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Culture Documents
Preceding
image
:
The
Hindu
cosmographic
form,
the
Sri
Yantra.
A
yantra
is
a
Hindu
geometric
and
cosmographic
form,
a
construct
depicting
the
character
of
the
cosmos,
of
which
the
Sri
Yantra
is
one
example.
Other
versions
of
the
Sri
Yantra
could
have
other
colours
or
none,
but
the
structure
is
always
the
same.
The
Sri
Yantra
may
be
seen
as
evoking
the
relationship
between
the
various
aspects
of
human
consciousness,
the
expression
of
ultimate,
divine
consciousness
and
the
relationship
between
human
and
ultimate
consciousness.
The
Sri
Yantra
is
particularly
closely
aligned
with
Srividya,
a
school
of
Hinduism
intimately
affiliated
with
the
school
of
Kashmir
Saivism
to
which
the
Siva
Sutras
discussed
below
belong.
I
would
like
to
share
my
fascination
with
an
exquisite
piece
of
writing
by
Paul
Muller-Ortega
on
relationships
between
dreaming
and
various
states
of
consciousness.
What
is
the
scope
of
possibilities
represented
by
the
mysterious
experience
of
dreams?
These
run
from
jumbled
mixing
of
experience
to
insights
into
the
future,
among
the
more
conventional
range
of
reports
of
dreams.
Muller-Ortega
presents
another
perspective
on
dreaming,
an
unconventional
one,
in
which,
through
dreaming,
one
may
enter
into
an
appreciation
of
ultimate
reality,
the
underlying
character
of
existence.
Here
is
how
he
puts
it-
"For
most
of
us,
to
dream
is
to
partake
of
the
evanescent,
to
float
nightly
in
images
of
unreality,
shards
of
memory,
bizarre
and
frightening
episodes
that
may
yield
without
warning
to
beautiful
and
alluring
scenes.
...
The
ordinary
dreamer
withdraws
from
the
outer
world
coiled
into
the
oblivion
of
sleep.
In
the
dream,
the
dreamer
is
completely
self-
enclosed
and
thus
capable
of
creating
whole,
if
temporary,
worlds
of
experience."
He
goes
on
to
state
that-
"The
dreamer's
posture
of
self
enclosure
precisely
parallels
the
self
reflexive
stance
of
the
absolute
consciousness".
Self
reflexivity
is
a
sensitivity
to
one's
own
consciousness,
used
in
this
case
with
reference
to
the
idea
of
a
consciousness
that
underlies
existence.
Muller-Ortega
narrates
the
story
of
the
Indian
sage
Vasugupta,
9th
century
C.E.,
who
is
described
as
experiencing
in
his
dream
an
understanding
of
the
manner
in
which
this
absolute
consciousness
sees
itself.
Vasugupta
presents
this
insight
in
a
sequence
of
aphorisms
known
as
the
Siva
Sutras
or
the
Aphorisms
of
Siva
because
they
describe
the
absolute
consciousness
in
terms
of
the
Hindu
God,
Shiva.
A
quality
of
Asian
thought
I
find
remarkable
is
the
movement
between
anthropomorphic
depiction
and
conceptual
abstraction.
This
is
demonstrated
in
the
description
of
the
deity
Shiva
in
the
Siva
Sutras
in
terms
of
sublime
and
paradoxical
ideas
about
consciousness
and
cosmic
development.
Muller
-Ortega
presents
one
of
these
in
his
description
of
the
first
of
the
aphorisms
which
he
states
may
be
translated
as
Consciousness-
Self.
I
love
this.
Focus
your
attention
for
on
your
awareness.
Observe
your
awareness
of
yourself,
of
your
mind,
of
your
body
and
of
the
world
beyond
your
body.