Ajna

The Ajna chakra is positioned in the brain, directly behind theeyebrow center. Its activation site is at the eyebrow region, in theposition of the 'third eye.'

Ajna (Sanskrit:आज्ञा, IAST: Ājñā, English: “command”)or third-eye chakra is the sixth primary chakra accord-ing to Hindu tradition.

1 Location

The Ajna chakra is positioned in the stomata, directly be-hind the center of the forehead. Its ksehtram, or superfi-cial activation site, is in the eyebrow region at the positionof the “third eye.”[1]

2 Appearance

Ajna is white in color, with two white petals. Inside thepericarp is the Shakti Hakini. It is depicted with a whitemoon, six faces, and six arms holding a book, a skull, adrum, and a rosary, while making the gestures associatedwith granting boons and dispelling fears.[2] The down-ward pointing triangle above her contains a moon-whitelingum. In some systems the deity Ardhanarishvara,a hermaphrodite form of Shiva-Shakti, symbolising theprimordial duality of subject and object, resides withinthe lingum. Above that triangle is another smaller trian-gle containing the bija mantra, Aum.

3 Bija or Seed mantra

The seed syllable is Aum, or “Pranava Om,” the supremesound.[3]

4 Petals

Ajna has two white petals, said to represent the psychicchannels (nadis) Ida and Pingala, which meet the cen-tral Sushumna nadi before rising to the Crown ChakraSahasrara. The letter “Ham” is written in white on theleft petal and represents Shiva. “Ksham”, written in whiteon the right petal, represents Shakti. These two petalsalso represent the manifest and the unmanifest mind, andare sometimes said to represent the pineal and pituitaryglands.

Ajna has a petal dedicated to the sun, the other to the moon.

5 Function

Ajna translates as “command”, and is considered the eyeof intuition and intellect.[4] When something is seen inthe mind’s eye, or in a dream, it is being seen by Ajna. Itis a bridge that links gurus with disciples, allowing mindcommunication to occur between two people. The senseorgan and action organ associated with Ajna is the mind.As Hindus believe that spiritual energy from the environ-ment enters their body through this gateway, they takegreat care to protect it with spiritually positive protect-ing forces. The various religious marks on the foreheadsof men and women belonging to the Hindu faith (likeholy ash, namam, vermilion etc.) are the blessed spiritualprasadam of their respective forms of the Hindu gods.

1

2 10 ALTERNATIVE NAMES

Meditation upon Ajna supposedly grants siddhis, or oc-cult powers, to quickly enter another body at will and tobecome omniscient. He realizes unity with Brahman; andhe has the ability to create, preserve, and destroy the threeworlds.

6 Manas chakra

Manas chakra is responsible for sending sense perceptions to thehigher chakras. The petals change color depending on the sense

Directly above Ajna is a minor chakra known as Manas,or mind. It possesses six petals, one for each of the fivesenses and one for sleep. These petals are normally white,but assume the color of the senses when activated bythem, and they are black during sleep. This chakra’s func-tion is sending sense perceptions to the higher chakras.

7 Association with the body

The parietal eye (very small grey oval between the regular eyes)of a juvenile bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)

Ajna is associated with the third eye on the forehead. Itis also sometimes associated with the pineal gland, whichregulates the circadian rhythm, and is related to an ac-tual light-sensitive 'third eye' (Parietal eye) found in somelizards, amphibians, and fish. It is also sometimes associ-ated with the pituitary gland, the master of all endocrineglands, whose secretions control all the other endocrineglands.

8 Practices

In kundalini yoga, the practices said to stimulate the Ajnachakra include: Trataka (steady gazing), Shambhavi Mu-dra (gazing at the space between the eyebrows), and someforms of Pranayama (breath exercises).

9 Comparisons with other systems

In Tibetan buddhism, this chakra is at the end of the cen-tral channel, which runs up the body to the top of thehead, and then over and down, terminating at the fore-head. The two side channels continue onwards towardsthe two nostrils and end there. This center is frequentlydepicted in artwork as the third eye, and is used in variousmeditations.[5]

There is also a forehead centre above the third eye, whichcorresponds to the position of Manas, one of the tenchakras in the Mahayoga tantra traditions.In Qigong, the highest Dantian is located at this position.This is one of three furnaces that converts the differentsorts of energy in the body. In this Dantian, the spiritualshen energy is converted into wuji, the infinite space ofvoid.[6]

Within the system of Lataif-e-sitta there exists a Lataifknown as Khafi, or arcane subtlety, in this same position,and is related to mystical intuition.According to the Kabbalah, there are two sephiroth lo-cated on the sixth level, associated with the left and rightparts of the face. They are called Chokmah (wisdom),and Binah (understanding); it is at these points that thetwo side pillars of mercy and severity terminate, whilethe central pillar carries on rising to kether, the crown.[7]

10 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,and Triweni-Kamala

3

• In the Vedas, Upanishads: Ajna, Baindawa-Sthana,Bhru Chakra, Bhruyugamadhyabila, and Dwidala

• In the Puranas: Ajna, Dwidala, and Trirasna

11 See also• Fontana della Pigna

• Kundalini (serpent power)

• Pineal gland

• Parietal eye

• Third eye

12 References[1] Swami Satyananda Saraswati. Kundalini Tantra

[2] Shyam Sundar Goswani. Layayoga – an advanced methodof concentration

[3] 1 page 268, Kundalini Yoga for the West, SwamiSivananda Radha, Copyright 1978, Shambala Publica-tions, Inc.

[4] “Third Eye Chakra”. ASIS Massage. Retrieved 25 July2013.

[5] Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Tantric Grounds and Paths

[6] Andy James. The Spiritual Legacy of Shaolin Temple

[7] Dion Fortune. The Mystical Qabalah

4 13 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

13 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

13.1 Text• Ajna Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajna?oldid=630311540 Contributors: Optim, Carlossuarez46, Jondel, Bradeos Graphon, Ev-eryking, Mboverload, Utcursch, Ajvanari, Oska, STGM, VishalB, Kwamikagami, Giraffedata, Wiki-uk, Sundar2000, Melaen, Oghmoir,Sfacets, Dangerous-Boy, Sjakkalle, TheRingess, DVdm, YurikBot, MayankGoyal, RDF, So two Willys walk into a bar..., SmackBot,AdamDobay, Pigkeeper, Krsnajinana, ShantiSmurf, Ne0Freedom, Will Beback, JzG, DabMachine, Filelakeshoe, Colin kenney, GogoDodo, Escarbot, Stickyweb, Bakasuprman, Xact, Cerpintaxt12, KarBOT, CommonsDelinker, Adavidb, Inter16, Bonadea, Tunnels of Set,Dchmelik, Davin, Ernestbolds, Mveejay, Hippykilla21, Nsajjansajja, Alexbot, Isa222, Simon D M, XLinkBot, Cminard, Dthomsen8, Ad-dbot, Sivanath, Redheylin, Vyom25, Madagascar periwinkle, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Tucoxn, Tony e02, MrX, Aoidh, Onel5969, John ofReading, Zavatter, SamuelFreli, Snotbot, Widr, Jeraphine Gryphon, BG19bot, Meatsgains, Srihari madhavan, BrightStarSky, Santosh-Bot, MrMorphism, Karamkandirkshastri, Nitya Wilson, Danielc.hopkins, Robert4565, Sandra1959, Mlmcd6051, Pradip283, Asif.sujan,Eqzien, Omotomilola, Halakhalaf123456, Professor Suarez, Ingroc, Jrodgers1234, Imitatia, Apricot123, Rhyman39, Disallowedcontentand Anonymous: 35

13.2 Images• File:Ajna_chakra.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Ajna_chakra.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Con-tributors: Own work Original artist: Flappiefh

• File:Brow_Chakra_Rajasthan_18th_Century.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Brow_Chakra_Rajasthan_18th_Century.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Rajastan India Original artist: Unknown

• File:Frog_parietal_eye.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Frog_parietal_eye.JPG License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: TheAlphaWolf

• File:Manas.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Manas.jpg License: ? Contributors:I (krsnajinana) created this work entirely by myself.Original artist:krsnajinana

13.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0