In this excerpt from the Vijnana Bhairava: The Manual for Self Realization Swami Lakshmanjoo explains a śāktopāya technique for revealing the formation of the nature of Bhairava by means of Bhairavī (Bhairavī means, uninterrupted awareness). How to maintain uninterrupted awareness?
Dhāraṇā 2
Now next.
मरुतोऽन्तर्बहिर्वापि
वियद्युग्मानिवर्तनात् ।
भैरव्या भैरवस्येत्थं
भैरवि व्यज्यते वपुः ॥२५॥
maruto’ntarbahirvāpi
viyadyugmānuvartanāt /70
bhairavyā bhairavasyetthaṁ
bhairavi vyajyate vapuḥ // 25 //
Antar bahir, internally or outwardly (vāpi means “or”), internally or outwardly, marutaḥ, this energy of breath, when [it] is followed by two voids by returning back to two ethers, viyat yugma ānuvartanāt, by maintaining the uninterrupted awareness there–[that] means “bhairavyā”, by means of Bhairavī (Bhairavī means, uninterrupted awareness)–when You maintain uninterrupted awareness in these two voids (internally and externally; there is an internal void and an external void), ithaṁ, by this way of treading on this process (ithaṁ, by this way), bhairavasya vapuḥ vyajyate, the formation of the svarūpa [nature] of Bhairava is revealed (vyajyate).
“Bhairavi” is āmantraṇaṁ.71
O Bhairavī, O Pārvatī, here, You have not to recite ‘so’72 or ‘haṁ’. It is without the recitation of ‘sa’ and ‘ha’. It is only awareness that functions here.
It is why this is śāktopāya. This can’t be āṇavopāya because you have to maintain awareness only, no recitation of mantra. Only you have to [inhale] and [exhale] breath and see where are these two voids.73
DEVOTEE: Between going out and coming in?
SWAMIJI: Between going out and coming in. Here74 and in the heart.
JOHN: In āṇavopāya, there is an object.
SWAMIJI: Because [there is an] object [and] there is mantra also.
JOHN: But there is not an object here.
SWAMIJI: There is no object. It is why it is called here śāktopāya.
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70 Swamiji preferred “anuvartanāt” to “anivartanāt”.
71 Vocative case.
72 That is, ‘saḥ’. According to the Sanskrit rules of phonological processes that occur at word boundaries (sandhi), visarga (‘aḥ’) followed by a voiced consonant becomes an ‘o’.
73 Swamiji emphasized that these are two “voids”, not two “gaps”.
74 Referring to the external point, bāhya dvādaśānta. A technical term in Kashmir Shaivism, literally meaning “twelve finger spaces.” In this case, it refers to bāhya dvādaśānta, the starting point of breath outside (bāhya) the body, twelve finger spaces from the center of the eyebrows.
8 Comments
Kuldeep
May 17, 2017
All said and done. If we remove the knowledge of the word (the labels , like inside / outside / void etc ,) I wonder what questions should had been asked then & how Guru would had explained them.
admin
May 23, 2017
I am not sure I understand your question. This is about practice and awareness, starting with awareness of the breath and the pauses at each end.
john paul patterson
June 1, 2017
Thank you for posting…If its not an inappropriate question: s that Alexis Sanderson in the recording? Please let me know if there are any relevant Devotees who meet on the east coast. I am in the D.C. metro area in Virginia. OM Namo Bhairavaya
rodina sebastian
August 4, 2019
Where exactly is bāhya dvādaśānta?in front of the chest..or above the head?thank you!
admin
August 7, 2019
from the Manual for Self Realization – Vijnana Bhairava, verse 51 (VB CD 03 Track 06 (05:00))
Dhāraṇā 28
yathā tathā yatra tatra dvādaśānte manaḥ kṣipet /
pratikṣaṇaṁ kṣīṇavṛtter-
vailakṣaṇyaṁ dinairbhavet // 51 //
In each and every action, focus your mind in
dvādaśānta. Yathā tathā yatra tatra dvādaśānte manaḥ kṣipet, when you are walking or talking, or doing some household work, or doing any other nonsense act, just concentrate your mind on [any] dvādaśānta. Your mind must hold the state of dvādaśānta in each and every act of your daily routine of life. But this must be held in continuity (pratikṣaṇa). Then, one is born anew. One is born anew in days, not in months. Vailakṣaṇyaṁ dinair bhavet, some days will take place and he will be born anew, he will become new, all-round new.
This is āṇavopāya towards śāmbhavopāya.
JOHN: Both fifty and fifty-one are āṇavopāya?
SWAMIJI: Fifty is śāktopāya. Fifty-one is āṇavopāya to
śāmbhavopāya.
DEVOTEE: How is the area of dvādaśānta found?
SWAMIJI: For instance, I have put the [spectacles] in my
case and I am taking it [out]. Just do all these [mundane] actions in that, in that awareness of dvādaśānta. That state must be held in each and every act, in continuity. If [your awareness] remains in continuity, then you will be born anew in days, not in months. Some days will be . . .
92
DEVOTEE: . . . enough. SWAMIJI: Um, yes.
Vijñāna Bhairava
For this śloka, “kṣanair bhavet” is another reading. Vailakṣaṇ-yaṁ, vailakṣaṇātha, something new will happen to him, not in days, [but] in moments–vailakṣaṇyaṁ kṣanair bhavet.
JOHN: And the other reading is, “after some time.” SWAMIJI: In days, in days, not in months. It won’t take a
month. In a few days, you will get that bliss.
JAGDISH: “Kṣīṇa vṛtter” is the sādhaka?
SWAMIJI: Kṣīṇa vṛtter sādhakasya, the sādhaka who is kṣīṇa vṛtter, whose mind is just one-pointed, who has become one-pointed, [this happens] to him, not to that sādhaka whose mind is not one-pointed.
Wherever you go, if you are talking, put your mind in the center. If you are laughing, put there also your mind in the center. That is to be done. It is not to just only laugh. While laughing, you have to put your mind in the center. While making jokes, put your mind in the center without a break. Because the center, once you have realized [it]–you just breathe in and breathe out and be acquainted with the center–and that center you have to visualize in each and every movement of your livelihood. It must come into your vision. That is . . .
GEORGE: Is dvādaśānta a state or dvādaśānta is the heart? SWAMIJI: No, dvādaśānta is the center, any center.
JOHN: State of dvādaśānta.
SWAMIJI: . . . dvādaśānta.
Yathā tathā yatra tatra, it is not only in the pūjā room, the
meditation room. While walking, while doing any absurd things, dvādaśānte manaḥ kṣipet, the mind must be centered in dvādaśānta. Any movement, in any movement, not once, not twice, not thrice, [but] pratikṣaṇa, in continuity you have to put that mind in dvādaśānta. Then kṣīṇa vṛtter, his mind will cease to function. His mind will cease to function altogether and he will become a new man in some moments, or in a few days, not months. Then nothing is to be done afterwards. Then his everything is there.
The state of dvādaśānta is not only between the two eyebrows, [or] only [in the throat pit], [or] only in the heart.
GEORGE: That center, any center.
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Manual for Self Realization
SWAMIJI: Any center!178
GEORGE: Yes.
SWAMIJI: Bas, you must visualize it. You must keep it in
vision and then put your mind breaklessly [there], without a break, then you will become new within days, or within moments.
Yogeshwari Bhat
July 4, 2020
After every breath there is a subtle pause – void and before exhaling also there is a void. It’s a continued cycle of Hamsa. So you need to be aware about these voids while bringing the mind in dwadashanta.
Namste
Dr. Yogeshwari Bhat
July 4, 2020
Jay Gurudev
Excellent explanation by Swamiji. The human existence have 5 koshas – sheaths and the dwadashant is within the Vidnyanmaya and Aanadmaya kosha still connected with the Manomaya kosha. One need to observe the yoga – unity of the Manomaya kosha to Vidnyanmaya kosha. That is the awareness to be maintained . Our body is within the mind. Bring the mind towards dwadashant so that the wilderness of mind ceases slowly. The Bhairavi and Bhairav reside there in 8th and 9th chakra respectively. Bhairavi in a form of Open ended Yoni and Bhairav as Kushmand.
Like to have interactive sessions 🙏
admin
July 8, 2020
Thank you for your comment. You are welcome to join us for our weekly Saturday Sangha at 8:30pm Delhi time, 8am pracific time. https://www.lakshmanjooacademy.org/event/weekly-sangha-bhagavad-gita-in-the-light-of-kashmir-shaivism/
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