Re:Mandalas

Of Mandalas -

Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga in his book SURE WAYS TO SELF REALISATION, p 32 writes, "Mandala means 'circular form.' It is like a magic circle charged with cosmic power." He also notes that, "A yantra is a kind of geometricaldiagram which can be made up of triangles, either pointing upwards [as Shiva] or downwards [as Shakti], circles, sqaures, hexagons,pentagons & etc. yantras can be drawn on paper, wood cloth or other material or directly into sand or earth."

Last month we had a group of Tibetan monks who drew their mandala in coloured sand at the Water Reid Cultural Centre. The work was done over a period of 4 days on to a square sheet of ply. One of the monks had drawn the elaborate design in pencil on to the white surface. The monks poured the coloured sands from metal funnels a few grains at a time & controlled the flow by tapping on the funnels. They calmly worked without discussion & the result was stunning. Obviously they all knew each detail perfectly. A ceremony was held on the last day to pour the sand into the river symbolising the passing of time & events & to demonstrate the impermanence of all things.

The web site the Bihar School of Yoga is -
http://www.satyandanda.net/

Replies:

Re:Mandalas, by Lindsay Smith, 09/11/03 Re:Mandalas, by grad student, 09/12/03 Re:Mandalas, by Lindsay Smith, 09/13/03

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