Ritual

The creative spiral, Kundalini.
68
Potent as it is, in tantric art the lotus is a symbol of the unfolding of
the self and expanding consciousness, which cuts through psychic
opacity and ultimately raises the aspirant from the dark depths of
ignorance to the radiant heights of inner awakening. Just as lotus
plants grow in the 'darkness of mud' and gradually blossom out to
the surface of the water, unsullied by the mud and water which
nourished them, so the inner self transcends and transforms itself
beyond its corporeal limits uncorrupted and untarnished by
illusion and ignorance.
Whereas in yantra patterns a ring of lotus petals generally
denotes a stage in the actualization of the spiritual process and
hence reflects a wave of optimism, in the symbolism of the chakras,
or psychic centres of the human body, lotuses denote experience of
the upward movement of energy in successive stages, each petal
signifying the blossoming of a quality or mental attribute until
finally one reaches the acme of spiritual perception symbolized as
the thousand-petalled lotus placed above the head, the Sahasrara
Chakra. Thus the lotus form in the subtle body qualitatively
indicates a kinesthetic dimension. Its kinevisual nature is further
strengthened by the fact that the lotus forms in each chakra are
mostly represented with the symbol of the spiral, signifying the
flow of energy. Both therefore, are kinetic symbols. Each chakra
has its equivalent petals and corresponding colours: Muladhara,
red lotus of four petals; Svadhisthana, vermilion with six petals;
Visuddha, sixteen petals of smoky purple; Ajna, two white petals
resembling the shape of the third eye; and finally, the thousandpetalled
lotus of the light of a thousand suns.
The lotus also represents the ubiquitous subtle element, space;
the infinity of space and consciousness are identical. The
Chandogya Upanishad says: 'Verily what is called Brahman [Pure
Consciousness] that is what the space outside the person is. . . that
is what the space within the person is. . . .' When the adept
becomes conscious of the immensity of space outside himself, he
simultaneously experiences this through the vast space in his heart,
symbolized by the lotuses.
The spiral represents growth or spiritual ascent in the act of
becoming. The creative coilings of the feminine energy, or
Kundalini Sakti, and the flow of the energy current symbolically
assumes the supple, undulating form of a spiral. The unmanifested
Kundalini is symbolized by a serpent coiled into three and a half
circles with its tail in its mouth and spiraled around the central axis,
or Svayarhbhu-linga, ready to ascend upwards and unite with the
cosmic consciousness. The sinuous movements of the energy