Agna Chakra – Clarity beyond Color

“If you are established in the Agna, you will see everything the way it is.” —Sadhguru

Sadhguru: The Agna is the source of knowing. It is the highest level of discernment. To use an analogy, you know white light is made up of seven basic colors. If light had only one color – let us say it was purple – it would be useful only for certain purposes, whereas colorless light is useful for everything. We generally call it white light, but actually, it is colorless – you do not see it. You can see the source of light, and you can see an object that reflects the light, but you cannot see the light as such. Only when something stops the light, you can see it. As such, light is colorless. This colorless light can be refracted into seven colors.

Agna is colorless. This is why Agna is related to vairagya, a state that is colorless or beyond color, which allows you to take on any color without it leaving a trace on you. Suppose we put red, blue or yellow light – everything looks different. Colorless light allows you to see everything clearly, the way it is. Similarly, if you are established in the Agna, you will see everything the way it is.

Inner Freedom

The level of freedom it gives you when external things do not decide what happens within you is tremendous, and the amount of energy you have to invest in things that matter within you is phenomenal. Outside things do not matter to you, because you have seen it the way it is. Imagine you see a man or a woman with all the organs, the intestines, the liver, and so on. Many people who have studied medicine have told me that after doing anatomy lessons and dissections, they did not want to get married. They did not want to have anything to do with any body, because they have seen what is inside. At least that is how they felt initially. Maybe later on, they succumbed to their bodily needs.It is very important that seeing things the way they are comes with sweetness of emotion. This balance of clarity and sweetness of emotion is needed if you want to touch the Agna.

If you start to go beyond the normal limitations of perception and you begin to see everything the way it is, without counterbalancing this clarity with sweetness of emotion, you will not want to be involved in the world anymore. When you see everything the way it is, you may completely lose interest in everything. You just look at everything and nothing means anything to you.

But it would be a misconception to think vairagya means non-involvement. Non-involvement happens when you start seeing things the way they are, but without sweetness of emotion. Then you will either be disgusted, frustrated or uninvolved – you become aloof. If pure discernment comes without a sense of ecstasy, you cannot involve yourself in life. It is very important that seeing things the way they are comes with sweetness of emotion. This balance of clarity and sweetness of emotion is needed if you want to touch the Agna.

The Agna and Isha

The symbol of Isha Yoga Center is a triangle with a circle around it – this is the symbol of the Agna. If you meet someone, the first thing that you show to them is your face. Generally, people recognize you by the face. This does not mean your face is all that matters – the real things that make this life work are within you.

Even at the Isha Yoga Center, the first thing that we show people is the Agna, because that is most accepted in the world. People who are doing sadhana on the Agna will always be revered. If we put the Vishuddhi in the front, we would get labeled as weirdos. If we put the Anahata in the front, people would think we are a confused lot. But if we put the Agna in the front, people consider it as nice and really spiritual. The face is always the Agna, because Agna is clarity. I am valued in this world for my clarity. People do not even know many other aspects of who I am. I am not saying clarity is not important, but it is not everything. By itself, clarity will create disinterest, aloofness and withdrawal from life.

If you see everything the way it is, you will not want to play the game, unless you have sweetness of emotion. You must be dripping ecstasy within you. Then even if it does not mean a thing, you still play.

Editor’s Note: Sadhguru’s latest 2-in-1 book, “Emotion: The Juice of Life,” looks at the gamut of human emotions and how to turn them into stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. The 2-in-1 book is available on Flipkart and Amazon.

A version of this article was originally published in Isha Forest Flower December 2017.