Rudraksha

Gurumayi’s Message Artwork for 2013 is composed of the seeds of the rudraksha tree.

In India the significance of the rudraksha tree is extolled in many of the ancient scriptures. Every aspect of this tree––the leaves, bark, wood, flowers, fruits, and seeds––is auspicious and considered sacred to Lord Shiva. The seeds of the rudraksha tree are described as Lord Shiva’s tears, which represent his compassion and love for humanity.

Devotees of Lord Shiva are known to wear rudraksha seeds around their necks and wrists to support their remembrance of the Lord and receive his protection.

Rudraksha seeds are also made into japa malas for the practice of mantra repetition.

Mandala

The image in the center of Gurumayi’s Message Artwork is a mandala. The Sanskrit word mandala literally means “circular.” A mandala is an image in the form of a circle that radiates from a central point.

The use of mandalas as sacred images has its roots in the Tantras and Agamas, ancient scriptures of India. For eons, sages and yogis have had visions of mandalas in meditation and understood such images to represent the power of the Supreme Self. Drawings and paintings based on these mandalas have been used as tools for contemplation and meditation. Focusing one’s awareness on a mandala is conducive to experiencing the divine within oneself and the entire universe.

Sahasrara

The mandala in Gurumayi’s Message Artwork for 2013 represents the sahasrara. The Tantras and Agamas describe the sahasrara as the seventh and highest spiritual center of the subtle body, the final destination of the awakened Kundalini Shakti.

In the Sanskrit language, sahasrara literally means “thousands of rays of light.” The sages experienced the Supreme Self as an explosion of divine effulgence, and described it using metaphors such as “a thousand-petaled lotus,” or “the light of a thousand suns.” They named the crown chakra sahasrara to reflect this experience.

Dala

The sahasrara in the Message Artwork is represented as a fully unfolded lotus flower with many petals (dala). Shri Guru Gita refers to this realm as sahasra-dala-mandala, “the mandala of a thousand petals.”

Each chakra, or spiritual center, of the subtle body is depicted in traditional yogic philosophy as having a specific number of petals, which symbolize the attributes of that chakra. The thousand petals of the sahasrara are a metaphor for the infinite rays of pulsating Consciousness.

Nila-bindu

At the center of the mandala in the Message Artwork is the nila-bindu, a brilliant blue light the size of a tiny seed—the Blue Pearl. This is the point of pure Consciousness within each individual that is the core of one's true identity—the Supreme Self.

For centuries, references to the nila-bindu were found only in the esoteric language of the Tantras and Agamas and in the poetry of Indian saints. Baba Muktananda was the first to openly and generously give seekers the knowledge of the nila-bindu, in language that was accessible to all, and to impart the experience of the nila-bindu to thousands.

Baba wrote in Play of Consciousness that the nila-bindu, although of infinitesimal size, contains within itself the vast expanse of the entire universe. Countless seekers have shared life-transforming experiences of the Blue Pearl through receiving shaktipat initiation from Baba and Gurumayi.