the Sahasrara Chakra - the "Thousand petalled lotus"
Guru chakra
Nirvana chakra
Indu chakra
Manas chakra
Ajna chakra
Lalana chakra
Vishuddha chakra
Anahata chakra
Hrit chakra
Manipura chakra
Swathisthana chakra
Muladhara chakra
There is some disagreement among various traditional sources over whether the Sahasrara chakra or "thousand petaled lotus" is located at the crown point at the very top of the head, or at a distance above the head. I have followed Shyam Sundar Goswami and Sri Aurobindo in locating it above the head, as oposed to Sir John Woodroffe (Arthuur Avalon) and the Theosophist C. W. Leadbeater who place it at the top of the head.
| Terminology | Tantric | sahasrara, sahasrara padma, sahasrara mahapadma, sahasrara ambuja, sahasrara saroruha, sahasradala, sahasradala padma, pankaja, or kamala, sahasrachchada panikaja, sahasrabja, sahasrapatra, sahasradala adhomukha padma, adhomukha mahapadma, wyomambhoja, wyoma, shiras padma, amlana padma (or parikaja), dashashatadala padma, shuddha padma |
| Vedic (late Upanishads) | sahasrara, sahasradala, sahasrara kamala (pankaja, or padma), sthana, kapalasamputa, wyomambuja, wyoma, akasha chakra | |
| Puranic | sahasrara, sahasradala, sahasrara kamala (parikaja, or padma), sahasrapatra, sahasraparna padma, shantyatita, shantyatita pada, parama | |
| Position | in void-region, as the upper part of the guru chakra | |
| Petals | number | 1000, arranged from right to left, in 20 layers, each containing 50, and the arrangement of the petals gives the appearance of the sahasrara as bell-shaped |
| colour | white, red, yellow, golden, changing colours of white, red, yellow, black and green | |
| Matrika-letters | on petals | 50 in number in each layer: Ang to L(rh)ang or Kshang, arranged from right to left |
| colour | petal-colour, or normal colour | |
| Pericarp colour | golden | |
| In the pericarp
(see diagram below) |
the circular moon-region
the luminous triangle (inside the moon-region) ama-kala (inside the triangle) ama-kala is subtle, shining in colour and crescent-shaped (in one-half coil) nirvana-kala (inside ama-kala) nirvana-kala is very subtle, shining red in colour, and crescent-shaped (in one-half coil) nirodhika-fire (within nirvana-kala) nirvana shakti (inside nirvana-kala) nirvana shakti is extremely subtle, and shining red in colour void (inside the triangle) void is in the form of a circle and is the centre of Supreme Bindu Visarga; its first point is just beyond ama-kala, and the second point is just below Supreme Bindu Divine Sharikhini who is above the second point of Visarga, and extends from Supreme Bindu, passing through Supreme Nada, Shakti principle to Sakala Shiva in coils, and then is absorbed into Parama Shiva [the Absolute] |
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Layayoga
- an Advanced Method of Concentration by Shyam Sundar Goswami,
pp.283-4. large colour graphics on this pageare from same book
The majority opinion seems to be that above the Crown
or Nirvana Chakra are not one but several higher centres, which, like
the inner mid-line centres, are not a part of the regular microcosmic orbit.
Sri
Aurobindo mentions only one, the Sahasrara. Shyam Sundar
Goswami [Laya Yoga] refers to two: the Guru Chakra, white in colour
and possessing twelve petals, and the Sahasrara or Sahsradala Chakra, with
a thousand petals, of golden or variable colour. In the Radha
Soami system however there are five higher chakras, the first
being the Crown or Sahasrara centre, and each corresponding to a particular
heaven region and inner or yogic sound (nada or shabda). Ann
Ree Colton speaks of five chakras above the Crown centre.
Whatever the number, all agree that these higher chakras represent varying
degrees of transpersonal or higher spiritual Intuitive Divine Consciousness.
Barbara
Brennan refers to the highest point in this central chakra line
the ID point or individuation point; located about a metre above the head,
it represents our first individuation out of the void or unmanifest Godhead
[Light Emerging, p.289]. This would be the same as Ann Ree
Colton's "Eternal Sustaining Atom" or "Atma" located above the head as
far as the arms can reach, and which constitutes the highest sphere of
spiritual consciousness. This is region of the superconscious principle
and demiurgic hierarchies [
Colton, The Third Music, pp.85-6, 124, 132].
List of major and minor Chakras
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Links | |
The Sahasrara according to the Satcakra-Narupana of Purnananda Swami (Translated by Arthur Avalon in The Serpent Power)
Sahasrara Chakra - Alfred Ballabene (in German)
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