Swadhisthana called 'One's own abode' is the second primary chakra

Chakra

Chakra is a concept originating in Hindu texts, featured in tantric and yogic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Its name derives from the Sanskrit word for "wheel" or "turning" .Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices...

 according to Hindu

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 Tantrism.

Location

Swadhisthana is positioned at the tailbone, two finger-widths above Muladhara

Muladhara

Muladhara is one of the seven primary chakras according to Hindu tantrism. It may be represented by the color red, although its root square form is usually yellow.-Location:...

. It has six petal

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s which match the vritti

Vritti

Vritti, in the context of Hinduism and yoga, is the name given to different tendencies, or psycho-physical propensities, which give scope for the mind to express a variety of feelings and emotions. Hindu texts describe vritties to be a result of past actions and experiences that have left an...

s of affection

Affection

Affection or fondness is a "disposition or rare state of mind or body" that is often associated with a feeling or type of love. It has given rise to a number of branches of philosophy and psychology concerning: emotion ; disease; influence; state of being ; and state of mind...

, pitilessness

Pity

Pity originally means feeling for others, particularly feelings of sadness or sorrow, and was once used in a comparable sense to the more modern words "sympathy" and "empathy"...

, feeling of all-destructiveness, delusion

Delusion

A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...

, disdain

Disdain

Disdain is a feeling of contempt or scorn.Disdain may also refer to:* So Disdained 1928 novel by Nevil Shute* Disdain , an EP by Alien Huang...

 and suspicion

Suspicion

Suspicion may refer to:*Suspicion , a feeling of distrust or perceived guilt for someone or something-Music:* "Suspicion" , recorded by Elvis Presley and Terry Stafford* "Suspicion" , a song by R.E.M....

. Its corresponding point in the front of the body (i.e. its kshetram) is at the pubic bone.

Appearance

Swadhisthana is described as a black lotus, with 6 vermillion coloured petals. Inside of this lotus is a white crescent moon, formed by two different sized inner circles, one inside of the other. The crescent moon is the water region, whose deity is Varuna

Varuna

In Vedic religion, Varuna is a god of the sky, of water and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld...

, white in colour, four-armed, holding a noose and seated on a crocodile. The two inner circles also have petals, the larger one has 8 outward facing petals, and the smaller one has 8 inward facing petals.

Seed Mantra

The seed mantra, located in the innermost circle, is a moon-white Vam. Within the bindu, or dot, above the mantra is the deity Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

. He is shining dark blue, wearing a yellow dhoti, and holds a conch, a mace, a wheel and a lotus. He wears the shriwatsa mark, and the koustabha gem, and is seated either on a pink lotus, or on the divine eagle Garuda

Garuda

The Garuda is a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology.From an Indian perspective, Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila and...

. His Shakti is the goddess Rakini (or Chakini). She is dark black, dressed in a red or white sari, seated on a red lotus, and she is either one faced and two armed, holding a sword and a shield, or two faced and 4 armed, holding either a trident, lotus, drum and vajra, or an arrow, skull, drum and axe.

Petals

The 6 petals are vermillion, and have the following syllables written on them in the colour of lightning; bam, bham, mam, yam, ram and lam. They represent the vrittis of affection, pitilessness, feeling of all-destructiveness, delusion, disdain and suspicion.

Function

Swadhisthana is associated with the unconscious

Unconscious mind

The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...

, and with emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

. It is closely related to Muladhara

Muladhara

Muladhara is one of the seven primary chakras according to Hindu tantrism. It may be represented by the color red, although its root square form is usually yellow.-Location:...

 in that Swadhisthana is where the different samskaras (potential karmas), lie dormant, and Muladhara is where these samskaras find expression. It is associated with the element of water, the sense of taste, and the action of reproduction.

Swadhisthana contains unconscious desires, especially sexual desire, and it is said that to raise the kundalini

Kundalini

Kundalini literally means coiled. In yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...

 shakti

Shakti

Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...

 (energy of consciousness) above Swadhisthana is extremely difficult for this reason. Many saints have had to face the sexual temptations associated with this chakra.

Through meditation on Swadhisthana, the following siddhis or occult powers are said to be obtained. One is freed from all his enemies, and becomes a lord among yogis. His words flow like nectar in well-reasoned discourse. One gains loss of fear of water, awareness of astral entities, and the ability to taste anything desired for oneself or others.

Association with the body

The location of Svadhisthana is just in front of the spine, in the sacral region, and its kshetram or activation point is in the pubic region. Being connected with the sense of taste, it is associated with the tongue, and being connected with reproduction, it is associated with the genitals.

It is often associated with the endocrine organs of the testes or ovaries in men and women respectively. These produce the hormones testosterone

Testosterone

Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...

 or estrogen

Estrogen

Estrogens , oestrogens , or œstrogens, are a group of compounds named for their importance in the estrous cycle of humans and other animals. They are the primary female sex hormones. Natural estrogens are steroid hormones, while some synthetic ones are non-steroidal...

, which are important factors in sexual behaviour. These are also the locations the spermatoza or eggs are stored with their latent genetic information, like the latent samskaras that lie dormant within Swadhisthana.

Practices

Practices in kundalini yoga for controlling and balancing the energy in Swadhisthana chakra include vajroli mudra ( contraction of the genitals ), ashvini mudra ( contraction of the anus ) and various asanas and pranayamas.

Comparisons with other systems

The equivalent chakra in the Vajrayana highest tantra systems of Tibet is called the Secret Place, four fingers below the navel. It is red in colour, with 32 downward pointing spokes. Meditation on this point produces great bliss.

In the Sufi system of Lataif, there is an energy centre called the nafs

Nafs

Nafs is an Arabic word which occurs in the Qur'an and means self, psyche, ego or soul. In its unrefined state, "the ego is the lowest dimension of man's inward existence, his animal and satanic nature." Nafs is an important concept in the Islamic tradition, especially within Sufism and the...

, which is just below the navel. The nafs incorporates all the elements of man's 'lower self', which must be tamed in order to attain closeness to Allah.

Western occultists make the kabbalistic association of Swadhisthana with the Sephirah Yesod. Yesod is also associated with the sexual organs. Its function in the tree of life is to gather the different energies that have been created in the descent down the tree and to distribute them to Malkuth, the material world, where the energy can find physical expression.

Alternative names

• Tantra
  Tantra
  Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
  
  : Adhishthana, Bhima, Shatpatra, Skaddala Padma, Swadhishthana, Wari Chakra
• Vedas
  Vedas
  The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
  
   (late Upanishads): Medhra, Swadhishthana
• Puranic: Swadhishthana

External links

• Svadhisthana - The Seat of Life by Anodea Judith