Ājñā Cakra

The sixth cakra, located at the point between the eyebrows (bhrumadhya). Its name literally means “command centre”: the place from which the inner guru directs consciousness.

Associated with the pineal gland, the element mind (manas), and the subtle sound OM. Its yantra is a two-petalled lotus representing iḍā and piṅgalā, the two pranic currents that converge here before ascending to sahasrāra.

In the Yoga Sūtras, Patañjali alludes to the inner light in the space between the eyebrows as an object of meditation (1.36: viśokā vā jyotiṣmatī). In 3.28 he links dhruva —the pole star, the immovable— with this stable command centre.

In Haṭha Yoga, ājñā cakra is the focal point of śāmbhavī mudrā —concentration on bhrumadhya leading to samādhi— and where the internal vibration of bhrāmarī prāṇāyāma converges.

Awakening ājñā does not mean “opening the third eye” in a trivially esoteric sense. It means developing the capacity to observe without reacting, to see things as they are. It is the centre of viveka —discernment— and the seat of the silent witness (sākṣin).