“If you’re really listening, if you’re truly awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold evermore wonders.” ~ Andrew Harvey.
Imagine Kundalini as a divine snake moving up your spine, causing each chakra it passes through to blossom. The more we meditate on this type of energy, the more we allow our personal frequency to resonate with the greater orchestra of the cosmos.
And the more we allow our frequency to resonate, the more balance and health we will experience in our lives. This article will discuss the profound significance of the fourth chakra: Anahata, the heart chakra.
Before reaching the heart chakra, we were bound by the laws of karma. With the merging of the divine feminine and the divine masculine, we gain the ability to make our own decisions. We become an aspect of Karma itself.
This chakra is the balancing pivot between the three lower and three higher chakras. Here, our higher nature has the potential to become manifest. We are now free to “follow our own heart.” We have discovered that sacred place where the sages can hear the secrets of the universe: a language older than words.
The Anahata is symbolized by a smoke-green lotus with twelve petals, known in Buddhist circles as the heartmind. It is located in the chest, while its central activation point is the heart.
In the center of the lotus are two intersecting triangles, forming a hexagram, which symbolize the union of the divine masculine and feminine. The triangle facing upward symbolizes Shiva, the male principle; while the triangle facing downward symbolizes Shakti, the female principle.
It is associated with the element of air, the sense of touch, and the planet Venus. Heart chakra is the seat of Vital Breath, like water (Sacral Chakra), air assumes the shape of whatever it fills, yet it is less subject to gravity than water, and so we may require a replanting of our root chakra in order to remain grounded. Air is breath, and so it is vital that it be free, but it can also overwhelm us if not balanced properly.
Like Blaise Pascal wrote, “The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of.”
The deity associated with this region is Vāyu, Lord of the Winds, who is often depicted riding an antelope. He is also known as prāna, “the breath,” and so he personifies the five vital forces of prana: Prana vayu, Apana vayu, Samana vayu, Udana vayu and Vyana vayu, which all circulate through the body and connect us to the vatavaran, Sanskrit for “atmosphere.”
His greatest lesson is in connecting us with the Cosmic Breath, where the vibration, magnetism, and resonance of the universe is free to move through us and begins to provide us with sacred synchronicities.
When this chakra is balanced we are filled with unconditional love for self and others, what the Buddhists call Mahakaruna “the Great Compassion.” We are filled with appreciation, joy, and happiness.
When this chakra is opened the Higher Self is free to emerge and resonate with higher frequencies. We are free to recognize the importance of Namaste: “the divine within me recognizes the divine within you.”
When this chakra is blocked, however, we tend to experience poor circulation on the physical level, we tend to lack empathy on the emotional level, and we tend to lack devotion on the spiritual level. Our hearts become closed and hard. We have trouble loving ourselves, and we are therefore paranoid and afraid to love others.
Many issues of love, grief, hatred, anger, jealousy, fears of betrayal, of loneliness, as well as the ability to heal ourselves and others are centered in the fourth chakra.
Heart Chakra meditation:
While meditating, focus your prana on the heart. Breathe and be Breath. Imagine vital air emanating from this chakra, resonating through your body and out, connecting you to the greater cosmos. Feel the life-giving air invigorate and rejuvenate your heart chakra. Imagine this connection nourishing your soul, bathing your heart and skin in healing spirit.
Touch is important with this chakra, so “feel” the cosmos pressing against your skin. “Feel” your skin absorbing the cosmos. And then realize, in the deepest most fundamental part of yourself, that there is no separation. Disconnection is an illusion.
We’re always connected to everything. Awareness is the key. We become more aware by being and becoming with each breath. The Door of Life has been opened. Allow the Vital Breath to guide you up to the next level; to the fifth chakra: The Throat Chakra, the Vishuddha.
Image source:
Shiva/Shakti divine feminine and masculine