Recognition
The 112 Dhāraṇās
One method per verse, unranked and unsequenced — the first of them is the breath, and the operative verb throughout is *bhāvanā*, which is not imagination.
From verse 24 to verse 135 the Vijñāna Bhairava gives one hundred and twelve dhāraṇās — holdings, placements of attention. They are not staged. No sequence is prescribed, no qualification demanded, and no method is said to be better than another. The text's position is that one of them, entered fully, is enough.
What dhāraṇā means here
In Patañjali's eight limbs dhāraṇā is the sixth: binding the mind to one place, the preliminary to dhyāna and samādhi. This text uses the word differently and more radically. There is no ladder. A dhāraṇā here is a single placement of attention that, if it fully takes, is the recognition — not a rung towards it. That is why the hundred and twelve can be offered in any order to anyone.
Bhāvanā — the operative verbभावना
One verb governs the hundred and twelve, and English has no equivalent for it. It is bhāvayet — the causative of bhū, to be — literally "let him cause to become". Where a Sanskrit meditation manual would ordinarily say dhyāyet, "let him meditate upon", or cintayet, "let him think", this text keeps returning to a verb of making-be. The noun is bhāvanā, and translators reach for contemplation, cultivation, realisation, creative attention — each partial.
The distinction from imagination is the whole point. To imagine is to entertain what is not the case; the value of an imagined thing lies in its not being there. Bhāvanā is directed at what already is, and its work is to attend until what is already so becomes evident — which is why verse 25 says the interval vyajyate, "is made manifest", rather than jāyate, "is born". A practice of imagination would need a verb of production. Nothing here is produced.
Technically bhāvanā is a vikalpa — a thought-construct — deliberately deployed, and the school does not hide this. It is the mechanism of the śākta means as Recognition defines it: a pure construct set against impure ones and sustained until the constructing gives out. A bhāvanā that persisted would have failed; its measure is that it dissolves, leaving what it pointed at. Nor is the word confined to the practical section — verse 20 uses it for the highest condition of all, nirvibhāgena bhāvanā, contemplation without division. One term names both the beginner's attention at the breath and the state in which no one is attending: a claim about continuity, not a looseness of usage.
The first method is the breath
ऊर्ध्वे प्राणो ह्यधो जीवो विसर्गात्मा परोच्चरेत्। उत्पत्तिद्वितयस्थाने भरणाद्भरिता स्थितिः॥
The supreme, whose nature is visarga, rises as prāṇa moving upward and jīva moving downward. By holding at the two places where they are born, the state of fullness is attained.
Three things deserve notice. First, bharitā — fullness — is the word used at verse 15 for the unsayable state of Bhairava itself. The metaphysics of 14–21 and the practice of 24 are joined by a single term: what could not be pointed at has just been given a physical address.
Second, visarga is the sound ḥ, written as two dots, and it is the phonic emblem of emission — the supreme's outbreath into the world. So the breath is not an analogy for the supreme's activity. The text treats it as that activity, occurring in this body, now.
Third, and most practically: there is no breath control here. No ratio, no retention, no count, no effort of any kind. Attention is placed at utpatti-sthāna, the place of arising — the point where outgoing turns into incoming and incoming into outgoing. What is watched is the hinge, not the swing.
Verse 25 completes it by naming the two points: viyad-yugma, the paired voids — the space at the heart where the in-breath ends, and the dvādaśānta, twelve fingers outside the body, where the out-breath ends. And it specifies what to look for: anivartana, the not-turning-back, the interval in which the breath has stopped going out and has not begun coming in. The verb in the second line is vyajyate, "is made manifest", not jāyate, "is born". Nothing is produced at the pause. Something already the case becomes evident.
How the methods cluster
The hundred and twelve are not a miscellany. They group, and the grouping tells you what this text thinks a doorway is.
- Breath and the centresverses 24–34
- The two turning points; the dvādaśānta; the ascent of energy through the centres; the space of the heart. The most-taught group, and the one that connects the text to the whole svara literature.
- Void and spaceverses 35–50
- The interior of the body contemplated as empty; the skull as void; a wide cloudless sky; the darkness of a moonless night; the inside of a well looked into until the looking gives way. Emptiness here is not absence but unbounded room.
- Sound and mantraverses 51–70
- Anāhata, unstruck sound; the fading tail of a struck bell or a plucked string, followed until it is inaudible and then further; a syllable pronounced without its vowel; the humming praṇava prolonged past the point where the sound ends.
- Energy and the bodyverses 71–100
- Kuṇḍalinī as a thread of fire; the piercing of the centres; and the group that startles readers — sensation taken at full intensity as the doorway, including sexual pleasure, and including terror.
- The ordinary statesverses 101–135
- A sneeze. Terror. Hunger. The first instant of waking. The moment before sleep takes hold. Gazing over a wide landscape. The beginning of a yawn. Watching a swing's arc. The sight of someone you have longed for. This is the section that made the text famous, and it is the most radical part of it.
The centre, and its unfoldingमध्य · मध्यविकास
Madhya means middle, centre, the between — the most heavily loaded ordinary word in this literature, used at several levels at once and deliberately so:
- The suṣumnā, the central channel between the two lateral currents
- The pause between out-breath and in-breath; between two thoughts; between waking and sleep
- The present instant, between what is no longer and what is not yet
- And beneath these, saṃvit itself — the centre from which every polarity issues and into which it subsides
The unfolding of that centre is madhya-vikāsa, and Kṣemarāja makes it the key to the whole practical teaching. In his Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya — twenty sūtras, the shortest complete statement of the doctrine — the seventeenth reads madhya-vikāsāc cid-ānanda-lābhaḥ: from the unfolding of the centre comes the attainment of the bliss of consciousness. The eighteenth then lists the means, and the list reads almost as a table of contents for the Vijñāna Bhairava:
विकल्पक्षयशक्तिसंकोचविकासवाहच्छेदाद्यन्तकोटिनिभालनादय इहोपायाः
vikalpakṣaya-śaktisaṅkoca-vikāsa-vāhaccheda-ādyantakoṭinibhālanādaya ihopāyāḥ
The means here are: the dissolution of thought-constructs; the contraction and the expansion of energy; the cutting of the flow; the observing of the beginning-point and the end-point; and others of that kind.
Every item on that list is a family of dhāraṇās in this text. Vāha-ccheda, cutting the flow, is the breath practice of verses 24 and 25. Ādyanta-koṭi-nibhālana, watching the beginning and end points, covers the group that takes the first instant of waking, the onset of a sneeze, the edge of sleep, the arrival and departure of hunger. Śakti-saṅkoca and vikāsa — energy drawn wholly in, energy flung wholly open — are the methods of the senses withdrawn and the senses spread across a horizon. Kṣemarāja is not summarising this text by coincidence: he quotes it directly in the commentary he wrote on his own sūtras. And note the orientation. Most yogic literature points upward, to a summit. The vocabulary of madhya points to a middle — and a middle is available in any pair of opposites whatever, which is why a hundred and twelve doorways can be counted at all.
The places named
- Hṛdayaहृदय · the heart
- Not the organ, and not simply the centre at the chest. Here hṛdaya is the core — the place of viśrānti, resting. The in-breath ends there and the practitioner holds at that ending; but the same word names the essence of a mantra, the heart of the Goddess, and consciousness reposing in itself. The bodily location is a doorway into everything else the word means.
- Dvādaśāntaद्वादशान्त · the end of twelve
- A measure rather than a fixed spot: the point twelve finger-breadths from a given base — which is why the texts speak of dvādaśāntas in the plural, and why Abhinavagupta can reckon a whole series. Two matter here. The external one lies twelve fingers beyond the nostrils, in open air, where the out-breath spends itself: a void with nothing of the body in it to hold on to. The internal one is reckoned upward from the heart to the crown.
- Brahmarandhraब्रह्मरन्ध्र · the aperture of Brahman
- The opening at the crown where the central channel ends: terminus of the ascent through the centres, site of the piercing, and — in the ritual literature — the door through which consciousness is deliberately made to leave the body at death.
Above the mindसमना · उन्मना
The dhāraṇās of sound do not stop where the sound stops, and the tradition has a precise vocabulary for what lies past it. The prolonged utterance of a mantra is analysed into an ascending series of ever subtler phases: bindu, the point; ardhacandra, the half-moon; nirodhikā; nāda, resonance; nādānta; śakti; vyāpinī, the pervading; samanā; and finally unmanā.
The last two bear directly on practice. Samanā is "with mind" — the subtlest condition in which a mind is still doing something, still holding an object however faint. Unmanā is "beyond mind": not unconsciousness and not a blank, but awareness with no mental operation left in it. Every dhāraṇā that says to follow a fading sound until it is inaudible and then further is pointing here. The instruction only makes sense if there is somewhere to go once the object has gone.
The extreme statesभय · काम · हर्ष
The dhāraṇās that startle readers take intensity itself as the doorway: terror, sexual pleasure, the delight of meeting someone long absent, the relish of food, the vertigo of a height, the instant of flight from a battlefield. They are not an appendix. One verse gathers such moments together and says of them simply that the state there is made of reality:
क्षुताद्यन्ते भये शोके गह्वरे वा रणाद्द्रुते। कुतूहले क्षुधाद्यन्ते ब्रह्मसत्तामयी दशा॥
At the beginning and end of a sneeze; in terror; in grief; at the edge of a chasm; in flight from a battle; in intense curiosity; at the onset and the passing of hunger — the state there is made of the very being of Brahman.
Why should extremity work? Abhinavagupta's answer in the Tantrāloka is an argument, not a gesture. Ordinary experience is woven of vikalpa — differentiating thought, the running internal commentary by which a subject holds itself apart from an object and compares, names, prefers. Vikalpa requires slack: room to turn something over. Extremity removes the slack. In sudden terror, at the crest of pleasure, in the shock of an unlooked-for delight, awareness is so wholly occupied that it cannot construct — and what remains when construction stops is not nothing. It is the undivided awareness that was carrying the construction all along. The Spanda literature had said it earlier and more compactly:
अतिक्रुद्धः प्रहृष्टो वा किं करोमीति वा मृशन्। धावन्वा यत्पदं गच्छेत्तत्र स्पन्दः प्रतिष्ठितः॥
Extremely angry, or overjoyed, or at a loss — what am I to do? — or running: whatever state one arrives at then, there Spanda stands established.
Note what is not being claimed. The intensity is not sacred in itself, and nobody is being advised to go looking for terror. The state is a doorway because the machinery has stalled, and a stalled machine shows what it was running on. It is the same reasoning that lets this tradition take art seriously: camatkāra, the catch of the breath at a poem, is the identical suspension reached without damage.
Flash and abiding
Which raises the distinction on which the practical teaching finally turns. Almost anyone can have the flash — nearly every reader of the ordinary-state dhāraṇās recognises the moments they describe, because everyone has had them, and that is the text's strategy. A camatkāra costs nothing and lasts no time.
What is wanted is not a stronger flash but the same recognition made stable, and the difference is not intensity. It is viśrānti, resting. In the momentary case awareness touches its own ground and is at once reclaimed by the next thought, which reasserts a subject and an object. In the settled case it rests there while thought goes on occurring — no longer confined to a special condition. The Śiva Sūtra accordingly describes the fourth state as pervading waking, dream and deep sleep rather than replacing them, and the last of its seventy-seven sūtras names the settled condition pratimīlana: a closing which is at the same time an opening. The bridge to it is unglamorous — abhyāsa, repetition, and the willingness to return to one doorway rather than sample many.
Two ways to work with them
The tradition's practical advice, insofar as it gives any, is twofold. Read all of them, slowly, more than once — because a dhāraṇā that means nothing at one reading may open years later. And then take the one that catches, and stay with it. The text does not reward collection. Its own claim is that a single method fully entered exhausts the need for the other hundred and eleven.
161 verses · commentary on 25 of 161
श्रुतं देव मया सर्वं रुद्रयामलसम्भवम् । त्रिकभेदमशेषेण सारात्सारविभागशः ॥ १ ॥
Śrī Devī said: O Deva, I have heard in full all that arises from the union of Rudra and his Śakti — the Rudrayāmala — and I have grasped the threefold Trika in its entirety, the very essence of the essence.
श्री देवी ने कहा — हे देव, रुद्र और शक्ति के संयोग से उत्पन्न रुद्रयामल को मैंने पूर्णतः सुन लिया है, तथा सारों के भी सार त्रिक भेद को अशेष रूप से समझ लिया है।
अद्यापि न निवृत्तो मे संशयः परमेश्वर । किं रूपं तत्त्वतो देव शब्दराशिकलामयम् ॥ २ ॥
Even now, O Supreme Lord, my doubt is not dispelled. What, in truth, is your real nature, O Deva — is it the totality of sound (the mass of letters) and its powers?
हे परमेश्वर, अब भी मेरा संशय दूर नहीं हुआ। हे देव, तत्त्वतः आपका वास्तविक स्वरूप क्या है — क्या वह शब्दराशि (अकारादि वर्णों) की कलाओं से बना है?
किं वा नवात्मभेदेन भैरवे भैरवाकृतौ । त्रिशिरोभेदभिन्नं वा किं वा शक्तित्रयात्मकम् ॥ ३ ॥
Or is the nature of Bhairava known through the nine-fold division (navātmā), or as distinguished in the Triśirobhairava, or is it of the nature of the three śaktis (parā, parāparā, aparā)?
अथवा भैरव का स्वरूप नवात्मा भेद से जाना जाता है, या त्रिशिरोभैरव के भेद से भिन्न है, या वह शक्तित्रय (परा, परापरा, अपरा) रूप है?
नादबिन्दुमयं वापि किं चन्द्रार्धनिरोधिकाः । चक्रारूढमनच्कं वा किं वा शक्तिस्वरूपकम् ॥ ४ ॥
Or is it of the nature of nāda and bindu, or of the half-moon and the nirodhikā? Is it the unstruck (vowel-less) sound ascending through the cakras, or simply the nature of Śakti?
अथवा वह नाद और बिन्दु रूप है, या अर्धचन्द्र और निरोधिका रूप? या चक्रों पर आरूढ़ अनच्क (स्वररहित) ध्वनि रूप है, या केवल शक्ति का स्वरूप है?
परापरायाः सकलमपरायाश्च वा पुनः । पराया यदि तद्वत्स्यात्परत्वं तद्विरुध्यते ॥ ५ ॥
If the supreme (parā) were, like the parā-parā and the aparā, possessed of parts (sakala), then its very supremacy would be contradicted.
यदि परा भी परापरा और अपरा के समान सकल (अंशयुक्त) हो, तो उसका परत्व ही विरुद्ध हो जाता है।
न हि वर्णविभेदेन देहभेदेन वा भवेत् । परत्वं निष्कलत्वेन सकलत्वे न तद्भवेत् ॥ ६ ॥
For supremacy cannot arise through distinctions of letters or of bodies; it belongs to the partless (niṣkala). In what has parts (sakala), that supremacy cannot be.
वर्णों के भेद से या देह के भेद से परत्व सम्भव नहीं; परत्व निष्कलता (निरंशता) में ही है, सकलता में वह नहीं होता।
प्रसादं कुरु मे नाथ निःशेषं छिन्धि संशयम् । भैरव उवाच । साधु साधु त्वया पृष्टं तन्त्रसारमिदं प्रिये ॥ ७ ॥
Be gracious to me, O Lord, and cut my doubt away without remainder. Bhairava said: Well asked, well asked, O dear one! This is the very essence of the Tantra.
हे नाथ, मुझ पर कृपा करें और मेरे संशय को निःशेष काट दें। भैरव ने कहा — हे प्रिये, तुमने बहुत अच्छा पूछा; यह तो तन्त्र का सार है।
गूहनीयतमं भद्रे तथापि कथयामि ते । यत्किञ्चित्सकलं रूपं भैरवस्य प्रकीर्तितम् ॥ ८ ॥
Though most secret, O auspicious one, I shall tell it to you. Whatever has been proclaimed as the 'with-parts' (sakala) form of Bhairava —
हे भद्रे, यह अत्यन्त गोपनीय है, फिर भी मैं तुम्हें बताता हूँ। भैरव का जो भी सकल (साकार) रूप कहा गया है —
तदसारतया देवि विज्ञेयं शक्रजालवत् । मायास्वप्नोपमं चैव गन्धर्वनगरभ्रमम् ॥ ९ ॥
— that, O Devī, should be known as without substance, like Indra's net (a magic show), like illusion and dream, like the deluding mirage of a city of gandharvas.
हे देवी, उसे असार जानना चाहिए — इन्द्रजाल के समान, माया और स्वप्न के समान, तथा गन्धर्वनगर के भ्रम के समान।
ध्यानार्थं भ्रान्तबुद्धीनां क्रियाडम्बरवर्तिनाम् । केवलं वर्णितं पुंसां विकल्पनिहितात्मनाम् ॥ १० ॥
Such forms have been described only for the sake of meditation by men of deluded intellect, given to the pomp of ritual, whose minds are sunk in thought-constructs (vikalpa).
यह (साकार वर्णन) केवल उन भ्रान्तबुद्धि, क्रिया-आडम्बर में लगे, विकल्पों में डूबे मनुष्यों के ध्यान के लिए कहा गया है।
तत्त्वतो न नवात्मासौ शब्दराशिर्न भैरवः । न चासौ त्रिशिरा देवो न च शक्तित्रयात्मकः ॥ ११ ॥
In truth, Bhairava is neither the nine-fold nature nor the mass of sound; he is neither the three-headed deity nor of the nature of the three śaktis;
तत्त्वतः भैरव न नवात्मा है, न शब्दराशि; न वह त्रिशिर देव है, न शक्तित्रयात्मक है।
नादबिन्दुमयो वापि न चन्द्रार्धनिरोधिकः । न चक्रक्रमसम्भिन्नो न च शक्तिस्वरूपकः ॥ १२ ॥
— nor of the nature of nāda and bindu, nor of the half-moon and nirodhikā, nor divided by the sequence of cakras, nor merely of the nature of Śakti.
न वह नाद-बिन्दुमय है, न अर्धचन्द्र-निरोधिका रूप; न चक्रों के क्रम से विभक्त है, न केवल शक्ति का स्वरूप है।
अप्रबुद्धमतीनां हि एता बालविभीषिकाः । मातृमोदकवत्सर्वं प्रवृत्त्यर्थमुदाहृतम् ॥ १३ ॥
These are but bugbears for children, for the unawakened of mind — all set forth, like a mother's sweet to a child, only to draw them onto the path.
ये तो अप्रबुद्ध बुद्धि वालों के लिए बच्चों को डराने वाली बातें हैं; जैसे माता बालक को मोदक का लालच देती है, वैसे ही यह सब प्रवृत्ति (साधना में प्रवेश) के लिए कहा गया है।
दिक्कालकलनोन्मुक्ता देशोद्देशाविशेषिनी । व्यपदेष्टुमशक्यासावकथ्या परमार्थतः ॥ १४ ॥
Free of the reckoning of space and time, not particularized by any place or designation, that (state) cannot be pointed out; in the highest sense it is inexpressible.
वह दिक् और काल की गणना से मुक्त है, देश-स्थान से अविशेषित है; उसका निर्देश नहीं किया जा सकता, परमार्थतः वह अकथ्य है।
अन्तःस्वानुभवानन्दा विकल्पोन्मुक्तगोचरा । यावस्था भरिताकारा भैरवी भैरवात्मनः ॥ १५ ॥
That state of Bhairava — full and overflowing in form, blissful with inner self-experience, its sphere freed of all thought-constructs — is the Bhairavī (the power of Bhairava himself).
जो अवस्था अन्तःस्वानुभव के आनन्द से युक्त, विकल्पों से रहित गोचर वाली, तथा परिपूर्ण आकार वाली है — वही भैरव की भैरवी (शक्ति) है।
तद्वपुस्तत्त्वतो ज्ञेयं विमलं विश्वपूरणम् । एवंविधे परे तत्त्वे कः पूज्यः कश्च तृप्यति ॥ १६ ॥
That body (of Bhairava) is to be known in truth as spotless and all-filling. In such a supreme reality, who is there to be worshipped and who to be gratified?
उस स्वरूप को तत्त्वतः विमल और विश्व को परिपूर्ण करने वाला जानना चाहिए। ऐसे परम तत्त्व में कौन पूज्य है और कौन तृप्त होता है?
एवंविधा भैरवस्य यावस्था परिगीयते । सा परा पररूपेण परा देवी प्रकीर्तिता ॥ १७ ॥
That state of Bhairava which is thus sung — that, in its supreme form, is proclaimed as the supreme Goddess, Parā Devī.
भैरव की जो ऐसी अवस्था गाई जाती है, वही पररूप से परा देवी कही गई है।
शक्तिशक्तिमतोर्यद्वदभेदः सर्वदा स्थितः । अतस्तद्धर्मधर्मित्वात्परा शक्तिः परात्मनः ॥ १८ ॥
As there is ever an absence of difference between Śakti and the possessor of Śakti, therefore — by the relation of attribute and attribute-bearer — the supreme Śakti belongs to the Supreme Self.
जैसे शक्ति और शक्तिमान् में सदा अभेद रहता है, उसी प्रकार धर्म-धर्मी भाव से परा शक्ति परम आत्मा (भैरव) की ही है।
न वह्नेर्दाहिका शक्तिर्व्यतिरिक्ता विभाव्यते । केवलं ज्ञानसत्तायां प्रारम्भोऽयं प्रवेशने ॥ १९ ॥
The burning power of fire is not conceived as separate from fire. This (distinction) is made only at the level of knowledge, as a beginning for entry (into the supreme).
अग्नि की दाहिका शक्ति अग्नि से पृथक् नहीं मानी जाती; यह भेद केवल ज्ञान के स्तर पर, (परम में) प्रवेश के प्रारम्भ हेतु किया जाता है।
शक्त्यवस्थाप्रविष्टस्य निर्विभागेन भावना । तदासौ शिवरूपी स्याच्छैवी मुखमिहोच्यते ॥ २० ॥
For one who has entered the state of Śakti, contemplation is undivided (from the whole); then he becomes of the nature of Śiva. Here Śakti is called the doorway (mukha).
जो शक्ति की अवस्था में प्रविष्ट हो जाता है, उसकी भावना निर्विभाग (अभेदपूर्ण) हो जाती है; तब वह शिवरूप हो जाता है। यहाँ शैवी (शक्ति) को मुख (द्वार) कहा गया है।
यथालोकेन दीपस्य किरणैर्भास्करस्य च । ज्ञायते दिग्विभागादि तद्वच्छक्त्या शिवः प्रिये ॥ २१ ॥
As by the light of a lamp and by the rays of the sun the divisions of space and the like are known, so, O dear one, Śiva is known through Śakti.
जैसे दीपक के प्रकाश और सूर्य की किरणों से दिशाओं आदि का विभाग जाना जाता है, हे प्रिये, वैसे ही शक्ति के द्वारा शिव जाने जाते हैं।
श्री देव्युवाच । देवदेव त्रिशूलाङ्क कपालकृतभूषण । दिग्देशकालशून्या च व्यपदेशविवर्जिता ॥ २२ ॥
Śrī Devī said: O God of gods, marked with the trident, adorned with skulls — that (state) is void of direction, place and time, and devoid of all designation.
श्री देवी ने कहा — हे देवदेव, त्रिशूलधारी, कपालों से विभूषित! वह अवस्था दिक्, देश और काल से शून्य तथा सभी निर्देशों से रहित है।
यावस्था भरिताकारा भैरवस्योपलभ्यते । कैरुपायैर्मुखं तस्य परादेवि कथं भवेत् । यथा सम्यगहं वेद्मि तथा मे ब्रूहि भैरव ॥ २३ ॥
By what means is that full and overflowing state of Bhairava attained? What is its doorway, and how does one reach Parā Devī? Tell me, O Bhairava, so that I may know it rightly.
भैरव की जो परिपूर्ण आकार वाली अवस्था प्राप्त होती है, वह किन उपायों से, उसका मुख (द्वार) क्या है, और परा देवी कैसे प्राप्त हो? हे भैरव, मुझे ऐसा बताइये कि मैं उसे भली-भाँति जान सकूँ।
ऊर्ध्वे प्राणो ह्यधो जीवो विसर्गात्मा परोच्चरेत् । उत्पत्तिद्वितयस्थाने भरणाद्भरिता स्थितिः ॥ २४ ॥
Śrī Bhairava said: The supreme Śakti, of the nature of visarga (emission), rises as prāṇa moving upward and jīva (apāna) moving downward. By fixing the mind at the two points where they are born, the state of fullness (bharitā) is attained.
श्री भैरव ने कहा — विसर्ग रूपा परा शक्ति ऊपर प्राण रूप में और नीचे जीव (अपान) रूप में उच्चरित होती है। इन दोनों के उत्पत्ति-स्थानों पर मन को स्थिर करने (भरण) से परिपूर्ण (भरिता) अवस्था प्राप्त होती है।
मरुतोऽन्तर्बहिर्वापि वियद्युग्मानिवर्तनात् । भैरव्या भैरवस्येत्थं भैरवि व्यज्यते वपुः ॥ २५ ॥
O Bhairavī, when the breath turns back at the two points of space — within (the heart) and without (the dvādaśānta) — there, through the Bhairavī (Śakti), the very form of Bhairava is revealed.
हे भैरवि, श्वास के भीतर (हृदय) और बाहर (द्वादशान्त) — इन दो आकाश-बिन्दुओं पर निवृत्ति (लौटने) से, भैरवी (शक्ति) के द्वारा भैरव का स्वरूप प्रकट हो जाता है।
न व्रजेन्न विशेच्छक्तिर्मरुद्रूपा विकासिते । निर्विकल्पतया मध्ये तया भैरवरूपता ॥ २६ ॥
When, in the expanded state, the breath-Śakti neither goes out nor enters in, and abides thought-free in the centre, by that one attains the nature of Bhairava.
विकसित (मध्य) अवस्था में जब वायुरूपा शक्ति न बाहर जाती है न भीतर प्रवेश करती है, और निर्विकल्प रूप से मध्य में स्थित रहती है, तब उससे भैरवरूपता प्राप्त होती है।
कुम्भिता रेचिता वापि पूरिता वा यदा भवेत् । तदन्ते शान्तनामासौ शक्त्या शान्तः प्रकाशते ॥ २७ ॥
When the breath is retained (kumbhaka), or exhaled (recaka), or inhaled (pūraka) — at the end of each, that one named the Peaceful (Śānta) shines forth through Śakti.
जब श्वास कुम्भित (रोका), रेचित (बाहर छोड़ा) या पूरित (भीतर भरा) होता है, उसके अन्त में शक्ति के द्वारा वह 'शान्त' नामक परम स्वरूप प्रकाशित होता है।
आमूलात्किरणाभासां सूक्ष्मात्सूक्ष्मतरात्मिकाम् । चिन्तयेत्तां द्विषट्कान्ते शाम्यन्तीं भैरवोदयः ॥ २८ ॥
One should contemplate that Śakti, radiant like rays, ever subtler and subtler, rising from the root (mūlādhāra) and growing still at the dvādaśānta (the twelve-finger end); thus Bhairava dawns.
मूलाधार से उठती हुई, किरणों के समान प्रकाशमयी, अत्यन्त सूक्ष्म से सूक्ष्मतर होती उस शक्ति का द्वादशान्त में शान्त होते हुए चिन्तन करे; इससे भैरव का उदय होता है।
उद्गच्छन्तीं तडित्रूपां प्रतिचक्रं क्रमात्क्रमम् । ऊर्ध्वं मुष्टित्रयं यावत्तावदन्ते महोदयः ॥ २९ ॥
Meditate on that lightning-like Śakti rising cakra by cakra, step by step, upward through the three 'fists' (to the dvādaśānta); at its culmination comes the great awakening.
विद्युत् के समान उस शक्ति का प्रत्येक चक्र में क्रमशः ऊपर की ओर तीन मुष्टि (द्वादशान्त) तक उठते हुए ध्यान करे; उसके अन्त में महोदय (परम जागरण) होता है।
क्रमद्वादशकं सम्यग्द्वादशाक्षरभेदितम् । स्थूलसूक्ष्मपरस्थित्या मुक्त्वा मुक्त्वान्ततः शिवः ॥ ३० ॥
The twelvefold sequence (of cakras), rightly distinguished by the twelve letters — abandoning it stage by stage in its gross, subtle and supreme conditions, one finally becomes Śiva.
बारह अक्षरों से भेदित बारह स्थानों (चक्रों) के क्रम को स्थूल, सूक्ष्म और पर अवस्था में क्रमशः छोड़ते-छोड़ते अन्त में साधक स्वयं शिव बन जाता है।
तया पूर्याशु मूर्धान्तं भङ्क्त्वा भ्रूक्षेपसेतुना । निर्विकल्पं मनः कृत्वा सर्वोर्ध्वे सर्वगोद्गमः ॥ ३१ ॥
Filling up to the crown swiftly with that Śakti, breaking through by the bridge of the raised eyebrows, and making the mind free of all thought — there arises, in the all-transcending, the upsurge of all-pervadingness.
उस शक्ति से शीघ्र ही मूर्धा (ब्रह्मरन्ध्र) तक भरकर, भ्रूक्षेप रूपी सेतु से भेदन कर, मन को निर्विकल्प बनाने पर — सर्वोपरि अवस्था में सर्वव्यापकता का उद्गम होता है।
शिखिपक्षैश्चित्ररूपैर्मण्डलैः शून्यपञ्चकम् । ध्यायतोऽनुत्तरे शून्ये प्रवेशो हृदये भवेत् ॥ ३२ ॥
For one who meditates upon the five voids by means of the variegated circles, like the eyes of a peacock's tail, there occurs an entry into the supreme void, the Heart.
मोर के पंख की रंग-बिरंगी आँखों (मण्डलों) के समान पाँच शून्यों का ध्यान करने वाले का अनुत्तर शून्य रूप हृदय में प्रवेश हो जाता है।
ईदृशेन क्रमेणैव यत्र कुत्रापि चिन्तना । शून्ये कुड्ये परे पात्रे स्वयं लीना वरप्रदा ॥ ३३ ॥
By this very method, contemplation directed anywhere at all — upon a void, a (blank) wall, or a worthy recipient — becomes self-dissolved and bestows the boon (of realization).
इसी क्रम से कहीं भी — शून्य में, (कोरी) दीवार पर, या किसी योग्य पात्र में — की गई चिन्तना स्वयं लीन होकर वर (आत्मबोध) प्रदान करती है।
कपालान्तर्मनो न्यस्य तिष्ठन्मीलितलोचनः । क्रमेण मनसो दार्ढ्याल्लक्षयेल्लक्ष्यमुत्तमम् ॥ ३४ ॥
Placing the mind within the skull (the inner cavity), and remaining with the eyes closed, one should — through the gradual steadying of the mind — discern the highest goal.
मन को कपाल के भीतर (मस्तक के अन्तराकाश में) रखकर, आँखें मूँदकर स्थित होकर, मन की क्रमशः दृढ़ता से उस उत्तम लक्ष्य का लक्ष्यन (दर्शन) करे।
मध्यनाडी मध्यसंस्था बिससूत्राभरूपया । ध्यातान्तर्व्योमया देव्या तया देवः प्रकाशते ॥ ३५ ॥
The central channel (suṣumnā) is situated in the middle, fine as the fibre of a lotus-stalk. Meditating on the inner void (the Goddess) within it, by that the God is made manifest.
मध्य में स्थित मध्य नाड़ी (सुषुम्ना) कमल-तन्तु के समान सूक्ष्म है। उसके भीतर के अन्तराकाश रूपी देवी का ध्यान करने से उस देवी के द्वारा देव (शिव) प्रकाशित होते हैं।
कररुद्धदृगस्त्रेण भ्रूभेदाद् द्वाररोधनात् । दृष्टे बिन्दौ क्रमाल्लीने तन्मध्ये परमा स्थितिः ॥ ३६ ॥
By closing the gates (the eyes and the other apertures) with the hands, and by piercing between the eyebrows so as to block the openings, a bindu (point of light) is seen; as it gradually dissolves, the supreme state shines forth in its midst.
हाथों से नेत्र आदि द्वारों को रोककर, भ्रूभेद द्वारा (नौ) द्वारों के निरोध से, एक बिन्दु दिखाई देता है; उसके क्रमशः लीन होने पर उसके मध्य में परम अवस्था स्थित हो जाती है।
धामान्तःक्षोभसम्भूतसूक्ष्माग्नितिलकाकृतिम् । बिन्दुं शिखान्ते हृदये लयान्ते ध्यायतो लयः ॥ ३७ ॥
Meditating on the bindu, shaped like a subtle fiery tilaka born of the stirring within the inner light, at the crown (śikhā) or in the heart — at the end of its dissolution comes absorption (laya).
अन्तःक्षोभ से उत्पन्न सूक्ष्म अग्नि-तिलक के आकार वाले बिन्दु का शिखा के अन्त (ब्रह्मरन्ध्र) या हृदय में ध्यान करने वाले को, उसके लय के अन्त में लय (समावेश) प्राप्त होता है।
अनाहते पात्रकर्णेऽभग्नशब्दे सरिद्द्रुते । शब्दब्रह्मणि निष्णातः परं ब्रह्माधिगच्छति ॥ ३८ ॥
Absorbed in the unstruck (anāhata) sound, unbroken and flowing like a river, heard in the cavity of the ear — being well-versed in śabda-brahman (the Brahman as sound), one reaches the supreme Brahman.
कान के पात्र (गुहा) में सुनाई देने वाले, नदी के प्रवाह की भाँति अविच्छिन्न अनाहत नाद में लीन होकर, शब्दब्रह्म में निष्णात साधक परब्रह्म को प्राप्त कर लेता है।
प्रणवादिसमुच्चारात्प्लुतान्ते शून्यभावनात् । शून्यया परया शक्त्या शून्यतामेति भैरवि ॥ ३९ ॥
O Bhairavī, by uttering praṇava (OM) and the like with a prolonged ending, and then contemplating the void at its close, through the supreme void-Śakti one attains the state of the void.
हे भैरवि, प्रणव (ॐ) आदि का प्लुत (दीर्घ) उच्चारण कर उसके अन्त में शून्य की भावना करने से, शून्य रूपा परा शक्ति के द्वारा साधक शून्यता को प्राप्त हो जाता है।
यस्य कस्यापि वर्णस्य पूर्वान्तावनुभावयेत् । शून्यया शून्यभूतोऽसौ शून्याकारः पुमान्भवेत् ॥ ४० ॥
One should feel the beginning and the end (the void before and after the sound) of any letter whatsoever. By that void, the person, becoming void, takes on the form of the void.
किसी भी वर्ण के पूर्व और अन्त (उसके पहले और बाद के शून्य) का अनुभव करे। उस शून्य के द्वारा वह पुरुष शून्यभूत होकर शून्याकार हो जाता है।
तन्त्र्यादिवाद्यशब्देषु दीर्घेषु क्रमसंस्थितेः । अनन्यचेताः प्रत्यन्ते परव्योमवपुर्भवेत् ॥ ४१ ॥
By remaining attentive, with undistracted mind, to the prolonged sounds of stringed and other instruments as they fade in sequence, at their very end one becomes the embodiment of the supreme ether (the void).
वीणा आदि वाद्यों की दीर्घ ध्वनियों में क्रमशः स्थित रहते हुए, अनन्यचित्त होकर, उनके अन्त में साधक परव्योम (परम शून्य) स्वरूप हो जाता है।
पिण्डमन्त्रस्य सर्वस्य स्थूलवर्णक्रमेण तु । अर्धेन्दुबिन्दुनादान्तं शून्योच्चाराद्भवेच्छिवः ॥ ४२ ॥
By uttering any whole 'compact' mantra in the sequence of its gross letters, on up through the ardhacandra, bindu and the end of nāda, into the void — through that void-utterance one becomes Śiva.
किसी भी पिण्ड-मन्त्र के समस्त स्थूल वर्णों के क्रम से, अर्धचन्द्र-बिन्दु-नादान्त होते हुए शून्य के उच्चारण द्वारा साधक शिव बन जाता है।
निजदेहे सर्वदिक्कं युगपद्भावयेद्वियत् । निर्विकल्पमनास्तस्य वियत्सर्वं प्रवर्तते ॥ ४३ ॥
One should contemplate one's own body as void (sky) in all directions simultaneously. For one whose mind is thus made thought-free, all becomes void.
अपने शरीर में सभी दिशाओं को एक साथ आकाश (शून्य) रूप में भावित करे। जिसका मन निर्विकल्प हो जाता है, उसके लिए सब कुछ शून्यमय हो जाता है।
पृष्ठशून्यं मूलशून्यं युगपद्भावयेच्च यः । युगपन्निर्विकल्पत्वान्निर्विकल्पोदयस्ततः ॥ ४४ ॥
One who contemplates, at the same time, the void behind (the back) and the void at the base — by that simultaneous thought-freedom there then arises the thought-free state.
जो साधक पृष्ठ (पीछे) के शून्य और मूल (आधार) के शून्य को एक साथ भावित करता है, उस युगपत् निर्विकल्पता से निर्विकल्प अवस्था का उदय होता है।
तनूदेशे शून्यतैव क्षणमात्रं विभावयेत् । निर्विकल्पं निर्विकल्पो निर्विकल्पस्वरूपभाक् ॥ ४५ ॥
One should contemplate, even for a single moment, the region of the body as nothing but void. Becoming thought-free in the thought-free (void), one partakes of the thought-free nature.
शरीर के स्थान में केवल शून्य की ही क्षण भर भावना करे। निर्विकल्प में निर्विकल्प होकर साधक निर्विकल्प स्वरूप का भागी हो जाता है।
सर्वं देहगतं द्रव्यं वियद्व्याप्तं मृगेक्षणे । विभावयेत्ततस्तस्य भावना सा स्थिरा भवेत् ॥ ४६ ॥
O gazelle-eyed one, one should contemplate all the substance that makes up the body as pervaded by space (void); thereupon that contemplation becomes steady.
हे मृगनयनी, शरीर में स्थित समस्त द्रव्य को आकाश (शून्य) से व्याप्त भावित करे; तब उसकी वह भावना स्थिर हो जाती है।
देहान्तरे त्वग्विभागं भित्तिभूतं विचिन्तयेत् । न किञ्चिदन्तरे तस्य ध्यायन्नध्येयभाग्भवेत् ॥ ४७ ॥
One should contemplate the skin-portion of the body as if it were a wall, with nothing at all inside. Meditating thus, one becomes one with the non-meditable (free of all objects of meditation).
शरीर की त्वचा को एक भीत (दीवार) के समान मानकर, उसके भीतर कुछ भी नहीं — ऐसा चिन्तन करे। इस प्रकार ध्यान करता हुआ साधक अध्येय (ध्येय-रहित) स्वरूप का भागी हो जाता है।
हृद्याकाशे निलीनाक्षः पद्मसम्पुटमध्यगः । अनन्यचेताः सुभगे परं सौभाग्यमाप्नुयात् ॥ ४८ ॥
With the senses (sight) absorbed in the space of the heart, abiding in the middle of the lotus-cup, with mind directed to nothing else — O fortunate one, one attains supreme blessedness.
हृदय के आकाश में इन्द्रियों (दृष्टि) को लीन कर, कमल-सम्पुट के मध्य में स्थित होकर, अनन्यचित्त होकर — हे सुभगे, साधक परम सौभाग्य को प्राप्त करता है।
सर्वतः स्वशरीरस्य द्वादशान्ते मनोलयात् । दृढबुद्धेर्दृढीभूतं तत्त्वलक्ष्यं प्रवर्तते ॥ ४९ ॥
By dissolving the mind, drawn in from every part of one's own body, into the dvādaśānta, for one of firm resolve the goal of Reality grows ever more firmly established.
अपने शरीर के सब ओर से (समेटे हुए) मन को द्वादशान्त में लीन करने से, दृढ़बुद्धि साधक का तत्त्व-लक्ष्य दृढ़ीभूत होकर प्रवृत्त होता है।
यथा तथा यत्र तत्र द्वादशान्ते मनः क्षिपेत् । प्रतिक्षणं क्षीणवृत्तेर्वैलक्षण्यं दिनैर्भवेत् ॥ ५० ॥
One should cast the mind — by whatever means, anywhere at all — into the dvādaśānta moment after moment. As its fluctuations dwindle, within a few days an extraordinary state arises.
जैसे-तैसे, जहाँ-कहीं भी, प्रतिक्षण मन को द्वादशान्त में फेंकता रहे। वृत्तियों के क्षीण होने पर कुछ ही दिनों में एक विलक्षण अवस्था प्राप्त हो जाती है।
कालाग्निना कालपदादुत्थितेन स्वकं पुरम् । प्लुष्टं विचिन्तयेदन्ते शान्ताभासस्तदा भवेत् ॥ ५१ ॥
One should contemplate one's own 'city' (the body) as consumed by the Fire of Time (kālāgni) rising up from the place of the foot; at the end, there then appears the radiance of the Peaceful.
पाँव के स्थान से उठती हुई कालाग्नि के द्वारा अपने पुर (शरीर) को जला हुआ चिन्तन करे; तब अन्त में शान्त (स्वरूप) का आभास प्रकट हो जाता है।
एवमेव जगत्सर्वं दग्धं ध्यात्वा विकल्पतः । अनन्यचेताः पुंसः पुंभावः परमो भवेत् ॥ ५२ ॥
Meditating in the same way, in imagination, on the whole world as burnt up — for the person of undistracted mind there arises the supreme state of (pure) Being.
इसी प्रकार समस्त जगत् को विकल्प (कल्पना) से दग्ध हुआ ध्याकर, अनन्यचित्त पुरुष को परम पुंभाव (शुद्ध सत्ता) प्राप्त होता है।
स्वदेहे जगतो वापि सूक्ष्मसूक्ष्मतराणि च । तत्त्वानि यानि निलयं ध्यात्वान्ते व्यज्यते परा ॥ ५३ ॥
Meditating on the principles (tattvas) — subtler and subtler — of one's own body or of the world as coming to dissolution, at the end the Supreme (Parā) is made manifest.
अपने शरीर के अथवा जगत् के सूक्ष्म से सूक्ष्मतर जो तत्त्व हैं, उन्हें लय को प्राप्त होते हुए ध्याने से, अन्त में परा (शक्ति) प्रकट हो जाती है।
पीनां च दुर्बलां शक्तिं ध्यात्वा द्वादशगोचरे । प्रविश्य हृदये ध्यायन्मुक्तः स्वातन्त्र्यमाप्नुयात् ॥ ५४ ॥
Meditating on the (breath-)Śakti, gross yet grown weak and faint, in the range of the dvādaśānta, and then entering the heart and meditating there, the liberated one attains autonomy (svātantrya).
द्वादशान्त के क्षेत्र में स्थूल किन्तु दुर्बल (क्षीण) हुई शक्ति का ध्यान कर, फिर हृदय में प्रवेश कर ध्यान करते हुए, मुक्त साधक स्वातन्त्र्य को प्राप्त करता है।
भुवनाध्वादिरूपेण चिन्तयेत्क्रमशोऽखिलम् । स्थूलसूक्ष्मपरस्थित्या यावदन्ते मनोलयः ॥ ५५ ॥
One should contemplate the whole (cosmos), step by step, in the form of the bhuvanas (worlds), the adhvan (cosmic path) and the rest, through its gross, subtle and supreme conditions, until at last the mind dissolves.
भुवन, अध्वा आदि के रूप में सम्पूर्ण (विश्व) का क्रमशः स्थूल, सूक्ष्म और पर अवस्था से चिन्तन करे, जब तक अन्त में मन का लय न हो जाए।
अस्य सर्वस्य विश्वस्य पर्यन्तेषु समन्ततः । अध्वप्रक्रियया तत्त्वं शैवं ध्यात्वा महोदयः ॥ ५६ ॥
Contemplating, by the process of the cosmic path (adhvan), the Śaiva Reality everywhere, throughout all the boundaries of this entire universe, there comes the great awakening (mahodaya).
इस समस्त विश्व के समस्त पर्यन्त-भागों (सीमाओं) में, सब ओर, अध्व-प्रक्रिया के द्वारा शैव तत्त्व का ध्यान करने से महोदय (परम जागरण) होता है।
विश्वमेतन्महादेवि शून्यभूतं विचिन्तयेत् । तत्रैव च मनो लीनं ततस्तल्लयभाजनम् ॥ ५७ ॥
O Mahādevī, one should contemplate this whole universe as become void, and dissolve the mind in that very (void); thereupon one becomes the vessel of that dissolution.
हे महादेवि, इस समस्त विश्व को शून्यभूत हुआ चिन्तन करे, और मन को उसी में लीन कर दे; तब साधक उस लय का भाजन (पात्र) बन जाता है।
घटादिभाजने दृष्टिं भित्तीस्त्यक्त्वा विनिक्षिपेत् । तल्लयं तत्क्षणाद्गत्वा तल्लयात्तन्मयो भवेत् ॥ ५८ ॥
One should cast the gaze into an empty vessel such as a pot, leaving aside the (intervening) walls; reaching dissolution into it that very instant, by that dissolution one becomes one with it.
घट आदि खाली पात्र में, बीच की दीवारों (आधारों) को छोड़कर, दृष्टि डाले; उसी क्षण उसमें लय को प्राप्त होकर, उस लय से साधक तन्मय हो जाता है।
निर्वृक्षगिरिभित्त्यादिदेशे दृष्टिं विनिक्षिपेत् । विलीने मानसे भावे वृत्तिक्षीणः प्रजायते ॥ ५९ ॥
One should cast the gaze on a region free of trees, hills, walls and the like. As the mental state dissolves, the fluctuations of the mind come to be exhausted.
वृक्ष, पर्वत, दीवार आदि से रहित (खुले) प्रदेश पर दृष्टि डाले। मानसिक भाव के विलीन होने पर साधक की वृत्तियाँ क्षीण हो जाती हैं।
उभयोर्भावयोर्ज्ञाने ध्यात्वा मध्यं समाश्रयेत् । युगपच्च द्वयं त्यक्त्वा मध्ये तत्त्वं प्रकाशते ॥ ६० ॥
On the cognition of two states (objects), one should meditate and take refuge in the middle between them; abandoning both at once, Reality shines forth in that middle.
दो भावों (वस्तुओं) के ज्ञान में ध्यान कर उनके मध्य का आश्रय ले; दोनों को एक साथ छोड़ देने पर मध्य में तत्त्व प्रकाशित हो जाता है।
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