Ritual

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currents around the Sushumna, the central subtle nerve, and their contraction and expansion when the Kundalim awakes, are depicted in spiral form. The spiral symbolically projected in the inward odyssey is a microcosmic reflection of cosmic rhythms. At a cursory glance, most symbolic forms in tantra seem hypothetically based images, but it would not be surprising if these spontaneous and authentic signs afford clues to the nature of the universe. Jung cites the striking example of the 19th-century chemist Kekule who owed his scientific discoveries to the sudden pictorial revelation of an age-old symbol of a snake with its tail in its mouth (symbol of the sleeping Kundalini energy) and interpreted it to mean that the structure of benzene was a closed carbon ring, which it is. The stone forms of the ovoid Brahmandas, or Siva-lingas, and spheroid Salagramas symbolize the totality in which the male and female principles are eternally united. In the vast expansiveness captured in a single curve in an oval or a circle, matter is made to yield its intrinsic nature so that the inert becomes alive. There is no flamboyance or associative corruption. Its broad universality of impersonal form and content, and close relation to nature, guarantee to it mass recognition and general acceptance. Tantric imagery reaches its highest level of abstraction in the expression of Pure Consciousness pervading the nuomenal universe. These paintings depict the absolute by a total absence of form, whose spiritual presence is indicated by a saturated coloured field which induces a resonance of the infinite. The 'a-logical immensity' of colour is Sakti's power-field in its pure existence when the cosmic process has reverted to entropy. All forms, shapes, structures have dissolved; only the primordial essence of the exhilarating presence of energy as a reference of the absolute remains. Such paintings also embody the highest ideal of meditative soliloquy and therefore signify the last stage of spiritual realization, often accompanied by an intense perception of the experience of light. Cosmograms Scattered through the annals of tantra are descriptions of the origin of the universe; its various characteristic features have been illustrated on a scale from miniatures to murals. Especially interesting are cosmological and astrological charts, astronomical computations and observations of natural phenomena. These representations are philosophical constructs of a world image and Five-hooded serpent-power enclosing Brahmanda. South India, c. 19th century. Brass and stone. 69
A cosmographical schema showing Jambu-dvipa, the island continent, in the centre with its energy fields and atmospheric zones. Rajasthan, c. 18th century. Gouache on cloth. 70 provide a background to sadhana, concretizing solar and planetary visions: a shimmering gold sun emanating primal flames, stellar orbs or a waning moon, a small central globe placed in concentric atmospheric zones and energy fields. In another series these images culminate in the magnificent conception of the cosmic man, of Purushakara Yantra, whose body is filled with a checkered pattern resembling some of Paul Klee's abstract paintings. Yet more enigmatic than these, and throbbing with pictorial symbols, are the diagrams of Jambu-dvipa, the innermost of the island continents in the system of cosmology.
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$9.95 Printed in England The life-a
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Frontispiece: Manuscript leaf illus
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Archaeological Surv
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Introduction Tantra is a creative m
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number of tantric texts were assemb
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Saktas (worshippers of Sakti, or fe
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The basic tenets of tantra can be e
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the union of opposites, the male an
Page 20: notions concerning time and space,
Page 23 and 24: Cosmic energy symbolized as the ser
Page 25: Tantric asana, or sexo-yogic postur
Page 28 and 29: The washer-maid represents the prim
Page 30 and 31: the five ingredients beginning with
Page 33 and 34: 32 but at the same time maintains p
Page 35 and 36: Om, the cosmic sound, is a combinat
Page 37 and 38: Brahmanda, cosmic spheroid, a symbo
Page 39 and 40: Hari-Hara. Painting illustrating Vi
Page 42 and 43: ART The art which has evolved out o
Page 44 and 45: spective, tantric imagery is not an
Page 46 and 47: Symbolism and Imagery Tantric forms
Page 48 and 49: visible and eventually apprehended.
Page 50 and 51: figurative representation. The Sukr
Page 52 and 53: uilt up in stages during the entire
Page 54 and 55: The Universe and the terrestrial sp
Page 56 and 57: Point, and signifies the starting-p
Page 58 and 59: The Sri Yantra is a configuration o
Page 60 and 61: The Sri Yantra is called 'Nava Chak
Page 62 and 63: The seventh chakra, consisting of e
Page 65 and 66: 64 The mandala indicates a focaliza
Page 67 and 68: The Kundalini Sakti, symbol of coil
Page 69: The creative spiral, Kundalini. 68
Page 73 and 74: Cosmogram: an astronomical computat
Page 75 and 76: Cosmographical scheme showing Jambu
Page 78 and 79: so they signify the action of karma
Page 80 and 81: The terrifying aspects of these ima
Page 86 and 87: Modern research into the compositio
Page 88 and 89: 'Krim', the bijamantra, almost an e
Page 90 and 91: consciousness, came spontaneously i
Page 92: tantric art and their own. Like the
Page 95 and 96: 94 ancient Hindus. Some inferences
Page 97 and 98: Bindu. The universe in its unmanife
Page 99 and 100: 98 units of energy called tanmatras
Page 101: V Astronomical equations, based on
Page 106 and 107: Samkhya's view that it is possible
Page 108 and 109: Atoms The atomic hypothesis of the
Page 110 and 111: matter or the remaining sediment of
Page 112 and 113: The Siddhayoga of Vrinda is an Ayur
Page 114 and 115: The science of mathematics was clos
Page 116 and 117: Solar orb. An astronomical chart us
Page 118 and 119: Extant astronomical charts were use
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(beginning with the new and full mo
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ecorded in 1954. Though science has
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Being residing in heaven. The real
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126 Moscow Institute of Oriental St
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128 of realization. Harmony is the
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Symbolic marks painted on wooden ma
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Yantra with mantra. 132 guru select
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Chakras in the etheric body. Rajast
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IX A practising Tantrika from north
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142 Both mudras and nyasas are exte
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Schematic representation of how a y
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absorbed within the system and a gr
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object of concentration. Meditation
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After such a survey of various tech
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(from the root nad meaning motion,
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a red triangle 'radiant like the ri
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XVI
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to balance the dialectical process
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that involves the sperm's odyssey t
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inner spiritual urges to flow natur
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chaksuratatam'. He then salutes his
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Only when she is seen through divin
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IV Ram vanhyatmakam dipam sasaktika
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Sakti worship It is not physiologic
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om anaisvaryaya namah om avairagyay
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om Im madanaye namah om Im utpadiny
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haga, which means both female organ
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That Power who exists in all beings
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either position, both the adepts en
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the Ida and Pingala subtle channels
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outgrow the merry-go-round of self-
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of beings and forms; (6) Chinnamast
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of the discipline may even abandon
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chants mantras, nor performs mudras
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BHUTA, any of the five elemental co
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PARA, last stage of consciousness.
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Bibliography Abhinavagupta, Tantras
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Panday, K. C, Abhinavagupta, Varana
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Index Abhinavagupta, 80 Absolute, 1
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Mercury, 19, 73 Mevlevi Dervishes,
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