Manipura Chakra: Unleashing Your Inner Power and Spiritual Potential

The third chakra is located between xiphoid and navel. Since everyone has different body structure, it is difficult to say with certainty where the third chakra is located. A partially reliable reference point would be solar plexus.

In a Vedic text, Bhagavata Purana, the manipura chakra is described as follows: « This cloud-colored lotus is full of abundant radiance. It is like shine of a precious stone, therefore it is called manipura». This is where all 72,000 energy channels permeating a body come together. Those who are subtle in sensing energies notice intensity of the radiation of this chakra. It is so bright and mobile that it seems as if a mountain of gemstones is glowing.

Manipura gives an ability to communicate in society, to achieve something significant.

The third chakra represents the highest expression of artha-vritti (psycho-physical striving). Here extroverted tendencies of a person (fascination with the outside world) reach their apogee. This is a chakra in which one feels ambitions, desires, and strivings for material objects . When manipura energy flows freely, a person is fully adequate - you can communicate and negotiate with him, he understands a lot.

Another valuable property of manipura is endurance. It is an ability to act even through "can'ts". In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras manipura is mentioned as follows:

«Through sanyama on the navel chakra, knowledge of the body structure is acquired».

Manipura is an area of digestive fire, but in the metaphysics of Hinduism fire (agni) permeates the Universe, it is within everything. Consequently, the essence shining in everyone is comprehended through this chakra. Meditating on the manipura area, a practitioner gains knowledge about the human body.

"Manipura" is translated fr om Sanskrit as а city of jewels. Some calls it the umbilical chakra (nabhi chakra) and some calls it the solar chakra (solar plexus chakra). There are many other names for manipura in texts, but anyway most of them point to radiance of manipura:

• ”The treasure that resides in navel”.
• ”A brilliant gem”.
• ”A pearl, a diamond”.
• ”Dazzlingly shining fortress”.
• ”Abundance of jewelry”.
• ”That has radiance nature”.

In Slavs it was called "Yarila's Core", in Chinese medicine it is called the "triple heater". The word "mani" is similar to the word "manas", which is translated fr om Sanskrit as thought, spirit, soul. Therefore, manipura also means power of spirit, power of thought.

Another interpretation of manipura is a spirit warrior's wheel. This name is due to the fact that manipura energy expresses a part of a human personality that is recognized as "I want and I can".

Manipura symbol is: a shining yellow circle with ten black petals, their color is comparable to the color of a thundercloud.

Inside the circle is a red triangle, which has an element of swastika on the edges, symbolizing movement and life.

The petals of manipura are connected to the ten most important energy channels of a person and symbolize certain vritti (inclinations), such as:

1. Attachment (mokha) - connection with a channel of small intestine.
2. Envy, obsession (irsha) - connection with a channel of spleen.
3. Lust, desire to possess, jealousy (trishna) - connection with a channel of stomach.
4. Desire to harm others (pishunata) - connection with a channel of lungs.
5. Embarrassment, shame (ladjha) - connection with a channel of colon.
6. Fear, apprehension (bhaya) - connection with a channel of kidneys.
7. Repulsion (ghrina) - connection with a channel of the bladder.
8. Irritability, anger (kashaya) - connection with a channel of liver.
9. Stupidity, laziness (sushupti) - connection with a channel of gallbladder.
10. Sadness, sorrow, melancholy (vishada) - connection with a channel of heart.

The color of energy: yellow.
Cover: pranamaya-kosha.
Guna: rajas.
Element: fire.
Mantra: “RAM”.
Animal: goat.
Octave sound: “mi”.
Perceptive organ: eyes.

The umbilical chakra is the original point from which a person receives energy while in womb. Once the physical connection with mother is interrupted, manipura activates on subtle plane, keeping in touch with an energy of space. Therefore, the chakra is a back-up depository of a person's energy. It is responsible for:

• Vision.
• Immunity.
• Breathing process.
• Digestion.
• Detoxification.
• Storage and distribution of energy.
• "Body" intuition. The third chakra developed allows you to feel the truth with your body, not just know with your mind. Mind can make mistakes, body doesn't lie.
• Balance and stabilization of energy cover.

When one of the chakras fails, manipura takes over its functions. It "connects" to organs that chakra worked with and supports their functioning. If an organ is no longer functioning, for example, after a surgical operation, other chakras "help" to restore balance as best they can. They take some of the work on themselves, gaining excess energy. And an energy disruption takes place. Then manipura “takes” excess energy for “processing” or gives its.

Regulates the operation of:

• Blood vessels.
• Organs of vision.
• Digestive organs.
• Respiratory organs and diaphragm.
• Sympathetic nervous system.
• Thermoregulation.

“Shiva Samhita” says the following about qualities of one who has mastered own manipura: ” He becomes a lord of desires, destroys sorrows, diseases, deceives death and can enter the body of another. He can create gold, discover remedies for diseases, and find hidden treasures”.

The stories of the Incas have been preserved to this day, telling of warriors whose third chakra “blazed as a golden disk”. Legends say they were impossible to kill. Conquerors fired at them, but bullets never hit their target. Similar stories about warriors who could not be defeated by any evil force exist among all peoples, including the Slavs. A person with a healthy manipura strives to be a leader, but realizes that leadership without responsibility is impossible. He is calm, self-disciplined, has willpower, solves deals with a "cool head". Such people do not succumb to manipulation, they can not be broken or imposed on someone else's opinion.

Manipura is responsible for the ability to realize intentions. If the chakra is weak, a person can have many positive ideas but fails to realize them. With a strong manipura even the slightest intention prompts to action, body has enough energy for everything planned.

Abilities to concentrate and visualize are also related to manipura. Successful people first visualize goals down to the smallest details, only then implement them.

Qualities of harmoniously functioning of healthy manipura:

• Clear expression of thoughts, clear speech, power of words.
• Material well-being, success in business.
• The ability to influence people rather than seek approval.
• Conscientiousness, intelligence, discernment of what is right and wrong.
• Accuracy, neatness, diligence.
• Fairness, responsibility, ethics.
• Altruism, practicality, business sense.
• Desires to teach, to reason, to explain.
• Inventiveness, self-expression.
• Self-development, self-discipline.
• Managing emotions, desires, feelings.
• Confidence in own strength, leadership skills.
• Absence of eating disorders, stable mentality, good health.

In the guna of goodness manipura manifests itself as altruism, the ability to understand others. Tolerance for people's inadequate behavior is also a quality of a healthy chakra.

In men, manipura tends to be more active and unidirectional, serving as the "giving" chakra. This manifests itself in straightforwardness, firmness, decisiveness, and accuracy of purposes. Men know what they want, can concretely express thoughts and desires. They more often achieve success in their careers and business, occupy leadership positions, management positions.

Healthy manipura gives a man the highest form of power i.e., power over himself and his life.

For a man, manipura is the main generator of strength and energy. The third chakra is responsible for the ability to act and earn, gives faith in one's strength, purposefulness, responsibility. It is self-discipline, cold reasoning, reliance on logic rather than feelings.

However, there is a risk of developing selfishness, attachment to successes. If a man has unbalanced manipura, this can convert to excessive ambitiousness and materialism.

Women are less principled in matters of self-assertion. Female manipura has a "receiving" function, it is less active than in men. Nature has designed it that way so that a woman would retain her flexibility and tenderness. Due to this, a woman with a healthy manipura is able to draw energy from many sources.

Manipura gives a man energy and desire to earn, but correct work of this chakra largely depends on a woman who is paired with this man. If a woman lives in feminine energies, then a man near her shows himself as a provider and protector.

With a harmonious chakra, a woman has flexible character, strong energy, attractiveness, does not have any material problems.

Healthy manipura gives adequate self-esteem, allows you to maintain dignity in any situation, to defend personal boundaries. Such a woman easily compromises, is able to see different ways of solving a problem.

This is so because manipura distributes energy to endocrine system and reproductive system i.e., the sources of women's health and well-being. If a woman is able to submit (i.e., in a good way, voluntarily, based on love), the energy from solar plexus flows freely to all organs.

Today, women works in many industries traditionally considered male-dominated, running huge corporations on par with men. It often leads to reproductive system diseases, hormonal failures and loneliness.

In addition to demands for equality with men, modern women have another problem - loss of modesty, morality. Whereas solar plexus or waist are symbols of purity (these are the places wh ere a woman ties her girdle). If a person behaves frivolously, they are said to be ungirdled.

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite's girdle given to her by her husband Hephaestus gave her strength and magnetism. Thus, "Aphrodite's belt" symbolizes a woman's ability to order the chaotic flow of energy of lower chakras. It gives her an ability not get frustrated with unnecessary affairs and unworthy men.

A woman with a harmonious manipura is treated with another attitude by men. It's not a one day fling, but beginning of a relationship with a possible future. Such a woman does not need to hint to a man that she does not need one-day relationship, the energy itself says everything for her. Manipura adds seriousness to sex appeal and gives an opportunity to find a serious and reliable companion for a family.

Love at the level of the third energy center is experienced as a desire to impose on everyone what makes oneself feel good i.e., to catch up and cause goodness. It is not love, but a desire to possess or gain benefits fr om a partner.

This is wh ere a strong attachment is formed when "bound together by the same chain". Such a union can be strong as long as each party gets what they want. Often people who marry at the manipura level enter into marriage contracts.

On the other hand, it happens that one of the spouses begins to manipulate the other, trying to recast his/her personality to suit needs. This is the problem of relations at the third power level - they have consumer colour. A partner is valuable only when he/she covers certain needs of the other one.

If two people with equally strong manipura meet, "sword meets sword", "sparks fly", spirit of competition, manipulation, attempts to suppress each other turn on. Such a relationship can't last long.

However, if both a man and a woman in a couple are endowed with healthy, worked out manipura, they can become real companions, bearings to each other.

It appears in two states:

• Blocking.
• Hyperactivity.

Blocked chakra being in tamasic guna manifests itself as:

• Financial constraints.
• Selfishness both in the material world and in spiritual practice. Conflicts, criticality, hypercontrol, increased demands on others.
• A desire to stand out, e.g. through status, as it becomes an important evaluation criterion. Abuse of a position, power, "obsession" with work, ingratiation to superior people.
• Lack of self-confidence, indecision, anxiety, doubts, insularity.
• Decline in energy.
• To manipulate people with blocked manipura is easy. An opinion of others and desire to please everyone is higher than their own vision of life.

Hyperactive manipura

When the chakra is attuned to excessive energy emission, it can be called hyperactivity, it is affected by rajasic guna.

Without the fire, burning within, there is no life. But, if you're not careful, the fire can quickly get out of control and consume everything.

Sadhguru

Qualities of the chakra in passion (in rajasic guna):

1. Greed, hoarding of both things and knowledge, even aggressive hoarding, such as cheating someone to get something. Spiritual materialism.
2. Hubris.
3. Lust for power.
4. Self-arrogance.

The primary motivation of hyperactive manipura is to manipulate others. Mind trap: belittling others to rise above them.

1. It all starts with a desire. The desire to possess, to acquire. This applies to both material things and spiritual aspects.
2. From the lust for possession attachments are formed.
3. The more attachments, the more fear. Fear of losing an object of attachment.
4. From fear a person either "freezes", becomes inactive and apathetic or shows aggression towards others.

These block energy in manipura and start running around in circle:

• The weaker manipura, the more often one has to obey circumstances rather than manifests free will.
• When a person restrains himself, he unconsciously clenches his teeth and tenses his solar plexus. Stress accumulates in these parts of body.
• As a result, stressed manipura creates tension in the life programs of free will and self-presentation in society.
• Physical body loses tone because a huge amount of vital energy is spent on overcoming this internal psychophysical tension. And in the morning when a person has to get up, the overloaded psyche and exhausted body says: "I can't take it anymore. I'm tired".
• Lack of fortitude leads to thoughts wandering in which one gets lost and postpones choices. A person can't follow his priorities because he is unable to define them. One doesn't understand his/her place in society, which triggers a new wave of fears.

What else blocks manipura:

1. Physical injuries.
2. Alcohol, drugs, chemical medications, smoking, anesthesia.
3. Emotionality ("water" of emotions puts out the "fire").

• Rejection of physical needs.
• Rejection of spiritual spring.
• "Dissipation," a habit of taking on several affairs at the same time.
• Getting into a loop with one thing.
• A compulsive desire to be useful.
• Fear of being a burden.
• The strongest survives in this world.
• Belief in own weakness, disbelief in success.
• Self-dissatisfaction.
• Rejection of true desires and feelings.
• The desire to be "good", "positive", the desire to control everything.
• Lack of personal boundaries.
• Lack of confidence in life.
• Difficulties in communication: it is difficult to agree with people, to hear another person's opinion, to make compromises.
• Worrying about what others will think.
• It is difficult to finish an affair started, any deal seems to be hard and long.
• There is a desire to get everything at once, there is no patient.
• Distraction from getting things done, wasting energy and time on empty things.
• Lack of joy and satisfaction; achievement of results is just another “tick”.
• Fear of powerful people.
• Tendency to suppress and criticize people.
• Fear of criticism.
• Excessive worry about problems with money, work issues, material goods, nutrition.
• Eating junk food, overeating, digestive system overload.
• Feeling of living like hard and bleak.

In order to bring manipura into harmony, the following is recommended::

1. Daily routine: get up before dawn, when the sun brings charging of cheerfulness and goodness.
2. Sun light, yellow colour for things, interior, clothes; eating fruits of yellow colour.
3. Balanced diet. Limiting consumption or avoiding meat, fish, eggs, onions, garlic, mushrooms, alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, carbonated drinks.
4. Fast days.
5. Tempering.
6. Following ahimsa principle i.e., non-violence.
7. Sacrifice i.e., offering of food and fire to the altar.
8. Fulfillment of obligations at all levels.
9. Caring for juniors, subordinates, those who are weaker.
10. Responsibility, self-control, discipline, planning.
11. Non-conflict.

Yoga

Yoga asanas for manipura are:

• Mayurasana,
• Chakrasana,
• Dhanurasana,
• Padahastasana,
• Paschimottanasana,
• Matsyendrasana,
• Uddiyana-bandhu,
• Agnisara Kriya.

Shatkarmas

• Kunjala and Gaja Karani.

Mantras

• The mantra of manipura - "RAM".

Pranayama

• Full yogic breathing.
• Kapalabhati.
• Bhastrika.
• Surya Bhedana.

Vivekamartanda describes meditation on manipura in this way:

"A yogi, fixing his gaze on the tip of his/her nose, who meditates on Atman in manipuraka, shining like the rising sun, gains an ability to influence the whole world".

Therefore, meditation on manipura should be performed only under an experienced mentor guidance, so as not to harm either yourself or others.

“It must be recognized that true opening of the chakras is a matter of the highest yoga stages. The chakras cannot be fully opened through using of gemstones, herbs, or any external influences. Yogic potential of the chakras can only be realized through pranayama, mantras and meditation. To experience the chakras inwardly it is required concentrated spiritual exercises (sadhana) rooted in one’s inner world and coupled with full mentorship and enlightened tradition.”

David Frawley

A safe type of meditation for manipura is trataka i.e., focusing one's gaze on a candle flame.

Growth of civilization occurs when consciousness prevails at the level of the third chakra: arts and culture of relationships flourish. When society's consciousness prevails at the level of svadhishthana, it lives by animal instincts: everything is allowed, there are no limits. At the manipura level, a person does not fully recognize inhibitions yet, but at least fears external judgment and controls behavior.

This is how development of human personality takes place: leaving the foundations that corrupt consciousness, because society creates certain frameworks, and due to shame and fear people keep these frameworks.

The next stage of society's development, in which anahata-chakra energies would prevail, is still unknown to a man. Most people live at the level of three lower chakras.

Realized masters of spiritual practices urge to move along a path of spiritual development and instruct as follows: ”You are a man and have no right to live below anahata!”

Solar plexus is a bridge to the soul, a gateway to the heart. Many practitioners begin their spiritual search from manipura. A person is already asking questions, wants to change the world.

Activation of energy in manipura opens up abilities through which a person becomes a significant participant of social process. But for people who engage in spiritual practices, this often becomes a problem to adapt to society.

Adequate spiritual practice does not lim it, but expands horizons spiritualizing social life. And a healthy manipura serves as a bridge between spiritual and social life; a person is able to develop without losing touch with others and without falling out of society.