Vimalananda explains the concept thusly (from Chapter Two): “The purpose of Kundalini Yoga is to reunite Shiva and Shakti, to create the eternal form of Shiva, Sadashiva. Sadashiva’s left side is female and right side is male; the two principles have united but have not merged. If they were to merge that would be the end of the play, and that would be no fun at all. Sadashiva exists on the cosmic scale; in an indi vidual this deity is called Ardhanarishvara (“the Lord Who is Half Female’). In order to manifest Sadashiva the Kundalini must be made to rise fully, because the highest manifestation of Shiva in the human being is in the head, the highest part of the body.
“In an ordinary person Kundalini is asleep at the base of the spine, and so Shiva is berest of Shakti. Such a person is not Shiva but merely shava (corpse). I look at every one I meet as a skeleton because that is what they are; until a person’s Kundalini Shakti awakens and begins to dance on Her Shiva, that person is as good as dead.”
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Shri Yantra The sacred Shri Yantra is the most well known and fascinating of all yantras because of its intriciate geometric harmony. It consists of nine interlocking triangles, the union of five downward pointing yoni triangles (shakti) with four upward pointing fire triangles (Shiva), and is also known as the Navayoni (nine yoni) chakra. The configuration produces a pattern of forty-three triangles which represent the goddess Tripurasundari at the center surrounded by her retinue of forty-two deities. These triangles are arranged in a series of five chakras that house one, eight, ten, ten and fourteen triangles progressively from the center outwards. This structure is enclosed by two concentric lotus circles of eight and sixteen petals enclosed within a square Bhupura or ground plan. (continues on page 316)
(For a more thorough understanding of Yantras please refer to
the Appendix beginning on page 283)
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