This is part XVII of kundalini series. When you are able to cross Vishnu granthi, your kundalini lands in your anahat chakra, which is also called the heart chakra. This is the chakra for love. The yellow colour of the naval chakra merges into this green coloured heart chakra that shines like a semi ripe fruit with predominant green colour with yellow tinge here and there. You are further purified by air in this chakra. You were earlier purified by water at swadishtan and by fire at manipuraka. But you continue to be associated with rajo guna. As you are now purified by three out of five gross elements of the universe, your desire for spirituality grows. Remember that you are still associated with desires. Love is expressed and received by you. Anahat means endless. You are becoming endless (meaning endless love and does not mean immortality) from this chakra onwards, as your outlook is getting changed for the better.

You begin to realise the value of humanity. The fire generated in the naval chakra is fueled by air of the heart chakra and making the kundalini very powerful. It is believed to be the place where soul resides. Katha Upanishad says angustha matrah purusho madya atmani. This means that the purusha (Brahman) in the size of a thumb rests in the middle of our body. (I humbly would like to clarify that purusha should mean the jiva and not the Brahman. You cannot define the Brahman and you cannot also fix a particular place for the Brahman. He is everywhere. In my humble opinion, the meaning for purusha is often misinterpreted. Here purusha means the soul which is the jiva, where our karmic account is embedded.) The place referred here is the heart chakra. The importance of the heart chakra has been adequately emphasized to enable us to understand its importance. This is the only chakra that expands for miles, spreading the universal love. It is located in the spinal cord, closer to the biological heart. That is why this place is called heart and soul. Heart means the biological heart and soul means jiva. For activating this chakra hold your breath here for a few seconds. There is one more bhandha you should know at this point, though we have discussed about it earlier. It is the forward bending your head. This is called jalandra bhandha.

Jalandra means net (like fish net or cobweb) representing the network of nerves in the neck area. This bhandha is mainly to activate the visudhi chakra, which is the next higher chakra. But this bhandha will make kundalini ascend from the naval chakra to the higher chakras. Inhale deeply, hold the breath, bend your head forward so that your chin is closer to your chest, be in this position for a couple of seconds, pull your head back to the normal position and exhale slowly. Exhaling slowly is important and accordingly you have to adjust the timing of holding your breath. When you hold your breath beyond a level, you tend to gasp for breath. This gasping should be avoided. Avoiding this gasping is important than the duration of holding the breath. A couple of seconds of holding the breath is more than enough. The heart chakra can be easily activated by developing love. When heart chakra is fully developed, your concentration also develops. You become a good orator. You develop the capacity for delivering an ex-tempo speech. In case of difficulty in activating this chakra, you can keep the finger tips of your hands for a few minutes on the chakra from the front side. The energy of your finger tips will activate this chakra. Subsequent meditation on this chakra will develop and expand this chakra well.