Sri-Chakra: It's Yantra, Mantra & Tantra

Sri Chakra has rightly been regarded as the 'prince among chakras' (chakra-raja). It is the best known and most worshiped among hundreds of sacred designs that are prescribed in the traditional lore. Despite this celebrity an air of mystery surrounds this chakra. Details concerning Sri-chakra have always been looked upon as precious secrets; but there have always been tracts in Sanskrit seeking to explain the details of the chakra, their significance, the way it is contructed and the manner of its worship.

The book gives details of the design itself, the significance of those details, the philosophical framework that renders the philosophical framework that renders the details relevant, the prevailing symbolisms and the nature of the source material have been given.

Vidyalankara, Sastra-Chudamini, Sangita-Kalaratna, Professor-Saligrama Krishna Ramachandra Rao, was a well-known scholar who had combined traditional learning with modern research. Well versed in Sanskrit, Pali, Ardhmagadhi and several modern India languages and acquainted with Tibetan and some European language, ha had written extensively on Vedanta, Buddhism, Janism, Indian Culture, Art and Literature.

He had written more than Sixty Books in Kannada, a Play in Sanskrit, and a pali Commentary on a Buddhist classic. One of his books on Iconography in Kannada has own the state Sahitya Academy Award, as also another of his Book on the Tirupati Temple.

Some of the books he had authored are Encyclopaedia of Indian Iconography, Agama Encyclopaedia, Lalita Kosha, Sri Vidya Kosha, Tantric Practices in Sri Vidya, Sri Cakras, Yantra. 

Sri-chakra has rightly been regarded as the 'prince among chakras' (chakra-raja). It is the best known and most worshiped among hundreds of sacred designs that are prescribed in the traditional lore. Despite this celebrity , an air of mystery surrounds this chakra. It is even classed among things, the knowledge of which should not be made readily available!

While there is considerable justification for not exposing our religious themes to vulgar gaze and to idle curiosity, knowledge about them needs to be made available to the earnest seekers. Details concerning Sri-chakra have always been looked upon as precious secrets; but there have always been tracts in Sanskrit seeking to explain the details of the chakra, their significance, the way it is constructed and the manner of its worship. Initiation into its ceremonial worship is of course a matter of personal commitment to a competent guru, and must be resorted to in the ritualistic isolation that is prescribed.

The present book carefully avoids the details concerning initiation and the actual worship. They cannot become the subject-matters of a book. But the details of the design itself, the significance of those details, the philosophical framework that renders the details relevant, the prevailing symbolisms, and the nature of the source material have been explained here, based on authoritative texts and traditional understanding.

We are grateful to the Indian Books Centre for reprinting this work which has been out of pring for a long time.