Review: Chakras the Energy of Life

 

Hinduism has been so rich, I am amazed once again to feel the knowledge that is hidden and life brings it to you only when you are ready to digest it and dilute yourself in the experience of the godliness.

Well, the 7 chakras governing the existence of the individual, is a well-known concept in Hinduism and in Ayurveda. I myself have been told by my father since my childhood about it. Yet there is still something left undiscovered. Hearing from elders does not really give answers until and unless a quest arises in you and then the quest itself finds a way to quench itself….the search begins and there begins the journey of things that have been left incomplete, half-heard, half-known etc.

One fine day, after a lot of brain work, when the area of crown chakra (the scalp) started kind of aching I started paying attention to the small voice. No, it was not a headache. If I touched it, it felt so hot as if a lot of blood is moving around in that area, may be so much so that as if something is boiling down in side in those arteries and brain fissures…When I started paying attention, I remembered my father spoke about the crown chakra (The Sahastraar – the thousand petaled lotus), I just could not relate the event to imagine it is a thousand petaled lotus that is getting this hot.

Ignoring all other thoughts- and activities, I tried cooling down my scalp by simply applying good amount of oil. And I started contemplating about the chakras. What is it? Trying to remember what my father said about it, and what I heard from others about it, did not really answer, rather it made me question more and in depth.  Where do I exist? Am I in Muladhar? Am in Crown? Am I in Vishuddha Chakra? Where? Where am I? Are these only the layers of my being?  The irony is, the more thoughts I had flowing in the hotter the scalp got.

Well, that was just the beginning. And I am still learning.

I looked for resources, books, websites and people who could tell me more about the chakras but I wanted to know, to learn, without any melodrama around it. And here it is: I found the book that was having things to quench my first initial thirst.

So here I am writing about this book:  “Chakras the Energy of Life” by David Pond. You could find all required information about the author David Pond in the link itself. The book does contain a section in the beginning where David Pond talks about himself so I am not really going to say a thing about him. But the book is really a wonderful organized presentation of his knowledge on the subject.

Muladhar  (मूलाधार चक्र)– Root Chakra

Swadhishthaan  (स्वाधिष्ठान चक्र)–  Sacral Chakra

Manipura (मणिपुर चक्र )– The Solar plexus

Anahata  (अनाहत चक्र )– Hearth Chakra

Vishuddha  (विशुद्ध चक्र )– The Throat Chakra

Ajna  (आज्ञा चक्र )– The Third Eye chakra

Sahastraar (सहस्त्रार चक्र) – The Crown Chakra

For those, who are not aware about the importance of chakras in our life, here I have just pulled an image from the net as it explains the layer and location of the chakra better than my words or my own art can do. J You don’t really have to be a seeker or spiritual adventurist to acknowledge the presence and importance of these chakras in our life.

The book is organized in 2 sections. The First one, being the introduction to what are chakras, and to prepare the mind of the reader to understand what is being explained in the second section. The second section is the description and discussion about each chakra starting with Muladhar.

The introduction part he beautifully explains, what are chakras. A wonderful line from the introduction: “The gradations of energy that the chakras represent are subtle distinctions of the universal life force. “

And in the later part of introduction where he explains “balance” with a wonderful example and a small posture.

What I liked was that, along with the explanations he also has given small exercises whenever possible for the given concept to actualize. So actually you can perform those exercises and experience what he is talking about.

In the second section, he starts with the Muladhar being the first chakra, related to the very presence or survival of the person. Explaining in detail “The Survival Perspective” he then moves on to explain what happens when it is unbalanced. And the joyful part, then comes, the exercise, to balance the chakra. He further explains how to sustain the balanced Survival Level of Consciousness so as to keep our presence grounded.  There are 2 exercises for this chakra – that are well explained and joy to perform.

Moving on to the second chakra, the sacral chakra, that is driving us crazy for pleasure of all sorts of things, he then explains how the consciousness can change the pursuit of pleasure.  And this is followed by an exercise he calls “The Chocolate Cake Diet”. It is really remarkable to notice how human mind functions. First, it desires for something, it is lured by something, then it goes for it, it gets the desired thing and then it also feels guilty later on – due to the side effects or post consumption effects …It is so fulfilling to read how he explains, the effects of an unbalanced sacral chakra and how one can get trapped in the “more, more, more pleasure” and yet not feeling any pleasure. In his own words, ”The major clue for noticing an imbalance in the second chakra is a desire to lose yourself in sex, drugs, alcohol, food or any stimulating sensations. “

Total 2 exercises for this chakra, to sustain the balanced pleasure level of consciousness are explained in this chapter. When we are balanced at this level, the capacity to connect with others, without any jealousy, without any negative touch/feel in between, increases. It helps one to see the people around as they are, to enjoy as they are. And as you feel expanded in their presence, the relationships add to who you are.

The third chakra is the drive for power. The perspective of power is explained very well in this chapter. Along with the qualities of the balanced chakra as well as the imbalanced chakra’s effects and of course the exercises to work on it are followed as usual, like for all chakras.

The fourth chakra is the quest for love. The path of the heart – this has been said by so many masters present in the body and not present in the body. They have always said; choose your heart and not the brains if you wish to be happy.  It is basically the harmony creating drug in a most natural way. The love relationships will be very fulfilling of the couple who have 4^th chakra awakened and enough balance of love consciousness is there in their presence of each other.

The fifth chakra is the center of creativity. In his own words, – “The Fifth chakra impels you to express yourself in a creative way. This is creativity at the higher-mind level. As personal insights merge and interact with the collective mind, creativity is born. We think of the throat and of speaking, but self-expression is more to the point because this level of creativity is certainly not limited to the spoken word.” It appears that all the great orators and public speakers have fifth chakra functioning very well. The stage fright, the inability to attend to that public energy, is a sign of imbalance of the fifth chakra.

The sixth chakra is more of transcendence, close to the third eye energy, it reminds me of ruling life in a spiritual manner, or a life ruled by spiritual energy where things fall in place at the right time and in right manner.

The 7^th being the highest possible presence of human energy beyond the human mind and only as consciousness…it is difficult to talk more on this chakra for me. Nevertheless, David’s book talks about these 2 chakras in much better depth.

I wish I could write more and more but I have to stop here for now.

Please feel free to leave your comments about my writing style. Any feedback that will improve me, is welcome.