Svarodaya

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.

Vijñāna Bhairava 24

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 unfolding of that centre is madhya-vikāsa, and Kṣemarāja (c. 1000–1050), Abhinavagupta's pupil, 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.

Kṣemarāja, Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya 18

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 (c. 975–1025) 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.

Vijñāna Bhairava, among the dhāraṇās of the ordinary states

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 — the ninth-century Kashmirian verses that stand behind the whole Pratyabhijñā development — 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.

Spanda Kārikā 22 — the numbering differs between recensions

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.

It is worth knowing how thin the commentarial guidance actually is. Kṣemarāja began an Uddyota on the Vijñāna Bhairava and carried it only a few verses in, so that the metaphysical opening has an early Kashmirian exposition and the hundred and twelve do not. The running gloss on the individual dhāraṇās that most readers now use is the Vivṛti of Śivopādhyāya, generally placed in the eighteenth century — some seven hundred years after the school that produced the text. Where a modern book reports what "the tradition" says a particular dhāraṇā means, the source of that reading is very often Śivopādhyāya, and it is a late reading rather than a suppressed early one.

161 verses · page 2 of 3

61

भावे न्यक्ते निरुद्धा चिन्नैव भावान्तरं व्रजेत्‌ । तदा तन्मध्यभावेन विकसत्यति भावना ॥ ६१ ॥

When an object is set aside, the restrained mind should not be allowed to pass to another object; then, by that intervening (middle) state, contemplation unfolds in full.

जब एक भाव (विषय) हटा दिया जाए, तब निरुद्ध चित्त को दूसरे भाव में न जाने दे; तब उस मध्य-भाव के द्वारा भावना अत्यन्त विकसित हो जाती है।

62

सर्वं देहं चिन्मयं हि जगद् वा परिभावयेत्‌ । युगपन्निर्विकल्पेन मनसा परमोदयः ॥ ६२ ॥

One should contemplate the whole body — or indeed the world — as nothing but consciousness; with the mind simultaneously made thought-free, there comes the supreme dawning.

समस्त देह को, अथवा जगत् को, चिन्मय (केवल चैतन्य रूप) ही भावित करे; युगपत् निर्विकल्प मन से परम उदय होता है।

63

सर्वं जगत्स्वदेहं वा स्वानन्दभरितं स्मरेत्‌ । युगपत्स्वामृतेनैव परानन्दमयो भवेत्‌ ॥ ६३ ॥

One should remember the whole world, or one's own body, as filled with one's own bliss; by one's own nectar, all at once, one becomes full of supreme bliss.

समस्त जगत् को, अथवा अपने शरीर को, अपने आनन्द से परिपूर्ण स्मरण करे; अपने ही अमृत के द्वारा एक साथ साधक परानन्दमय हो जाता है।

64

वायुद्वयस्य संघट्टादन्तर्वा बहिरन्ततः । योगी समत्वविज्ञानसमुद्गमनभाजनम्‌ ॥ ६४ ॥

Through the union (saṃghaṭṭa) of the two breaths — at the inner end or at the outer end — the yogī becomes a vessel for the upsurge of the knowledge of equality (samatva).

दोनों वायुओं (प्राण और अपान) के संघट्ट (मिलन) से — भीतर के अन्त में अथवा बाहर के अन्त में — योगी समत्व-विज्ञान के उद्गम का भाजन (पात्र) बन जाता है।

65

कुहनेन प्रयोगेण सद्य एव मृगेक्षणे । समुद्देति महानन्दो येन तत्त्वं प्रकाशते ॥ ६५ ॥

O gazelle-eyed one, by a make-believe device (such as tickling, a sudden feigned act), at once a great bliss arises through which the Reality shines forth.

हे मृगनयनी, किसी कुहन (बनावटी, हास्यजनक) प्रयोग से तत्काल ही महान् आनन्द उमड़ आता है, जिससे तत्त्व प्रकाशित हो जाता है।

66

सर्वस्रोतोनिबन्धेन प्राणशक्त्योर्ध्वया शनैः । पिपीलस्पर्शवेलायां प्रथते परमं सुखम्‌ ॥ ६६ ॥

By blocking all the passages (of the senses), as the prāṇa-Śakti rises slowly upward, at the moment of an ant-like creeping touch, supreme happiness spreads out.

समस्त स्रोतों (इन्द्रिय-द्वारों) के निरोध से, प्राण-शक्ति के धीरे-धीरे ऊपर उठने पर, चींटी के रेंगने जैसे स्पर्श के समय परम सुख फैल जाता है।

67

वह्निविषस्य मध्ये तु चित्तं सुखमयं क्षिपेत्‌ । केवलं वायुपूर्णं वा स्मरानन्देन युज्यते ॥ ६७ ॥

One should cast the blissful mind into the middle of 'fire' and 'poison' (the burning and the numbing), or, with the mind filled with breath alone, one is united with the bliss of love.

सुखमय चित्त को वह्नि (अग्नि) और विष के मध्य में फेंके, अथवा केवल वायु से पूर्ण चित्त को रखे; इससे साधक स्मर (काम) के आनन्द से युक्त हो जाता है।

68

शक्तिसंगमसंक्षुब्धशक्त्यावेशावसानिकम्‌ । यत्सुखं ब्रह्मतत्त्वस्य तत्सुखं स्वाक्यमुच्यते ॥ ६८ ॥

The happiness of the Brahman-Reality that comes at the culmination of the absorption stirred up by union with Śakti — that happiness is declared to be one's very own.

शक्ति के संगम से क्षुब्ध हुए शक्त्यावेश की परिणति में ब्रह्म-तत्त्व का जो सुख होता है, वह सुख अपना ही (स्वकीय) कहा जाता है।

69

लेहनामन्थनाकोटैः स्त्रीसुखस्य भरात्स्मृतेः । शक्त्यभावेऽपि देवेशि भवेदानन्दसम्प्लवः ॥ ६९ ॥

O Mistress of the gods, by the intense remembrance of the joy of union (its caresses and stirrings), even in the absence of the (actual) Śakti, there arises a flood of bliss.

हे देवेशि, मिलन के सुख की चुम्बन-आलिंगन आदि क्रियाओं की प्रगाढ़ स्मृति से, शक्ति (संगिनी) के अभाव में भी, आनन्द का सम्प्लव (बाढ़) उठ आता है।

70

आनन्दे महति प्राप्ते दृष्टे वा बान्धवे चिरात्‌ । आनन्दमुद्गतं ध्यात्वा तल्लयस्तन्मना भवेत्‌ ॥ ७० ॥

When a great joy is attained, or a kinsman is seen after a long time, meditating on the joy that wells up, one dissolves into it and becomes of one mind with it.

महान् आनन्द के प्राप्त होने पर, अथवा बहुत समय बाद किसी बन्धु के दिखाई देने पर, उमड़ते आनन्द का ध्यान कर, उसी में लीन होकर साधक तन्मय हो जाता है।

71

जग्धिपानकृतोल्लासरसानन्दविजृम्भणात्‌ । भावयेद्भरितावस्थां महानन्दस्ततो भवेत्‌ ॥ ७१ ॥

By the expansion of the juice of bliss and delight produced by eating and drinking, one should contemplate the state of fullness; thereupon great bliss arises.

भोजन और पान से उत्पन्न उल्लास-रस के आनन्द के विजृम्भण (प्रसार) से परिपूर्ण अवस्था की भावना करे; तब महान् आनन्द प्राप्त होता है।

72

गीतादिविषयास्वादासमसौख्यैकतात्मनः । योगिनस्तन्मयत्वेन मनोरूढेस्तदात्मता ॥ ७२ ॥

For the yogī who has become one with the unequalled happiness of relishing music and other (delights), through identity with it, as the mind ascends, there comes oneness with That.

संगीत आदि विषयों के आस्वाद के अनुपम सुख से एकात्म हुए योगी की, तन्मयता के द्वारा मन के आरूढ़ होने पर, उस (परम) से तादात्म्यता हो जाती है।

73

यत्र यत्र मनस्तुष्टिर्मनस्तत्रैव धारयेत्‌ । तत्र तत्र परानन्दस्वरूपं संप्रवर्तते ॥ ७३ ॥

Wherever the mind finds its satisfaction, there one should hold the mind; there and there the very nature of supreme bliss unfolds.

जहाँ-जहाँ मन को सन्तोष (तुष्टि) मिले, वहीं-वहीं मन को धारण करे; वहाँ-वहाँ परानन्द का स्वरूप प्रकट हो जाता है।

74

अनागतायां निद्रायां प्रणष्टे बाह्यगोचरे । सावस्था मनसा गम्या परा देवी प्रकाशते ॥ ७४ ॥

When sleep has not yet arrived and the outer sphere of objects has disappeared — that state, accessible to the mind, reveals the supreme Goddess.

जब निद्रा अभी आई न हो और बाह्य विषय-जगत् लुप्त हो गया हो, वह अवस्था मन के द्वारा गम्य है; उसमें परा देवी प्रकाशित होती है।

75

तेजसा सूर्यदीपादेराकाशे शबलीकृते । दृष्टिर्निवेश्या तत्रैव स्वात्मरूपं प्रकाशते ॥ ७५ ॥

When space has been made variegated (dappled) by the light of the sun, a lamp and the like, the gaze should be fixed there; right there one's own Self-nature shines forth.

सूर्य, दीप आदि के तेज से आकाश के शबल (चित्र-विचित्र) हो जाने पर, वहीं दृष्टि को स्थापित करे; उसी में अपना आत्म-स्वरूप प्रकाशित होता है।

76

करङ्किण्या क्रोधनया भैरव्या लेलिहानया । खेचर्या दृष्टिकाले च परावाप्तिः प्रकाशते ॥ ७६ ॥

Through (the mudrās) Karaṅkiṇī, Krodhanā, Bhairavī, Lelihānā and Khecarī, at the time of the (steady) gaze, the attainment of the Supreme is made manifest.

करङ्किणी, क्रोधना, भैरवी, लेलिहाना और खेचरी (मुद्राओं) के द्वारा, (स्थिर) दृष्टि के समय परावाप्ति (परम की प्राप्ति) प्रकाशित होती है।

77

मृद्वासन स्फिजैकेन हस्तपादौ निराश्रयम्‌ । निधाय तत्प्रसङ्गेन परा पूर्णा मतिर्भवेत्‌ ॥ ७७ ॥

On a soft seat, resting on a single buttock with the hands and feet left unsupported, by continuing in that (posture) the intelligence becomes supremely full.

मृदु आसन पर एक नितम्ब के सहारे, हाथ-पैर निराश्रय रखकर — उस स्थिति के अभ्यास से बुद्धि परा (पूर्ण) हो जाती है।

78

उपविश्यासने सम्यग्बाहू कृत्वार्धकुञ्चितौ । कक्षव्योम्नि मनः कुर्वन्शममायाति तल्लयम्‌ ॥ ७८ ॥

Seated properly on a seat, with the arms held half-bent, fixing the mind in the void of the armpits (the heart-space), the mind comes to peace, dissolving there.

आसन पर भली-भाँति बैठकर, दोनों भुजाओं को अर्धकुंचित कर, कक्ष (बगल) के आकाश में मन को लगाने से, मन शान्ति को प्राप्त होकर उसी में लीन हो जाता है।

79

स्थूलरूपस्य भावस्य स्तब्धां दृष्टिं निपात्य च । अचिरेण निराधारं मनः कृत्वा शिवं व्रजेत्‌ ॥ ७९ ॥

Casting a fixed, unblinking gaze upon some gross object, and quickly making the mind supportless (free of that object), one goes to Śiva.

किसी स्थूल वस्तु पर स्तब्ध (निश्चल) दृष्टि डालकर, शीघ्र ही मन को निराधार बना कर, साधक शिव को प्राप्त हो जाता है।

80

मध्यजिह्वे स्फारितास्ये मध्ये निक्षिप्य चेतनाम्‌ । होच्चारं मनसा कुर्वंस्ततः शान्ते प्रलीयते ॥ ८० ॥

With the tongue turned to the middle (the palate) and the mouth held open, casting the awareness into the centre, and mentally making the sound 'HA', one is then dissolved into the Peaceful.

जिह्वा को मध्य (तालु) में लगाकर, मुख को खुला रखकर, मध्य में चेतना को रखकर, मन से 'ह' का उच्चारण करते हुए, साधक शान्त में लीन हो जाता है।

81

आसने शयने स्थित्वा निराधारं विभावयन्‌ । स्वदेहं मनसि क्षीणे क्षणात्क्षीणाशयो भवेत्‌ ॥ ८१ ॥

Whether seated or lying down, contemplating one's own body as supportless, as the mind becomes attenuated, in a moment one's (latent) residues are attenuated.

आसन पर या शय्या पर स्थित होकर, अपने शरीर को निराधार भावित करे; मन के क्षीण होने पर, क्षण भर में साधक के (वासना-) आशय क्षीण हो जाते हैं।

82

चलासने स्थितस्याथ शनैर्वा देहचालनात्‌ । प्रशान्ते मानसे भावे देवि दिव्यौघमाप्नुयात्‌ ॥ ८२ ॥

For one seated on a moving seat (a swing or a moving vehicle), or by gently swaying the body, when the mental state has grown wholly calm, O Goddess, one attains the divine flow (of consciousness).

हिलते हुए आसन (वाहन आदि) पर बैठे हुए, अथवा धीरे-धीरे शरीर को हिलाने से, मानसिक भाव के प्रशान्त हो जाने पर, हे देवि, साधक दिव्य प्रवाह को प्राप्त करता है।

83

लीनं मूर्ध्नि वियत्सर्वं खत्वेन भावयेत्‌ । तत्सर्वं भैरवाकारं तेजस्तत्त्वं समाविशेत्‌ ॥ ८३ ॥

One should contemplate the whole void as dissolved in the head, as mere voidness (sky-nature); then that all, having the form of Bhairava, enters the Reality of Light.

समस्त आकाश (शून्य) को मूर्धा (मस्तक) में लीन हुआ, केवल शून्यता रूप में भावित करे; तब वह सब भैरवाकार होकर तेज-तत्त्व में समाविष्ट हो जाता है।

84

किञ्चिज्ज्ञातं द्वैतदायि बाह्यालोकस्तमः पुनः । विश्वादि भैरवं रूपं ज्ञात्वानन्तप्रकाशभृत्‌ ॥ ८४ ॥

The little that is known produces duality — outer light, and then darkness. Knowing the universe and all else as the very form of Bhairava, one becomes a bearer of infinite light.

जो कुछ थोड़ा जाना जाता है वह द्वैत उत्पन्न करता है — बाह्य प्रकाश, और फिर अन्धकार। विश्व आदि को भैरव का रूप जानकर साधक अनन्त प्रकाश का धारक हो जाता है।

85

एवमेव दुर्निशायां कृष्णपक्षागमे चिरम्‌ । तैमिरं भावयन्रूपं भैरवं रूपमेष्यति ॥ ८५ ॥

In the very same way, on a dark night in the coming of the dark fortnight, contemplating the inky blackness for a long while, one reaches the form of Bhairava.

इसी प्रकार, कृष्णपक्ष के आगमन में, घोर अन्धकार वाली रात्रि में, बहुत देर तक उस तिमिर (अन्धकार) रूप का ध्यान करते हुए, साधक भैरव रूप को प्राप्त कर लेता है।

86

एवमेव निमील्यादौ नेत्रे कृष्णाभमग्रतः । प्रसार्य भैरवं रूपं भावयंस्तन्मयो भवेत्‌ ॥ ८६ ॥

In the same way, closing the eyes at the start and finding inky blackness before oneself, spreading out the Bhairava-form upon it and contemplating it, one becomes one with it.

इसी प्रकार, आँखें मूँदकर सामने काले अन्धकार को (देखकर), उस पर भैरव रूप को फैलाकर भावना करते हुए, साधक तन्मय हो जाता है।

87

यस्य कस्येन्द्रियस्यापि व्याघातात्तु निरोधतः । प्रविष्टस्याद्वये शून्ये तत्रैवात्मा प्रकाशते ॥ ८७ ॥

By the obstruction — that is, the restraint — of any one of the senses whatsoever, for one who has thereby entered the non-dual void, the Self shines forth right there.

किसी भी एक इन्द्रिय के व्याघात (अवरोध) अर्थात् निरोध से, अद्वय शून्य में प्रविष्ट हुए साधक का आत्मा वहीं प्रकाशित होता है।

88

अबिन्दुमविसर्गं च अकारं जपतो महान्‌ । उदेति देवि सहसा ज्ञानौघः परमेश्वरः ॥ ८८ ॥

For one who recites the letter 'A' without bindu and without visarga, there suddenly arises, O Goddess, a great flood of knowledge — the Supreme Lord himself.

बिन्दु और विसर्ग से रहित 'अ' कार का जप करने वाले के भीतर, हे देवि, सहसा महान् ज्ञान का ओघ (प्रवाह) — परमेश्वर — उदित हो जाता है।

89

वर्णस्य सविसर्गस्य विसर्गान्तं चितिं कुरु । निराधारेण चित्तेन स्पृशेद्ब्रह्म सनातनम्‌ ॥ ८९ ॥

Carry the cognition (citi) up to the very end of the visarga of a letter that has visarga; with a supportless mind one then touches the eternal Brahman.

विसर्ग सहित किसी वर्ण के विसर्ग के अन्त तक चिति (बोध) को ले जाए; निराधार चित्त से साधक सनातन ब्रह्म का स्पर्श कर लेता है।

90

व्योमाकारं स्वमात्मानं ध्यायेद्दिग्भिरनावृतम्‌ । निराश्रया चितिः शक्तिः स्वरूपं दर्शयेत्तदा ॥ ९० ॥

One should meditate on one's own Self as having the form of space, unenclosed by any of the directions; then the supportless power of consciousness reveals one's own true nature.

अपने आत्मा को आकाश के समान, दिशाओं से अनावृत (असीम) ध्याए; तब निराश्रय चिति-शक्ति अपना स्वरूप प्रकट कर देती है।

91

किञ्चिदङ्गं विभिद्यादौ तीक्ष्णसूच्यादिना ततः । तत्रैव चेतनां युक्त्वा भैरवे निर्मला गतिः ॥ ९१ ॥

Piercing at first some limb (of the body) with a sharp needle or the like, and then joining the awareness to that very point, the pure goal is reached in Bhairava.

पहले किसी अंग को तीक्ष्ण सूई आदि से बेधकर, फिर वहीं चेतना को लगाकर — भैरव में निर्मल गति (प्राप्ति) होती है।

92

चित्ताद्यन्तःकृतिर्नास्ति ममान्तर्भावयेदिति । विकल्पानामभावेन विकल्पैरुज्झितो भवेत्‌ ॥ ९२ ॥

One should contemplate thus: 'Within me there is no inner instrument such as mind (citta).' By the absence of thought-constructs, one becomes freed of all thoughts.

'मेरे भीतर चित्त आदि अन्तःकरण है ही नहीं' — ऐसी भावना करे। विकल्पों के अभाव से साधक विकल्पों से रहित (मुक्त) हो जाता है।

93

माया विमोहिनी नाम कलायाः कलनं स्थितम्‌ । इत्यादिधर्मं तत्त्वानां कलयन्पृथग्भवेत्‌ ॥ ९३ ॥

'Māyā, the deluder, consists in the holding-fast (kalana) of limited power (kalā).' Reflecting that such are the (binding) attributes of the tattvas, one stands apart (free) from them.

'विमोहिनी माया (परिमित) कला का कलन (सीमित करना) ही है' — इत्यादि तत्त्वों के धर्म का विवेचन करता हुआ साधक उनसे पृथक् (मुक्त) हो जाता है।

94

झगितीच्छां समुत्पन्नामवलोक्य शमं नयेत्‌ । यत एव समुद्भूता ततस्तत्रैव लीयते ॥ ९४ ॥

Observing a desire as soon as it suddenly arises, one should bring it to rest; from the very source out of which it sprang up, there itself it dissolves.

सहसा उत्पन्न हुई इच्छा को देखकर उसे शान्त कर दे; जिस (स्रोत) से वह उठी है, उसी में वह लीन हो जाती है।

95

यदा ममेच्छा नोत्पन्ना ज्ञानं वा कस्तदास्मि वै । तत्त्वतोऽहं तथाभूतस्तल्लीनस्तन्मना भवेत्‌ ॥ ९५ ॥

'When neither desire nor knowledge of mine has arisen, who, in fact, am I then?' Being in truth That (pure awareness), dissolved in it, one becomes of one mind with it.

'जब मेरी न इच्छा उत्पन्न हुई है, न ज्ञान, तब मैं वस्तुतः कौन हूँ?' — तत्त्वतः वही (शुद्ध चैतन्य) होकर, उसमें लीन होकर साधक तन्मय हो जाता है।

96

इच्छायामथवा ज्ञाने जाते चित्तं निवेशयेत्‌ । आत्मबुद्ध्यानन्यचेतास्ततस्तत्त्वार्थदर्शनम्‌ ॥ ९६ ॥

When a desire or a cognition has arisen, one should fix the mind (upon its very root); with self-awareness and an undistracted mind, there then comes the vision of the Reality.

इच्छा अथवा ज्ञान के उत्पन्न होने पर चित्त को (उसके मूल में) स्थापित करे; आत्म-बुद्धि से अनन्यचित्त होकर, तब तत्त्वार्थ का दर्शन होता है।

97

निर्निमित्तं भवेज्ज्ञानं निराधारं भ्रमात्मकम्‌ । तत्त्वतः कस्यचिन्नैतदेवम्भावी शिवः प्रिये ॥ ९७ ॥

Knowledge may arise without cause, without support, illusory in nature; in truth it belongs to no one (no object). One who realizes it thus, O dear, is Śiva.

ज्ञान निर्निमित्त (अकारण), निराधार और भ्रमात्मक हो सकता है; तत्त्वतः यह किसी का (किसी विषय का) नहीं है — हे प्रिये, ऐसा जानने वाला (भावना करने वाला) शिव है।

98

चिद्धर्मा सर्वदेहेषु विशेषो नास्ति कुत्रचित्‌ । अतश्च तन्मयं सर्वं भावयन्भवजिज्जनः ॥ ९८ ॥

Consciousness (cit) is the essential nature in all bodies; there is no distinction anywhere. Therefore, contemplating everything as filled with that (consciousness), a person conquers becoming (saṃsāra).

समस्त शरीरों में चिति ही धर्म (स्वरूप) है; कहीं कोई भेद नहीं है। अतः सब कुछ उसी (चैतन्य) से तन्मय भावित करता हुआ मनुष्य संसार को जीत लेता है।

99

कामक्रोधलोभमोहमदमात्सर्यगोचरे । बुद्धिं निस्तिमितां कृत्वा तत्तत्त्वमवशिष्यते ॥ ९९ ॥

Making the intellect motionless in the very sphere of desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride and jealousy, that Reality alone remains.

काम, क्रोध, लोभ, मोह, मद और मात्सर्य के क्षेत्र में बुद्धि को निस्तिमित (निश्चल) बनाने पर, केवल वह तत्त्व ही शेष रह जाता है।

100

इन्द्रजालमयं विश्वं व्यस्तं वा चित्रकर्मवत्‌ । भ्रमद्वा ध्यायतः सर्वं पश्यतश्च सुखोद्गमः ॥ १०० ॥

The universe is like a magic show, or spread out like a painting, or whirling round; for one who meditates upon and sees all of it thus, there is an upsurge of bliss.

यह विश्व इन्द्रजाल के समान है, अथवा चित्रकर्म की भाँति बिखरा हुआ, या घूमता हुआ; ऐसा सब कुछ ध्याते और देखते हुए साधक को सुख का उद्गम होता है।

101

न चित्तं निक्षिपेद्दुःखे न सुखे वा परिक्षिपेत्‌ । भैरवि ज्ञायतां मध्ये किं तत्त्वमवशिष्यते ॥ १०१ ॥

One should not cast the mind into pain, nor fling it into pleasure; O Bhairavī, let it be known what Reality remains in the middle (between the two).

न चित्त को दुःख में डाले, न सुख में फेंके; हे भैरवि, (दोनों के) मध्य में जो तत्त्व शेष रहता है, उसे जानो।

102

विहाय निजदेहस्थां सर्वत्रास्मीति भावयन्‌ । दृढेन मनसा दृष्ट्या नान्येक्षिण्या सुखी भवेत्‌ ॥ १०२ ॥

Abandoning attachment to the body, contemplating 'I am everywhere,' with a firm mind and a gaze that looks on nothing else, one becomes happy.

अपने शरीर में स्थित (आसक्ति) को छोड़कर, 'मैं सर्वत्र हूँ' — ऐसी भावना करते हुए, दृढ़ मन और अन्य को न देखने वाली दृष्टि से साधक सुखी हो जाता है।

103

घटादौ यच्च विज्ञानमिच्छाद्यं वा ममान्तरे । नैव सर्वगतं जातं भावयन्निति सर्वगः ॥ १०३ ॥

'Whatever cognition of a pot and the like, or desire and so on, arises within me — it has not arisen as confined, but as all-pervading' — contemplating thus, one becomes all-pervading.

'घट आदि का जो ज्ञान, अथवा इच्छा आदि, मेरे भीतर उठता है, वह परिमित नहीं बल्कि सर्वगत (सर्वव्यापक) ही उत्पन्न हुआ है' — ऐसी भावना करता हुआ साधक सर्वगत हो जाता है।

104

ग्राह्यग्राहकसंवित्तिः सामान्या सर्वदेहिनाम्‌ । योगिनां तु विशेषोऽयं संबन्धे सावधानता ॥ १०४ ॥

The awareness of the grasped (object) and the grasper (subject) is common to all embodied beings; but the yogī's distinction is this — alert attentiveness in that very relation.

ग्राह्य (विषय) और ग्राहक (विषयी) की संवित्ति सभी देहधारियों में समान है; किन्तु योगियों की विशेषता यह है — उस सम्बन्ध में सावधानता (सजगता)।

105

स्ववदन्यशरीरेऽपि संवित्तिमनुभावयेत्‌ । अपेक्षां स्वशरीरस्य त्यक्त्वा व्यापी दिनैर्भवेत्‌ ॥ १०५ ॥

One should experience the consciousness in another's body just as in one's own; giving up concern for one's own body, in a few days one becomes all-pervading.

दूसरे के शरीर में भी संवित्ति (चैतन्य) को अपने ही (शरीर) के समान अनुभव करे; अपने शरीर की अपेक्षा (आसक्ति) छोड़कर, कुछ ही दिनों में साधक व्यापी (सर्वव्यापक) हो जाता है।

106

निराधारं मनः कृत्वा विकल्पान्न विकल्पयेत्‌ । तदात्मपरमात्मत्वे भैरवो मृगलोचने ॥ १०६ ॥

Making the mind supportless, one should not form thought-constructs out of the thoughts; then, in the identity of the self with the Supreme Self, one is Bhairava, O doe-eyed one.

मन को निराधार बनाकर विकल्पों का विकल्पन न करे; तब आत्मा और परमात्मा की एकता में, हे मृगलोचने, साधक भैरव हो जाता है।

107

सर्वज्ञः सर्वकर्ता च व्यापकः परमेश्वरः । स एवाहं शैवधर्मा इति दार्ढ्याच्छिवो भवेत्‌ ॥ १०७ ॥

'Omniscient, all-doing, all-pervading, the Supreme Lord — that very One am I, of the nature of Śiva.' By firmness in this (conviction), one becomes Śiva.

'सर्वज्ञ, सर्वकर्ता, व्यापक, परमेश्वर — वही मैं हूँ, शिव-स्वरूप' — इस (भावना) की दृढ़ता से साधक शिव हो जाता है।

108

जलस्येवोर्मयो वह्नेर्ज्वालाभङ्ग्यः प्रभा रवेः । ममैव भैरवस्यैता विश्वभङ्ग्यो विभेदिताः ॥ १०८ ॥

As waves from water, as tongues of flame from fire, as rays from the sun — so these waves of the universe are but differentiations of me, Bhairava.

जैसे जल की लहरें, अग्नि की ज्वालाएँ, सूर्य की किरणें — वैसे ही ये विश्व की तरंगें मुझ भैरव की ही विभेदित (फैली हुई) हैं।

109

भ्रान्त्वा भ्रान्त्वा शरीरेण त्वरितं भुवि पातनात्‌ । क्षोभशक्तिविरामेण परा संजायते दशा ॥ १०९ ॥

By whirling and whirling with the body and then quickly dropping to the ground, with the ceasing of the energy of agitation, the supreme state is born.

शरीर से घूम-घूमकर, शीघ्र ही भूमि पर गिर जाने से, क्षोभ-शक्ति के विराम (शान्त होने) से परा दशा उत्पन्न होती है।

110

आधारेष्वथवाऽशक्तेर्ज्ञानाच्चित्तलयेन वा । जातशक्तिसमावेशक्षोभान्ते भैरवं वपुः ॥ ११० ॥

Through incapacity at the supports (of the senses), or by the knowledge of Śakti, or by dissolution of the mind — at the end of the agitation of the absorption that has thus arisen, the form of Bhairava (is realized).

आधारों में (इन्द्रियों की) अशक्ति से, अथवा शक्ति के ज्ञान से, अथवा चित्त के लय से — उत्पन्न शक्ति-समावेश के क्षोभ के अन्त में भैरव-स्वरूप (प्रकट होता है)।

111

सम्प्रदायमिमं देवि शृणु सम्यग्वदाम्यहम्‌ । कैवल्यं जायते सद्यो नेत्रयोः स्तब्धमात्रयोः ॥ १११ ॥

Hear, O Goddess, this tradition which I declare rightly: liberation (kaivalya) arises at once when the two eyes are held merely motionless.

हे देवि, इस सम्प्रदाय (परम्परा) को सुनो, जिसे मैं भली-भाँति कहता हूँ: दोनों नेत्रों के केवल स्तब्ध (निश्चल) हो जाने मात्र से तत्काल कैवल्य उत्पन्न होता है।

112

कूपादिके महागर्ते स्थित्वोपरि निरीक्षणात्‌ । अविकल्पमतेः सम्यक्सद्यश्चित्तलयः स्फुटम्‌ ॥ ११२ ॥

By standing above a deep chasm such as a well and gazing down into it, for one whose mind is free of thought, clearly and at once the dissolution of the mind takes place.

कुएँ आदि किसी गहरे गर्त के ऊपर खड़े होकर नीचे देखने से, निर्विकल्प बुद्धि वाले साधक का तत्काल और स्पष्ट रूप से चित्त-लय हो जाता है।

113

यत्र यत्र मनो याति बाह्ये वाभ्यन्तरेऽपि वा । तत्र तत्र शिवावस्था व्यापकत्वात्क्व यास्यति ॥ ११३ ॥

Wherever the mind goes, whether outward or within, there and there is the state of Śiva; since He is all-pervading, where could (the mind) go (apart from Him)?

मन जहाँ-जहाँ जाता है — बाहर या भीतर — वहीं-वहीं शिव की अवस्था है; (शिव के) व्यापक होने से वह कहाँ जा सकता है?

114

यत्र यत्राक्षमार्गेण चैतन्यं व्यज्यते विभोः । तस्य तन्मात्रधर्मित्वाच्चिल्लयाद्भरितात्मता ॥ ११४ ॥

Wherever, by the path of a sense-organ, the consciousness of the all-pervading Lord is made manifest — since it has That alone as its nature, by the dissolution of consciousness (into its source) comes the state of fullness.

जहाँ-जहाँ इन्द्रिय के मार्ग से विभु (व्यापक प्रभु) का चैतन्य प्रकट होता है, उसके उसी (चैतन्य) मात्र को धर्म रखने के कारण, चित् के लय से परिपूर्णता (भरितात्मता) प्राप्त होती है।

115

क्षुताद्यन्ते भये शोके गह्वरे वा रणाद्द्रुते । कुतूहले क्षुधाद्यन्ते ब्रह्मसत्ता समीपगा ॥ ११५ ॥

At the end of a sneeze, in terror, in sorrow, (looking down) into a chasm, while fleeing from battle, in keen curiosity, at the end (the onset) of hunger — the very being of Brahman draws near.

छींक के अन्त में, भय में, शोक में, गहरे गड्ढे (के किनारे) पर, युद्ध से भागते समय, अत्यन्त कौतूहल में, भूख के अन्त में — ब्रह्म-सत्ता समीप आ जाती है।

116

वस्तुषु स्मर्यमाणेषु दृष्टे देशे मनस्त्यजेत्‌ । स्वशरीरं निराधारं कृत्वा प्रसरति प्रभुः ॥ ११६ ॥

When objects are being remembered, one should let the mind go (release it) toward the place (or moment) that was seen; making one's own body supportless, the Lord (the Self) spreads forth.

वस्तुओं के स्मरण किए जाते समय, देखे हुए स्थान (पूर्व-दशा) की ओर मन को छोड़ दे; अपने शरीर को निराधार बनाकर, प्रभु (आत्मा) फैल जाता है।

117

क्वचिद्वस्तुनि विन्यस्य शनैर्दृष्टिं निवर्तयेत्‌ । तज्ज्ञानं चित्तसहितं देवि शून्यालयो भवेत्‌ ॥ ११७ ॥

Fixing the gaze on some object, one should slowly withdraw it; that cognition, together with the mind (and its object), O Goddess, makes one become the abode of the void.

किसी वस्तु पर दृष्टि स्थापित कर, धीरे-धीरे उसे लौटा ले; हे देवि, वह ज्ञान चित्त (और विषय) सहित (लीन होकर) साधक को शून्य का आलय बना देता है।

118

भक्त्युद्रेकाद्विरक्तस्य यादृशी जायते मतिः । सा शक्तिः शाङ्करी नित्यं भावयेत्तां ततः शिवः ॥ ११८ ॥

The kind of insight (mati) that is born in the dispassionate one from an upsurge of devotion — that is the Śāṅkarī Śakti; ever contemplating it, one becomes Śiva.

भक्ति के उद्रेक से विरक्त साधक में जैसी मति उत्पन्न होती है, वही शाङ्करी शक्ति है; उसका नित्य भावना करने से साधक शिव हो जाता है।

119

वस्त्वन्तरे वेद्यमाने शनैर्वस्तुषु शून्यता । तामेव मनसा ध्यात्वा विदितोऽपि प्रशाम्यति ॥ ११९ ॥

While one object is being cognized, gradually there is voidness among (between) the objects; meditating on that very voidness with the mind, even the cognized object subsides.

एक वस्तु के ज्ञात होते समय, धीरे-धीरे वस्तुओं के बीच शून्यता (आ जाती है); उसी शून्यता का मन से ध्यान करने पर, ज्ञात विषय भी शान्त हो जाता है।

120

किञ्चिज्ज्ञैर्या स्मृता शुद्धिः साशुद्धिः शम्भुदर्शने । न शुचिर्ह्यशुचिस्तस्मान्निर्विकल्पः सुखी भवेत्‌ ॥ १२० ॥

The purity that is conceived by those of little knowledge is impurity in the vision of Śambhu; there is neither pure nor impure — therefore, becoming thought-free, one is happy.

अल्पज्ञों द्वारा जो शुद्धि मानी गई है, वह शम्भु के दर्शन (शैव दृष्टि) में अशुद्धि है; न कुछ शुचि (पवित्र) है न अशुचि — अतः निर्विकल्प होकर साधक सुखी हो जाता है।

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