbolic of first getting the blessings/permission of Lord Ganesha (how the boy became Ganesha with an elephant head is another sub story) who was standing as a guard (Kshetrapal) for achieving Shakthi. Ketu is the connection to the Para and Shakthi Sadhana which one cannot achieve without its blessing in a Rashi Chakra.

Chakras are focal or energy centers in the subtle energy body inside our physical bodies. Mutthuswami Deekshitar was a famous carnatic composer and a contemporary of Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri a musical trinity of the 17th century. All three were realized souls. Deekshitar in his popular composition “Vaatapi Ganapatim“, praises Lord Ganesha as ” Moolaadhaara Kshetrasthitam” i.e. residing in the Moola Chakra, note that the Moola Nakshatra is ruled by Ketu. Mooladhara Chakra is at the base of the spine near the anus. This is a Gandanta (knot/chakra) in the Rashi chakra and in the subtle body from where the Kundalini Shakthi rises up to the Shasrara Chakra at above a few inches above the head. This is symbolic of Maa Parvati rising up from Muladhara to meet Lord Shiva at Sahasrara. The potential energy residing as a coiled serpent transforms/rises (Vrischik) up as kinetic energy. So Ganesha’s blessings are necessary for both Shakti to meet Shiva and Shiva to meet Shakthi since he is the Kshetrapal (Gaurdsman).

Imagine Shakthi rising up as traversing from Vrischik (Moola nakshatra) to Mithun (Ardra Nakshatra) and Shiva coming down to meet Shakthi (Ganesha story above) as traversing from Vrishabha (Lord Shiva needs his vahana/vehicle Nandi to travel) to Dhanu. The opposite rashis form the spoke of the Kala Chakra. When one is pursuing higher spiritual goals, they are traversing from Shakthi to Shiva and when one is on materialistic pursuits then one is traversing from Shiva to Shakthi. Both must be balanced and represented by the Yin-Yang principle. The following is an attempt (no experience just limited knowledge of mine) to map the chakras and their emotional balance wheel. These may not map exactly to each of the 30^o of the rashi but rather the junctions between the rashis and you would see some overlaps. There may be a lot more emotions than these.

Chakra	Emotions
Mooladhara	Feeling secure, grounded in reality, food, basic necessities in life i.e. food, shelter, money etc. Vrischik (fears)-Vrishabh(material security) axis.
Swadhishtana	Sexuality, Creative energy, Good things in life, ego, harmone imbalance. Tula-Mesh axis.
Manipura	Gut Feeling, Determination, Judging, Letting Go, sense of wisdom, personal power, control. This is called the warrior chakra i.e. taking action. Kanya-Meena axis.
Anahata	Relating to other people, love, Bhakthi, addiction, uplifting others. Simha-Kumbh axis.
Vishudha	Empathize, Clarity in Speech, Speak with love, speaking the truth, shutting down not speaking out. Karka-Makara axis.
Agnya	3rd eye. Psychic, Subconscious, Paranormal. Equally in tune with the outer and physical worlds. The Mithun-Dhanu axis. The Arudra and Moola nakshatra axis. These are gateways to the portals. Lord Bhairava for Arudra (for higher planes) and Lord Ganesha for Moola (for lower planes).

The Sahasrara is outside the physical body a few inches above the head in the aura of the person and hence not mapped to the rashi chakra. This is the pure consciousness where Shiva and Shakthi are in perfect union.