Hermeneutics of the Lotus: The Fusion of Theories of Consciousness and Deity Conceptions in Indian and Hindu Thought : A Brief Commentary on Opening Lines of the Yogini Hrdaya, The Heart of the Yogini Within an Autobiographical and Philosophical Context, Illustrated. Part 4
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
Hermeneutics of the Lotus
The Fusion of Theories of Consciousness and Deity Conceptions
in
Indian Thought
A Brief Commentary
on Opening Lines of the
Yogini Hrdaya, The Heart of the Yogini
Within an Autobiographical and Philosophical Context
Illustrated
Part 4
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
Abstract
An account of my contemplative explorations, under the inspiration of Indian and Indian inspired thought, complemented by other ideas, of my own consciousness as reflecting human consciousness in general, and of the Hindu text the Yogini Hrdaya, The Heart of the Yogini, as exemplifying the correlation of theories of consciousness and deity conceptions in Indian thought and bodies of thought it has influenced. The symbolism of the lotus is the unifying motif of the two parts of the essay.
The Evocative Beauty of the Lotus
Vertical Shot of a Beautiful Purple Water Lily on a Pond by wirestock on Freepik
Breaking the surface of an ancient pond, a lotus rises. A deep resonance.
A line adapting a famous haiku by Japanese poet Matsuo Basho evoking the cosmological associations of water, in relation to animate forms such as human beings and animals. Absolute minimalism actualizing maximum evocative power is the essence of haiku aesthetics.
The lotus rises from dark waters as the cosmos emerges from the formless, the flower of consciousness opening to reveal the endless profusion constituting the unity of being and becoming. I bow in reverence to the wonder I witness, from lotus to cosmos.
Lotus image from Healing Mind Body Hypnosis
Suggestions for Further Reading
A Google search is one of the best ways of studying these ideas, since Hinduism is particularly well represented on the web.
The best book on yantra theory known to me is Madhu Khana's Yantra: The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity, Inner Traditions, 2003.
Mike Magee's Shiva Shakti Mandalam site introduced me to the beautiful complexity of the strand of Hinduism known as Tantra, and particularly to the Sakta school of Sri Vidya, centred on the Goddess Tripurasundari and to the Yogini Hrdaya, a particularly strategic text of the school.
Andre Padoux and Roger Orphee Jeanty's translation of and commentary on the Yogini Hrdaya, The Heart of the Yogini: The Yoginihrdaya, a Sanskrit Tantric Treatise, Oxford UP, 2013, are priceless, in their poetic beauty, explanatory lucidity and interpretive range, for appreciating this masterpiece of religious and artistic genius.
The Sri Devi Khadgamala Stotram ritual is a magnificent dramatization of Sri Yantra symbolism, particularly in its celebration of the Goddess Tripurasundari as representing both the cosmos and the human being as a microcosm of the cosmos, realities the devotee navigates as they navigate the yantra, this navigation being the process constituting the ritual. The richest version of the ritual known to me is the translation and commentary by the Shakti Sadhana school. There are also chanted versions of the ritual on YouTube.
Detailed studies of the fundamentals of Sri Vidya, the school to which the Goddess Tripurasundari and the Sri Yantra are central, are provided by Douglas Renfrew Brooks' The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism, University of Chicago Press, 1998, and Auspicious Wisdom:Texts and Traditions of Sri Vidya Sakta Tantrism in South India, SUNY Press, 1992.
Complementing Brooks' work in terms of even more expansive explorations of the Goddess' symbolism is Jeffrey Lidke's The Goddess Within and Beyond the Three Cities: Sakta Tantra and the Paradox of Power in Nepala Mandala, D.K. Printworld, 2017. Free PDF at academia.edu and the Internet Archive, but which might not be as rich in images as the D.K. Printworld version.