the Yantra God

The Meaning of the Yantra

Integral
Yoga^® is a complete Yoga, and the Integral
Yoga yantra is also complete. It is a representation of the entire cosmos.

Sometimes
external images are used in meditation or worship to symbolize or express
certain divine ideas and qualities. When mantras (sound formulas used in
meditation) or divine ideas are meditated upon, certain images are brought out.
It is something like liquid crystallizing into solid form. These geometric
figures are actually crystallized mantra forms. A yantra is a physical
expression of a mantra - a mantra being a Divine aspect in the form of sound
vibration - yantra in the form of a geometrical figure.

In simple
language, as I said before, our Integral Yoga yantra represents the entire
creation. Each part of the yantra corresponds to a different aspect of the
cosmos. According to yogic thinking, God or the Cosmic Consciousness, is
originally unmanifest - just by Himself or Herself or Itself. As God begins to
manifest, the first expression is as the sound vibration. The Bible explains it
by saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." Here "word" means sound.

In
Sanskrit they say something similar but take it a step further. "Nada, bindhu,
kalaa" - the sound, then the dot, then the art or rays. If God manifests as
sound, you can't see anything. What is the smallest expression which you could
see? The bindhu or dot. It should be the smallest possible particle. But, of
course, if it is that small we can't see it, so in the yantra it is shown as a
large dot in the very center. The bindhu represents the first physical
expression, the very core of the cosmos. It is that dot which then expresses as
kalaa. Kalaa means the different aspects or literally the different rays or
different arts.

The next
expressions are the three rings of different hues surrounding the bindhu. They
represent the three gunas or basic qualities of nature: sattva
(balance, rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia). In the yogic
thinking, everything in this universe manifests uniquely because it results from
a unique combination of these three. All differences in the phenomenal world are
due to the variations of these three basic qualities.

Then you
see the hexagon around the three rings. This can be very well explained with an
example from science. If you take a photograph of a crystal, you will see that
its normal shape is six-sided. That's why the yantra has the six triangles
around the center. It means that the first speck of matter expresses itself as
more complex matter like a crystal.

The six
triangles are actually a combination of two larger triangles, one pointed down,
the other up. As one triangle passes through the other, we get this six-sided
figure. The triangle with apex upward represents the positive, or masculine
aspect; the inverted triangle is the negative, or feminine, aspect. In Sanskrit
this concept is called Siva-Shakti. It is a combination of the male and female,
equally represented. There is no inferiority or superiority for either aspect;
they blend perfectly together. Whichever way you turn the yantra, they remain
the same. So it makes a complete whole, and this itself represents the entire
nirguna (unmanifest) as well as saguna (manifest) aspects of the Supreme.

Once the
triangles come together, the hexagon could then represent something else also:
the six basic Tattvas or principles - the five senses and the mind as the sixth.
The six-sided crystal then manifests outward in further expansions of the
primordial energy and matter. Why and how does this happen? Out of love. So all
the beautiful lotus petals represent the loving manifestation.

Another
way of explaining the petals is that the eight inner petals represent the subtle
elements, while the sixteen outer ones indicate their grosser manifestations.

Then you
see the three large circles surrounding the lotuses. They indicate how these
elements further express as the three worlds: causal, astral and physical. But
even that is not the end. The Divine expression is unlimited. That is why the
circles are framed by a square with gaps pointing outward, representing the
infinity of creation.

Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi.

www.dhyansanjivani.org