Purification of the Energies of the Second Chakra

In traditional yogas that describe the opening of the chakras, the kundalini energy moves up systematically from the root chakra, Muladhara, successively through each chakra until it reaches the crown of the head where it joins with the Divine, universal consciousness. Thus, one of the very first issues faced by the practitioner of these yogic methods is the opening of the 2nd chakra, which is the seat of what Sri Aurobindo describes as the “lower vital” energies. We see in the traditional literature the dangers of the awakening of the kundalini in someone not under the direct guidance of a master, who can help work through the difficulties that arise, and it is quite clear that the energy opening of the 2nd chakra is among the most difficult and dangerous transitions for the seeker. Suddenly outbursts of anger, rising up of sexual tensions (which although rooted in the first chakra, gain new force as the second chakra opens) and other lower vital energies occur and the seeker is usually unprepared to deal with them, treats them as his own weaknesses and either winds up giving in to their expression, or fighting to suppress them.

A major difference in Sri Aurobindo’s approach is to start from the psychic and spiritual transformations which prepare the sadhak with ways to deal with these lower energies when they arise with the later opening of the 2nd chakra, and which provide insights that can aid the seeker in understanding that in reality, these are not weaknesses that ‘belong’ to him, but are universal forces that radiate at the frequencies to which the second chakra is tuned to respond, and that it then is a matter of either refusing the entry or the rebroadcast of these forces when they try to seize the force of the second chakra, and rather, refocus the chakra on receiving and projecting the higher psychic and spiritual aspirations that have been developing. This ‘changing of the channel’, so to speak, for the second chakra, is a powerful tool and aid in overcoming the turbid stuff that would otherwise manifest through the second chakra without this preparation and support.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Sometimes the aspiration is felt at the navel, but that is part of the larger vital. The lower vital is below. The lower vital aspires by offering all its small movements in the fire of purification, by calling for the light and power to descend into it and rid it of its little greeds, jealousies, resistances and revolts over small matters, angers, vanities, sexualities etc. to be replaced by the right movements governed by selflessness, purity, obedience to the urge of the Divine Force in all things.”

Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, Chapter 9, Transformation of the Nature, Transformation of the Vital, pp. 246-259