Even though the chakras of the subtle body have been identified by other cultures, such as the ancient Egyptian and the Navajo, they have never been directly introduced into popular religion, for good reason. Having our Kun dalinis unawakened and our chakras closed is a form of protection; exist ence is possible for embodied beings solely because their chakras are
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AGHORA II: Kundalini
normally blocked. In fact, many Kundalini-generated disorders are due not to the blockage of a chakra but to the lack of blockage thereof. The delusion that the chakras are the cause of physiological imbalances stems from the confusion that exists between the chakras themselves and the other struc tures that exist in association with them. The chakras mentioned above, the Muladhara and the rest, function only when Kundalini moves within them; at all other times what functions are their corresponding but more superfi cial structures. Arthur Avalon comments that:
… from an objective standpoint the subtle centres, or Cakras, vitalize and control the gross bodily tracts which are indicated by the various regions of the vertebral column and the ganglia, plexuses, nerves, arteries, and organs, situate in these respective regions. It is only therefore (if at all) in the sense of being the gross outer representatives of the spinal cen tres that we can connect the plexuses and so forth with the Cakras spo ken of in the Yoga books. In this sense only the whole tract, which extends from the subtle centre to the periphery, with its corresponding bodily elements, may be regarded as the Cakra. (The Serpent Power, pp.
161-2) The chakras are the knots that bind ahamkara into self-identification with the substances that make up the universe. Each of the lower five chakras is the place where ahamkara and one of the Elements meet and interact; the chakra plugs ahamkara into the frequency of that Element, in effect broad casting that Element into the organism’s consciousness.
Ahamkara continues to recognize and manipulate that Element within the body only as long as this connection remains intact. Conscious effort to open the chakras, such as visualizing them and repeating their Bija Mantras, may cause one or more of them to open prematurely, which will disrupt ahamkara’s ability to manipulate that Element within the organism. Once these knots are untied it is as difficult to retie them while cosmic energy is flooding the system as it is to mend a hole in a dam while millions of tons of water are trying to flow our through it. It is always preferable for the chakras to open on their own when they are ready to open, which happens once Kundalini’s three coverings have been removed through sadhana.