Ritual

Siva-linga in yoni-pedestal, the
union of male and female organs
symbolizing cosmic totality.
Banaras, 19th century. Stone.
150
humming of bees, or the sound of a flute, or the adept may sit in a
natural environment and concentrate on an imagined sound.
An inner meditative experience through visualization of a
divine image is another method practised by the tantrikas. The
technique of visualization normally involves withdrawing the
energy flowing through the conscious function and directing it
inwards. When this happens our inner vision projects an image on
a mental screen, and we see and experience that form on the surface
of the mind. Such visions are neither pathological fantasies nor
dreams. In a dream one sees several images arising from the
unconscious mind; visualization differs from a dream in that it is
self-induced, even though it uses a picture-language similar to a
dream's; it is nearer to consciousness. Visualization is performed in
a meditative or solitary place, and the adept, with eyes closed,
mentally constructs an image of the chosen deity. What is
projected by deliberate effort on the inner screen of the mind is not
a personal construct but an iconographic imprint, based on
elaborate descriptions found in the traditional texts. The
visualization is strictly pursued, following the canonical imagery,
and each part of the deity's body and its symbols are highly
dramatized to regulate the creative imagination of the adept. The
adept is like a craftsman weaving together the threads of a
canonical archetype, or a sculptor building a minutely-detailed
mental image. The created mental image should not be disturbed
by inner restlessness or thought since visualization is followed by
identification. The adept concentrates very deeply on each aspect
of the divinity, imagining that he is slowly being transformed into
it. This exercise demands an active play of creative imagination.
The common thread uniting all meditative techniques is that
meditation takes the adept to a centre of his own psychic forces by
gathering up his variously directed energy into a nucleus. In this
way the aids become 'bridges' along the path of sadhana. There are
two major effects of meditation: 'centering' and, the other which
follows as a consequence of it, the experience of an altered state
is necessarily arational and intuitive in experience and content.
The basic function of all techniques is to heighten the influx of
intuitive insight, and that is why these techniques have recourse to
mediums which involve each of our senses: sound through
mantra; touch through mudras, nyasas, asanas; smell and breath
through pranayama; the mind through meditation, concentration,
visualization. Each of these involves a basic sensitivity, and in
combination they trigger an altered state so that the intuitive side
of our consciousness finds its fullest play.