Among the attributes of the chakras are two other important symbols: Shiva and Shakti.

SHIVA symbolizes consciousness, the male principle.

SHAKTI is the feminine principle, energy and power.

Another name for these two primal principles is PURUSHA and PRAKRTI. Purusha is consciousness and Prakrti is nature.

Shiva is usually depicted with a trident, which represents the trinity of Ishvara – Purusha – Prakrti.

Ishvara is the omnipresent, eternal, formless Divine Principle. Purusha is Atma and Prakrti is "manifest" - nature. The relationships between them can be clarified using the example of an electric lamp. Electric current as the source of light is Ishvara. Light is Purusha and the illuminated object is Prakrti.

SHAKTI (or Prakrti) means energy, power, movement, change, nature. She is the principle of the woman mother, breadwinner, abundance. In the human and animal worlds, the mother provides sustenance, protection, and warmth to her offspring. There is no greater love in the world than a mother's love. The mother carries and nourishes the child in her own body. When a child is born, she feeds him with her milk, provides him with care, protection and education at the expense of her comfort, she sacrifices herself for him until he reaches maturity and independence.

SHIVA (or Purusha), on the other hand, is pure consciousness, immutable, it is an unbiased, unaffected observer, a witness of all happenings. Purusha has no desires. Wishes arise from the essence of prakrti. Purusha is the blank, white projection screen on which prakrti projects his films.

Shiva and Shakti are two aspects of divine consciousness, one can say that they are two sides of the same coin. In some depictions, these two primordial principles figure as one being, the left half of which is represented by the mother Parvati, the female energy (Shakti), and the right half by Shiva - the male component, consciousness.

These two principles separated from each other in the course of creation. They manifest as a duality of being and at the same time harbor a strong drive for reunification.

All movement, action and creation arise only through the interaction of Shiva and Shakti. Until energy is filled with consciousness, it is blind and disordered. Energy itself is nothing to create. Only consciousness gives it content, shape and focus. Consciousness itself is a dormant force, a latent energy, and is also incapable of creation. Prakrti without purusha, just as purusha without prakrti, does not independently have the capacity for creative activity.

The symbols of Shiva and Shakti are often misunderstood. They explain themselves as "man" and "woman" and their union is seen as a sexual act. Sexuality is something completely natural. A misunderstanding arises when the sexual act is passed off as a spiritual act.

Sex leads to the union of a man and a woman.

Spirituality leads to the union of human and divine consciousness.

Each of us contains both Shiva and Shakti – the male and female principles. This fact also manifests itself on the physical level, it is the cause of sexual attraction. In a man, attraction to feminine attributes works, in a woman to masculine ones. Male consciousness is attracted to female radiation and vice versa. If both drives were in balance, sexual attraction would not arise.

Shiva resides in the sahasrara-chakra, Shakti in the mooladhara. When purusha and prakrti merge in the sahasrara, the knower unites with the knowing and the known. When we experience this fact, all our wishes will disappear, because we will know that everything we have longed for is inside us. In absolute consciousness there is no polarity of any kind, all suffering disappears, pure joy, unconditional love, boundless compassion and all-embracing understanding for all beings remain.

However, as long as the consciousness is bound to the material body, it does not dwell only in the sahasrara, but returns from there to the heart center - anahata. The thoughts, feelings, and actions of a person who has realized the True Self within him or her come from the heart. Anchored in eternal love and eternal happiness, he is constantly aware of his atma – the ocean of bliss.

Shakti is the motherly divine love that gives us warmth, care and protection.

Shiva is the paternal love of God, which mediates awareness, knowledge and clarity.

May the Divine Father and the Divine Mother guide you in their infinite love to the Cosmic Consciousness.