Chakra Yoga Man Nepalese Thangka
40" x 23: Framed. Painting: 21" x 14"
The Chakras: Vortices of Energy.
Rare Paintings of the Chakras: Drawn from the Hindu Tantric tradition, these paintings depict the symbolic forces of the chakras that, in their untransformed state, confine us to a life of instinct.  Once awakened, these same potent energies are vehicles for attaining our innermost potential.
The Chakras are an anatomy of the divine energy within the human body.
 Once the charkas are opened through meditation and awareness, we can receive the energy of enlightenment   In the vision of Tantra, all gods, goddesses, demons, and spirits are reflections of inner processes;  all heavens and hells are manifestations of our innermost being.  The realm of animal instincts, of gut reactions, is experienced in the lower abdomen, while the celestial realm of the  Buddhas is discovered ultimately in the awakened heart.
Tantric texts describe a network of subtle energy channels, called nadis, 
 which intersect at different chakras, or energy plexuses, along the body’s
 central axis.  Drawn from the Hindu Tantric tradition, this painting depicts the symbolic forces of the chakras that, in their untransformed state, confine us to a life of instinct.  Once awakened, these same potent energies are vehicles for attaining our innermost potential.
The first of the seven chakras—the Muladhara, or “root”, chakra—is located beneath the genitals and is described as a lotus with four petals.  At the base of the sacrum is the six-petaled Svadhishthana chakra, associated with the element of water and the body’s reproductive system.  Rising from these lower centers of energy is a coiled serpent, the image of Kundalini. Once this “serpent power” is awakened, it rises through the upper chakras of the heart, throat, and forehead as a wave of blissful and scintillating awareness, suffusing the cells and turning the body into a vessel of light.  The ten-petaled Manipura chakra, the “center of gems”, is located at the solar plexus, and above it, the Anahata chakra is shown in a yantra of interlocking triangles symbolizing the union of male and female energies at the heart.  A figure to the right is shown in an attitude of prayer, signifying the importance of this mystic center from which love flows outward into the universe.  Above the Visuddha chakra behind the throat and the Ajna chakra at the forehead, the Sahasrara—the “thousand-petaled lotus”-  blossoms at the crown of the head, receiving and directing the energies of the universe and connecting us with the celestial spheres.  According to yogic texts, it is through this center that we emerge beyond time and space.
The practices of Hindu Tantra emphasize the lower chakras in order to activate the latent energy within these powerful centers and to cause it to rise toward the Sahasrara. Buddhist Tantra concentrates more on the upper chakras, ultimately emphasizing the chakra at the heart
By Romio Shrestha & Ian Baker: Celestial Gallery
Handpainted by monks in Nepal