Śivasaṃhitā 5.74

Svādhiṣṭhāna—“that which has its own sustenance” or “the abode of the self”—is the second of the six cakra in the Śivasaṃhitā’s system. Its anatomical location—“two fingers above the rectum and one finger below the penis”—places it approximately in the sacrococcygeal region, corresponding to the lower pelvic zone. Its six petals with six Sanskrit alphabet letters (ba, bha, ma, ya, ra, la) correspond to the six sonic vibrations the practitioner can perceive in this region during meditation.

The blood-red color (rakta varṇa) of svādhiṣṭhāna associates it with the water element (jala), whose bīja is vam. Water is the element of flow, adaptability, and reproductive force: qualities all associated with this body region. The goddess Rākinī—regent of this center—is described in texts as simultaneously fierce and beneficent, reflecting the ambivalence of the energies this chakra manages: creative force can build or destroy depending on whether it is integrated or not.

The regent Bāla—“the young,” “the strong”—of svādhiṣṭhāna suggests this chakra contains the force of growth, vitality in its most expansive phase. In the Kaula tradition, svādhiṣṭhāna is the center of the most recent unconscious memory (saṃskāra), the conditionings of this life that determine habitual behavior patterns. Meditation on this center progressively dissolves these patterns, freeing the energy they consume.