YANTRA II

This word in its most general sense means an instrument, or that by which anything is accomplished. In worship it is that by which the mind is fixed on its object. The Yoginī-Tantra says that the Devī should be worshipped either in pratimā (image), maṇ ḍ ala, or yantra. At a certain stage of spiritual progress the sādhaka is qualified to worship yantra. The siddha-yogi in inward worship (antar-pūjā) commences with the worship ̣ of yantra which is the sign (samketa) of brahma-vijñāna ̣ as the mantra is the samketa of the Devatā. It is also said that yantra is so called because it subdues (niyantrana) lust, anger, and the other sins of jīva and the sufferings caused thereby.

The yantra is a diagram engraved or drawn on metal, paper, or other substances, which is worshipped in the same manner as an image (pratimā). As different mantras are prescribed for different worships, so are different yantras. The yantras are therefore of various designs, according to the objects of worship. 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, Hrīm and Hraḥ . In the spaces formed by the intersections of the outer ̣ ovoid circles is the bīja “Hrīm.” 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, “Hrīm, Īm, Hraḥ .” The outermost band contains all the matṛ kas, or letters of the alphahet, from akāra to kṣ a. 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. 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.