Satyananda 
assigns these three chakras to the first three of seven possible 
planes of evolution, which are: 
the three 
main planes Bhu - earth 
Bhuvana - intermediate space 
Svaha - heaven 
Mahaha 
Janana 
Tapaha 
Satyam - the truth 227 
Consequently, the paranormal abilities which result from 
the awakening of the svadhishthana - telepathy, clair­
voyance, clairaudience, etc. - may not be entirely free of self-
interest, negativity, personal emotion, and other undesirable 
mental attributes. This is because the subject's personality 
remains within the second stage of evolution, and the earth-
bound egotistical self still occasionally manifests its in­
fluence. However, when the individual evolves beyond the 
limits of mortal existence and enters the realm of the 
manipura, he reaches a state of higher consciousness full of 
infinite beauty, truth, and felicity. This chakra has been 
traditionally described as jewel-like in a variety of cultures to 
symbolize these incomparable qualities. Here, no trace of 
prejudice or personal bias remain. Thus, the siddhis (super­
natural powers) realized when the manipura awakens are of 
a benevolent and compassionate nature. They include the 
ability to locate hidden treasures, the mastery of fire, the 
ability to see the body from within, freedom from disease, 
and the ability to send prana to the sahasrara. In addition, 
concentration on the manipura improves digestion. The lotus of the manipura chakra contains ten dark blue 
petals, each inscribed with a Sanskrit letter. These sound 
vibrations, each corresponding to a nadi, are: Dam, Dham, 
Nam, Tarn, Tham, Dam, Dham, Nam, Pam. The presiding 
female deity is Lakshmi (or Lakini) who drips fat and blood 
from her mouth. The male deity is Vishnu. The tattva of the 
manipura is fire, whose bija mantra is Ram; within the 
diagram, it rides on the back of a ram. Its yantra is an in­
verted triangle, often depicted with T-shaped protuberances 
on each side. The Anahata Chakra 
The anahata chakra is said to be located in the area of the 
astral body which corresponds to the heart. Thus, in the 
physical body it is closely connected with the heart and the 228 
cardiac nervous plexus, and is often referred to as the "heart 
chakra." However, in contrast to the small area occupied by 
the physical heart, the astral space of the anahata chakra is 
vast and formless. It is normally dark, but when activated 
becomes radiantly bright. It is said that purity resides here. The word anahata means "unbeaten" or "unbroken." Ana­
hata nada manifests here, a non-physical sound which con­
tinues without beginning or end. To understand the import of the anahata chakra, we must 
first summarize Satyananda's views on karma. Derived from the root "kri" meaning "to work," the word 
karma denotes the law of cause and effect, by which every 
action generates its own result. However, it is commonly 
used to describe a kind of indebtedness for one's actions 
which must be worked out or paid for at some future time. Therefore, there are both individual karma and social or col­
lective group karma, because actions may be performed 
either by individuals or a group or society as a whole. Sat-
yananda further distinguishes individual karma, which 229 
originates from one's own past incarnations, and that de­
rived from one's parents or ancestors. Thus, there are three 
major categories of karmic debt: a) that accruing from an in­
dividual's past incarnations; b) that inherited from his fami­
ly; and c) that resulting from actions of his society or social 
group. All these factors contribute to an individual's karma; 
they must be dealt with. It is impossible to avoid one's karma. The three lowest chakras - muladhara, svadhishthana, and 
manipura - are closely related to the senses and conscious­
ness which govern the physical body and its maintenance. Functioning within the phenomenal world, the mind of these 
chakras is bound by the law of karma. In other words, at this 
level the jiva (individual soul) is not free from the causal 
relation between actions and their consequences; its func­
tions depend on karma, and are bound by it. Regardless of 
whether its origin lies in the individual s past lives, that of 
his forbearers, or in the actions of the society to which he 
belongs, karma totally dictates the individual at the levels of 
the muladhara and svadhishthana, until it is somehow either 
worked out or purified. However, at the level of manipura, 
the jiva begins to assume partial control, and can exercise its 
own will to a limited degree. In contrast, the mode of being which functions in the 
anahata chakra completely transcends the realm of worldy 
existence. Unlike the previous three, it is not subordinate to 
the karma of this world. Therefore an individual with an 
awakened anahata chakra can directly perceive the work­
ings of earthly karma, and at the same time free himself of it. At this level the jiva can control worldy karma and exert its 
own will in this realm to fulfill its wishes. Here lies the major 
difference between the anahata and the lower chakras. At 
the lower levels, the individual soul merely accepts what is 
presented by karmic circumstance, but at the anahata it can 
exercise its free will. This power of wish fulfillment is symbolized by the 
"wishing tree' - an evergreen called Kalpavriksha -230 
represented within the similar lotus beneath the anahata in 
the symbolic diagram. Although present in all persons, this 
tree only functions when the anahata chakra has awakened. When this power is acquired, it is said that the subject's wish 
will be granted, whether good or evil. Therefore Satyananda 
issues the following admonitions. Before attempting to awaken the anahata chakra, it is im­
perative to develop the capacities of correct thinking and 
judiciousness. Evil thoughts and misjudgments tend to 
create disharmony and conflict; this is especially true when 
a subject with an awakened anahata wills his mistaken 
thoughts and desires into full actualization. In addition, an attitude of constant optimism must be 
maintained. Inner peace and harmony in relations with 
others should be practiced, regardless of any confusion, con­
flict, or malicious intent one encounters. Negativity and 
pessimism are obstacles to the awakening of the anahata. Thus, even a hedonist or a murderer should be regarded as 
an innately good person; such negative conditions as pover­
ty, disease, emotional conflict, etc., should be considered 
ultimately beneficial occurrences. In fact, the cultivation of 
such a consistently positive attitude is considered a method 
for awakening the anahata. According to Satyananda, it is 
also important to keep in mind the thought, "The whole 
world is within me. I am in everyone. Everyone is in me." His recommendation is probably based on the Hindu belief 
that Brahman, the absolute being of the cosmos, resides in 
the anahata chakra as Atman, the individual true self. Brahman and Atman are, in essence, the same. Indeed, this 
realization is important both for awakening the anahata, and 
for the realization of the universal Absolute. Satyananda further admonishes his disciples in the follow­
ing way. In general, after the awakening and ascension of 
kundalini shakti to a given chakra, when any negative or 
pessimistic attitude arises in the mind, the kundalini will 
return to the muladhara. If it only reaches the manipura and 231 
then descends, it can be raised again by yogic or other prac­
tices. However, if it should descend after having reached the 
anahata, it is extremely difficult to raise it again. Clearly, 
those wishing to awaken the anahata should not for one mo­
ment lose their optimism, regardless of the circumstances 
encountered. Anyone who endeavors to awaken the kun-
dalini should take this admonition seriously. A number of paranormal abilities result from the awaken­
ing of the anahata chakra. The ability to control air (vayu) is 
acquired. Non-individualistic, cosmic love is awakened. The 
practitioner becomes eloquent, and poetic genius develops. As mentioned before, he acquires the power to have his 
wishes fulfilled. The anahata controls the sense of touch. When it is 
awakened, one's sense of touch becomes increasingly subtle, 
and even astral matter can be felt, using the astral sense of 
touch. This sensation can then be communicated to others. Thus the anahata's sense organ is the skin, and its active 
organ is the hands. In addition to these paranormal abilities mentioned by Sat-
yananda, powers of psychic healing also develop when the 
anahata awakens. Prana can be transmitted through the 
palms and directed to the diseased area of another person's 
body. The well-known technique of "laying-on of hands" is 
probably related to the close connection between the 
anahata and the hands. Psychokinetic powers also develop 
when the anahata is awakened. The lotus of the anahata chakra has twelve vermilion 
petals, containing the letters Kam, Khan, Gam, Gham, Ngam, 
Cham, Chham, Jam, Jham, Nyam, Tam and Than. The 
associated tattva is vayu (air or wind) and is symbolized by a 
hexagonal star, the yantra of the anahata. As previously men­
tioned, the inverted triangle represents shakti, material 
force, while the erect triangle represents Shiva, or con­
sciousness. The yantra is smoky in color, and the bija mantra 232 
is Yam. It rides on the back of a black antelope, a symbol for 
alertness. Satyananda says that the mantra Om Shanti (shan-
ti means inner peace) belongs to the anahata. The female dei­
ty is Kali (or Kakini), wearing a necklace of human bones. The male deity is Isha or Rudra. The anahata contains the Vishnu granthi (knot). As 
described earlier, the chakras containing granthis 
(muladhara, anahata, and ajna) are of special importance. Only when they are awakened and the knots are loosened 
can the kundalini rise to further the process of spiritual 
evolution. The Vishuddhi Chakra 
In the physical body, the vishuddi chakra is located in the 
throat, corresponding closely to the thyroid gland. It is 
related to the pharyngeal and laryngeal nerve plexuses. "Vishuddhi" is derived from the word "shuddhi," to purify; 
it is considered the chakra of purification. In contrast to the 
ajna and manipura chakras, where the purification of 233 
thought and karma may take place, the vishuddhi is said to 
purify poison. The nature of this purification may be ex­
plained as follows. In tantra yoga it is said that the moon excretes ambrosia, 
which is consumed by the sun of the manipura. The moon 
here refers to the brain, the region of the sahasrara, which is 
often symbolized by a moon or half-moon (perhaps cor­
responding to the ventricles of the brain) in both Hinduism 
and Taoism. The ambrosia or divine nectar formed there 
flows down to the manipura, where it is consumed as fuel to 
sustain life. The nectar secreted from the sahasrara forms into drops at 
bindu visargha, the psychic "point" at the back of the head 
(see next section). It drips down to a minor chakra called 
lalana in the upper part of the epiglottis or the base of the 
nasal orifice, which serves as a reservoir for the nectar. It is 
secreted when such mudras as khechari are practiced, and 
flows down to the vishuddhi chakra. If the vishuddhi has 
been awakened to some degree, the nectar undergoes 
purification and becomes the divine nectar which re­
juvenates the body, bringing good health and longevity. However, it is said that if the vishuddhi is not active, the nec­
tar becomes poison and flows downward. It slowly poisons 
the body, leading to decay and eventual death. According to Satyananda, an awakened vishuddhi chakra 
also has the power to neutralize poisons which originate out­
side the body. In fact, the thyroid gland, which corresponds 
closely to the vishuddhi in the physical body, is medically 
recognized to perform an antitoxin function. The awakening of the vishuddhi chakra results in 
telepathic powers. Although a person may feel that thoughts 
from others are received in the manipura or elsewhere, the 
actual reception center is in the vishuddhi. From there, the 
thought waves are transmitted to other centers, in the brain 
and elsewhere, where conscious recognition may occur. Along with the muladhara, the vishuddhi is the source of all 234 
the basic sounds: the vowels are said to originate here, as in­
scribed on the chakra's petals. Other associated paranormal 
abilities include indestructibility, full knowledge of the 
Vedas - the sacred texts which expound the Law of the 
Universe - the ability to know the past, present, and future, 
and the ability to endure without food or drink (see next sec­
tion on the bindu). The sixteen petals of the vishuddhi, violet-gray in color, 
contain the following letters: A, A, I, I, U, U, R, R, L, L, E, Ai, 
O, Au, Am and Ah. Its tattva is space (akasha), represented 
by a circular or oval yantra. The bija mantra is Ham, which 
sits atop a small white elephant within the circle. The female 
deity is Shakani, the male deity Sadashiva. The vishuddhi is 
associated with the sense of hearing. Thus, its organs of 
knowledge and action are the ears and the vocal cords, 
respectively. Satyananda does not consider the sahasrara a chakra in the 
true sense. He says that chakras operate within the human 
psyche, manifesting at different levels. The sahasrara, 
however, is the totality beyond all individualization. Therefore, it is not discussed in Tantra of Kundalini Yoga. The bindu, however, is discussed, as follows. Bindu Visargha 
Bindu means "drop" or "spot", and bindu visargha literal­
ly means "the falling of the drop." Since "drop" refers to the 
nectar produced there, the entire phrase is perhaps best 
rendered "the seat of nectar." According to tradition, the bindu is located near the top of 
the brain, towards the back of the head. A very slight depres­
sion or pit is found there, which contains a small amount of 
liquid secretion. Within this pit there is a slight elevation, the 
exact location of the bindu in the physiological structure. Cranial nerves emanate from this point including those con­
nected to the optic system. 235 
The process by which nectar is secreted from the bindu, 
stored in the lalana chakra in the nasal orifice, and purified 
by the vishuddhi chakra, has been described above. The bin­
du and lalana are best understood as minor psychic centers 
which are directly connected to the vishuddhi. Such minor 
centers cannot be awakened independently of the related 
major chakra. For this reason, only the six major chakras, 
from miiladhara to ajna, are called "chakras of awakening." As the divine nectar, purified by the harmonious function­
ing of the bindu, lalana and vishuddhi, begins to descend and 
pervade the entire body, extraordinary feats become possi­
ble. For example, a person is able to subsist for long periods 
without air, food, or water. There are documented cases of 
yogis who have been buried underground for forty days, 
voluntarily subsisting in state of hibernation, and have fully 
recovered. This is made possible by the practice of a special 
form of khechari mudra, in which the tendon beneath the 
tongue is gradually severed over a two year period, until it 
can be curled back in the epiglottis to completely seal the 
respiratory passage. This directly stimulates the lalana 236 
center, and nectar falls to the vishuddhi, where it is purified 
and distributed throughout the body, supplying oxygen and 
other nutrients necessary for life. The bindu is induced to 
produce more nectar, and the body's need for air, food, and 
water is drastically reduced. * It is said that the nectar can 
slow down the body's metabolism, and in fact yogis buried 
underground exhibit no new hair growth. At our institute in Tokyo we have conducted experiments 
which support the claim that an awakened vishuddhi chakra, 
in conjunction with the bindu and lalana centers, makes 
possible the conscious control of metabolism, respiration, 
food intake, digestion, etc. (For details, see my Western and 
Eastern Medical Studies of Pranayama and Heart Control, 
Vol. 3, No. 1 of the Journal of the International Association for 
Religion and Parapsychology]. According to Satyananda, the bindu controls visual 
perception. Cranial nerves connect it with the optical 
system. Therefore abnormality in the bindu can lead to eye 
disease. The bindu is a center of nada, or psychic sound. When the 
vishuddhi and bindu are awakened by such practices as 
Navamukhi mudra (Chapter IV), vajroli mudra (Chapter IV), 
and murcha pranayama (Chapter III), a continuous non-
physical sound comprised of innumerable subtle vibrations 
is heard. This experience pinpoints the exact location of the 
bindu. Because it is not a chakra as such, the bindu is not 
represented by a lotus or resident deities. Its symbol is a full 
moon - representative of the point for which individualiza­
tion begins - and also a crescent moon, expressing the fact 
that only a portion of the infinite totality which resides in the 
sahasrara is manifest and perceptible to the practitioner at 
the bindu. •The acquisition of these powers is sometimes attributed to the awakening 
of the Kurma ("tortoise") nadi", associated with the vishuddhi chakra. 237 
Both the dot (full moon) and crescent moon may be seen in 
the upper right corner of some stylized versions of the writ­
ten character OM: 
This concludes our presentation of Satyananda's views on 
the chakras. This chapter is also the final installment in our 
review of the major extant literature on the chakras and 
nadis. For the sake of clarification and as a summary, I 
would now like to present a discussion of my own ex­
periences, experimentation, and theories in this field. IX 
Experience and Experiments 
of the Chakras 
by 
Motoyama 
After carefully studying the material described in the 
previous chapters, two questions troubled me. The first question was, simply, will ordinary readers believe 
that the chakras exist? I believe that they do exist, and as part 
of the supporting evidence for this assertion, I would like to 
describe here the chakra-related experiences I, personally, 
have had over the last thirty years of practicing yoga. In ad­
dition, I wish to describe the scientific exploration into the 
possible existence of the chakras and their related systems 
which I have done. This discussion will make up the major 
portion of this chapter. Before I begin that, however, I want to deal with the sec­
ond question which emerged from the study. This is the prob­
lem I have with Leadbeater's assertion that the chakras he ex­
perienced were the true ones and that the traditional 
representations of the chakras are merely symbols. I myself have not experienced the symbols as such in my 
own personal chakra awakening. However, my mother, a 
simple woman with no knowledge of Sanskrit, did. Specifi-
cally, she often commented on the fact that she saw a symbol 
238 239 
which looked like an inverted sailboat inside a six pointed 
star at her anahata chakra. We wondered what it meant. It 
was not until I studied Sanskrit years later that I was shaken 
by the realization that my mother had, in fact, seen the sym­
bol traditionally associated with the anahata chakra: - 
 - , 
the bija mantra "yam" surrounded by the star - 
 - . It 
is, therefore, difficult for me to accept Leadbeater's view. Coupling this with Satyananda's statements that there are in­
deed dimensions in which the mantras and yantras do exist, 
I have come to feel that the chakras which Leadbeater ex­
perienced are probably those of his self-termed etheric dou­
ble rather than the higher chakras of the astral or causal 
dimension. This also might somehow account for 
Leadbeater's outstanding omission of the svadhishthana 
chakra, referring as he does only to the "spleen chakra", i.e., 
the manipura. I do not know if he simply overlooked the 
svadhishthana or if perhaps he purposely excluded it for 
some reason. Returning to my own experiences, I was introduced to 
spiritual reality from an early age. My natural and foster 
mothers - both spiritual devotees - began taking me to 
temples and shrines in the mountains of Shodo Island, my 
birthplace, when I was four. They taught me to chant Bud­
dhist sutras and Shinto prayers, and the three of us chanted 
together for hours on end. They also took me to places renowned as high energy cen­
ters for religious asceticism, such as the Kobo waterfalls. This spot I remember particularly well. It was an eight 
kilometer walk through dense forest, dark even at midday, 
and the area was infested with water snakes. I found it quite 
frightening. During this time with my mothers, I was taught about and 
experienced the existence of non-human entities, of entities 
who reside in higher dimensions. It must have been the com­
bination of this environment and my karma that led me to 
aspire to the world of higher dimensional reality. This is why 240 
I began to practice yoga thirty years ago. Let me now trace 
that history with you. Awakening the Muladhara Chakra 
I was twenty-five years old. My early practice consisted of 
getting up at three a.m. every morning, practicing asanas for 
about half an hour, and sitting for three or four hours. The 
first part of the meditation was devoted to pranayama, the 
latter to concentration on a specific chakra. Here is this the initial method of pranayama I practiced. Inhale breath (prana) through the left nostril to the lower 
abdomen for four seconds. Hold the prana in the inflated 
lower abdomen for eight seconds. Then raise the kundalini 
from the coccyx to the lower abdomen (the svadhishthana 
chakra) and contract the abdominal muscles. Visualize mix­
ing and unifying the prana and the kundalini for eight 
seconds. Exhale through the right nostril for four seconds. One breath cycle, therefore, takes twenty-four seconds. Repeat the entire process, inhaling through the right nostril 
and exhaling through the left, and so on, alternately. I performed this from fourteen to twenty-one times. After 
one or two months, I was able to prolong the period of kum-
bhaka (breath retention) to one or one and a half minutes. When I then concentrated on the svadhishthana or ajna 
chakra, worldly thoughts gradually ceased to enter my mind. I began to feel my body and mind fill with an extraordinary 
amount of energy. As a result of the practice, my physical and psychological 
states began to show changes. I had often suffered from a 
stomach disorder and from an ear discharge. Also, I had 
been quite nervous and adversely affected both physically 
and mentally by bad weather. Within six months after I 
began yoga, these problems disappeared. During continued practice, I began to notice some new 
sensations. I had an itchy feeling at the coccyx, a tingling 241 
feeling on the forehead and at the top of the head, and a 
feverish sensation in the lower abdomen. I could hear a 
sound something like the buzzing of bees around the coccyx. In ordinary daily life my sense of smell became so sensitive 
that I could not endure offensive odors. These conditions continued for two or three months. One 
day, when I was meditating before the altar as usual, I felt 
particularly feverish in the lower abdomen and saw there a 
round blackish-red light like a ball of fire about to explode in 
the midst of a white vapor. Suddenly, an incredible power 
rushed through my spine to the top of the head and, though it 
lasted only a second or two, my body levitated off the floor a 
few centimeters. I was terrified. My whole body was burn­
ing, and a severe headache prevented me from doing 
anything all day. The feverish state continued for two or 
three days. I felt as if my head would explode with energy. Hitting myself around the "Brahman Gate" at the top of the 
head was the only thing that brought relief. This, then, was the first time I had experienced the rising 
of the kundalini shakti to the top of my head through the 
sushumna. I did not experience as much physical or mental 
difficulty as is so often associated with this experience, 
probably because of the fortunate fact that my Brahman Gate 
was already open and the shakti was able to flow out into the 
astral dimension. Awakening of the Svadhishthana Chakra 
The feverish feeling I had around the svadhishthana, dur­
ing the initial practice of pranayama some months before the 
awakening of kundalini, was like a mixture of ice and fire. It 
was accompanied by a vision of white steam. A month or 
two later I began to see a round, crimson fire ball in my ab­
domen. Beginning at that time I began to often dream pro­
phetic dreams, to have involuntary ESP experiences (such as 
telepathy), and to realize the spontaneous fulfillment of 
wishes. 242 
I seem to have been able to activate the svadhishthana, the 
manipura, and the sahasrara more easily than the other 
chakras. My ease at awakening the svadhishthana may be 
due to the water asceticism I had practiced since my 
childhood. Traditionally, there is said to be a strong connec­
tion between the svadhishthana and water, where the chakra 
is said to dominate the principle and power of water. Many 
modern psychics who practice water asceticism have 
thereby awakened the svadhishthana chakra. Furthermore, it 
has been my experience that many psychics with inborn but 
uncontrolled PK or ESP also seem to have a more or less 
awakened svadhishthana chakra. After the awakening of this chakra, I became overly sen­
sitive, both physically and mentally. During meditation, the 
smallest noise sounded like thunder and startled me. My 
emotions became unstable and I was excited easily. This 
period is sometimes called the "dangerous stage" of yogic 
discipline, during which it is generally important to have the 
guidance of an experienced guru. I managed to pass through 
it without too many problems under the guidance of both my 
mothers and with the aid of what may be termed divine pro­
tection. The svadhishthana chakra is thought to control the genito­
urinary system and the adrenal glands. The kidney, urinary 
bladder, and triple heater meridians are also thought to be 
connected with this system. It is interesting to note that 
when the condition of the meridians in my body is tested, 
there is a distinct abnormality in the kidney and urinary 
bladder meridians, though no malfunction is present. I have 
noticed such an abnormality in similar cases as well, and feel 
it is a possible indicator of increased svadhishthana activity. Awakening of the Manipura Chakra 
In my childhood, and until I started yoga, my digestion 
was poor. Fried foods gave me diarrhea. I suffered from fre-243 
quent attacks of gastroenteritis at the transition period of 
spring or autumn which forced me to live on a simple diet of 
rice gruel and pickled plums. These conditions began to im­
prove about six months after I began yoga practice. After the same six months, a new series of sensations 
began. I often saw another reddish light centered on the 
navel that would become intensely white, seemingly much 
brighter than the sun. I grew dizzy and could see nothing for 
about ten minutes. I began to see a purple light shining be­
tween my eyebrows or in my abdomen. Though I had often seen ghosts (lower astral beings) since 
my childhood, I began to see them with increased frequency 
during meditation at this time. I was occasionally able to 
ameliorate their suffering by chanting prayers of purification 
and Buddhist sutras for them, and by consciously emitting 
prana. However, if the spirits were very strong and hostile, I 
was unable to help them and was adversely affected by them 
instead. When under the influence of such spirits, my body 
and mind became unstable. I became ill or got angry for no 
reason, and once had to stay in bed for a week with a fever. On the other hand, positive spirits (spirits who work to pro­
duce harmony with others), would affect me for the good, 
leaving me feeling very peaceful. Another result of the awakening of the manipura chakra 
was that I was endowed with such enhanced ESP abilities as 
clairvoyance, telepathy, and spiritual insight. I had an impressive experience about that time which 
greatly affected my later life. One evening in November, 26 
or 27 years ago, I was playing "kokkurisan" (a Japanese 
game which resembles the use of the Ouija board) with an 
old man, an assistant at the Shrine. After ten minutes I fell 
into a semi-trance. My body felt like it was on fire and I 
began to sweat profusely. My right hand started to move 
violently and I was unable to stop it. The trance became even 
deeper, but I did not lose consciousness. 244 
Suddenly I had the extrasensory vision of a man wearing 
ancient white clothes. He was standing in a pine grove about 
100 meters away through the shuttered doors. I saw him as 
clearly as if I had seen a real person. The ancient man was 
full of dignity and looked like a tribal leader. He beckoned to 
me, bowing. It felt as if he wanted to guide me somewhere. The man introduced himself as Hakuo and told me that I 
had been the ruler of the tribes in this neighborhood, in­
cluding his own, in a previous life. He said that he wished to 
invite me to the place where we had lived. I was able to 
understand this telepathically. As an academic researcher in 
philosophy and psychology, I found all of this extraordinari­
ly strange. In another level of my being, however, in a higher 
part of my mind which makes no distinction between past, 
present, and future, I had the realization that what he was 
saying was true. I had been the lord of this area and Hakuo 
had been a follower of mine. I think the spiritual dialogue with Hakuo continued for ten 
to twenty minutes. With my eyes open, I was able to see both 
the shutters and Hakuo. I saw this world and the spiritual 
world as if they were superimposed. When I shut my eyes, 
though, I could see only Hakuo, the pine grove, and the 
grass. The next day I went by bicycle to Jindaiji temple, in front 
of which there is a mountain that has many old graves on it. Although I had never been there before, the place felt very 
familiar. To my surprise, there were ancient pot shards and 
stone implements on display in the temple, and a notice ex­
plained that a recent excavation had disclosed the existence 
of an ancient community around Jindaiji. When I left Jindaiji, the autumn light was fading quickly in­
to night. On my way home, I came across a dark place which 
somehow attracted me spiritually and I thought it might be 
the place where Hakuo had lived some thousands of years 
before. Going up about ten stone stairs, I indistinctly saw 
something which looked like a small shrine. I instinctively 245 
knew that, in fact, this had been the ancient dwelling of 
Hakuo and I simultaneously felt somehow that Hakuo was 
pleased at my discovery. I went up to the shrine and began to pray, at which time I 
had a vision of the Buddhist deity, Fudomyoo. * By this time 
it was completely dark. I felt very strange and hurried home. The next day, though, I went back to Jindaiji to visit the small 
shrine I had discovered the night before. As I was praying, 
the priest of this shrine came out after his morning prayer. I 
told him what had happened the previous evening. Sur­
prised, he told me that, yes, Fudomyoo was enshrined there 
and invited me in to worship. I entered the shrine and found 
that it was exactly as I had seen it. Using the terms of parapsychology, this is an example of 
clairvoyance. But I also experienced something that I cannot 
describe with a word like "clairvoyance" - a strong affirma­
tion of the existence of the spiritual world. This is the world 
which I believe enters the yogi's awareness through the 
awakening of the manipura chakra. 1 later had an experience with the manipura chakra which 
taught me something else of importance: If one overuses the 
psychic ability attained by the awakening of the manipura 
chakra - the ability to come into direct contact with the 
spiritual world - and neglects the development of the other 
chakras, or if one uses any one chakra to the exclusion of the 
others, one is apt to develop abnormalities and disease in 
both mind and body. About 13 years ago (1967), seventeen years after I began 
yoga, my mother fell ill. In her place, I gave spiritual con­
sultations to the members of Tamamitsu Shrine for about 
three years. At first, I was able to leave my body through the 
sahasrara chakra during meditation to enter a state of higher 
•The Japanese name for Achala, one of the fire "brightness kings" of 
Esoteric Buddhism. 246 
or divine union. However, about six months after I started 
giving these consultations, spirits would immediately appear 
before my manipura or ajna chakra when I went into con­
centration, and I had to negotiate with them constantly. I 
was unable to get past them in order to leave my body 
through the sahasrara chakra and achieve this union - a 
predicament that continued for two or three years. Though I 
had not fallen ill since I began yoga, my stomach started to 
become easily upset and I began to tire easily. At this juncture, I left Japan and went to lecture at Andhra 
University in India for three months. While I was there I 
developed a gastric ulcer, partly due to the spicy food, but 
also due to the deterioration brought on by the continual use 
of the manipura. After I returned to Japan, my mother 
resumed the spiritual consultations and my gastric ulcer was 
cured in eighteen months by yogic discipline and acupunc­
ture treatment. From this experience, I realized that the contact with 
spirits at spiritual consultations had overworked my 
manipura chakra, thus disturbing the balance with the other 
chakras and causing problems in the digestive organs. Many 
psychics who have overworked this chakra have died young 
or have had severe problems in the stomach and intestines. I 
feel sure that it is, in fact, dangerous to overuse any chakra. Emotionally, the result of awakening the manipura chakra 
was that my emotions became somehow richer and more 
under my control. I also acquired a much deeper level of 
sympathy with other people. Awakening of the Anahata Chakra 
Although my digestion had been poor, I had never had any 
heart-related problems. However, about two years after I 
began yoga, I began to notice a pain where the line connect­
ing both nipples crosses the midsternal line (the Danchu 
point of the conception vessel meridian, Shanchung, CV 17) 247 
and my heart seemed to be functioning abnormally. Rather 
than feeling ill, though, I was healthy, very active, and re­
quired only minimal sleep. At this time, as is usual during the coldest period of winter, 
I was practicing the traditional water asceticism of rising at 
dawn, going outside, and pouring icy water over my semi-
naked body for about an hour. As I was doing this, my 
mother stood by and prayed for me. One morning the following occurred. I saw a kind of heat 
energy rising from my coccyx to my heart through the spine. My chest felt very hot and I saw my heart start to shine a 
brilliant gold. The icy water was warmed by this heat, steam 
rose from the surface of my body, but I did not feel cold. As 
the kundalini rose from my heart to the top of my head, it 
became shining white. It left my body through the top of my 
head and I rose with it into a much higher dimension. My 
physical body was standing in the cold wind of this world, 
but I had forgotten it. I was half-unconscious, and yet I was 
aware of being in the heights and of worshiping the Divine. When I came to myself ten to twenty minutes later, my 
mother told me that she had seen a golden light shining at the 
top of my head and at my heart. 1 think this experience is the 
point at which my anahata chakra was awakened. Since then, I have been able to do psychic healing, and one 
or two years after this blessing, I had an experience which 
gave me the confidence to heal. A grandson of a member of 
our Shrine, then a child of three, had shown an allergic reac­
tion to an injection. His condition became critical, and the 
doctor stated that it was hopeless. His grandmother tele­
phoned me about 10 o'clock in the evening and implored me 
to pray and save him, so I immediately began to offer fervent 
prayers for him with my mother. Soon, the grandson ap­
peared before the two of us. We continued our impassioned 
prayers, emitted energy to him and urged him to return to his 
body. About an hour later, he disappeared suddenly and we 
felt he had returned to his body and would recover. I 248 
telephoned the grandmother to tell her that he would be safe. Just then, in the hospital, his heart began to beat slowly but 
steadily and his respiration returned to normal. He steadily 
improved after that and recovered fully two or three days 
later. After the awakening of the anahata chakra, then, I 
recognized and learned to control the abilities both to emit 
psi energy and to perform psychic healing. In contrast to the 
situation after the manipura chakra had awakened (when 
spirits entered me), after the awakening of the anahata, my 
own spiritual energy or astral body was able to enter that of 
another person and to effect curative changes within that 
person. I was also able to expand my existence to include 
those whom I wanted to cure, or rather, other people could 
enter my expanded existence and live within me. My mother, who I feel also had an awakened anahata 
chakra, often performed psychic healing. For example, she 
once sent energy to a girl who was blind from birth by 
shouting at her. The girl's eyes suddenly discharged blood 
and pus. Later, on opening her eyes, she could perceive light, 
and about a week later, she began to see objects. At another 
time my mother prayed for an elderly paralyzed farmer who 
had been bedridden for more than ten years. After the 
prayer, she commanded him to stand, and he stood im­
mediately. I feel that many of the human beings who are able to per­
form miraculous healings do so through the agency of the 
anahata chakra. My psychological state also underwent some profound 
changes with this awakening. Notably, I developed an at­
titude of non-attachment to worldly things. Although I had 
become clairvoyant and telepathic after the awakening of the 
manipura chakra, and though my emotions had become rich­
er and more controllable, I had been unable to completely rid 
myself of attachment. With the anahata, I began to feel a con­
stant optimism about everything, deeply realizing the truths 249 
that all things come to him who waits, that bad times don't 
last, and that good always follows bad. I was enabled to see 
not only that good and bad co-exist inside and outside all 
things, but also that there is a world beyond this duality. After ridding myself of attachment, I became peaceful and 
my mind was free. For those who have once enjoyed this true 
freedom, the pleasures of this dualistic world seem mean­
ingless. After the awakening of this chakra, my wishes were often 
fulfilled spontaneously. For instance, we have a retreat in a 
place called Nebukawa in Odawara. The site covers about 
four acres, one of which was taken up by a deep valley with a 
river in it. I had often thought of making part of the valley in­
to a parking lot for those who come to the retreat from 
various places in Japan. About a year later it so happened 
that a construction company did just this for us free of 
charge. The former owner of our land was planning to build a big 
hotel at Yugawara hot spring. He had a problem with excess 
soil excavated during the construction and asked me if he 
could dump this soil in our valley, on the condition that he 
would build sturdy stone walls to contain it. I agreed at once, 
and, for one month, a steady stream of dump trucks showed 
up to fill our valley. Two big bulldozers leveled the site every 
day. Finally, about one third of the valley was made into a 
good, walled parking lot for at least fifty cars, an operation 
which would have otherwise cost us about $200,000. Awakening of the Vishuddhi Chakra 
I did not feel activity in the vishuddhi chakra as often as in 
the other chakras, but, during the fourth and fifth years of 
yoga practice, I began to concentrate on it after performing 
my daily pranayama. Very soon an irritation developed in 
my throat and breathing became difficult. After several months, I saw a dark purple light spread 250 
gradually around my head. Consciousness of my body 
vanished; I became quiet and calm. I experienced the state of 
nothingness. The experience of the awakening of the vishuddhi chakra 
is like the feeling of a late autumn evening, when the sky is 
twilight purple and everything is silence itself. Pale purple 
light spreads and disperses. I enjoyed a feeling of absolute 
nothingness and my mind was totally still. There is a Buddhist saying: 
This means that everything, whatever it may be, is subject to 
change, because all things, once created, have to come to an 
end. Having transcended birth and death, having gone 
beyond them, we are in Shunyata, the absolute nothingness 
and the highest good. After experiencing this state several times I found myself 
facing an abyss of absolute void. I experienced such a terri­
ble fear that I wanted to stop yoga. I often felt that my attach­
ment to this world was coming to an end; that I was leaving 
this world through this experience. My paralyzing fear 
gradually diminished as I learned to surrender myself com­
pletely to God - to totally entrust my life to Him. During this process, I encountered a horrible devil-like be­
ing. It was an indescribably terrifying experience. However, 
I also had the realization that all things, even "gods and 
devils" are transient: ultimately there is nothing to fear. This 
realization is what enabled me to pass through this frighten­
ing and dangerous period. When my fear was overcome and I could enjoy the feeling 
of total silence around me, I could clearly see that I was no 
longer attached to this world. I became able to work freely in 
this world without being attached to the results of my ac-251 
tions. I experienced a deeply wonderful feeling of non-
attachment and freedom. With this attitude, I was able to see 
the past, the present, and the future in the same dimension 
by surpassing the distinction between them. When I now 
gave spiritual consultations to members of the Shrine, I 
could see their previous lives, their present situation, and 
their future as a continuous stream. Another result of the Vishuddhi awakening had to do with 
my sense of hearing. It is said that when the vishuddhi 
awakens, the hearing becomes sharp. In fact, I have had a lot 
of difficulty in hearing due to tympanitis of both ears, which 
started when I was a child. In addition, the eardrum and the 
small bones in my left ear were surgically removed when I 
was young. However, since the vishuddhi awakened I have 
been able to hear much more clearly - not with my physical 
ear, but with that of the mind. Awakening of the Ajna Chakra 
In connection with pranayama, I sometimes concentrated 
on the perineum, contracting it during inhalation and relax­
ing it during exhalation. In so doing, my perineal area would 
become hot. This sensation was usually accompanied by 
delicate vibration between the eyebrows in the spot which is 
the supposed location of the ajna chakra and, of course, its 
connected organ, the pineal gland. To specifically accelerate 
the awakening of the ajna chakra, I began the following prac­
tice. Concentrating on the ajna chakra, I visualized the absorb-
tion of divine energy through it while inhaling, and the diffu­
sion of prana out into the universe while exhaling, all the 
time chanting OM. After performing this practice one hour a day for several 
months, kundalini energy rose from my coccyx through my 
spine and my body became hot. My lower abdomen surround­
ing the svadhishthana chakra became as hard as iron. My 252 
respiration became so easy and slow that I felt as if I could 
live without breathing. My body, especially the upper half of 
my torso, felt as though it disappeared. My ajna chakra 
began to vibrate very subtly. I was completely immersed in a 
dark purple light while a bright white light shone from be­
tween my eyebrows. I heard a voice call me as if it were 
echoing in a valley. I was filled with ecstasy and a divine 
symbol of power was revealed to me. This state continued 
for one or two hours and, I think, indicated the initial 
awakening of the chakra. This awakening was not frightening like that of the vishud-
dhi had been. I was simply filled with heavenly calm. I did 
not experience the dimming or loss of consciousness that 
had happened in the awakening of the other chakras. Rather, 
I found myself in a state of widened and deepened con­
sciousness, a consciousness of a higher dimension 
sometimes referred to as superconsciousness. While in this 
state, the past, present and future are simultaneously 
knowable. The essence of objects, and the karma of other 
people, of previous lives, of nations and of the world become 
clear. Such knowledge is termed prajna, or divine wisdom. My various scientific studies originated from the wisdom 
obtained by concentration on the ajna. I began to perceive 
that one of my tasks in this life is to help make this 
knowledge as clear as possible through scientific means, and 
to attempt to explain it in a way that others will understand. In this way my approach differs from that which employs the 
ordinary inductive methods of scientific research which 
were devised to examine physical phenomena in the effort to 
establish a synthetic scientific truth. I, rather, am attempting 
to manifest in the physical dimension, using deductive and 
scientific methods, the wisdom granted me while concen­
trating on the ajna chakra. Further concomitants of the ajna's awakening were a 
number of psi abilities which seem to emanate from a dif­
ferent dimension than that of the abilities associated with the 253 
awakening of the anahata and manipura chakras. When my 
manipura chakra awakened, for example, I was able to see 
and to be affected by spirits, and I could see the karma of in­
dividuals' previous lives. However, after the awakening of 
the ajna chakra, I became aware of the suffering of the spirits 
and was able to help liberate them by praying to God on their 
behalf. Also, the understanding of karma received through 
awakening the ajna chakra is not only that concerning in­
dividuals, but also that of larger entities such as families and 
nations. And the power to affect and alter others' karma was 
greatly enhanced by the awakening of the ajna chakra. In conclusion, I wish to add that the most important aspect 
of awakening the ajna chakra is the ability to transcend and 
purify karma. For this reason, I feel it is absolutely necessary 
to awaken the ajna and sahasrara chakras for a human being 
to evolve to a higher level of being. Awakening of the Sahasrara Chakra 
One of the practices I performed regularly in my initial 
program of discipline is a Taoist form called Shoshuten. This 
is a method of purifying the sushumna by the circulation of 
energy in the upper part of the body, which is done by rais­
ing the kundalini shakti along the sushumna to the top of the 
head and letting it fall to the ajna chakra during inhalation. Then keep the shakti there and .hold the breath for two to 
three seconds. Let it fall to the svadhishthana chakra along the 
midsternal line of the front of the body and keep it there, 
again holding the breath for two to three seconds. Maintain a 
circulation of the shakti from the muladhara chakra up the 
sushumna to the top of the head, back to the muladhara, and 
so on. While I was doing Shoshuten, I could see the inside of the 
sushumna, the sahasrara and two or three other chakras 
shining. After I had practiced yoga for six months or a year, 
a shining golden light began to enter and leave my body 254 
through the top of my head and I felt as if the top of my head 
protruded ten to twenty centimeters. In the astral, but not the 
physical dimension, I saw what looked like the head of Bud­
dha, shimmering purple and blue, resting on the top of my 
own head. There was a golden-white light flowing in and out 
through the gate on top of the Buddha's crown. Gradually I 
lost the sensation of my body, but I held a clear awareness of 
consciousness, of super-consciousness. I could see my 
spiritual self gradually rise higher and leave my body 
through the top of my head to be restored in Heaven. I was able to hear a powerful, but very tender, Voice re­
sounding through the universe. While listening to the Voice, 
I realized spontaneously my mission, my previous lives, my 
own spiritual state, and many other things. Then I experi­
enced a truly indescribable state, in which my entire 
spiritual existence became totally immersed within an ex­
traordinary calmness. After some time, I felt it imperative 
that I return to the physical world. I descended, following 
the same path, and returned to my body through the gate at 
the top of my head. I consciously had to permeate my whole 
body with spiritual energy because it was frigid and my ex­
tremities were paralyzed. Finally I was able to move my 
hands and feet a little, and normal sensation gradually 
returned. This happened in less than a year after I began yoga. Dur­
ing the next two years, the vishuddhi and anahata chakras 
were awakened. My svadhishthana, manipura and sahasrara 
chakras, as stated before, became active before the others. After the sahasrara chakra was awakened, my astral body 
was able to leave through the Brahman Gate. This enabled 
me to see the outside world during meditation, as the follow­
ing example illustrates. About ten years ago, while meditating as usual, I was able 
to "see" a stranger in the shrine, even though my eyes were 
closed and I was facing away from the other meditators. After meditation, when I greeted the other practitioners, I 255 
looked carefully at the old woman whom I had never seen 
before and saw the following scene extrasensorily. I saw fields in the foothills of a large and beautiful moun­
tain, which I recognized to be Mount Oyama. A farmer, 
whom I realized to be the father of this woman, removed an 
old tumulus from one of the fields in order to enlarge his farm. The scene shifted and I saw that later one of his descendants 
and a few of the villagers had gone insane. This brought on 
the realization that the field was the site of an old battlefield 
in the war between the Tokugawa and Takeda families about 
four hundred years ago and that it was in this tumulus that a 
Takeda warrior who died in the battle was buried. When the 
farmer removed the tumulus, the warrior's soul had become 
angry and began to haunt the farmer and his descendants. This caused this woman's eldest son (the farmer's grandson) 
to become schizophrenic, which fact had induced her to 
come to the shrine to pray for help. When I told her what I had seen, she was intensely sur­
prised. Immediately, she went back to her birthplace, the 
place I had described in my vision, and ascertained that the 
other facts were true. The next day she came to the shrine and 
told us that when her son had been in the first year of high 
school, he had become so mentally unstable that he was 
unable to attend classes. He had stayed in his room all day 
long, writing in his diary that he was one of the Takeda war­
riors. His mother had had absolutely no idea what he meant. For the five years since then he had been in a mental hospital. The mother implored me to help her son. For the next week, 
I negotiated intensively with the warrior's soul and finally per­
suaded him to leave the son. The woman came a week later 
and told me that the son had left the hospital, was returning to 
normal, and was already able to help her in the vegetable 
store. This experience made it even clearer to me that events in 
the real world are deeply connected to both past events and 
to events in the spiritual world. Further, the experience dif-256 
fered from simple astral projection in that it was not accom­
panied by coldness and stiffness in the body nor by loss of 
consciousness. Although my consciousness did dim some­
what, I was able to observe my surroundings precisely. Similar experiences have since happened to me many times. After the awakening of the sahasrara chakra, the abilities 
that had come through the awakening of the lower chakras 
became stronger. At the same time, these chakras became ac­
tive at a higher level and those which had not been complete­
ly awake, the vishuddhi and anahata chakras, awoke steadily 
from that point on. Further, as the sahasrara became increas­
ingly active in higher dimensions, I received the following 
abilities: 
the ability to enter and affect the bodies of others; 
the ability to extend my existence and to include others 
within it; 
the ability to work freely, transcending karma and the 
restrictions of the body, and 
the ability to be granted union with Divine power. The foregoing is a general description of the awakening 
and activities of each chakra and the corresponding psi-
abilities derived from my experience over the last thirty 
years. In conclusion, there are three points I wish to stress 
concerning the awakening of chakras. First, chakra awaken­
ing is a process which must be undergone if the soul is to 
evolve and if enlightenment is to be reached. One of the 
Upanishads says that one cannot reach enlightenment 
without awakening and recognizing the chakras, and I 
believe this to be true. Second, it seems to me that whichever 
chakra awakens first differs from person to person. Because 
of one's individual karma and nature, there are character­
istic chakras which are more easily activated and more liable 
to be awakened by the movement of kundalini in any given 
individual. Finally, I wish to stress that overuse of the 
paranormal ability of one chakra is apt to cause abnormality 257 
or disease in the internal organs controlled by that chakra, 
and may even lead to an early death. In the second half of this chapter, I would like to discuss 
the scientific research which I have conducted with the in­
tent of experimentally verifying the truths experienced by 
myself and many others in spiritual practice. These discus­
sions will hinge on the experimental observations obtained 
by the AMI and the Chakra Instrument, physiological record­
ing devices which I developed. The AMI - Apparatus for Measuring the Functional Condi­
tions of Meridians and their Corresponding Internal Organs 
- is an instrument designed to measure the initial skin cur­
rent, as well as the steady state current, in response to DC 
voltage externally applied at special acupuncture points 
located alongside the base of finger and toe nails. According 
to acupuncture theory, these special points - called "sei 
(well) points" are ostensibly the terminal points of meridians 
where the Ki energy either enters or exits the body. Ex­
periments on some 2000 subjects strongly suggest that the 
relative magnitudes of such skin current values reflect the 
functional conditions of Ki energy in the meridians. The data 
from these experiments have been collated into a set of 
criteria for the assessment of functional conditions, whether 
normal or disordered in terms of excess, deficiency, or im­
balance of Ki energy. Each of these criteria was established 
on the basis of statistical analysis and clinical examination. They are stored in the computer memory so that the 
diagnosis of the functional condition of each meridian can 
be automatically performed by the computer, which yields 
columns of numbers to produce a data chart. The Chakra Instrument was designed to detect the energy 
generated in the body and then emitted from it in terms of 
various physical variables. Unlike the electroencephalo­
graph and other instruments of electrophysiology, it is 
designed to detect minute energy changes (electric, 258 
AMI 
magnetic, optical) in the immediate environment of the sub­
ject. The detectors are installed inside a light-proof room 
which is electrostatically shielded by grounded lead sheeting 
embedded in the walls. Furthermore, the inside surfaces of 
the room are completely covered with thin aluminum 
sheeting, also grounded, so that the electric potential of the 
room is kept uniform and practically zero. A round disk cop­
per electrode (d = 10cm) and a photo-electric cell as posi­
tioned 12-20 cm in front of the subject, level with the sup­
posed location of a given chakra. This location is then 
monitored for the detection of electrical or optical signals 
generated by the subject, who is seated still and motionless 
on a chair. A detector of magnetic field fluctuation is placed 
on the floor in front or to the side of the subject. The signals 
are amplified and analyzed by a signal processor, a power 
spectrum analyzer, and other similar equipment located out­
side the room and then recorded simultaneously on a 
multichannel strip chart recorder along with conventional 
variables such as respiration, ECG, plethysmograph and GSR. 259 
The Chakra Instrument 
- Head Amplifier -
The 
Chakra Instrument 
- Electrode Box -
The Chakra Instrument 
- DC Amplifier, Signal Processor -260 
Before summarizing the research, some more background 
is necessary. Much of the research begins with the 
hypothesis that the chakras are each closely connected with 
certain nervous plexuses and with their corresponding inter­
nal organs. This hypothesis is not original, but one that has 
been advanced and supported by studies of modern medical 
science as well as by the accounts of personal experiences of 
yoga practitioners accumulated over thousands of years. The 
supposed correspondence runs as follows: 
Muladhara chakra - sacral and coccygeal plexuses 
Svadhishthana chakra - sacral plexus; urogenital 
system 
Manipura chakra - solar plexus; digestive system 
Anahata chakra - cardiac plexus; circulatory system 
Vishuddhi chakra - superior, middle, and interior cer­
vical ganglia; respiratory system 
Ajna chakra - pituitary body, interbrain, autonomic 
nervous system and hormone system 
Sahasrara chakra - cerebral cortex, entire nervous 
system; organs and tissues of the entire body 
It is presumably due to this correspondence between 
chakras and nervous plexuses that yogis are thought to 
undergo gradual physiological changes which result in an in­
creased range of activities of such internal organs as the 
heart, stomach, kidney, urinary bladder and sexual organs. Various studies were carried out in order to investigate 
possible differences in the functional ranges of said organs 
between subjects who evidence no chakra activity and of 
subjects who do. These included a survey on disease suscep­
tibility and an analysis of GSR responses to electrical stimulus 
at viscero-cutaneous reflex points, both of which are de­
scribed below. Members of our yoga society, about 100 in number, were 
divided into the three following groups. 261 
Group A - comprised of those whose chakras evi­
denced advanced activity 
Group B - comprised of those whose chakras evi­
denced beginning activity 
Group C - comprised of those whose chakras were still 
dormant 
This classification was carried out on the basis of extra­
sensory observations made by myself and others with similar 
abilities, as veil as one on the subjects' descriptions of their 
own experieices. We first conducted a comparative study of disease suscep­
tibility. Each individual filled out a questionnaire designed 
to determine to which category of disease he was suscep­
tible. The answers were then scored, category by category. One point was assigned to every category of disease to which 
the subject vas judged susceptible according to pre-set 
criteria. The scores of individuals were summed up, 
category by category, for each group and then divided by the 
number of individuals in the group to obtain the average 
susceptibility. The chart below shows each group's tenden­
cies thus obtahed, multiplied by 100. In terms of the internal organs that are supposedly con­
nected to a chikra, Group A showed the highest susceptibili­
ty to disease, jroup B the second highest, and Group C the 
lowest. This result suggests that in comparison to Group C, 
Groups A and B are more susceptible to functional troubles 
in those interial organs connected with the chakras - a fact 
potentially incicative of the functional excitement and/or in­
stability in those organs concerned. We next stidied the functional conditions of the internal 
organs by means of electrical stimulation of the head zones. The visceid-cutaneous reflex points in the sympathetic 
nervous dermatomes of the heart, stomach, kidneys, and 262 
Statistical Diagram of Susceptibility to Disease 
urogential organs (which approximately concide in the 
trunk with the spinal dermatome) were choser for electrical 
stimulation because these internal organ;, again, are 
presumably closely connected with the anahata, manipura, 
and svadhishthana chakras respectively. The GSR signals 
were monitored before and after stimulation as an indicator 
of the functional condition of the entire sympatietic nervous 
system as well as of the reactions of the sympahetic nerves 
controlling each internal organ. 263 
Viscero-cutaneous Reflex Points 
(Acupuncture points) 264 
skin current decrease 
GSR Graph (Head Zones) 
The comparative analysis of the GSR response is shown in 
the figure above. Group A showed the highest pre-stimula-
tion GSR, Group C the second highest, and Group B the 
lowest. However, after stimulation, Groups A and B showed 
smaller GSR current than Group C for such organs as the 
heart, stomach and urogenital organs. For the kidneys alone 
the results were different; Group A showing the highest 
value. This result indicates that for Group A the reaction of 265 
the autonomic nervous system to external stimuli is 
predominantly parasympathetic. It is particularly worthy of 
note that Group A showed both the highest sympathetic ac­
tivity before stimulation and the strongest parasympathetic 
reaction to external stimuli. This fact suggests that Group A 
subjects possess a wider range of dynamic balance between 
the two mutually opposing functions of the sympathetic and 
parasympathetic nervous systems than do the subjects in 
Group C. 
Thus, it might be conjectured that those who have active 
chakras tend to have wider ranges of related autonomic ac­
tivity, as revealed through functional excitement and/or in­
stability, than do those whose chakras are not yet active. In another series of investigations, the ECG and 
plethysmograph were employed to attempt to clarify any 
functional dissimilarities in the cardio-vascular systems of 
yogis and ordinary persons, as they might relate to the 
anahata chakra. The uppermost line in the figure (p. 266) for the ordinary 
person is the plethysmograph. It shows almost constant am­
plitudes with very slight base-line fluctuation. The pulse rate 
is 65.8/minute. In contrast to this, the plethysmograph of a 
yogi from Kakinanda, India, shows a periodic wavy fluctua­
tion of the base line with 7-10 pulses superimposed on each 
wave. In many similar studies I found that, for ordinary sub­
jects, the baseline fluctuation is minimal. This indicates that 
the basal blood flow is constant. In the case of yogis and 
other long-term spiritual practitioners, however, I have often 
noted large rhythmical fluctuations in the basal blood flow in 
addition to the regular pulsations of the heart beat. This im­
plies to me that in cases like that of the Kakinanda yogi the 
autonomic nerves controlling the cardiovascular system-
blood vessels in particular - function somehow in a rhythmic 
fashion. This, in turn, suggests that the functional range of 
the autonomic nerves, the range of dynamic balance be-266 
ween the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, is 
almost abnormally wider in yogis than in ordinary persons. As another example, here is some information on a yogi 
who claims to have awakened his anahata chakra and to 
have achieved voluntary control over his cardiac functions. He was studied at the Lanaula Yoga Institute located near 
Bombay, India. The figure below shows the photo of the 
yogi's ECG recorded by the director of the Institute. The fourth line of the ECG recording clearly indicates that 
the yogi's heart beat stopped for about five seconds. This feat 
was not achieved by the yogi's will power alone, however. The respiration monitored along with the ECG shows that the 
yogi's breathing also stopped when his heart stopped. Thus, 
holding the breath seems to facilitate the cardiac arrest, 267 
which is understandable from a neuro-physiological stand­
point.
_OceanofPDF.com_Theories_of_the_Chakras_-_Hiroshi_Motoyama.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Satyananda 
assigns these three chakras to the first three of seven possible 
planes of evolution, which are: 
the three 
main planes Bhu - earth 
Bhuvana - intermediate space 
Svaha - heaven 
Mahaha 
Janana 
Tapaha 
Satyam - the truth 227 
Consequently, the paranormal abilities which result from 
the awakening of the svadhishthana - telepathy, clair­
voyance, clairaudience, etc. - may not be entirely free of self-
interest, negativity, personal emotion, and other undesirable 
mental attributes. This is because the subject's personality 
remains within the second stage of evolution, and the earth-
bound egotistical self still occasionally manifests its in­
fluence. However, when the individual evolves beyond the 
limits of mortal existence and enters the realm of the 
manipura, he reaches a state of higher consciousness full of 
infinite beauty, truth, and felicity. This chakra has been 
traditionally described as jewel-like in a variety of cultures to 
symbolize these incomparable qualities. Here, no trace of 
prejudice or personal bias remain. Thus, the siddhis (super­
natural powers) realized when the manipura awakens are of 
a benevolent and compassionate nature. They include the 
ability to locate hidden treasures, the mastery of fire, the 
ability to see the body from within, freedom from disease, 
and the ability to send prana to the sahasrara. In addition, 
concentration on the manipura improves digestion. The lotus of the manipura chakra contains ten dark blue 
petals, each inscribed with a Sanskrit letter. These sound 
vibrations, each corresponding to a nadi, are: Dam, Dham, 
Nam, Tarn, Tham, Dam, Dham, Nam, Pam. The presiding 
female deity is Lakshmi (or Lakini) who drips fat and blood 
from her mouth. The male deity is Vishnu. The tattva of the 
manipura is fire, whose bija mantra is Ram; within the 
diagram, it rides on the back of a ram. Its yantra is an in­
verted triangle, often depicted with T-shaped protuberances 
on each side. The Anahata Chakra 
The anahata chakra is said to be located in the area of the 
astral body which corresponds to the heart. Thus, in the 
physical body it is closely connected with the heart and the 228 
cardiac nervous plexus, and is often referred to as the "heart 
chakra. " However, in contrast to the small area occupied by 
the physical heart, the astral space of the anahata chakra is 
vast and formless. It is normally dark, but when activated 
becomes radiantly bright. It is said that purity resides here. The word anahata means "unbeaten" or "unbroken. " Ana­
hata nada manifests here, a non-physical sound which con­
tinues without beginning or end. To understand the import of the anahata chakra, we must 
first summarize Satyananda's views on karma. Derived from the root "kri" meaning "to work," the word 
karma denotes the law of cause and effect, by which every 
action generates its own result. However, it is commonly 
used to describe a kind of indebtedness for one's actions 
which must be worked out or paid for at some future time. Therefore, there are both individual karma and social or col­
lective group karma, because actions may be performed 
either by individuals or a group or society as a whole. Sat-
yananda further distinguishes individual karma, which 229 
originates from one's own past incarnations, and that de­
rived from one's parents or ancestors. Thus, there are three 
major categories of karmic debt: a) that accruing from an in­
dividual's past incarnations; b) that inherited from his fami­
ly; and c) that resulting from actions of his society or social 
group. All these factors contribute to an individual's karma; 
they must be dealt with. It is impossible to avoid one's karma. The three lowest chakras - muladhara, svadhishthana, and 
manipura - are closely related to the senses and conscious­
ness which govern the physical body and its maintenance. Functioning within the phenomenal world, the mind of these 
chakras is bound by the law of karma. In other words, at this 
level the jiva (individual soul) is not free from the causal 
relation between actions and their consequences; its func­
tions depend on karma, and are bound by it. Regardless of 
whether its origin lies in the individual s past lives, that of 
his forbearers, or in the actions of the society to which he 
belongs, karma totally dictates the individual at the levels of 
the muladhara and svadhishthana, until it is somehow either 
worked out or purified. However, at the level of manipura, 
the jiva begins to assume partial control, and can exercise its 
own will to a limited degree. In contrast, the mode of being which functions in the 
anahata chakra completely transcends the realm of worldy 
existence. Unlike the previous three, it is not subordinate to 
the karma of this world. Therefore an individual with an 
awakened anahata chakra can directly perceive the work­
ings of earthly karma, and at the same time free himself of it. At this level the jiva can control worldy karma and exert its 
own will in this realm to fulfill its wishes. Here lies the major 
difference between the anahata and the lower chakras. At 
the lower levels, the individual soul merely accepts what is 
presented by karmic circumstance, but at the anahata it can 
exercise its free will. This power of wish fulfillment is symbolized by the 
"wishing tree' - an evergreen called Kalpavriksha -230 
represented within the similar lotus beneath the anahata in 
the symbolic diagram. Although present in all persons, this 
tree only functions when the anahata chakra has awakened. When this power is acquired, it is said that the subject's wish 
will be granted, whether good or evil. Therefore Satyananda 
issues the following admonitions. Before attempting to awaken the anahata chakra, it is im­
perative to develop the capacities of correct thinking and 
judiciousness. Evil thoughts and misjudgments tend to 
create disharmony and conflict; this is especially true when 
a subject with an awakened anahata wills his mistaken 
thoughts and desires into full actualization. In addition, an attitude of constant optimism must be 
maintained. Inner peace and harmony in relations with 
others should be practiced, regardless of any confusion, con­
flict, or malicious intent one encounters. Negativity and 
pessimism are obstacles to the awakening of the anahata. Thus, even a hedonist or a murderer should be regarded as 
an innately good person; such negative conditions as pover­
ty, disease, emotional conflict, etc. , should be considered 
ultimately beneficial occurrences. In fact, the cultivation of 
such a consistently positive attitude is considered a method 
for awakening the anahata. According to Satyananda, it is 
also important to keep in mind the thought, "The whole 
world is within me. I am in everyone. Everyone is in me. " His recommendation is probably based on the Hindu belief 
that Brahman, the absolute being of the cosmos, resides in 
the anahata chakra as Atman, the individual true self. Brahman and Atman are, in essence, the same. Indeed, this 
realization is important both for awakening the anahata, and 
for the realization of the universal Absolute. Satyananda further admonishes his disciples in the follow­
ing way. In general, after the awakening and ascension of 
kundalini shakti to a given chakra, when any negative or 
pessimistic attitude arises in the mind, the kundalini will 
return to the muladhara. If it only reaches the manipura and 231 
then descends, it can be raised again by yogic or other prac­
tices. However, if it should descend after having reached the 
anahata, it is extremely difficult to raise it again. Clearly, 
those wishing to awaken the anahata should not for one mo­
ment lose their optimism, regardless of the circumstances 
encountered. Anyone who endeavors to awaken the kun-
dalini should take this admonition seriously. A number of paranormal abilities result from the awaken­
ing of the anahata chakra. The ability to control air (vayu) is 
acquired. Non-individualistic, cosmic love is awakened. The 
practitioner becomes eloquent, and poetic genius develops. As mentioned before, he acquires the power to have his 
wishes fulfilled. The anahata controls the sense of touch. When it is 
awakened, one's sense of touch becomes increasingly subtle, 
and even astral matter can be felt, using the astral sense of 
touch. This sensation can then be communicated to others. Thus the anahata's sense organ is the skin, and its active 
organ is the hands. In addition to these paranormal abilities mentioned by Sat-
yananda, powers of psychic healing also develop when the 
anahata awakens. Prana can be transmitted through the 
palms and directed to the diseased area of another person's 
body. The well-known technique of "laying-on of hands" is 
probably related to the close connection between the 
anahata and the hands. Psychokinetic powers also develop 
when the anahata is awakened. The lotus of the anahata chakra has twelve vermilion 
petals, containing the letters Kam, Khan, Gam, Gham, Ngam, 
Cham, Chham, Jam, Jham, Nyam, Tam and Than. The 
associated tattva is vayu (air or wind) and is symbolized by a 
hexagonal star, the yantra of the anahata. As previously men­
tioned, the inverted triangle represents shakti, material 
force, while the erect triangle represents Shiva, or con­
sciousness. The yantra is smoky in color, and the bija mantra 232 
is Yam. It rides on the back of a black antelope, a symbol for 
alertness. Satyananda says that the mantra Om Shanti (shan-
ti means inner peace) belongs to the anahata. The female dei­
ty is Kali (or Kakini), wearing a necklace of human bones. The male deity is Isha or Rudra. The anahata contains the Vishnu granthi (knot). As 
described earlier, the chakras containing granthis 
(muladhara, anahata, and ajna) are of special importance. Only when they are awakened and the knots are loosened 
can the kundalini rise to further the process of spiritual 
evolution. The Vishuddhi Chakra 
In the physical body, the vishuddi chakra is located in the 
throat, corresponding closely to the thyroid gland. It is 
related to the pharyngeal and laryngeal nerve plexuses. "Vishuddhi" is derived from the word "shuddhi," to purify; 
it is considered the chakra of purification. In contrast to the 
ajna and manipura chakras, where the purification of 233 
thought and karma may take place, the vishuddhi is said to 
purify poison. The nature of this purification may be ex­
plained as follows. In tantra yoga it is said that the moon excretes ambrosia, 
which is consumed by the sun of the manipura. The moon 
here refers to the brain, the region of the sahasrara, which is 
often symbolized by a moon or half-moon (perhaps cor­
responding to the ventricles of the brain) in both Hinduism 
and Taoism. The ambrosia or divine nectar formed there 
flows down to the manipura, where it is consumed as fuel to 
sustain life. The nectar secreted from the sahasrara forms into drops at 
bindu visargha, the psychic "point" at the back of the head 
(see next section). It drips down to a minor chakra called 
lalana in the upper part of the epiglottis or the base of the 
nasal orifice, which serves as a reservoir for the nectar. It is 
secreted when such mudras as khechari are practiced, and 
flows down to the vishuddhi chakra. If the vishuddhi has 
been awakened to some degree, the nectar undergoes 
purification and becomes the divine nectar which re­
juvenates the body, bringing good health and longevity. However, it is said that if the vishuddhi is not active, the nec­
tar becomes poison and flows downward. It slowly poisons 
the body, leading to decay and eventual death. According to Satyananda, an awakened vishuddhi chakra 
also has the power to neutralize poisons which originate out­
side the body. In fact, the thyroid gland, which corresponds 
closely to the vishuddhi in the physical body, is medically 
recognized to perform an antitoxin function. The awakening of the vishuddhi chakra results in 
telepathic powers. Although a person may feel that thoughts 
from others are received in the manipura or elsewhere, the 
actual reception center is in the vishuddhi. From there, the 
thought waves are transmitted to other centers, in the brain 
and elsewhere, where conscious recognition may occur. Along with the muladhara, the vishuddhi is the source of all 234 
the basic sounds: the vowels are said to originate here, as in­
scribed on the chakra's petals. Other associated paranormal 
abilities include indestructibility, full knowledge of the 
Vedas - the sacred texts which expound the Law of the 
Universe - the ability to know the past, present, and future, 
and the ability to endure without food or drink (see next sec­
tion on the bindu). The sixteen petals of the vishuddhi, violet-gray in color, 
contain the following letters: A, A, I, I, U, U, R, R, L, L, E, Ai, 
O, Au, Am and Ah. Its tattva is space (akasha), represented 
by a circular or oval yantra. The bija mantra is Ham, which 
sits atop a small white elephant within the circle. The female 
deity is Shakani, the male deity Sadashiva. The vishuddhi is 
associated with the sense of hearing. Thus, its organs of 
knowledge and action are the ears and the vocal cords, 
respectively. Satyananda does not consider the sahasrara a chakra in the 
true sense. He says that chakras operate within the human 
psyche, manifesting at different levels. The sahasrara, 
however, is the totality beyond all individualization. Therefore, it is not discussed in Tantra of Kundalini Yoga. The bindu, however, is discussed, as follows. Bindu Visargha 
Bindu means "drop" or "spot", and bindu visargha literal­
ly means "the falling of the drop. " Since "drop" refers to the 
nectar produced there, the entire phrase is perhaps best 
rendered "the seat of nectar. " According to tradition, the bindu is located near the top of 
the brain, towards the back of the head. A very slight depres­
sion or pit is found there, which contains a small amount of 
liquid secretion. Within this pit there is a slight elevation, the 
exact location of the bindu in the physiological structure. Cranial nerves emanate from this point including those con­
nected to the optic system. 235 
The process by which nectar is secreted from the bindu, 
stored in the lalana chakra in the nasal orifice, and purified 
by the vishuddhi chakra, has been described above. The bin­
du and lalana are best understood as minor psychic centers 
which are directly connected to the vishuddhi. Such minor 
centers cannot be awakened independently of the related 
major chakra. For this reason, only the six major chakras, 
from miiladhara to ajna, are called "chakras of awakening. " As the divine nectar, purified by the harmonious function­
ing of the bindu, lalana and vishuddhi, begins to descend and 
pervade the entire body, extraordinary feats become possi­
ble. For example, a person is able to subsist for long periods 
without air, food, or water. There are documented cases of 
yogis who have been buried underground for forty days, 
voluntarily subsisting in state of hibernation, and have fully 
recovered. This is made possible by the practice of a special 
form of khechari mudra, in which the tendon beneath the 
tongue is gradually severed over a two year period, until it 
can be curled back in the epiglottis to completely seal the 
respiratory passage. This directly stimulates the lalana 236 
center, and nectar falls to the vishuddhi, where it is purified 
and distributed throughout the body, supplying oxygen and 
other nutrients necessary for life. The bindu is induced to 
produce more nectar, and the body's need for air, food, and 
water is drastically reduced. * It is said that the nectar can 
slow down the body's metabolism, and in fact yogis buried 
underground exhibit no new hair growth. At our institute in Tokyo we have conducted experiments 
which support the claim that an awakened vishuddhi chakra, 
in conjunction with the bindu and lalana centers, makes 
possible the conscious control of metabolism, respiration, 
food intake, digestion, etc. (For details, see my Western and 
Eastern Medical Studies of Pranayama and Heart Control, 
Vol. 3, No. 1 of the Journal of the International Association for 
Religion and Parapsychology]. According to Satyananda, the bindu controls visual 
perception. Cranial nerves connect it with the optical 
system. Therefore abnormality in the bindu can lead to eye 
disease. The bindu is a center of nada, or psychic sound. When the 
vishuddhi and bindu are awakened by such practices as 
Navamukhi mudra (Chapter IV), vajroli mudra (Chapter IV), 
and murcha pranayama (Chapter III), a continuous non-
physical sound comprised of innumerable subtle vibrations 
is heard. This experience pinpoints the exact location of the 
bindu. Because it is not a chakra as such, the bindu is not 
represented by a lotus or resident deities. Its symbol is a full 
moon - representative of the point for which individualiza­
tion begins - and also a crescent moon, expressing the fact 
that only a portion of the infinite totality which resides in the 
sahasrara is manifest and perceptible to the practitioner at 
the bindu. •The acquisition of these powers is sometimes attributed to the awakening 
of the Kurma ("tortoise") nadi", associated with the vishuddhi chakra. 237 
Both the dot (full moon) and crescent moon may be seen in 
the upper right corner of some stylized versions of the writ­
ten character OM: 
This concludes our presentation of Satyananda's views on 
the chakras. This chapter is also the final installment in our 
review of the major extant literature on the chakras and 
nadis. For the sake of clarification and as a summary, I 
would now like to present a discussion of my own ex­
periences, experimentation, and theories in this field. IX 
Experience and Experiments 
of the Chakras 
by 
Motoyama 
After carefully studying the material described in the 
previous chapters, two questions troubled me. The first question was, simply, will ordinary readers believe 
that the chakras exist. I believe that they do exist, and as part 
of the supporting evidence for this assertion, I would like to 
describe here the chakra-related experiences I, personally, 
have had over the last thirty years of practicing yoga. In ad­
dition, I wish to describe the scientific exploration into the 
possible existence of the chakras and their related systems 
which I have done. This discussion will make up the major 
portion of this chapter. Before I begin that, however, I want to deal with the sec­
ond question which emerged from the study. This is the prob­
lem I have with Leadbeater's assertion that the chakras he ex­
perienced were the true ones and that the traditional 
representations of the chakras are merely symbols. I myself have not experienced the symbols as such in my 
own personal chakra awakening. However, my mother, a 
simple woman with no knowledge of Sanskrit, did. Specifi-
cally, she often commented on the fact that she saw a symbol 
238 239 
which looked like an inverted sailboat inside a six pointed 
star at her anahata chakra. We wondered what it meant. It 
was not until I studied Sanskrit years later that I was shaken 
by the realization that my mother had, in fact, seen the sym­
bol traditionally associated with the anahata chakra: - 
 -, 
the bija mantra "yam" surrounded by the star - 
 -. It 
is, therefore, difficult for me to accept Leadbeater's view. Coupling this with Satyananda's statements that there are in­
deed dimensions in which the mantras and yantras do exist, 
I have come to feel that the chakras which Leadbeater ex­
perienced are probably those of his self-termed etheric dou­
ble rather than the higher chakras of the astral or causal 
dimension. This also might somehow account for 
Leadbeater's outstanding omission of the svadhishthana 
chakra, referring as he does only to the "spleen chakra", i. e. , 
the manipura. I do not know if he simply overlooked the 
svadhishthana or if perhaps he purposely excluded it for 
some reason. Returning to my own experiences, I was introduced to 
spiritual reality from an early age. My natural and foster 
mothers - both spiritual devotees - began taking me to 
temples and shrines in the mountains of Shodo Island, my 
birthplace, when I was four. They taught me to chant Bud­
dhist sutras and Shinto prayers, and the three of us chanted 
together for hours on end. They also took me to places renowned as high energy cen­
ters for religious asceticism, such as the Kobo waterfalls. This spot I remember particularly well. It was an eight 
kilometer walk through dense forest, dark even at midday, 
and the area was infested with water snakes. I found it quite 
frightening. During this time with my mothers, I was taught about and 
experienced the existence of non-human entities, of entities 
who reside in higher dimensions. It must have been the com­
bination of this environment and my karma that led me to 
aspire to the world of higher dimensional reality. This is why 240 
I began to practice yoga thirty years ago. Let me now trace 
that history with you. Awakening the Muladhara Chakra 
I was twenty-five years old. My early practice consisted of 
getting up at three a. m. every morning, practicing asanas for 
about half an hour, and sitting for three or four hours. The 
first part of the meditation was devoted to pranayama, the 
latter to concentration on a specific chakra. Here is this the initial method of pranayama I practiced. Inhale breath (prana) through the left nostril to the lower 
abdomen for four seconds. Hold the prana in the inflated 
lower abdomen for eight seconds. Then raise the kundalini 
from the coccyx to the lower abdomen (the svadhishthana 
chakra) and contract the abdominal muscles. Visualize mix­
ing and unifying the prana and the kundalini for eight 
seconds. Exhale through the right nostril for four seconds. One breath cycle, therefore, takes twenty-four seconds. Repeat the entire process, inhaling through the right nostril 
and exhaling through the left, and so on, alternately. I performed this from fourteen to twenty-one times. After 
one or two months, I was able to prolong the period of kum-
bhaka (breath retention) to one or one and a half minutes. When I then concentrated on the svadhishthana or ajna 
chakra, worldly thoughts gradually ceased to enter my mind. I began to feel my body and mind fill with an extraordinary 
amount of energy. As a result of the practice, my physical and psychological 
states began to show changes. I had often suffered from a 
stomach disorder and from an ear discharge. Also, I had 
been quite nervous and adversely affected both physically 
and mentally by bad weather. Within six months after I 
began yoga, these problems disappeared. During continued practice, I began to notice some new 
sensations. I had an itchy feeling at the coccyx, a tingling 241 
feeling on the forehead and at the top of the head, and a 
feverish sensation in the lower abdomen. I could hear a 
sound something like the buzzing of bees around the coccyx. In ordinary daily life my sense of smell became so sensitive 
that I could not endure offensive odors. These conditions continued for two or three months. One 
day, when I was meditating before the altar as usual, I felt 
particularly feverish in the lower abdomen and saw there a 
round blackish-red light like a ball of fire about to explode in 
the midst of a white vapor. Suddenly, an incredible power 
rushed through my spine to the top of the head and, though it 
lasted only a second or two, my body levitated off the floor a 
few centimeters. I was terrified. My whole body was burn­
ing, and a severe headache prevented me from doing 
anything all day. The feverish state continued for two or 
three days. I felt as if my head would explode with energy. Hitting myself around the "Brahman Gate" at the top of the 
head was the only thing that brought relief. This, then, was the first time I had experienced the rising 
of the kundalini shakti to the top of my head through the 
sushumna. I did not experience as much physical or mental 
difficulty as is so often associated with this experience, 
probably because of the fortunate fact that my Brahman Gate 
was already open and the shakti was able to flow out into the 
astral dimension. Awakening of the Svadhishthana Chakra 
The feverish feeling I had around the svadhishthana, dur­
ing the initial practice of pranayama some months before the 
awakening of kundalini, was like a mixture of ice and fire. It 
was accompanied by a vision of white steam. A month or 
two later I began to see a round, crimson fire ball in my ab­
domen. Beginning at that time I began to often dream pro­
phetic dreams, to have involuntary ESP experiences (such as 
telepathy), and to realize the spontaneous fulfillment of 
wishes. 242 
I seem to have been able to activate the svadhishthana, the 
manipura, and the sahasrara more easily than the other 
chakras. My ease at awakening the svadhishthana may be 
due to the water asceticism I had practiced since my 
childhood. Traditionally, there is said to be a strong connec­
tion between the svadhishthana and water, where the chakra 
is said to dominate the principle and power of water. Many 
modern psychics who practice water asceticism have 
thereby awakened the svadhishthana chakra. Furthermore, it 
has been my experience that many psychics with inborn but 
uncontrolled PK or ESP also seem to have a more or less 
awakened svadhishthana chakra. After the awakening of this chakra, I became overly sen­
sitive, both physically and mentally. During meditation, the 
smallest noise sounded like thunder and startled me. My 
emotions became unstable and I was excited easily. This 
period is sometimes called the "dangerous stage" of yogic 
discipline, during which it is generally important to have the 
guidance of an experienced guru. I managed to pass through 
it without too many problems under the guidance of both my 
mothers and with the aid of what may be termed divine pro­
tection. The svadhishthana chakra is thought to control the genito­
urinary system and the adrenal glands. The kidney, urinary 
bladder, and triple heater meridians are also thought to be 
connected with this system. It is interesting to note that 
when the condition of the meridians in my body is tested, 
there is a distinct abnormality in the kidney and urinary 
bladder meridians, though no malfunction is present. I have 
noticed such an abnormality in similar cases as well, and feel 
it is a possible indicator of increased svadhishthana activity. Awakening of the Manipura Chakra 
In my childhood, and until I started yoga, my digestion 
was poor. Fried foods gave me diarrhea. I suffered from fre-243 
quent attacks of gastroenteritis at the transition period of 
spring or autumn which forced me to live on a simple diet of 
rice gruel and pickled plums. These conditions began to im­
prove about six months after I began yoga practice. After the same six months, a new series of sensations 
began. I often saw another reddish light centered on the 
navel that would become intensely white, seemingly much 
brighter than the sun. I grew dizzy and could see nothing for 
about ten minutes. I began to see a purple light shining be­
tween my eyebrows or in my abdomen. Though I had often seen ghosts (lower astral beings) since 
my childhood, I began to see them with increased frequency 
during meditation at this time. I was occasionally able to 
ameliorate their suffering by chanting prayers of purification 
and Buddhist sutras for them, and by consciously emitting 
prana. However, if the spirits were very strong and hostile, I 
was unable to help them and was adversely affected by them 
instead. When under the influence of such spirits, my body 
and mind became unstable. I became ill or got angry for no 
reason, and once had to stay in bed for a week with a fever. On the other hand, positive spirits (spirits who work to pro­
duce harmony with others), would affect me for the good, 
leaving me feeling very peaceful. Another result of the awakening of the manipura chakra 
was that I was endowed with such enhanced ESP abilities as 
clairvoyance, telepathy, and spiritual insight. I had an impressive experience about that time which 
greatly affected my later life. One evening in November, 26 
or 27 years ago, I was playing "kokkurisan" (a Japanese 
game which resembles the use of the Ouija board) with an 
old man, an assistant at the Shrine. After ten minutes I fell 
into a semi-trance. My body felt like it was on fire and I 
began to sweat profusely. My right hand started to move 
violently and I was unable to stop it. The trance became even 
deeper, but I did not lose consciousness. 244 
Suddenly I had the extrasensory vision of a man wearing 
ancient white clothes. He was standing in a pine grove about 
100 meters away through the shuttered doors. I saw him as 
clearly as if I had seen a real person. The ancient man was 
full of dignity and looked like a tribal leader. He beckoned to 
me, bowing. It felt as if he wanted to guide me somewhere. The man introduced himself as Hakuo and told me that I 
had been the ruler of the tribes in this neighborhood, in­
cluding his own, in a previous life. He said that he wished to 
invite me to the place where we had lived. I was able to 
understand this telepathically. As an academic researcher in 
philosophy and psychology, I found all of this extraordinari­
ly strange. In another level of my being, however, in a higher 
part of my mind which makes no distinction between past, 
present, and future, I had the realization that what he was 
saying was true. I had been the lord of this area and Hakuo 
had been a follower of mine. I think the spiritual dialogue with Hakuo continued for ten 
to twenty minutes. With my eyes open, I was able to see both 
the shutters and Hakuo. I saw this world and the spiritual 
world as if they were superimposed. When I shut my eyes, 
though, I could see only Hakuo, the pine grove, and the 
grass. The next day I went by bicycle to Jindaiji temple, in front 
of which there is a mountain that has many old graves on it. Although I had never been there before, the place felt very 
familiar. To my surprise, there were ancient pot shards and 
stone implements on display in the temple, and a notice ex­
plained that a recent excavation had disclosed the existence 
of an ancient community around Jindaiji. When I left Jindaiji, the autumn light was fading quickly in­
to night. On my way home, I came across a dark place which 
somehow attracted me spiritually and I thought it might be 
the place where Hakuo had lived some thousands of years 
before. Going up about ten stone stairs, I indistinctly saw 
something which looked like a small shrine. I instinctively 245 
knew that, in fact, this had been the ancient dwelling of 
Hakuo and I simultaneously felt somehow that Hakuo was 
pleased at my discovery. I went up to the shrine and began to pray, at which time I 
had a vision of the Buddhist deity, Fudomyoo. * By this time 
it was completely dark. I felt very strange and hurried home. The next day, though, I went back to Jindaiji to visit the small 
shrine I had discovered the night before. As I was praying, 
the priest of this shrine came out after his morning prayer. I 
told him what had happened the previous evening. Sur­
prised, he told me that, yes, Fudomyoo was enshrined there 
and invited me in to worship. I entered the shrine and found 
that it was exactly as I had seen it. Using the terms of parapsychology, this is an example of 
clairvoyance. But I also experienced something that I cannot 
describe with a word like "clairvoyance" - a strong affirma­
tion of the existence of the spiritual world. This is the world 
which I believe enters the yogi's awareness through the 
awakening of the manipura chakra. 1 later had an experience with the manipura chakra which 
taught me something else of importance: If one overuses the 
psychic ability attained by the awakening of the manipura 
chakra - the ability to come into direct contact with the 
spiritual world - and neglects the development of the other 
chakras, or if one uses any one chakra to the exclusion of the 
others, one is apt to develop abnormalities and disease in 
both mind and body. About 13 years ago (1967), seventeen years after I began 
yoga, my mother fell ill. In her place, I gave spiritual con­
sultations to the members of Tamamitsu Shrine for about 
three years. At first, I was able to leave my body through the 
sahasrara chakra during meditation to enter a state of higher 
•The Japanese name for Achala, one of the fire "brightness kings" of 
Esoteric Buddhism. 246 
or divine union. However, about six months after I started 
giving these consultations, spirits would immediately appear 
before my manipura or ajna chakra when I went into con­
centration, and I had to negotiate with them constantly. I 
was unable to get past them in order to leave my body 
through the sahasrara chakra and achieve this union - a 
predicament that continued for two or three years. Though I 
had not fallen ill since I began yoga, my stomach started to 
become easily upset and I began to tire easily. At this juncture, I left Japan and went to lecture at Andhra 
University in India for three months. While I was there I 
developed a gastric ulcer, partly due to the spicy food, but 
also due to the deterioration brought on by the continual use 
of the manipura. After I returned to Japan, my mother 
resumed the spiritual consultations and my gastric ulcer was 
cured in eighteen months by yogic discipline and acupunc­
ture treatment. From this experience, I realized that the contact with 
spirits at spiritual consultations had overworked my 
manipura chakra, thus disturbing the balance with the other 
chakras and causing problems in the digestive organs. Many 
psychics who have overworked this chakra have died young 
or have had severe problems in the stomach and intestines. I 
feel sure that it is, in fact, dangerous to overuse any chakra. Emotionally, the result of awakening the manipura chakra 
was that my emotions became somehow richer and more 
under my control. I also acquired a much deeper level of 
sympathy with other people. Awakening of the Anahata Chakra 
Although my digestion had been poor, I had never had any 
heart-related problems. However, about two years after I 
began yoga, I began to notice a pain where the line connect­
ing both nipples crosses the midsternal line (the Danchu 
point of the conception vessel meridian, Shanchung, CV 17) 247 
and my heart seemed to be functioning abnormally. Rather 
than feeling ill, though, I was healthy, very active, and re­
quired only minimal sleep. At this time, as is usual during the coldest period of winter, 
I was practicing the traditional water asceticism of rising at 
dawn, going outside, and pouring icy water over my semi-
naked body for about an hour. As I was doing this, my 
mother stood by and prayed for me. One morning the following occurred. I saw a kind of heat 
energy rising from my coccyx to my heart through the spine. My chest felt very hot and I saw my heart start to shine a 
brilliant gold. The icy water was warmed by this heat, steam 
rose from the surface of my body, but I did not feel cold. As 
the kundalini rose from my heart to the top of my head, it 
became shining white. It left my body through the top of my 
head and I rose with it into a much higher dimension. My 
physical body was standing in the cold wind of this world, 
but I had forgotten it. I was half-unconscious, and yet I was 
aware of being in the heights and of worshiping the Divine. When I came to myself ten to twenty minutes later, my 
mother told me that she had seen a golden light shining at the 
top of my head and at my heart. 1 think this experience is the 
point at which my anahata chakra was awakened. Since then, I have been able to do psychic healing, and one 
or two years after this blessing, I had an experience which 
gave me the confidence to heal. A grandson of a member of 
our Shrine, then a child of three, had shown an allergic reac­
tion to an injection. His condition became critical, and the 
doctor stated that it was hopeless. His grandmother tele­
phoned me about 10 o'clock in the evening and implored me 
to pray and save him, so I immediately began to offer fervent 
prayers for him with my mother. Soon, the grandson ap­
peared before the two of us. We continued our impassioned 
prayers, emitted energy to him and urged him to return to his 
body. About an hour later, he disappeared suddenly and we 
felt he had returned to his body and would recover. I 248 
telephoned the grandmother to tell her that he would be safe. Just then, in the hospital, his heart began to beat slowly but 
steadily and his respiration returned to normal. He steadily 
improved after that and recovered fully two or three days 
later. After the awakening of the anahata chakra, then, I 
recognized and learned to control the abilities both to emit 
psi energy and to perform psychic healing. In contrast to the 
situation after the manipura chakra had awakened (when 
spirits entered me), after the awakening of the anahata, my 
own spiritual energy or astral body was able to enter that of 
another person and to effect curative changes within that 
person. I was also able to expand my existence to include 
those whom I wanted to cure, or rather, other people could 
enter my expanded existence and live within me. My mother, who I feel also had an awakened anahata 
chakra, often performed psychic healing. For example, she 
once sent energy to a girl who was blind from birth by 
shouting at her. The girl's eyes suddenly discharged blood 
and pus. Later, on opening her eyes, she could perceive light, 
and about a week later, she began to see objects. At another 
time my mother prayed for an elderly paralyzed farmer who 
had been bedridden for more than ten years. After the 
prayer, she commanded him to stand, and he stood im­
mediately. I feel that many of the human beings who are able to per­
form miraculous healings do so through the agency of the 
anahata chakra. My psychological state also underwent some profound 
changes with this awakening. Notably, I developed an at­
titude of non-attachment to worldly things. Although I had 
become clairvoyant and telepathic after the awakening of the 
manipura chakra, and though my emotions had become rich­
er and more controllable, I had been unable to completely rid 
myself of attachment. With the anahata, I began to feel a con­
stant optimism about everything, deeply realizing the truths 249 
that all things come to him who waits, that bad times don't 
last, and that good always follows bad. I was enabled to see 
not only that good and bad co-exist inside and outside all 
things, but also that there is a world beyond this duality. After ridding myself of attachment, I became peaceful and 
my mind was free. For those who have once enjoyed this true 
freedom, the pleasures of this dualistic world seem mean­
ingless. After the awakening of this chakra, my wishes were often 
fulfilled spontaneously. For instance, we have a retreat in a 
place called Nebukawa in Odawara. The site covers about 
four acres, one of which was taken up by a deep valley with a 
river in it. I had often thought of making part of the valley in­
to a parking lot for those who come to the retreat from 
various places in Japan. About a year later it so happened 
that a construction company did just this for us free of 
charge. The former owner of our land was planning to build a big 
hotel at Yugawara hot spring. He had a problem with excess 
soil excavated during the construction and asked me if he 
could dump this soil in our valley, on the condition that he 
would build sturdy stone walls to contain it. I agreed at once, 
and, for one month, a steady stream of dump trucks showed 
up to fill our valley. Two big bulldozers leveled the site every 
day. Finally, about one third of the valley was made into a 
good, walled parking lot for at least fifty cars, an operation 
which would have otherwise cost us about $200,000. Awakening of the Vishuddhi Chakra 
I did not feel activity in the vishuddhi chakra as often as in 
the other chakras, but, during the fourth and fifth years of 
yoga practice, I began to concentrate on it after performing 
my daily pranayama. Very soon an irritation developed in 
my throat and breathing became difficult. After several months, I saw a dark purple light spread 250 
gradually around my head. Consciousness of my body 
vanished; I became quiet and calm. I experienced the state of 
nothingness. The experience of the awakening of the vishuddhi chakra 
is like the feeling of a late autumn evening, when the sky is 
twilight purple and everything is silence itself. Pale purple 
light spreads and disperses. I enjoyed a feeling of absolute 
nothingness and my mind was totally still. There is a Buddhist saying: 
This means that everything, whatever it may be, is subject to 
change, because all things, once created, have to come to an 
end. Having transcended birth and death, having gone 
beyond them, we are in Shunyata, the absolute nothingness 
and the highest good. After experiencing this state several times I found myself 
facing an abyss of absolute void. I experienced such a terri­
ble fear that I wanted to stop yoga. I often felt that my attach­
ment to this world was coming to an end; that I was leaving 
this world through this experience. My paralyzing fear 
gradually diminished as I learned to surrender myself com­
pletely to God - to totally entrust my life to Him. During this process, I encountered a horrible devil-like be­
ing. It was an indescribably terrifying experience. However, 
I also had the realization that all things, even "gods and 
devils" are transient: ultimately there is nothing to fear. This 
realization is what enabled me to pass through this frighten­
ing and dangerous period. When my fear was overcome and I could enjoy the feeling 
of total silence around me, I could clearly see that I was no 
longer attached to this world. I became able to work freely in 
this world without being attached to the results of my ac-251 
tions. I experienced a deeply wonderful feeling of non-
attachment and freedom. With this attitude, I was able to see 
the past, the present, and the future in the same dimension 
by surpassing the distinction between them. When I now 
gave spiritual consultations to members of the Shrine, I 
could see their previous lives, their present situation, and 
their future as a continuous stream. Another result of the Vishuddhi awakening had to do with 
my sense of hearing. It is said that when the vishuddhi 
awakens, the hearing becomes sharp. In fact, I have had a lot 
of difficulty in hearing due to tympanitis of both ears, which 
started when I was a child. In addition, the eardrum and the 
small bones in my left ear were surgically removed when I 
was young. However, since the vishuddhi awakened I have 
been able to hear much more clearly - not with my physical 
ear, but with that of the mind. Awakening of the Ajna Chakra 
In connection with pranayama, I sometimes concentrated 
on the perineum, contracting it during inhalation and relax­
ing it during exhalation. In so doing, my perineal area would 
become hot. This sensation was usually accompanied by 
delicate vibration between the eyebrows in the spot which is 
the supposed location of the ajna chakra and, of course, its 
connected organ, the pineal gland. To specifically accelerate 
the awakening of the ajna chakra, I began the following prac­
tice. Concentrating on the ajna chakra, I visualized the absorb-
tion of divine energy through it while inhaling, and the diffu­
sion of prana out into the universe while exhaling, all the 
time chanting OM. After performing this practice one hour a day for several 
months, kundalini energy rose from my coccyx through my 
spine and my body became hot. My lower abdomen surround­
ing the svadhishthana chakra became as hard as iron. My 252 
respiration became so easy and slow that I felt as if I could 
live without breathing. My body, especially the upper half of 
my torso, felt as though it disappeared. My ajna chakra 
began to vibrate very subtly. I was completely immersed in a 
dark purple light while a bright white light shone from be­
tween my eyebrows. I heard a voice call me as if it were 
echoing in a valley. I was filled with ecstasy and a divine 
symbol of power was revealed to me. This state continued 
for one or two hours and, I think, indicated the initial 
awakening of the chakra. This awakening was not frightening like that of the vishud-
dhi had been. I was simply filled with heavenly calm. I did 
not experience the dimming or loss of consciousness that 
had happened in the awakening of the other chakras. Rather, 
I found myself in a state of widened and deepened con­
sciousness, a consciousness of a higher dimension 
sometimes referred to as superconsciousness. While in this 
state, the past, present and future are simultaneously 
knowable. The essence of objects, and the karma of other 
people, of previous lives, of nations and of the world become 
clear. Such knowledge is termed prajna, or divine wisdom. My various scientific studies originated from the wisdom 
obtained by concentration on the ajna. I began to perceive 
that one of my tasks in this life is to help make this 
knowledge as clear as possible through scientific means, and 
to attempt to explain it in a way that others will understand. In this way my approach differs from that which employs the 
ordinary inductive methods of scientific research which 
were devised to examine physical phenomena in the effort to 
establish a synthetic scientific truth. I, rather, am attempting 
to manifest in the physical dimension, using deductive and 
scientific methods, the wisdom granted me while concen­
trating on the ajna chakra. Further concomitants of the ajna's awakening were a 
number of psi abilities which seem to emanate from a dif­
ferent dimension than that of the abilities associated with the 253 
awakening of the anahata and manipura chakras. When my 
manipura chakra awakened, for example, I was able to see 
and to be affected by spirits, and I could see the karma of in­
dividuals' previous lives. However, after the awakening of 
the ajna chakra, I became aware of the suffering of the spirits 
and was able to help liberate them by praying to God on their 
behalf. Also, the understanding of karma received through 
awakening the ajna chakra is not only that concerning in­
dividuals, but also that of larger entities such as families and 
nations. And the power to affect and alter others' karma was 
greatly enhanced by the awakening of the ajna chakra. In conclusion, I wish to add that the most important aspect 
of awakening the ajna chakra is the ability to transcend and 
purify karma. For this reason, I feel it is absolutely necessary 
to awaken the ajna and sahasrara chakras for a human being 
to evolve to a higher level of being. Awakening of the Sahasrara Chakra 
One of the practices I performed regularly in my initial 
program of discipline is a Taoist form called Shoshuten. This 
is a method of purifying the sushumna by the circulation of 
energy in the upper part of the body, which is done by rais­
ing the kundalini shakti along the sushumna to the top of the 
head and letting it fall to the ajna chakra during inhalation. Then keep the shakti there and. hold the breath for two to 
three seconds. Let it fall to the svadhishthana chakra along the 
midsternal line of the front of the body and keep it there, 
again holding the breath for two to three seconds. Maintain a 
circulation of the shakti from the muladhara chakra up the 
sushumna to the top of the head, back to the muladhara, and 
so on. While I was doing Shoshuten, I could see the inside of the 
sushumna, the sahasrara and two or three other chakras 
shining. After I had practiced yoga for six months or a year, 
a shining golden light began to enter and leave my body 254 
through the top of my head and I felt as if the top of my head 
protruded ten to twenty centimeters. In the astral, but not the 
physical dimension, I saw what looked like the head of Bud­
dha, shimmering purple and blue, resting on the top of my 
own head. There was a golden-white light flowing in and out 
through the gate on top of the Buddha's crown. Gradually I 
lost the sensation of my body, but I held a clear awareness of 
consciousness, of super-consciousness. I could see my 
spiritual self gradually rise higher and leave my body 
through the top of my head to be restored in Heaven. I was able to hear a powerful, but very tender, Voice re­
sounding through the universe. While listening to the Voice, 
I realized spontaneously my mission, my previous lives, my 
own spiritual state, and many other things. Then I experi­
enced a truly indescribable state, in which my entire 
spiritual existence became totally immersed within an ex­
traordinary calmness. After some time, I felt it imperative 
that I return to the physical world. I descended, following 
the same path, and returned to my body through the gate at 
the top of my head. I consciously had to permeate my whole 
body with spiritual energy because it was frigid and my ex­
tremities were paralyzed. Finally I was able to move my 
hands and feet a little, and normal sensation gradually 
returned. This happened in less than a year after I began yoga. Dur­
ing the next two years, the vishuddhi and anahata chakras 
were awakened. My svadhishthana, manipura and sahasrara 
chakras, as stated before, became active before the others. After the sahasrara chakra was awakened, my astral body 
was able to leave through the Brahman Gate. This enabled 
me to see the outside world during meditation, as the follow­
ing example illustrates. About ten years ago, while meditating as usual, I was able 
to "see" a stranger in the shrine, even though my eyes were 
closed and I was facing away from the other meditators. After meditation, when I greeted the other practitioners, I 255 
looked carefully at the old woman whom I had never seen 
before and saw the following scene extrasensorily. I saw fields in the foothills of a large and beautiful moun­
tain, which I recognized to be Mount Oyama. A farmer, 
whom I realized to be the father of this woman, removed an 
old tumulus from one of the fields in order to enlarge his farm. The scene shifted and I saw that later one of his descendants 
and a few of the villagers had gone insane. This brought on 
the realization that the field was the site of an old battlefield 
in the war between the Tokugawa and Takeda families about 
four hundred years ago and that it was in this tumulus that a 
Takeda warrior who died in the battle was buried. When the 
farmer removed the tumulus, the warrior's soul had become 
angry and began to haunt the farmer and his descendants. This caused this woman's eldest son (the farmer's grandson) 
to become schizophrenic, which fact had induced her to 
come to the shrine to pray for help. When I told her what I had seen, she was intensely sur­
prised. Immediately, she went back to her birthplace, the 
place I had described in my vision, and ascertained that the 
other facts were true. The next day she came to the shrine and 
told us that when her son had been in the first year of high 
school, he had become so mentally unstable that he was 
unable to attend classes. He had stayed in his room all day 
long, writing in his diary that he was one of the Takeda war­
riors. His mother had had absolutely no idea what he meant. For the five years since then he had been in a mental hospital. The mother implored me to help her son. For the next week, 
I negotiated intensively with the warrior's soul and finally per­
suaded him to leave the son. The woman came a week later 
and told me that the son had left the hospital, was returning to 
normal, and was already able to help her in the vegetable 
store. This experience made it even clearer to me that events in 
the real world are deeply connected to both past events and 
to events in the spiritual world. Further, the experience dif-256 
fered from simple astral projection in that it was not accom­
panied by coldness and stiffness in the body nor by loss of 
consciousness. Although my consciousness did dim some­
what, I was able to observe my surroundings precisely. Similar experiences have since happened to me many times. After the awakening of the sahasrara chakra, the abilities 
that had come through the awakening of the lower chakras 
became stronger. At the same time, these chakras became ac­
tive at a higher level and those which had not been complete­
ly awake, the vishuddhi and anahata chakras, awoke steadily 
from that point on. Further, as the sahasrara became increas­
ingly active in higher dimensions, I received the following 
abilities: 
the ability to enter and affect the bodies of others; 
the ability to extend my existence and to include others 
within it; 
the ability to work freely, transcending karma and the 
restrictions of the body, and 
the ability to be granted union with Divine power. The foregoing is a general description of the awakening 
and activities of each chakra and the corresponding psi-
abilities derived from my experience over the last thirty 
years. In conclusion, there are three points I wish to stress 
concerning the awakening of chakras. First, chakra awaken­
ing is a process which must be undergone if the soul is to 
evolve and if enlightenment is to be reached. One of the 
Upanishads says that one cannot reach enlightenment 
without awakening and recognizing the chakras, and I 
believe this to be true. Second, it seems to me that whichever 
chakra awakens first differs from person to person. Because 
of one's individual karma and nature, there are character­
istic chakras which are more easily activated and more liable 
to be awakened by the movement of kundalini in any given 
individual. Finally, I wish to stress that overuse of the 
paranormal ability of one chakra is apt to cause abnormality 257 
or disease in the internal organs controlled by that chakra, 
and may even lead to an early death. In the second half of this chapter, I would like to discuss 
the scientific research which I have conducted with the in­
tent of experimentally verifying the truths experienced by 
myself and many others in spiritual practice. These discus­
sions will hinge on the experimental observations obtained 
by the AMI and the Chakra Instrument, physiological record­
ing devices which I developed. The AMI - Apparatus for Measuring the Functional Condi­
tions of Meridians and their Corresponding Internal Organs 
- is an instrument designed to measure the initial skin cur­
rent, as well as the steady state current, in response to DC 
voltage externally applied at special acupuncture points 
located alongside the base of finger and toe nails. According 
to acupuncture theory, these special points - called "sei 
(well) points" are ostensibly the terminal points of meridians 
where the Ki energy either enters or exits the body. Ex­
periments on some 2000 subjects strongly suggest that the 
relative magnitudes of such skin current values reflect the 
functional conditions of Ki energy in the meridians. The data 
from these experiments have been collated into a set of 
criteria for the assessment of functional conditions, whether 
normal or disordered in terms of excess, deficiency, or im­
balance of Ki energy. Each of these criteria was established 
on the basis of statistical analysis and clinical examination. They are stored in the computer memory so that the 
diagnosis of the functional condition of each meridian can 
be automatically performed by the computer, which yields 
columns of numbers to produce a data chart. The Chakra Instrument was designed to detect the energy 
generated in the body and then emitted from it in terms of 
various physical variables. Unlike the electroencephalo­
graph and other instruments of electrophysiology, it is 
designed to detect minute energy changes (electric, 258 
AMI 
magnetic, optical) in the immediate environment of the sub­
ject. The detectors are installed inside a light-proof room 
which is electrostatically shielded by grounded lead sheeting 
embedded in the walls. Furthermore, the inside surfaces of 
the room are completely covered with thin aluminum 
sheeting, also grounded, so that the electric potential of the 
room is kept uniform and practically zero. A round disk cop­
per electrode (d = 10cm) and a photo-electric cell as posi­
tioned 12-20 cm in front of the subject, level with the sup­
posed location of a given chakra. This location is then 
monitored for the detection of electrical or optical signals 
generated by the subject, who is seated still and motionless 
on a chair. A detector of magnetic field fluctuation is placed 
on the floor in front or to the side of the subject. The signals 
are amplified and analyzed by a signal processor, a power 
spectrum analyzer, and other similar equipment located out­
side the room and then recorded simultaneously on a 
multichannel strip chart recorder along with conventional 
variables such as respiration, ECG, plethysmograph and GSR. 259 
The Chakra Instrument 
- Head Amplifier -
The 
Chakra Instrument 
- Electrode Box -
The Chakra Instrument 
- DC Amplifier, Signal Processor -260 
Before summarizing the research, some more background 
is necessary. Much of the research begins with the 
hypothesis that the chakras are each closely connected with 
certain nervous plexuses and with their corresponding inter­
nal organs. This hypothesis is not original, but one that has 
been advanced and supported by studies of modern medical 
science as well as by the accounts of personal experiences of 
yoga practitioners accumulated over thousands of years. The 
supposed correspondence runs as follows: 
Muladhara chakra - sacral and coccygeal plexuses 
Svadhishthana chakra - sacral plexus; urogenital 
system 
Manipura chakra - solar plexus; digestive system 
Anahata chakra - cardiac plexus; circulatory system 
Vishuddhi chakra - superior, middle, and interior cer­
vical ganglia; respiratory system 
Ajna chakra - pituitary body, interbrain, autonomic 
nervous system and hormone system 
Sahasrara chakra - cerebral cortex, entire nervous 
system; organs and tissues of the entire body 
It is presumably due to this correspondence between 
chakras and nervous plexuses that yogis are thought to 
undergo gradual physiological changes which result in an in­
creased range of activities of such internal organs as the 
heart, stomach, kidney, urinary bladder and sexual organs. Various studies were carried out in order to investigate 
possible differences in the functional ranges of said organs 
between subjects who evidence no chakra activity and of 
subjects who do. These included a survey on disease suscep­
tibility and an analysis of GSR responses to electrical stimulus 
at viscero-cutaneous reflex points, both of which are de­
scribed below. Members of our yoga society, about 100 in number, were 
divided into the three following groups. 261 
Group A - comprised of those whose chakras evi­
denced advanced activity 
Group B - comprised of those whose chakras evi­
denced beginning activity 
Group C - comprised of those whose chakras were still 
dormant 
This classification was carried out on the basis of extra­
sensory observations made by myself and others with similar 
abilities, as veil as one on the subjects' descriptions of their 
own experieices. We first conducted a comparative study of disease suscep­
tibility. Each individual filled out a questionnaire designed 
to determine to which category of disease he was suscep­
tible. The answers were then scored, category by category. One point was assigned to every category of disease to which 
the subject vas judged susceptible according to pre-set 
criteria. The scores of individuals were summed up, 
category by category, for each group and then divided by the 
number of individuals in the group to obtain the average 
susceptibility. The chart below shows each group's tenden­
cies thus obtahed, multiplied by 100. In terms of the internal organs that are supposedly con­
nected to a chikra, Group A showed the highest susceptibili­
ty to disease, jroup B the second highest, and Group C the 
lowest. This result suggests that in comparison to Group C, 
Groups A and B are more susceptible to functional troubles 
in those interial organs connected with the chakras - a fact 
potentially incicative of the functional excitement and/or in­
stability in those organs concerned. We next stidied the functional conditions of the internal 
organs by means of electrical stimulation of the head zones. The visceid-cutaneous reflex points in the sympathetic 
nervous dermatomes of the heart, stomach, kidneys, and 262 
Statistical Diagram of Susceptibility to Disease 
urogential organs (which approximately concide in the 
trunk with the spinal dermatome) were choser for electrical 
stimulation because these internal organ;, again, are 
presumably closely connected with the anahata, manipura, 
and svadhishthana chakras respectively. The GSR signals 
were monitored before and after stimulation as an indicator 
of the functional condition of the entire sympatietic nervous 
system as well as of the reactions of the sympahetic nerves 
controlling each internal organ. 263 
Viscero-cutaneous Reflex Points 
(Acupuncture points) 264 
skin current decrease 
GSR Graph (Head Zones) 
The comparative analysis of the GSR response is shown in 
the figure above. Group A showed the highest pre-stimula-
tion GSR, Group C the second highest, and Group B the 
lowest. However, after stimulation, Groups A and B showed 
smaller GSR current than Group C for such organs as the 
heart, stomach and urogenital organs. For the kidneys alone 
the results were different; Group A showing the highest 
value. This result indicates that for Group A the reaction of 265 
the autonomic nervous system to external stimuli is 
predominantly parasympathetic. It is particularly worthy of 
note that Group A showed both the highest sympathetic ac­
tivity before stimulation and the strongest parasympathetic 
reaction to external stimuli. This fact suggests that Group A 
subjects possess a wider range of dynamic balance between 
the two mutually opposing functions of the sympathetic and 
parasympathetic nervous systems than do the subjects in 
Group C. Thus, it might be conjectured that those who have active 
chakras tend to have wider ranges of related autonomic ac­
tivity, as revealed through functional excitement and/or in­
stability, than do those whose chakras are not yet active. In another series of investigations, the ECG and 
plethysmograph were employed to attempt to clarify any 
functional dissimilarities in the cardio-vascular systems of 
yogis and ordinary persons, as they might relate to the 
anahata chakra. The uppermost line in the figure (p. 266) for the ordinary 
person is the plethysmograph. It shows almost constant am­
plitudes with very slight base-line fluctuation. The pulse rate 
is 65. 8/minute. In contrast to this, the plethysmograph of a 
yogi from Kakinanda, India, shows a periodic wavy fluctua­
tion of the base line with 7-10 pulses superimposed on each 
wave. In many similar studies I found that, for ordinary sub­
jects, the baseline fluctuation is minimal. This indicates that 
the basal blood flow is constant. In the case of yogis and 
other long-term spiritual practitioners, however, I have often 
noted large rhythmical fluctuations in the basal blood flow in 
addition to the regular pulsations of the heart beat. This im­
plies to me that in cases like that of the Kakinanda yogi the 
autonomic nerves controlling the cardiovascular system-
blood vessels in particular - function somehow in a rhythmic 
fashion. This, in turn, suggests that the functional range of 
the autonomic nerves, the range of dynamic balance be-266 
ween the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, is 
almost abnormally wider in yogis than in ordinary persons. As another example, here is some information on a yogi 
who claims to have awakened his anahata chakra and to 
have achieved voluntary control over his cardiac functions. He was studied at the Lanaula Yoga Institute located near 
Bombay, India. The figure below shows the photo of the 
yogi's ECG recorded by the director of the Institute. The fourth line of the ECG recording clearly indicates that 
the yogi's heart beat stopped for about five seconds. This feat 
was not achieved by the yogi's will power alone, however. The respiration monitored along with the ECG shows that the 
yogi's breathing also stopped when his heart stopped. Thus, 
holding the breath seems to facilitate the cardiac arrest, 267 
which is understandable from a neuro-physiological stand­
point. Section summary: 

Please provide accurate summaries of sections VII-VIII-XII. Section VIII:
Summary

There exists controversy regarding certain aspects of Arthur Edward Waite-Leadbetter’s teachings compared to Swami Satchidanandra Saraswatiji [Author]’{sat} \[Name]
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These controversies revolved mainly around {lead-better}. Specifically,
these debates focused upon |268|269|
specific areas :



Note:**Since** **you're asking**
       Please maintain specificity, precision, clarity, concise language and referency. ***


Here is your summarized version:


According to Satyananda, the Muldhora-Svyadvihsthana-Manipur-a combination creates limitations in achieving pure compassion-free energies. Despite entering states akin to samādaḥeṭŕːƒɪqʊǔoüts, I've noticed numerous instances involving manipulation, possibly linked to ego-bound elements. From Vedic tantricism perspectives:



References:

https://www. example. com

Source(s): https:/example. org
Other sources used. Additional notes. Let me adjust your request appropriately. ).
Bhu - earth, Bhuvana - intermediate space, and Satyam - the truth.
What are the three main planes of evolution assigned to by Satyananda?
The abilities may not be entirely free of self-interest, negativity, and personal emotion, as the individual's personality remains within the second stage of evolution.
What is the nature of the paranormal abilities that may arise from the awakening of the svadhishthana chakra?
It symbolizes the power to fulfill one's wishes, but it is emphasized that the subject must develop the capacities of correct thinking and judgment before attempting to awaken the anahata chakra.
What is the purpose of the "wishing tree" in the anahata chakra?
The individual can control worldly karma and exert their own will to fulfill their wishes, and can also develop telepathic powers, psychic healing, and other paranormal abilities.
What is the significance of the awakening of the Vishuddhi chakra?
The individual soul can exercise its own will and control worldly karma, whereas at the lower levels, the individual soul merely accepts what is presented by karmic circumstance.
What is the main difference between the anahata and lower chakras?