Evolution through the Chakras

All life is evolving and man is no exception. Human evolution, the evolution which we are undergoing relentlessly, both as individuals and as a race, is a journey through the different chakras. Mooladhara is the most basic, fundamental chakra from where we commence our evolution, and sahasrara is where our evolution is completed. As we evolve towards sahasrara, outer experiences come our way in life, and inner experiences come to us in meditation, as different capacities and centers awaken progressively within the nervous system. This occurs as energy flows at higher voltages and rates of vibration through the different nadis in the psychic body.

Muladhara is the first center in human incarnation, but it is the highest chakra that animals have the capacity to awaken. It is their sahasrara. The higher chakras beyond mooladhara are not present in the psychic physiology of animals and their nervous systems reflect this relative deficiency.

Below mooladhara there are other chakras which represent the evolution of the animal kingdom. They are only related to sense consciousness and not to mental awareness. When your consciousness was evolving through these chakras your mind was only associated with sense consciousness. There was no individual awareness, no ego; it began from mooladhara. These lower centers are no longer functioning in us because we have transcended them.

In the animal body, these inferior chakras are situated in the legs, and so are the nadis. The nadis flow to their confluence point at mooladhara chakra just as the nadis in the human body flow to ajna chakra. The names of the lower chakras are atala, vitala, sutala, talatala, rasatala, mahatala and the lowest is patala. Just as mooladhara is the lowest chakra in the human body, patala is the lowest in the animal kingdom. It is the dimension which represents total darkness, where nature is not functioning and matter is completely dormant and static.

Above sahasrara there are also other chakras which represent the higher divine consciousness. So mooladhara chakra is the highest in animal evolution and the first in human evolution. Sahasrara is the highest in human evolution and the first step in the highest divine evolution.

As you read more about the chakras, you will come to realize that kundalini actually controls every affair of life. When this shakti was passing through the animal stages of our evolution, it was influencing the whole species with avidya or ignorance. On account of its influence,the animal kingdom was compelled to follow the path of eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. This represented the tamasic phase oi evolution. From mooladhara onward we pass through the rajasic phase and from sahasrara onward we enter the sattvic. Spontaneous and self-propelled evolution Up to mooladhara chakra evolution takes place automatically. Animals do not have to practise pranayama and japa yoga. They don’t have to find a guru, take sannyasa and become chelas. They don’t have to do anything and they can eat whatever they want. Nature controls them completely. Because they don’t think, nature is benevolently responsible for every phase of their evolution. However, once kundaiini reaches mooladhara chakra, evolution is no longer spontaneous, because a human being is not completely subjected to the laws of nature. For example, animals only mate in particular seasons. At other times, even if they live together they will not mate. But, because man is free from the laws of nature, he can mate whenever he wants. Man has awareness of time and space, and he has an ego. He can think, he can know that he is thinking and he can know that he knows that he is thinking. This is because of the evolution of ego. If there is no ego there will not be double awareness. Animals do not have double awareness. If a dog is chasing another dog, it is under nature’s compulsion. It doesn’t know it is chasing and the other dog doesn’t know that it is running. It runs because instinct compels it to. So, man has a higher consciousness, and once he has it he has to work towards its evolution. That is why it is said that kundaiini is sleeping in mooladhara chakra. It can’t progress beyond this point unless it is pushed.

Discovering your point of evolution

Of course, when the shakti awakens suddenly in mooladhara, it cannot rise immediately. It may wake up and sleep again many times. You know how your children are in the morning; you have to wake them several times because they keep going back to sleep. Kundaiini behaves in the same way. Sometimes it even ascends to swadhisthana or manipura only to return to mooladhara again to sleep. However, once the shakti goes beyond manipura chakra there is no going back. Stagnation in a chakra only occurs when there is an obstruction in sushumna or one of the chakras. Kundalini can remain in one chakra for many years, or even for a whole lifetime. Sometimes, when kundalini gets blocked in a chakra during transit, you begin to exhibit some of the siddhis or psychic powers associated with that chakra. Then you may not have self-control and understanding of the fact that you are only on the road. When one attains siddhis he is tempted to display them. He may think he is using them for the good of humanity, but this only feeds the ego and clouds him in a thick veil of maya or ignorance, hindering his further progress. If one is manifesting siddhis, he can assume that he has evolved to that chakra which is associated with those siddhis. However, siddhis don’t usually manifest when kundalini passes through all the chakras quickly, and if they do, they will not stay long. For a few days you may be able to read the thoughts of others, but then that ability will pass away. For a few days you may be able to heal people, but that will also pass. Psychic powers usually only linger when kundalini gets blocked in a chakra. Of course, some of our lower chakras may already be functioning without our knowledge. We are all at different levels on the scale of evolution, and therefore it may not be necessary to start the process of awakening from mooladhara. We say kundalini is in mooladhara in order to explain the whole concept, but due to your progress in previous lives, or the sadhana your mother or father may have done, you might have been born with your kundalini in manipura. If that is the case, the ascension must take place from there. However, as you can’t remember your previous life, similarly you also forget about the state of your kundalini. That is why the gurus teach that it is sleeping in mooladhara. It may be in anahata, but I will always tell you it is in mooladhara and make you do the practices from mooladhara. You might not have any experience of it there. You may go to swadhisthana and manipura and not have any experiences there either. But the moment you go to anahata you suddenly start having experiences. So, before you commence the practices of kundalini yoga, you should try to find out at which point your ascension will actually start. In order to do this, the best method is to concentrate on mooladhara daily for 15 to 30 minutes. Then swadhisthana for 15 days, manipura for 15 days and so on up to sahasrara. You will soon discover your point of evolution. Some people will find concentration on anahata easiest, so that is likely to be their center. Others will find ajna chakra very powerful and attractive to them, whereas other people will find it easiest to relate to mooladhara, while the higher chakras seem almost impossible to locate. Ultimately you will be able to decide which is your most sensitive chakra, and you will be ready for the next step - awakening. However, there is one important point to add. Even if a higher chakra such as anahata has awakened at random, you must try to awaken the lower chakras also. The purpose of awakening kundalini and ascending it through all the chakras is to awaken them and their related parts of the brain. Therefore, in order to awaken the whole brain, all the chakras must be awakened.

Awakening the chakras

Awakening of the chakras is a very important event in man’s evolution. It should not be misunderstood for mysticism or occultism, because with the awakening of the chakras, our consciousness and our mind undergo changes. These changes have significant relevance and relationship with our day to day life. Our present state of mind is not capable of handling all the affairs of life. Our love and hatred, our relationships with people, they are the consequences of the quality of our present mind. And it appears that our sufferings, our agonies and frustrations are not so much due to the circumstances of life, but more to the responses of our mind. Therefore, the purpose of awakening the chakras, sushumna and kundalini should be related to our day to day life. Thousands of people are born with awakened chakras and kundalini, and these people virtually rule the whole world. I’m not talking about governing or ruling a country; I’m saying that they are superior people in every aspect of life. They are the great musicians, artists, builders, scientists, research scholars, inventors, prophets, statesmen, etc. There are many children born with awakened chakras and kundaini and as they grow up they show different manifestations. However, our materialistic societies consider these manifestations as abnormal and those who display them are subjected to psychoanalysis and psychological scrutiny and treatment. It is not regarded as abnormal if you undergo personal conflicts in relation to family or work events, but as your mind and consciousness expand, you become very alert and sensitive to all that is happening in your mind, your family, colleagues, society and country, and you can’t ignore even the tiniest things of life. By ordinary people, this is not regarded as normal, but it is a natural consequence that follows awakening of the chakras. One’s consciousness becomes very receptive because the frequencies of the mind change. The manifestation of higher qualities Every form, every sound and every color has a certain frequency. All sounds, colors and forms do not have the same frequency. In the same way, every thought has a frequency, some are of a low frequency and some are of a high frequency. I’ll give you an example of a high frequency idea. Once the great scientist Isaac Newton was sitting in a garden and he watched an apple fail from a tree. We may have also seen apples fall from trees and because it doesn’t seem strange to us, we have not given any thought to the process. But Isaac Newton had what we could call philosophic attention. This was a quality of his mind and personality and because of it, when an apple fell before him, he discovered the theory of gravitation. Why shouldn’t you tell lies? Maybe you think there’s no harm in it if you can make money, rule a nation or suppress people. The whole contingent depends on the frequency of your consciousness. At a lower frequency of consciousness you’ll say there’s no harm in telling lies, but when the frequency is raised the mind operates at a different level and you can’t really accept that anymore. Many people say, ‘Why should we not kill? After all, when we kill an animal we may be liberating it and enabling it to get a better birth quicker.’ Our attitudes and way of thinking are a result of the quality of our mind and the particular frequency at which it is functioning. Once Lord Buddha went hunting with his cousin Devadatta. Devadatta shot an arrow at a pigeon and it fell, injured by the arrow. Lord Buddha felt the pain of that bird and immediately rushed to remove the arrow. But Devadatta did not feel the pain, he was very pleased with himself because he had struck his target. Buddha’s consciousness had attained a higher frequency vibration and as a result of that he was sensitive to the bird’s pain and was manifesting compassion.

Therefore, the higher qualities of a man, such as love, compassion, charity, mercy, etc. are the expressions of a mind which is influenced by awakened chakras. This is precisely the reason why so much importance is given to the awakening of anahata chakra. Of course every chakra is very important and each chakra confers certain abilities, but you will find that all the scriptural texts place great emphasis on the awakening of anahata, ajna and mooladhara chakras. Yogis emphasize ajna and mooladhara chakras and all mankind gives emphasis to anahata chakra. When anahata is awakened we have a sublime relationship with God, with our family members and with every being. When the chakras are awakened the mind automatically changes. Your values in life also change and the quality of your love and relationships improve immensely, enabling you to balance out the disappointments and frustrations in life. Therefore you are able to live a little higher than you do now, and your attitude towards yourself and towards this life is much better. If awakening of the chakras can bring about unbreakable unity in your family, what more do you need? Do you need a happy family or another husband or wife? Frankly, man needs a happy mind and a happy family. It doesn’t matter what he does or what his children are. Does it really matter if there’s little to eat? Happiness and inner contentment are above all. And as far as I can see, true contentment can only be gained by a systematic awakening of the chakras.