Muladhara is the root centre of physical experience, located at the base of the spine, the sacral plexus.

The square represents the earth itself, the four dimensions and the four directions. Four allows for completion, and earth embodies the elements and conditions for human completion on all levels.

Muladhara Chakra is the meeting place of the three main nadis: Ida, Pingala and Sushumna. The downward-pointing triangle indicates the downward movement of energy and the three main nadis.

The seed mantra is Lam, the yellow square represents the earth element. The Muladhara chakra governs the vital breath Apana. An inverted triangle in the centre of the square encloses the unmanifest Kundalini, represented as a snake wrapped in three and a half coils around the svayambhu (self born) linga. Because her mouth faces downward, the flow of energy is downward.

The opening at the entrance of the sushumna is called brahma-dvara, the door of Brahma, which is closed by the coils of the sleeping Kundalini. As soon as one begins working with Muladhara chakra, this dormant energy awakens, raises its head and flows freely into the channel of Sushumna, the central nerve canal that runs along the spine. These two aspects of the kundalini: sleeping and waking, are identified as her “poison” and her “nectar.” The kundalini is poison when she remains asleep in the lower abdomen; she is nectar when she rises up through Sushumna, the medial channel, to reunite with Siva, the Absolute, in the yogin’s cranial vault.

In the pericarp is found the presiding deity Brahma, the lord of creation. His skin is the color of wheat, he wears a yellow dhoti and a green scarf. Brahma is four-faced, four-armed, holding in his upper left hand a lotus flower, the symbol of purity.

In his second left hand he holds the sacred scriptures. In one right hand he has a vase containing nectar, this is amrita the precious fluid of vital potency. The fourth hand is in Abhaya mudra, the gesture of dispelling fear.

The chakra’s associated animal is Ganesha, the elephant headed god. Ganesha is the lord of all beginnings and is invoked to bestow protection over all undertakings. His skin is coral orange. He wears a dhoti of lemon yellow color. A green silk scarf drapes his shoulders. He has four arms to serve him while he acts as the destroyer of obstacles. Ganesha is the son of shiva and parvati. He holds a fragrant ladu, a lotus flower, a hatchet. The fourth hand is raised in the mudra of dispelling fear.

The energy, or shakti, of Brahma is called Dakini. She is in shining pink with four arms holding a skull, a sword, a shield and a trident symbolizing the forces of the creator, the preserver and the destroyer.