The Mandala
Mandala: The Sacred sphere, the Union of Self and the Universe
Definitions of the Mandala
A Perfect Sacred Sphere, a magical, sacred, and
perfected environment, which denotes the order and harmony
of an enlightened mind, and built on perfect wisdom. The
purified circle of an enlightened being, an environment wherein
God expresses Himself through you.
Etymology of the Mandala: a Sanskrit compound word of
manda, which means "essence," and a suffix la, meaning
"container". Thus, mandala means "A Container of Essence" or
"Sphere of the Essence. "Mandala is also a Sanskrit word for
"circle."
A Source of Cosmic Power
A place in which enlightened beings temporarily dwell
during rituals and from this place they empower the initiates. It
is
also called "Sacred circle that protects the mind." A place in
which enlightened beings dwell.
A place where the inner world, called the Self, and the
outer world, called the Universe, get together. The mandala
represents you and the entire universe. The union or harmony
of self and the universe, inner world and outer world; to purify
negativity and avert illness, to increase prosperity.
Mandalas can be used as a focus for meditation or they
can be used as a way of getting to know yourself better. There
are three basic approaches to meditating on your mandala. One
is to try and recreate the image in your mind's eye. This means
that you look at the mandala for a few moments, then you
close your eyes and try to visualize it. When you loose the
visualization, you open your eyes again, and look at the
mandala, and so on. Another is to simply stare at the mandala,
without really noticing it. A third way to use a mandala is to
look at it and let your thoughts wander around the design of the
mandala. This is a method popular in Western tradition. The
first and the last of these methods
make the most use of the mandala.
If you look at your mandala for, say, 15 minutes a day,
the picture is obviously going to affect you in some way. You
can consciously use that effect through carefully choosing your
mandala. If you are involved in a project that you want to make
absolutely sure that you succeed with or you have a hard task
ahead of you (final exams for instance) or simply a personal
problem you want to alleviate, you can paint a mandala that will
help you with that.
The Life Color Mandala that I design for you has a special
significance. This makes it a potent tool. In times of stress,
you can use your mandalas a reality anchor. Whenever you feel
that you are under stress, you simply visualize your mandala
and concentrate on it.
This is where something like radionics would come in, using the
brain and the human nervous system as the tuning device to
establish inner harmony and enlightenment.
Mandalas, talismans and amulets are directly connected
to this telepathy since such magical devices are basically
signatures encoded either as 2 dimensional images (mandalas)
or captured in a mixture of materials or crystals (talismans and
amulets). It may sound amazing but it is complex resonances
that interact to produce specific effects, even back to the
bending of reality to match the desires of the wearer.
The Vedic legends talks about using such patterns and
directing them towards a specific purpose to which it was
tuned, so it would hone in and lock on to the objective then
infuse the pattern into that goal.
From Tibetan rituals to medicine wheel ceremonies to
Jungian therapy, mandalas have been used the world over as
symbolic representations of the Cosmos as it relates to the Self.
Because the word "mandala" means "enclosing the
essence", it therefore is a "sacred circle". Indeed mandalas are
round in shape and they provide us with a magic circle, a
circular and holy ground, a cocoon where we can safely and
efficiently perform self- transformation and cosmic fusion.
Carl Jung observed that, towards the end of a successful
therapy, mandala-like images would appear in dreams and in art
work as if to express an experience of completion: the patient
had become "rounded up", whole and the psyche was unified,
balanced.
Being circles, mandalas are displaying the reoccurring
cycles of evolution and they always tend to appear at the end /
beginning of a cycle, be it individual or collective. As symbols
of the psyche, mandalas continuously speak a language of
centeredness within the personal wheel of life and of self-
integration within the grand scheme of transpersonal realities.
Ceremonies of transcendence tend to settle for a
circular-spherical shape. The megalithic site of Stonehenge, the
Buddhist temple of Borobudur in Java, the American Indian
medicine wheels and the Tibetan Kalachakra sand paintings...
are all mandalas designed to act as wave-guides towards a
"holy center", a vortex-node of transcendence. Moreover, since
circles are the favorite energy pathways in the universe, we can
also understand why mandalas are blue-prints for us the
circulatory systems of light frequencies within the cosmic body.
We must here realize that mandalas are not just a fanciful
or pretty art form, but belong to the larger family of sacred art.
Ancient mandalas have come to us from cultures and traditions
where most aspects of life were considered "sacred" and
specially the use of shapes, images and sounds. Architecture,
art and music were used as ways to bridge over to the
"invisible". Sacred art came about with the specific purpose to
mediate the world of human affairs and the world of spiritual
energies. Sacred art is the formulation of a deep inner longing
within the heart of humanity: the need to reach for, access and
integrate higher dimensional realities beyond body-mind
perceptions.
Mandalas are being rediscovered as holistic tools, sacred
holograms enabling us to activate the inner synergy of
consciousness. Mandalas have the power to come alive and to
involve the viewers in a vision quest. Mandalas are teaching us
how to freely ride the cosmic pulse between the center and the
periphery of Self. Mandalas show us how to swim in the joyful
and bubbling river connecting the source and the ocean.
Mandalas function at first as peep holes but progressively
they become windows and doorways to transcendence, and
eventually the wall itself disappears altogether.
Mandala designs involve a whole technology based on
the principle of frequency and resonance, on a cosmic scale.
The practice of visualizations and contemplation are recognized
as powerful tools to modulate, shift, transfer, and energize the
vibrational signatures sustaining specific physical, mental and
spiritual patterns of manifestation. The ancient use of the
"universal language" of
sounds-colors-shapes-fragrances-textures is now understood as
rooted in the knowledge of frequency-field engineering.
Mandalas can be described as software disks to program
operations in consciousness evolution.
The Mandala symbolizes the Indian shield of good
fortune. With this shield they believed the gods would protect
them. Having a Mandala in their home would bring them
prosperity, health, and happiness.
Carl Jung and the Mandala: "I had to abandon the idea of
the superior position of the ego.... I saw that everything, all
paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading
back to a single point -- namely, to the mid-point. It became
increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the
exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to
individuation. ... I knew that in finding the mandala as an
expression of the self I had attained what was for me the
ultimate". - C. G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Jung also wrote that the mandala is one of the many
archetypal motifs which form the basic patterns of our dreams
and fantasies. But it is distinguished by the fact that it is one of
the most important of them from the functional point of view.
Indeed, it could even be called the archetype of wholeness. -
from Mandalas. C. G. Jung.
The mandalas helps us center ourselves. It is a focus of
the center of personality, a kind of central point within the
psyche, to which everything is related, by which everything is
arranged, and which is itself a source of energy. The energy of
the central point is manifested in the need and urge to become
real. This center is not felt or thought of as the ego but, as the
self. Although the center is represented by an innermost point,
it is surrounded by a periphery containing everything that
belongs to the self -- the paired opposites that make up the
total personality. This totality comprises consciousness first of
all, then the personal unconscious, and finally an indefinitely
large segment of the collective unconscious who archetypes are
common to all mankind.
The Life Color Mandala has an intuitive character and,
through its symbolical content, exerts a wonderful and positive
influence on the unconscious. It therefore possess a "magical"
significance, like most spiritual icons. The life colors are not the
aura, but found in the aura.
They exert and profound effect upon the personality.
Depending on the level of perception, mandalas can be
simple external devices or become awesome magic mirrors:
looking into them we can see ourselves as living universes.
Mandalas can ultimately become a Radiant Presence to merge
with. Mandalas remind us that we are beautifully unique
spheres of Light frequencies pulsating in unison with the Heart
of Life. Mandalas awaken in us the cosmic dancers freely
celebrating the intimacy of the Universe.
Mandalas are profound and powerful icons. They are a
gift from the universe, waiting for us to discover and use.
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