Path: ultra.sonic.net!news
From: tyagi@arkaotika.abyss.com (tyaginator)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tantra,alt.religion.tantra,alt.religion.hindu
Subject: Seth: Inner Radiance - Sacred Cube Sacred Word
Followup-To: alt.mythology,talk.religion.misc,talk.religion.newage,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.tantra,alt.religion.tantra,alt.religion.hindu
Date: 27 Mar 1999 03:35:04 -0800
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[from sacredlandscape@intuition.org: dmelchert@earthlink.net]

Dan Washburn wrote:
> In meditation on the sacred cube I was experimenting with intoning the
> sacred word.  The three mother letters are aleph mem shin.  Intoning the
> first two gives Ahhhmmmmmmmm, the form of the word OM that I was first
> taught to use in meditation.  Intoning the three mothers gives
> Ahhhhmmmmmmmsssssss, each representing a dimension of space in the creation
> of the universe.
> 
> It occurred to me from your post that this might actually go back to a point
> of origin in the Sumerian/Indian area of the world.  With the sacred
> cube/alphabet appearing in a Jewish offshoot and the sacred word, the Naam,
> the Holy Shabd, the OM appearing in the Indian/Tibetan branch.
> 
> Any more info to fill in the holes?  Sacred words in
> Sumero-babylonian-akkadian culture? Sacred cubes in Indian/Tebetan/Chinese
> thought?

Dan et al:

Sure! here are some quick thoughts based on my own studies, primarily
with the Tamil architect, Ganapati Stapathi, and his Vaastu Vedic
Research Center in Chennai. It differs somewhat from North Indian
cosmology, perhaps most strongly represented by the TM Stapathya Ved
folks.

In south India temple architecture is based on "Vaastu", literally
manifest space. The primordial space is in the shape of the cube, and
all temple architecture (in fact, all pre-modern south indian
architecture) is based on the cube, although they interplay it with the
square in plan rather freely.)

The cube represents Akasha, the element of space (in addition to Earth,
Air, Water, and Fire). Akasha is the first element to be created, the
primordial element if you will. It is created simultaneously with time.
Time and space are essentially one, (just as you might say in Physics
that light has a wave nature and a particle nature, photon and energy).
The expression of space is in architecture, while the expression of time
is in music and dance.

Within the cube dances Shiva Nataraja, an icon I will presume all on
this list are somewhat familiar with. Nataraja is the power of God
within every time and place of the universe. Nataraja performs all
functions and actions, beats the drum of time, yet is perfectly balanced
and still. The cube (and thus temples and all human built space, as well
as the arts) are an expression of the structure of the universe, time
and space.

This vaastu is infinitely small filling every particle of you and me and
the entire universe, and represents the Big Bang of Creation, happening
right here and now in every moment. The temple architect must not only
grasp this with his mind, but must actually experience it for himself to
such an extent that it bursts from him and he is forced to express it. 

Indian mystics speak of Chidakash, the space of consciousness, the inner
heart where dwells the sahasrar and the pure essence of God. It is
akasha in the human.

Regarding sound, I was not taught much on this from GS. However there is
an Australian author, Adrienne Snodgrass who has explored the square,
cube, the five elements, and the sacred mantra Om Namah Shivaya,
interrelated with the shiva lingam, shiva nataraja, the five senses, the
planets and nakshatras, etc. His work is based on a lot of esoteric
tantras, puranas and shastras from India, most of which I don't even
recognize, although he also works from Stella Kramrisch's volumes on the
Hindu Temple a lot. I have a xerox copy from a lengthy treatise of his,
but I have been entirely unable to locate either the book or further
work of his.

A footnote, as I have posted here at other times, I understand that
within the altar room at the top of the Mayan temple of Chechen Itza
there stands an enormous stone cube as well.

I appreciate your meditative focus on the cube. I have experienced it
myself in meditation and my experience was one of awesome power and in
that moment infinite inner authority. Such experinces remind me that
reading and studying alone, while rewarding and inspiring, are shallow
compared to the power unleashed when one is initiated into the intimate
and vibrant truth as it dwells within us.


Some decent related links:

http://www.indiantemples.com/arch.html
http://www.india4u.com/vaastu/vaastu_sastra.htm
http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/narasingha_mj/articles/sacred_arc/sac_arc_1.htm

Best wishes,

seth