Philosophy · reviewed by a teacher
The third eye, or ajna
In yoga the third eye is ajna, the sixth of the seven chakras in the modern system, pictured at the point between the eyebrows as a lotus with two petals. It is a symbol of insight and inner seeing in Hindu and Buddhist art, not a physical organ or something a practice can switch on.
Teacher's note from Joahnna Lee
“I make no claims that it can be opened, activated or used to perceive anything.”
The idea
The third eye is a picture of seeing beyond what the two physical eyes can see. In yoga it has a precise place and a Sanskrit name: ajna, the point between the eyebrows, where many traditions place insight and clear judgement.
This page treats it as tradition and symbol. It makes no claim that the third eye can be opened, activated or used to perceive anything. What it does set out is where the idea comes from, how it appears in art and texts, and how the point between the eyebrows turns up in practice today. In a quiet, propped Yin practice, the forehead often rests on a block at exactly that point.
Ajna in the chakra texts
Ajna belongs to the system of subtle centres described in medieval tantric and hatha texts and set out on the page about the seven chakras. In the system most people know today, it is the sixth, above the throat centre and below the crown. The texts picture it as a lotus with two petals, associated with the syllable om, and describe it as the place where the mind is steadied and where, in their language, the guidance of a teacher is received.
Earlier texts counted and placed the centres in different ways, and the seven-chakra map familiar in studios owes much to a sixteenth-century text and to its English translation in 1919. So it is fair to say that ajna is a traditional image with a history, not a fixed anatomical fact.
The third eye in Hindu and Buddhist art
The most famous third eye in Hindu art belongs to Shiva, who is shown with a vertical eye in the middle of the forehead. In one well-known story, he opens it and burns Kama, the god of desire, to ash. The eye stands for a sight that cuts through illusion.
The mark many people wear on the forehead, the bindi or tilaka, sits on the same spot. Its meaning varies widely with region and community, and for many wearers it is an everyday or religious custom rather than a statement about chakras.
Buddhist art has its own mark here. The urna, a small curl or dot between the Buddha’s eyebrows, is one of the traditional physical signs of a great being, and in sculpture it is often set with a jewel. In some Mahayana scriptures, light shines from it to show the assembled listeners distant worlds.
The pineal gland link
In the seventeenth century the philosopher Descartes called the pineal gland, a small gland deep in the brain, the seat of the soul. Much later, Theosophical writers connected it with the third eye, and the idea is now common online. It is not found in the classical yoga texts. The pineal gland releases melatonin, which helps set the sleep cycle, and there is no evidence that it sees or can be awakened by practice.
How it shows up in practice
Several practices use the point between the eyebrows. In Child’s Pose the forehead often rests on the floor or a block right at that spot. Some meditation and breathing practices ask you to rest the attention there, and an eyebrow-centre gaze appears in older hatha texts and in Kundalini Yoga classes. A teacher may say “relax the space between your eyebrows” simply because people frown when they concentrate.
A practical use for the brow point
In a class the forehead point is practical. A yoga block under the forehead in a forward fold or in Child’s Pose often lets the neck and jaw let go, and a cue to soften the brow is one of the simplest ways to notice tension you did not know you were holding. As a symbol, it is worth understanding as above, without expecting it to deliver anything it cannot.
Other words on this page are explained in the Sanskrit yoga glossary.
Questions
What does ajna mean?
Ajna is usually translated as command or authority, and sometimes as perception. In the texts that describe the chakras, it is the centre from which a teacher's instruction is received, which is one reason it is linked with insight.
Is the third eye the pineal gland?
That link is modern. The pineal gland is a small gland in the brain that releases melatonin, the hormone of the sleep cycle. Writers from the nineteenth century onward connected it with the third eye, but the classical yoga texts do not, and there is no evidence that it perceives anything.
Why do people wear a dot between the eyebrows?
The bindi or tilaka has many meanings in South Asia, depending on the region, the community and the occasion. For many wearers it is religious, for others it marks marriage or is simply worn as decoration. It is linked with the ajna point, but it is a cultural practice in its own right.