tattwas: the elements

                   

chakra and tattwa symbols are different

I saw an article circulating through facebook, by a Sanskrit scholar, who, through reading the ancient scriptures, had come to some interesting conclusions regarding the chakras, and the elements which are known as tattwas. He believes, from his Sanskrit knowledge and spiritual readings, that the symbols in the centre of the chakras, are, in fact, the tattwas.

The tattwas, the elements, are, in ascending order of internal experience:

• earth
• water
• fire
• air
• ether/space

 
Each of these relates to a chakra, and is “behind” the chakra experience. Of course, some people start with Tattwa Dharana (concentration on the elements); or Tattwa Shuddhi or Bhuta Shuddhi (both are purification of the elements), rather than work with the chakras in practices such as Chakra Shuddhi, or Chakra Dharana. Either way truly works for traversing the inner spiritual realms. Either way is fine.

my learning and experience

I am writing this from the experience of one who traversed the kundalini/chakra/kosha path, then unexpectedly, entered the realms of the tattwas. For those who started with the path of the Tattwas, the steps as the tattwas reveal themselves, could be different. Predominantly, I would like to dispel the declaration that the inner chakra symbols, are in fact, tattwa symbols. For they are not.

Real experience, through technique, is the real key to finding out the spiritual truths. Reading will never give us the experience of the truth. I do teach kundalini, chakras, koshas, tattwas. All systematically according to how the spiritual “laws” work.

tattwas are about manifestation

Let us proceed with some spiritual “whistle-blowing. The tattwas can be “seen” in the aura, in their full glory. They are also internal realms of consciousness and energy. They are to do with manifestation. Not manifestation whereby we decide that we would like something to happen, which is a gross form of manifestation. No, we are talking about the mystical being that is us. The manifestation of differing elements which make up us, on a very deep level.

With the tattwas:

• earth relates to Mooladhara chakra
• water to Swadhisthaana
• fire to Manipura
• air to Anahata
• ether to Vishuddhi. 

There are no tattwa for Ajna and beyond as Ajna is Higher mind, whilst Sahasrara is cosmic.

earth tattwa and mooladhara/base chakra

The tattwa for earth is a square pit, filled with a thick, solid, lumpy, yellow substance. In the centre of mooladhara chaka, there is a yellow square. It is not a pit.

fire tattwa and swadhisthana/sacral chakra

Water tattwa is a snow white crescent moon, with its points upwards. On each of the points is a white upturned lotus. This all can be seen floating on clear water, but I don’t know if that’s the same experience for everybody. For me, a being known as Papa Purusha (purusha is consciousness) was standing upright on the tattwa crescent moon. He was a beautiful golden brown, serene and wise. To begin with, on our spiritual journey, he is squat, raging, black, red fiery eyes, quite demonic really. He relates to an aspect within our consciousness. So, when he reveals himself as upright, and a golden brown; no rage; this indicates that some aspect of our consciousness has evolved somewhat. And it is a tattwa experience. Not a chakra experience.

In the centre of Swadhisthana chakra is a black ocean, black sky, and crescent moon in its first quarter, with beige sand in the left side in the shape of a crescent moon. Therefore the colours and the crescent moon in the chakra experience here are different from the tattwa experience.

fire tattwa and manipura/navel chakra

Fire tattwa when it's experienced on the outside of the body, is red and black moving flames, and can also be depicted as an inverted red triangle with an extra piece jutting out on each side. On the internal level, this element is a sort of orange-red-yellow plasma with flames encircling it, within the red triangle. But, for manipura chakra there is a plain a similar red triangle.

air tattwa and anahata/heart chakra

Air tattwa is an ethereal blue-grey hexagon. It sits above our chest at armpit level and under our chin. It is multidimensional. I believe that this is one of the big differences between the chakras and the tattwas. 

the tattwas, when experience internally, are multi-dimensional. The chakras evolve, over many levels of awakening, to become multidimensional

The chakras, when they first reveal themselves in their glory, are not multidimensional. When they are fully awakened, they become multidimensional. This happens after kundalini awakening, after kosha (body sheaths) awakening, after chakra awakenings, after kundalini rising, then after the awakening of the tattwas. It is a process. 

So, the five tattwas are multidimensional, on the internal level..

 In Anahata chakra is a 6 pointed star. Some say it is sky blue, some say it is smokey-blue-grey like the hexagon in the tattwa. For me, as it emerged within the anahata experience, it was two triangles, one pointing up, one pointing down. Each in a thin whitish bluish outline, merging to create an ethereal outline of a star. These days, I see it as a golden outline only. So I would surmise that there are levels of experience and perception of this Star. However, the hexagon is quite ethereal, quite different.

ether tattwa and vishuddhi/throat chakra

Ether/space element is a very big experience. We are looking at cosmic aspects here, for the experience is of a circle, within which is a pitch black, multidimensional space, quite cosmic, as though one’s consciousness is up in the black space of the universe. Which is quite fitting, for Ajna chakra, although it is not vishuddhi which relates to the ether element, ajna relates to Higher mind and is like being in cosmic "outer" space.  

Inside the ether space are twinkling dots, like stars in the sky. For me they were golden. I have had, like hundreds of other spiritual seekers, so many profound experiences in the inner realms. But it was the ether experience which affected me the most. I literally could not stand for a few days, it was as though my brain and all of my different types of perception were upside down. I was so dizzy. I was concerned that it would not pass.

It did pass. Of course. And somehow, nothing is ever the same again after the ether tattwa reveals itself. The depth of understanding gained from this is deep. The chakra related to it is Vishuddhi (throat chakra), and it has a big circle in its centre: it looks like a big, snow-white full moon. And it too is an ethereal, other worldly chakra.

there is a consciousness portal to the realms of the tattwas

There is a big experience which comes after kundalini awakening, after chakra awakenings, when one is at the consciousness/energy level of Ajna chakra, or even knocking at the door of ajna chakra. It seems as though it is a manipura experience, but it isn't. It goes on forever. Or else it may only seem that way; it could only be a few seconds. And, it is the doorway, the portal, to the world of the tattwas. 

After it happened, I soon became quite disgruntled thinking that I had had a “fall from grace’ whenever I sat in meditation “seeing” what I thought was the mooladhara square, and wondering why I “had fallen” from grace, and regressed to mooladhara chakra. But of course that was not the case. (And at that time I was still being influenced by the silly spiritual concepts which abounded, which included the kundalini energy “falling” from Anahata).

I was looking at a pit with lumpy thick substance in it. It took a few months before I realised what was happening. Another person might experience earth, water, fire, air, ether, rather than the symbols. Or some symbols, and some of the natural aspects (fire, etc). And it is possible to experience, for example, fire before earth. Everything is not always experienced in an ascending order.

The tattwas are profound. They are like nothing that I had previously experienced. The chakras are majestic, and they are quite different from the tattwas. There is also yet another realm behind the tattwas.