Our Yantra

heart of living yoga Sri yantra

The Sri Yantra is considered to be the most sacred symbol of the Divine within the tradition of Yoga. It represents the energy of the divine feminine, or Shakti, which is said to be manifesting everything. In sacred Indian art you will often see the goddesses Shakti, Parvati or Lakshmi standing while Siva and Vishnu their divine partners are lying down resting and supporting them. This is said to be how the male and female energies of the universe are flowing.

The Sri Yantra, ancient sacred symbol, is actually a map of the cosmos and contains information about the cause, origin, structure and support of the universe – and quantum physics today is giving us very similar information.

History – or Herstory – How the Heart Of Living Yoga Sri Yantra came into being.

Our form of the Sri Yantra was born from a conversation between Rev. Padma Devi and a quantum physicist called Nassim Haramein. That conversation was fruitful for them both, leading Nassim towards a new direction in his research and led Rev. Padma to develop this expansive and beautiful version of the Sri Yantra which nurtures and sustains the Heart Of Living Yoga Foundation.

Nassim sent out a photo of an atom emitting light – it was the first time this had been photographed – and he asked if it reminded anyone of anything. Padma saw some resemblance to the centre of a Sri Yantra and sent a picture of it to Nassim. He replied that if you converted the 2 dimensional diagram (in black and white seen above) into 3 dimensions – which incidentally he had done in his head! – and then you came down through one of the points – you would come to a 64 base tetrahedron – the basis of all life.

This seemed like a very big piece of information to them both. To Padma it confirmed the ancient wisdom and science of yoga and to Nassim it opened up a whole new direction of research. Through his research into sacred geometry and sacred symbols like the Sri Yantra he realised that they needed to look at the shape of space, rather than seeking smaller particles. This awareness enabled him to predict the diameter of the next particle which was being searched for at CERN in Switzerland and led him to his own version of a Unified Field Theory.

For Padma it made complete sense to switch focus from the outer manifestation of the universe to the spaciousness of the Heart – and so you will see in our Sri Yantra that the shape of the triangles is delineated by space not by lines. This space is where all potential lies.

All Sri Yantras have a bindu, or central point which represents the place where the Unmanifest and the Manifest meet – it is the quantum foam wherein all possibility dwells – and it is where the Beloved is waiting for us on the other side of the mirror. In our Yantra, the bindu has been placed within a heart, to remind us of where that Consciousness lives within us.
 

All Faiths

Around the outside of our beautiful Sri Yantra are symbols of many of the major faiths of the world, including those not mentioned there and those not yet known. It is beautifully open and all-inclusive – a mirror of the divine Beloved itself.

The symbols can be looked at in order of age on our planet by moving in a clockwise direction beginning at the “1 o’clock” position with the flame. Here is a guide to their meanings –

Flame - Mankind’s earliest worship would have been to the sun and fire. Zoroastrians continue this worship to this day.

Ankh - Symbol of Life from Africa, where mankind began its evolutionary journey. The ankh was very sacred to the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians.

Four Directions - Sacred to most Indigenous Faiths, the 4 directions are included in most shamanic ceremonies and are fundamental to the beliefs of Native Americans, First Nations, Aboriginals & Indigenous Tribes all over the planet – including the ancient pre-Christian faiths of Great Britain such as the Celts.

OM – the symbol of Hinduism, generally accepted as the oldest faith in the world. However, Yoga preceded Hinduism by many thousands of years. The sound of Om was heard in deep meditation by the ancient rishis, probably more than 12,000 years ago and has been shared as the beautiful and powerful sound of Creation up to this day.

Star of David - the symbol of Judaism, our most ancient faith in the western world which is still practised today by millions of people, sharing its wisdom for how to live in the world and combine that with deep faith in God.

Circle of Stars – this symbol represents all the other faiths not included on our Yantra – for instance Jainism, Shintoism, Paganism etc..

Yin & Yang - the symbol of Taoism – ancient faith of China and the far east – which speaks of the flow of 2 energies (which can be seen as male & female) being like an ocean. The devoted practitioner of Taoism can become so at one with the ocean of energy that she can surf the wave of the current moment.

Wheel of Life & Death - the symbol of Buddhism, a faith that began in ancient times in the east and has become very popular in recent decades in the west. It is interesting to note that Gautama Buddha studied yoga in those days in India, and so there are many commonalities between the two systems of belief.

Crucifix - the symbol of Christianity, the faith which has been guiding most of the hearts and minds of the western world for the past 2,000 years. Christ was born into Judaism in the middle east and shared a message of unconditional Love with the world which lives on to this day.
Crescent Moon - the symbol of Islam, one of the world’s youngest faiths offered to us by the Prophet Mohammed, teaching us peace of the heart, charity and sharing divine light

Khanda - the symbol of Sikhism, our world’s youngest major faith. The Khanda depicts a double edged sword to represent the spiritual life, surrounded by 2 single edged swords, representing worldly life and religious life. They beautifully come together as one in this symbol, showing that faith can be lived and shown in our daily lives. Sikhism also beautifully combines many of the beliefs of Hinduism and Islam.

Empty Circle - symbolising faiths not yet known – possibly from other galaxies, the future – and including every person’s individual faith – whether it is part of an organised religion or simply the natural faith which springs directly from the heart.