THE MYSTICAL MEDITATION DIAGRAM: THE SHRI YANTRA

In addition to visual representations based upon narratives and myths, it is also helpful in introducing Indic material to focus on geometrical abstractions used for purposes of meditation.  The use of mystical diagrams and/or mandalas is common to Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions and can be a useful device for giving students a sense of what meditation is like.  It is also a useful way of introducing certain basic concepts or notions.  Perhaps the most well known device of this kind is what is known as the SHRI YANTRA.  The term "Yantra" comes from the root, yam, meaning "to retrain or discipline" together with the suffix "tra," meaning a "vehicle for"--hence, "Yantra" means a "vehicle for restraining or disciplining."  It is cognate, in other words, with the most important term in all of India’s spirituality, namely, YOGA, which comes from the root, yuj, meaning "to harness or yoke or restrain."

The Shri Yantra as a mystical diagram for meditation is probably fairly late, deriving from the later centuries of the first millenium of the Common Era (c. 5th century or later) and utilized largely in Tantric environments.  Undoubtedly, of course, there were examples of meditation diagrams (probably simpler in their design) from earlier centuries as well.  The practice of drawing complex designs on the ground or on walls is common in village life the world over, frequently for magical purposes but also for purposes of celebration and focussing attention on a particular portion of space or an auspicious moment in time.

Closely related to the symbolic significance of the geometrical components of the Shri Yantra are the meditation visualizations related to the theory of CHAKRAS.  The term "chakra" means "wheel" or "circle" and refers to a set of energy centers in the body, running through the nervous system from the lower spine in the region of the anus to the region of the head or brain.  Six such centers are most commonly mentioned, again deriving primarily from Tantric environments (after the 5th century of the Common Era), but like the Shri Yantra, having analogues of a less developed kind from earlier centuries as well reaching back even to some of the relatively early Upanishads.  For introductory purposes the full symbolic "readings" of the various Chakras need not be explained to students, but the basic geometric designs can be shown in sequence in a manner that clearly illustrates how they can be used in meditation.

Geometric Symbolism
The basic geometric components may be described in the following manner:

(1)  The "point" or "drop" (bindu), which when expanded becomes a "circle" or a sphere.

(2)  The "straight line" (rekha or lekha) which is the shortest distance between any two points.
 
(3)  The "triangle" (trikona), which is the smallest enclosed geometrical figure, may have its apex pointing up; or
 
(4)  The "triangle" (trikona) may have its apex pointing down.
 
(5)  Finally, the "square" (caturkona) can be described as the combination of the two triangles, forming, as it were, a balanced base.
 
Moreover, two "straight lines" when they intersect may make a "cross" (vyatyasta) and if one "breaks" the cross, either to the left, or to the right, one then has what is known as the "svastika".  The term "svastika" in Sanskrit is made up of the particle "su," meaning "good" or "auspicious" and the word "astika," meaning "mark."  Hence, "svastika" means an "auspicious mark" and that which has "an auspicious mark."  One finds "svastikas" on Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples throughout Asia.  It is most likely an old solar symbol, although its precise origins are lost to antiquity.  [Here it goes without saying that students must be reminded that the use of the svastika by the Nazis in Germany was a demonic abuse of this ancient symbol.]  When it "breaks" to the right, it signifies spring and summer and the sun moving across the northern sky.  When it "breaks" to the left, it signifies fall and winter and the hidden or dark period of the year.  Frequently the "right" is linked with the male, and the "left" is linked with the female.  [My own interpretation of the gender correlation is that "right" is male, spring, summer, the sun, manifestation, etc., because the male genitalia are manifest; whereas "left" is female, fall, winter, the moon, and the dark and hidden, etc., because the female genitalia are not manifest--yet what is hidden and unmanifest carries the seed of life and renewal and gives birth in the spring to a new cycle of manifestation.]

When the basic geometrical forms have been introduced, one can then indicate some possible correlations as follows:

(1)  The "point" or "drop" or "circle" can be associated with

 -  the gross element, space (akasha)--the expanse of space that holds
  all of reality but begins from a point-instant

 -  the "up-breath" (udana) in the physical body--one of the five basic
  "breaths" in ancient Indian physiology--the "up-breath" is the
  breath of "speech" in the region of the throat and head
  which operates in "space" (akasha), the medium for sound

 -  the sense-capacity of hearing (shrotra)

(2)  The "straight line" can be associated with

 -  the gross element, wind (vayu)--movement in a particular direction
  like that of the straight line

 -  the "respiration-breath" (prana) in the physical body--the basic
  breath that operates in the region of the heart and lungs and is
  often thought of as the basic "life-force"

 -  the sense capacity of touch (tvac)

(3)  The "triangle" with apex "up" is the male triangle and can be associated with

 -  the gross element, fire (tejas)--the energy for light and movement
  and power

 -  the "digestive breath" (samana) in the physical body--the basic
  breath that operates in the region of the navel and stomach
  for the  digestion of food (internal burning)

 -  the sense capacity of seeing (cakshus)

(4)  The "triangle," apex "down" is the female triangle and can be associated with

 -  the gross element, water (ap)--the liquid or fluid element that makes
  possible the ingestion of food, the flow of blood and semen

 -  the "diffuse breath" (vyana) [or possibly the sexual breath]--the breath
  that operates primarily in the region of the genitals but circulating throughout the body [on analogy perhaps
  with Freud’s notion of "libido" flowing through the body]

 -  the sense capacity of tasting (rasana)

(5)  The "square" is the base support for stability and can be associated with

 -  the gross element, earth (prithivi)--the solid stuff that is made up of
  the coming together of all of the preceding elements and represents
  final gross embodiment

 -  the "down breath" (apana)--the breath of elimination and excretion, also
  the breath of birth when the woman breaths "down" to expel the
  new-born child

 -  the sense capacity of smelling (ghrana)

ICONOGRAPHY/CONTENT:

By combining the geometrical figures, the Shri Yantra is created.  First, one marks  the "point" (bindu), placing it in the center.  Second, one expands the "point" into a series of concentric circles.  Third, one takes four "male" triangles and five "female" triangles and superimposes them on one another.  Similarly, one takes two "svastikas," one "breaking" to the right, the other "breaking" to the left and superimposes them on one another.  One then adds the "square" as a stable base around the circles but within the superimposed svastikas.  When the superimpositions have been done properly, one then has the Shri Yantra as a meditation diagram.

In addition to the geometrical figures, the Shri Yantra also includes stylized representations of a series of lotus leaves, a circle of eight and a circle of sixteen located within the concentric circles within the Yantra.

Beyond the Shri Yantra itself, similar geometrical forms and lotus leaves can be combined to picture the various Chakras or energy centers in the body as follows:

(1) The "Root-Support Center" (Muladhara Chakra)--in the region of the anus at the base of the spine;

(2)  The "Self-Support Center" (Svadhishthana Chakra)--in the region of the genitals;

(3)  The "Jewel-Filled Center" (Manipuraka Chakra)--in the region of the
navel;

(4)  The "Unstruck Center" (Anahata Chakra)--in the region of the heart;

(5)  The "Purified Center" (Vishuddha Chakra)--in the region of the throat’

(6)  The "Insight or Command Center" (Ajna Chakra)--in the region of the forehead just above the eyes (the area of the "third eye"); and finally

(7)  The "Thousand Petalled Lotus Center" (Sahasrara Chakra)--at the very top of the head.

Interpretation
There is no need or time in these introductory sessions to give a detailed interpretation of the Shri Yantra and the various Chakras.  It is important, however, to suggest various levels of meaning and to show students how the various concepts and notions come to be associated with one another, since such associations are basic for understanding the basic structures of Indian cosmology, psychology and philosophy.

The Shri Yantra has at least four distinct levels of meaning:
(1)  It is an architectural drawing of a sacred temple--with the holy of holies and the entrances from the four directions;

(2)  It is a diagram of the interaction of male and female and the rhythms, on the one hand, of spring and summer, and, on the other, of fall and winter;

(3)  It is a diagram of sacred speech--when the nine triangles are superimposed properly, they in turn generate circles of some forty-two additional triangles--if one then combines the forty-two triangles with the eight basic lotus leaves, one has the number fifty, or, in other words, the number of sounds in the Sanskrit system of sounds--the Yogin inscribes the triangles and lotus leaves with bits of sound and then uses the Shri Yantra as a vehicle for uttering sacred sounds such as "OM"--there is, finally, a small central triangle (a forty-third triangle) with apex down which may well signify the hidden "silence" from which all sound arises

(4)  It is a diagram of macrocosm and microcosm--finally, the vision of the Shri Yantra is both a picture of the universe and a picture of one’s internal life--this becomes especially clear when one combines the Shri Yantra symbols with the energy centers or Chakras in the body of the Yogin, the five basic breaths, the five basic sense capacities and the five gross elements.

One other dimension of interpretation: It is clear enough with the triangles encompassed by the square and the superimposed svastikas that the Shri Yantra is especially utilizing the numbers 3 and 4, and one useful way of illustrating this pattern of three plus a fourth is to show how such a sequence is common in some basic Indic conceptual frameworks as follows: