A Map of the Vrittis: Navigating the Emotions of the Chakras.

Music is the expression of harmonies within the universe. It is interesting to consider that every vritti or emotion has a sound or vibration. Sound produces form and form produces colour.

In Hindu culture Brahman (the Absolute) is the background of all these changing feelings.

Each chakra has a specific set of vrittis traditionally assigned to it

1. Vrittis are Mental Modifications: Vrittis are fundamental mental and emotional states that color our experience. They are not isolated to a single chakra but can manifest and be experienced through various energetic centers.
2. Chakras as Processing Centers: Each chakra is a processing center. When a vritti is “assigned” to a chakra, it means that chakra is a primary energetic location where that particular mental/emotional tendency is expressed, purified, and transformed.
3. Cross-Chakra Influence: An imbalance in one chakra can manifest vrittis associated with other chakras. For example, fear (Muladhara vritti) can certainly lead to anxiety (Cinta, a Lalana vritti).

Muladhara – Root Chakra

• va , sha , sha , sa
• Earth (Privthi): symbolized by a yellow square
• cohesion
• sense of smell

It is the seat of our basic functions for life. Our desires and our ability to overcome personal challenges to rise above desire. This is expressed through three primary frameworks:

1. The Four Basic Instincts. These are the animal urges we must master to find stability.
2. The Four Aims of Human Life. How we direct our energy as we grow.
3. The Four Functions of the Psyche.
   The internal tools we use to process the world:

Svadhishthana – Sacral Chakra

Manipura – Naval Chakra

• da, dha, na, ta, tha, dd, dha, na, pa, pha,
• expansion producing heat
• Agni (Fire tattva) – symbolized by a red triangle.
• Stimulates the sight, sense of colour and form

As we move from the Anāhata (12 emotions) to the Viśuddha (16 sounds) and finally to the Ājñā (2 petals), we are moving closer to that “Stillness” (Nirodha)

Anahata – Heart Chakra

• ka, kha, ga, gha,na, ca, cha, ja, jha, na, ta, tha,
• Air (Vayu tattva) – symbolized by a blue circle.
• movement
• sense of touch

* anxiety often “leaks” from the heart up into the Lalana, the secret chakra above the heart **this is the burning misery of the past, which is why we use the Observer to let it evaporate.

Vishuddha – Throat Chakra

• A, Ā, I, Ī, U, Ū, Ṛ, ṝ, Ḷ, ḹ, E, Ai, O, Au, Aṃ, Aḥ.
• Space (Akasha tattva) – symbolized by a black egg.
• Sense of Hearing

These are not just letters; they are considered the 16 phases or potential abilities of the human being.

Ajina – third eye chakra

ham, kasham

Ajna is the screen of the mind where all sensory information and thoughts are witnessed by the Silent Observer.

The Cosmic Formula of the 1,000 Petals

To truly understand the Vrittis, we have to look at them not just as random emotional waves, but as a precise, mathematical spiritual science. This brilliant framework—famously systematized by the modern Tantric master Shrii Shrii Anandamurti—maps out the exact geometry of human consciousness:

50 Vrittis × 2 Expressions (Internal / External) × 10 Directions = 1,000 Vibrations

1. The 50 Sanskrit Acoustic Roots (The Petals)

The human body is a sacred musical instrument vibrating with cosmic sound. In traditional Tantra, there are exactly 50 foundational letters (phonemes) in the Sanskrit alphabet.

If you count the lotus petals of the first six chakras—from the base of the spine up to the third eye—they add up to exactly 50:

• Mūlādhāra (Root): 4 petals
• Svādhiṣṭhāna (Sacral): 6 petals
• Maṇipūra (Solar Plexus): 10 petals
• Anāhata (Heart): 12 petals
• Viśuddha (Throat): 16 petals
• Ājñā (Third Eye): 2 petals

Every single petal is inscribed with a specific Sanskrit letter representing an acoustic root—the pure cosmic vibration of that energy point. When human consciousness flows through these petals, it creates a Vritti (a thought-wave). When unhindered, it is a pure cosmic sound; when distorted by our Samskaras (subconscious imprints), it manifests as a heavy human emotion like fear, pride, or jealousy.

2. The 10 Indriyas (The Channels of Experience)

Your mind never experiences a Vritti in a vacuum. Every one of the 50 foundational emotional tendencies is processed, filtered, and acted out through your 10 Indriyas—the ten mental/physical faculties of the human instrument.

The 5 Jñānendriyas (Sensory Faculties – Taking the world in): You experience the Vritti purely within your private thoughts, memory, and inner psyche.

1. Hearing (Ears)
2. Touching (Skin)
3. Seeing (Eyes)
4. Tasting (Tongue)
5. Smelling (Nose)

The 5 Karmendriyas (Motor Faculties – Expressing the mind out): You project that Vritti outward, physically acting it out through your body in the material world.

• The 2 Expressions (× 2): Every single one of these 50 tendencies can manifest in two ways—either externally toward the outer world, or internally within your own psyche. This expands the 50 expressions into 100 modes of consciousness.
• The 10 Directions (× 10): Energy moves through 10 distinct cosmic directions (North, South, East, West, the 4 intermediate corners, plus Upward and Downward).

When those 100 internal and external expressions of the mind radiate outward in all 10 directions of the universe, they create the 1,000 unique pathways of light—the 1,000 petals of the Sahasrara.

This is the divine secret behind the Sahasrāra Chakra at the crown of the head—the “Thousand-Petaled Lotus.” It is the grand matrix where all 1,000 fragmented worldly expressions are gathered back up, purified, and dissolved back into the pure light of Consciousness.

Plutchick’s Modern Wheel of Emotions 1980

Modern psychology, such as Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, provides a contemporary map for the very same ‘mental whirlpools’ described by the ancient Tantric masters thousands of years ago.