|
|
Sri Yantra
Yantras come from the more than 2000 years old tantric tradition. A Yantra is the yogic equivalent of the Buddhist Mandala.
Sri Yantra is called the mother of all yantras because all other yantras derive from it.
The Sri Yantra is a configuration of nine interlacing triangles centred around the bindu (the central point of the yantra), drawn by the super imposition of five downward pointing triangles, representing Shakti, the female principle and four upright triangles, representing Shiva, the male principle.
Man's spiritual journey from the stage of material existence to ultimate enlightenment is mapped on the Sri Yantra. The spiritual journey is taken as a pilgrimage in which every step is an ascent to the centre, a movement beyond one's limited existence, and every level is nearer to the goal.
Each of the circuits of the Sri Yantra, from the outer plane to the bindu (the center), corresponds with one of the stages of the spiritual journey.
The goal of contemplating the Sri Yantra is that the adept can rediscover his primordial sources. The circuits symbolically indicate the successive phases in the process of becoming.
| 
|
| | Kali Yantra
The Goddess Kali Ma is the supreme feminine manifestation of compassion as she frees us from the prison of our own ego.
The name Kali derives from the Sanskrit root word Kal meaning time. Nothing escapes from time.
Out of all the Devi forms, Kali is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva. They are the destroyers of unreality. When the ego sees Mother Kali it trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. An individual who is attached to his/her ego will not be able to receive the vision of Mother Kali and She will appear in a fear invoking or "wrathful" form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.
It is partially accurate to say the Goddess Kali Ma is a goddess of death. However, She brings the death of the ego as the delusional self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the scriptures is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated exclusively with the process of human dying. Both Goddess Kali Ma and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds. The purpose is not to glorify death but to overcome the I-am-the-body concept. The cremation grounds reinforce the idea that the body is a temporary. Kali and Shiva are said to dwell in these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Kali and Shiva give liberation by dissolving the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the ever-existing I AM and not the impermanent body.
Ma Kali wears a garland made of 52 skulls and a skirt made of dismembered arms because the ego comes out of identification with the body. In two of Her hands, She holds a sword and a freshly severed head that is dripping blood. This represents a great battle in which she defeated the demon Raktabija. Her black (or sometimes dark blue) skin represents the womb of the unmanifest from which all of creation is born and into which all of creation will eventually return.
| |
Ganesh
Ganesh is the principal deity of beginnings. Hindus invoke his blessings for every passage of life: marriage, birth, business endeavours, and even before departing on a daily journey. Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, is worshiped for the successful performance of one’s duty in life by which we attain perfection. He gifts his devoed followers with boons ranging from material prosperity to spiritual emancipation.
The names Ganesh and Ganapati translate as the “Lord of Multitudes” or the “Lord of hosts’ As the Lord of Multitudes, he is a universal benefactor who endears yogi’s by his merciful nature. As Lord of Hosts, he is the general of Lord Shiva’s army of demigods and attendants.
In many temples throughout India, Ganesh is incorpated into the worship of many other ddeities, such as Shive, Vishnu and the Goddess. His murti or divine image is enshrined within their temple precints to be initially worshipped in the pilgrims ritual act of entering the holy ground of the deity. Seated at gates and entrances, he is known as the lord of thresholds, a guardian and keeper of sacred space.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|