Introduction to Sahasrara Chakra
sahasrara = thousand

This information has been collected from many books and Web sites, and from my own knowledge and experience from teaching Yoga for more than 35 years. It will help you to understand the meaning of Chakras and why it is important to know about them.

Jnana Vashistha: “Between two thoughts there is an interval of no thought. That interval is the Self, the Atman. It is pure Awareness only.”

And now we have ARRIVED. The Sahasrara Chakra epitomizes your total energy state. Colors in this area remain the same, regardless of how other colors might change in other Chakra rays. There are some people who say it can take on the most prominent color of another Chakra and make it even more intense. My experience has remained the same throughout the years. A person with a strong and balanced 7th Chakra always appears to me with a sense of a large white light surrounding their body. They seem to glow, like the white light that radiates from a very powerful sun.

Iyengar calls it the Thousand-Petalled Lotus in the cerebral cavity and includes the Lalata (= forehead) Chakra with Sahasrara.

Anyone who has ever unblocked the 7th Chakra will attest to the fact that they are changed forever. It's like rebirthing, like being born anew. One's sense of love is magnified to the degree that everyone feels it. Perfect examples would be Yogi Bhajan or Yogananda (their sites are in the YogaLinks on this site). These are people who have completely opened every Chakra written about in this series, including all the others that are not even covered here! There are thousands and one needs to remember this. Self-realized men and women are transcendental in the way they communicate with others. Everyone is drawn to them. They are bright. They radiate Love.

It is probably obvious by now that this Chakra is the crown glory of them all. However, it is just as important to open the 1st Chakra and then move up through each one, gradually and consciously. If you can visualize a tunnel without any obstacles, you can visualize the Sushumna with all of the Chakras open, too. Vertical or horizontal makes no difference. It's the opening of a lotus flower right through the top of your head when you reach this point.

You become one with everything. You can call it cosmic consciousness, a religious experience, a surrendering completely to the spirit within. There are many ways to describe this in all of the various religions, beliefs, theories, and all the methods that people have to reach at-one-ment. It doesn't matter which one you choose, but it is important to know what you are doing to prevent your body from being overwhelmed. And this is all that I am attempting to do—to help you as you read through all of these pages. To make it as easy as possible for you to begin to understand.

Here we are at the pinnacle of the 7 Chakras covered on this site. Remember, there are many more, but these are the ones you can find the most information about. Now we have entered a realm of spirit. Here we discover the divine, inspiration, intuition, and we begin to see the broader picture of life as it was meant to be.

However, if the crown Chakra continues to be blocked, the same wonderful attributes become their polar opposites—and a lack of mission or purpose in life suddenly rears its ugly head. We are at a loss regarding what we are supposed to be doing. We are out of touch with our own spirit, our own intention here on earth. There is more to come in Part 3 (see below) about blockages and how to unblock this Chakra.

 

Anatomical Description of Chakra Location

“The thousand-petalled lotus above commands the higher thinking mind, houses the still higher illumined mind, and at the highest opens to the intuition through which an overflooding directness—the overmind—can have with the rest of communication or an immediate contact. The 7th is sometimes identified with the brain, but that is an error—the brain is only a channel of communication situated between the thousand-petalled and the forehead centers. The former is sometimes called the void center, Sunya, either because it is not in the body, but in the apparent void above, or because rising above the head one enters first into the silence of the self or spiritual being.” —Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, SABCL Vol. 22/24, p.365.

The physical description is usually the pituitary. Often called the Lotus of one Thousand Petals, this Chakra is actually located just above the crown of the head, above the skull according to most experts. According to Iyengar, “The Ajna and Sahasrara and Lalata Chakras may be the brain matter, and the pituitary and pineal glands is the network of nerves in the brain.” It's definitely either the top of the cranium, or just above it.

Specifically: cerebral cortex, top center of the head, pituitary gland, crown of the head, midline above the ears, top of head, nervous system, brain, right eye. Think of this Chakra as the abode of Siva—located 4 finger-breadths above the crown of the head.

The pineal gland has been associated with what is known in Eastern philosophy as the silver cord, cord of life, Appian Way, Imaginative System—that “stream of the vital force” that connects us to higher dimensions. Alice Bailey, Annie Besant and Edgar Cayce all wrote about the pineal gland as an energy center, a Chakra.

 

Other Anatomical Areas Affected

All of the areas of the cranial nerves, brain stem and cranial plexus are connected with this Chakra in some way. What applies to the 6th Chakra will usually apply to this one, too.

If one looks closely at the pituitary, we see that it looks like a small nut in top of the head. It is also called Hypophysis (if you want to look it up to know more about this miraculous tiny part of the brain).

“Yogis speak of a subtle nerve going to the crown of the head known as Susumna which is located in the center of the spinal column. When the life energy of a Yogi, it is believed, passes through the susumna and goes through the aperture in the crown of the head, known as brahmarandhra or 'the opening leading to Braham' - he will not be reborn in the world, but will steadily reach brahmaloka, the world of the cosmic Mind... The path thus traversed is known as the 'the northern path' or 'the path of light'...”—The Message of The Upanishads by Swami Ranganathananda

“The Violet Chakra at the crown of the head is the sanctuary of the spirit, the gateway to the highest spiritual influences in man. Its material counterpart is the pituitary body.”—Ouseley