The opening of the crown chakra is undoubtedly one of the peak achievements of the spiritual path.

The path of yoga teaches that in every human being there is a spark of sacredness, and that the spiritual peaks are not reserved to only to priests and kings but are accessible to all those who devote themselves to the path. The doorway to these high spiritual realities is the Crown Chakra.

The center of the crown chakra is situated 3 cm above the fontanel at the top of the head, where it rests on the head like a crown. The function of this chakra is to facilitate the functions of consciousness, and to connect the individual to the universal consciousness. Opening this chakra is one of the highest spiritual accomplishments, it is associated with a state of sharp and silent vigilance, lucidity and a continues happiness which does not depend on anything.
In Sanskrit this Chakra is called Sahasrara, which mean the lotus of a thousand petals. This name indicates the complex structure of this chakra which has traditionally 972 energy petals.

Inside this complex structure all the other chakras are reflected. What makes the Crown Chakra a kind of overall super structure of the chakras: where every imbalance in any of the chakras will influence the Crown Chakra, and every opening of the Crown rebalances the structure of all the other chakras.

The level of vibration of the Crown Chakra is the highest and most powerful and intense from all the chakras, but it is also the most refined, and it is almost unnoticeable for those who have a more gross and shallow perceptions. Wherein all the other chakras are facing forward or down, the Crown Chakra is the only chakra facing up, opening up towards the sky and the heavens. Once awakened, the Crown Chakra serves a magnet pulling up, subliming the energies from the all the other chakras.
Prayer and genuine spiritual practice of any form will open the Crown Chakra. Ignoring the spiritual aspects of life will close it. Full awareness to the present moment, whatever that moment will be, will open the crown chakra, being distracted by the past or future will close it. The plants: Basil, Gotu Kola, and Lem Domnesc will open it, and alcohol, drugs and eating meat or industrial food will close it. Humility, faith and innocence open this chakra, arrogance, skeptic attitude and violence close. Attachments to the material, social and emotional planes will close it, and detachment from these 3 levels will open this Chakra, naturally effortlessly.

In The tradition of Tantra and Yoga, it is not easy to find many direct descriptions of this chakra. There is no element related to it, no symbolic animal, only the light of 1000 suns that would shine together in the sky, could represent the spiritual light which may radiate from the Crown of each one us, if we awaken truly the immense potential of this chakra.

The texts of Tantra and yoga such as the “Hatha Yoga Pradipika” and the “Shiva Samhita” mention that the color which is prevails this chakra is bright white light. And as this light broken to all colors of the rainbow, which can be mixed again and united into the bright light, so all the chakras a derived from and can return to the Crown Chakra.

Even outside of the systems of Tantra and Yoga, we can see that bright white light is associated to the Crown Chakra. In Christian iconography we can find a white hallow around the heads of saints. In some Christian sects they often shave the hair exactly in the area of the Crown Chakra, in the Jewish tradition the “Kippa” is often mentioned as a symbolic item meant to orient the attention to the Crown Chakra. In the American Indian tradition of the Hoppy tribe we can find the following information concerning the area of the fontanel*** where the Crown Chakra is located: “Here (in the top of the head), when he was born, there was a soft spot, the “open door” from where he received life and connection from the creator”.

The opening of the crown chakra is slow and gradual it may begin by simply focus on the area of the fontanel*** long enough with a continues attention, either in meditation posture, while doing head stand or even during day. This continues focus will bring on, more and more energy that will awaken this chakra gradually.

Relaying on the Godly goodness and purity.

One who has his Crown Chakra open moves beyond faith, but experiences directly and even continuously the spiritual reality. He would experience the divine nature in every prayer and meditation and even in the day to day life. He has a clear and vivid, intuitive perception of the immensity of the spiritual reality and he feel therefore small and humble in front of that. He is totally absorbed in the divine wisdom, and so his thoughts and speech are quite and full of attention. He is nourished from the abundance of the spiritual reality and is therefore free from any attachment to the material reality. He is overwhelmed again and again by the goodness and purity of the divine, and he gives himself to it again and again unconditionally.

An example of such a total self-giving we find in the life of the Jewish saint, Rabbi Akiva and especially at his death, when continued to pray even while he was tortured to death by the Romans. Another example we can find in the life of Saint Seraphim of Saratov who prayed on his knee for years with praise and love for God. The Indian 20th century saint Bala Yogi would also spend years in silent meditation without saying a word being totally absorbed into the divine consciousness, and his life show clearly an opening on this supreme level.

Bright White Light.

The psychological states which appear on this level are that of detachment and wisdom. At this level comes the clear and direct understanding that every action which springs from selfishness will lead to attachment to the transient and therefore inevitably to suffering. The clarity of this understanding unties the knots of desire and bring to a state of inner liberty which sublime and light as an eagle.

The awakening of this Chakra will not necessarily change the external conditions but will transform fundamentally the way they are perceived. A chines master was asked by his students: “what did you do before you reached enlightenment?”, “chopping woods and carrying water”, he answered. “and now after you have reached enlightenment, what are you doing?”, they asked further, “chopping woods and carrying water, how wonderful it is!” he answered joyfully.

Fusing with formless void.

The first sign of the awakening of the crown chakra is a soft and pleasant tingling sensation at the top of the head. In the next step this vibration becomes very intense almost like a sweet pain that awakens a great longing to be with the divine.
Next that vibration will intensify even more and become more and more refined, expanding awareness into elevated altered states of consciousness which are mysterious but crystal clear. Awareness penetrate spontaneously the subconscious and bring it up to the conscious level where it brought effortlessly into harmony and purity. The inner healing which the Crown Chakra offs is even more complete that what can be attained in years of high class psychotherapy will not have such a healing effect. With the penetration of consciousness into the subconscious the phenomena of lucid dreaming can appear spontaneously.

As the awakening goes deeper, there appears a deep state of detachment for the things of this world, the desires are reabsorbed into a deep and unconditional experience of fulfillment and peace. As the detachment deeps one feels he is returning home at last to real self, beyond and at the center of the body and mind. This is not a mental or verbal experience but a fundamental lucid knowing of the depth of the “I AM”.
The opening at level can also lead to contact and fusion with the non-personal aspect of the divine, perceived as the divine beatific void. Here one perceives a void beyond shape or form, beyond time and relativity. And in this void there is ecstasy.

There are those who will see all these descriptions as being useless, hard to understand and even fictional but in reality this chakra has an important role in our human existence. In the words or Swami Rama:” Even that it (the Crown Chakra) is beyond the mental function, it provides the key through which all the aspects of the experience can be gathered into coherent holistic theory”. Meaning that even is if the reality of the crown chakra is beyond our ordinarily mental understanding, it supplies a kind of “Archimedes point” through which we can understand and put order in all the other aspects of life.