Pages

Pages

Hinduism - What Is The Vishuddha Chakra?

 



The vishuddha chakra is one of the six psychic centers (chakras) thought to exist in the subtle body, according to several schools of yoga and tantra, a hidden, ritually oriented religious practice.

The subtle body is a separate physiological system that is thought to exist on a different level than coarse matter yet has some similarities to it.

It's depicted as a group of six mental centers joined by three vertical channels and shaped like multipetaled lotus flowers flowing approximately along the spine's route.

Each of these chakras has significant symbolic associations, including varying human capacities, subtle components (tanmatras), and seed syllables (bijaksharas) constructed from Sanskrit alphabet letters, embracing all holy sound.

Shiva (consciousness) and Shakti (power), the two divine principles through which the whole cosmos came into existence, have physical abodes above and below these centers.

The homology of macrocosm and microcosm, a key Hindu notion from the time of the mystical scriptures known as the Upanishads, is therefore the basic premise underpinning this concept of the subtle body.

The vishuddha chakra is the fifth of the six chakras, which are generally numbered from the bottom up.

It resembles a sixteen-petaled lotus and is found in the neck area.

Each of the petals has a seed phrase made up of a letter from the Sanskrit alphabet, in this instance all sixteen Sanskrit vowels, which are necessary linking factors in any meaningful speech.

The vishuddha chakra is linked to the human ability to speak and breathe on a symbolic level.

It is also said to be the physical seat of the subtle element of space (akasha), through which hearing is thought to occur.

See Arthur Avalon's (Sir John Woodroffe's) Shakti and Shakta (1978) and Philip S. Rawson's The Art of Tantra (1973) for further details.



Kiran Atma


You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.

Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.