Vishuddha cakra

• Main characteristic: energy, ether
• Animal symbol: a white elephant (powerful, positive, creative energy, positive motivation)
• Factor: ethereal
• Glands: the thyroid and parathyroid glands

The symbol of this cakraA center of psychic energy in the body; seven major ones lie along the spine. is the white elephant. In the múládhára cakra the elephant was black — selfish, unbridled, wild, barbaric — while in the vishuddha cakra the same mighty, powerful energy has become white, absolutely pure. When a person reaches the vishuddha cakra, they become a treasure for this world, because they bring good.

The movement from cakra to cakra symbolizes the evolutionary development of beings. It means that a human being can express themselves as a living divine being, and also as animals and reptiles. In the vishuddha cakra a person already overcomes the limits of the individual ego and deals with transpersonal expression. This means going beyond one's own personality, when you stop being aware of and identifying yourself and your happiness with the pleasures and limitations of the small body and mind.

Transpersonal life means the experience of fundamental unity, of that wide, boundless happiness that pervades the universe, and this state begins precisely with the vishuddha cakra. People with a full vishuddha cakra can make changes that are felt for centuries; they are the leaders of civilization; they blaze a trail across unknown land into the future.

There are three types of people:

1. Pashu — a person with an animal psychology. They need no high ideas; they live for bodily pleasure and entertainment.
2. Vira — a hero in a human body. This is the stage at which a person has reached the anáhata cakra, where they become truly human, and for this they have to show heroism, because there is always a choice between the easy and the right.
3. Devatá — a god in a human body. The consciousness of such a person is divine, crystal clear.

Everyone begins the journey in the state of pashu. After becoming established in spiritual ideation, morality, spiritual principles and practice, a person becomes a vira. And, while remaining a vira and standing up for their humanity, they become a devatá. All the problems of this world are created by people with an animal psychology. It is people in the human stage who endure these problems and suffer from them, because for a person of principle it is unacceptable to compromise with their conscience for the sake of their own comfort. And all problems are solved by gods in human bodies. Few of us imagine how mighty a potential lies hidden within us.

The first sign of a developed vishuddha cakra is the appearance of charisma, inner strength, charm. Other people with less developed cakras see such a person as a leader. Eloquence, the ability to sing well and to speak sweetly also appear. A more extraordinary expression of the vishuddha cakra is exceptional intuition, because all "supernatural" power is located in this center.

It is important to know that until wisdom has developed in a person, they should not force this development, because when the cakras develop they give power, and with it comes temptation, which can lead to a spiritual fall. So one must be careful in this process and take every step with the blessing of one's spiritual teacher. The path can lead to the dark side of power as well as to the light side, and the source of that power is one and the same. The choice of direction depends on the person. By using methods of controlling this power, one can master it. The chance that a person will be fascinated by the possibilities this power gives is incredibly high, and many leave the spiritual path at this stage, because their mind cannot withstand the temptation of extroversion. A disciple does not have the strength to resist this black Tantra, and that is why they need a teacher so much.

Understanding that the final goal of spiritual development is longing for the Supreme, attaining the infinite, lets us ignore any temptations along the way. Some people try to develop the ability to heal, to see the future and so on. Asked why they want this, they answer: to help people. But this is self-deception: if you want to help people so much, why aren't you doing it right now, when there are so many ways to do it? In fact, at the root of such a wish lies a display of superiority. Such a motivation is a spiritual coffin. A spiritual practitioner finds things a little easier on discovering that all their desires have come to an end. What remains is only the deep inner awareness of one's mission.

The vishuddha cakra controls the ethereal factor in the body, which is responsible for transmitting sound. Vák means expression through the voice, and it can be either amrta or viśa. Amrta is a nectar-like expression; the personality becomes sweet: people in the company of such a person feel good, problems dissolve and fears recede; they feel a temporary relief. Viśa, on the other hand, means poison. The vishuddha cakra is already the level of guidance, and a teacher is one who has the ability to punish and to bless. If a person is only sweet or only bitter, they are not a teacher but an enemy. Only by alternating amrta and viśa can a person teach. Sometimes a disciple needs the whip to move along their path, but a teacher always has more amrta than viśa. A guru must radiate nectar and at the same time be able to punish — that is, to scold a disciple so that it shakes them to the core and they throw off all their bad tendencies.

Such noble qualities as vaśat́, vaośat́, sváhá and namah express themselves in the vishuddha cakra.

Vaśat́ means the longing for mundane welfare for all. A person wants everyone to be well: peace in the whole world, no hunger, disease or poverty. Interestingly, the vishuddha cakra begins to work at full strength at about the age of fifteen: in adolescence many people experience idealism and carry it through their whole life.

Vaośat́ means psychic welfare, that is, welfare at the level of the mind; enlightenment. It is the concern not to live in a dark swamp of dogma, ignorance and obscurantism. People often suffer from defective philosophy, delusions and fears that enslave humanity and keep it from moving forward. Vaośat́ is a scientific approach to life, which means one must dig down to the truth, find the most rational solution and live by one's conscience. This quality inspires many people to give themselves to a cause. Teachers in the true sense of the word do not work for a salary: they do it because they see their work as a mission, because it comes from the vishuddha cakra. You do it not because you want to get something, you do it because you cannot do otherwise. Such people are very devoted to their cause; they are missionaries by nature.

The next quality is sváhá — the root, the idea. These two vrttisA mental tendency or propensity, such as fear, longing or love; fifty are described in all., sváhá and vaośat́, come together in the wish for the physical and psychic welfare of all.

The idea then motivates a person to serve, when they expect nothing in return. And even if a person expects a simple "thank you" for their work, it is no longer service; it is a feeling at the level of the mańipura cakra.

If a person works for fame, to feel inwardly worthy and good, that is the anáhata cakra; but when they do something because they cannot do otherwise, that is the vishuddha cakra. It is always service, selfless self-giving; it is an armor-piercing force that breaks through any wall, because it is stronger than any obstacle.

Service is always inseparable from sacrifice. Service is when a person helps others, and sacrifice is when they feel discomfort in doing so, because they deny themselves something, yet understand that it is right. In the vishuddha cakra there is a vrtti of heroic deed, which can begin with small things: for someone, a sacrifice is taking out the trash one more time than is their turn.

The taste for sacrifice is acquired grain by grain, and in the end a person becomes a tapeshvara (a god of sacrifice), that is, they turn their life into a gift to this world.

One more quality is namah. It means surrender to the supreme will. The great prayer, the Our Father, which arose two thousand years ago, says: "Thy will be done." This is the vrtti of namah. People often say that they can't manage to meditate, but when they pray they feel this idea. This happens because meditation is an abstract idea, very subtle and hard to catch, while in prayer the idea is at the level of the vishuddha cakra, which resonates with us well. Once a person has caught it, they can go further — to meditation, the meditation of pure contact, of living communion with the divine.

Many spiritual songs, prayers and mantrasA sound or set of sounds that, repeated with its meaning in mind, carries the mind toward the Infinite. have been written to stimulate noble ideas. All of them exist to develop the noble qualities of the vishuddha cakra. The four vrttis described above direct a person toward God. All religions and different mantras speak of one and the same thing; in them people express their request to God to guide them.

If energy has not been squandered at the level of the lower cakras through vanity, self-admiration, pleasures and passions, ambition and materialism, there is every chance of reaching the vishuddha cakra. Here the energy is pure: whatever a person does will be a treasure for the world, and they will become a source of relief for many people.

The next tendencies of the vishuddha cakra are a subtle play of sounds within a person. The sounds correspond to the seven notes, which in Sanskrit are called sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni. Sa is śad́aja (the peacock), ri is rśabha (the bull), ga is gándhára (the goat), pa is paiṋcama (the cuckoo), ma is madhyama (the deer), dha is dhaevata (the donkey), ni is niśáda (the elephant). These sounds were named after these animals; in Russian they are called do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si. When we hear music, a resonance occurs, and we experience different flavors of feeling that are open to us through the vishuddha cakra, because the primary vibration of these sounds is present in it. Music can be cooked just like a meal. In cooking you can add salt, something spicy, something sour and so on. By mixing different flavors, a cook achieves a delightful effect. In the same way, flavors can be mixed in music, and different combinations give rise to particular moods of the heart.

Originally music was an aid to spiritual practice. Seven thousand years ago Sadáshiva formulated the system of rágas and ráginiis — musical structures, scales by means of which the mind is uplifted. This is how Indian classical music was created. Music uplifts, because its foundation is laid in the vishuddha cakra. Yet we appreciate the sounds in the vishuddha cakra, and the melody in the anáhata cakra.

There are a few more sounds: the sound oḿ, the sound phat́ and the sound huḿ. Oḿ is the sound from which the universe arose. The words "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" are about exactly this: oḿ is the combination of all the energies that will later burst out, explode and produce countless sounds and phenomena. From the point of view of Tantric philosophy, behind every phenomenon there is a sound, because an atom is a vibration, a wave — in essence, a sound. And these waves, subtle or crude, are rooted in the sound oḿ. Oḿ consists of three sounds. A is the sound of creation. Creation begins out of non-being, out of the abstract world. When the subtle becomes crude, that is the sound A; when it exists, evolves and transforms, passing through different forms of existence, that is the sound U; and when the process runs the other way and the crude becomes subtle, that is the sound MA. All together — A, U, MA — make Oḿ.

The sound phat́ expresses the vrtti of practicality. People with a developed vishuddha cakra are very practical, and when an idea comes to them, they know exactly how to carry it out. Impractical people draw castles in the air, but it doesn't work, while practical people work out a strict plan of action through which the idea is put into practice. In TantraA practical spiritual science of expanding the mind and freeing it from bondage; not a religion and not about sex. the mantra phat́ was used to speed up action.

And the last sound is huḿ — the sound of the awakening kuńd́alinii. When the divine force awakens, the energy of kuńd́alinii reaches the vishuddha cakra, and we cry out "Hummm!" In meditation this sound arises because the nervous system is not yet used to the new state, and the body is not ready to receive such energy. Huḿ is the sound of rapture, which overflows a person as a result of long concentration and the accumulation of power.

These are the sixteen petals of the vishuddha cakra. When this center develops, you will feel as if green shoots have begun to sprout from a wooden Pinocchio. The whole personality will gain charm and grace.

Developing the vishuddha cakra

Voice. Here one must be careful, because aimless talk drains the anáhata cakra and the vishuddha cakra. On the other hand, when we use the voice constructively, the vishuddha cakra develops. Singing is a great thing that unlocks many talents in a person. For yogis, singing is part of practice. A mantra contains the highest idea. Singing a mantra certainly develops the vishuddha cakra, and along with it eloquence, charisma, leadership qualities and the "superpowers" of the human mind.

Service. We need to do something not for ourselves, and practice it as a devotion to the great mission of transforming humanity.

Sacrifice. It should be done without expecting praise, selflessly — even something very small, whatever is within your strength.

The practice of prańáyáma.

Ásanas:

• Sarváuṋgásana
• Matsyamudrá
• Halásana
• the hare pose
• the cobra pose

And most important — meditation, which develops all the cakras. The higher cakras control the lower ones, and as the higher ones develop, the lower centers develop automatically.