The Sanskrit language, flexible, learned, sophisticated, has words to designate each of the seven « cakra » that punctuate the human body, from the anus to the occiput. These words are at the origin of analogies, forming a world view, systemic, integrated, structuring. They draw an architecture of metaphors, metonymies, catachresis and synecdoches, linking the human body to the universe, – and to God.

From the lowest to the highest, the seven cakra are also associated with the seven ‘senses’, respectively smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing, mind, and « vision ». They are also related to the seven « states » of the universe: earth, water, fire, air, ether, spirit, and the state called « divine union ». This symbolic gradation of the cakra can be interpreted on the physical level and also as the image of a moral gradation.

The first cakra is the « muladhara » (literally « foundation support »). It’s the anus, and it’s related to smell, and to the earth. It symbolizes the awakening incentive.

The second cakra is called « svadhisthana » (literally « the seat of the self »). It’s the sex. It is related to taste, and water. It symbolizes self-discovery.

The third cakra is called « manipura » (literally « abundant in jewels »). It’s the solar plexus. It is related to sight. It is associated with fire. It evokes the life force.

The fourth cakra is called « anahata » (literally « ineffable »). It’s the heart. We connect it to touch, and we associate it with air. It symbolizes the subtle sound.

The fifth cakra is called « visuddha » (literally « very pure »). It’s the larynx, which is linked to hearing. It is associated with ether. It symbolizes the sacred Word.

The sixth cakra is « ājnā », (literally « the order »). It is the forehead, linked to the mind. It is associated with the spirit, and it symbolizes the truth.

The seventh and last cakra is « sahasrara », (literally the cakra « with a thousand rays »). It is the occiput, which is linked to « vision » and kudalin yoga. It symbolizes divine union.

Catachresis and synecdoques abound in this general picture.

What does the connection of the plexus with sight and fire involve? What does the liaison of the heart to touch, to air and to « subtle sound » really mean? It can be assumed that the link of larynx to hearing is related to phonation, and that it is the ether and not the air that seems to be the medium of meaning, of the « verb ».

If we reflect on the details and implications of these relationships, what strikes us is the will to make system, to connect the body and the mind, semantically and symbolically, to the cosmos. The successive circles of consciousness, from the body foundation up to divine union, are clearly inscribed in human flesh, and described in human mind, through the precise modulations of the Sanskrit language.

However, what language, what words, could ever be able to convey the meaning of the thousand rays of « sahasrara »?

Those who saw and followed some of these rays, up to the core of their suns, only understood that they signal a disruptive way out of our common understanding.