The Chakras (An Introduction)

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In Chakras, the famous Indic scholar C. W. Lead beater introduces the classical principles of the Chakras as well as their practical application for today. Lead beater unfolds the mysteries of these subtle centers of transformation with visualization techniques essential for a fully realized Tantric practice. He explains each Chakra's connection to colors, sounds, senses with organs, desires, the elements, as well as the behavioural characteristics and effects of meditation of the Chakras. This book provides a complete representation of the Chakras, perhaps for .the first time ever, as experienced by the author himself.

When a man begins to develop his senses, so that he may see a little more than everybody sees, a new and most fascinating world opens before him, and the chakras are among the first objects in that world to attract his attention. His fellow-men present themselves under a fresh aspect; he perceives much with regard to them which was previously hidden from his eyes, and he is therefore able to understand, to appreciate and (when necessary) to help them much better than he could before. Their thoughts and feelings are expressed clearly before his eyes in colour and from the stage of their development, the condition of their health become obvious facts instead of mere matters of inference. The brilliant colouring and the rapid and incessant movement of the chakras bring them immediately under his observation, and he naturally wants to know what they are and what they mean. It is the object of this book to provide an answer to those questions and to give to those who have not yet made any attempt to unfold their dormant faculties some idea of at least this one small section of what is seen by their more fortunate brethren.

In order to clear away inevitable preliminary misconceptions, let it be definitely understood that there is nothing fanciful or unnatural about the sight which enables some men to perceive more than others. It is simply an extension of faculties with which we are all familiar, and to acquire it is to make oneself sensitive to vibrations more rapid than those to which our physical senses are normally trained to respond. These faculties will come to everyone in due course of evolution, but some of us have taken special trouble to develop them now in advance of the rest, at the cost of many years of harder work than most people would care to undertake.

I know that there are still many men in the world who are so far behind the times as to deny the existence of such powers, just as there are still villagers who have never seen a railway train, or Central African savages who do not believe that water will freeze. I have neither time nor space to argue with such invincible ignorance; I can only refer enquirers to my book on Clairvoyance, or to scores of books by other authors on the same subject. The whole case has been proved hundreds of times, and no one who is capable of weighing the value of evidence can any longer be in doubt.

Much has been written about the chakras, but it is chiefly in Sanskrit or in some of the Indian vernaculars. It is only quite recently that any account of them has appeared in English. I mentioned them myself in The Inner Life about 1910, and since then Sir John Woodroffe's magnificent books have been translated. The symbolical drawings of them which are used by the Indian yogis are reproduced in The Serpent Power, but so far as I am aware the illustrations which I give in this book are the first attempt to represent them as they actually appear to those who can see them. Indeed, it is chiefly in order to put before the public this fine series of drawings by my friend the Rev. Edward Warner that I write this book, and I wish to express my deep indebtedness to him for all the time and trouble that he has devoted to them. I have also to thank my indefatigable collaborator, Professor Ernest Wood, for the collection and collation of all the valuable information as to the Indian views on our subject which is contained in Chapter V.

Being much occupied with other work, it was my intention merely to collect and reprint as accompanying letterpress to the illustrations the various articles which I had long ago written on the subject; but as I looked over them certain questions suggested themselves, and a little investigation put me in possession of additional facts, which I have duly incorporated. An interesting point is that both the vitality-globe and the kundaliniring were observed by Dr. Besant and catalogued as hyper-meta-proto elements as long ago as 1895, though we did not then follow them as far enough to discover their relation to one another and the important part that they play in the economy of human life.

**Contents and Sample Pages**