Awakening of the Chakras Opens Up Undreamed Potential in Our Being

If we run a small current through a wire to a light bulb, but below the capacity of the bulb, it will light up, although it may flicker. If we increase the current the light bulb brightens and the illumination becomes constant. If we put too much current through the bulb, we may start a fire or burst the bulb. This image provides us a way to appreciate the opening of the chakras. For most people there is a limited opening of certain chakras, and with that limited opening, a certain flow of energy, vibrating at the frequency range at which that particular chakra operates, occurs and carries out the work that is possible from that particular energy centre. It may be physical energy, vital energy, emotional energy, mental energy or spiritual energy. Several reflections result from this, which form the basis for considerable review as one takes up the yogic practice..

First, what are the possibilities if a particular chakra, which had only a trickle of energy flowing through it, were able to open fully and express the utmost capacity of the vibrational range to which it is tuned? Second, what are the possibilities if chakras formerly closed are able to open, thereby exposing the individual to new vibrational ranges not part of his former active being? Third, is it possible to optimize the energy flow through the chakras in such a way that they become mutually supportive and harmonize rather than conflict with each other in their various expressions? Fourth, can an increase of energy through a particular chakra without corresponding balancing create problems for the individual? Fifth, does the capacity of the chakras increase or decrease through the various stages of life?

Certain chakras are focused on the operation of the systems of the physical body. Others develop the vital force of the being. There is a chakra that governs emotional expression, as well as one that governs the capacity for expression and communication. Another one governs the development of will power, and yet another unifies the being with the Divine Force beyond the limits of the individual ego-personality.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Something there is in us or something has to be developed, perhaps a central and still occult part of our being containing forces whose powers in our actual and present make-up are only a fraction of what could be, but if they became complete and dominant would be truly able to bring about with the help of the light and force of the soul and the supramental truth-consciousness the necessary physical transformation and its consequences. This might be found in the system of Chakras revealed by Tantric knowledge and accepted in the systems of Yoga, conscious centres and sources of all the dynamic powers of our being organising their action through the plexuses and arranged in an ascending series from the lowest physical to the highest mind centre and spiritual centre called the thousand-petalled lotus where ascending Nature, the Serpent Power of the Tantrics, meets the Brahman and is liberated into the Divine Being. These centres are closed or half closed within us and have to be opened before their full potentiality can be manifested in our physical nature: but once they are opened and completely active, no limit can easily be set to the development of their potencies and the total transformation to be possible.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter VIII Yoga-Shakti pp. 81-82