{"id":7664,"date":"2026-07-29T14:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogamatsya.com\/chakras-overview-and-history\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T17:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T17:21:31","slug":"chakras-overview-and-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogamatsya.com\/en\/chakras-overview-and-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Chakras – Overview and History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

A Brief History of the Chakras<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n

Chakra or cakra means wheel or circle. It is also interesting to note that the Greek word \"kulkos\" and even the English word \"cycle\" are derived from this word. <\/p>\n

The word \u201cchakra\u201d appears in early texts such as the Vedic \u1e5agveda. Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that at that time the word \u201cchakra\u201d did not yet refer to a spiritual energy center, but rather denoted a wheel or a center of power. <\/p>\n

In the 1st century BCE, early Upanishads refer to subtle yogic anatomy, such as the n\u0101\u1e0dis. Similarly, the Dhy\u0101nabindu Upani\u1e63ad from the 3rd century CE already mentions techniques of Kundalini Yoga, the rising of energy (\u015aakti), and the positions of the lower chakras. <\/p>\n

As tantric yoga continued to evolve from the 8th century CE onward, the yogic understanding of the chakras became increasingly refined. The Upanishads written during this period, such as the Yoga-Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalini Upanishad, emphasize the importance of the chakras for the art of Kundalini Yoga. <\/p>\n

The path of yoga, as described in detail in the G\u012bta or the later Yoga S\u016btras, leads through the purification of the self to devotion and enlightenment. The chakras existed outside the teachings of early classical yoga and were a purely tantric teaching. It was not until the later schools of Hatha Yoga and Tantric Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b Yoga that they came to be regarded as the key to enlightenment (Ha\u1e6dha-Yoga-Prad\u012bpik\u0101, 3:105\u2013110). <\/p>\n

Through the union of v\u0101yu and agni (m\u016blabandha), the Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b pierces the brahmagranthi and then the Vi\u1e63\u1e47ugranthi. Then it pierces the rudragranthi [the three knots]. Afterward, all six lotuses are pierced. Then \u015aakti is blissful with \u015aiva in the Sahasr\u0101ra Kamala (thousand-petaled lotus chakra). This should be known as the highest state of being and the gateway to ultimate bliss. <\/em><\/p>\n

Yoga-Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalini Upanishad (85\u201386)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Mualdhara<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

CHAKRAS AS MEDITATION TOOLS<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n

A common modern misconception about the chakras is that they do not serve solely as a map of the subtle internal anatomy; rather, the chakra is\u2014and has always been\u2014a tool for meditation.<\/p>\n

This means that the activation of the chakra\u2014and the associated experience\u2014is a conscious, deliberate act that takes place within the context of meditation. The chakra therefore has no independent existence outside the mind that creates it. <\/em><\/p>\n

One\u2019s own will is therefore the key to entering into the experience.
From the very beginning, yogis used visualization techniques in which they used their imagination to place a spinning wheel\u2014dedicated to the energy of a specific deity\u2014within their bodies. These wheels of the deities were placed at various points in the body to activate the deity\u2019s power in that specific area and open a gateway to the inner experience. <\/p>\n

What various chakra systems have in common is their vertical alignment along the axis of inner experience (or su\u1e63umn\u0101)\u2014various systems were developed by Tantric traditions to awaken specific energies within this axis.<\/p>\n

The Kaubjik\u0101 tradition routinely taught two very different systems\u2014one with 5 centers and one with 7\u2014thereby suggesting that the concept of chakras is more of a tool for meditation than a description of a fixed energetic reality. Depending on the goal of the meditation and the system one chooses, a different number of chakras\u2014and different tools within them\u2014is selected. <\/p>\n

Most systems describe the chakras as an expression of a specific level of consciousness. Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b, the goddess, is then the force that can transcend one level in favor of a new one, and thus permeates the chakras. <\/p>\n

For this reason, chakras are often described as granthi\u2014a psychological knot or blockage that must be overcome. Tradition identifies three primary knots in the body: Brahm\u0101 granthi, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u granthi, and Rudra granthi, which represent the three fundamental attachments of the individual self or three obstacles to ascending into cosmic consciousness. These three attachments serve as examples of all other limitations an individual may have; thus, they also represent the seven chakras. <\/p>\n

In fact, a chakra is defined as a knot pierced by Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b. Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b is often likened to a needle that threads the blossoms of the chakras onto a string, and in this way, by piercing them, creates a harmonious whole. <\/p>\n

Awakened by the contact of agni with m\u0101nas and pr\u0101\u1e47a, it takes the form of a needle and pierces the su\u1e63umn\u0101. The yogi should, with great effort, open this door, which is locked. Then he will pierce the door to liberation through Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b. <\/em><\/p>\n

Dhy\u0101nabindu Upani\u1e63ad (5:66)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\"chakra<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Chakra Systems and Tools<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n

The Five Elements<\/h2>\n

The best-known technique of chakra meditation\u2014and the one my teacher taught me\u2014is bh\u016bta \u015buddhi, the purification of the five elements. Five chakras\u2014each of which embodies one of the five elements\u2014are located within the body. <\/p>\n

Once the forces of the five elements are active, Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b can rise as the central force. The five elements represent the five limitations imposed on the being by each element. When the elements are activated by the mantra, the energy of the element is permeated by the power of consciousness and mantra\u015bakti. <\/p>\n

In this way, the element's limitations are transcended and its power is made available.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

\"Pancha<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Shadow or Light<\/h2>\n

Everything is both shadow and light. The difference between the two is not the element itself, but the presence of consciousness. <\/p>\n

The goddess, who manifests as the five elements, is both limitation and freedom, just as m\u0101y\u0101 is both the goddess of illusion and the mother of all knowledge. Whether she represents bondage or liberation does not depend on the element itself in which she appears, but rather on the level of consciousness with which that element is recognized and thereby integrated into being. <\/p>\n

If the lowest of all elements (earth) does not become an active part of the self through the power of consciousness, but instead runs rampant in the shadow of ignorance, then it is bondage and a gateway to hell.<\/p>\n

If, instead, it is permeated by the forces of consciousness, it can be transcended and becomes a source of great strength, center, and stability. When you bring the shadow into the light of the center, it becomes your ally. <\/p>\n

Through prak\u1e5bti, you will rise. It is through prak\u1e5bti that you will fall. <\/em><\/p>\n

Swami Lakshman Joo<\/em><\/p>\n

The Deities<\/h2>\n

Another important approach is to place the six most important deities within the body, thereby awakening their powers within the self. These deities are supreme gods who were worshipped in India at various times throughout history as the highest form. The social evolution that created the image of a particular deity and the power venerated within it is an expression of the spiritual evolution that underlies social development. <\/p>\n

The Tantrikas were aware of this connection and therefore revered the chain of supreme deities as representations of spiritual evolution, not only in the cosmos but also in the individual life of a human being. From this perspective, the placement of these deities within the body and the transcendence of each one, one by one (from bottom to top), is a symbolic yet powerful journey through one\u2019s own inner spiritual evolution. <\/p>\n

The six deities, as an evolution from m\u016bl\u0101dh\u0101ra to \u0101j\u00f1\u0101:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Brahm\u0101: God of Creation<\/strong>
\u2022 Vi\u1e63\u1e47u: The omnipresent god<\/strong>
\u2022 Rudra: God of Destruction<\/strong>
\u2022 \u012a\u015bvara: Personal God<\/strong>
\u2022 Sad\u0101\u015biva: Formless Tantric \u015aiva<\/strong>
\u2022 Bhairava\/Mahe\u015bvara: Supreme left-handed \u015aiva<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Vowels<\/h2>\n

In yoga, sound\u2014vibration\u2014is sacred. The entire universe was created through the primordial sound, O\u1e43. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali explains that O\u1e43 is the sound form of \u012a\u015bvara, that is, God. O\u1e43 is thus the source of all things and the seed of all true insight. <\/p>\n

Since O\u1e43 is God in the form of sound, O\u1e43 is also \u015aabda Brahman, the chain of sounds from which the universe is formed and from which all other sounds have emerged. Every sound is thus a creative force of the Supreme\u2014the word with which God creates the world. Together, these words form the one great sound that is the universe itself. They are Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b, the creative force of the Supreme. <\/p>\n

The chakras are an expression of this evolution from the Supreme to the material realm and back again from the material realm to the Supreme. This process of evolution and involution unfolds along the ladder of sounds, which are assigned to each petal of the chakras. <\/p>\n

If we consider the number of petals on the lotus flowers of the chakras, their total is 50 (4+6+10+12+16+2), which corresponds to all 50 sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet. Together, these encompass all sounds and thus represent the great primordial sound O\u1e43, God, the one source. <\/p>\n

Traveling through these chakras from bottom to top and placing the sounds on their petals is, therefore, a journey through the self\u2014from the coarse to the subtle, from the material back to the source of all creation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

\"Ajna<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Systems<\/h2>\n

One of the earliest chakra systems originated in the 6th century B.C. and is known to us from the K\u0101lottara Tantra. This was a system of five centers, in which the lowest (m\u016bl\u0101dh\u0101ra) was located in the heart, and each subsequent center rose steadily upward. The K\u0101lottara Tantra proposed meditations in which the Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b rises from the heart upward through the five elements and ultimately finds fulfillment above the head. This system was conservative, meaning that it ignored the lower centers and the sexual energy dormant within them, which was considered dangerous. <\/p>\n

The system we know today was first mentioned in the Kubjik\u0101mata Tantra of the Kaubjik\u0101 tradition as one of the two most important systems in that tradition. This system of six chakras later appeared in the \u015aiva Sa\u1e43hit\u0101 and in the \u1e62a\u1e6d-Cakra-Nir\u016bpa\u1e47a, which was translated into English at the beginning of the 20th century, and found its way into the New Age movement. <\/p>\n

The \u1e62a\u1e6d-Cakra-Nir\u016bpa\u1e47a is not a tantra or a classical text, but rather a treatise written by the scholar Sv\u0101m\u012b Purnananda in the 16th century. The text is primarily a vivid description of the mandalas of the chakras, along with their associated deities and symbols. <\/p>\n

The \u1e62a\u1e6d-Cakra-Nir\u016bpa\u1e47a is not easy for laypeople to understand, yet it is beautiful and inspiring; it is a colorful journey through the world of the chakras, Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b, and their symbols.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Anahata<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
More about us <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Learn more about the chakras here<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n

A journey through the chakras is a journey to yourself.<\/p>\n

In this book<\/a>, we also explore the roots of Kundalini Yoga and yogic anatomy, and we discover the secrets of the koshas, prana, and the Trinity of the Goddess.<\/p>\n

These profound practices, visions and insights into yogic anatomy and chakras will inspire and enrich any yoga practice.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

More Articles Weekly<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

We'll be posting new articles every week on the individual chakras, the koshas, and topics in yogic philosophy. Stop by or send us an email so I can add you to our newsletter mailing list. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Any questions? Just write to us! <\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
<\/div>
\n