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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 23, 2022 22:32:19 GMT -5
Swami Lakshmanjoo had expounded the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra 112 meditations. Of course, many others have done so as well but I found his explanations lucid and clear. They are from his book ‘The Secret Supreme’. I believe a free pdf download is available from several sources, including archive.org
Some time back, I had attempted to put in verse, my understanding of the meditations, so I offer them here for discussion. It’s best to proceed slowly since it’s impractical to discuss all the 112 meditations at the same time.
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 23, 2022 22:34:13 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra: preamble & epilogue
Both void & manifestation
Spanda: life pulse vibration
Expanding & contracting
Concealing & revealing
Stupefying & illuminating
Separating & uniting
Shiva’s self luminescence
In playful innocence
Creating a pulse of separation
Culminating in divine union
Paths four for liberation
All found in the void of cessation
Krama: the descent & rise
Resulting in joyful surprise
Or Pratyabhijna: re-cognition
Upon ego delusion dissolution
Whilst Kaula: mukti with bhukti
Embrace & release in continuity
Doing nothing Spanda: resonation
With the omnipresent ॐ vibration
Shiva appears upon the earth
Shakti accompanying as his consort
Both one as Ardhnarishwar indivisible
Render the 112 agamas plain & simple
That for those souls seeking renuion
The path be clear without confusion
This preamble given we yet need education
About the basic mind-body construction
First the purpose
Of this circus
Descending to rise to fulfil the potential
Love in love with love as the ultimate miracle
Father wishing that the son be as He
Striving to become strong and mirrorlessly see
Being absolute and illumined how may we play
Unless immersed in limitations that make us sway
Thus Shiva the magician manifests maya illusion
Layering it with five veils to keep Himself in delusion
Himself? Yes; for God alone exists and nothing else is
All that we see & know & feel is His own elixirous fizz
The first veil being limitation in time
Bound by the linear periodic chime
The second confinement within a boundary
Limitation of space being also illusionary
Third to fifth restricted will, knowledge & power
Bondage to illusion self-blocking the bliss shower
Yet what is manifested from perfection is perfection
Thus concealed in mind-body is innate self-illumination
The earth vehicle an interface ephemeral
Within which pulsates the divine eternal
As the seed of the ultimate having propensity for expansion
The lifetron searches instinctively to reclaim bliss elation
However senses five active are all externalised
Along with lower mind in doership having everything analysed
The secret being that the aspect perfect throbbing within
Is the voice of conscience steering us away from sin
The sin being nothing other than self ignorance
In opting for transience instead of our eternal presence
All the above known from different scriptures
Being in delusion we are now our shadowy caricature
Shiva in compassion then does reveal the 112 meditations
Each of which may grant us here & now instant liberation
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 23, 2022 22:36:29 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra introduction
A dialogue between Gods manifested polarities
To exit duality and get to the one singularity
Freedom & liberation as an ever present orientation
Illumined & unbound in will, knowledge & action
All being grace
There is no race
For God consciousness
The path is pathless
Even the burning yearning
For with the divine connecting
Wherefrom came the exalted thought
That inspiration along with it brought
Yet trapped in body-mind
Unable to unshackle ego bind
112 practices are revealed
Self help plan with nothing concealed
Three paths to embark upon our entrée
Somewhat like the Gunas three
The highest path thought free meditation
Next mantra recitation and yoga in action
The highest path then the vibrant void
Unfettered & unbound in bliss overjoyed
The other abiding in the gap of cessation
Be it thought or breath or mantra recitation
All paths leading to God forging a unity
A samadhi of unbroken continuity
Each practice a form of meditation
Grace alone completing actual ascension
A quick word on what actually is God realisation
Being absolute freedom of will, knowledge & action
Recognition that void & manifestation are the same
A dance divine of concealing & revealing as a game
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 23, 2022 22:37:21 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra - prelude to the 112 practices
Self luminous and self existent
Throbbing within a bliss current
Undifferentiated state of singularity
To know Itself descends into duality
The choiceless choice an act of free will
Screen of consciousness eternally still
Projects attention into a vibration a notch lower
That that pulse of separation moves farther & closer
The play enacted in a spectrum of illusion
The projected lifetron bewildered by maya projection
Being always complete but veiled so feeling limited
Imbibes easily in stillness bliss currents of rapture elated
As such there being no way for we are already That
In a self hypnotic trance we seek methods that all fall flat
By divine grace alone we exit the hall of mirrors
Following the fragrance of love as our heart quivers
Yet in as much as we wish to employ mind & body
Instruments of limited thought and perceptions shoddy
The path is singular although offering opportunities many
Within cessation of pure intention in stillness sedentary
Cessation or emptiness humming with potent power
Formless & identityless no longer limited by mind lower
Exits too limitation of time and boundaries of space
Self existent & self luminous Itself radiates divine grace
Liberation here & now within bodily form
Self illumined in the eye of the bliss storm
The 112 paths kinetic to rest in absolute potentiality
Getting to indivisible oneness singularity
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 23, 2022 22:38:16 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-1&2/112
Each half breath has a point of cessation
Yet the voids differentiated by intuitive intention
The beginning of exhalation return to space
Whilst commencement of inhalation divine grace
Geometrically we may assign lungs to the Anahata
Breath flow from nose to head crowned at Sahasrara
Connector between the two being the Vishuddha
Union of separated polarities the flowing divine enigma
The flow being of nothing other than consciousness
From the domain of matter through ether into formlessness
Hiranyagarbha the one at Sahasrara becoming two
The polarities merging in a bliss explosion as bliss renews
The practice affirms manta ॐ (ohm/ham) during inhalation
With the sound ‘Sa’ or ‘So’ during exhalation
Yet focusing not on breath but relying on purity of loving intent
Within our heart to the ॐ sound current we become sentient
Such is the energetic path first of one hundred & twelve
Urging us to focus on the voids and therein within ॐ dwell
Blurring boundaries between form & formlessness
Merging in-form consciousness with Absolute Oneness
The second of the 112 paths same as the first
Differentiated by an insatiable thirst
Whereupon we abide in cessation without thought
Simply imbibing the divine soma nectar as bliss brought
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 24, 2022 6:11:59 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-3/112
Before we get to the practice number three
A few words to reside in clarity
The triad or trika
Para, para-para & apara
Lowest the apara - we as in-form consciousness
Aligning with (para-para) Shakti to get to (Para) Shiva Oneness
Or we may say our journey from ignorance to luminescence
Relying upon energy as vibration in octaves of innocence
The path being pathless there being no coming or going
Yet awakening from amnesia by simply re-recognising
So no doing to be done erect without support
The Sushumna ignites vaporising the maya fort
Or we may say bypassing the Ida & Pingala
We cajole the Kundalini to ascend via Sushumna
Thus theoretically this practice is known
Yet execution feasible only when fear has flown
So what does the practice actually entail
How may we rudderless sail
Resting thoughts imaginal
As also theories conjectural
Our focus on Sushumna when breath ceases
Possibly is a childlike prayer that Shakti pleases
The practice also speaks of Samadhi like meditation
Which if enabled grips Sushumna in bliss elation
Which it always was & is
Though we were oblivious to its fizz
As such this practice is for those who are so qualified
Having partly awakened with lower mind vaporised
Epilogue
The practice narrated
As stated
Yet it may be affirmed
Confirmed
That indeed the Sushumna is the rod of initiation
Luminous with radiant bliss throbbing in elation
Preceded by fusion of polarities in the Anahata
Whereupon bliss in permanence abides in the Sushumna
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 24, 2022 21:14:21 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-4/112
A simple physical breath recitation
For we cannot yet call it meditation
Gently inhaling we pause at the heart
Likewise pause at crown when breath departs
Breathing thus with pause of cessation
Thoughts may come & go as of ego suggestion
We gradually lengthen the practice duration
Flow of breath regardless of thought agitation
Simply positioning attention during the voids
Alternating at heart & crown therein buoyed
What happens thus is assigning priority
Getting to the divine in stuporous simplicity
By merely performing an exercise in lengthening time
Until the divine relents and we we hear the chime
Within
Footnote
Such is the exposition
But there is no imposition
Possibly it may not resonate
Unless thought rested we meditate
We may then thus tweak what is written
Like a spirited horse not do as bidden
Adding to this doing our own colouration
Of love seeking love via breath meditation
Why not?
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 25, 2022 5:31:21 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-5/112
Tantra being the path of energy
To facilitate divine connectivity
Triad from gross to subtle to emptiness
Are three basic tools for getting to oneness
Eventually no path higher or lower
Although some are faster and others slower
Essentially divine reality omnipresent
It depends upon how we choose to be sentient
Taking theoretical knowledge of chakras as a given
We may embark upon the offered suggestion
So plunging into technique number five
Vibrancy in stillness that makes us jive
Employing imagination along with our breath
Breath silent descends via Sushumna in stealth
Where at root in supreme glory resides the Para Shakti
Empathetic to our trepidation smiles in loving geniality
The practice involves cessation of breath as prana
Surrendering in wonderment to behold the divine enigma
Content as a child in the lap of the divine mother
We know not where it takes us for the bliss shower
There then being upon our part no striving
For at the Muladhara itself we feel the pulse vivifing
We rest all vicarious knowing of chakras & nadis
Each cell within our form holding the divine in entirety
Para Shakti illumines the Sushumna with her radiance
Each chakra in its own right Shiva in full brilliance
We thus rest as Shakti decides imbibing the divine elixir
For who are we to suggest any imagined vector
As far as subtlety goes the Sushumna too has layers
Revealing invisible conduits depending upon our prayer
Unfathomable is the ultimate divine mystery
Yet each coordinate perfect for divine connectivity
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 25, 2022 22:45:20 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-6/112
Employing imagination
As valid affirmation
A wish granted before uttered
Flower petals upon our path scattered
We visualise the Kundalini like lightning
Not frightening but benign & enlivening
Shakti recognising 12 finger space geometry
Jumping chakra to chakra in instant connectivity
Root to navel to heart to throat to third eye to crown
Lightning fast jumps never looking down
Free of fear or desire or doubt or hesitation
Devoid of any ego borne precipitation
Hark!
Are we ready to leap in the dark?
Footnote for theoreticians
The interpretation thus in the scripture
The Sacral chakra does not feature
Jumping straight from the Muladhara
To the fiery Manipura
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 26, 2022 9:12:29 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-7/112
Here we get to a new visualisation
Chakras not six but twelve as of this computation
Root, sacral, navel, spleen, heart & throat
Plus upper palate, third eye, Guru & three at the crown afloat
This is an esoteric technique directly taught
So that errors into the practice are not brought
Involving mantra with inner light and focus in continuity
An energy path mystical not to be confused with Kundalini
The practice involves cessation of breath without breathlessness
Blurring boundaries between form & formlessness
Penetrating the dark void to get to Absolute Oneness
The Tantras have many such agamas
Direct initiations - to lower mind enigmas
Take this, if we will, as Krama + Spanda
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 26, 2022 23:48:32 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-8/112
We imagine breath filling the entire Sushumna
In fullness from Muladhara to Sahasrara
Then along this locus
We get to one pointed focus
Between the eyebrows at the Ajna chakra
Pure awareness without thought stigma
Then the breath becomes more subtle
Not by focus but from loving devotion simple
Our attention then abides
In rippleless stillness resides
At the third eye zone
Fruits follow in timeless time of seeds sown
Within this visualisation leading to meditation
We retain single pointed focus by mental creation
Of a dam or an enclosure binding us at the Ajna
Attention subtler & finer drawing in by charisma
God Himself in Absoluteness
Vivifing our being in fullness
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 27, 2022 21:26:41 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-9&10/112
Are we in staid tranquility overjoyed
Both in manifestation as well as in the void
Do we continuously look at sensory impressions askance
Or does the mind-body hypnotically hold us in a trance
These are the silent reflections
The form vaporising questions
That this practice asks us to investigate
In a continuum of stillness thus meditate
This path of Pratyabhijna or re-cognition
Becoming our ever present orientation
Recognising Universe as vibrational no-thingness
Both void & manifestation God as the only Oneness
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 28, 2022 19:56:10 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-11/112
We shift attention to the Sahasrara and be there buoyed
Imagining within the vibrant void divine joy
Finally we see Everything as void-ness
Illumined by the That Oneness
In addition within the crown is a flaming light
Not imaginary but in reality shining bright
The divine revelation of self illumination
Arising by grace upon automatic breath cessation
Whilst thus in meditation
Knowing there is no limitation
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 29, 2022 6:10:24 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-12/112
Voids within the void and conduits within the central conduit
We keep refining sensibility with unwavering prayer resolute
The Sushumna is no doubt the central funnel
Throbbing with bliss, a divine enabled miracle
Yet this practice asks of us to visualise
That in time we may recognise
Cylindrical capillaries as carriageways of energy
Of divine electricity
Layered one inside the other
Finer & finer, subtler & subtler
Meditating thus on the imagined innermost channel
We go there and in innocence ask God for the miracle
Meaning that we vaporise and so be to become
As a bliss mist with the divine one
God being the way as also the means
This is the knowing from this practice we glean
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Post by unseekingseeker on Jul 29, 2022 21:58:37 GMT -5
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra Practice-13/112
With one pointed attention
We focus on the Ajna going into meditation
Preceded by physically closing ears, nostrils & eyes
With fingers of our hands that we may behold in surprise
The Bindu, the dot of light
Shining within, effulgence white
As in any practice we repeat again & again
No pain, no gain
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