Location: Cardiac plexus; the heart.
Bija (Seed) Color: Gold.
Aspects: Attaining balance between the three chakras above the heart and the three chakras below it.
Tattva (Element): Air (formless, without smell or taste).
Predominant Sense: Touch.
Sense Organ: Skin.
Work Organ: Hands.
Ruling Planet: Venus (lunar, feminine).
Yantra Form: The grey-green hexagram surrounded by the twelve vermilion petals. This six-pointed star symbolizes the air element. Air is prana, the vital life-breath. It aids in the function of the lungs and the heart, providing fresh oxygen and life force, that is, pranic energy. Air is responsible for movement, and the fourth chakra has movement in all directions.
The yantra at the center is composed of two intersecting triangles. One triangle, facing upwards, symbolizes Shiva, the male principle. The other triangle, facing downwards, symbolizes Shakti, the female principle. A balance is attained when these two forces are joined in harmony.
The twelve lotus petals fold outwards from the circle and are of deep red color. They represent the expansion of energy in twelve directions, and the flow of energy through twelve sources. Thus the Anahata chakra expands in all dimensions and directions, as a six-pointed star. This chakra is located along the spine at the level of the heart. It is the seat of balance within the body, moving towards a uniform energy flow in both upward and downward directions.
The Bija sound of this chakra is Yang. This can be seen depicted inside the white circle, outlined in the Devnagari alphabet. When the yang sound is formed, the tongue rests in the air, within the mouth. At this time the concentration should center on the heart. When the Bija yang is produced properly the heart too will vibrate and any blocks in the cardiac region, it is believed, will open.
The vehicle of the Bija is the deer (antelope), seen at the bottom of the chakra. The deer is a symbol of the heart itself. It leaps up with joy and is always caught by mirages of reflections.
Very aware, very sensitive, and always full of inspiration, the deer depicts the nature of the fourth chakra person. The eyes of the deer are symbolic of purity and innocence. The eyes of a fourth-chakra person are equally innocent and pure, as well as magnetic.
The deer is said to die for pure sound. The love of inner sounds, Anahata nada, is the love of the fourth-chakra person.
Deity of the Chakra:
The deity of this chakra is Ishana Rudra Shiva, seen at the left. He is the Lord of the Northeast, Ishana Shiva is completely detached from the world. With camphor-blue skin, he represents the nature of the fourth-chakra person, which is of perpetual happiness. He wears a tiger-skin, symbolic of the tiger of the mind that dwells in the forest of desires.
The nature of Ishana is peaceful and beneficent. He holds the trident in his right hand and a damaru drum in his left. The holy Ganga (Ganges) flowing from his hair locks is a cooling and purifying stream of self-knowledge: the knowledge that "I am That" (Aham Brahmasmi, "I am Brahman"). The snakes coiled around his body are the passions, which he has tamed. He is ever-youthful.
There is no longer any concern for attachments to worldly pleasures, honors, or humiliations. Desires cease to be a problem, for the energy of the fourth chakra is balanced in all six directions. The person of fourth chakra awareness lives in harmony with the internal and external worlds.
The Anahata chakra also contains a lingam in which Rudra Shiva appears as Sadashiva, seen here at the top. He stands with a trident, symbolic of the three gunas, sattva, rajas, and tamas. His skin is camphor blue, and he wears a golden tiger skin. The damaru drum that he holds in his other hand maintains the rhythm of the heartbeat.
This shivalingam is the second lingam in the body, and is known as Bana (arrow) Lingam, the first being the svayambhu lingam of the first chakra, around which the kundalini serpent is wrapped. The lingam of the fourth chakra is synonymous with conscience. The force of the lingam acts as one's guru. The heart lingam may be the guide, at each step warning or inspiring the aspirant along the path of upward energy movement - as long as one keeps a watch on the heartbeat. An increase or decrease in the rate of the heart serves as a warning that there is an error in one's practice.
The Shakti of this chakra is Kakini, seen at the right. Her four heads represent the increase of energy in the fourth chakra plane. According to the Mahanirvana Tantra, her skin is golden yellow. Her sari is sky-blue and she is seated upon a pink lotus. Kakini Shakti inspires music, poetry and art.
In her four hands Kakini Shakti holds the implements necessary for one to attain balance:
1). The sword provides the means to cut through obstacles blocking the upward flow of kundalini.
2). The shield protects the aspirant from external worldly conditions.
3). The skull indicates detachment from a false identification with the body.
4). The trident symbolizes the balance of the three forces of preservation, creation, and destruction.
Kakini shakti is all pervading in the fourth chakra. Like air, she penetrates all places and provides energy to the entire body through the emotional frequencies of bhakti (devotion). In the fourth chakra, bhakti is personified as Kundalini shakti, who becomes an addition and help to Kakini shakti in directing the upward movement of energy.
Kakini shakti is in a happy, exalted mood and is meditated upon as a "moon-faced" (chandramukhi), four-headed shakti adorned with ornaments. Her four heads are equally balanced, with energy flowing into the four aspects of the self, that is, the physical self, the rational self, the sensual self, and the emotional self.
Kakini shakti is responsible for the creation of the poetry and fine art that is based on a refined, visionary level. The art inspired by the fourth chakra Kakini shakti is synchronized with the rhythm of the heart, and thus with the rhythm of the cosmos. The art centered here exists beyond past, present, and future. Fourth-chakra awareness enables the aspirant to transcend the false time-consciousness of lower-chakra persons.
Below the shivalingam can be seen Kundalini Devi. It is in this chakra (also known as heart chakra) that Kundalini shakti appears for the first time as a beautiful goddess. She sits in a lotus posture within a triangle. The triangle is pointing upwards, showing the tendency of kundalini to move upwards and carry the aspirant into the higher planes of existence.
Dressed in a white sari, Kundalini Devi is serene and centered within herself. She is the virgin mother and is synonymous with selfless spiritual devotion. No longer is she personified as a destructive serpentine force. She is now no longer coiled around the lingam, as in the first chakra, but sits independently in a yogic posture.
Effects of Meditation on the Fourth Chakra:
By evolving through the fourth chakra, one masters language, poetry, and all verbal endeavors, as well as his indriyas, or desires and physical functions. The person becomes master of his own self, gaining wisdom and inner strength. Male and female energy become balanced, and the resolution of the two energies interacting outside the body ceases to be a problem as all relationships become pure. The senses are controlled and the person flows freely, without hindrance from any external barrier. One centered on the fourth chakra has evolved beyond circumstantial and environmental limitations to become independent and self emanating. His life becomes a source of inspiration for others as they find peace and calm in his presence. Divine vision evolves with pure sound in Anahata chakra, bringing a balance of action and action and joy. One gains power over vayu, the air element. And because air is formless, the fourth-chakra person, it is believed, can become invisible, travel through space, and enter into the bodies of other persons.
Behavioral Characteristics of Anahata Chakra:
From twenty-one to twenty-eight years of age one vibrates in Anahata chakra. One becomes aware of his karma, life's actions. Bhakti, or faith, is the motivating force as one strives to achieve balance on all levels.
The deer of Anahata chakra runs swiftly, changing directions often, with an angular path. Similarly, a person in love, may have the qualities and tendencies of a deer, such as dreamy eyes, restless wandering, and swift flight. When these come under control, all emotional disturbances cease.
Reference:
Johari, Harish. Chakras Energy Centers of Transformation: Vermont, 1987.
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