DEVALAYAS OF BHARAT -
SYMBOLISM OF COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
Yathapinde,Tatha Brahmande [macrocosm in microcosm]
COSMOGENIC CULTURE
In a Hindu temple resides the Nirguna Nirakara Brahmam, the ultimate, formless, and attributeless, along with the lower state Saguna Brahmam or Ishvara or Ista Devata, the changing form of the unchanging formlessness.
ANTARYAMIN & AGAMA-SHASTRAS
The human body is the Devalaya for the indwelling Brahmam(Antaryāmin). The Hindu temple structure corresponds to various parts of the human body- it is His Body. As Shilpaśāstra classifies images into five – Parama, Vyūha, Vibhāva, Antaryāmi and Arcā; Antaryāmi is the inner image held in the being of an intense worshipper- the subtle state of existence of the Divine within our consciousness and within the beings of all substances. The ability is called antaryāmitva.
VASTU PURUSHA MANDALA
The Hindu Darshana relates the proportion of the human figure, Purusha, in an abstract and expansive square form, maintaining energy equilibrium to that of the supreme universal force, replicating its fractal behaviour.The geometry of the Square portrays the Earth, its sides represent Her four cardinal directions. The square also symbolises the order, the completeness and the perfectness of the endless cycle of life and death.
THE BINDU - BELOW & ABOVE
Hidden in a Kalash in the underground of the Garbhagriha of the temple is the Bija[seed]of universal consciousness. A similar one is placed at the top of the temple’s Shikhara above Amalaka, representing the ascent and descent of consciousness, respectively. The epistemic Perspective of a ‘Point'[ Bindu or Nabhi] -having no dimensions yet containing the potentiality of emergence of every form, comes from the perceptions of an enlightened Rishi’s Yogic Chittabhoomi, a blissful fourth state of Turya, created by intense meditative practices.
PRADAKSHINA PATHA [CIRCUM AMBULATION]
Devotees do Pradakshina around the Garbhagriha to understand the macro cosmos by going around its reflection, the microcosm found in the temple.This Dakshinacharam or right-handed Pradakshina around the Darshana of formless Brahman is an act of acknowledging the Cosmos. an awareness of the Anadi (without beginning) and Anantam (infinite)-the astounding universal consciousness, its function of dissolution within creation.
As the devotee do the Pradaskina/Parikrama he utters-
Thani thani vinashyanthi Pradakshinam pade pade
HRYDAYA VISHRANTHI AND GENESIS OF VASTU AND SHILPA
In Bharat, great art was created when artists reached yogic Chittabhumi through intense meditation. The Rishis who wrote the scriptures, the Shilpins who made the vigrahas, the Vishwakarmas who built the temples, the Purohita who performed the rites, and the devotees who came to the temple for Darshana were all regular meditators. Those who could not strike upon this state of high consciousness were given a share of similar experiences through the transmitted imagery of symbolism, sculptures and rituals. The legacy was carried unbroken by the Rajans and Rajni’s of Bharat -The temple as a masterpiece in culmination of all arts was assiduously well maintained with great devotion, renovation and expansion as centuries passed.
The Temple Darshana permeated across the whole mass of Bharatam, from institutions to individuals. Emanating its energised consciousness -be it from the Kalasha,vigrahas, Shikhara-vimanas, Gopurams -it embodied the spirit and soul of impersonal cosmic Infinite in the form of the particular, a structural portrayal of the rare ability of a blissful human state [Ananda] to replicate the infinite multiplicity of Brahman.
Here is an an attempt to re-fashion the totally destroyed base sculptures of Ellora Kailasanatha temple
JOIN RE-SEARCH HINDU
OPEN CALL
JOIN RE-SEARCH HINDU
OPEN CALL
Why is this thread of yogic consciousness broken since 1200 AD without any evidence of further manifestations?
Why is there an arrest of direct experience of yogic chitta Bhumi and its Myriad expressions in Art?
How are we different from Rashtrakutas or Ahilyabai Holkar?
A reconstruction of shattered base sculptures – Kailasa temple
A WARM INVITE FOR SHILPINS AND SHILPINIS
We wish for a reclaimed cultural connection, an emerging mind that can touch the Cosmos and create Miracles with their hands.
With that in mind, we invite Shilpins and Shilpinins of wood and plastic arts, to re-learn and replicate – starting with miniature models of what was known to your forebearers, adhering to the shastras, their perfect Geometry, prescribed in Shilpa Shastras of Kashyapa, Manasara, Narada and Samarangana Sutradhara.