Gya Mon has contracted with Ben to make an Internet interactive subscription program on the teachings of the Tantras, such as what he teaches at his camps. In Ben's application, 3-D computer graphics are employed to visualize the behavior of the Chakras -- the body's energy centers -- in response to the Tantric postures.

The program is a New-Age Internet correspondence course in Tantric Yoga.

In Ben's office, Gya Mon is present. Together, they are looking at a computer screen.

On the screen, are 3-D computer-generated anatomical models of a man and a woman. They have a stylized look of computer animation. They are apparently suspended weightlessly in a blank space, side-by-side, in a neutral-body position, naked and hairless.

The skin of the characters is translucent -- Major internal organs, significant to Tantric teaching: heart, brain, spine are visible, rendered in the style of biomedical illustration.

Ben gives the computer a verbal command, "Posture of crow."

On Ben's command, they move into together into a "sixty-nine" position in which the man is standing and the woman is inverted, her weight supported by her thighs over the man's shoulders. They embrace each other with arms about the other's waist.

Gya Mon explains to Ben, "In this posture, the energy flow is cyclical from one to the other and back again. It is a regenerative posture with a very rapid increase in energy. The participants are visualizing Lord Ganesh and his consort engaged in Nirvanic bliss."

Ben searches and calls up appropriate images of original, Indian artwork, which he pastes into the background of the scene.

Chakras -- energy centers -- are indicated iconically -- dim when figures are in neutral position. Chakras animate into brightness when the figures assume the yogic position. The animation indicates the flow of energy through the body.

The animation of the exercise progresses to the point in which the participants are excited into profound ecstasy. At this point, Energy flows outward from their bodies, as in Redfern's visualization of external energy flow -- swirling "flames" of "plasma", like those in Steve's sculpture. The energy swirls begin cool, then build in visual heat and intensity. Pulsing waves of energy.

Ben explains his contribution to Gaya Mon, "In the process of creating this work, I have catalogued the postures as a symbolic language. According to my reading, each position has a meaning in terms of the flow of energy through the bodies of the participants. Each posture is like a symbol of an alchemist's chart."

Gya Mon understands, "I have always suspected such! Hindu-Arabic numerals were only the tools. Mathematics was invented by the same culture which invented the Tantras, but most of the knowledge has been lost. In the Asian dance, the gestures have explicit meaning. In the Tantras, the meaning is even more powerful. Each posture in the dance is a symbol in the equation between the body and thought energy. Between the soul and the universe."

Ben is skeptical, "Well, you're confined to CyberSpace in here."

"Yes," Gya Mon changes the subject, "Well, have you also completed the credit card portion of the system?"

"Yes," Ben is slightly annoyed, "And the paperwork should be finished in a few days."

Copyright 2000 Stewart Dickson and Rebecka Dickson