The Chakras
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There are two brands of chakras. The modern, rainbow coloured chakra system comes from neo-tantra, new age religion and western occultism. It is founded in the radical new belief system that originated from the Theosophical society in 1885 to 1920. The Theosophical Society was established by two mystics, Madame Blavatsky and Henry Olcott.
The second brand of chakras comes from the original Sanskrit sources that date back about 1000's of years. Both are valid, their potency depends on what works for you and what your believe in.
If you want to reach union with the universe and are searching for enlightenment through spirituality then using the systems based on the ancient tantric sources with authentic practices that have been tried and tested for 1000's of years will be the path that will serve you best.
If you want the newest, up-to-date, simplified practices that have been adopted in the West then follow what has become the standard practice. These standard practices have translated back to India in cross-cultural exchange. We see yoga has become a profitable business, moving away from its original purpose of union with the divine. Many of the new age practices haven't even been around for a life time. But if they work for you, then go for it. You will find these practices collected in the books like those by Anodea Judith. She gives corresponding angels from the christian religion, Sephira from the Jewish religion, Greek and Roman gods, Hindu deities, tarot, glands, gems, colour, malfunctions, herbs, foods etc, in fact all the worlds religions and belief systems collected into what was originally a tantric practice from India.
The original system of yoga uses the energy body to connect with the spirit, the new system tries to use psychoanalysis to work through blockages in the chakras. If you try to take a spiritual journey using your mind, it isn't going to work because the mind thinks, and it thinks its thoughts are real. To connect with spirit you have to surrender the mind to absolute and let go of thoughts and feelings, you connect with your inner guide, your intuition. Then the inner guide needs to be allowed to journey further to join the absolute and attain oneness with everything.
It is beneficial to psychoanalyze your issues as all issues need be digested to be able to be transformed. Once they have been analyzed they can be absorbed and let go. So there is benefit in the Western chakra system.
If you want to reach union with the universe and are searching for enlightenment through spirituality then using the systems based on the ancient tantric sources with authentic practices that have been tried and tested for 1000's of years will be the path that will serve you best.
If you want the newest, up-to-date, simplified practices that have been adopted in the West then follow what has become the standard practice. These standard practices have translated back to India in cross-cultural exchange. We see yoga has become a profitable business, moving away from its original purpose of union with the divine. Many of the new age practices haven't even been around for a life time. But if they work for you, then go for it. You will find these practices collected in the books like those by Anodea Judith. She gives corresponding angels from the christian religion, Sephira from the Jewish religion, Greek and Roman gods, Hindu deities, tarot, glands, gems, colour, malfunctions, herbs, foods etc, in fact all the worlds religions and belief systems collected into what was originally a tantric practice from India.
The original system of yoga uses the energy body to connect with the spirit, the new system tries to use psychoanalysis to work through blockages in the chakras. If you try to take a spiritual journey using your mind, it isn't going to work because the mind thinks, and it thinks its thoughts are real. To connect with spirit you have to surrender the mind to absolute and let go of thoughts and feelings, you connect with your inner guide, your intuition. Then the inner guide needs to be allowed to journey further to join the absolute and attain oneness with everything.
It is beneficial to psychoanalyze your issues as all issues need be digested to be able to be transformed. Once they have been analyzed they can be absorbed and let go. So there is benefit in the Western chakra system.
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Another point about the neo-tantra form of chakras is their alignment with the endocrine system and nerve plexus in the body. When you are working with your energy body, it is separate from your physical body. The idea that the chakras resided in the endocrine system comes from the 19th century Theosophical society. The early 19th century was an era of huge western expansion. It saw the rise of many new inventions such as electricity and the telephone. There were many great leaps forward in western science and medicine. So it is really no wonder that the Theosophical Society saw itself as far superior to the 1000 year old wisdom of Indian sages and needed to instill unseen energy into something they could see and touch. Madame Blavatsky decided she liked the system of 7 chakras because it matched her ideas of the endocrine system. Though there are many systems of chakras, this 7 chakra rainbow system has become the one that is most widely known today.
The modern simplified idea that each chakra is associated with a one word archetype that need to be analyzed and worked through comes from Carl Jung, the influential and innovative psychoanalyst. "Among the central concepts of analytical psychology is individuation—the lifelong psychological process of differentiation of the self out of each individual's conscious and unconscious elements. Jung considered it to be the main task of human development. He created some of the best known psychological concepts, including synchronicity, archetypal phenomena, the collective unconscious, the psychological complex, and extraversion and introversion."(Wikipedia)
The modern simplified idea that each chakra is associated with a one word archetype that need to be analyzed and worked through comes from Carl Jung, the influential and innovative psychoanalyst. "Among the central concepts of analytical psychology is individuation—the lifelong psychological process of differentiation of the self out of each individual's conscious and unconscious elements. Jung considered it to be the main task of human development. He created some of the best known psychological concepts, including synchronicity, archetypal phenomena, the collective unconscious, the psychological complex, and extraversion and introversion."(Wikipedia)
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But the thing is, we are working with energy and spirit, not with the body and mind. There is no “balancing” of chakras in Hindu Yoga. Traditionally, systems work at transforming (or purifying) and awakening them, not through energy healing via gems, lights, angels etc, but by descent of the grace or soma in some systems and ascent of the Kundalini force, in others.
I endeavor to practice as authentically as possible and I somehow feel that I have been tricked into following new age practices because that is all that I was presented with. But I had to start somewhere and in formulating a new series of chakra classes I have been led to discover more ancient meaning and practices than the neo-chakra system. I have divided the following pages on the chakras into 2, the modern system designed to be understood by western minds and the original systems that goes back before the theosophical society with its white supremacy beliefs.
I endeavor to practice as authentically as possible and I somehow feel that I have been tricked into following new age practices because that is all that I was presented with. But I had to start somewhere and in formulating a new series of chakra classes I have been led to discover more ancient meaning and practices than the neo-chakra system. I have divided the following pages on the chakras into 2, the modern system designed to be understood by western minds and the original systems that goes back before the theosophical society with its white supremacy beliefs.
I would like to tell a personal story. A life long friend of my parents was a member of the Theosophical society. And though us children were not allowed to hang around when adults were talking, something must have rubbed off as here I am learning and studying about esoteric concepts and have been for a long time. When he died he left me the money that was the foundation of what eventually became my yoga studio. He also left me his books on esotericism, the bhagavad gita, Buddhism, Taoism etc. This last week, I have been quite amazed to learn about the incredible influence the Theosophical society has had on modern day yoga, including ME! at a fundamental level and I didn't even know it. All yoga in the west has been influenced by the Theosophical Society and this has been transposed back to India.
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