Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

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INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA ŚĀSTRA
mantras are prescribed for different worships, so are
different yantras. The yantras are therefore of various
designs, according to the objects of worship. 1 The one on
the next page is a Gāyatrī yantra belonging to the
author. In the centre triangle are engraved in the
middle the words, Śrī Śrī Gāyatrī sva-prasāda siddhim
kuru (“Śrī Śrī Gāyatrī Devī: grant me success”), and at
each inner corner there are the bījas, Hrīṃ and Hraḥ .
In the spaces formed by the intersections of the outer
ovoid circles is the bīja “Hrī ṃ.” The outside circular
band contains the bīja “Tha” which indicates “Svaha,”
commonly employed to terminate the feminine mantra
or vidyā. The eight lotus petals which spring from the
band are inscribed with the bīja, “Hrīṃ, Īṃ, Hraḥ .” The
outermost band contains all the matṛ kas, or letters of
the alphahet, from akāra to kṣa. 2 The whole is enclosed
in the way common to all yantras by a bhūpura, by
which as it were, the yantra is enclosed from the outer
world. 3 The yantra when inscribed with mantra, serves
(so far as these are concerned) the purpose of a mnemonic
chart of that mantra appropriate to the particular
Devatā whose presence is to be invoked into the yantra.
Certain preliminaries precede, as in the case of a
pratimā, the worship of a yantra. The worshipper first
meditates upon the Devatā, and then arouses Him or
Her in himself. He then communicates the divine
presence thus aroused to the yantra. When the Devatā
1 A considerable number are figured in the Tantrasāra.
2 In this and other metal yantras no figures of Devatā are shown. These
not uncommonly appear in yantras drawn or printed on paper, such as the
eight Bhairava Śakti, etc.
3 In painted yantra serpents are commonly shown crawling outside the
bhū-pura.