Chakra

Chakras and Their Functions
By Fr. Nelson Kattikat

1. Muladhara Chakra (Root Chakra) – Base of the spine

Function: Survival, security, stability

Daily life indicators: Feeling safe, enjoying family and food, financial security, connection with nature

If blocked: Anxiety, fear of loss, insecurity

Practical advice: Walk barefoot, connect with nature, practice grounding exercises.

2. Svadhisthana Chakra (Sacral Chakra) – Mid-lower abdomen, below the navel

Function: Creativity, pleasure, sexuality

Daily life indicators: Enjoying food, music, art, and relationships

If blocked: Guilt, shame, lack of joy, fear of life or intimacy

Practical advice: Dance, cook, experiment with creative activities

3. Manipura Chakra (Solar Plexus Chakra) – Mid-upper abdomen, below the chest

Function: Willpower, self-confidence, personal power

Daily life indicators: Taking initiative, feeling capable, expressing personality

If blocked: Low self-confidence, indecision, anger

Practical advice: Exercise, practice breathing exercises, act with confidence

4. Anahata Chakra (Heart Chakra) – Center of the chest

Function: Love, compassion, empathy

Daily life indicators: Caring for others, forming relationships, practicing forgiveness

If blocked: Emotional coldness, fear of vulnerability, envy

Practical advice: Express gratitude, perform acts of love, practice deep breathing

5. Vishuddha Chakra (Throat Chakra) – Throat area

Function: Communication, self-expression, truthfulness

Daily life indicators: Speaking your mind, listening attentively, creative expression in speech

If blocked: Difficulty expressing oneself, fear of judgment, dishonesty

Practical advice: Sing, keep a journal, have honest conversations

6. Ajna Chakra (Third Eye Chakra) – Between the eyebrows

Function: Awareness, intuition, insight

Daily life indicators: Clarity of thought, seeing patterns, easier decision-making

If blocked: Confusion, doubt, lack of vision

Practical advice: Meditate, observe mindfully, reflect

7. Sahasrara Chakra (Crown Chakra) – Top of the head

Function: Pure consciousness, transcendence, connection with existence

Daily life indicators: Unity, deep peace, freedom from fear of death, natural bliss

If blocked: Ego-based self-awareness, anxiety, excessive seeking of approval or external validation

Practical advice: Observe your perception calmly, meditate, let go of self-centeredness

When you fully live the qualities of each chakra in daily life, the chakra naturally becomes more active.

Mental, physical, and spiritual experiences reflect the state of your chakras.

You do not need special yogic rituals to “open” the chakras—awareness, mindfulness, and living honestly in thought, word, and action naturally energize them.

The seventh chakra, the Sahasrara, opens naturally when the ego dissolves and you live without clinging to yourself. When life flows in harmony with the flow of consciousness, the Crown Chakra awakens effortlessly.

Love is an inexhaustible flame without smoke

J. Krishnamurti makes a very precise distinction between love as a lived reality and love as an idea produced by thought. His language can feel abstract, yet the insight it offers into the nature of love is profound and illuminating.

When Krishnamurti says that thought cannot think about love, he is using the word thought in a very specific way. By thought he means memory, experience, images, conclusions, and ideas shaped by the past. Thought always operates within the field of what is already known. Love, as he speaks of it, is not something that can be known in advance, stored, or recalled. The moment one thinks, “I love” or “this is love,” one is already functioning from memory and image rather than from the living fact itself. To clarify this, one may think about the taste of honey, describe it, remember it, or analyze it, but none of these activities are the same as actually tasting honey. In the same way, love is the tasting itself, not the description or idea of it.

Krishnamurti also says that love is not sensation and calls it a flame without smoke. Sensation arises from contact, pleasure, desire, and fulfillment. Love, however, is often confused with pleasure, attachment, sexual sensation, and emotional dependency. According to Krishnamurti, these produce smoke in the form of confusion, fear, jealousy, and possessiveness. A flame without smoke signifies intensity without conflict, passion without attachment, and warmth without dependence. For example, when pleasure comes from being admired or needed, that pleasure depends on its continuation. If it stops, fear immediately arises. Love, on the other hand, does not depend on continuation and therefore does not generate fear.

When Krishnamurti says that one will know love when the thinker is not, he is referring to the absence of the psychological self. The thinker is the sense of “me,” along with my needs, my wounds, and my expectations. As long as there is a center that says, “I am loving,” love is already distorted. Love occurs when self-concern, comparison, and effort are absent. For instance, when one sees a child about to fall into danger and acts instantly, there is no thought such as “I should be loving.” There is only immediate action. In that absence of self, love is present.

He further explains that one cannot sacrifice oneself, the thinker, for love. Sacrifice implies effort, calculation, reward, and the desire to become something better. Trying to destroy the ego in order to love is still the ego operating in a subtler form. If someone says, “I must let go of my selfishness so that I can love,” this is still an act of self-improvement centered on “me.” Love is not reached through effort, because effort belongs to the realm of thought.

Krishnamurti also points out that discipline or the will to love is still the thought of love. Discipline and will are functions of thought. When one says, “I must be more loving” or “I should cultivate love,” one is creating an ideal of love rather than encountering love itself. Being kind because one has trained oneself to be kind is not the same as kindness that arises naturally when the self is absent.

Thought, according to Krishnamurti, is continuous, moving from past to present to future, from memory to expectation. Love, however, is inexhaustible because it is not stored, accumulated, or carried over. Affection based on memory can run out, as when someone says, “You hurt me too many times.” Love has no ledger and keeps no record.

Anything that depends on continuity is always in fear of ending. Relationships based on attachment, pleasure, or identity inevitably contain fear. Fear enters the moment love is tied to time. If one loves another because that person fulfills a need, the fear of abandonment is always present. That fear reveals that love has become mixed with thought.

Krishnamurti concludes that when psychological continuity ends, when the self is no longer operating, love begins anew from moment to moment. Love is always fresh and is not carried over from yesterday. Meeting someone without past images, expectations, or conclusions allows a sense of freshness that is love itself.

In simple terms, Krishnamurti is saying that love is not something one achieves, practices, or thinks about. Love exists only when the self, with its fears and desires, is absent. Thought can imitate love, but it cannot be love.

As a final everyday illustration, imagine sitting quietly and watching a sunset. There is no desire to capture it, no thought of yesterday’s sunset, and no wish to repeat the experience. There is simply attention without effort. In that quality of attention, Krishnamurti would say, love is.

Without conflict

J. Krishnamurti says that he never had conflict because he knew the sacred, which is not contaminated by thought. He also knew that conflict destroys the mind and dulls sensitivity. What does he mean by this?

J. Krishnamurti is pointing to a very deep psychological insight.

When he says he never had conflict, he does not mean that external problems or challenges did not exist in his life. He is referring to inner psychological conflict. Inner conflict arises when there is division within the mind, such as “what is” versus “what should be,” desire versus fear, or one thought opposing another thought.

By saying that he knew the sacred, not contaminated by thought, Krishnamurti is distinguishing between two dimensions of the mind. Thought, according to him, is conditioned by past experience, memory, culture, and fear. It is useful for practical matters, but when thought tries to deal with inner life, it creates division, comparison, and struggle. The “sacred,” for him, is a state of awareness that is beyond thought, beyond time, and beyond psychological conditioning. In that state, there is direct perception without judgment or interpretation.

He believed that conflict destroys the mind’s sensitivity because conflict dulls perception. When the mind is in conflict, it is occupied with struggle, resistance, and control. This constant friction hardens the mind, making it less open, less attentive, and less compassionate. Sensitivity, for Krishnamurti, means the capacity to perceive life directly, subtly, and completely. Conflict blocks this capacity because it fragments attention.

In essence, Krishnamurti meant that when there is complete awareness without division, conflict does not arise. When the mind sees a fact totally, without trying to change it or escape from it, there is no inner battle. Such a mind remains clear, alive, and sensitive. This was not an ideal for him, but a lived understanding of how the mind functions when it is free from psychological conflict.