Common sense understanding of Energy centers or chakras!

The purpose of this note here is to bring about an understanding of the fundamen
tals of spiritual existence of a human being, brought about through conversation
s between seekers and their knowledgeable friend Neel!
This is about Neel and his circle of friends and their interactions on various t
opics, during their good old college days!
Neel was the 'go-to'guy during the college days. However, that was only for peop
le who were the seekers, who wished to understand life at a layer deeper than wh
at others strived to understand it or cared to understand!
Issues related to comprehension of topics of the academics, extra curricular act
ivities, mind and its vagaries, dynamics of human body, complications with life
and relationships, rulers of the land and the ideal world scenario, astrology nu
merology, mind reading, body language..et all, were the subject of intense discu
ssions. Neel was there for all, and others contributed too, but Neel invariably
provided a new dimension to most matters at hand, with a generous sprinkling of
metaphysical or spiritual implications if any.
Neels ability to do that stemmed from the fact that, he was an avid reader with
an inquisitive mind and an unparalled thrust to know more in life. His pursuit o
f knowledge was amply aided by his frequent paatha ( study) with his venerable G
uru!
Neel Som, Meeta & Shilpa formed a close circle of friends, they bonded during th
e time they climbed the college stairs for the first time and from then onwards
their bonding was'unbreakable'.
Today, the 24th of November, 2007, was another day at the college! They had a co
mputer lab, where they usually enjoyed themselves a lot, especially over program
ming of small codes in "C" language, that resulted in small useful applications!
Som was working on
of tax, applicable
rking intently for
was programmed in

a small payroll application, that had to deduct a percentage

as per the prevailing rates of the Income tax slabs. After wo
2 hours and after a couple of erratic outputs, a logical loop
and voila, the tax deduction was perfect!

"Got it!" Som punched his first in the air and looked around happily. Neel, Meet
a and Shilpa had finished their apps and were chatting away waiting for Som, jus
t outside the lab. Som signed off on the register and made his way out to where
his friends stood.
As was customary amongst this circle, Som went for a 'fist bump' gesture with Ne
el. "EOWW " shouted Neel shaking his hand just as he touched his fist with Som's
, as there was an electrical spark emanating from Soms hand!
"Oh, am sorry Neel" said Som. "what happened"? shouted Meeta and Shilpa in unisi
on.
"Hey,that was a 'static', No worries Somy! It came from your long hours of work
on a computer"
"How did that happen and it keeps happening with me" complained Som.
"Som, you have more power on your finger tips, that we imagined" said Meeta pret
ending to look at Som with an awe and the winked at others, everyone laughing ou
t.

"Meetu, stop kidding me. Neel, any idea why that happened?"
"Static electricity builds when electrons leap between two objects that have opp
osing electrical charges. A stunning handshake occurs when one person has a nega
tive charge, and the other doesn't. The static builds up also because of the flo
or material and the personnel footwear" said Neel pointing to Som's sports shoes
.
"Neel, I was thinking Som has stored excess energy owing to his pranayama and yo
ga sessions you know?" said Shilpa again with a laugh.
"Shilp, jokes apart, is there a connection between the two? After all, they both
are energies one way or the other" said Som.
" Connections between Static and our bio energy? hmmm...food for thought" chirpe
d Meeta. Som smiled at Meeta with the satisfaction that he was instrumental in b
ringing out the topic of discussion.
"It is scientifically proved* that our cells have electric system in them. The e
lectricity in cells is because of the charged atoms or ions and that in electron
ic devices are charged electrons. The movement of charged electrons or charged i
ons in our cell in a particular flow, creates electromagnetic energy. Praana in
our body also moves around in the form of electromagnetic energy" said Neel.
" Praana? Hmmm.... Now is there a link between Praana and the energy centers, ca
lled Chakraas?" sought Shilpa.
" yes, Neel. Wanted to check on the Chakras for a long time now, as there is so
much being said about Chakras and balancing of the Chakras and the stuff like th
at" said Som.
"Sure, why not? Lets go to the cafeteria and go discuss there" said Neel.
"Yes, lets do that".
As that was a saturday, the lab session was their last period.
ime to relax and talk about this topic. They quickly walked to
which had seats in a nice lawn. A massive Almond tree stood in
ng a four-seater round table, which Neel and his friends often

They had enough t

their cafeteria,
the lawn overseei
frequented.

"Wow, not much of rush today, we can spend good time as this place!" blurted out
a happy Shilpa.
They ordered for fruit cocktails and quickly made way to their seats.
"There is a lot of talk, especially in the west, on Kundalini yoga and chakra th
erapy and stuff like that. Why, there are Chakra alignment and balancing centers
out there in US too" said Meeta as she sat down along with the other three.
" Yes, its been a kind of craze for these kind of stuffs, off late" said Neel an
d continued " As I earlier mentioned, Praana is a kind of electromagnetic energy
, which moves around in the body, along a distinct path, called as Naadis.In fac
t the movement of Praanic ions creates these paths. Like a consistent flow of wa
ter creates rivers or nadi-s, so would a consistent flow of Praana create Naadis. However, these Naadi-s are very subtle and can't be seen by bare eyes and can
be seen by a yogic vision. I know you'd want to know about Yogic vision, but le
t me take that up later, as we are talking about Chakra-s now".
"Sure" they all echoed.

"Chakra's are nothing but energy flow junctions. When Praana in its movement thr
ough various naadi-s meet at a point, that is a Chakra. They are naadi junctions
. They appear like a chakra or a wheel or a circle, as they have spokes of naadi
s criss crossing through these junctions. Imagine a group of people standing in
a circle flashing their torch lights in various directions. Where a few beams me
et, the same would appear as a bright spot and would appear circular in dimensio
n and brightness. Could you imagine that?"
"Yes, I can imagine that it appears so" quipped Meeta.
As they spoke the Cafetaria waiter brought in various fruit juices, in various m
outhwatering flavors, and left them at their table! They each had a sip and then
continued their conversation, in between tasty sips of fresh fruit juices!
"Right. Chakra also means 'host'. They host the vital Praana and are virtual ene
rgy store houses! They are called as Chakra also because they embody movement fr
om one dimension to the other, a fact you'd understand when I explain each major
chakra in detail. There are thousands of Chakra-s, prominent among them being 1
08 that yogis work upon. Out of those, 6-7 chakra-s are most prominent and are f
ixed at points along the spine, though subtly and not physically.
"What is their function? Why should we know about them?" queried Som.
"The major function of a Chakra is to function akin to how an electrical switch
functions at home.When you keep a switch on, the electrical equipments start fun
ctioning. Similarly, these chakra-s are switches and the organs in our body are
the equipments. Unfortunately, we are aware of only the organs, but don't quite
understand the switches at all. When any organ in our body fails, we repair or r
eplace it. But did you know, if we work on the switches, the organs would not fa
il?"
"Oh wow. So is that how yogis are know to live hundred of years and still look y
oung?" asked Shilpa.
" How do you know that Shilpa?" asked Meeta.
"I had read it a few magazines and had seen a book 'Living with Himalayan master
s' by Swami Rama, that talked about Yogis, living for hundred of years. Its not
only that. Swami Rama claims that his Guru had indicated when he would die and w
hen Swami Rama pleaded to him to live a few more years to guide him on the path
of Saadhana, his Guru agreed and asked him how many years he would require guida
nce to which Swami Rama said 10 years. His Guru agreed and told him a date exact
ly after 10 years that he would relinquish this body. And lo and behold, he left
his body exactly on the given date after 10 years. I read just a few chapters w
hen I was at my Uncles house in Bangalore" said Shilpa excitedly.
" Oh
wami
l of
life

great Shilpa, very nice incident you brought out from that famous book by S
Rama. I too had the fortune of reading that classic. Yes, Yogis take contro
the chakras thereby controlling their physical organs and live a very long
of intense sadhana" said Neel.

" Oh my God! Thats suuper to know!! Neel, how do we get to see the chakra-s?" as
ked Som excited akin to a man who has been given a map to some hidden treasure!
"As I said the yogic vision would do that.Yogic vision, in simple, is seeing thi
ngs with the svarupa (original body) eye. It's a vision that one develops, where
they render the external organs redundant through eight fold yoga (called Ashta
anga yoga) and then build their internal vision, which sees a simlar universe as
outside, but totally inside and much more beautiful than what you see outside.

You have scriptures which says 'Yatha brahmaande, tathaa pindande' as in whats i
n brahmaanda (egg shaped universe) similarly you can see in pindanda ( egg shape
d body having soul inside)"
"Oh. I know its something very difficult to achieve. Is there no short method to
do that?" Som interjected.
"No Somy. However, some people do get to see it very quickly. If you have read '
Aghora' a classic written by Robert Svoboda, you'd know that Swami Vimalananda a
chieved that very fast"
"So, how was that?" chipped in Meeta.
"Well, to understand that you need to understand that these achievements are des
tinations in your path of saadhana. And Saadhana is not a thing of one life. It
gets carried over to various lives and a person who has completed most of his sa
adhana but had to leave his body owing to the need of the destiny, might be able
to achieve it in a faster time in his new life, as he has just to connect to hi
s inner minds and he would quickly achieve by doing what little is left over"
"Somy should try doing that, as it appears his excess energy is but a store from
his past life and is overflowing now" said Shilpa winking and everyone burst ou
t laughing.
" Jokes apart guys, anything is possible. So the first thing you can try out Som
y is, to take your mind inwards. Try focussing on your Praana-breath here as the
re is a strong connection between Praana and mind. Once you are able to calm you
r mind by observing your Praana, then imagine golden circular rings along your s
pine which are slowly moving up in concentric circles from the bottom of the spi
ne upwards. Practice this for some time and when you actually start seeing some
movement upwards, let go and then your mind would show you phenomenal lights of
various colors. With this incentive, you could go in deeper and see the flow of
Praana akin to thin flash lights inside. I am practicing this myself now, as adv
ised by my revered Guru" said Neel with a glow of happiness of thinking about hi
s own meditative experience!
"Suuper Neel, I would do that today and this very evening. Thanks a ton Neel. It
was a great evening for us today. You took us to a different world today. Don't
feel like coming out of it. But cant help right now. Will try to get inside the
real internal world today" Som said, not feeling great about getting out of the
great vision Neel showed today.
"You are right Som. It was an amazing experience today! Feel like listening more
, but as you said, we would try the meditation out ourselves and try and experie
nce it ourselves" said Shilpa.
"very true" echoed Meeta.
"Guys, I have just covered the tip of the iceberg, that is our energy centers. T
he next time we squat for a discussion, I would explain to you the physical and
spiritual dimensions of each Chakra and what that means to us and our well being
"
"Sure Neel, we would look forward to our next meet then!" echoed all.
With this ecstatic experience, the friends walked out of the cafeteria and then
to their respective homes, eager to contemplate on what Neel shared today and to
top it up with their sojourn into the beautiful individual inner experiences! T
hey were however unaware of further beautiful and amazing revealations on our en

ergy centers, that Neel would cover next!

Their conversations would continue bringing us more insights into matters that a
re in the realms of yogis!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* Mr. Robert Charman in his paper on electrical properties of cells and tissues
detailed the cell as an electric system. The main difference between electricity
in biological systems and electricity in electronic devices is that cells and t
issues are charged atoms or ions, while electronic devices are based on electron
s. Mr. Von Braun at the institute of Neotic Sciences said that:
We know that the
human eye functions a bit like television camera as it sends electrical pulses
to the brain. Our ear is a sort of microphone which converts the incoming sound
into equivalent electrical signal which is routed to the brain. The body produces
many electrical signals, which can be measured with the help of ECG, EEG and EM
G etc. Our brain contains neurons which uses electrical pulses. Cell voltage is
influenced by external electromagnetic fields and have effect based on its polar
ity and strength