1. isbn 979-8-88572-666-5

Content: Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra

Content: Ebook ISBN: 979-8-88572-666-5

Verse Number: 1

Content: Sri Devi says O deva, I have heard in detail all that has been revealed though the union of Rudra and his shakti or what has emerged from the Rudrayamalla Tantra. I have also understood Trika, or the divisions of Shakti, which forms the quintessence of all knowledge.

Verse Number: 2

Content: O Supreme Lord, in spite of everthing that I have heard, even today my doubts are not dispelled. What is your reality, O Divine One? Are you the power or energy contained in sound from which all the mantras have originated?

Verse Number: 3

Content: Can your reality be perceived through the nine different ways by which one can enter the realm of higher consciousness as enumerated in Bhairave Agama? Is it different from the the procedure in Trishira Bhairava Tantra? Or can it be perceived through knowledge of the triple forms of shakti, ie. para, parpara, and apara? These are my doubts, O Bhairava!

Verse Number: 4

Content: Is it nada and bindhu or can it be known by concentrating on the ascending centers or the unstruck sound which emanates without any vibration? Or is it the form of the obstructing half moon or else is it the form of shakti?

Verse Number: 5

Content: (Is your reality) transcendent and immanent or is it completely immanente or completely transcendental? If it is immanent (then the very) nature of transcendence is contradicted.

Verse Number: 6

Content: Paratva, or transcendence, cannot exist in the divisions of varna (colour), shabda (sound) or roopa (form). If transcendence is indivisible, then it cannot be defined or co-exist with opposite parts.

Verse Number: 7

Content: O Lord, by your blessings, please destroy all my doubts completely. Then Bhairava says: Good, well spoken, O dear one! What you have asked about is the essence of tantra.

Verse Number: 8

Content: Noble lady, although this is the most secret part of the tantras, yet I will speak to you about what has been expounded regarding the (defined) forms of Bairava.

Verse Number: 9

Content: O Devi, the sakara aspect of Bhairava is insubstantial and on of no spiritual value, like the illusory dream-like web of Indra, and is also like the delusion of celestial musicians.

Verse Number: 10

Content: (The sakara sadhanas) are described for those people of deluded intellect, who are prey to distracted thought patterns or are inclined towards the performance of action and ostentatious rituals to traverse the path of meditation.

Verse Number: 11

Content: In reality( the essence) of Bhairavea is not he nine forms, nor the garland of letters, nor the three flows and not even the powers of shakti.

Verse Number: 12

Content: His ( Bhairava's) form (cannot be perceived) in nada and bindhu nor even in the obstructed half moon, nor in the piercing of successive chakras, nor does shakti, or energy constitute his essence.

Verse Number: 13

Content: These things have been told (about the form of Bhairava), like the tales used to frighten children, to induce people of immature intellect to follow the spiritual path, just as the mother entices her child with sweets.

Verse Number: 14

Content: Ultimatly (that state of bhairava) cannot be measured in terms of time, space or direction, nor can it be indicated by any attriute or designation.

Verse Number: 15

Content: One can have this inner experience for oneself when the mind is free from modifications or thought patterns. The atman of bhairava, which is known as bhairavi, is then experienced as the bliss of one's own inner awareness, a state whose form is fullness, free from all contradictions (which is the abode of the entire universe).

Verse Number: 16

Content: The essence of his nature is known to be free of dross and pervades the entire universe. This being the nature of the highest reality, who is the object of worship and who is to be pacified by worship?

Verse Number: 17

Content: In this way the transcendental state of bhairava, which is described or sung of, is known by the means of the absolute or highest form that is Paradevi, the highest goddess.

Verse Number: 18

Content: Just as shakti or power, is not different from shaktimaan, the holder of power, similarly parashakti, who is the essence of the absolute (and therefore) identical with dharma, can never be separated from Bhairava, the possessor of dharma.

Verse Number: 19

Content: (Just as) the power to burn is not separate from fire, (similarly parashakti is not different from Bhairava). However, it is imagined as separate in the beginning as a preliminary step towards entry into its knowledge.

Verse Number: 20

Content: One who enters the state of shakti has the feeling of identification with Shiva, without division. Then one verily becomes like the form of Shiva. In this context, it is said that Shakti is the face of Shiva.

Verse Number: 21

Content: Just as space, direction and form are revealed by the flame of a candle or the rays of the sun, similarly Shiva is revealed by the medium of Shakti, O dear one.

Verse Number: 22

Content: Sri Devi said: O Lord of the Gods, who bears the trident and skulls as ornaments, (tell me) or that state (which is) devoid of time, space and direction and free from (any) characteristics.

Verse Number: 23

Content: By what means can that state of fullness of Bhairava be achieved, (and) how does Paradevi, the highest Shakti, become the face (or entrance of Bhairava)? Tell me (this), O Bhairava, in the manner (whereby) I shall know it completely.

Verse Number: 24

Content: Sri Bhairava said: Paradevi, whose nature is visarga, or creation, manifests as the upward prana and the downward apana. By fixing the mind at the two points of generation (of prana and apana), that state of fullness results.

Verse Number: 25

Content: When the ingoing pranic air and outgoing prnci air are both restrained in their space from their (respective points of) return, the essence of bhairava, which is not different from bhairavi, manifests.

Verse Number: 26

Content: When shakti in the form of vayu or pranic air is still and does not move swiftly in a specific direction, there develops in the middle, through the state of nirvikalpa, the form of Bhairava.

Verse Number: 27

Content: When kumbhaka takes place after pooraka or rechaka, then the shakti known as shanta is experienced and through that peace (the bhairava conscioiusness) is revealed.

Verse Number: 28

Content: Concentrate on the shakti arising from the root like the rays of the sun, gradually becoming subtler and subtler, until at las she dissolves in the dwadashanta and bhairava manifests.

Verse Number: 29

Content: (Meditate on the shakti) moving upwards like lightning through all the chakras one by one to the dwadashanta. Then at last the glorious form of Bhairava dawns.

Verse Number: 30

Content: The twelve (centers) should be pierced successively through proper understanding of their (associated) twelve letters. Thus becoming liberated from the gross and the subtle, one by one, at the end (of its journey) the kundalini becomes shiva.

Verse Number: 31

Content: Then, having filled the tip of moordha and crossed the bridge betwwn the eyebrows, the mind rises above all dichotomizing thought patterns and omnipresence (prevails).

Verse Number: 32

Content: Like the five different colored circles on the peacock's feathers, one should meditate on the five voids. Then by following them to the end, which becomes the principal void, enter the heart.

Verse Number: 33

Content: In this way, wherever there is mindful awareness, either on the void, or on another (object such as a) wall, or on an excellent person (such as a guru), gradually the boon of absorption into the self is granted.

Verse Number: 34

Content: Having closed the eyes, and fixing the attention at the crown of the head, gradually stabilize the mind and direct it towards the goal, which will become discernible.

Verse Number: 35

Content: One should meditate on the space of the medial nadi (sushumna) situated in the central axis of the body (the spinal column), which is as slender as a fiber of the lotus stem, and then by the grace of Devi, the divine (form) is revealed.

Verse Number: 36

Content: By using the hands (as tools) to block the entrances in all directions, the eyebrow center is pierced and bindhu (or light) is seen. Being gradually absorbed within that, the supreme state is realized.

Verse Number: 37

Content: Whenever one meditates upon the subtle fire, in the form of a tilak (like the mark on the forehead), or on the bindhu at the end of the shikha, a condition of agitation and shaking is produced, followed by absorption and dissolution in the cave of the heart.

Verse Number: 38

Content: One who is adept in listening to the unstruck sound in anahata, (which is) uninterrupted like a rushing river, attains the supreme state of Brahma by mastery of shabdabrahman, the form of the Brahman as sound.

Verse Number: 39

Content: O Bhairavi, one who repeats the Pranava (Aum) perfectly, while concentrating on void for protracted periods, experiences the void, and by that void the transcendental shakti (is revealed.)

Verse Number: 40

Content: Whoever contemplates even on the mantras of letters (of Aum) from first to last, in the form of void, verily that sadhaka by meditation on the void becomes the void.

Verse Number: 41

Content: When one pointed awareness on the prolonged inner sounds of different musical instruments, such as stringed, wind and percussion, is gradually established, in the end the body becomes the supreme space.

Verse Number: 42

Content: By repition of all the gross letters of the bija mantras successively, including the 'M', (and meditaing thus) on the void within each sound, one verily becomes Shiva.

Verse Number: 43

Content: All the directions should be contemplated upon simultaneously on one's own body as space or void. The mind (too) being free from all thoughts becomes dissolved (in the vacuous space of consciousness).

Verse Number: 44

Content: One who contemplates simultaneously on the void of the back (spinal column) and the void of the root becomes void-minded (completely free of all thought constructs or vikalpas) by that energy which is independent of the body.

Verse Number: 45

Content: By steady contemplation on the void of the back (sushemna), the void of the root and the void of the heart simultaneously, there arised the state of nirvikalpa, which is free from thought constructs.

Verse Number: 46

Content: If one concentrates on the body as a void, even for a moment, with the mind free from thought, then one attains thoughtlessness and verily becomes that form of void (known as Bhairava).

Verse Number: 47

Content: O gazelle-eyed one, concentrate upon all the constituents of the body pervaded by space, so that the thought becomes steady.

Verse Number: 48

Content: One should contemplate on the skin of the body as a mere wall or partition with nothing inside it. By meditating thus, he becomes like the void, which cannot be meditated upon.

Verse Number: 49

Content: O embodiment of good fortune, one who contemplates with closed eyes and one-pointed concentration on the mantra in the middle of the lotus in the heart space achieves the highest spiritual realization.

Verse Number: 50

Content: When the mind is dissolved in dwadashanta by steady awareness and steady practice, the true nature or essence of the goal manifests everywhere in one's body.

Verse Number: 51

Content: By bringing the mind forcibly into dwadashanta again and again, however and whenever possible, the fluctuations of the mind diminish day by day, so that eah moment becomes an extraordinary state.

Verse Number: 52

Content: One should contemplate that one's own body has been burnt by Kaalagni, arising from the movement of time. Then at last one will experience tranquility.

Verse Number: 53

Content: In the same way, having meditated with an unwavering and one-pointed mind on the entire universe being burnt (by Kaalagni), that man becomes a godman or attains a supreme state of manhood.

Verse Number: 54

Content: Dharana on those constituents which comprise one's own body and the whole universe, such as the tattwas and tanmatras, from subtle to subtlest, leads to the source of existence. (In this way) Paradevi, the supreme goddess,(is revealed) at the end of meditation.

Verse Number: 55

Content: Having meditated on the gross and weak shakti in the dwadash indriyas (thus making it subtle), one who enters the heart space and meditates there attains mukti and becomes liberated.

Verse Number: 56

Content: By meditating on the entire form of the universe and the course of its development through time and space, gradually dissolve the gross into the subtle and the subtle into the state of being beyond, until the mind is finally dissolved (into pure consciousness).

Verse Number: 57

Content: By this method on should meditate on all the sides or aspects of the universe up to the shiva tattwa (which is the quintessence) of all. In this way the experience of the supreme reality arises.

Verse Number: 58

Content: O great goddess, one should concentrate on this universe as nothing but the void. Dissolving the mind also like this, one then experiences the state of laya, or total dissolution.

Verse Number: 59

Content: One should fix his sight ( on the empty space) inside the pot, leaving aside the enclosing structure. Thus, the pot being gone, the mind well at once be dissolved (into the space). Through that laya the mind becomes completely absorbed (in the void).

Verse Number: 60

Content: One should fix his gaze on a treeless place, like bare mountains or rocks, where there is no support for the mind to dwell on. Then the modifications of the mind become less and the experience of dissolution takes place.

Verse Number: 61

Content: One should think of two objects, and in the event of such knowledge being matured, then cast both aside and dwell (on the gap or space) in the middle. Having meditated in the middle, the experience of the essence arises.

Verse Number: 62

Content: When the mind is restrained to one object of awareness, alcasting all others and not allowing movement to take place from ont to another, then inside that perception the awareness blossoms.

Verse Number: 63

Content: One should concentrate with an unwavering mind on all existence, the body and even the universe simultaneously as nothing but consciousness, then the supreme consciousness arises.

Verse Number: 64

Content: From the fusion of both Vayus (prana and apana ) inside or outside (the body), the yogi attains equilibrium and becomes fit for the proper manifestation of consciousness.

Verse Number: 65

Content: One should contemplate simultaneously on the entire universe or on one's own body filled with the bliss of the self. Then through one's own nectar, one becomes alive with the supreme bliss.

Verse Number: 66

Content: O gazelle-eyed one, verily by applying the performance of austerities, great bliss arises immediately, by which the essence is illuminated.

Verse Number: 67

Content: By blocking away all the channels (of perception) the pranashakti moves slowly upwards (through the spinal column ).At that time,feeling the sensation of an ant crawling in the body one experiences the supreme bliss.

Verse Number: 68

Content: One should throw the blissful mind into the fire (manipuraka chakra) in the middle of that fibre -like lotus stalk (sushumna) or into that which is only full of air (anahata chakra). Then one is united with the remembrance of bliss.

Verse Number: 69

Content: By the union with shakti there is excitation and in the end one is absorbed into the shakti. That bliss (of union) which is said to be the nature of Brahman (ever-expanding consciousness),that bliss is (in reality) one's own self.

Verse Number: 70

Content: O queen of Gods, the bliss of a woman is attained even in the absence of shakti.By fully remembering and absorbing the mind in the experience of kissing, hugging and embracing, the bliss swells.

Verse Number: 71

Content: When great joy is obtained (through any event such as) meeting with relatives,one should meditate on that with one-pointedness, until the mind becomes absorbed and the bliss ever arises.

Verse Number: 72

Content: If one concentrates on eating and drinking and the happiness obtained by that joy of taste, from such contemplation of enjoyment arises the state of fullness, which then becomes supreme joy or bliss .

Verse Number: 73

Content: As a result of concentration on the pleasures of the senses, such as music or song , the yogis experience equal happiness (or pleasure) with in. By being (thus) absorbed the yogi ascends beyond the mind and becomes one with that (supreme).

Verse Number: 74

Content: Whenever there is satisfaction of mind and the mind is held there alone, the nature of supreme bliss manifests .

Verse Number: 75

Content: By entering that state preceding sleep, where the awareness of the outer world has faded , (the mind is absorbed in the threshold state) which the supreme goddess illumines.

Verse Number: 76

Content: By gazing on the space that appears variegated by the rays of the sun or an oil lamp, there the nature of one's essential self is illumined .

Verse Number: 77

Content: At the time of intuitive perception (the attitudes of ) karankini, krodhana ,bhairavi, lelihanaya and khechari are revealed ,whereby the supreme attainment manifests.

Verse Number: 78

Content: Sacred on a soft seat , by means of one buttock, with the hands and legs relaxed, at this time the mind becomes full of transcendence.

Verse Number: 79

Content: Sitting in a correct posture and curving the arms and hands into a circle, fix the gaze inside this space. The mind becomes peaceful by this laya .

Verse Number: 80

Content: One should steady the grace (without blinking ) on the gross form of any object when the mind is transfixed and made supportless (without any other thought or feeling), it at once acquires the state of shiva (transcendence).

Verse Number: 81

Content: (Placing) the middle of the tongue in that which has been opened widely and throwing the consciousness in the middle, mentally repeating 'Ha', the mind will be dissolved in tranquility.

Verse Number: 82

Content: While sitting or lying down, one should think of one's own body as being supportless (suspended in space). Then, in a moment (the samskaras or thought constructs) of the mind being reduced, it ceases to be a reservoir (of old mental dispositions).

Verse Number: 83

Content: O Goddess, as a result of slowly swinging or rocking the body, one attains a tranquil state of mind and floats into the stream of divine consciousness.

Verse Number: 84

Content: O Devi, having fixed the gaze continuously on the clear sky (without blinking) and with a steady awareness, at once the nature of Bhairava is achieved.

Verse Number: 85

Content: One should contemplate on the sky as the form of bhairava (until it is) all absorbed in the forehead.Then all that (space) will be entered by the essence of light in the state of bhairava.

Verse Number: 86

Content: Knowing a bit about duality, the outer light and darkness in the manifest world and so on, one who again experiences the infinite form of Bhairava procures illumination.

Verse Number: 87

Content: Like this, one should ever contemplate on the terrible darkness of night during the dark fortnight of the moon, if he desires to attain the form of bhairava.

Verse Number: 88

Content: Similarly, while closing the eyes, one should contemplate on the profound darkness spreading in front as the form of bhairavā. Thus he becomes one with that.

Verse Number: 89

Content: Whoever restrains even the same sense organ enters the one void without a second by this obstruction and there the atma or self is illumined.

Verse Number: 90

Content: O Devi, by recitation of akaara, the letter 'A', in the absence of bindu and visarga, a great torrent of knowledge of the supreme Lord, Parameshwara, at once arises.

Verse Number: 91

Content: When the mind is joined with the visarga, at the end of visarga it is made supportless. In this way the mind is touched by the eternal Brahma, or the supreme consciousness.

Verse Number: 92

Content: When one meditates on one's own self in the form of unlimted space (in all) directions, the mind is suspended and shakti in the form of consciousness is revealed as the form of one's own self.

Verse Number: 93

Content: At first one should pierce any limb of the body a little bit with a sharp, pointed needle or any other instrument. Then projecting the consciousness there, verily there is movement towards the pure nature of bhairava.

Verse Number: 94

Content: By contemplating thus, the antahkarna, or inner instrument of mind, and so on is non-existent within me,then, in the absence of vikalpas (thought constructs), one becomes free from the vikalpas.

Verse Number: 95

Content: Maya is the delusive principle residing (in manifests existence), causing name and limited activity. Considering thus the nature or functions of the various elements, one (realizes that he) is not separate (from the supreme reality).

Verse Number: 96

Content: Observing the desires, which sprung up in a flash, put an end to them. Then verily (the mind) will be absorbed in the very source from which they have arisen.

Verse Number: 97

Content: (One should contemplate thus :) when my desires do not produce knowledge, then what am I? Indeed being absorbed in the essence I am, and identifying with that, one becomes that.

Verse Number: 98

Content: When desire or knowledge arises, one should fix the mind there, thinking that to be the very self. Making the mind to be the absolute one-pointed (in this way), he realizes the essence of the tattwa.

Verse Number: 99

Content: O dear one, (compared to absolute knowledge, all relative) knowledge is without cause, and thus becomes baseless and deceptive. In reality, knowledge does not belong to any one person. Contemplating like this, one becomes Shiva.

Verse Number: 100

Content: He (Bhairava) is of the nature of undifferentiated consciousness in all embodied forms. Therefore, those persons who contemplate on all creation pervaded by that consciousness, transcend relative existence.

Verse Number: 101

Content: When lust, anger, greed, delusion, arrogance and jealousy are seen (within), having fixed the mind completely (on these), the underlying tattwa, or essence, alone remains.

Verse Number: 102

Content: Meditating on the manifest world as imagined or illusive, like a magic show or a painting, and seeing all existence as transient, happiness arises.

Verse Number: 103

Content: O Goddess, the mind should not dwell on pain or pleasure, but the essence that remains in the middle (in between the opposites) should be known.

Verse Number: 104

Content: Abandoning consideration for one's own body, one should contemplate with a firm mind that "I am everywhere". When this is seen (by means of concentrated insight) one does not see other and thus become happy.

Verse Number: 105

Content: Contemplating on that special knowledge, for example, the analogy of the jar, or that the desires, etc. exist not only within me but everywhere, one thus becomes all-pervasive.

Verse Number: 106

Content: The subject-object consciousness is common to everybody. Yogis, however, are especially alert regarding this relationship.

Verse Number: 107

Content: Contemplate on consciousness, such as one's own and even in another's body as well. Thus abandoning all physical expectation, one becomes all pervasive in the course of time.

Verse Number: 108

Content: O gazelle-eyed one, having freed the mind of all supports, one should refrain from all the vikalpas (thoughts/counter-thoughts). Then, the self becomes one with the supreme Self in the state of Bhairava.

Verse Number: 109

Content: The supreme Lord, who is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, verily, I am He and I have the same Shiva-nature. Contemplating thus with firm conviction, one becomes shiva.

Verse Number: 110

Content: Just as waves arise from water, flames from fire and light rays from sun, similarly the waves of Bhairava, which produce the different emanations of the universe, are verily my source.

Verse Number: 111

Content: Whirling the body round and round until it falls on the ground makes the energy causing commotion at once (become static).By that cessation the supreme state appears.

Verse Number: 112

Content: Being powerless to perceive objects due to ignorance or wrong perception, if one is able to dissolve the mind by absorbing it on the erroneous perception of objects, then at the end of commotion brought about by that absorption, there the form of Bhairava appears.

Verse Number: 113

Content: Listen, O Devi, as I am telling you about this (mystic) tradition in its entirety. If the eyes are fixed in a steady gaze (without blinking), kaivalya will rise immediately.

Verse Number: 114

Content: Contracting (or closing ) the openings of the ears and also the lower opening (reproductive or excretory organs) in the same way , and then meditating on the anahad (unstuck) sound within, one enters the eternal Brahma.

Verse Number: 115

Content: Standing above a deep hole or well and looking steadily downward (into the abyss), the mind becomes entirely free of vikalpas and dissolution immediately manifests.

Verse Number: 116

Content: Where ever the mind moves, whether outwards or inwards, there the all-pervasive state of shiva will go,

Verse Number: 117

Content: Whenever the consciousness leads through the channel of the eyes , by contemplation on that object alone being of the same nature as that of the supreme, absorption of mind and the state of poornatva are experienced.

Verse Number: 118

Content: At the beginning and the end of sneezing, in terror, sorrow or confusion, when fleeing from a battle field, during (keen) curiosity, or at the onset or appeasement of hunger, that state is the external existence of Brahma.

Verse Number: 119

Content: Leave the mind aside when memorable objects of the past, such as one's country or land arise, making one's body support less; and then the omnipresent and mighty Lord manifests.

Verse Number: 120

Content: O Goddess, momentarily casting the gaze on some object and slowly withdrawing it with the knowledge and impression of that object, one becomes the abode of the void.

Verse Number: 121

Content: That intuition which emerges from the intense devotion of one who is perfectly detached is known as the Shakti of Shankara. By contemplating regularly on that (Shakti), Shiva (is revealed) there.

Verse Number: 122

Content: When one perceives a particular object, vacuity is established regarding all other objects. Contemplating on that (vacuity) verily, even though the particular object is still known or perceived, the mind rests in tranquility.

Verse Number: 123

Content: What people of little understanding believe to be purity is neither pure nor impure to one who has experienced shiva. Nirvikalpa, or freedom from vikalpas, is the real purification by which one attains happiness.

Verse Number: 124

Content: The reality of Bhairava dwells everywhere, even in ordinary people. By contemplating thus, "There is nothing other than Him," one attains the non-dual state (of homogenous awareness).

Verse Number: 125

Content: One who makes no distinction between friend and foe, honor and dishonor, knowing Brahman to be full in it (all pervading), becomes supremely happy.

Verse Number: 126

Content: One should never think in terms of friendship or enmity. Being free from (this idea) of friend or foe, in between the brahma bhava, or nature of supreme consciousness, blooms.

Verse Number: 127

Content: By contemplating on Bhairava as all that which is void and cannot be known, grasped or imagined, at the end realization takes place.

Verse Number: 128

Content: Fixing the mind in the outer space, which is eternal, without support, void, omnipresent and beyond estimation or calculation, one enters into the formless, unmanifest dimension.

Verse Number: 129

Content: Wherever the mind dwell, casting that aside that very moment, the mind becomes support less and free from disturbance.

Verse Number: 130

Content: The word Bhairava denotes he who dispels all fear and terror, who howls and cries, who gives all, and who pervades the entire universe (manifest and unmanifest). He who constantly repeats the word Bhairava becomes one with shiva.

Verse Number: 131

Content: At the time of asserting, "I am", "This is mine", and so on, by inspired meditation on Tat (that highest reality), the mind becomes support less.

Verse Number: 132

Content: Meditating every moment on the words: eternal, omnipresent, support less, all-pervasive, master of universe, one attains fulfillment in accordance with their meaning.

Verse Number: 133

Content: This world is illusionary like magic, devoid of any essence. What essence exists in magic? Being firmly convinced of this, one attains peace.

Verse Number: 134

Content: How can there be knowledge or activity of the changeless atman or self? All external objects are under control of knowledge. Therefore, this world is void.

Verse Number: 135

Content: There is neither bondage nor liberation for me. These scare cowards and are the reflections (projections) of the intellect, just as the sun is reflected in water.

Verse Number: 136