Sri Aurobindo's (1872- 1950) unique vertical or hierarchical psychology ("integral psychology") served as the basis for his concept of chakras. The following summarises his psychology (with matches different levels of consciousness mached with the tantric chakras):
Base centre (muladhara) "governs the physical down to the subconscient [subconscious]";
Abdominal centre (swadhishthana) "governs the lower vital" ("concerned only with the small greeds, small desires, small passions, etc, which make up the daily stuff of life for the ordinary sensational man");
Navel centre (manipura) "governs the larger vital";
Heart centre (anahata) "governs the emotional being";
Throat centre (vishuddha) "governs the expressive and externalising mind";
Brow centre (ajna) "governs the dynamic mind, will, vision, mental formation";
Thousand-petalled lotus (sahasrara) "commands the higher thinking mind, houses the still higher illumined mind and at its the highest opens to the intuition through which...the overmind can have...communication or an immediate contact."
Sri Aurobindo,
A note on terminology: the vital corresponds to the emotional/astral of theosophy; the higher thinking mind is the first of the supra-rational levels.beyond ordinary human consciousness.
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