Ajna
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| Tantric chakras |
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Sahasrara |
Ajna (Sanskrit: आज्ञा, Ājña, IPA: [aːɟɲʌ], meaning 'command') is the sixth primary chakra according to Hindu tradition.
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[edit] Description
The Ajna chakra is positioned at the eyebrow region and has two white petals, said to represent the psychic channels, Ida and Pingala, which meet here with the central Sushumna nadi (channel) before rising to the crown chakra, Sahasrara. These petals also represent the manifest and unmanifest mind, as well as the pineal and pituitary glands. 'Ham' is the letter of the left petal, and 'ksham' is the letter of the right petal, representing Shiva and Shakti, respectively. "Pranava Om", the supreme sound, is the bij, or seed mantra of this chakra.[1]
Ajna is considered the chakra of the mind. When something is seen in the mind's eye, or in a dream, it is being 'seen' by Ajna.
Residing in the chakra is the deity Ardhanarishvara a hermaphrodite form of Shiva-Shakti, symbolising the primordial duality of subject and object, and the deity Hakini Shakti is also present in this chakra.[citation needed]
In kundalini yoga, different practices are said to stimulate the Ajna chakra, including Trataka (steady gazing), Shambhavi Mudra (gazing at the space between the eyebrows), and some forms of Pranayama (breath exercises).
Ajna is said to contain Mantrika shakti.
[edit] Alternative names
- In Tantra: Ajita-Patra, Ajna, Ajna-Pura, Ajna-Puri, Ajnamhuja, Ajnapankaja, Bhru-Madhya, Bhru-Madhya-Chakra, Bhru-Madhyaga-Padma, Bhru-Mandala, Bhru-Mula, Bhru-Saroruha, Dwidala, Dwidala-Kamala, Dwidalambuja, Dwipatra, Jnana-Padma, Netra-Padma, Netra-Patra, Shiva-Padma, Triweni-Kamala
- In the Vedas, Upanishads: Ajna, Baindawa-Sthana, Bhru Chakra, Bhruyugamadhyabila, Dwidala
- In the Puranas: Ajna, Dwidala, Trirasna
- In science this place seats the physical location of Pituitary Gland, which is considered as a Master Gland of all endocrine glands. Whose secretion in perfect harmony balances all the other endocrine glands associated with the other Chakras.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ 1 page 268, Kundalini Yoga for the West, Swami Sivananda Radha, Copyright 1978, Shambala Publications, Inc.