Integral Yoga® is a complete Yoga, and the Integral
Yoga yantra is also complete. It is a representation of the entire
cosmos.
Sometimes external images are used in meditation or worship
to symbolize or express certain divine ideas and qualities. When
mantras (sound formulas used in meditation) or divine ideas are
meditated upon, certain images are brought out. It is something
like liquid crystallizing into solid form. These geometric figures
are actually crystallized mantra forms. A yantra is a physical
expression of a mantra - a mantra being a Divine aspect in the
form of sound vibration - yantra in the form of a geometrical
figure.
In simple language,
as I said before, our Integral Yoga yantra represents the entire
creation. Each part of the yantra corresponds to a different
aspect of the cosmos. According to yogic thinking, God or the
Cosmic Consciousness, is originally unmanifest - just by Himself
or Herself or Itself. As God begins to manifest, the first
expression is sound vibration. The Bible explains it
by saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God." Here "word" means
sound.
In Sanskrit they say
something similar but take it a step further. "Nada,
bindhu, kalaa" - the sound, then the dot, then the art or
rays. If God manifests as sound, you can't see anything. What
is the smallest expression which you could see? The bindhu or
dot. It should be the smallest possible particle. But, of course,
if it is that small we can't see it, so in the yantra it is shown
as a large dot in the very center. The bindhu represents the
first physical expression, the very core of the cosmos. It is
that dot which then expresses as kalaa. Kalaa means the different
aspects or literally the different rays or different arts.
The next expressions are the three rings of different
hues surrounding the bindhu. They represent the three gunas or
basic qualities of nature: sattva (balance), rajas (activity)
and tamas (inertia). In the yogic thinking, everything in this
universe manifests uniquely because it results from a unique
combination of these three. All differences in the phenomenal
world are due to the variations of these three basic qualities.
Then you see the hexagon around the three rings. This can be
very well explained with an example from science. If you take
a photograph of a crystal, you will see that its normal shape
is six-sided. That's why the yantra has the six triangles around
the center. It means that the first speck of matter expresses
itself as more complex matter like a crystal.
The six triangles are actually a combination of two larger triangles,
one pointed down, the other up. As one triangle passes through
the other, we get this six-sided figure. The triangle with apex
upward represents the positive, or masculine aspect; the inverted
triangle is the negative, or feminine, aspect. In Sanskrit this
concept is called Siva-Shakti. It is a combination of the male
and female, equally represented. There is no inferiority or superiority
for either aspect; they blend perfectly together. Whichever way
you turn the yantra, they remain the same. So it makes a complete
whole, and this itself represents the entire nirguna (unmanifest)
as well as saguna (manifest) aspects of the Supreme.
Once the triangles come together, the hexagon could then represent
something else also: the six basic Tattvas or principles - the
five senses and the mind as the sixth. The six-sided crystal
then manifests outward in further expansions of the primordial
energy and matter. Why and how does this happen? Out of love.
So all the beautiful lotus petals represent the loving manifestation.
Another way of explaining the petals is that the eight inner
petals represent the subtle elements, while the sixteen outer
ones indicate their grosser manifestations.
Then you see the three large circles surrounding the lotuses.
They indicate how these elements further express as the three
worlds: causal, astral and physical. But even that is not the
end. The Divine expression is unlimited. That is why the circles
are framed by a square with gaps pointing outward, representing
the infinity of creation.
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