Summary of discussion on Vijnana-bhairava-tantra made by Guru Yogi Matsyendranath and Rev. John Dupuche

Vijñānabhairava-tantra 116

yatra yatra mano yāti bāhye vābhyantare ‘pi vā |
tatra tatra śivāvāsthā vyāpakatvāt kva yāsyati || 116 ||

“Wherever the mind is directed, whether outside or inside, there Śiva is found. Since he is all-pervasive, where could one go?”

The śloka ends with a rhetorical question: “where could one go” (kva yāsyati). The answer of course is ‘nowhere’, since Śiva is everywhere. Indeed, in the teaching of Kashmir Shaivism, Śiva acts in five ways, by emanation (sṛṣṭi), maintenance (sthiti), dissolution (samhāra), concealment (tirodhana) and grace (anugraha). Śiva is therefore everything and everywhere. Because he pervades (vyāpakatvāt) all, he is present (avāsthā) in every place.

In the teaching of Kashmir Shaivism, Śiva is ‘I am’ (aham). Therefore the state of Śiva is essentially personal. All is ‘I am’. Śiva does not say ‘I am not’. There is nowhere where he is not present, in the external world (bāhye) as in the internal forum (abhyantare). He does not say that he is not in this chaos, in this turmoil, in this evil, in this injustice. He is every state and is found in every state, even in the wretchedness of our lives, or the evil that humans do to each other.

The mind (mano) is powerful, and the more it focuses on an object the more that object is transformed and becomes the ‘I’, as Abhinavagupta teaches in his commentary on Paratrimsika verses 3–4.[1]  The mind gradually evolves in itself and also changes the object on which the gaze is directed. By focusing the mind on every circumstance (yatra yatra), that circumstance is turned to good. It is transformed by the power of the mind. This attentiveness is the grace of Śiva at work. Thus our pain is transformed when the mind is able to focus on it.

The mind that cannot focus because it is craving and confused does not perceive the reality of things and remains in its illusion.

The enlightenment that is wrought by the 112 methods of the Vijñānabhairava–tantra is to be able to see Śiva in every circumstance.

Summary of discussion on Vijnana-bhairava-tantra made by Guru Yogi Matsyendranath and Rev. John Dupuche

Vijñānabhairava-tantra  70         

recalling a sexual encounter

lehanāmanthanākoṭaiḥ strīsukhasya bharāt smṛteḥ |
śaktyabhāve ‘pi deveśi bhaved ānandasamplavaḥ || 70 ||

“O Mistress of the Gods, bliss surges even in the absence of a śakti, through the act of recalling intently the pleasure experienced with a woman, the kissing, the embracing, the clasping.”

The operative word is ‘recalling’ (smṛteḥ). It presupposes an earlier experience.  It is not fantasizing, or imagining what has not happened.  It is not a form of pornography or voyeurism. It is not compensation or make-believe. It is the act of recalling a delightful episode, which did in fact happen.

This recalling is to be distinguished from the karmamudrā in Buddhism, which is the experience of union with a real woman (mudrā), or the jñānamudrā which is the contemplation of womanhood. Note that similar terms, karmadūtī and jñānadūtī, appear in the Āgamarahaysa where the word dūti refers to the sexual partner. Note also that the word dūti is prominent in the description of the Kula Ritual in chapter 29 of Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka.

The term sukha forms one item of the pair sukha – duhkha, pleasure – suffering. This reliving of pleasure (sukha) with a woman (strī) leads to the experience of that bliss (ānanda) which is the state of Śiva and Śakti in their 1000 year intercourse (maithuna) (the figure 1000 being code for ‘everlasting’).

Śiva and Śakti, in their eternal union, are the basis of all reality. Everything that exists is the outflow of their sexual intercourse. Therefore the individual man and woman in their joining are expressions of Śiva and Śakti, and are united with all the copulations that occur in every moment, for the whole world is one vast field of love-making. That is why the couple senses such harmony with the whole universe. All mirrors all.

The pleasure was powerful at that time in the past because it was an inkling of the bliss that belongs to Śiva and Śakti in their eternity.  The act of remembering returns the practitioner to that moment.

The previous śloka 69 refers to the concluding moment of an actual sexual act, therefore to the sthūla (objective, ‘gross’) level.  This  śloka 70 is a dhāraṇa at the subtle level based on the power of memory (smṛti). Both lead to the sense of maithuna at the supreme (para) level, since all is derived from para.

brahmacārī

The question arises then about the brahmacārī who has not experienced pleasure with a woman.  Is he excluded from practicing this dhāraṇa. Yes, of course, since he has not had a past sexual encounter.  But the sexual encounter of that sort is limited by its very nature. It did not, could not, last. The brahmacārī by contrast, does not seek “the kissing, the embracing, the clasping” (lehanāmanthanākoṭa) as the means to experiencing the eternal union of God and Goddess. Rather, he seeks to experience the supreme (para) divine intercourse from the outset. The desire arises in him for an eternal maithuna, which is found in every circumstance. This is his desire, his intention (samkalpa) from the start.

By a powerful gift of grace he experiences already at the highest level the union of the Divine Couple. He knows he is already Śiva in union with Śakti but also in union with all the śaktis that emanate from her. He experiences the stillness and energy that lies at the very origin of all things. He knows the divine maithuna at the deepest level of consciousness, for that godly sexuality is the heart of reality.

He is inverting the procedure, therefore, not proceeding from the lower to the higher but allowing the higher to inform the lower. As he rests in this state of bliss (ānanda) his whole person, his word, mantra, mind, emotions, feelings, his very body and all its faculties are filled also with the delight (sukha) that is sexual. He knows both the ānanda and the  strīsukha. Thus, at every moment, the brahmacārī experiences intercourse ever more frequently, ever more consciously. He has the fullness of sexuality and is united with the whole of the universe. This is described by Abhinavagupta, in Tantrāloka 29.79, as follows:

Moreover, having by his own nature become the sole Lord of the Kula, he should satiate the many śaktis by pairing [with them], he who possesses every form.

Jayaratha, in his commentary on TĀ 29.79 reinforces this statement with a quote

“His śaktis are the whole universe …….”

In Christian terms, the teaching has always been that the truly dedicated virgin, male or female, experiences already both the original and the future state:

For in the Saints who consecrated themselves to Christ
for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven,
it is right to celebrate the wonders of your providence,
by which you call human nature back to its original holiness
and bring it to experience on this earth
the gifts you promise in the new world to come.

(Roman Missal, ‘Preface of Holy Virgins and Religious’)

This teaching receives a fuller explanation in the light of śloka 70.

Summary of discussion on Vijnana-bhairava-tantra made by Guru Yogi Matsyendranath and Rev. John Dupuche

Vijñānabhairava-tantra 145                   

Contemplation is recitation

bhūyo bhūyaḥ pare bhāve bhāvanā bhāvyate hi yā |
japaḥ so ‘tra svayaṃ nādo mantrātmā japya īdṛśaḥ || 145 ||

“The act of contemplation, while it is being progressively brought to the supreme level, is a ‘recitation’.  Sound arises there spontaneously, sound that is is the essence of the mantra. That is the recitation to be performed.”

Contemplation (bhāvanā) develops progressively (bhūyo bhūyaḥ). When it reaches the supreme level (pare bhāve) it is in fact the mind of Śiva himself. While there are methods and techniques to help the beginner on the road of contemplation, the act of contemplation becomes increasingly natural and effortless. This is because the Divine lies at the very heart of each human, essentially. To discover one’s centre is to discover Reality, which is both divine and the source of one’s humanity.

The guru perceives this inner essence of the disciple and brings it into the open.  The guru does not give what was not there, but brings into the open and into effect that which lay concealed. This teaching is found in St Paul: “[God] has let us know … the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning”. (Eph 1.90)

This process of becoming increasingly contemplative enables the individual to reach the divine state, which is in fact the interplay of light (prakāśa) and auto-illumination (vimarśa), of self and self-knowledge. The relationship between self and self-knowledge is a vibration, and in this sense is a recitation (japa). In fact it is the highest form of recitation of which all other forms are a preparation.

From the state of the Self there arises the awareness (vimarśa) ‘I am’. This is the primordial ‘sound’ (nado), which arises spontaneously (svayaṃ) from the Self (‘tra). It is not so much an audible sound as the perfection of the Word. It arises of its own accord, in all freedom, and is not a distraction to be avoided. It is also called the ‘unstruck’ sound (anāhata). It is also called ‘the essence of the mantra’ (mantrātmā), since all other mantras are imbued with it just as the sesame oil permeates through all parts of the seed. It is not a product of the contemplator’s will, for it is spontaneous. He (she) surrenders to it, not unwillingly but in full freedom.

The contemplators will progressively come to a state where they too say ‘I am’, for they are Śiva.

How does this relate to Christianity? The aim of Christian spirituality is theosis, namely divinisation. As St Athanasius famously said, ‘God became man so that man might become God. The Christian acquires not just the mind and heart, but the very being of God, becoming “a participant in the divine nature”. (2 Pt 1:4) God can be known fully only by those who have acquired the fullness of his being. Then there is no division between contemplator, contemplation and contemplated. All are one.

When a person reaches the heights of contemplation their whole person is suffused with the divine reality, such that even “ordinary language becomes a recitation” (kathā japaḥ).

Summary of discussion on Vijnana-bhairava-tantra made by Guru Yogi Matsyendranath and Rev. John Dupuche

Vijñānabhairava-tantra 119

Technique: seeing a landscape; radical poverty

vastuṣu smaryamāṇeṣu dṛṣṭe deśe manas tyajet |
svaśarīraṃ nirādhāraṃ kṛtvā prasarati prabhuḥ || 119 ||

“Whilst looking at a landscape, he should put his mind aside with regard to objects and memories. Once the body is without support, the Universal Lord appears.”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5.3)

Whilst looking at a landscape, he should put his mind aside with regard to objects and memories.

The hermit goes out to the desert or the mountains, into a landscape broad and vast, without any particular feature to capture the mind. All objects and memories are put aside (tyajet). Fond memories as well as traumas, traditions and customs, resentments and angers, desires and fears, reputation and self-image, sorrows and joys: all are abandoned.  The recollection of past lives, the inherited lives of one’s ancestors, the whole furniture of the memory bank: all are set aside.  Egoity and body-image, impessions (vāsanā), and prejudices are let go. It is a return to the essence of one’s being, prior to all formation and deformation; it is a purification.

The word tyajet, ‘put aside’, is connected with the act of sacrifice. All things present and past and future are sacrificed.

The first words of Jesus’ first sermon in the first gospel, are concerned with this śloka: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’, namely those who are ‘poor’ in every sense. They have set all aside. It is a radical poverty.

Once the body is without support

Every support disappears. Our body, that is our limited self, is formed by the experiences of life on the formation of the past so it is painful to be without support. Prior to his crucifixion Jesus is stripped naked, stripped in every sense, and reduced to nothing. Even the divine support is removed. “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me.’” (Mk 15:34)

the Universal Lord appears.

When this occurs, then the Universal Lord (prabhuḥ) appears, literally ‘he flows out’ (prasarati). The Lord is not static but flowing, not changing but dynamic. The stability is in fact constant dynamism and energy, like the gleaming light, the flowing water, and the moving wind. All limitation is abandoned; there is a sense of universality, the ‘oceanic consciousness’, a phrase used by Romain Rolland to describe the profound experience of Ramakrishna.

The śloka has a play on words.  The term nirādhāraṃ (without support) is taken from ādhāra which can also mean ‘source’ or ‘spring’.  The word prasarati is based on the word sara which means ‘flow’, ‘river’. This, those who abandon every other source find a new spring rising in them, the divine Lord himself.

The Universal Lord appears clearly in the end but he has been present from the beginning, for it is not possible to abandon all support without first being supported by a greater reality.

The promise is made:  that the Kingdom of Heaven will be given to those who are truly poor. That is, the power and influence, the reality and dimension of the Kingdom belong to them. They have become identical with the Universal Lord. The one to whom all authority in heaven and earth is given, (cf. Mt 28:18) is apparent to them because they have become him. There is deepest unity. They are one Body. To see one is to see the other, in identity of nature and diversity of persons. Having abandoned all, they become all.