Ritual

mandala, etc.) until he is completely absorbed in the art symbol.
The psychogram is 'in here', within; the cosmogram, as a pictorial
model, is 'out there', external to the adept. The Purushakara
Yantra, however, and the diagrams of Jambu-dvipa are intimately
linked with the process of inner realization and are therefore allied
to the psychograms.
Polarity
In contrast with the tranquil renderings of abstract forms, the
iconographic images portraying the terrifying aspects of Prakriti
are violent emotional expressions. Tantra's basic philosophy is
based on a dualism, and the terrifying image projects the negative
aspect of the creative life-force. In the creative aspect, Sakti appears
as an enchantress - 'the fairest of the three worlds', exercising her
benign powers. In her negative aspect she is demystified and
transformed. The image has a naked intensity, so fierce that the
incommunicable ceases to be a mystery. Kali, one of the most
important tantric Dasamahavidyas, in her negative aspect appears
as a conglomeration of terrifying elements. Though the picture
field is tilled with awe-inspiring symbols, their real meaning is not
what it first appears; they have equivocal significance. Kali is the
symbol of the active cosmic power of eternal time (Kala) and in
this aspect she signifies annihilation: through death or destruction
creation, the seed of life, emerges. Just as the destruction of the seed
leads to the birth of the tree, so disintegration is a normal and
necessary step of nature moving towards further progress or
unfolding. Kali is the embodiment of creation, preservation and
annihilation. She inspires awe and love at the same time. As a
disintegrating tendency, Kali is represented in black: 'just as all
colours disappear in black, so all names and forms disappear into
her' (Mahanirvana Tantra). The density of blackness is also
identified with the massive, compact, unmixed, Pure Consciousness.
In tantric hymns to the goddess Kali, she is described as
'digambari', garbed in space in her nakedness, she is free from all
covering of illusion. She is full-breasted, her motherhood a
ceaseless creation denoting preservation. Her dishevelled hair,
'elokeshi', forms a curtain of death which surrounds life with
mystery. Her garland of fifty human heads, each representing one
of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes the
repository of power and knowledge; the letters are nuclear soundelements
symbolizing the power of mantras. She wears the 'girdle
of human hands': hands are the principal instruments of work and
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