Photo: Swami Satchidananda and Dr. Paul Hansma develop concept for central light to rest on a yantra in the sanctuary of the LOTUS, 1984.
In the last two installments of this series, we explored the profound presence of the Divine Mother Bhuvaneshvari—She who is the sovereign of the worlds—and how her sacred mantra and yantra became a mystical foundation within the Integral Yoga tradition. Though rarely emphasized outwardly, the Goddess’s mantra and yantra held deep personal significance for Swami Satchidananda.
From Sacred Form to Universal Message
Now, in this installment, we trace how this archetypal geometry expanded beyond a personal symbol into a universal one—evolving into the Integral Yoga All Faiths Yantra and inspiring the creation of the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS), where sacred form becomes sacred space.
Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev) often said that the aim of all spiritual practice is to realize Oneness. This understanding of spiritual nonduality underlies all his teachings. In a 1969 holiday message, he offered a beautiful metaphor to express this truth:
“All is Infinite Consciousness. All that we see is the different states of expression of this Infinite Consciousness. Take the case of the ocean.
It is nothing but water, but the very same water appears as the waves, foam, bubbles, ice that floats and so on. These are all nothing but the
temporary manifestations of the same seawater. It is this spiritual oneness that is to be realized. This is the goal of our life.”
It was this realization that informed his interfaith work as well. After his arrival in the West in 1966, Sri Gurudev quickly connected with spiritual leaders and clergy of many traditions who shared his longing to express unity in diversity. Together, they planted the early seeds of the modern interfaith movement, celebrating the universal spirit shining through every name and form.
The Seed Yantra
As Gurudev continued developing his interfaith vision, he felt that the Integral Yoga Yantra itself could evolve to reflect the inclusivity of his teachings. In the 1980s, he collaborated once again with artist Tim Barrall to redesign the Yantra, surrounding its core with an outer ring of twelve lotus petals. On each petal was placed the symbol of a world religion. Ten petals bore the symbols of the world’s major spiritual traditions; the final two petals honored both known and still-unknown paths.
He explained, “There is one Cosmic Essence. This nameless, formless Essence can be approached by any name, any form, any symbol that suits the taste of the individual. Follow your religion but try to understand the real purpose behind it and experience that Oneness.”
The result of this re-visioning was the Integral Yoga All Faiths Yantra. Though silent in form, it speaks volumes about the universal embrace of the Integral Yoga path. Gurudev told us that this Yantra represents the divine presence on our altars in a universal way. Its essence also inspired the organization’s logo in a simplified version.
A Symbol Becomes a Shrine
But Gurudev’s vision didn’t stop there. He believed it was not enough to merely depict unity—we had to experience it. A flat yantra could symbolize the truth, but a space filled with the energy of that truth could transmit it directly. And so, the yantra became a shrine. A temple of light. A yantra made three-dimensional.
Opened in 1986, the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS)—was the fulfillment of that vision. The LOTUS expresses in sacred architecture the principle that spiritual truth is one, though it may be approached through many names and forms.
From above, its shape mirrors the radial geometry of a yantra. Its dimensions are encoded with sacred numerology: the building is 108 feet in diameter—108 being a number revered in many traditions. One symbolizes the individual soul, zero the Supreme, and eight the infinite. The inner sanctuary is 54 feet across—half of 108—and the dome rises 27 feet—one-quarter of 108. Numbers as vibration. Form as invocation.
LOTUS Aerial View
The entire structure is built in the shape of a flowering lotus, symbolic of spiritual awakening. The shrine is a yantra itself and hidden within its architecture are six more yantras aligned with the chakras of the human subtle body. The shrine thus becomes a living embodiment of the journey from the root to the crown, from matter to spirit.
Just as in the human body there is the kundalini—the spiritual energy that moves from the base of the spine through the chakras (spiritual centers) to the top of the head, heralding spiritual realization—the energy of the LOTUS moves from the base of the foundation to the top spire. The two spiral staircases that wind upward from the ground level to the upper level of the sanctuary represent the ida and pingala, two of the subtle nerve channels. These channels crisscross the sushumna—the third nerve channel that moves up the spinal column. At the points where they intersect, we find the chakras, represented by yantras within the LOTUS.
The Living Yantras of the LOTUS (photos below)
The human body is a temple. The sacred shrine is a body. And the yantras embedded within the LOTUS whisper of both. Just as the ancient sages mapped the inward path through chakras so too was the LOTUS designed as a cosmic anatomy: a physical yantra mirroring the inner journey from base to crown, from earth to ether, from “me” to “we” to “Thou art That.” Within this living yantra, six energy points are honored through embedded sacred geometry. Each corresponds to an element. Each evokes a chakra. And all of them point to the seventh yantra: the LOTUS itself—the thousand-petaled crown where all paths merge into pure Light.
1. First Yantra (Muladhara – Earth): Buried beneath the All Faiths Hall, is a yantra hidden from sight but vital to all that rises above. Aligned with muladhara, the root chakra, it calls forth the element earth. Stability. Foundation. The stillness that holds all motion. Beneath the floor, a container was placed during the Shrine’s groundbreaking—filled with earth from holy lands, water from sacred rivers, precious stones, prayers, and a piece of moon rock. This yantra anchors the Shrine to the body of the planet, reminding us that no ascent is possible without roots.
2. Second Yantra (Svadhisthana – Water): This yantra glows directly above, in the stained-glass ceiling of the lower level. Its flowing forms and crystalline light reflect the element of water, the svadhisthana chakra. Water binds, nourishes, and connects. Here, above the “One World” sculpture, this yantra sings of our shared humanity—like rivers flowing together in a sacred stream, carrying the essence of all hearts toward the vast ocean of divine unity.
3. Third Yantra (Manipura – Fire): Upstairs, on the sanctuary level, the fire of transformation blazes in this yantra, which is embedded inside the center altar. The outer gates of the yantra are open and represent the infinite nature of manifestation; the three gunas (elements of nature) are represented by the circles on the central altar in stone. This yantra represents the manipura chakra and where the inner fire is ignited. It awakens the will to grow, to burn away ignorance, to rise.
4. Fourth Yantra (Anahata – Air): This yantra is the center altar itself, which holds the frequency of anahata, the heart chakra, where love transcends all difference. The bindu (dot in the center of the yantra) is the luminous central light resting on a three-dimensional black granite meru, or spiritual axis. Elementally, it is air—ungraspable, ever-moving, signifying the ascent of love and spiritual awareness.The light rises through this axis like a living flame of devotion, ascending toward the dome and then branching outward in radiant streams. These beams of light extend to each of the twelve surrounding altars, symbolically illuminating every faith tradition with the same divine Source—love shining equally in all directions, from the heart of Oneness.
5. Fifth Yantra (Vishuddha – Ether): Set into the ceiling above is a star-shaped yantra formed from two intersecting triangles, the timeless symbol of upward and downward energy (prana and apana). At its center, a bindu holds the essence of the vishuddha chakra—the space of pure expression and etheric resonance. This space is the ether in which sound is born. Here, the silence speaks. And the unseen begins to sing.
6. Sixth Yantra (Ajna – Light): Above the star, a circular clerestory of windows brings in light representing the sixth chakra the ajna, wisdom center—the center of divine vision, illumination. The element here is light and the capacity to see with the eye behind the eyes. Encircling the dome is a ring of twelve lotus-petal-shaped walls. These petals each cradle an altar dedicated to one of the world’s spiritual traditions, echoing the unity that underlies diversity. The petals reveal the sixth yantra—we’re actually inside this three-dimensional yantra. We are part of the mystical geometry in a sacred symbol inviting the seeker to experience Oneness.
7. Seventh Chakra (Sahasrara – Spiritual Connection) At the top of the Shrine (above the clerestory) a gold spire rises from the cupola, like a beacon to the Infinite and representing the sahasrara, the thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head. This vimanam (cupola with spire) crowns the whole structure, while the spire attracts uplifting energies like an antenna tuned to divine frequencies.The seventh yantra is the culmination and the container of all the rest. It is not a detail within the Shrine. It is the Shrine. To enter the LOTUS is enter the body of a living teaching; to step into a sacred yantra—a portal through which the Divine touches the earth and invites the human to rise and remember its source.
The LOTUS is the flowering of the All Faiths Yantra into form—spiritually rooted in a yantra of the cosmos. And just as a yantra is a mirror of the inner world, the LOTUS reminds us that we, too, are living yantras: each of us a sacred geometry, born to dissolve any sense of separation and to reflect the light of Truth through the unique form of our lives.
What Swami Satchidananda received from his spiritual lineage—from the wisdom of the sages, the light of the mantra, and the silent guidance of the Yantra—he offered back to humanity in this living shrine. In shaping the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine, he translated the innermost truths of the ancient path into a form the whole world could enter. It stands not only as a temple of interfaith harmony, but as the living imprint of a realized being’s gift: the gift of sacred unity, made visible.
