Episode Transcript

Chakras, they have intrigued and fascinated spiritual seekers for centuries. We talk about them, we joke about them. I know people who say, "The moment somebody says chakras, I'm out. I'm not part of that conversation." And I get it. Everything around spirituality has become a buzzword. People are tired of listening to the same words.

People are tired of seeing the ancient terminology, spiritual words being misused, manipulated for the reasons that are just wrong. And this is why I felt I got to talk about the chakras, but also ranking them based on which one is more relevant to you as a modern seeker and which one you should not touch at all and which ones become more relevant with certain life experiences and changes.

This episode is all about understanding the energy of chakras, ranking their importance, and addressing the most frequently asked questions around these energy centers, also known as chakras. So take a deep breath, relax, stay connected to your heart chakra as you receive this episode. I am Chandresh Bhardwaj, and this is Leela Gurukul. Namaste everyone, I hope you're feeling easy, safe, and grounded.

Before we get into this episode, a reminder and invitation to explore the Tantra based meditation program called the Conscious Meditation Experience. It's my first signature program in Leela, and it's also the one that we have done repeatedly in the last few years, which means it has evolved, it has shifted its energy, it has stepped into such fascinating layers of Tantra. And each time we open it attracts such beautiful, interesting, curious spiritual seekers.

This is a program where you will experience more than 30 Tantra meditations, more than 12 advanced Tantric mantras, weekly access to me, guiding you, supporting you, listening to you, making sure no question goes unanswered. It's also the kind of program where you go deeper beyond the meditation. Meditation is just the open doorway. Once you step into it, you learn about self-healing.

You start to master the nature of chakras, the nature of your consciousness, resetting the energetic contracts and above all, knowing what a sankalpa or intention is and how to navigate it, how to truly live a life that's balance of the spiritual abundance and material success. Because if you only have one that gets frustrating for these modern times, it's the kind of program that I wish I had access to growing up.

I could not find one, so I created one now. And to make sure it's accessible and affordable for most of you, there are two layers of it this time. The signature layer where you get six calls, the group calls with me throughout the program, and then there is a deep dive access where you get 12 calls with me. And in addition, of course, there's weekly access to me.

I don't know at this point what can I say to convince you to join because that's not my style, but my style is to share more about it, speak to the storyteller in you and hopefully give you enough strength and courage to take this significant step, whether it's for the conscious meditation or for anything else where you will unleash yourself and where you will bloom into a version of you that you may not even imagine yet.

And if that's conscious meditation for you, I'm looking forward to seeing you, working with you and being your teacher. It's a role that I do not take for granted and I'm excited for those of you who will join. I'll see you there. And now let's get into the topic for today, chakras.

Now when I talk about people who step out of the conversation when the word chakra starts to show up in the chat, I think I might be one of those people. Not because I hate chakras or I have some problem with it. The only reason is the usage of chakra has been butchered in the last few years, and this is why this conversation is so important.

Now what's the meaning of the word Chakra? The literal meaning is chakra wheel. But when you go deeper into understanding chakra, you may not see or visualize or understand chakra as a wheel, but it's more like a triangle. The energy moves in that direction. Even when you sit and meditate, look at the whole body posture and you would notice it becomes a triangle.

The energy moves in a very interesting direction. But this information is not so relevant. What's relevant here is how people define and misunderstand chakra. Because the moment you define it as a wheel, you limit it. The moment you define it as this seven chakra thing, you limit it. What if I tell you there are way more than seven chakras? What if I tell you there are more than 112 or maybe even more than 1000 chakras in the body?

My take is there are hundreds and thousands of chakras in the body because a chakra is nothing but an energy center. They are branded in such a way that all we understand now is seven chakras. But there are way more than that. Why seven chakra is easier to, for the conversation and the spiritual growth purpose because they are easier to navigate.

You can't pinpoint any of those chakras. You can't tangibly touch any of these chakras. They are energy centers. So when you divide that entire energy spectrum into just the seven layers, it's easy to know and understand which one is out of the space and which one you need to work on.

Before I go deeper into even ranking of the chakras, one interesting thing to know is one chakra does not stay at the same pace that chakras will move, the energy center will move. And you should not be working on the chakras only, only on the basis of what you know and understand from a book or a podcast because things do get sensitive. By the end of this podcast, I'm going to share the chakra that you can gently work with without even referring to a book.

But beyond that, I do not recommend you go too deep without a qualified guidance. In the CM program, this is one of our core work to make sure you understand that each chakra and its depth so that you can independently work with them. But without the right guidance, it could mess up many things and we'll know why. Now the lower three chakras, if I'm taking the POV of just the seven chakras, so the lower three root, sacral, solar plexus, I group them together.

When I talk about the lower chakras, I group these three chakras as one total energy center. Because within these three chakras, there is a lot happening and they are sort of supporting each other in the process. These three chakras are biologically, sexually, creatively connected to each other. Unfortunately, this is also that one chakra, which you will notice messed up in so many humans out there.

What caused the mess-up? As a child, sometimes you don't want to sleep, you are full of energy, but the parents force you to sleep because they want to sleep, they have a job next day, they have a life to live. So when they force you to sleep, and by force I mean suggestion is good, training is good, but forcing, threatening almost, yelling almost, that is a major damage on the lower chakras. And I'm going to call them root chakra.

But root chakra does not mean the Muladhara. It means the lower three. Okay, from naval to the root level, all of that area. So when you force or yell a child to go to sleep, but they're not ready for it, when you force a child to eat something that they're not ready for. They may not be hungry, but you're forcing them. You may be forcing them to go for a pee, but they don't want to. There's nothing happening in the stomach.

You're just making them sit in the toilet. Obviously, as I say, these things you might think, "But this is how you train them." Again, there's a difference between mindfully training and projecting your resentment and anger on your children. Now, this might be a trigger for some people, so take a deep breath before I share this, especially the parents.

I've spoken to many parents in the process and many parents, I applaud them for doing this. Many parents have accepted that they often project their frustration, anger, resentment on the kids, on the little kids. Because the kids happened, they were not planned or even the planned ones, when they show up, it's a full life force that you're responsible to take care of and that life force demands your entire attention.

And the times we live in, they are complicated times and you're not able to navigate that space with the kids. However, if you even start to rearrange life, if you even start to reflect deeply within and start to understand how can I hold the space for my child? How can I get into their universe and be more playful with them? And that's all it takes. That's it.

They want to be seen, loved for who they are. They want their conscious expression to be honored. That's what has gone wrong in us in the adults. So again, going back to what causes the mess, these are the little things that have caused the mess. And then growing up, children. Or let's not even mention children.

We as an adult, there is an age for us when we become very curious about the body, the human body, your own body, the body of the other humans, and you start to have feelings. You start to have sexual feelings, romantic feelings. You feel the need to be with someone, not purely out of lust, but that's just what the body's demanding. So it's a mix of many factors. Lust may be one of them, infatuation, the need to experience a certain affection, a certain romantic affection.

In many cultures, in many families, that is judged, suppressed and controlled. And that obviously starts to dismantle, ruin, butcher, collapse, the sensitivity of the root chakras because the lower three centers are the most sensitive.

If you go out, look at a tree, you'll notice the tree is giant and strong, but the roots, the soil that it's on, it's still soft. But the roots have become stronger, right? But it's the roots are expanding in the softness, in that unknown. That's where the root chakras belong. They belong in the softness, they belong in the sensitivity.

The more aligned you are with your root chakra or chakras, all three of them, the more sexually, sensually, spiritually aware you will be. So there will be very little confusion and mess in your mind related to sex, related to spirituality, related to divinity. Again, when you are little, you have your curiosity about what is God, what is divinity, what's awakening? But we are not given the chance to experience our version of that divine energy.

And when that happens, guess what? A major gateway is blocked. First they blocked the area of affection, intimacy, sensuality, playfulness. And now the other area, the divinity, now that's blocked because you are told and forced to follow a belief system that family follows. So the whole energy center just doesn't grow, it stays there. But there's a good side to it.

It's going to come. So in case you're thinking, "This sounds so messed up, and is this my reality now? Is this how I'm going to function? How I'm going to show up?" No, not at all. I want to remind you again, as a human consciousness, you have the privilege, privilege of experiencing and expressing through the collective consciousness. So you can change your destiny, your story, anytime.

It's a conscious choice that you will make. As a conscious choice maker you can turn around your story anytime. It takes awareness, courage, action, intention, meditation. But you are on it when that begins. And when your relationship with the lower three chakras gets better, you consume things much better. And that's a consumption of the content nowadays, right?

Consumption of emotions, consumption of the whole sexual energy, consumption of spiritual energy, consumption of the friendships out there. When we are messed up there, we don't know what to consume, how to consume, when to stop, when to begin. So we sort of become confused in that space. We start to project our traumas, our childhood experiences on others.

And the lower three chakras, they just continue to become weak and weak and weak. And once you start to heal them, understand them, it impacts in many areas. Your food habits change, your choice of friendships change, your experience and dynamic with your intimacy, your partner, that will change. The way you sleep, the way you express your creativity, all of that starts to shift.

That's the magic of the lower three chakras. Now, moving up the heart chakra. Now many people understand heart chakra as the chakra of emotions, feelings. Of course, that exists. But what if I tell you it's the most underrated psychic energy center in you? And by that I mean heart chakra can help you access the energy, the dimensions around you. It can help you tap into your intuition.

It can help you receive the message that you need to hear. Because when you plant sankalpa, the intention, one step is you plant it. Second step is you release it. Third step is how you all allow it to unfold for you. And that's a tough one for many people because they are not used to of that level of trust. But if the heart chakra is aligned, you know how to receive, and you also know then how to give.

So it makes you a conscious giver and a receiver. All right. And maybe you can take a guess. If the heart chakra is not aligned, guess what happens? You become a classic over giver. You give people a lot. And when you keep giving, what happens? They're hungry for one bread and you are feeding them three breads because you think that's what they need. But if you give someone three breads and they're hungry for one, or they can digest only one, what will happen?

Their stomach may go bad, they may throw up, but definitely they'll be unhappy with you. They'll be angry with you. But now you are also angry because you're like, "I gave them three breads. I took such pain and effort to bake three breads, to cook the food, but they're angry with me." So both the parties end up feeling so much resentment toward each other.

It's like too homeless sitting next to each other. And both the homeless feel you have something you for them. But at the end of the day, you realize you both have nothing actually. You both are simply projecting your own past trauma, anger, confusion on each other. So the resentment is natural, but that's the dark side of the heart center.

And when you go deeper within, when you do the work, you become conscious receiver in terms of abundance, in terms of love, joy, everything. I use this example a lot. When nobody has complimented you and someone compliments you, you don't know how to react. You don't know how to respond. I shared this story long time ago. This is I think the time when I first moved to LA. So I was in my early twenties. I remember stumbling upon a singer on Instagram.

In those days, reels didn't exist. Mostly it was pictures. And if you want to listen to an audio or a video, SoundCloud, YouTube, they are your venues. So I stumble upon this account, I went onto her SoundCloud, listened to her music, went back to Instagram and complimented her that I just listened to the music. It's so well done. And I've always been a huge fan, huge admirer of art.

So I complimented. I wanted to know if I can support her in any way because I also felt some suppression, some held back energy and I would handle it differently now. But in those days, I was also just very open, innocent, not, I don't know if innocent is the right word, but yeah, just spontaneous. Yeah, that might be a better word. So yeah, out of complete spontaneous-ness, I was like, "Yeah, I would love to know if you need any support from me, I can share your music, but this is great.

I want to use it in my meditations too." So she thought I'm selling her something. And she said, "Are you selling me something?" I said, "No. Did I sound like I'm selling you something?" She said, "No, nothing." She didn't speak. And our interaction just stopped there. And after 10 or 15 days, she said, "I saw you teach meditation in LA. Can I come?" I said, "Yeah, sure.

This is the timing, the venue." She showed up there. And then after two or three meditations she told me, she said, her music is her healing. That's her strongest expression. But the family, the friends have always judged her. And she struggles, she battles to embrace that part of her. And when a stranger told her, the music is amazing, she didn't know how to respond. She said, "I had a feeling you're not selling me something.

But I just didn't know what to say." So I said, "Are you selling me something?" But we all have been there. We still go there, right? If there are creepy men sliding into your DMs and telling you things you don't want to hear, and when a nice gentleman slide into your DM, tell you something, you would still judge him. And men do that, women do that. We all do that because we project the old onto the new.

But my friend, this is also an important teaching. With heart chakra, you don't get what you want, you get what you are. So when the heart chakra shifts the frequency, guess what happens? You start to attract a deeper, mindful, joyful, loving tribe. I see it, I feel it all the time. So solution is here in your heart. Go back to it. Next one is throat.

Now throat chakra, while you may think it's all about speech, it's not really about just the speech. Throat is the filter of your energy center. So when you plant the seeds in the root chakras, the seeds are growing, they're reaching the heart center. And until the heart center, it's still very much about your physical existence.

So until the heart center, it's very much about your desires, your human experiences, your biological experiences. So you are very much still connected to that biological energy, the sexual energy. But above the heart, things start to change. You are no more just limited to that physical, biological, sexual self.

And now vishuddha should the throat chakra is starting to filter your expression. Why? Why it's doing it? Because the moment it will reach third eye, your thoughts will become reality. Your nervousness, your doubts start to take a real shape. And the throat cha cry is only trying to help you. It's only trying to make sure whatever goes upward, it's the most filtered expression of you.

And of course, it only happens when you are consistent in your sadhana, in your meditation. It doesn't happen otherwise because otherwise it's you're just reacting and interacting to your negativity with your anger, anxiety, confusion, doubts. This is why having a therapist, coach, mentor, spiritual advisor, whatever is your jam, it's so important because someone can pinpoint your thoughts.

Someone can pinpoint when you're moving in the wrong direction. And if you cannot afford one, start journaling. Start leveling up your meditation practice. Start leveling up your professional skillset so that you can create more abundance and you can work with better qualified experts.

So throat, throat chakra is the most mysterious one because once you start to work with it, guess what gets the most strength? Your self-expression becomes much more aware, much more raw, much more unapologetic, much more fearless. Because if there is one aspect of your life that you should work on, that is honoring your self-expression, which means you do not have to be a muse, you don't have to be a creative seeker, you don't have to be a Tantric yogi mystic or anything.

What Tantra demands from you is that you are being you, that's all. When you work with authentic teachers, let's say you're working with or you met five different Tantric teachers. So if they are genuinely the real deal, all those five will have a very unique self-expression. It's the same with the artist, the storytellers. If they are genuine and they're passionate about their art, they will express their art without fear, they will not try to satisfy the gallery because they are playing the big picture there.

They are trying to co-create with the divine. They are trying to communicate with the divine or the highest self-expression. This is something I have learned by observing the mistakes, the Tantric teachers, the storytellers that they honor their self-expression. And again, if there's one thing, you got to put your time, energy investment, that is the self-expression. Throat chakra will help you, but you got to wake up to it.

You got to show up for it as well. All right? So after throat, you go to third eye, the Ajna chakra. Now Ajna chakra is the energy center that navigates, that guides your all other chakras. Now for most people, fortunately or unfortunately, the third eye becomes strong on its own. It's also trauma response in many ways.

How many of you have watched the show Succession? So in Succession, Logan Roy and his entire family, they are messed up on the root chakras. So if you notice Logan Roy, his two sons or the three sons, yeah. Shiv also, but definitely the three sons, their relationship with sexuality, sensuality, playfulness, it doesn't exist.

Logan Roy's own relationship with sensuality doesn't exist. In fact, sensuality and Logan Roy don't like to talk to each other at all. And there is very less emotion, there's very less expression. You know what's happening there? The root chakras are so fragile with them, but the third eye is so heavy, so strong that it can manifest anything, anything at all. So if they start thinking self-destructive thoughts, that will also manifest.

So when Kendall, I think I'm seeing the name right, the older, not the older, the middle son I think. When Kendall Roy goes through that drug addiction challenge, that is a case of a genius gone wrong. He has the skillset, he has the ability, but he messes up. The third eye gets a very strong message of numbing down that geniusness. And that happens to many, many women also.

But I've seen many men go through that suppression around this whole patriarchy that they need to step up, match to the level of that patriarchy. And when they can't, they start to numb down that energy. So anger, alcohol, sex, mindless relationships, they take place of that. Third eye is a blessing and curse.

It's a blessing because any thought you put on it, it will happen. It will happen no matter what. Of course, other factors play a role. Your self-doubt, self-trust, how much you're receptive to the unknown, how much you're open, all of those factors, of course support. But eventually third eye will make it happen for you. But the curse part is if people with stronger third eyes start to think in the negative terms, they self-sabotage the entire empire they are building.

In the Leela work, in my one-on-one work, in the advanced Tantra mastery work, I attract people with very strong third eye. That's why they reach out because a strong third eye person will reach out. They will not sit back over analyze, but eventually they will reach out. If not today, then tomorrow or few months or a few weeks later, they'll eventually reach out.

So when a third eye person will reach out and they start to do the work, the work doesn't escalate overnight, there is a major detox part, there is a major healing part in it. And when that happens, the mind starts to play its own trick. "Are you doing the right work? Why is it taking time? You don't have enough money in the bank." So the moment that thought hits you, the third eye will do its job to amplify that.

So you stop attracting the right clients, you start losing the clients that exist because third eye doesn't judge between right and wrong. It's only responding to what's happening, to what your frequency is. So one thing we do in the Leela program, we create this identity shift worksheet or the intention worksheet where we start to create a document, a sacred affirmation plus mantra, plus a blend of action in it, which basically retrains your mind, body, and awareness to give out the right message out there because you are human at the end of the day.

You could be working hard meditating, but one text message, one phone call, one bad meeting, it can change your entire mood. It can kill the motivation you are hoping to nurture. In that case a certain document where, which reminds you basically and your mind and body that you are not the old self, you're the newer one.

You are stepping up your game each day and every way. So do not go into the past, but stay in the present. Stay here, right here. So third eye really is the most important chakra and it can help you to heal the lower chakras, but you've got to play the cards really well. Okay? By the way, I've still not ranked any chakra, so do not jump into any conclusions yet.

All right? The last one here is crown. And if you know me, my advice is super clear on the crown chakra. Do not go near it. Do not touch it. Because you can't touch it anyway. But don't attempt to touch it. Do not experiment with it. Do not, yeah, don't do anything with it because crown is the destination. It is not the bridge, it is not the road. The bridge is the other six chakras.

The bridge is the other mantras. Crown or the OM is the destination. That's where you arrive. That's where the ultimate dissolving happens. The ultimate melting pot is the crown. When you go to the crown chakra on your own organically, not by force, the top part of the head, it becomes very soft, very sensitive. So sensitive that you can actually, when you touch the head, you can feel it's going a bit inside.

I want you to look up Buddha's head on Google, browse various pictures of Buddha's head. And you'll notice Buddha had bumps on his head. I have seen the bumps on many yogis and mystics who opened their crown chakra. But when that starts to happen, imagine what it could do with your emotional state, what it could do with your brain, the whole neurology. And this is why it's extremely dangerous to start experimenting with the crown chakra.

And you'd rather continue the work with the other self. And if and when your mind, body, awareness, they are ready, only then they'll move into the crown chakra. For majority of population, it doesn't happen. But let's say it happens to one person. But even for those one person, it will happen after a certain age, maybe after the age of 70, 80 or so. Why?

Because if you are doing your work right, by the age of 70 or so, you realize this is all a big circus. I've experienced everything I wanted to experience and now there's no force, there's no ambition. And that declaration, that acceptance will elevate your energy to the crown and things will start to move.

Because if you do it right now or attempt to do the OM mantra or the crown chakra work, you are giving a very confusing message to yourself and to the universe that, "I'm this ambitious creative, storyteller, artist, muse. And I want to be abundant, but also I want renounce everything. I'm not interested in this whole material world." So the body doesn't know what to do, the universe doesn't know what to do, the energies who are listening to you supporting you, they don't know what to do.

So as a result, you start to lose touch with your ambition, you start to lose touch with the whole fire that you are building. So conclusion is don't go there. And now we can start to rank the chakras. And as you can tell, the crown chakra is the one you should not touch and do anything. So that's out of the picture.

Now, those of you who are starting to meditate, the little kids and the younger kids and those in their teens, twenties, and you have never meditated before, and this is first time you're going for it. And anyone, by the way, any age group, if this is your first time stepping into that deeper work, stick to the heart chakra because heart chakra will never ever disappoint you.

It's waiting to create a safe space for you. It's waiting to connect with you. So how do you do that? You breathe in, hold the breath, breathe out. Do it for a few more minutes and then bring the attention and awareness on the heart chakra. And on the heart chakra, let it expand. You can use the mantra Soham, that's a mantra that we talk very often on the Leela space. And if you are part of the CM, there are specific mantras and we'll talk if you are part of the program.

But those who are not part of the program, Soham is very powerful. Who am I? Is also very powerful. So my number one suggestion is heart chakra, that's rank one. After deep work, after having access to some support, be it a senior teacher, a junior teacher, or someone who is qualified enough to hold space for you, then you should go to the naval center, the root chakra, okay?

But super slow, very organic, do not rush. And that's all. Don't go to the throat, don't go to the third eye because that is super sensitive work. In fact, I would recommend stick to the heart center for months and years and you will, it will not be compromising, it will still give you a lot more than what you are ready to receive. So you are still going to be abundantly growing.

But I know some people have deeper ambitions and you should. But deeper ambition means you've got to play the cards right. And I keep repeating this in every episode because I do not want Leela podcast or my voice to become another voice on the internet that's just casually encouraging people to experiment. You can experiment with your truth, experiment with your courage, but experimenting with chakras, mantras, don't do that.

Not worth it and you don't need to do it. All right? And that's a wrap for this episode. And if you are on YouTube, I might start to post the videos of the podcast. In fact, I've recorded this entire podcast on video. So if you're watching this on YouTube, share it because that's the space I'm entering into, starting to capture the entire podcast experience on the camera and then share it. That's all for today. Be safe, be well, and I'll see you in the conscious meditation experience.

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