Jnana Sopanam (ज्ञानसोपानम्) - Buddhi Yoga (बुद्धियोगम्)

तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम् | ददामि बुद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते || (Bhag. Gita. 10.10)

Translation : To those who are thus in a constant union with Me, and adore Me with an intense delight of love, I give the Yoga of understanding by which they come to Me - Sri Aurobindo (Bhag. Gita. 10.10)

Thus does Sri Krishna suggest the "Yoga of understanding", Buddhi Yoga to his disciples. This Buddhi Yoga is seen to be manifested in an ancient game of snakes and ladders, known today by several other names like Gyan Chaupar and Mokshapattam. As social systems changed, the game evolved by accepting the changing beliefs and traditions of the "newer societies". The Jain, the Sufi, the Buddhists and Islam, all accepted the beautiful design of the board game, but changed it's content and structure to suit their context. The British also adopted the game and re-designed it as a game of morals and ethics. Their colonies adopted this new version of snakes and ladders as well, and thus was India's age old "mokshapattam" re-christened as snakes and ladders that we play today.

We have re-created a very ancient version of the same under the name of Buddhi Yoga. This design encodes our knowledge of the three main paths to liberation (मोक्ष); tantra (तन्त्र) or gyaana (ज्ञान)(n), karma (कर्मन्) and bhakti (भक्ति)(m).

Fundamental principles of the philosophy of Tantra.

The path of Tantra (तन्त्र) or the Gyānamārg (ज्ञानमार्ग)(m)

Tantra, in the Indian context means a system, a technique, an instrument, a practice. The practices are detailed in our scriptures called Agamas (आगम)(m). In the Tantra (तान्त्र)(adj) philosophy, our thoughts, matter, everything we perceive through our five senses, our nervous system with it’s electrical pulses (नाडी)(f) are all a part of the dance of the cosmic energies, the Shiva and the Shakti.

The fundamental concepts of this "system" are beautifully encoded within the game board. The game board itself is like a "weave" of rows and columns (warp and weft). As the player moves her marker over the game board she almost simulates the actual shuttle that moves between the threads, landing on some and skipping others she weaves her own unique pattern, her signature maybe, on the game board.

Etymologically tan+tra refers to expanding beyond the material realm. Practitioners of Tantra aim to finally attain liberation (मोक्ष) through practicing the highest vidya (विद्या)(f).

The words on the game board are also beautifully arranged to embed within them the foundations of the path of knowledge, and inspire the player to inquire and "insplore" (search within). For example, the cells of gyaana and suvidya are on opposite ends of the first row of vaanaprastha. While suvidya takes the player directly to rudraloka the abode of Shiva, gyaana takes her to anandaloka revealing to her the sat-chit-ananda nature of the brahman. Just above suvidya is viveka. This arrangement reminds the player of the belief in the kaula tradition that there are two paths to knowledge, that of gyaana which is gained through shabda and that of viveka which is gained through insight from within. There are many such interesting patterns on the board game which the curious player can explore.