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Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
chakra

1888 in yoga sense, from Sanskrit cakra "circle, wheel," from PIE root *kwel- (1) "wheel" (see cycle (n.)).

Wiktionary
chakra

n. (context Hinduism Ayurveda English) Any of (at least more than) seven centres of spiritual energy in the body, according to Ayurveda philosophy.

Wikipedia
Chakra

In some Indian religions, a chakra ( Sanskrit cakra, "wheel") is thought to be an energy point or node in the subtle body. Chakras are believed to be part of the subtle body, not the physical body, and as such, are the meeting points of the subtle (non-physical) energy channels called nadi. Nadi are believed to be channels in the subtle body through which the life force ( prana) (non-physical) or vital energy (non-physical) moves. Various scriptural texts and teachings present a different number of chakras. It's believed that there are many chakras in the subtle human body, according to the tantric texts, but there are seven chakras that are considered to be the most important ones.

The Vedas are the oldest written tradition in India, (1,500 – 500 B.C.) recorded from oral tradition by upper caste Brahmins, who may have been descended from the Aryan stock which entered India from the north. The original meaning of the word chakra as “wheel” refers to the chariot wheels of the rulers, called cakravartins. (The correct spelling is cakra, though pronounced with a ch as in church.) The word was also a metaphor for the sun, which “traverses the world like the triumphant chariot of a cakravartin and denotes the eternal wheel of time called the kalacakra which represents celestial order and balance.

The birth of a cakravartin was said to herald a new age, and they were described as preceded by a golden disk of light, much like the halo of Christ, only this spinning disk was seen in front of them (perhaps their powerful third chakras). It is also said that the god Vishnu descended to Earth, having in his four arms a cakra, a lotus flower, a club, and a conch shell. (This may have referred to a cakra as a discus-like weapon.)

There is some mention of the chakras as psychic centers of consciousness in the Yoga Upanishads (circa 600B.C.) and later in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (circa 200 B.C.). Most interpretations of Patanjali read a dualism between purusha (pure consciousness) and prakriti (the prima materia of the world), implying that the goal of yoga was to rise above nature for the realization of pure consciousness, free of the fluctuations of the mind and emotions. Yet the word yoga means union or yoke, so this realization of consciousness must ultimately reintegrate with nature for a higher synthesis.

The chakra system and Kundalini yoga arose within the Tantric tradition, during the second half of the first millennium, common era. The word Tantra means tool (tra) for stretching (tan) and can be thought of as a loom in which the fabric of nature is woven from the union of opposites. In the West, Tantra is thought of primarily as a sexual tradition, yet sacred sexuality is only a small part of a broad weaving of philosophy which includes many practices of yoga, worship of deities, especially the Hindu goddesses, and integration of the many polaric forces in the universe.

The main text about chakras that has come to us in the West is a translation by the Englishman, Arthur Avalon, in his book,The Serpent Power published in 1919. These texts: the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, written by an Indian pundit in 1577, and the Padaka-Pancaka, written in the 10th century, contain descriptions of the centers and related practices. There is also another 10th century text, called the Gorakshashatakam, which gives instructions for meditating on the chakras. These texts form the basis of our understanding of chakra theory and Kundalini yoga today.

In these traditions, there are seven basic chakras, and they all exist within the subtle body, overlaying the physical body. Through modern physiology we can see that these seven chakras correspond exactly to the seven main nerve ganglia which emanate from the spinal column. There are minor chakras mentioned in the ancient texts, the soma chakra, located just above the third eye, and the Anandakanda lotus, which contains the Celestial Wishing Tree (Kalpataru) of the Heart Chakra, and other texts mention minor sub-levels to the major chakras.

Chakra (film)

Chakra is a 1981 Hindi movie directed by Rabindra Dharmaraj. The film stars Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.

Chakra (disambiguation)

Chakra is a point in the human body, which is a centre of spiritual energy in Hindu metaphysical tradition and other belief systems.

Chakra or Chakram may also refer to:

  • Chakram, a throwing weapon, often pronounced "chakra"
  • Wawel Chakra, a place on Wawel hill in Kraków in Poland, which is believed to emanate powerful spiritual energy
  • Chakra (Quechua), a term of the Quechua language used for a small farm in the Andes
Chakra (band)

was a South Korean girl group, debuting in 1999 as part of the megagroup Bros. The group disbanded in 2006. From their first album, Chakra was known in South Korea for their Indian-inspired dance music. They were created and originally produced by Roo'ra leader Lee Sang-min.

Chakra (JScript engine)

Chakra is a JavaScript engine developed by Microsoft for its Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) web browser. While developed originally as closed source proprietary software, in January 2016, it was released as open source software under the MIT license.

Chakra (operating system)

Chakra (officially Chakra GNU/Linux) is a Linux distribution originally based on Arch Linux and focused on the latest KDE software, intending to provide a KDE/ Qt minimizing use of other widget toolkits where possible. It has been well received by critics.

Chakra (album)

Chakra was the third studio album of the South Korean girl group Chakra. The singles were Come Back and The. They won the Best Dance Award for their single The. The album sold about 200,000 copies, making it their best selling album to date.

Chakra (trance duo)

Chakra is one of the artist names taken by the British production duo of Richard Louis Simmonds (Ricky Simmons) and Stephen Christopher Jones (Steve Jones). They produced trance music, usually sampling voices, notably working with Kate Cameron.

The duo produced other singles and albums under the names Ascension, Essence, Force Majeure, Klymax, Lustral, Oxygen, The Realm, Sapphire, Simmonds & Jones, and The Space Brothers. They also collaborated under the Chakra name with the German trance music DJ, Markus Schulz, notably on his album, Progression.

Usage examples of "chakra".

This includes contacting the subtle patterns or energies of our physical covering -the pranas, chakras and physical tattwas - or enlarging consciousness of our human mind structure.

In Eastern thought, you release the lower chakras first, then the upper chakras, moving people away from their bodies and their sexuality toward a sense of oneness with the universe.

Picture your chakras opening as flowers and at the center of each is a slow motion explosion of sweet light.

In different parts of the body we have psychic centres, or chakras, which give off and receive psychic impulses, impressions and vibrations.

One is the order of the Buddhist icons, continuing as far as possible in the spirit of the Indian visionary inspiration, reduced, however, to the level of chakra four.

The sixth chakra of Pinda, lying between and behind the two physical eyes, though it has no specific anatomical location.

Picture your gut chakra opening in a slow-motion explosion of sausage-casing small intestine.

And so Freud and Adler and their followers can be said to have interpreted the phenomenology of the spirit in terms exclusively of chakras two and three -- which is enough to explain their inability to make anything more interesting either of the mythological symbols of mankind or of the goals of human aspiration.

The nature of thought on this level is that of mechanistic science, positivistic reasoning, and the aims of its life are as envisioned at chakras 1, 2, and 3.

For it is only at the level of the fourth chakra that specifically human, as distinct from sublimated animal, aims and drives become envisioned and awakened.

Hence, even in the Buddhist arts of the Far East there is evident generally a displacement of interest from the prospect of the sixth chakra to the level of chakra four.

Some western schools talk of a seventh, 'crown' chakra, but this is really a confusion, for it relates to the Sahasra, which is not a part of Pinda, the physical universe, at all.

Maybe he was one of those New Age people, with his talk of energy and chakras and stuff that she didn't understand.

And after the introductions and the guided meditation, the seven doors of the palace, the white healing ball of light, after we open our chakras, when it comes time to hug, I'll grab the little bitch.

He told Brytanni that he couldn't possibly have his aura fluffed until he'd gotten his chakras aligned, and doing both in close succession was almost as big a no-no as going swimming less than half an hour after eating.