THE CHAKRAS - KEYS TO A QUANTUM LEAP IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

 by Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati

One of the distinctive aspects of the present era is that large numbers of people are beginning to seriously explore their own Being. As well as the far reaches of outer space, many are starting to turn inwards and explore Inner Space as a means to improve the quality of life. This trend, part of the ongoing process of evolution, is exciting and will enrich our lives. If humanity is to survive, I believe that this quantum change in human motivation and aspiration is necessary. Furthermore, Yoga will play an important role in this process of unfoldment.
We can expand awareness of our Inner Space by working with and gradually understanding the different levels of human experience and behaviour. These levels are mapped out and defined by the Chakras, the energy centres within each of us which influence our level of vitality, emotional responses, mental processes, perception and states of Consciousness. They operate throughout the entire spectrum of each human being; on a physical level, they correspond in the main to the sites of the endocrinal glands and nerve plexuses. Human life, to reach its highest potential, requires an awakening and expression of all these Chakras. This is the path of Yoga.
It is particularly interesting if we correlate these Chakras to the Consciousness of humankind as a whole and the changes that we are experiencing in society and in the world. We may think that trying to understand social, political, world and family events in terms of the Chakras is rather narrow. However, if we realise that the overall quality of life depends on the quality of each one of us as individuals, we can see why the Chakras are so significant. We are not puppets on the stage of world events, but are participants; it is not good enough to point our finger at others and blame them for our current problems. We can influence events, even world events, but first of all we need to improve the quality of our own being. Can we hope for world peace if we are in turmoil ourselves ?
At this point, it is pertinent to mention the 'Morphogenetic Field Theory' of Rupert Sheldrake which suggests that when a critical mass or number is arrived at, the whole of a species (any species: animal, insect or human) is changed. He points out that when one member of a species discovers something new - a new pattern of behaviour or of attitude - it teaches its neighbours, family and tribe. They 'catch' the new behaviour directly and teach others. When a 'critical mass or number' is reached - i.e. when a critical number of individuals have incorporated the new behaviour into their life-style - suddenly EVERY member of the species starts behaving the same way without being taught by anyone.
Applying this to humans, one can conceive that when a 'critical number' of people start to explore the Inner Space of their own Being and open up their Chakras to a more refined level, this could bring about a sudden or flash change in human nature as a whole. (Wherever 'a large number of people' or 'many people' is mentioned in this essay, it could constitute just such a 'critical number'.)
By considering the Chakras individually, we can see the change in Consciousness which is required if we are to move into the next century without destroying ourselves.

The Root Chakra, the first Chakra, is basically concerned with material security and survival.
Material well-being has always been an important concern. The present age has allowed many of us to live in the lap of luxury and abundance. Before science and technology gave us its gifts, most of us spent our time desperately seeking material possessions, food and shelter, in order to survive. However, western nations have now reached a point where the acquisition of further material wealth is not really improving the quality of life. Rather it is diminishing it by creating excessive stress, an epidemic of psychosomatic diseases, life-destroying pollution and a lack of time to enjoy life. Many people, especially in the industrialised nations, are now seeing the absurdity of chasing endless consumer goods and an ever-increasing gross national product. Many are trying to find a new balance between material and spiritual aspiration.

The needs of the Root Chakra cannot and should not be ignored. We do need food in our belly and a roof over our heads. But to truly fulfill ourselves as human beings it is necessary to free ourselves from our obsession with materialism and material playthings. At present, we are desperately, and unsuccessfully, trying to find happiness solely in material possessions. Awakening the qualities of the higher Chakras will help to free us from our material obsessions. We then start to re-evaluate our lives so that it is valued less by the number of cars we own or the amount of money we have in the bank and more by the degree to which we fulfill our lives on all levels. A 'successful' life will be measured more by qualities such as joyfulness, creativity and contentment. In this way, our material needs will not be rejected but will be tempered by more meaningful and harmonious aspects of life.
The Root Chakra becomes balanced when material needs are matched by Spiritual awakening and realisation.

The Pelvic Chakra, the second Chakra, is associated with sensory pleasure of all types, especially sex.
Sex has always been a predicament for humankind, especially when we try to rationalise or deny it. We have tended to bounce from one extreme to another, alternately suppressing it in misplaced 'holiness' and then gratifying it in a flurry of uncontrolled debauchery! Rarely have individuals and societies found the middle path.
The essential spiritual nature of sexual energy is a powerful force for evolution. Instead of being an impediment, it can actually be an indispensable aid on our path to Spiritual realisation; it can give us the impulsion and force to explore the depths of our Being.
For, apart from producing progeny and pleasure, sexual energy can also be a means to propel us into transcendental experience. Few, however, experience it in this way, for there first needs to be a mature attitude towards sexual energy and its place in the scheme of life and indeed, spiritual awakening. Once this potential is recognised, one can start to work on the Pelvic Chakra so that it can express its innate transformative potential.
The Pelvic Chakra, at a low level of frequency, tends to bind us to rigid attitudes about our roles in life, such as man/ woman, parent/ child and employer/ employee. Over the last few thousand years, most societies have been predominantly patriarchal. The survival of the human race is in jeopardy for we are no longer able to support male-orientated thinking based on competition, fighting, hunting and individualism. Humanity needs to turn towards a more balanced society where feminine qualities - such as caring, nurturing, harmonizing and sharing - are equally valued and respected.
To evolve, each of us needs to awaken, accept and integrate both the masculine and feminine qualities that we all have. The key to this process of unification lies in the Pelvic Chakra.

The third Chakra is the Navel Chakra, which relates mainly to ambition, will, self-assertion and vital energy.
Power and ambition have always motivated us. We see this in our history books, which deal almost exclusively with power struggles, personal ambition and war. Nowadays, our materialistic thinking, the importance that we attach to making our mark on the world and the idea that we can endlessly exploit our planet to suit our own ends, is creating chaos. If we are to survive we need to cultivate co-operation rather than competition. This means that the unrestrained dynamism of the Navel Chakra has to be balanced by the higher Chakras, especially the Heart Chakra - where we learn to care for others as well as ourselves.

A healthy Navel Chakra gives us the confidence and capacity for self-assertion; if it is underdeveloped we tend to be meek and unable to stand up for ourselves. In the present era, many of us are learning how to assert ourselves in inter-personal relationships; this is good, but is not enough - instead of being totally blinded by our need to assert, we also have respect the other. Then the Navel Chakra starts reveal its secrets.
There is nothing wrong with ambition, but it should not be pursued to the detriment of others (ultimately, this becomes destructive to all concerned). If the Navel Chakra is to mature, we need to include others in our sphere of activities. Our ambitions need not be denied, but they should be harnessed to, and balanced by, the energies of the higher Chakras. The Navel Chakra is the source of abundant vitality. Problems result if this vitality is mis-used or mis-directed - whether in ruthlessness or dictatorship, whether in nations, companies or families. This energy need not be suppressed, however, but rather sublimated into more creative channels: firstly, into awakening our inner capacity, through the practice of meditation which requires such abundant energy, and secondly, into awakening the Heart Chakra and the other higher Chakras to a higher level of functioning than we normally experience at present. If less energy is given to self-aggrandizement and more to the overall welfare of others, then the Navel Chakra becomes more balanced and creative, and a force a which greatly helps us along the road to perfection.

The Heart Chakra is concerned with love, caring and compassion, as well as reverence for life and existence. When the Heart Chakra starts to awaken, we become more sensitive and able to relate more creatively to others. We learn to trust our feelings and we begin to mellow the somewhat jarring self-assertion of the Navel Chakra with Heart Chakra love and openness. We start to realise that everyone has equal right to be on this earth and to fulfil their lives. We surround ourselves with labels - 'our country', 'our religion', 'our possessions'. This attitude of 'us' against 'them' is now becoming less tenable. Many people are starting to care more about our planet and more for each other. Public opinion, for example, has asserted sufficient pressure to almost discourage the indiscriminate killing of whales, rhinos, tigers and elephants. This caring and conservationism is unique to the era in which we now live; it will carry on into the future as the awakening of the Heart Chakra continues on a wider scale.
Greater awareness of the world at large, combined with the tremendous movement towards inner research, is bringing about a qualitative change of 'Heart'. The Heart Chakra has tremendous power to transform even the most negative, destructive situations. 'Perfect love casts out fear' and where there is this care and concern for all of creation, and ourselves as an integral part of it, there is no room for fear, anger or greed. Peace and trust reside in the awakened Heart Chakra.
The Heart Chakra is the threshold of the higher Chakras and the gateway to the heavenly realms of existence where life has profound meaning. When it awakens, others become as important as one's self. Our tendency to self-importance is replaced Self-importance (which includes everyone and everything). It is the key which will re-establish the 'Garden of Eden' on earth.

The fifth Chakra, the Throat Chakra, is concerned with communication and purification.
The present era is widely called the 'age of communication'. Though this generally refers to media communication, we are also enhancing the quality of communication with ourselves and others. Self-discovery is a hallmark of the present times: we are trying to get in touch with and commune (communicate internally) with deeper aspects of ourselves. We are also reaching out to others to relate to them on a more profound and real level. As we tune in with ourselves so we tune in with others, discovering that basically we have the same needs and aspirations - indeed, the same fundamental nature. When we shed our prejudices, our similarities are more obvious than our differences. This realisation gives us the maturity to respect differences rather than fight about them.

Many people are also realising the importance of purification - physical, emotional and mental. There is no sin in being 'impure' or full of toxins, but we are realising that purity - the removal of blockages and pollutants at all levels - improves our health, perception and the quality of consciousness, and indeed, our lives. In a body which is full of toxins, energy becomes blocked and vitality is reduced. A change of diet is essential, for we cannot continue to use our bodies as garbage bins.
A more profound purification can take place when we examine our emotions and thinking, and start to work on the limitations and inhibitions in ourselves. We have to clean our minds by rejecting worn-out dogmas which impede the clarity of our perception. All of this will reflect a deeper functioning of the Throat Chakra.

Now we come to the sixth Chakra, the Wisdom Chakra (Third Eye), which is concerned with a deeper vision of life, intuitive perception and insight, together with the resolution of paradoxes and conflicts. This Chakra is the gateway to higher Consciousness.
Reliance upon dogma rather than personal experience, listening to others rather than one's own conscience, together with intolerance backed by force, has always plagued humankind. This has resulted in religious crusades, witch hunts and innumerable forms of persecution. A similar tendency has expressed itself in our scientific era with dry logical thinking and the assumption that Reality can be explained in verbal-intellectual terms.
During the last thirty years or so, however, even those of us who have been educated and raised in the west on the staple diet of cold materialistic thinking have realised that there is much more to ourselves and to life than can be encompassed by linear logic. This is why so many are attracted to Yoga, Eastern philosophy and mystical thinking in general which recognize the essential 'non-conceptual' and alogical nature of life. Existence cannot be encompassed or explained in narrow concepts.
The awakening of the Wisdom Chakra imparts a sense of awe at every moment of our lives. With an open mind and heart, the everyday occurrence of rising sun, which ordinarily seems so mundane, can kindle a sense of wonder. We are enabled to perceive, even if it is only a glimmer, a common underlying substratum in all things which seem physically separate. The widespread spiritual search today, which is opening up the Wisdom Chakra, will eventually engender more harmony than any political or economic agreement possibly can.
Wisdom must be applied to all situations from both a humanitarian and spiritual perspective. Irrespective of our personal and national wealth, we cannot consider ourselves a success whilst others go without the basic necessities of life. We are all impoverished by one single person's poverty. As individuals, we cannot solve the seemingly insoluble problems of the world, but at least we can care enough to reach out to others less fortunate than ourselves in our hearts, and if the opportunity exists, in small, but significant practical ways.
Religious leaders are now reaching out towards each other and convening forums. This tentative step towards mutual respect is also a reflection of the Wisdom Chakra. Religions are a means to Truth, not Truth itself. Having initially rejected religion, many people are now coming to accept the essentials of all religions for what they are: pointers towards Truth. This enables us to accept apparently paradoxical religious teachings. Ram Das once said that his Guru was a Hindu, he practised Buddhist meditation and he was born a Jew. Speaking personally, I was raised without religion, became an atheist in my teens, started Yoga in my early twenties, and now, whilst having strong leanings towards Hinduism and Buddhism, feel at home with the teachings of all religions, but bound by none.
We are at last realising that differences are not something to fight about, but to appreciate, celebrate and enjoy. This arises as a consequence of the awakening and refinement of the Wisdom Chakra.
Much of our behaviour is motivated by the lower three Chakras. People whose behaviour is inspired by all of the Chakras are rare - they are the yogis, mystics and visionaries, the exceptions rather than the rule. Our survival depends upon the awakening of the three higher Chakras so that their qualities become motivating forces in our lives, just as the lower three Chakras were in the past. This will bring about a wider appreciation and respect for nature, the environment, other people and life in general. According to Yogic tradition, wisdom dawns when the realisation and insight of the Wisdom Chakra is integrated with the compassion and caring of the Heart Chakra. This is what is necessary if we, as humans, are to survive the next millennium.
According to the Yogic concept of recurring time cycles, the next millennium is only one small cog in this particular wheel of time. In a spiritual sense, we are not going anywhere, because on the tapestry of Eternity nothing changes - we are not going anywhere because we haven't arrived anywhere ! Progress is only relative to the past - and in the time-less, the past and the future are no different. Rather than making us lethargic or pessimistic, this understanding and attitude can allow us to relax and enjoy the scenery of our lives instead of feeling whipped and cajoled into chasing illusory objectives. The culmination of human life - according to Yoga - is that we still act to the best of our given ability and our feet firmly fixed on the ground of daily life, but with our Being steeped in Consciousness.
We are poised at a cross-roads of human evolution. If we pursue a totally materialistic vision, we may destroy ourselves, together with everything else on this planet. If we pursue a spiritual vision, we can create a veritable heaven upon earth. We can again live in the 'Garden of Eden'. The awakening of the Chakras, especially the higher Chakras, is, I feel, indispensable in this process.