The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.s3.20

c9.s3.20

The individual soul is variously called the Bodhisattva (Bodhi Essence), Bodhicitta (Will to Enlightenment), Jīvātman (individual soul) while the Infinite or the Universal soul is variously known as Śūnya Brahma and Paramātman. When they combine in the state of the highest meditation and concentration, an artificial condition akin to deep sleep is brought about, and the deity appears in the mind sky in flashes and sparks. The nature of the Jīvātman being finite, it is not possible to realise the Infinite in its entirety, that is to say, the result of the mystic experience of the Jīvātman also remains finite. And as the object for which the worshipper sits in meditation is different in different cases the deity visualised also becomes different. It is the Bhāvanā (desire) of the worshipper which is of the nature of a psychic force that reacts on the Infinite Energy, giving rise to different manifestations according to the nature of the reaction. The nature of this reaction is of illimitable variety and thus the resultant deity also appears in an infinite variety of forms, and this seems to be the chief reason why we find gods and goddesses of different forms in the pantheons of both the Buddhists and the Hindus. The ascetic who visualises a particular deity, generally makes it a rule to record the process by which the visualisation of a particular deity took place, for the benefit of his disciples in order that the latter may realise the deity in the easiest and most efficient manner.