Anahata: The Meaning of the Heart Chakra

What is the Anahata chakra, and why does Umesh Guruji see it as the passage to the higher chakras? He explains how holding back emotions closes the heart, why crying cleans it, and why learning to give is how the heart opens.

What is the heart chakra?

Anahata is the fourth of the seven chakras presented in the introduction to the chakras, commonly called the heart chakra. Umesh Guruji relates it to air, with twelve petals and the seed sound YAM. He ties it to the crown chakra, the seventh: our heart chakra is our own heart, while the "crown chakra is the God heart", and without opening the first, he says, the second cannot open. For him this is where love and emotion live.

Why the heart closes, and why crying helps

Today, Umesh observes, the heart chakra is closed for most people: everyone controls everyone, even in the family, and people with no love inside cannot give it. When the heart begins to open, emotions come out and people may cry without knowing why. He sees this as good: crying cleans the emotions, especially old pain, which in his teaching can go back to the womb and to birth. In the spiritual field, emotions are a powerful tool.

Learning to give

Every religion, Umesh notes, asks people to help the poor and give food and care, because serving others opens the heart. He extends this love to animals and trees, and adds pranayama, the yogic breathing, and rising early, the time of air. His key is simple: "When I give I receive, this is the heart chakra." The theme continues in the lesson on love.