I am intrigued by the concept and use of yantras.I wonder if you could suggest any texts, both books and articles, that could help me appreciate questions emerging from the rationale for their creation. They are described as geometric forms that express the being of particular deities, also understood a cosmic forces, if I am not mangling the definitions. I would very much like to read literature that explores the logic of these conceptions.
I am challenged by questions such as why the creators of those symbols chose geometric forms as different from other visual forms in expressing their conceptions of these forces. Other questions that intrigue me are those of the specific conceptions of the relationship between yantras and what they symbolise. Is the relationship between the yantra and what it represents arbitrary,since the yantra needs to be ensouled by the deity through a ritual process conducted by the devotee,or does the yantra demonstrate an intrinsic relationship with the deity it represents?Is the concept of embodiment of the yantra by the deity a depiction of a process that emerges through the ritual of ensoulment operated by the devotee or does the yantra embody the deity regardless of such a process? In other words, is the yantra's capacity as expression or embodiment of deity independent of the of the human mind, or is there a dialectical relationship between mind, deity and symbol?
What relationships are there between the conceptions of yantras and mandalas, which are also geometric, and the development of mathematics and cosmology in India,along with other cultures influenced by India? What relationships can be developed or established between the cosmographic significance of yantras and the relationship between geometry and cosmology in Western thought, a relationship foregrounded by the assertion attributed to Johaness Kepler a, key pioneer in scientific cosmology, that "In the beginning, God geometrised"?
The material I have read so far describes the symbolism of yantras and how they are used without exploring the metaphysical and epistemic questions emerging from their symbolism.
