अजपा योग क्रिया आणि ध्यान : श्वास, मंत्र, मुद्रा आणि ध्यान यांच्या सहाय्याने मनःशांती, एकाग्रता, चक्र संतुलन आणि कुंडलिनी जागृती. अधिक माहिती आणि आगामी तारखांसाठी येथे जा.

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Mudras and Mantras for Five Great Elements

Human body consists of the five great elements or Panchamahabhutas namely Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space. Before a practitioner attempts any higher practices that awaken the sleeping Kundalini, it is advisable that certain amount of purification and balance be established in these five great elements. There are several ways to accomplish this balancing and purification, ranging from dietary guidelines to yogic Shatkarmas to mantras. Here, I am outlining a simple yet effective routine for beginners that can be easily integrated into your daily yoga practice without any side effects.

The routine described here consists of three chief ingredients - hand mudras, chakra awareness, and seed (beej) mantras. The five fingers of our hands are associated with the five great elements and can be used to instill balance and purification in these elements. Out of the seven chakras (Mooladhara to sahasrara), the first five chakras are associated with the five great elements. And therefore, meditation on these chakras can instill the desired balancing of the corresponding elements. Each of these five great elements have their own seed mantra. Chanting the seed mantra not only helps in deeper concentration but also hastens the balancing process.

Step 1

To begin with, assume a steady and comfortable posture or Asana. You can sit in any cross-legged posture such as Padmasana, Siddhasana, Sukhasana, or even in Vajrasana. If you can't sit in any cross-legged posture you can sit on a chair. Avoid sitting directly on the floor. Make use of your Yoga mat or meditation seat.

Keep your head straight, spine erect, and base firmly grounded to your meditation seat. Place both of your hands on your knees with palms facing upwards. Close your eyes and become aware of your natural breathing.

Step 2

Gently press the tip of your thumb and ring finger together. Don't press too hard. Keep other fingers relaxed. The thumb represents the Fire element and the ring finger represents the Earth element. The mudra thus formed strengthens, balances, and purifies the Earth element. The Earth element is connected with the Mooladhara chakra. So, keep your awareness around the Mooladhara region. The seed mantra of the Earth element is LAM (लं). And you will mentally recite OM LAM mantra throughout this mudra. Maintain this mudra, chakra awareness, and mantra chanting for three minutes.

Now release this mudra by separating the tip of the thumb and the ring finger.

Step 3

Next, gently press the tip of your thumb and little finger together. Keep other fingers relaxed. The little finger represents the Water element. The mudra thus formed strengthens, balances, and purifies the Water element. The Water element is connected with the Swadhisthana chakra. So, keep your awareness around the Swadhsthana region. The seed mantra of the Water element is VAM (वं). And you will mentally recite OM VAM mantra throughout this mudra. Maintain this mudra, chakra awareness, and mantra chanting for three minutes.

Release this mudra by separating the tip of the thumb and the little finger.

Step 4

Now, gently press the tip of your thumb and index finger together. Keep other fingers relaxed. The index finger represents the Air element. The mudra thus formed strengthens, balances, and purifies the Air element. The Air element is connected with the Anahata chakra. So, keep your awareness around the Anahata region. The seed mantra of the Air element is YAM (यं). And you will mentally recite OM YAM mantra throughout this mudra. Maintain this mudra, chakra awareness, and mantra chanting for three minutes.

Release this mudra by separating the tip of the thumb and the index finger.

Step 5

Gently press the tip of your thumb and middle finger together. Keep other fingers relaxed. The middle finger represents the Space element. The mudra thus formed strengthens, balances, and purifies the Space element. The Space element is connected with the Vishuddhi chakra. So, keep your awareness around the Vishuddhi region. The seed mantra of the Space element is HAM (हं). And you will mentally recite OM HAM mantra throughout this mudra. Maintain this mudra, chakra awareness, and mantra chanting for three minutes.

You might wonder why we skipped the Manipura chakra and what happended to the Fire element. In all the four mudras described above we are using the thumb. And the thumb represents the Fire element. The Fire element is responsible for burning the impurities in the other elements. So, we didn't perform any separate mudra for the Fire element. The seed mantra for the Fire element is RAM (रं). You will use it as a part of the final mudra you perform in this routing.

Step 6

Now, touch the tips of all the four fingers (index, middle, ring, and little finger) to the tip of the thumb. This mudra balances all the five elements. The individual mudras primarily balance the respective element whereas this mudra balances all the elements in the body as a whole. Yogic scriptures mention that all the benefits of meditating on individual chakras (first five chakras) can be attained by meditation on the Adnya chakra alone. So, in this mudra you will focus on the Adnya chakra (third eye). As you focus on the Adnya chakra mentally chant - OM LAM VAM RAM YAM HAM (ॐ लं वं रं यं हं). As you can see this mantra combines seed mantras of all the elements.

Maintain this mudra for three minutes. Then release this mudra by separating all the fingers and end the practice routine

The total duration of this routine will be 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15 minutes. Depending on yout time availability you can increase this duration to ten minutes (per mudra) gradually after a few weeks. With a regular practice of this routine you will be able to sense a positive impact on your rest of the Yoga practices including Asanas, Pranayamas, and meditation.


Bipin Joshi is an independent software consultant and trainer by profession specializing in Microsoft web development technologies. Having embraced the Yoga way of life he is also a yoga mentor, meditation teacher, and spiritual guide to his students. He is a prolific author and writes regularly about software development and yoga on his websites. He is programming, meditating, writing, and teaching for over 27 years. To read more about him go here. More details about his Kriya and Meditation online course are available here.


Posted On : 23 March 2022