Yantra As Meditation

Notes from Yantra The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity

Yantra meditation produces an active mental state and induces receptivity to symbolic revelations. Yantra
meditation proper begins when the yogi has mastered the traditional bodily diciplines, such as energizing of
the body by means of sana and regulating the breathing through pranyama.
Since man, the microcosm, and the universe, the microcosm, are integrally related, there are fundamental
affinities between the cosmic scheme, the subtle or psychic body, and the yantra. Hence it is important to
view these yantras as symbols of the integrated psycho-cosmos.
In most yantras for meditation, the progressive stages from material or gross to subtle are well market.
Closed concentric circuits, maalas of various geometric shapes, correspond to the planes of the sdhakas
consciousness. Each enclosure is an ascent of ones being, a way-station, a plateau towards the sanctum
sanctorum
The bindu at the center of a yantra is a fusion of all directions and of all levels, a point of termination where
ALL IS. From the gates which are his own subconscious forces, the yogi has pass through the circuits to be
reunited with the permanent element of the universe. The ultimate state of union is achieved when he
experiences the out-petalling of the soul-flower, the thousand-petalled lotus, rising at the crown of the head.
This awareness, free from mental fluxuations, is a perfect merging of symbol and psyche called samdhi,
The sequence of meditation that maps the r Yantra is the Bhvanopaniad. The spiritual journey is taken
as a pilgrimage in which every step is an ascent to the center. r Yantra has nine circuits or stages:
1. Trailokyamohana cakra - Enchants the three worlds

2. Sarvaparipuraka cakra Fulfills all expectations

3. Sarvaakshobaa cakra Agitates all

4. Sarvasaubhgyadyaka cakra Grants excellence

5. Sarvarthasdaka cakra Accomplisher of all

6. Sarvarakkara cakra Protects all

7. Sarvarogahara cakra Cures all ills

8. Sarvasiddhiprada cakra Grants all perfection

9. Sarvnandamaya cakra Replete with bliss

At the center of the yantra is the goddess Kundalini coiled around a linga within a downward pointing yoni
triangle. This rests on the two intersecting triangles placed over two intersecting squares, which represents
the union of Kundalini Shakti with her Shiva. On the eight lotus petals are the seven chakras, and the yantra
of Shiva and Shakti in union.

Yantra

Subtle Body
Cakra

Petals
Color

Element
or Property

Sahasrra
Crown

1000
All

Bliss
(Atman)
Satchidananda

(Om)

Paramaiva Satyaloka

ja
Third Eye

2
Violet

Manas
Mind

Mahat

Om

ambhu
Hkin

Viuddha
Throat

16
Blue

Space
Hearing

K-Ears
A-Mouth

Ham
Sadiva
White Elephant kin

Janaloka

Anahta
Heart

12
Green

Air
Touch

K-Skin
A-Genitals

Yam
Antelope

Ia
Kkin

Mahatloka

Maipra
Navel

10
Yellow

Fire
Sight

K-Eyes
A-Anus

Ram
Ram

Rudra
Lkin

Svarloka

Svdhistna 6
Sexual organ Orange

Water
Taste

K-Tongue
A-Hands

Vam
Mkara

Viu
Rkin

Bhuvarloka

Mldhra
Perineum

Earth
Smell

K-Nose
A-Feet

Lam
Brahma
Black Elephant Dkin

4
Red

K = Organs of knowledge

Tattva

A = Organs of action
r Yantra
With its correct colors

Seed Mantra Deity and

and Animal Goddess

Plane

Tapoloka

Bhurloka

Each layer of the yantra is related to the various elements that veil us from our true nature the elements,
sense organs and their respective consciousnesses, the different types of pras and ns in the subtle body,
the various aspects of the mind, the emotions, the letters of the alphabet which create the ideas and form
within our experience, the various related gods and goddess, from the grossest level to the most subtle. The
last innermost triangle represents the goddess Tripura, meaning the fullness of three. She is all the sacred
triads: creation (si), preservation (stithi) and dissolution (laya); Brahma, Viu and iva; masculine,
feminine and neuter; father, mother, and child; the past, present and future; waking (jgrat), dreaming
(svapna), sleeping (suupthi); moon (soma), sun (srya), and fire (agni); the powers of will (icch akti),
knowledge (jnna akti), and action (kriy akti); omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence; the three
qualities of tranquility and purity (sattva), agitation and activity (rajas), and darkness and inertia (tamas); the
right channel (pigala), the left channel (i), and the middle channel (suum); the knower (jtra), the
knowledge (jna), and the known (jeya).
Cit-kua Yantra with the yoni emblem, the seat of bliss, in the center.
The four points of the square represent the four aspects of ones psyche;
the pure self (tman), the inner self (antartman), the cognizing self (nantman),
the supreme self (paramtman). These constitute the vessel or ones inner stream of consciousness
(cit-kua) into which is offered all aspects of ones being in the meditation of inward oblation.

The ninth cakra is the called Sarvnandamayacakra, the supremely blissful. It is the bindu, the central
dimensionless point, the symbol of final release, the summit of reality, the innermost center of
consciousness. All the other elements besides the bindu are the expansion or manifestation of the bindus
aspects. It is independent of the intersecting triangles. Here there is no shape or form; all is immersed in the
void. Where the outer life ends, the inner life begins. This is the sanctum sanctorum, with all the other
geometric enclosures representing various parts of the temple as you move inwards.
The bindu represents par, the primordial sound (nada) of the universe. The bindu emits vibrations,
symbolized by the mantra Om. They are pure rays of light and sound, and these combine in infinite ways to
create everything we know. The first triangle represents payant, the second stage of the nada. The next
state, the eight-sided figure is the madhyama, is the third stage in the development of sound. The rest of the
yantra represents the physical stage, vaikhar, which is the manifest and articulate form of sound. The
vaikhari form is represented by the fifty letters of the alphabet, called matk, meaning little mothers, as
they create everything we perceive. The i Cakra is a matrix, the mother goddess who is the universe. The
practitioner has to identify this in his body, for his body is the i Cakra, the epitome of the universe. The
nine levels of the yantra separate man from his primordial wholeness. And conversely, they are the nine
steps that can lead him through the matrix to illumination, and his body itself becomes the yantra.

The Body Yantra: Kualin Dhyna

In the tantras, the human body is considered the most perfect and powerful of all yantras. The body is
cosmicized, treated as a tool for inner awareness through yogic practices, awakening consciousness and
activating its subtle energies. In the g Veda, the world comes into existence from the bodily parts of the
Cosmic Person (purua). The sun came out of his eyes, the moon from his mind, Indra and Agni from his
mouth, the wind from his breath, air from his navel, sky from his head, earth from his feet Then those
elements go into making the individual person. The Aitareya: Fire became speech and entered in the
mouth of the individual, mind became breath and entered his nose, the sun became sight in his eyes, the
quarter of heaven hearing in his ears, plants and trees hears in his skin, moon, mind in his heart.
In the tantras, the relationship of man and cosmos has been reversed, and man himself has become the
cosmos. He and his body have been exalted as a tool of unlimited power, condensing the entire universe.
In your body is Mount Meru
Encircled by the seven continents;
The rivers are there too,
The seas, the mountains, the plains,
And the gods of the fields.
Prophets are to be seen in it, monks,
Places of pilgrimage
And the deities presiding over them,
The starts are there, and the planets,
And the sun together with the moon;
There too are the two cosmic forces:
That which destroys, that which creates:
And all the elements: ether
Air and fire, water and earth.
Yes, in your body are all things
That exist in the three worlds,
All performing their prescribed functions
Around Mount Meru:
He alone who knows this
Is held to be a true yogi.
Subtle Body Cakras
To show the mutual correspondences of the body and the cosmos, tantra has created a system of psychic
nexuses in which the infinite world time and space are seen reflected in the mind-body structure of man.

The cosmos consists of seven ascending planes of existence, mirrored in the psychic vortices as invisible
yantras in the human body.
These seven points of power in the subtle body are meditated on as yantras in kualin yoga. They are
visualized as wheels or lotuses inside of which are geometric figures, with various symbolic associations
that relate to the powers inherent in that area of the body. They ascend the spine, and represent the journey
of kualin akti, which lied dormant at the base of the spine. The energy of kualin is the energy of the
entire universe, and once aroused through meditation and other yogic practices, it travels upward to unite
with the sahasrra cakra at the crown. Each of the cakras represents the stages of yogic practice, and
provide the mechanism through which the practitioner works out his or her psychic synthesis with the
cosmos.
In addition to the cakras, there is a vast network of subtle channels and energy within the subtle body. The
left channel (i) and the right channel (pigala) represent cosmic duality, and suum is the middle way,
unity. Kualin yoga uses pra to awaken the dormant power of consciousness lying at the root cakra and
to cause it to rise up the suum, energizing the seven cakras. Each cakra and its material elements get
absorbed one into another on the energies upward path. Once it has reached the crown, its course is then
reversed to travel back down to the root cakra. In this way, union between the kualin of the macrocosm
and the microcosm is achieved.
This is done through inversion, reversing the individual from a chaotic outward flow of constant change, to
an inward state of rest. The Nth yogis consider that the part of the body above the navel is tranquil,
personified by iva who lies in the sahasrra cakra, and below the navel is dynamic, personified by akti,
who lies in the mldhra cakra. The union of iva and akti means the arresting of the process of constant
becoming. All energies involute back to the primal source. In this process, the grosser elements of the
subtle body dissolve into the more subtle elements: earth in the root cakra dissolves into the water of the
sexual cakra, the water dissolves into the fire of the navel cakra, the fire dissolves into the air of the heart
cakra, the air dissolves into the space element of the throat cakra, space dissolves into the wisdom of the
eyebrow cakra, which merges into great Brahman at the saharra cakra.
The cakras of the subtle body relate to the nine circuits of the i Yantra as follows:

The i Yantra also has a three-dimensional form,

which is known as Mount Meru, the mythical axis of the earth.

The seven cakras of the subtle body correspond to the seven circuits of the yantra,
whose subtle energies are interiorized in meditation.

The three elevations of the r Yantra (pyramid),

and the three corresponding planes of the body-cosmos (figure).

The nine circuits are divided into three elevations, which correspond to the three cakras containing the liga
mark. These are where the knots (granthi) lie, places that have tied up energies related to desire that must be
overcome in the yogic process. One is at the root cakra, one at the heart, and one at the eyebrows.

Internal Yantras
Meditation on the yantra takes the most subtle form of all when it consists of inner illumination, a method of
meditation without any yogic, ritual, or visual aids. Only internal yantras composed of simple graphic
symbols are meditated on. All the ritual offerings made in the external form of worship are spontaneously
present in the interior form, and it is for this reason that in many texts the contemplative experience is called
mental oblation (antaryaja). Yaja means fire pj, where various substances are offered into the fire,
into the mouth of Agni, the Vedic fire god, where they are transformed into smoke that rises up to the
heavens as offerings to the gods. This establishes a harmonious relationship between people and the gods,
and as usual in gift giving, it causes a feeling of wanting to do something in return, so the puja creates
auspiciousness in the lives of the participants and in the environment.
In the Kaulvalniraya, the practitioner meditations on the visualization of the bindu yantra pictured
above. The square symbolizes the vessel of consciousness (cit-kua) in which burns the fire of
consciousness, and into this symbolic fire the practitioner surrenders all his mental offerings. First the
impulses are offered, then the senses, then the selfhood, then the actions, both good and bad, and finally
the entire inner-outer self, which is none other than the thirty six cosmic principles (tattva) which
composes the universe. Through this unconditional surrender, the adept dissolves every bond with outer
life. This mental offering of ones entire being is the prelude to a new birth.
The practitioner then apprehends the true nature of the absolute principle as emptiness, the
undifferentiated ultimate ground of reality. He or she becomes indistinguishable from the vessel into
which the symbolic oblations are offered. In the final state, the entire being is perfectly united with the
cosmos. Bhagavad Gt:
The act of offering is Brahman
The butter offered is Brahman
The fire is Brahman
The one who offers is Brahman
Surely Brahman is attained by the one
Who is completely absorbed in the action of Brahman
From the Kaulvalniraya:

Into the fire of consciousness

In the navel center, kindled with knowledge,
I offer as oblation the impulses of the senses
Using the mind as sacrificial ladle, svh.

I offer functions of the senses,

As oblation into the fire which is tman,
Fed by righteousness and unrighteousness like ghee
Which the mind as ladle held by the handle, which is the path of the sushumn, svh.
I offer all acts good and bad as
Oblation into the all-pervading fire, fed by time.
The two hands with which I hold the ladle are iva and akti,
The ladle of the offering is consciousness (unmai), svh.

I offer as oblation this universe of thirty-six principles,

The first, which is iva, and the last earth
Into the fire of consciousness which though fuelless
Is constantly burning within, from which emanates
Rays of wondrous light which purify
Though obscured by the darkness of ignorance (my), svh.
The Bindu Experience
The culmination of yantra meditation is reached when the practitioner begins to internalize the bindu in the
yantra as an inner still center by contemplating a visualized point in his or her subtle body. The experience
of the bindu marks the end of spiritual involution.
The bindu state is unique. It implies the practitioners awareness of his or her wholeness, spontaneously
discovered through inward illumination. All the outward energies of the ego are brought together to an
inward state of rest and unity by the ultimate realization of tman. Neutrality of the senses has superseded
the creative play of My akti. He or she is now a silent seer, no longer attached to the world of
phenomena. The practitioner has transcended duality, achieving an ideal mid-point, equanimous in all
situations. But this is not the end; the bindu state must also be transcended, beyond the point to emptiness,
the primordial fullness. This high state of absorption (samdhi) is not susceptible to any verbal analysis. It
is contemplated in absolute silence. Once this has happened, what is there to seek? All external aids such as
yantras and mantras have become shadows. In the most advanced form of internal meditation, when
supreme bliss has been reached, even the inner yantras are regarded as obsolete, serving no spiritual
purpose.
In the early stages of meditation, the yantra is considered as an archetype of the noumenon1, whereas the
practitioner is part of phenomenal existence. When the sought-out realization is achieved, the yantra
becomes a part of the phenomena, and the practitioner an aspect of the noumena.

The noumenon is a posited object or event that is known without the use of the senses. In Kantian philosophy, the
unknowable noumenon is often linked to the unknowable "thing-in-itself."