Break-up or disintegration of India has been ritually predicted and invoked by so many western analysts and thinkers. India was described as a “functioning anarchy” by a former US ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith. India still remains isolated because it stands alone on many international fora owing to India’s unique ancient history. It was part of non-aligned movement which did not have any natural commonality in its members. India is not a white or western country, it is not an Islamic country, it is not an Arabic country, it is not a communist country and it is certainly not a military dictatorship. In a world where the male divinity, and all that is male has had primacy for a very long time, this design can be seen as the very embodiment of a challenge to patriarchy and to the masculinist world we live in.Since 1947, India has been somewhat isolated globally because it stands alone and is not part of any of the usual groups or clubs. It should be mentioned that from another point of view the Sri Yantra is understood to be the Mother of the Universe Herself, the incarnate Goddess Who both embodies and transcends time. The notion of the integration of body, mind and spirit are symbolized and indicated by the Sri Yantra, making it a perfect visual representation of the Institute's vision. What is sacred then, is not merely what is beyond our perception, but everything that is present here in this world, all our actions, our emotions, our thoughts.
This world is not to be seen as separate from the transcendent Truth, but as an expression of that Truth in phenomenal form. Haridas Chaudhuri chose this symbol when he founded the Institute because it is a visual representation of his Integral philosophy. God or Goddess is not a sacred beyond, but the very fiber and life of our existence here.
The five downward-pointing triangles represent the divine feminine and the manifest aspects of the world.īecause the Sri Yantra forms a unity, the divine masculine and divine feminine in erotic embrace, as it were (this is exactly how the Indian tradition understands them!), we must realize that the transcendent Reality, whether we call it God, Goddess, or Perfect Emptiness (as in Mahayana Buddhism), is always intimately intertwined in everything that we see. They are thought of as being masculine and represent the masculine aspect of divinity. Four of them point upward and represent the unmanifest power of the universe all that is beyond our quotidian sense perceptions. The Sri Yantra in its central portion contains nine triangles. From one point of view, the design is representative of the evolution of the universe itself from its mysterious beginnings, charting its many levels. The dot in the very center is representative of the Source of the universe this dot, or bindu, is the "singularity" from which all manifest reality emerges. Each design element of the Sri Yantra has special philosophical significance. The Sri Yantra is, in fact, the central object of worship in at least one important Indian cult, but beyond its specific context, the Sri Yantra embodies profound philosophical understandings, which make it a powerful source of inspiration. A yantra, in the Indian tradition, is a literally a "device" for spiritual advancement.
The Sri Yantra, the symbol of California Institute of Integral Studies, comes from India. By Jim Ryan, PhD, professor of Asian and Comparative Studies