THE FORTY-THREEFOLD VEDIC WISDOM

From a Vedic perspective, the immortal wisdom can be summed up by the mathematical formula 42 + 1 = 43. This is presented in the esoteric doctrine called shri vidya, the “glorious wisdom,” which is considered the most authoritative of all the ancient Vedic wisdoms.

In this doctrine, the Veda or metaphysical Logos is conceived as the divine body of para shakti (the supreme mother), who is also known as the mother of the Veda (veda-janini). The doctrine revolves around the study of an esoteric diagram called the shri yantra (the glorious diagram), considered the king of all esoteric diagrams and consisting of these geometric elements:

Fig. 12.4. The shri yantra

· An enclosing square called the bhu-pura (the enclosure of existence)

· Twenty-four lotus petals

· Nine large triangles

· Forty-three smaller triangles, which are generated by the intersections of the nine large triangles

· A single point (bindu) placed at the center of the central forty-third triangle

First, we note that the entire diagram is enclosed in a square. This is a two-dimensional representation of the cosmic cube that serves as the immortal archetype of the Supreme Being. When this cube is viewed along its main axis, the axis of vision, it appears to enclose a cosmic lotus consisting of twenty-four oblique petals. As we have seen, the lotus cube represents an eternal archetype inherent in each layer. Yet each layer is tenfold, consisting of ten harmonic states of consciousness. According to the Vedic seers, the tenth (or largest) state in each layer represents the self of that layer. This is reflected by the great saying (mahavakya), “Thou art the tenth.” It is only when the tenth state is realized that the archetypal form of the self, which has the form of a lotus cube, is realized or remembered.

The nine states that lead up to this tenth realization are represented diagrammatically by the nine large triangles enclosed within the lotus cube. These nine states are represented by triangles, because they contain states of pure knowledge involving the unity of three elements: knower, process of knowing, and known. Threefold forms of pure geometry (triangles) were used to represent the threefold states of pure knowledge that lead up to the realization of the tenth state, which has the overall form of a cube.

Yet the diagram pertains to not only the archetypal structure of each layer, but also the overall spectrum of layers. As we have discovered, the type of knowledge possessed by an enlightened soul is holographic. No matter what its operational scale, the enlightened soul has the potential to grasp and envision the whole, at least in principle. This means that the knowledge regarding the entire spectrum of layers is encoded in the archetypal structure of every layer. In the shri yantra, the overall spectrum of 42 + 1 = 43 layers is represented symbolically by the 42 + 1 = 43 smaller triangles generated by the intersections of the nine larger triangles. More specifically, the forty-two outer triangles represent the path of immortality, and the central forty-third triangle represents the goal of the path. As such, the central triangle was known as the sarva-siddhi-pradha, the “bestower of all perfection.” It represents the forty-third layer of pure knowledge in which the soul becomes identified with the self of the Supreme Being and attains all perfection.

The central point (bindu) at the center of the forty-third triangle represents the pointlike reality of the soul, which is contained within and is ultimately nondifferent from the infinite reality of the self. It is from the point value of consciousness that the infinite value of consciousness becomes known.

The shri yantra thus provides a multidimensional symbol that encodes a wealth of information regarding the forty-twofold path of immortality, the archetypal forms of pure knowledge experienced at each stage on the path, and the final forty-third stage, which represents the goal of the path. It presents a concrete geometric embodiment of the mystical formula 42 + 1 = 43. Yet this formula was not unique to the Vedic tradition. The Egyptian and Hebrew sages used the same mystical formula to encode their own versions of the immortal wisdom.