Praanapratisthaa: Infusing vital energy into the Yantra

You are already fully prepared for starting the sacred Yantra. As I said previously, the Yantra is a machine of meditation. You will use the Shrii Yantra now, which has already been placed over its seat and duly purified by you through Yantrapuujaa. There are various methods to start the machine, but the important point is that you must be entirely conscious of your own Self or Shivá in order to start the Yantra properly. The preparations you did have been a way to make sure that you will be absolutely engrossed in the identification with Shivá at the moment of the starting. If your mind roams and your ego is worried about some trivialities --as usual-- at that moment, you will fail to start the Shrii Yantra, and so the subsequent ritual will be of no use.
Even though there are several appropriate methods, as I said, you will use this one now: "Take a flower, and exhale some air over it while mentally repeating Om (or any other auspicious Mántra) five times. Your mind must be completely onepointed on the inner Witness or Shivá as the mental Jápa goes on. Then, place that flower on the center of the Yantra". This is the simple external ceremony to activate the machine of meditation.
As I said before, the Yantra is not started by the energized flower but by force of your self-consciousness at the moment you perform the external ceremony. Specially, you must be completely concentrated when you put the flower on the center of the Yantra because when you do that what you are really doing is becoming conscious of your own Self or Shivá (the inner Witness), who is the Center of all. The external rite must be always accompanied by a concordant internal consciousness. If you mind is not there, your performance of the external ritual is practically useless. The same truth may be applied to any yogic practice (e.g. if you perform a Mudraa with your fingers and at the same time your mind is roaming about worldly affairs, you are only holding bones).
The term "pratisthaa" means "setting up" in this context, and the meaning of the word "praaná" is "vital energy". Thus, the Praanapratisthaa ceremony is a "setting up of the vital energy". Praaná is contained in the air that is exhaled over the flower. Then, that flower which has been filled with vital energy is placed on the center of the Yantra. As a matter of fact, this act is merely a symbol of an internal process in which your mind becomes onepointed on the inner Self (Shivá), as I explained above. This realization of your own divinity, if performed adequately, puts the Yantric machine into motion. When the Yantra is properly started, you can rest assured that the Yajñá is on the right track.
By means of Praanapratisthaa, the seed of of a Higher Consciousness is sown. As the ritual goes on, that seed will begin growing into the Divine Creeper which grants the desired fruit. Let the desired fruit be the achievement of Moksa or Final Emancipation!

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