This is part XI of kundalini series. We have seen earlier that chakras do not physically exist in reality. They are nothing but manifested energy centers that exist in our etheric body. The concept of chakras is originally propagated by tantric literature. Since these chakras are manifested in our etheric body, tantric literatures described the chakras with specific number of lotus petals attached to it. Muladhara chakra has four petals, swadishtan has six petals, manipura has ten, anahata has twelve, visudhi has sixteen and ajna has two petals, thus making 50 petals of lotus. Another point to discuss is why the specific places have been identified with these chakras. These are the places where minute nerves crisscross and a spider-web like formation is made. Because of our concentrated concentration on these areas, the chakra glows.

The different colours are identified with different chakras based on the quality that predominantly prevails in each of the chakras. Brighter the colours of the chakras, lower will be our quality. That is why muladhara with red colour and swadishtan with orange colour are associated with tamo guna, the lowest of the three gunas. The energy of kundalini can be realised in all the three types of body, viz. casual body or karana sarira, subtle body or sukshma sarira and gross body or sthula sarira and also in all the five sheaths or koshas. This realisation is because of the power of kundalini. There are several instances, where the energy of a person could be felt several feet away. When you develop love for the humanity, your anahat chakra expands. Fully activated anahat chakra attracts people to you as it attracts love. I have not chosen to describe the chakras with the petals of lotus flower along with Sanskrit alphabets as this involves too much of theory. But one thing you should be clear about is that you can literally see every chakra by persistent practice. Through practice, you will develop clairvoyant eyes. As far as kundalini is concerned, only the practice makes a man perfect.

The power of mind is the only important factor as mind works with all the three types of bodies and the five types of sheaths. Accompanied paraphernalia like moola bhandha, stretching exercises, breathing exercises only make the task of the mind easier. Wrong bhandhas and breathing exercises lead to disaster. That is why presence of a master is insisted, mainly to oversee the physical exercises. There are arguments and counter arguments about the chakras. Let us not go into details as we are not experts to put forward our views. But one thing is certain. The experience of kundalini certainly differs from person to person. Your enlargement of a chakra is different from mine. Your ability to see through your clairvoyant eyes is different from mine. So, there is no point in making a reference to somebody’s experience. The procedure is the same but the end result is different. You feel as if the chakras are rotating, because of the energy the chakras generate. It is like a storm. In the satellite pictures where you see the centre of a storm rotating around the eye of the storm. Same is the principle here also. The energy of a chakra rotates on an axis and this is the reason for feeling the rotation in our body, the axis being the spinal cord.