The Chakras as Levels of Creation

by Swami Krishnananda

(Spoken in January 1998)

Visitor: Would you please describe to us the seven spiritual centres within man according to Indian yoga tradition?

Swamiji: Man is a mini universe. The whole cosmos is centralised in the human being. We are an epitome or a cross-section of the whole of creation. Whatever is outside is inside us, and whatever is inside is also outside. Corresponding to the seven centres inside, there are seven realms of being in the whole universe. In Sanskrit they are called Bhuloka, Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, Satyaloka. As we ascend from one realm to another realm, the subject-object relationship gets narrowed. The disparity between the seer and the seen, the I and the you, gets narrowed, and they collaborate with each other with more and more affection among themselves. At present, the subject and object have no affection: The world is outside; you are here. But they must come together. The world and the individual should coalesce and become one. That process slowly accentuates itself as you move from the lower realms to the higher realms.

I mentioned the seven realms of being. In the highest, Satyaloka, or Brahmaloka, there is no subject-object relation. It is a merger of the seer and the seen: one astounding universality of radiance, one Being incapable of description in language. That realm is said to be the realm of the creator God, Brahma. There, there is no seer and seen. Everything is a seer; everything is a seen. Everyone is reflected in everyone else, like mirrors kept everywhere so that every mirror is reflecting every other mirror. The souls living in Brahmaloka reflect each other, so that you cannot know who is where. Everybody is everywhere. That is the merging, the complete unity of subject-object relation. These are the levels of creation.

Inasmuch as we are part of creation, these levels are reflected in our own personality also. These are what are called the chakras. They are whirling centres of energy, not physical objects. They are not made of flesh. Some people think that these chakras are nervous centres. Maybe. The nervous form of the centres is an outer shape taken by the energy vibration that is inside them, just as the facial expression of a man depends upon what he thinks in his mind. From the facial expression and the mood of the person, you can know what the person is thinking about and what kind of person he is. These vibrations inside are the same vibrations operating outside in the seven realms of being. Bhuloka, the earth plane, is coordinated with the lowest plexus or chakra – Muladhara, as it is called. I am not going into the details of all these things now.

So either you may meditate cosmically on the seven levels of being, identifying yourself with each one of them, or you may invite these masterly forces of the cosmos into your own self, as located in the seven centres of the body. Whether you cosmically meditate or individually meditate, uniting these centres together in an act of coalescence, the same result will be achieved. The only thing is, too much concentration on one's own bodily structure is not advantageous. As you progress more and more in religious and spiritual practice, you must transcend body-consciousness. If you insist that the kundalini is inside the body, and the chakras are within your body only, these kinds of beliefs will make you feel more and more that you are a physical body only, and that you have nothing do with other people. The social relations will be severed, and cosmological relations also will be cut off. A person may become too introverted and concentrated in one's psychophysical personality, which may lead to some progress, or it may create some trouble also.

You cannot interfere with these forces which are known as the chakras unless the mind is very pure. They will not yield to any kind of effort. Ethical and moral purity are a prerequisite for any kind of religious and spiritual practice. A person who is greedy, passionate, angry, who has the habit of grabbing things, who is a cutthroat or a corrupt man – he can practise, but he will go mad. Therefore, an unpurified mind which has no holy aspiration should not practise this kind of interference with the chakras and the body under the impression that kundalini will rise. It will not rise so easily. Actually, the rise of kundalini is nothing but the rise of the whole of cosmic forces within oneself. If the whole universe rises up inside you, what will you feel? It will blast the whole person, and that can happen if it is not properly understood. It is not just inside the body. The whole universe is operating in the form of the chakras in individuals.

It requires a very good Guru to understand what all this means. People just glibly say, “I want to practise kundalini.” This is not correct thinking. You cannot practise it by reading a book. There are emotional, ethical and moral implications which should not be disregarded, and a very competent Guru is necessary to guard the disciple on the path.