Maha Shakti & The Chakra Yoginis

The great divine cosmic feminine presence - Maha Shakti, is a powerful force. Shakti is all force, all power, and all energy. She is the active dimension of godhead, the divine power that underlies godhead’s ability to create the world and to display itself.

Shakti works and moves in limitless forms in every aspect of the material and spiritual world. She is the very essence of manifestation, and the underlying energy that fuels existence itself. Though Shakti is often related to as broadly feminine within nature, she transcends the human construct of gender. She resides within us all and is responsible for every expansion of consciousness.

In Yoga and Tantra, Shakti is referred to as 'she,' and for those who prefer to avoid profound realizations, clinging instead to their favorite illusions, she may appear terrifying. Yet, for those who seek to know themselves through truly knowing her, she is the nurturing mother. It is her energy that sustains us, and she who also destroys that which no longer serves us in our ongoing spiritual unfoldment.

Within Kaula Yogini Tantra, six - and later, seven centers of consciousness and energy within the human subtle anatomy have been names as chakras. Chakra is a Sanskrit term meaning “wheel,” which has been attributed to these centers due to their circular formation with petals that form distinct sections. Their maturity, through the transcendence of vrittis (fluctuating patterns of thought), dawns the greatest revelation and achievement possible for an incarnated soul.

Each of the Chakras has an connected Yogini representing a field of divine energy residing within. As Shakti personified, the Chakra Yoginis offer up opportunities to the sincere sadhaka to refine the personality as part of a sacred journey back to the true essence of Self. These divine feminine manifestations display to us the full scope of transcendental nature through the expressions of their own unique, yet universal nature. Each Shakti form represents a distinct aspect of the personality, wisdom, power, and truth of the cosmic divine feminine, both internal and external.

When Shakti awakens, she rises from the root, the Kanda, to the crown of the head, broadly via the subtle spinal pathway of Sushumna Nadi. Sushumna is flanked on the left and right by the Ida and Pingala channels, respectively. It is the channel of Brahma Nadi, through which consciousness, grace-light, and cosmic presence descend. This descent of divine energy awakens the primal Kundalini Shakti, allowing her to rise from the lower regions up to the doorway of supreme consciousness.

It is in this moment that the Jiva soul once again knows itself as Brahman, as it reaches the final stage of awakening. The movement of energy through Chitrini is as awesome as the climactic strike of lightning on a moonless night, illuminating the minds of the siddhas. This energy of Kundalini is extremely subtle, awakening the mystic with pure wisdom and the embodiment of bliss—for she is consciousness itself.

Chitrini Nadi forms the mysterious stalk of a miraculous inner plant of transformation, with six progressively beautiful lotus centers of energy. Their full beauty remains patiently concealed, awaiting a level of purity to be attained by each soul through yogic sadhana, along with the grace of the supreme and all-existent.

Through Shakti, we come to know the divine presence within and beyond. She is both the journey and the destination—the force that sustains, transforms, and ultimately liberates. Her energy is the key to our highest awakening, illuminating the vast cosmos within and beyond.

Although masculine divinities are often noted as the primary residents within the chakras, in the age of Siddha Matsyendranath, the dominant, even sole residents, were Shakti Yoginis. Even today, it is understood that Shakti is the power, the very energy of all matter, and that is certainly true of the latent and potential energy of these chakras.

It has been proposed that this six-chakra system was first recorded in the Kubjikamata Tantra, the root Tantra of the Kubjika tradition. It is a text that emerges around the era of Mahasiddha Matsyendranath, the father of Kaula Yogini Tantra, who first revealed the method of sadhana of the Yogini Kaulas. The Sat Cakra Nirupana of Sage Purnananda, with the Woodroffe commentary, gives the classical description of each of them.

The Varivasya-Rahasya states that six Yoginis constitute the body of the Goddess, explaining that: “She is called Yogini because Her body consists of six Akinis whose initial letters form their beej mantra.”

In Ayurvedic medicine, there has been a long association of each of these six Yoginis with six of the important bodily tissues. Ayurveda names them as Ḍākinī, Rākiṇī, Lākinī, Kākinī, Śākinī, and Hākinī, relating them to Rasa Dhatu (lymph), Rakta Dhatu (blood), Mamsa Dhatu (muscle), Meda Dhatu (fat), Asthi Dhatu (bone), and Majji Dhatu (nerve and bone marrow).

When Yakini, the seventh Yogini, is included in Ayurveda, she is associated with the crown chakra and the recirculation and elevation of the light-energy of the reproductive fluids.

The Brihannan-Dikesvara Purana includes Ḍākinī, Śākinī, Hākinī, and Lākinī as Yoginis in the celebrated circle of 64. While there are some variations in the identity and placement of the six Yoginis mentioned above, we follow the tradition laid out in these texts, as well as the prestigious Rudrayāmala Tantra. It specifically identifies Ḍākinī, Rākiṇī, Lākinī, Kākinī, Śākinī, and Hākinī as associated with the chakras of the Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipūra, Anāhata, Viśuddhi, and Ājñā, respectively.

When seven chakra Yoginis are referenced, Yakini, or sometimes Kusuṃā, is often noted as the seventh, such as in the Kulārṇava-Tantra.

The classical living traditions of Tantra still teach and maintain that Shakti is the power, the very energy of all matter, and the latent and potential energy of the seven chakras. Although these Chakra Yoginis emerged from an earlier time, accomplished yogins and tantrics understand that they have and will always be within us.

Om Shakti!

Opportunities for sadhana with the Chakra Yoginis