The Seed of the Root Centre

Lam is the seed syllable (bija mantra) assigned to muladhara, the root chakra located at the base of the spine, in the chakra system of tantric and hatha yoga. In this scheme each of the principal centres has a governing element, a lotus of a fixed number of petals, and a seed sound used to meditate upon it; muladhara, the foundation, is associated with the element earth and with a four-petalled lotus, and Lam is the sound by which the meditator concentrates upon and is held to activate it. Such seed syllables are not words with a meaning to be translated but sounds treated as the sonic essence of the centre and its element, employed in visualisation and inward recitation as the practitioner works with the subtle body. The particular assignments belong to a medieval tantric tradition systematised in later yoga texts, and Lam holds the same place across the versions of the system in common use.