We often refer to couples who stay steady for a long time, stating that they were together in seven lifetimes. We also refer to fourteen planes or worlds of existence. These are the different classifications of life forms and our going to these planes of existence depending on our thoughts, words and actions in this lifetime.
The seven chakras, or wheels of energy, in our body are as follows. Muladhara is the root and the abode of memory and human knowledge. Our basic instincts of survival rise from here. Swadhishtana, in the sacral region, is also the home of the intellect. Manipura, the navel, is the place where our will resides. Anahata, the heart, is the region of direct cognition and empathy for other life. Vishuddhi, the throat, is the region where divine love is experienced. Agnya, the forehead, is the region of divine vision and clairvoyance. Sahasrara, the crown of the head, is the seat of illumination and godliness.
Below these seven are seven other regions, referred to as regions of hell. That is what we refer to when we say, “I fell down so deep in the Atala Patalam!” Atala is in the region of the knees and the seat of fear and lust and emerges from the world called Put. Our knees wobble when we are afraid, right! Vitala is raging anger the world called Avichi, just beneath the knees. Sutala is in the region of the shin closer to the knees and that’s where retaliatory jealousy springs from. The world is called Sanhata. Talatala is the mid-shin region in the legs and is the seat of prolonged confusion; the region of hell is called Tamisra. Rasatala is the shin closer to the ankles; it is the region of selfishness and the world is called Rijisha.
When a person thinks less before he works or has skewed thinking, we say he thinks from his feet! There is Mahatala or consciouslessness or the world called Kudmala and the lowest region of hell which exists in the feet proper is Patala which speaks of murderous malice. The world is kakola or the region of wickedness.
We have seven levels of rarefied states of consciousness above the Sahasrara too. The highest is the cosmic sound. As all our nadis and subtle energy channels bunch up in the forehead and move into the cosmos through the Sahasrara, our individual personality continues to experience these planes of experience relating to extra-sensory sounds, lights, subtle thoughts, revelations and realisations that ultimately cause a transformation in our human consciousness.
Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)