In the construction of a kolam or rangavallam circular knot the design
is normally laid out with ritual intent from a central dot. From this point the entire
grid unfolds concentrically. On this grid the coloured lines of the design are poured
around, in the manner of a meander, or through the dots. The knot that unfolds is held to
represent the material of the universe, the fabric of the matrix of cosmic formation on
every level.The simple grid is capable of indefinite extension,
horizontally and vertically from the primal point. However, the moment the point extends,
the first dimension comes into play. The unity of the zero dimension is sacrificed. This
immutable consequence of expression from the first principle, analogous to the emergence
of space and time, is referred to explicitly as sacrifice in many cosmogonic myths: the
egg cracks, the gleaming serpent glides forth, and the universe proceeds to uncoil into
manifestion. Being is distinguished from non-being.
Yet even at this primal level of manifestation, the poles of the
distinction are so complementary that a clear division is only possible in symbolic terms.
The manifestation of form results by the action of consciousness, or intelligence, through
the motivating power of desire. Consciousness in principle is inseparable from desire, and
vice versa. Desire is the mediating matrix linking Consciousness and Manifestations.
The point of itself has no existence. In linear projection into the
first dimension, it multiplies itself infinitely, as any distance is divisible by an
infinite number of points. This infinite reproductive, autogenerative potency is implied
by the author of the Rig Veda by reference to the pregnant point. The power implied, if
absolute in principle, prior to manifestation, consists of a state of extreme excitation.
The polarization is an intolerable condition. Within the line stretched crosswise between
absolute desire for actualization, and absolute consciousness of the possibility of
manifestation, the One may be compared to a particle of light oscillating between two
inseparable modalities, desire and consciousness: as a photon ricocheting back and forth
inside a crystal, the power which might be said to accumulate would be coherent and
magnified to the degree of the absolute. This would appear to be the implication and image
of the Hymn of Creation of the Vedas.