Hermeneutics of the Lotus
The Fusion of Theories of Consciousness and Deity Conceptions
in
Indian Thought
A Brief Commentary
on Opening Lines of the
Yogini Hrdaya, The Heart of the Yogini
Within an Autobiographical and Philosophical Context
Illustrated
Part 3
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
Abstract
An account of my contemplative explorations, under the inspiration of Indian and Indian inspired thought, complemented by other ideas, of my own consciousness as reflecting human consciousness in general, and of the Hindu text the Yogini Hrdaya, The Heart of the Yogini, as exemplifying the correlation of theories of consciousness and deity conceptions in Indian thought and bodies of thought it has influenced. The symbolism of the lotus is the unifying motif of the two parts of the essay.
The personalistic image of cosmic process in terms of the unfolding of the feminine divine identity Śakti is
enriched by being expanded beyond Śakti to include the male deity Śiva, depicted as being in union with Śakti, a union at times described in erotic terms. The relationship between Śakti and Śiva is understood in various ways in Hindu thought, perhaps depending on whether the school of thought in question is a Sakta school, centred on female deity, or Śaivite school, privileging Śiva.
The Soundaryalahari, the Billowing Waves of the Ocean of Beauty, a poem of the Sakta school, Srividya, like the Yogini Hridaya also is, opens with the celebration of Śakti as she without whom Śiva cannot vibrate, cannot express himself, though he constitutes the consciousness underlying existence.
Without Śakti galvanizing him, existence would not be actualized, a relationship at times visualized as a dance between Śiva and Śakti, or as a dialogue between the two partners, a dialogue generating a discourse henceforth constituting a sacred text, as happens in the Yogini Hrdaya, the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra and the Yoni Tantra. Among other images of their relationship is that of the two divine and cosmic figures as players of a dice game constituting the dynamism of the universe.
In the Yogini Hrdaya, the union of Śiva and Śakti is depicted as occurring in the bindu, the dot that is the first manifestation of the Goddess Tripurasundari, a form of Śakti, the feminine principle constituting the universe and its source.
The union of Śiva and Śakti is further depicted as generating the unified complexity of the universe embodied by the geometric form known as the Sri Yantra, the abstract identity of the cosmos.
The Sri Yantra is also described as corresponding to the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, the textual and sonic identity of the universe.
The Goddess perceived in human form is the most concrete embodiment of the divine nature of the cosmos. The Goddess perceived as yantra, as geometric form, specifically the Sri Yantra, is an abstract level of perception of the universe. The Goddess understood as mantra, as sacred sound, as sonic form, is yet another abstract actualization of the totality of existence and its source.
The Sri Yantra
The upward facing triangles represent Śiva, the downward facing triangles stand for Śakti. The triangles are encompassed within concentric circles on which seat lotus petals, the entire symbolic structure enclosed by four sides indicating the material universe constituted by the four directions of space.
The Sri Yantra is my favourite symbol because of its unity of complexity and order, of the balance between the minimalism of the bindu, the dot at its centre and the constellation of geometric complexity organized around it, a perfect symbol of the human need to develop relationships between various possibilities of reality, from the vast to the minute.
Its explicit symbolic range, as developed in Hinduism, is immense, demonstrating a conception of the universe as a manifestation of the Goddess Tripurasundari and of both Goddess and cosmos as mapped onto the human form and mind. Its potential for adaptation to a broad range of symbolic values outside the Hindu tradition is great, on account of the associative force of its rich geometry.
I have placed the symbol on the wall of my bedroom for daily contemplation and prayer, in which I adapt it to prayer in terms of deity concepts from the Yoruba origin Orisha spirituality.
How, in God's name, do people come up with such complexly rich webs of images and ideas as the cosmological conceptions and symbol forms in the Yogini Hrdaya?
Personalistic depictions of cosmic processes. Male/female erotic relations, conceptions of consciousness, images of natural beauty and of the evocative force of geometric order are smoothly conjoined in those richly pregnant opening lines of the Yogini Hrdaya by an author whose identity is unknown, to the best of my knowledge.
Those whose interest is in ideas of consciousness may identify with the text. Those interested in deity images may also identify. Those who appreciate the unity of the empirical yet abstract reality of consciousness with deity images will be fulfilled.
Between Objective and Subjective Realities
What do I think of the reality of these images, composed of what are generally understood to be forms of human biological and cultural identity, pointing to realities believed to be beyond human creation?
I see them as efforts to make sense of the universe, or to visualize experiences and insights in terms drawn from human experience, guiding the person responding to these images to seek their own encounter with the realities the images are understood as representing or embodying.
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