Ritual

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tangible 'support' to concentration that helps to attain continuity in awareness. The practice of japa, or silent repetition of the mantra, brings outwardly-directed and diffuse mental currents together in a point or centre. With the condensation of the powerfield the sought divine form is, as it were, drawn towards the aspirant until it is totally internalized. Body consciousness and body language Tantrikas regard the body as the basis of individual identity: 'He who realizes the truth of the body can then come to know the truth Painting representing yogic asanas. Asanas, divided into two principal groups, either facilitate concentration or are performed for physical well-being. The one represented here is Pasanimudra, with the legs wrapped around the hack of the head (pasha), used mainly as a physical posture. Rajasthan, c. 19th century. Gouache on paper. 135
IX A practising Tantrika from northern India with the Saiva's symbol on his forehead. X Chakras or psychic centres in the etheric body of the yogi. The energy centres are points of contact between the psychic and the physical body. Of the thirty chakras mentioned in the texts, the principal seven from bottom upwards are: Mulddhara, Svadishthana, Manipura, Andhata, Visuddha, Ajna and finally Sahasrara, conceived to be above the head. XI A Tantrika aspirant in the foothills of the Himalayas. XII Hanuman Yantra. Diagram of Hanuman, the great devotee of Lord Rama in all his magnificence and power, with inscriptions and symbols. Rajasthan, c. 18th century. Ink and colour on paper. Nyasa. 136 of the universe' (Ratnasara). When the adept accepts his subjectivity as a thinking, feeling, willing individual, he does not limit himself to mental concepts but lives in an existential awareness of his concrete physical entity which is animated in concert with the psychic forces moving it. In tantras, the body is considered an assemblage of five kosas, or 'sheaths', in order of decreasing density. They are, first, the tangible physical body (Annamaya); the second is life breath, the sheath of vital air (Pranamaya); the third and the fourth sheaths, still more subtle, are the cognitive processes (Manomaya and Vijnanamaya); finally, the sheath of bliss (Anandamaya), the subtlest of all, is identified with the eternal element of joy in man. Thus, the psychic and physical are interdependent since each makes the other more possible. It is possible to be alienated from the body - to be unaware of its potencies, to reject and negate it completely - but its fullest appreciation will call for an awareness of it as a fact of nature. Since the body is the link between the terrestrial and cosmic, it is as it were a 'theatre', in which the psycho-cosmic drama is enacted. A positive and receptive attitude towards the body is a precondition to sadhana. The adept must identify with his body and transform it, for his body is the concrete expression of his psyche characterized by its own rhythm and structure. As a material extension of psychic expression the body glows, radiates and animates in the joy of being itself. It is not surprising, therefore, that the tantrikas evolved a system of psycho-physical culture, comprising various kinds of physical posture and gestural body techniques, a body language to render the body obedient to the will in order to animate ritual. Nyasa In the ritual known as nyasa, parts of the body are sensitized by placing the fingertips and palms of the right hand on various sensory awareness zones. A common practice is to accompany each placing of the fingers on the body with a mantra, so that with the mantra's powerful resonance the adept may gradually project the power of divinity into his own body. The tantrikas believe that the flesh must be 'awakened' from its dormancy, and this rite symbolically 'puts' the power of the vast pantheon of divinities into the various organs of the body. The most popular form of nyasa, known as sadanga-nyasa, is performed by touching various parts of the body in the following manner:
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$9.95 Printed in England The life-a
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Frontispiece: Manuscript leaf illus
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Archaeological Surv
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Introduction Tantra is a creative m
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number of tantric texts were assemb
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Saktas (worshippers of Sakti, or fe
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The basic tenets of tantra can be e
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the union of opposites, the male an
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notions concerning time and space,
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Cosmic energy symbolized as the ser
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Tantric asana, or sexo-yogic postur
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The washer-maid represents the prim
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the five ingredients beginning with
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32 but at the same time maintains p
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Om, the cosmic sound, is a combinat
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Brahmanda, cosmic spheroid, a symbo
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Hari-Hara. Painting illustrating Vi
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ART The art which has evolved out o
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spective, tantric imagery is not an
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Symbolism and Imagery Tantric forms
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visible and eventually apprehended.
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figurative representation. The Sukr
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uilt up in stages during the entire
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The Universe and the terrestrial sp
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Point, and signifies the starting-p
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The Sri Yantra is a configuration o
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The Sri Yantra is called 'Nava Chak
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The seventh chakra, consisting of e
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64 The mandala indicates a focaliza
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The Kundalini Sakti, symbol of coil
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The creative spiral, Kundalini. 68
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A cosmographical schema showing Jam
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Cosmogram: an astronomical computat
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Cosmographical scheme showing Jambu
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so they signify the action of karma
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The terrifying aspects of these ima
Page 86 and 87: Modern research into the compositio
Page 88 and 89: 'Krim', the bijamantra, almost an e
Page 90 and 91: consciousness, came spontaneously i
Page 92: tantric art and their own. Like the
Page 95 and 96: 94 ancient Hindus. Some inferences
Page 97 and 98: Bindu. The universe in its unmanife
Page 99 and 100: 98 units of energy called tanmatras
Page 101: V Astronomical equations, based on
Page 106 and 107: Samkhya's view that it is possible
Page 108 and 109: Atoms The atomic hypothesis of the
Page 110 and 111: matter or the remaining sediment of
Page 112 and 113: The Siddhayoga of Vrinda is an Ayur
Page 114 and 115: The science of mathematics was clos
Page 116 and 117: Solar orb. An astronomical chart us
Page 118 and 119: Extant astronomical charts were use
Page 120 and 121: (beginning with the new and full mo
Page 122 and 123: ecorded in 1954. Though science has
Page 124: Being residing in heaven. The real
Page 127 and 128: 126 Moscow Institute of Oriental St
Page 129 and 130: 128 of realization. Harmony is the
Page 131 and 132: Symbolic marks painted on wooden ma
Page 133 and 134: Yantra with mantra. 132 guru select
Page 135: Chakras in the etheric body. Rajast
Page 143 and 144: 142 Both mudras and nyasas are exte
Page 145: Schematic representation of how a y
Page 148 and 149: absorbed within the system and a gr
Page 150 and 151: object of concentration. Meditation
Page 152 and 153: After such a survey of various tech
Page 154 and 155: (from the root nad meaning motion,
Page 156 and 157: a red triangle 'radiant like the ri
Page 161 and 162: XVI
Page 164 and 165: to balance the dialectical process
Page 166 and 167: that involves the sperm's odyssey t
Page 168 and 169: inner spiritual urges to flow natur
Page 170 and 171: chaksuratatam'. He then salutes his
Page 172 and 173: Only when she is seen through divin
Page 174 and 175: IV Ram vanhyatmakam dipam sasaktika
Page 176 and 177: Sakti worship It is not physiologic
Page 178 and 179: om anaisvaryaya namah om avairagyay
Page 180 and 181: om Im madanaye namah om Im utpadiny
Page 182 and 183: haga, which means both female organ
Page 184 and 185: That Power who exists in all beings
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either position, both the adepts en
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the Ida and Pingala subtle channels
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outgrow the merry-go-round of self-
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of beings and forms; (6) Chinnamast
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of the discipline may even abandon
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chants mantras, nor performs mudras
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BHUTA, any of the five elemental co
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PARA, last stage of consciousness.
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Bibliography Abhinavagupta, Tantras
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Panday, K. C, Abhinavagupta, Varana
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Index Abhinavagupta, 80 Absolute, 1
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Mercury, 19, 73 Mevlevi Dervishes,
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Ritual

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