PHYSICAL DISEASES

Swami Shankardevananda: What about physical disease associated with mooladhara chakra problems? We have already talked about constipation; this of course brings about things like hemorrhoids.

Swami Vivekananda: There are a lot of other types of constipation involved too - of energy, emotions, of information - yes, all inherent in mooladhara chakra as hoarding of any type.

Swami Gaurishankar: What about disease ?

Swami Vivekananda: Statistics involved in diseases in this area also tend to relate to the manipura and anahata areas, and the diseases of hypertension, heart problems, peptic ulcers and all that sort of thing. I would assume all sorts of diseases of the lower excretory and reproductive organs are associated with a malfunctioning mooladhara.

Swami Shankardevananda: Cancer?

Swami Vivekananda: Yes, of the rectum and bladder.

Swami Shankardevananda: The helplessness associated with it too?

Swami Vivekananda: I don’t know if it is all cancers we are talking about now. I don’t know if they would be segmental or what. Hypertension, for instance, appears to be a generalized condition. It is mainly related to the manipura chakra circuits. Cancer may well be a generalized condition that is related to one of the chakras, perhaps mooladhara.

Swami Paramananda: How far can you take the relationship between the chakras and the physical organs like the heart? If the heart is not functioning well and it affects the anahata chakra which is love, can that also mean that there is a lack of love going through that person and physically it comes out in anahata chakra and the heart as disease?

Swami Vivekananda: Yes, it can be in both. If a person has a need for love coming from outside and it is not coming, and/or that person has imbalanced constructions of love, then anahata problems can arise in the form of cardiac problems such as angina, palpitations, etc.

Swami Paramananda: Do you think that applies to all the chakras? If you find a particular organ not functioning in a sick person, does it mean there is a deficiency of the qualities of the chakra related to that part of the body? Swami Vivekananda: As a general rule, yes, but you can get other problems as well. For instance, you can get an activation of manipura chakra, which activates the sympathetic nervous system which produces restriction of the coronary artery. There is interreaction between the different chakras, and this is the beauty of a well taught yoga class - it balances all these qualities, and balance is the key to the whole thing. Rather than trying to work on one area, which is a more specific medical style, yoga therapy works on the whole human structure. Swami Muktibodhananda: How do the physical organs relate to the chakras and spiritual evolution? Swami Vivekananda: Consider hysterectomy. Let us assume the wrong woman is wheeled into the operating theater and she has a hysterectomy. This will then cut off the end organ for a lot of nerve fibers and the atrophy will run up the nerves and eliminate the brain centers involved in that. That is an example of a deficiency in the organ producing changes in the centers involved, the circuit. Does that make it any more difficult for her to realize higher aspects of swadhisthana chakra? Swami Shankardevananda: Depends how much of the centers is lost. If she just loses the uterus and not the ovaries, for example, all the hormonal secretions will be maintained. Anyway, after the age of forty most women have a natural hysterectomy. Swami Vivekananda: Yes, but they don’t lose the nerve endings. When the uterus is removed, because the nerve endings are useless, they atrophy. Does this affect the associated chakras? Swami Nischalananda: Swamiji says it does not make any difference if there is a vasectomy, because it is only the physical body. I think, as regards swadhisthana for example, that if they are already on the spiritual path and have developed some psychic awareness, then that operation would definitely not affect them much, if at all. If they had no background of yogic practice, then probably the destruction of that organ would slightly hamper progress, because initially you depend upon those organs to stimulate something, especially in the practices of hatha and kriya yoga. If you follow the path of bhakti or gyana yoga, of course, it makes no difference. Swami Shankardevananda: If you lose one center or two centers physically I think it does not hinder you because a lot of other centers are left. There are tons of potential left within the brain. Swami Vivekananda: To sum up, we function on physical, emotional, mental, psychic and spiritual levels. The chakras span all these levels. The purpose of yoga and tantra is to stimulate the chakras at all these levels. Then, and only then, can we become healthy human beings.