The cakras are energy centers of the subtle body described in the texts of Haṭha Yoga and Tantra -- and almost everything the internet says about them is simplification or invention.
If you've seen those images of colorful discs aligned on the body, with rainbow colors and corresponding crystals -- know that none of that comes from the original texts. It's a 20th-century Western creation, vaguely inspired by tradition, but disconnected from it.
Let's get to what the texts actually say.
The word cakra
Cakra in Sanskrit means "wheel" or "circle." In the context of yoga, it refers to convergence points of energy (prāṇa) in the subtle body (sūkṣma śarīra). They are described as lotuses (padma) with different numbers of petals, each petal associated with a letter of the Sanskrit alphabet.
The cakras are not anatomical structures. They are not "in the body" in the way medicine understands. They are in the subtle body -- the level of experience that includes mind, vital energy, and cognitive functions.
The seven main cakras
The reference text is the Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa (Description of the Six Centers), attributed to Pūrṇānanda Svāmī (16th century). It describes six cakras along the suṣumnā nāḍī (central channel), plus the sahasrāra at the top.
### 1. Mūlādhāra -- base of the spine
- Petals: 4 (letters: va, śa, ṣa, sa)
- Element: earth (pṛthivī)
- Bīja mantra: laṃ
- Associated with stability, survival, foundation. Here resides the dormant [kuṇḍalinī](/blog/kundalini-o-que-e-mitos-verdades).
### 2. Svādhiṣṭhāna -- pelvic region
- Petals: 6
- Element: water (ap)
- Bīja mantra: vaṃ
- Associated with creativity, fluidity, procreation.
### 3. Maṇipūra -- navel region
- Petals: 10
- Element: fire (agni/tejas)
- Bīja mantra: raṃ
- Associated with digestion (physical and subtle), will, transformative power.
### 4. Anāhata -- heart region
- Petals: 12
- Element: air (vāyu)
- Bīja mantra: yaṃ
- Associated with the unstruck sound (anāhata nāda), devotion, compassion.
### 5. Viśuddha -- throat
- Petals: 16
- Element: space (ākāśa)
- Bīja mantra: haṃ
- Associated with expression, purification, truthful communication.
### 6. Ājñā -- between the eyebrows
- Petals: 2
- Element: beyond the five elements
- Bīja mantra: oṃ
- Associated with command (ājñā), intuition, inner guru.
### 7. Sahasrāra -- crown of the head
- Petals: 1,000 (or infinite)
- Not considered a cakra proper, but the point of dissolution. Where kuṇḍalinī meets Śiva -- pure consciousness.
What the texts DO NOT say
Let's be direct about what is modern invention:
Rainbow colors. The texts describe colors -- but not as a rainbow. Each cakra has specific colors associated with petals and the residing deity, but they don't correspond to the ROYGBIV system popularized in the West.
Corresponding crystals. This has no textual basis whatsoever. It's a creation of the New Age movement of the 1970s-80s.
"Opening" or "unblocking" cakras. The texts speak of awakening (prabodhana) and making kuṇḍalinī ascend -- not of "opening" or "unblocking." The metaphor is of lotuses that bloom as energy rises, not locked doors.
Cakras as emotional diagnosis. "Your third cakra is blocked because you have self-esteem issues." This is pop psychology mixed with Indian terminology. The texts describe cakras in terms of elements, mantras, deities, and energetic functions -- not as a map of emotional problems.
Cakras and the five elements
A genuine and profound aspect of the cakras is their relationship with the pañca mahābhūtāni (five great elements):
- Earth -> Mūlādhāra (solidity, structure)
- Water -> Svādhiṣṭhāna (fluidity, adaptation)
- Fire -> Maṇipūra (transformation, digestion)
- Air -> Anāhata (movement, expansion)
- Space -> Viśuddha (openness, vastness)
This correspondence reflects the understanding that the microcosm (body) mirrors the macrocosm (universe). The same elements that compose creation compose the human being -- and the cakras are the points where this correspondence manifests in the subtle body.
The Vedānta perspective
[Vedānta](/blog/o-que-e-vedanta) recognizes the validity of the cakra system as a description of the subtle body, but does not depend on it for its central teaching.
Vedānta's point is: you are not the subtle body. You are not the cakras. You are not kuṇḍalinī. You are ātman -- pure consciousness, which illuminates the subtle body just as it illuminates the physical.
Knowing the cakras is useful. Identifying with the cakras is another layer of [ignorance](/blog/avidya-ignorancia-basica).
Practical advice
If you want to study cakras seriously:
- Read the original texts (with translation and commentary). The Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa with Arthur Avalon's (Sir John Woodroffe) commentary is a good start, though old.
- Be suspicious of simplifications. If someone promises to "align your cakras" in one session, they're selling something the texts don't describe.
- Practice with guidance. Cakra meditations are advanced practices. Start with the basics -- [āsana, prāṇāyāma, simple meditation](/blog/como-meditar-corretamente-iniciantes) -- and advance with [a teacher's guidance](/blog/por-que-precisamos-de-guru-vedanta).
- Keep perspective. Cakras are the map, not the territory. The territory is you -- consciousness, witness of everything, not limited to any energy center.
The cakras are fascinating. And, like everything fascinating in tradition, the risk is getting lost in the fascination and forgetting the purpose: discovering who is fascinated.
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