How To Draw A Sri Yantra

This is my commodity about the Sri Chakra Yantra, and how to draw i for ourselves. It first appeared in "Self Enquiry" , a number of years ago. Readers of The Sacred India Tarot will annotation, that the back of the cards carries this design, white on ochre gold, the colour of Sannyas on the traveller's path.

I refer you likewise to http://aryayogi.wordpress.com – Rohit's essay on The Symbolism of the Sri Chakra Yantra – you will detect it in his May archive.

The Sri Chakra Yantra with its divine flowering of masculine and feminine energy, is a crucial agent in the artistic process. The Siva Sakti alloy acts rather like Ganesha does, to facilitate beginnings. The Self Enquiry Journal (Ramana Maharshi Foundation Britain) carried this Yantra as its logo. The Yantra appears in two of the Sacred India Tarot cards:

Tarot carte du jour three The Empress – Lakshmi Here, the Yantra as her throne, extends through the landscape, her inter-connected golden net of prosperity.

Tarot carte du jour eighteen The Moon – Chandra. The Yantra in this enigmatic image appears similar a tree section: it is besides the Path of Life, which this threshold deity guards. Classic western Tarot decks bear witness a winding path betwixt two towers, to the distant Mountain. The 18^th Arcanum conducts an unbroken stream of embodiment, from the primeval forms of life, to Consciousness, through the aeons.

Prefacing "How to Draw the Sri Chakra Yantra" are two of my earlier poems and an commodity by Krishna Bhikshu, which was published in The Mountain Path in 1965.

TWO POEMS: June 1989

Goat/Crab Landfall

Sometimes my dear though stepping on gold land  I have however  the sea in my ear.   Come forth, comes answer:  Go into the land, come ocean-legs;  listen not the morrow, nor yester  twelvemonth, O jesters, only step forth  walk in the land of flowers and mountains  feasting your eyes, my dear  about you.    Ane pace  two step, like  a teddy comport, remember?  The scale of Ursa Major has  no fright.  Up into the place of meeting  and          pianoforte          in the palm  of your manus, my dearest.   . . .          And the second poem ...          .                                    Approach                    There is a point of  light in my middle, to residual  in the core of being  the stem, deep beyond measure.   Look but within  to see and be.  The betoken of the infinite deep  is cartoon "I"in.   My flower face is drawn in the center  of a body of God,  indivisible the stalk  as into a well.   In my light-green stem  of the watery world,  the silent star, a betoken and then vivid,  indivisibly, infinitesimally  pulls me in.   My  daisy crystal burn down  in dizzying vibrant  darkness, cannot see;  she is.

Introduction to Sri Chakra Yantra

In a 1965 issue of "The Mountain Path"(Ramanasramam journal), Krishna Bickshu wrote:

"Out of the Bindhu or causal state, are manifested light and sound, which announced on a formal plane as form and name. The whole process of manifestation is dependent on and governed by the shakti who is ane) Consciousness, 2) Want and iii) Action. Action (3) is the combined result of the beginning two, and is represented as the apex of the triangle of which they form the base of operations.

"Although ane says 'base' and 'apex', the triangle is usually inverted, with its apex pointing downwards. It represents the descent of the Divine into the manifested earth. The sadhaka or aspirant is represented by another triangle with its apex pointing upward. The two triangles interpenetrate. In the center of them is the Bindhu or point.

"All the geometrical figures used in the Sri Chakra are variants of circles and triangles. A Bindhu surrounded by a triangle in a circle can correspond the unabridged Cosmos. Just all the manifestations of power have to be realized in the completed Yantra. The original shakti manifests at each node(crossing-point) of the triangle as three different shaktis , or three main forms of the Divine Female parent. Each of them has various aspects which are and then manifested in the larger triangles.

"The powers of the shakti are legion. Cosmically each larger triangle represents a wider and grosser manifestation. The tantric texts give the names of presiding deities at each of the nodes of each of these triangles. In sadhana however, the order is reversed. For the private, what is in seed class in the kickoff upright triangle has to be expanded by his practice into the larger triangles which represent wider powers latent in him. These finally atomic number 82 the aspirant back into the amplitude of power, consciousness and peace, which is the essential nature of the Divine Mother. The mind becoming one-pointed, merges into the indescribable Beyond, which is the Female parent.

"It is taught that the cosmos is in three stages: causal, subtle and gross. For one of tantric temperament, all this is richly symbolized. For the advaitin (follower of non-duality) this is not necessary. The ultimate event is the same for both.

"Sri Ramana, prescribing Cocky enquiry, as well instituted this blazon of temple worship for those who are helped by it. The beneficent power he brought into earth is induced into the Sri Chakra sanctified by his bear on. Those fatigued to the more elaborate path may go along and then to receive his grace, as well as those who practise Self enquiry lonely.

At the installation in the Mother Temple, Ramana took great interest, personally added details to the forms of the Chakra (etched in a piece of granite ii anxiety foursquare upon a gold plate) and supervised the entire Temple structure. He inspected each stone for the workmen to eliminate defects, and at every stage of the piece of work he was the final authority on form, on the ritual to be adopted, and on the deities to be worshipped. Before the ceremony, he stood for some five or ten minutes with both hands placed on the Sri Chakra in blessing.

"After the installation, Major Chadwick who had stood at his side throughout, said "How magnificent this is: such pujas should be performed regularly." Ramana replied, "Yes, simply who will meet to it?" Then Major Chadwick undertook to institute the Sri Chakra pujas 6 times a month. He remarks, "The caption for this unusual evidence of interest by Bhagavan is probably to be constitute in the necessity for the Shakti e'er to accompany Siva . Information technology is not enough to have Siva alone."

On the Method: The Ocean of Beauty

On xix April 1937, a respectable gentleman asked Ramana about the Sri Chakra.

Ramana replied, "It has a deep significance. At that place are 43 corners with sacred syllables in them. Its worship is a method for concentration of mind. The mind is wont to motion externally. It must be checked and turned within. Its addiction is to dwell on names and forms, for all external objects possess name and class. Such names and forms are therefore made symbolic mental conceptions so every bit to divert the mind from external objects and make information technology dwell within itself. The idols, mantras and yantras are all meant to give food to the listen in its introvert state so that it may after go capable of concentration, after which the superb land is attained automatically."

(Talks with Ramana Maharshi, p.380)

Shankara wrote a long love-verse form on the Sri Chakra, entitled Saundarya Lahari – "the Ocean of Beauty". To receive the full do good of a sacred symbol or yantra, information technology tin exist helpful to draw information technology, and earth its components into one's existence.

What follows is an initial exploration forth these lines.

The Sri Chakra Yantra seems to take been given through a celestial comprehension beyond any mathematical agent of the human understanding. Contemplation discovers an exquisitely asymmetric equilibrium of motility and stillness – a musical notation being tuned. No manifestation in the universe quite accords with our logic or the jump laws of arithmetic. Everything is a movement towards and into perfection.

In the Sri Chakra, nine interwoven triangles come up to run across each other in a dance which is not symmetrical, but wondrously counterbalanced. This trip the light fantastic is an expression, or shakti, of the central point: the Bindhu, the formless focus –purusha – of existence. The signal is primordially Siva. The flaring outward from the point to form a triangle is the projected universe or shakti power: his consort Parvati. From each point in the triangle, a movement flows out to meet its self.

In tantric scripture, the triangle – particularly with the noon pointing down – symbolizes the female, the womb. The Sri Chakra is worshipped equally a manifestation of the Female parent who both proceeds from and gives birth to, the formless source. All the same, the Sri Chakra is constructed from a dual movement or marriage of ascending and descending triangles. For full general purposes, the ascending or realizing power can exist regarded as masculine, and the descending or manifesting power as feminine. As well, we run across the ascent of our spiritual practice, through the descent of grace: its fruits.

Construction

The Inner Circle of the Sri Chakra, to draw information technology, consists of :

One Vertical Bore, divided into 48 equal parts

(2 millimetres each, seems to be a good measurement to use.)

Nine Cords, or horizontal divisions of this vertical line, marked at 6, 12, 17, 20, 23, 27, 30, 36, 42 parts, working from the height down. Number these 1 – 9 inside the Circle, and let them, as a grid of pencil lines, cross the vertical diameter at an exact right angle.

Five shakti triangles pointing downwards, their inverted "baselines" at 1, ii, 3, 4, 5 of the nine. (This is the female yoni).

I Bindhu point at the Circle's centre.

This is purusha, the unborn, undying source.

Iv Siva triangles pointing upwardly, their baselines at vi, 7, 8, 9 (This is the male linga).

In this construction, it helps to draw starting time the Triangles upon baselines three and seven.

These – the i descending, the other ascending – are the largest pair. Encompassing the whole universe, they are the only ones to touch circumference. They provide the framework for the remaining seven triangles to intersect one another accurately. These are constructed on baselines 1, viii, 2, 4, 5, 9, in that order, referring to the illustration for the apexes, and adjusting the intersections past using one's eyes. These points or nodes, intersecting three lines, are called marmans.

It is interesting in this context, to note that each key of a pianoforte is tuned to resonate 3 strings. There is a natural correspondence with the law of three in all cosmologies, including the play of iii gunas in Advaita Vedanta. Information technology seems that sattva – as purity of sound – emerges from the attunement in relation to each other, of rajas and tamas. Rajas expands, is fiery and whirls: tamas contracts and is night and dense. Tamas is the inertia momentum inherent in whatever creative process. Without tamas, rajas could never come to form. Excess to either side becomes toxic: merely their dynamic equilibrium is harmony. The aforementioned principle, applied to Yin and Yang, is Tao.

To continue the musical analogy: the keyboard of a piano is tuned not to mechanically exact intervals – which would produce an actual dissonance – but centrifugally: from each octave, to its college and lower registers, in mutual human relationship and approximation. In fact, an exact physical symmetry is discordant in subtle plane harmony. The earthly expression of the subtle plane is a Tao – a trip the light fantastic towards unity. Then the Sri Chakra is a living organism on strings which are tuned and pulled taut, to resonate.

Exercise not strive to draw exact intersections or marmans at baseline 5, for it is actually off-centre. The inmost shakti (or womb) triangle on it, pointing downward, embraces the central mystery of the Bindhu point. You lot will besides find y'all need to pull and tug your lines a bit, through the three-way intersections to get them all in place; it is similar weaving a carpet with uneven threads to pull tight. This is not a mechanical procedure: merely you will if you have measured advisedly, go a adept approximation, which 'sings' as a unified structure. When the Yantra is completed and inked in, erase the 9 working pencilled divisions beyond the Circle.

Contemplation

Notice also, from the centre outwards, a radiating movement. This is revealed in: 43 small triangles (or 'corners'). Their outward-pointing apexes make iv concentric circles around the first triangle in the centre (apex 6, below the Bindhu, and baseline 5, just above it.) The inner circuit effectually this has 8 triangles. The second and third circles each contain 10. The fourth which is outermost, contains 14.

These four circles correspond to the 4 Worlds of Kabbalah in the western tradition.

Upon the horizontal frame of the Yantra are strung 9 "cords".

They class a vertical movement – the interpenetrating triangles, shakti (downward pointing) with Siva (upwards). The coming-to-meet motion, or love-knot of the Yantra, through its nine horizontal strands, suggests the Unseen Weaver's warp and weft: the universal play of the three gunas – Rajas, tamas and satvic – through the Divine tapestry.

The Bindhu at the heart of the marriage, is clear, formless source. The Bindhu point is the authorization of all free energy, the essence of whatever movement of heed before information technology begins to sing. From it, is generated the prakrti (primal world-stuff). This radiating or concentric movement, pervades all atoms of fourth dimension and space simultaneously. Upon it, the fabric is projected into beingness like a standwave; a blueprint or vibrancy.

The radiant movement echoes, if seen cross-sectionally, the rings of a cut tree – the sun's action over the years. Just osmosis – the tree's "invisible" realization – is root and shoot, the growth, seasons, branches and foliage upstanding, and lifts away from the world'southward apartment aeroplane. It crosses the orbital rings. It encompasses what was, is now and is to exist.

The earth whose surfaces we perceive with our sensory spectrum, cantankerous-sections Reality, like a slice across the tree. The radiant motion of Sri Chakra should be sensed not only as a mandala or wheel, but equally encompassing and extending all directions: a hologram.

The marriage of 9 interwoven triangles is consummated over a horizontal spider web.

The concentric movement of the 43 "corners" suggests a dimension perpendicular to the triple depth of our world – being at once horizontal as vertical, inward as outward, immanent, all-Present.

If the interwoven triangles suggest the dual nature of Ishvara (the transcendent Divinity), the irradiating triangles through the tapestry imply the immanent Brahman, embraced in all beings every bit their One Cocky. The "Ishvara" triangles descend every bit grace. The upward motility is an illumined entrant'due south readiness.

If followed sequentially, the downward and upward move in the Sri Chakra leads the entrant inwards to his or her core, to contemplate infinite peace in "Brahman". At this point the aspirant attunes to the "spirit-level" of the human soul, which is mostly obscured, just here and there awakened; for the meditative focus touches universal verities. The upward and downward triads dive into ane another. The Bindhu glows.

An exact harmonic in the subtle airplane marks an inexact resonance in the world of our senses – rather equally the perfect orbital Circle of platonic philosophy translates to ellipses in our physical solar system. Through molecular stresses in the biosphere, at that place is a gap. Within the gap we detect love. The love-necessity is the Mother; the creation flowing out to exist reabsorbed in and equally the Son. Gravity is this cosmic connectivity.

This paradox – accessible to contemplation, but beyond the powers of ordinary thinking – occurs in all revealed cosmologies. Physical science is able to perceive the expansion of the galaxies from an initial bespeak: Vedic, Buddhist and Kabbalist sources speak in their own ways of the kalpas – the breathing in and out, of God, over inconceivable spaces of time.

The Sri Chakra, whose installation in the Mother Temple was meticulously supervised and blessed by Ramana Maharshi (who was not otherwise interested in religious trappings) delicately evokes the mysterious "interval" which out-stretches the entrant in life, and awakens a path of enquiry, surrender and grace.

2 concentric circles surround the Yantra. The inner, consisting of eight lotus petals, represents centrifugal forcefulness. The outer circle is centripetal formation, containing and defining the force; it has xvi petals.

Outside these, and outside the iii concentric rings which circumscribe them, is formed, equally in all classical Mandala construction, the Square with four gates – the world of the senses and of nature – which surrounds the abode of the Divine.

This essay on the Sri Chakra Yantra was start drafted in almost 1994. The method to construct and draw it, was found in Shankara's "Saundarya Lahari – The Ocean of Beauty"