The third eye – also known as the ajna – is a spot in the middle of your forehead above your eyebrows. It’s where some religions like Hindus place a coloured dot or an ornamental jewel bindi. Sometimes, this is a blessing. Other times, it’s a socio-cultural signifier e.g. for married women. But what is the spiritual 3rd eye meaning? Let’s find out why the Ajna chakra matters.
Spiritual 3rd Eye Meanings
1. The Universal Symbol of the Divine
To locate the exact position of your third eye, make a fist and press your knuckles on the bridge of your nose. Your thumb will naturally touch a spot on your forehead. That’s your ajna. It’s symbolized by a blooming lotus that has two petals as viewed from the top, so you’ll see a circle flanked by the two petals. Sometimes, an inverted triangle sits inside the circle.
The three angles of the equilateral triangle touch the sides of the circle. A simplified version of the om symbol is often inside the triangle since om is the bija or beej mantra of the 3rd eye. This chant activates the 3rd eye and opens it up. The ajna symbol encompasses a circle, a triangle, and om, the sound of creation. The spiritual 3rd eye meaning represents true deity.
2. The Ultimate Creation and Destruction
The two petals on the side of the 3rd eye circle symbol often stand for Shiva and Shakti. In Christianity, we have the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with many people taking the Holy Spirit as the feminine energy of God. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva embodies the masculine energy of creation while Shakti is the feminine goddess that bears destruction.
That said, the Hindu Trinity is often taken as the creator Brahma, the preserver Vishnu, and the destroyer Shiva. The 3rd eye is variously said to be the epitome of Shiva. It can also be the two energies of masculine and feminine as we’ve just explained. This fusion of triangle and circle, male and female, creation and destruction, beginning and end, signifies the Ajna chakra.
3. The Sixth Chakra
A chakra is an energy center. They run down the human body in a straight line along your spine. The highest chakra is the crown at the top of your head while the lowest is your base or root chakra located on your tailbone. When you’re sitting in lotus position to meditate, they stretch down your body in their various colors, and keeping them aligned is your key target.
The color of your 3rd eye is indigo, which is a mix of red and blue that leans heavily toward blue – as opposed to violet, which has more red than blue. For reference, purple has equal amounts of red and blue. Your 3rd eye, as its name suggests, helps you see things that your physical eyes can’t. It can help you access portals and other planes so it’s a centre of focus.
4. The Central Point of Intuition
When you meditate or do energy work, your crown chakra accesses the higher planes. That’s where divine energy enters your body. It’s also where your soul leaves your body when you’re doing astral travel. This makes the ajna a point of translation. It transmutes divine energy to mortal form, so it helps you understand ethereal concepts in human terms. Here’s a sample.
Suppose you get a heavenly vision through your crown. Your 3rd eye helps you break it down for the material plane, then your throat chakra allows you to communicate the message to others. You’ll often hear about gut instincts, but the true point of intuition is your ajna. It adds to your physical senses e.g. touch, smell, hearing, etc. by adding an extra sensory layer.
5. The Ideal Grounding Location
Because the 3rd eye is such a focal point, it’s the perfect primer for meditation. Whether you chant or breathe, you can pivot your awareness on your ajna. This helps you block out any physical distractions or carnal desires. It fast-tracks you into a spiritual state by separating you from your body. You can then enter the spiritual dimension to manifest your thoughts.
Beginners are advised to sit comfortably, close their eyes, and focus on their ajna. Slowly breathe in and out. You can sit in lotus position or use a chair with your back straight and your bare feet on the floor to connect you to the earth. This can turn your body into a portal to the spiritual realm. It can also calm you during a panic attack or an anxious life experience.
6. An Important Tool for Manifestation
The simplest way to explain manifestation is to act as if, meaning you behave as though you already have the thing you’re manifesting. This isn’t the same as fake it ‘til you make it, since that involves pretending. To act as if means – for example – that if you’re manifesting wealth you should be generous, share what you have, and give charity as if you have plenty already.
This signals the spirit of abundance rather than the scarcity mentality and invites more good vibes. You should visualize yourself in the house of your dreams, with a bulky bank account, or with your life partner. The 3rd eye helps you do this because it shows you these visions in your mind’s eye then taps into the divine energy from your crown to materialize them fast.
7. A Warning About Death
You may have heard that pets can sense when a person is about to die. Similarly, people who work at hospices, hospitals, or elder care can often tell when someone is about to pass away so they call their friends and family to say goodbye. Other people are often creeped out by this and the cynics among us may even accuse such a person of foul play or causing death.
In reality, these folk have a strong 3rd eye. Since the ajna connects the mortal plant to the physical one by forming a link between the crown and the throat, the Ajna is sensitive to the exit and entry of divine energy. And as we said, people leave their bodies through the crown. So when someone is about to cross over, the ajna vibrates as a subconscious omen of death.
8. A Call to Open-Mindedness
Humans can be terribly judgemental. We segregate ourselves through class, gender, race, ethnicity, and lots of other qualities that are skin-deep. We perceive a person’s outer shell and develop preconceptions that influence how we treat them. But the 3rd eye sees beyond the body into the soul that’s inside. It understands that good and bad actions are symbolic.
In this way, meditating on your ajna can help you get along with people better, find inner peace, and be more accepting of people’s behavior. You stop discriminating people since you can see that everyone is battling their own demons and the things they do to you aren’t necessarily malicious or targeted. They’re just trying to get by and achieve their own goals.
9. Distinguishing Joy, Pleasure, Sadness, and Despair
As the connector between the crown (for your higher self) and the throat (for your lower self) the 3rd eye shows you the difference between transience and permanence. You can tell which things belong to the body and will eventually pass away, and you understand the elements of the spiritual plane that last forever. You can tell the difference between happiness and joy.
Joy here is an all-encompassing spiritual sense of well-being while happiness is transitory. It comes and goes. Similarly, you know what’s temporary grief and what is the soul-crushing despair that can make people hurt others and even take their lives. This gives you a clearer point of view when you make decisions. You can focus on the end-game instead of trivialties.
10. Achieving a Zen State
Human beings have a hard time in life because we are led by our bodies and influenced by our surroundings. Our moods are constantly shifting due to hormones, interactions with others, or even getting out of bed on the wrong side. The spiritual 3rd eye meaning is to help you dodge all these factors and stay detached and neutral. You’ll achieve that Buddhist zen.
Since you can see beneath the surface and open your mind, pun intended, the little things of life won’t get to you. Your Ajna heightens your awareness and strengthens your intuition so you can see people’s hidden motivations, even when they don’t know why they’re doing it. And this sense of gentle acceptance and non-judgment helps you go through life in peace.
11. Leaning Toward the Positive
People with activated ajnas are rarely destructive. You see the divinity in everyone, and you address their spiritual being instead of their physical one. You also attain a sense of mastery and self-control that overpowers your base nature. This means your instinctive response is to help and nurture those around you, even when they’re being cruel. You’ll turn the other cheek.
You’re also less likely to be triggered or provoked since you respond to stimuli instead of reacting. It’s almost like your ajna slows time, lets you step out of your body, and take a top view of the situation. You see both the mortal and ethereal sides of things so you have more autonomy. So the next time you sense road rage building, breathe and tap into your 3rd eye.
