Chakras appear in many theosophical sources and are nowadays found in New Age literature. Chakras are also mentioned in some yogic systems. The word chakra means wheel, which in Theosophy is interpreted as a center of power in the etheric body of man, the invisible double of the physical body.
Kurt Leland, an American theosophist, musician, and composer, has written a book on the history of chakras: Rainbow Body. A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to Brennan (2016). In his book, Leland traces the origins of the “Rainbow Body,” a representation of chakras appearing in modern sources. One might easily think that the current representation of the chakras is directly inherited from ancient Indian sources, but Leland convincingly shows that this is not the case. In this presentation, I will examine some of the theosophically interesting features of the history of chakras in the West. Finally, I will present what Pekka Ervast’s ‘Rosicrucian Theosophy‘ teaches about chakras, although Leland does not discuss this point of view in his excellent book.
The “Errors” of Hinduism and the Oriental Chakra System
A young Hindu, Bipin Behari Shom, who had studied at a Christian school and received a Western education, published an essay entitled Physical Errors of Hinduism in the Calcutta Review in 1849. The essay aimed to use Western science to demonstrate the fallacy of traditional Hinduism’s view of the human body. Shom published pictures showing six flower-shaped centers (see Figure 1). The images were from the Tantric teachings, which date back to the seventh century. Tantric yoga is called Shat-chakra-bheda, which means “piercing the six wheels.” This was the first time the word chakra was used in a Western source.
Shom found the concept of chakra absurd, although he admitted that according to Tantric sources, chakras were not located in the physical body but in the subtle body surrounding it, which cannot be studied by the methods of Western science. The number of leaves in the lotus varies from the lowest to the highest as follows (the English name of the chakra is given in brackets): 4 (root), 6 (sacral), 10 (solar plexus or navel), 12 (heart), 16 (throat), 2 (forehead), 1000 (crown). Notably, the Tantric lineage places the sahasrāra, or thousand-leaf lotus, at the top of the head but does not consider it a chakra, as is customary in Western chakra systems. It should also be mentioned that in Buddhist chakra systems, there are only four or five chakras.
The oriental chakra system, best known in the West, is presented in The Serpent Power, published in 1919 by Sir John Woodroffe under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon. He used the famous 1577 Sanskrit account of the chakras as mandalas as his source, published in Bengal. Leland defines Woodroffe’s book as the end point of the oriental chakra system, from which the Western system began to develop. It has influenced Western esoteric scholars and teachers, including Carl Jung, the exponent of the subconscious and archetypes.
The Serpent Power presents three main nadis: idā, pingala and susumnā. The nadis are the channels of vital energy, prāna, in the etheric body. The number of nadis is large (72,000 in some sources), but often only three are mentioned. Idā is the left channel, whose name means comfort. Pingala is the right channel, meaning orange, golden or solar. These circle around a central channel, susumnā, which means very gracious. Susumnā begins at the bottom of the upper body and ends at the crown chakra, from which consciousness is said to leave when a person dies. Kundalinī means ‘the coiled one’; it is located in the root chakra until it awakens. It is said to pass from the root chakra to the crown chakra along the central channel. According to Eastern tradition, the awakening of the kundalinī brings enlightenment and divine abilities (siddhis).
Theosophical Teachings on the Chakras
H. P. Blavatsky (H.P.B.) taught chakras in the last years of her life in England, where she founded her Esoteric School. The oral teachings of the Esoteric School were written down and distributed to sworn members worldwide. Today, they are available in print. Here are some key points H.P.B.’s teachings on the chakras:
1) There are seven master chakras in the head, which control the seven plexuses in the body (apparently, plexus here means chakra)
2) The seven rays of the Logos oscillate in seven plexuses (H.P.B.’s brief mention of the seven rays played an important role in later Theosophy).
3) Activation of the third eye is related to the head chakras.
4) The pituitary gland is connected to the sixth chakra, and the pineal gland to the seventh chakra.
5) The pranic currents of the invisible body are linked to the colours of the aura.
6) The rise of kundalinī is linked to attaining higher states of consciousness. H.P.B. gave her esoteric students detailed instructions on awakening kundalini.
7) H.P.B. laid the foundation for the Western seven chakra system.
8) The chakras are connected to different planes (such as the astral plane) and the invisible bodies of the human being.
Annie Besant was a pupil of H.P.B.’s esoteric school and, after Olcott, president of the Theosophical Society. She reviewed H.P.B.’s esoteric and other teachings and sought to present them systematically and more comprehensively. For example, Besant developed a new terminology instead of the Sanskrit expressions used by H.P.B. Besant met Charles Leadbeater in 1890 and, at Leadbeater’s urging, developed clairvoyance, which, according to Besant, unfolded in 1895. Besant worked with Leadbeater on clairvoyant studies until 1913, after which he announced that he would cease clairvoyant studies; instead, he concentrated, among other things, on India’s struggle for independence. Besant proposed that chakras exist not only in the etheric body but also in the astral and mental bodies. Everyone is in the astral world during sleep, but these experiences do not usually carry over into daytime consciousness. This would require the development of the chakra system of the astral body and the development of the chakra system of the etheric body as well as establishing a connection between the chakras and the physical brain.
Leadbeater presented his own chakra system in his books The Inner Life (1911) and The Chakras (1927). Leadbeater changed the chakra system: he ‘removed’ the root chakra, or one could say that he combined it with the sacral chakra. Leadbeater added the spleen chakra, which, like the other chakras, is not located in the line of the spine. The background for this choice was in H. P. B.’s remark that the spleen acted as the center of prana in the body. Leadbeater interpreted this to mean that the spleen was one of the chakras. Later chakra exponents do not usually present the spleen as part of the chakra system. Moreover, H. P. B. had introduced some colours in connection with the chakras, but Leadbeater associated them with the colours of the rainbow.
Rudolf Steiner’s Teachings on the Chakras
Rudolf Steiner joined the Theosophical Society in 1902 and became the General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society. Steiner’s early publications were very well received by theosophists, especially How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds (the current edition has the title How to Know Higher Worlds). Steiner’s aim was to create such a precise description of spiritual practices and the path to be followed that the presence of a teacher or guru, as required by the old spiritual tradition, would become superfluous. Steiner said he was commissioned to write the book directly from the spiritual world.
Steiner was the first theosophical writer to describe the chakras in detail based on his clairvoyant observations (he called them ‘wheels’ and ‘lotus flowers’). Steiner’s chakra system consisted of five chakras; he omitted the root and crown chakras from his teachings. In the unevolved person, the chakras are dark in color and immobile, but in the spiritually sighted, they are mobile and shine in different shades of color. With development, the chakras first become clearer and then begin to rotate. The rotation allows spiritual perception through the chakras. The two-leaf chakra between the eyes makes it possible to bring the higher self into contact with higher spiritual beings. The 16-leaf chakra near the larynx allows the perception of the quality of another being’s thoughts, while the 12-leaf chakra near the heart allows the perception of the quality of beings’ minds. The 10-leaf chakra near the abdomen detects abilities and tendencies. Communication with beings in the astral world is possible through the six-leaf chakra in the mid-body. The numbers of leaves and locations of the chakras presented by Steiner correspond to the Oriental system presented earlier.
The development of each chakra requires certain ethical characteristics. Let’s look at two chakras as an example. Honesty, directness, and integrity revitalize the throat chakra, while dishonesty devastates its development. The heart chakra is the most important chakra in spiritual training. Internal control of the thought process develops the heart chakra, but wandering thoughts and inconsistency ruin its form. The development of the heart chakra requires the development of the following qualities: consistency of action, endurance in the face of obstacles, tolerance of other people and beings, open-mindedness towards life’s events, and composure of mind. These guidelines alone constitute a demanding program of self-education. In addition, specific meditation exercises are needed.
Pekka Ervast’s Teachings on the Chakras
Pekka Ervast’s most thorough presentation of the development of the chakras occurs in The Key to the Kalevala (1916/2018), an esoteric interpretation of the Finnish national epic, The Kalevala. According to Ervast, the spiritual path in the Kalevala is divided into the way of preparation (“propositional excursionist”) and the way of knowledge (“Sampo-excursionist”). Lemminkäinen and Ilmarinen are two Kalevala heroes on a quest to win over the Maid of Pohja (the higher self). But first, they must perform several tasks – as a preparation – called works for wages, which allegorically refer to the purification of day-consciousness, dream-consciousness, and inner (or secret) consciousness. The inner consciousness works through the chakras in the etheric body. The key to the inner consciousness is, in Lemminkänen’s case, the shooting of the Tuonela swan – Ilmarinen’s equivalent work for wages is catching Tuonela’s pike – which, according to Ervast, means the following:
To shoot the Swan of Tuonela means to immerse one’s consciousness into the heart and enliven the force-center hidden there, to awaken the force-channel which goes from the heart to the brain. When this is done, the human being’s heart becomes new and the entire life is regenerated; he is good, he is compassionate, he is sympathetic.
Ilmarinen succeeds in all the works of wages (unlike Lemminkäinen) and is allowed to marry the Maid of Pohja, i.e. he is initiated into a holy union with his higher self. Afterwards, on a Sampo-excursion, he learns to know the invisible world; in Sampo lies the secret of knowledge and power.
Ilmarinen’s self-consciousness does not yet move seamlessly from the inner consciousness to the day-consciousness. Achieving self-awareness requires awakening “water-body” abilities in the brain, i.e., the full functioning of the brain’s power center. This enables spiritual clairvoyance, which suggests that the brain’s power center could refer to the chakra in the forehead. The next step is transforming the water body into an “air body.” This is described as forming a “kantele” (the traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument) from the etheric body’s most noble and artistic faculties. The head of the kantele is in the brain, and its strings pass through the heart (i.e. through the channel of power between the chakras). By playing the kantele, one becomes a self-conscious transmitter of the power of the Logos. To provide a point of comparison, this stage is called the Mount of Transfiguration in esoteric Christianity.
At this stage, the two roots of the Sampo, or chakras, have been dug out, but in the next stage, the “roots” of the sacrum, navel, spleen, and so on must be overcome. This refers to the etheric power centers and their corresponding nerve bundles. Love must animate all the power centers in the etheric body by means of the serpent fire, kundalini. With this, Sampo, the immortal solar body, is achieved. However, Sampo is fragmented in the final battle in the Kalevala because the heroes of the Kalevala still fought against evil. The initiate can only regain the Sampo body when he can say:
I no longer battle the forces of evil. Instead, now I can love them and gather them into me. Let all evil come over me and into me, for I will change it all into goodness and send it away better. Let all curses fall upon me to be transformed into blessings!
Ervast states that this exquisite goal was fulfilled in the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In his other books, Ervast warns that the serpent fire is not to be awakened by a person following the path of esoteric Christianity but only by the Master or Jesus Christ himself. The serpent fire revitalizes the heart chakra first and gradually the other chakras.
Contemporary Version of the Chakra System
In his book, Leland goes through many of the spiritual teachers and healers who shaped the Western chakra system, which began with the esoteric teachings of H. P. B. Leland credits the birth of the current chakra system to an article, Bodymind and the Evolution of Cosmic Consciousness, which was published in Yoga Journal in the summer of 1977. The article linked the colors of the rainbow to the chakras, from red (root chakra) to violet (crown chakra) (see Figure 2). In addition, the functions of the chakras were presented in the form used today in many contemporary sources.
Chakras came to public attention in 1990 when actress Shirley MacLaine appeared on The Tonight Show, which was watched by millions of Americans. In it, she attached rainbow-colored chakras to the clothes of a skeptical presenter. Since then, the number of popular books and self-help guides on chakras and rainbow power has increased dramatically in the West. Clearing and opening chakras have become commonplace in alternative therapies and new-age spirituality. From a theosophical point of view, these efforts may be viewed critically.
On the other hand, it is probably the case that the opening of the chakras, let alone unlocking the secrets of Sampo, is not easy, as the Kalevala teaches us (Eino Friberg ‘s English translation of The Kalevala, 1988)
But we cannot seize the Sampo
And behold its ciphered cover
From the dark of Pohjola,
From the foggy land of sedges.
There the Sampo has been taken
With its many-colored cover
Into Pohjola’s stone mountain,
Hidden in a hill of copper
And secured behind nine locks;
Rooted there nine fathoms deep,
One root down in mother earth,
Second by a water run,
Third one on the homestead ground.
Sources
Ervast, Pekka (1916/2018). The Key to the Kalevala. Translation by Tapio Joensuu, edited by John Major Jenkins. Literary Society of the Finnish Rosy Cross. Available on the Internet: https://www.teosofia.net/e-kirjat/Pekka_Ervast_-_The_Key_to_the_Kalevala.pdf.
Leland, Kurt (2016). Rainbow Body. A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to Brennan. Lake Worth, Florida: IBIS Press. Leland, Kurt (2017). The Chakras: A Magical Mystery Tour. Leland’s presentation on the history of the chakras can be viewed here:
Hermes Risen 