mind. Our inner struggle to grow and change spiritually takes place between the pull of the soul from above and the pull of matter and material involvement from below.
Every unfulfilled desire, every wave of like or dislike, every karmic action, creates a subtle vortex of energy. These energy vortices are held together by centripetal thoughts, such as: “I want this; I reject that; I like this; I don’t like that; this is what I have done; that is what I failed to accomplish.” The ego hugs these thoughts and impulses to itself until they gain release outwardly in action, or inwardly in self-realization. To work out all desires or karma in the outer world is, ultimately, not feasible, for out of every fulfilled desire there arise two, or twenty, or a hundred other new desires.
These vortices of desire, also called vrittis, enter the subconscious and sink to their respective levels in the spine in the area of a specific chakra, according to the relative grossness or refinement of the energy they express. Their location in the spine depends on the chakra with which their vibrations are in harmony (“like attracts like”). The more spiritual a vortex, the higher the center around which it settles; the more materialistic a vortex, the lower the center. Very old vortices, as yet unresolved, are submerged, so to speak, by more recently created vortices, and have little or no effect on the waking consciousness. They continue, however, like little ripples on the surface of larger waves, to obscure the clear reflection of the Eternal Spirit, long after the larger waves of the initial desire or feeling have subsided.
The energy of these vortices, when released to flow upward, combines to produce a