Yantra

Yantra - The Visual Mantra

Yantra a Sanskrit word means ' an apparatus' it is a mystic diagram composed of geometric and alphabetic figures--usually etched on small plates of gold, silver or copper. These are also made in three dimensions in stone or metal. The purpose of a Yantra is to focus spiritual and mental energies, to improve health, wealth, childbearing or the invoking of one God or another. It is usually installed near or under the temple Deity. The temple Yantra is a magnificent three-dimensional edifice of light and sound in which the devas work. On the astral plane, it is much larger than the temple itself. It is made is such a way that the male and female energy patterns of he universe interact and produce a high level spiritual energy. It is one of the deepest secret of ancient Hindus and many parts of the texts dealing with these diagrams of energy are lost for mankind . Yantra has also been defined as a visual mantra i.e., it is able to create the vibrations and other mystic effects of a Mantra by sight.

The Yantra provides a focal point that is a window into the absolute. When the mind is concentrated on a single, simple object (in this case a Yantra), the mental chatter ceases. Eventually, the object is dropped when the mind can remain empty and silent without help. In the most advanced phases, it is possible to attain union with God by the geometric visualization of a Yantra.

The Yantra is like a microcosmic picture of the MACROCOSM. It is a focusing point and an outer and inner doorway. The Yantras are often focused on a specific deity and so by tuning into the different Yantras you can tap into certain deities or creative force centers in the universe.

Yantras are usually designed so that the eye is carried into the center, and very often they are symmetrical. They can be drawn on paper, wood, metal, or earth, or they can be three-dimensional.

The most celebrated Yantra in India is the sri Yantra, the Yantra of Tripura Sundari. It is a symbol of the entire cosmos that serves to remind the practitioner of the nondifference between subject and object.

The Power of Yantras to induce RESONANCE is based on the SPECIFIC FORM of its appearance. Such a diagram can be composed from one or more geometrical shapes which combine into a precise model representing and transfiguring in essence, at the level of the physical universe, the subtle sphere of force corresponding to the invoked deity. From this point of view we can argue that the Yantra functions similarly to a MANTRA (sacred word).

By RESONANCE, a certain energy from the practitioner's MICROCOSM vibrates on the same wavelength with the corresponding infinite energy present in the MACROCOSM, energy which is represented in the physical plane by the Yantra. The principle of RESONANCE with any deity, cosmic power, aspect, phenomenon or energy owes its universal applicability to the perfect correspondence existing between the human being (seen as a true MICROCOSM) and the Creation as a whole (MACROCOSM).

Next - Forms of Yantras