The Muladhara Chakra (Root Chakra)

It seems to be a irony that this earthiest and most basic of all chakras guides us to the highest consciousness.

MEANING:
The Sanskrit word Mula means 'root' or 'foundation' and that is precisely what this chakra is.

It is the seat of kundalini power.This great potential is said to be lying dormant in the form of a coiled serpent. When aroused, kundalini passes through sushumna nadi in the spinal chord and move upto sahasrara where the ultimate experience of enlightenment occurs.

The Loaction Point:
The Root chakra in male body is loacted slightly inside the perineum, at the mid point between the scrotum and the anus. And in the females, it lies on the posterior side of cervix.

In both male and female bodies, there is a vestigial gland at the muladhara chakra which resembles a 'knot'.

Many people feel shy and hesitant of accepting that kundalini resides in root chakra and claim it to be in manipura chakra, because they do not want to associate this divine power with the unholy sexual system.

However, also according to scientists, this tiny gland in root chakra contains a lot of energy and also according to yogis, many psychic and spiritual experiences originates from muladhara chakra.

Just because muladhara is situated in the sexual region does not mean that it is a impure center.

SYMBOL:
The Root chakra is symbolized by a four petalled lotus. On each petal is a letter namely : vam, sham, sam and sham. You can see how these letters look like in the following symbol.

Muladhara is the direct switch to awaken the Third eye or ajna chakra. It is the chief centre of apana, one of the five pranas.

By meditating on muladhara chakra, you will become a master speaker, and a perfectionist in all kind of learnings. you will become ever free from all kinds of diseases and remain cheerful all the time.

This Root chakra is the point from where the three psychic channels or nadis emerge i.e. ida, pingla and sushumna. Ida emerges from the left side, pingla from right side and sushumna from the centre.

When the forces of ida and pingla are completely balanced by the practices of Hatha yoga, particularly pranayamas, an awakening is sparked off here which arouses the dormant kundalini. Therefore practices of pranayama are considered to be of great importance in kundalini yoga.

The Root chakra is of great importance, firstly becuase it is the seat of kundalini power and secondly it is also the seat of all sensual passions i.e. tamas. All the guilt, every complex and every agony has its root here.

Physiologically, this chakra is related to the excretory, urinary, sexual and reproductive organs.

Our life, desires, actions and achievements are controlled by the sexual desires, and whatever we do in life is an expression of of our sexual urge in one way or other. Dr. SIGMUND FREUD has also emphasized this point that our selection of food, clothing, friends etc. are influenced by our sexual awareness.

Therefore it is very important for everybody to awaken this chakra and get out of this sexual slavery.

Sexual fulfilment and sexual frustrations control our life. If sexual urges are removed from your life, everything will change. Often we react to sexual life on account of bitter experiences and we vow not to take same path again but we again does the same thing.

You become fed up and on account of that you say "NO MORE". But this is not the permanent solution , it is only a reaction and not the permanent structure of mind.

Unless the Root chakra is purified, its corresponding centre in brain will always pull your consciousness back to sexual satisfaction. You can live the same life as you do live today, but you can make it much better.

Sexual relationships are not a sin, but you should awaken your consciousness and purpose of the whole act must be transformed. And this happens only when muladhara awakens.

So those who do normal sexual act must awaken muladhara chakra first. Also through sexual act, a female can awaken her muladhara and swadhisthana chakra if her partner is a yogi. Generally for awakening these chakras in male body, you will have to practise kriya yoga and techniques such as 'Vajroli'.

Here I should also tell you one important thing, this is a great misconception that a yogi should renounce sex, but this is wrong idea. If you think that to be a yogi you should give up sex, why don't you give up eating and sleeping also??

The greatest mistake which mankind has been making since thousands of years is that man has been fighting with himself. You want to renounce sex but you are not able to do so, hence it is important that your muladhara should awaken first so that you can keep your mind free.

EXPERIENCES:

In the initial stages of root chakra awakening, many people feel power rising from root chakra to the brain and they confuse it with the kundalini awakening. This is not kundalini awakening, it is a release of pranic force or prana which rises the pingala nadi and partially purifies the chakras.

When root chakra awakens, a variety of experiences are felt by the practitioner. The first thing which they feel is the levitation of the astral or subtle body, you will feel that your body is floating up in the air but this is limited to the astral body and mental dimensions and is different from what is generally called levitation- the displacement of physical body.

Apart from this, you will also experience sometimes the psychic phenomenas like clairvoyance and clairaudience.

Other experiences includes the feeling of heat in the coccyx area and a creeping sensation like something moving up the spinal chord.

In most cases, when the power reaches the manipura or solar plexus, it starts descending down to muladhara, though usually you will feel energy reaching upto your brain but actually a very small portion of energy ascends upto brain.

Repeated persistent efforts are for raising the kundalini further but once kundalini passes solar plexus, such problems are rarely encountered again.

When kundalini ascends from muladhara to sacral or swadhisthana chakra, this is most crucial time for an aspirant because all of his suppressed emotions express themselves in this period.

Sometimes you will feel jolly and happy, and at the next moment you will become sad and unhappy. Sometimes you will become too much talktive for the whole day but then for next many days you will feel like to remain silent.

At this stage of awakening, you will develop the fond of singing.

In such crucial stages, you will require a mentor or guru who can give you the proper guidance to cope up with these experiences and also he will also accelerate your spiritual evolution.

In case you don't find a human guru, you should refer to the authentic text available which can guide you through this process of muladhara awakening.

Muladhara is one of the most important and exciting, but also disturbing of the psychic centers to be awakened. Therefore it is suggested to awaken The Third eye or ajna chakra first beacuse the awakening of ajna makes the whole process of muladhara awakening less disturbing and traumatic.