The Sri Yantra

The Sri Yantra is revered by Hindus as the most powerful and sacred of the yantras, or images for meditation. It represents the process of unfolding of Divine Creation from the Absolute, which is symbolized by the point, or so-called "bindu," at its centre (this is called "Sarva Anandamaya"). Five downward-pointing triangles symbolizing the feminine creative energy, or Shakti, intersect four upward-pointing triangles symbolizing the masculine creative energy, or Shiva. This generates 42 triangles arranged (in the pyramidal form called "Meru" in India) in layers or rings of eight, ten, ten & 14 triangles. The set of eight triangles is called "Sarva Rogahara," the first set of ten triangles is called "Sarva Rakshakara," the second set of ten triangles has the name "Sarvarthasadhaka" and the set of 14 triangles is named "Sarva Saubhagyadayaka." They surround a downward-pointing, central triangle called "Sarva Siddhiprada," whose corners denote the triple Godhead, or trimûrti, of Shiva, Brahma & Vishnu. Eight lotus petals, called "Sarva Samkshobahana," are symmetrically arranged in a circumscribing circle and 16 lotus petals, named "Sarvasa Paripuraka," are likewise arranged in a larger circle. Surrounding the triangles and petals are three circles equally spaced apart. They are enclosed in a square with "doorways" in the middle of each side. There are plane (as shown on page 1), pyramidal (see here) and spherical forms (see here) of the Sri Yantra. In India there are even temples with its architecture. The Vidyashankara temple at Sringeri in India claims to possess the oldest known form of the Sri Yantra (see here).

An excellent website devoted to the Sri Yantra is http://sriyantraresearch.com/index.htm. It sells computer software for drawing and colouring this sacred geometry.

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