Anahata, the heart chakra, has twelve vermillion petals. The Yantra in the centre of the chakra is composed of two overlapping, intersecting triangles. One triangle, facing upward symbolizes Shiva, the male principle. The other triangle, facing downward, symbolizes Shakti, the female principle. A balance is attained when these two forces are joined in harmony.

The seed mantra is Yam and the vital breath is Prana. The presiding deity is Ishana Rudra Shiva. He has a camphor-blue skin, he is two-armed. The nature of Ishana is peaceful and beneficent. He holds the trident in his right hand and a damaru drum in his left. The holy Ganga (river Ganges) flowing from his hairlocks is a cooling and purifying stream of self-knowledge: the knowledge that “I am That”. The snakes coiled around his body are the passions, which he has tamed.

His energy is Kakini Shakti, her skin is rose-colored. Her sari is sky-blue and she is seated upon a pink lotus. In her four hands Kakini Shakti holds the implements necessary for one to attain balance: the sword, the shield, the skull and the trident symbolizing the balance of the three forces of preservation, creation and destruction.

It is in Anahata chakra that Kundalini Shakti appears for the first time as a beautiful goddess. She sits in lotus posture within a triangle. The triangle is pointing upward, showing the tendency of Shakti to move upward and carry the aspirant into the higher planes of existence. Dressed in a white sari, Kundalini Shakti is serene and centered within herself. She is the virgin mother and is synonymous with Shakti, selfless spiritual devotion. No longer is she personified as a destructive serpentine force, as is typified by the first chakra. Kundalini Shakti now becomes a goddess and one may communicate with her, the upward-moving energy.

She is no longer coiled around the lingam, but sits independently in a yogic posture. She embodies anahata nada, the cosmic sound, which is present everywhere and is known as “white noise”. This sound begins in the heart as AUM, the seed of all sounds.

Behind Kundalini Shakti stands a lingam in which Rudra Shiva appears as Sadashiva (sada: “eternal”, shiva: “benefactor”). He is Shabda Brahma, or the eternal Logos. As such he is Omkara, the combination of the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas, which are represented by the sounds A, U, and M, respectively, combining to form the sacred syllable AUM or OM.

He stands with a trident, symbolic of the three gunas. This shivalingam is the second lingam in the body, and is known as Bana (arrow) Lingam, the first being the Svayambhu Lingam of the first chakra, around which the Kundalini serpent is wrapped. The lingam of Anahata chakra is synonymous with conscience.

The chakra’s associated animal is the black antelope or gazelle, symbolizing the lightness of physical substance.