Third Eye Chakra (Ajna): Everything You Should Know About It

There is well known Sanskrit proverb, If you die in Varanasi, you will achieve liberation.

Varanasi is a powerful spiritual city of India. Varana means ‘eyebrows’ and Nasi means ‘nose’. Hence, ‘Varanasi’ also translates as Third-Eye – the space between nose and eyebrows.

It is believed, if your identity dies in Varanasi when you leave your awareness at the Third Eye, you will become enlightened.

In the History of yoga, the Rishis & Yogis viz the Enlightened Ones lived with extraordinary powers tuned to their normal everyday living. As the Seers, their Divine Eyes glazed beyond the plurality of the ‘seer’, ‘the act of seeing’ and ‘seen’; far from the confines of past or future!

In other words, ancient yogis could see beyond the limited perceptions of the mind, senses, and emotions. The power of observing beyond the limitation of senses & mind comes with the third eye.

Certain History Instances of Using Third Eye

1. Maharishi Valmiki wrote the whole scripture Ramayana by analyzing the cosmic records of every minute happening and experience through his third eye vision.
2. In Mahabharat, Veda Vyasa awakens the third eye of Sanjaya, the king’s charioteer, to visibly narrate to him the happenings and even the mind-set of Kurukshetra warriors.
3. Sri Krishna gifts the third eye vision to his dear devotee, Arjuna, amidst the waging war-field of Kurukshetra during the Bhagavad Gita. He says:

divyam dadami te cakṣuḥ ~ Bhagavad Git Chapter 11, verse 8
Divine i am giving you eyes to see my inconceivable pyschic power.

The most vital and unique mystic power gifted by Lord Shiva to the Universe is the awakening of the third eye or Ajna chakra, also known as trinetra with infinite power, Kundalini Shakti.

Third Eye Chakra or Ajna: The Command Centre

Well quoted by Carl Jung

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Third eye Chakra, the 6th in 7 major chakras, is the gate that opens up to the space of higher consciousness and is also the main organ through which the spiritual energy can be awakened and regulated. It provides perception beyond ordinary sight.

Meaning of Ajna Chakra is actually the “Command” or “Perceiving” Centre, where we transcend duality – the duality of a personal “I” separate from the rest of the world, of a personality that exists independently from everything else.

The third eye chakra located on the forehead, between the eyebrows. It is the center of intuition and foresight.

Characteristic of Third Eye Chakra

1. Foundation of Wisdom

The third eye chakra will work on building your inner knowledge, inspiration, and your true purpose of life.

2. The Third Eye Chakra is Intuitive

This chakra focuses on developing your intuition, in strengthening your psychic knowing. Furthermore, It interacts with the rational mind in order to deepen intuitive insight to see beyond the veil of illusion.

3. Ajna chakra Means to Open Up

The third eye chakra is associated with vision and intuition. When vision and intuition opened up, subtle energy movements and their perception become clearer.

4. Trust Your Own Instinct

This chakra has a strong connection to your insight and wisdom. It motivates your creativity and inspiration.

5. Focuses on The Fact, Death is Nothing To Fear

Maintaining your awareness of your third eye chakra requires focus and an ability to relax into a new way of seeing.

When you focus your mind and your consciousness, you can see beyond the illusions and the distractions that are in front of you.

Third Eye Chakra in Detail

To know your third chakra in detail, you must be aware of the following points.

1. Location of Third Eye Chakra

The location of Ajna chakra is between the eyebrows, slightly above at the bridge of your nose. Exactly, it can be assumed at the point where our inner eyebrows would meet if extended.

It can also be described as being located behind the eyes in the middle of the head. Note that, secondary chakras run along the midline of the forehead, but the third eye chakra is typically located lower.

Anatomically, the Ajna chakra is positioned in the pituitary gland, directly behind the center of the forehead.

The Third eye chakra is associated with the pineal gland in charge of regulating biorhythms, including sleep and wake time.

Pineal gland located in the brain, that is a center of attention because of its relationship with the perception and effect of light and mystical states of consciousness. It’s positioned close to the optical nerves, and as such, sensitive to visual stimulations and changes in lighting.

2. Color Significance of Third Eye Chakra

The third eye chakra is represented with the color indigo. Although, the aura energy radiated from this chakra can also be seen as translucent purple or bluish-white. When observing this color,

• It brings clarity to the sense organs – your seeing, hearing, and feeling.
• Indigo color also connected to your sixth sense, which has the same place as your third eye has.
• Acts as a bridge between heaven and earth, and helps to make a transition towards life or towards death.
• Indigo is the energy of symbolic thinking.
• It allows transforming the energies of lower chakras into higher spiritual vibrations.

3. What Third Eye Chakra Symbol Signifies

The Third Eye Chakra Symbol is a two petaled purple lotus with a downward pointing triangle inside of it. Inside the triangle is the symbol of OM.

• The two petaled lotus: These two petals represent the last remaining duality viz that the Self and God
• Round Circle: It symbolizes the void within the lotus petals.
• Within the circle, an inverted triangle representing Shakti, and above it a Shivalingam
• The OM symbol: It represents the ultimate reality, consciousness and the soul (Atman).

4. Third Eye Chakra Energy Frequency and Seed Mantra

Frequency of Ajna chakra helps in awakening intuition and returning to the spiritual order, thus helps in healing of headaches & migraines.

The energy of this chakra also deals with issues related to eyes, nose, and throat (ENT) as it directly linked to the pituitary gland and energetically to the pineal gland.

Seed mantra: OM

Sound: A Note/Aum (Om)

Frequency of 426.7Hz

5. Associated Element of Third Eye Chakra

Associated element: Light

The way Sixth Chakra sees is that of pure seeing, or witnessing, and is transcendent in nature. However, it is also the seat of conscience; it does not only see, but it also perceives the meaning of what is seen in the light of the soul.

Anatomically, this chakra relates to the brain, forehead, brow, the pituitary gland, the pineal gland, eyes, nose, and the carotid nerve plexus.

Third eye chakra is the center of confluence where the three nadis – ida, pingala and sushumna – merge into one stream of consciousness and flow up to the crown Chakra. Transformation of individual consciousness is brought about by the merging of the three great nadis (energy channels).

Also, the seat of the “inner Guru (teacher)”, which is the source of inner guidance, and the “eye of intuition”, through which one enters the astral and psychic dimension of consciousness, and receives revelation and insight.

Psychological and behavioral characteristics related to this chakra are;

• Vision
• Intuition
• Perception of subtle dimensions and movements of energy
• Psychic abilities
• Access to mystical states as in hallucinations
• Connection to wisdom
• Motivates inspiration and creativity

Balanced Third Eye Chakra

Balanced third eye chakra has a strong sense of intuition and perception beyond ordinary sight, connected to a different way of seeing and perceiving the things.

So, while your eyes see the material world, balanced Ajna chakra helps you look into deeper realms: intuition, clairvoyance, imagination, creativity, and visualization. A person with a strong Ajna Chakra has greater intuition, a strong sense of identity, and the ability to self-reflect.

Balanced Ajna chakra has following characteristics with an affirmation, “I align my consciousness with the source of all life”;

• Helps to experience visions of things with prophetic and intuitive dreams
• One becomes sensitive to subtle energies and vibrations of people & things
• Wisdom is easily accessible
• Makes conscious level rise above the emotions with a broader understanding that life and situations have a deeper meaning
• Makes the soul open to receiving messages from eternity
• One becomes motivated, inspiring and creative

See also: Everything You Should Know About Your Balanced Heart Chakra

Imbalanced Third Eye Chakra & Its Causes

The unbalanced sixth Chakra can appear as either too conceptual, analytical and rigid, or too mentally feeble and fluid.

Some of the symptoms are:

• Having fear of believing others
• Confusion
• Negative beliefs
• Irresponsibility
• Headaches & Migraines
• Learning disabilities
• Close-mindedness
• Mental rigidity
• Cut off from emotions
• Eyes, Ears problems
• Nose and sinuses
• Nausea

What Causes Imbalance of Third Eye Chakra?

The unbalanced sixth Chakra can appear as either too conceptual, analytical and rigid, or too mentally feeble and fluid.

Stress, illness, emotional disturbances, or conflict all together cause an imbalance in the chakra system. Since all of the seven chakras are interconnected, hence when one chakra experience imbalance, it affects all the others.

An imbalanced third eye chakra can lead to two extremes; Either being so consumed with the negatives in the reality that one feels depressed or feeling disillusioned and lost in fantasies.

Main causes of imbalanced Third eye chakra in a nutshell are:

• Lack of faith in your purpose
• Feeling pointless
• Indecisiveness
• Finding your work or life insignificant

Imbalance in a chakra can be seen in terms of its under-activity or overactivity.

1. Underactive Third Eye Chakra

When Prana in the third chakra revolves at a slower pace, it’s under-activity of third eye chakra. If the third-eye chakra is underactive or closed,

• It makes difficult to understand spiritual connections
• Makes it difficult to get connected to see how things spiritually relate
• One is not able to make a balance with the body and its commands.
• One feels confused and disconnected & rely too much on own beliefs and not open to new energy.
• One feels stuck and not able to look beyond the problems.
• Not able to clarify situations in a deeper way due to lack of vision of clarity.

2. Overactive Third Eye Chakra

In case higher spinning of Prana in this chakra, it becomes overactive. If the third-eye chakra is overactive,

• One tends to be over-intellectual in thinking
• Becomes judgmental, over-logical, and unsympathetic
• May create circumstances in mind that aren’t happening
• One misinterprets spiritual information for logic and ‘what makes sense’
• May fantasize too much leading to anxiety and stress.

How to Get Your ‘Command Station’ Balanced?

First and foremost, to heal Ajna Chakra one often needs to deal with it indirectly; that is, by taking care of the lower Chakras psychological issues. When worries, anxieties, feelings, emotions in terms of mind fluctuations stop projecting themselves onto the sixth Chakra, one’s mind already becomes much more lucid.

• Visualize the third-eye chakra symbol in the center of the eyebrow in the meditation process. starting from the most basic ones, such as concentration techniques.
• Learning to disassociate from thought, and realizing that one’s mind can be inherently free from identification with disturbing thoughts.
• Wear or carry third-eye chakra crystal that best fit your balancing needs during meditation or everyday use.

1. Asanas for balancing third-eye chakra

1. Uttanasana or Standing Forward Bend: This pose allows the flow of blood towards third eye chakra location and helps to balance it.
2. Janu Sirsasana or Head-to-Knee Pose: This pose makes chakra highly stimulated by the forward bending movement & helps in increasing flow of the blood to the face, relaxing and activating the third eye.
3. Makarasana or Dolphin pose: Dolphine pose creates a sense of balance by increasing circulation to the face and brain.
4. Balasana or Child’s pose: in this pose, when we touch the eyebrow centre on the floor, it offers to ground all negativity from our soul.

2. Using Stones

Using stones of a particular chakra add up the healing process of chakra. For third eye chakra, you can use the following stones in your practice.

• Amethyst
• Chevron Amethyst
• Lapis Lazuli, Sodalite
• Herkimer Diamond
• Purple Fluorite
• Moonstone

Diet & Lifestyle Tips To Harmonize Ajna Chakra

• Sitting in sunlight and detoxifying the body to boost the pineal gland and balance the third-eye chakra.
• Use of aromatherapy with essential oils that correspond to the third-eye chakra.
• Listen to third-eye chakra sound frequencies to cleanse and balance third eye chakra.
• Blue-Green Algae, Purple-red foods like eggplant, purple kale, purple grapes, raisins, and plums.
• Eat foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as fish and nuts.
• Eat vegetables and fruits rich in antioxidants such as blueberries.

Conclusion

Ajna Chakra is not just the center of thinking but also is the center of attention. It makes us free to choose what has to be given attention and thus helping to achieve physical health.

Knowing Ajna Chakra is a guide to understand your physical and mental existence. It heals the physical & mental ailments and brings the body back to normal health because the Third Eye is the seat of intuition and will-power.