Lets face it. Life is not a bed of roses. There are hurdles to get over and mountains to climb. In numerology, the roadblocks faced in life is called the challenges. The Challenge is a weak point in our Life Path. It is the weak link in the chain of life which must be overcome for us to grow and develop properly. We learn by meeting the challenge, and dealing with it effectively. The nature of the challenge is shown in the Life Path.

Actually, there are three challenges included in your life path. Two that will be called sub-challenges and then a main challenge. Each challenge is represented by a number, and the number reflects the tone of the confrontation. We will again use the month, the day and the year of birth in this calculation. The first step will be to reduce each of these components to a single digit base number. Thus, December 14, 1968, would become month 3 (1+2), day 5 (1+4), and year 6 (1+9+6+8=24; 2+4=6).

The first sub challenge is derived by finding the difference between the month and day of birth. In our example, this would be 5-3=2 first sub challenge.

The second sub challenge is identified by finding the difference between the day of birth and the year of birth. The example would be 6-5=1; the number 1 for a second sub challenge.

The final challenge is identified by finding the difference between the first and second sub challenge. Our example would have a 2-1=1 challenge.

The numbers behind the final challenge will each be a potential problem during half of the life. The first sub challenge during the first part of the life, and the second sub challenge during the second half of the life. The Final Challenge is a potential weakness and problem throughout the entire life.

If you correctly reduced the month, day and year to a single digit (no master number), the difference between the two numbers must be a number from 0 to 8. Here are readings of each of the challenges:

Challenge 0

The obstacles life during this period may not be many, or they may be coming from all directions. The challenge of the number 0 is called the challenge of choice. You are likely to have difficulty acting on your preferences. You are perfectly capable of analyzing a situation and realistically comparing possible solutions. The challenge of 0 may make bring this decision to requisite action very difficult for you. To overcome the challenge, it should be understood that you must have the faith in your own abilities to the extent that you can analyze, make a choice, then act with ease and comfort. This challenge is one that is normally found on in a highly evolved individual and an individual who can be expected to make your own decisions about life and know where the pitfalls lie. To meet the challenge of 0 you must have control of all of the numbers; the independence of 1, the diplomacy of 2, the optimism of 3, the application of 4, the understanding of 5, the adjustment of 6, the wisdom of the 7, the constructive power of 8, the universal service of 9. In other words, to meet the challenge of 0 in your life, you must be a very gifted person.

Challenge 1

The challenge of the number 1 suggests you are likely to feel dominated by others with strong influence, probably parents or others with whom you compete. The challenge of the number 1 is avoidance of being dominated, but doing so in a fashion that does not impose upon or dominate others. With the challenge of the number 1 it's extremely important to control the ego, and avoid the negative aspect of individuality. False pride, pomposity, egotism are issues to be guarded against now. You are now in a period of learning about self-reliance and how to solve your own problems independently. Learn to rely on your wit and your intelligence, avoiding argumentation and resentfulness.

Challenge 2

The challenge of the number 2 suggests you are likely to be extremely sensitive and more or less brimming with feelings. You find it hard to work with people because your are afraid of being criticized or, worse yet, ignored. You have a good deal of self-doubt and a definite lack of self confidence. There is a tendency to constantly worry about the opinion that others have of you. There is likewise a tendency to use this sensitivity in a negative way. Used more positively, your keen sensitivities can be a significant strength, allowing you to be acutely aware of so much of with others rarely perceive. But during this period it will be hard for you to assert yourself and make decisions. You will shy away from positions of authority and responsibility. This can be a time for accumulation of wisdom, as you show patience and pay close attention to detail. Try not to take things too personally. Friendships are a source of deep satisfaction to you during this time. Respect your ability to compromise and grow in a quiet way. Do not let details overwhelm you and keep you from seeing the big picture. Plan for slow growth rather than immediate gain.

Challenge 3

The challenge of the number 3 suggests a tendency to scatter talents and try to do too many things at once during this period of your life. You may have a fine imagination and a gift for words, but you find it hard to express yourself effectively. Though you know you should cultivate friends and be sociable, you tend to be somewhat reclusive and defensive. You may have a talent for writing, acting, or speaking, but you are reluctant to involve yourself with these sorts of activities because you do not like to face the prospects of criticism. You are expressing yourself with a negative emphasis, hiding your creative talents behind a wall of shyness. You must strive to develop yourself in a social and in a creative sense. It's hard to just relax and have a good time.

Challenge 4

The challenge of the number 4 suggests a difficulty with work. Either you simply don't like to work, don't like the work your are forced to do, or you have difficulty completing tasks and working efficiently. You may be careless and lack a sense of practicality. Often this challenge makes it hard to see the forest for the trees when it comes to work and obligations. It is important for you to learn patience, understanding and the practical, common sense way of dealing with mundane responsibilities. You may also need to learn the importance of working within the parameters of a time schedule.

Challenge 5

The challenge of the number 5 suggests that your challenge is to overcome the desire and the demand for freedom at any price. This challenge number is very difficult to handle because, with it, you are apt to be extremely impulsive; you want to try everything at least once, and you are rather unstable in many ways. Change may be necessary for you, but it must be handled in an intelligent and controlled manner. Make certain that the desire for change is not associated with a desire to escape responsibility. In any event, this challenge requires that you learn as early as possible in life to control your impulses.

Challenge 6

The challenge of the number 6 suggests that you may have difficulties because of your insistence on extremely high standards. You are apt to appear authoritarian, intolerant, and a little self-righteous. It is hard for others to live up to your standards of expectation. Many of your considerable talents for balancing situations are used with a negative emphasis. Avoid creating friction in relationships and strive for harmony. You must learn that your diplomatic approach will only be appreciated if others feel that their needs are met, their desires understood, their point of view respected. You must learn to allow others to set their own pace, make their own rules. This challenge requires learning unconditional love and acceptance.

Challenge 7

The challenge of the number 7 suggests difficulties brought on by your discomfort with your own inner feelings; feelings of a reserved attitude and unexpressed emotions. You may feel unable to better your situation, or to change and improve circumstances. There is a tendency with this challenge to be a chronic critic and complainer, while offering little or nothing as a suggest to correct the faults that are found. The sense of discrimination is strong, but it is expressed in a very negative way. A sense of false pride tends to keep your real feelings buried beneath the surface. Avoid a tendency to approach people in a very reserved and aloof way, and develop faith in your own abilities rather than dwelling on your limitations. Marriage is apt to be delayed until this challenge is overcome, or if married, this can be a difficult time.

Challenge 8

The challenge of the number 8 suggests an early life assumption that satisfaction can only be gained and safeguarded by adequate material accumulation. There's likely to be considerable effort exerted to attain money, status, and power, sometimes to the exclusion of almost all else. The number 8 challenge indicates that you are/were using your concern with material matters with negative emphasis. You must learn to use your ability to gain money, status and power with a sense of proportion and an awareness of the relation of material affairs to other matters, and deal with the material world in a comfortable manner.

Chakras Chakra  - Chakras are energy centres which govern the subtle, psychosomatic aspects of our inner being. This Sanskrit term means wheel or disk, and when the chakras are awakened, they turn in a clockwise direction. The chakras open up like flowers and pour out their qualities re-establishing our inner balance and restoring our health and form.

Of the many chakras within the human body, seven have been identified as major. Chakras are first mentioned in the Vedas, ancient Hindu texts of knowledge.

What is Chakras?

Chakras are energy centres which govern the subtle, psychosomatic aspects of our inner being. This Sanskrit term means wheel or disk, and when the chakras are awakened, they turn in a clockwise direction. The chakras open up like flowers and pour out their qualities re-establishing our inner balance and restoring our health and form.

Of the many chakras within the human body, seven have been identified as major. Chakras are first mentioned in the Vedas, ancient Hindu texts of knowledge.

The major chakras are whirling energy centers, which in general are about three to four inches in diameter. They control and energize the vital organs of the visible physical body, and work like power stations to supply life energy to them.

When the power station malfunctions, the vital organs become sick or diseased, because they lack the enough life energy to operate properly. Minor chakras are about one to two inches in diameter and the mini chakras are even smaller. Both the minor and mini chakras control and energize the less important parts of the visible physical body. In general, the chakras interpenetrate and extend beyond the visible physical body.

Chakras: The seven chakras

The conventional system has seven charkas:

7. Sahasrara Chakra

Situated in the limbic area, it represents the integration of all the chakras and all the aspects of the Divine within us. The Sahasrara is the destination, a holy place filled with the silence and the bliss of the Spirit.

6. Agnya Chakra

Situated in the middle of the forehead,at the optic chiasm, where the channels of the subtle system cross. The agnya is the straight and narrow way leading to the Kingdom of Heaven, the state of thoughtless awareness. It is the centre of forgiveness.

5. Vishuddhi Chakra

Situated in the neck and the throat, this centre is in charge of every aspect of communication between human beings. From a physical point of view, it controls the cervical plexus. It governs the five senses and enables us to achieve the witness state.

4. Anahat Chakra

Situated behind the sternum, where antibodies are produced to protect our subtle system. This chakra gives a sense of security. It controls the heart plexus.

3. Nabhi Chakra

This centre is the seat of our attention, and it transmits material well-being and inner peace. It controls the solar plexus..

2. Swadhistana Chakra

This centre gravitates around the Nabhi, providing support for its action and creating the area of the Void. It symbolizes the creative sense within us. When the Kundalini rises, it enters the Nabhi, goes down to the Swadhistan and up again to the Nabhi. The Swadhistan controls the aortic plexus.

1. Mooladhara Chakra

"Moola" means root, and "adhara" the support. This chakra brings support and protection to the roots at Mooladhara, to the Kundalini, and to the whole subtle system. It is at the base of the left channel. It controls the pelvic plexus and gives innocence and wisdom.

Chakras: System with eleven Chakras

There is also a system that identifies eleven different charkas instead of the traditional seven charkas:

Basic Chakra

The basic chakra is located at the base of the spine or the coccyx area. This controls, energizes and strengths the whole visible physical body, especially the spine, the production and the quality of blood produced, the adrenal glands, the tissues of the body, the internal and sexual organs. People with highly activated basic chakra are usually healthy.

Sex Chakra

This chakra is located on the pubic area. It controls and energizes the sexual organs and the bladder.

Meng Mein Chakra

The meng mein chakra is located at the back of the navel. It serves as a 'pumping station' in the spine and is responsible for the upward flow of subtle pranic energies coming from the basic chakra. To avoid adverse effects, the meng mein chakra of infants, children, pregnant women and very old people should not be energized.

Navel Chakra

This chakra is located on the navel and it affects the general vitality of a person. Malfunctioning of the naval chakra results in constipation, appendicitis and difficulty in giving birth, low vitality and other intestine related diseases.

Spleen Chakra

The front spleen chakra is located on the left part of the abdomen between the front solar plexus chakra and the naval chakra. The front and back spleen chakras control and energize the spleen. The spleen purifies the blood of disease-causing germs. It also destroys worn-out blood cells.

Solar Plexus Chakra

A human body contains two solar plexus chakras�the one located at the solar plexus area and the other in the back. Both controls and energizes the diaphragm, pancreas, liver, stomach and to a certain extent energizes the large and small intestines, appendix, lungs, heart and other parts of the body. The solar plexus chakra is also referred to as the 'energy clearing house center', mainly because the subtle energies from the lower chakras and from the higher chakras pass through it. The whole body can be energized through the solar plexus chakra. Malfunctioning of this may cause diabetes, ulcer, hepatitis, heart ailments and other illness related to the organs mentioned above.

Heart Chakra

Like the solar plexus, the human body contains two heart chakras, one located at the center of the chest, called front heart chakra, and the other located at the back of the heart, referred to as back heart chakra. The front heart chakra energizes and controls the heart, the thymus gland and the circulatory system. Malfunctioning of the front heart chakra manifests as heart and circulatory ailments. The back heart chakra primarily controls and energizes the lungs and, to a lesser degree, the heart and the thymus gland. Malfunctioning of the back heart chakra is marked as lung problems such as asthma, tuberculosis, and others.

Throat Chakra

This is located at the center of the throat. It controls and energizes the throat, the thyroid glands, parathyroid glands, and lymphatic system and to a certain degree, also influences the sex chakra.

Ajna Chakra

Also known as master chakra, the ajna chakra is located at the area between the eyebrows. It controls and energizes the pituitary gland, the endocrine glands and energizes the brain to a certain extent.

Forehead Chakra

This is located at the center of the forehead. It controls and energizes the pineal gland and the nervous system. Malfunctioning of the forehead chakra may result in the loss of memory, paralysis and epilepsy.

Crown Chakra

The crown chakra is located at the crown of the head. It controls and energizes the pineal gland, the brain and the entire body. It is also one of the major entry points of prana into the body.

Chakras and sound

According to Hindu beliefs, everything in the universe is made of sound. Each chakra has what is called a "seed sound". These seed sounds are the symbolic representations of the energy pattern of each chakra and hold its essence. Seed sounds are also referred to as bija mantras. When properly preforming these mantras, the individual resonates with the particular chakra. Crystal bowls or tuning forks are often used to aid those wishing to resonate with these wheels of light.

Chakras: Relationship between energy body and the physical body

Both the energy body and the visible physical body are so closely related that what affects one, affects the other and vice-versa. For instance, if the bioplasmic throat is weakened, then this may manifest on the visible physical body as cough, cold, sore throat, tonsillitis or other throat-related problems. Should a person accidentally cut his skin, there is a corresponding pranic leak in the area where there is bleeding. Initially, the affected area where there is a cut or sprain would become temporarily brighter due to pranic leak but would inevitably become grayish because of pranic depletion. If any part of the energy body is weakened either because of pranic congestion or depletion, the visible physical counterpart would either malfunction or become susceptible to infection. For example, a depleted solar plexus and liver may manifest as jaundice or hepatitis.

From the given examples, it becomes quite clear that the energy body and the visible physical body affect each other. By healing the energy body, the visible physical body gets healed in the process. This is called the Law of Correspondence. By regularly cleansing and energizing with prana, the nearsighted eyes would gradually improve and heal. A person with heart enlargement can be relieved in one or two sessions by simply decongesting the affected heart, shoulder, and upper left arm areas. Complete cure would take at least several months. By decongesting and energizing the head area, headaches can be removed in a few minutes.

Enlightenment - Spiritual Enlightenment

A wisdom archive for Spiritual Enlightenment with articles, interviews and personal experiences of enlightenment. Spiritual Enlightenment and Spiritual Awakening is the primary goal of almost all spiritual practices, traditions and religions and for any spiritual seeker. There are many names for this awakened state of Consciousness depending on what culture and tradition we belong to.

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."