The Radiance Sutras

Welcome to the ancient wisdom of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, in the luminous translation by my meditation teacher, Lorin Roche. His book, The Radiance Sutras, explores the 112 Sanskrit teachings that are the gateways to meditation for those of us who are not monks! This instinctive knowing is what keeps you enchanted by the energetic glimmers of your shakti, always there, under the surface, waiting to be experienced, felt, and shared.

Simple pleasures that you love are your gateways into the instinctive meditation that your body already knows: Life is generous, wise, and filled with love, and given the slightest opening, it comes gushing through. The sutras I share are accompanied by Samantha Joy on the harp, providing you with a beautiful listening experience to explore your natural gateways into this tantric art of instinctive meditation, the yoga of wonder and delight!

Transcript

One day,

Shakti sang to her lover,

Shiva,

Beloved and radiant light of the space before birth,

Revealer of essence,

Slayer of the ignorance that binds us.

You,

Who in play have created this universe and permeated all forms in it with never-ending truth,

I have been wondering,

I have been listening to the hymns of creation,

Enchanted by the verses,

Yet still I am curious,

What is this delight-filled universe into which we find ourselves born?

What is this mysterious awareness shimmering everywhere within it?

I have been listening to the love songs of form longing for formless.

What are these energies undulating through our bodies,

Pulsing us into action?

And this matter out of which our forms are made?

What are these dancing particles of condensed radiance?

What is this power we call life,

Appearing as the play of flesh and breath?

How may I know this mystery and enter it more deeply?

My attention is enthralled by a myriad of forms,

Innumerable individual entities everywhere,

Flashing into existence and fading away again.

Lead me into the wholeness beyond all these parts.

Do me a favor,

My love,

Let me rest in your embrace.

Refresh me with the elixir of your wisdom and ravish me with your truth.

Shiva replies,

Beloved,

Your questions touch the heart of wonder,

The path of intimacy with all life,

Weaving together body and soul,

Sex and spirit,

Individuality and universality.

This is my cave of secrets,

Your inquiry has led you here.

I feel your fingers on my pulse,

Come with me,

Leave behind everything you know.

The teachings about me are a light show put on by the celestial musicians,

As beautiful and insubstantial as clouds.

Elaborate rituals and garish images may be useful in meditation.

When your mind is whirling with thoughts of sex,

Money and power,

Wandering like an elephant in heat,

Go ahead and use these tools.

Yet no,

Beating drums and blaring trumpets cannot summon the one who is already present.

I am not a collection of incantations known only to experts.

I am not a ladder to be climbed,

A sequence for piercing energy centers in your body.

I am not to be found at the end of a long road.

I am right here.

All stories about me are like tales you tell naughty children.

The goblin is going to come gobble you up,

Or else soothing fables mothers spin as they hand out sweets.

Leave these fantasies behind,

Let me tell you of the luminous path.

I am beyond measure,

I cannot be calculated.

I am beyond space and time.

I am beyond ancient and beyond the future.

There are no directions to me.

I am always here.

I am the embrace of your most intimate experience.

Though I am beyond the intellect,

I am not beyond your daring.

I am the nourishing state of fullness that is the essence of soul.

You belong to me,

And I am yours.

My nature is spotless,

Completely uncontaminated.

I am not covered up,

Not even by a billion galaxies.

So who is there to worship and adore?

There is no one to appease.

Sacred texts sing of my reality,

But I cannot be found in them,

For I am the one listening.

I am always closer than breath.

Heat and fire are not two separate things.

They are just verbal distinctions.

Shakti and Shiva are one and the same.

We are inseparable,

And the way to me is through her.

I am everywhere,

Infusing everything.

To find me,

Become absorbed in intense experience.

Go all the way.

Be drenched in the energies of life.

Enter the world beyond separation.

The light of a candle reveals a room.

The rays of the sun reveal the world.

So does the divine feminine illumine the way to me.

She who shines everywhere sings.

You who hold the mysteries in your hand of will,

Knowledge,

And action,

Reveal to me this path of illumined knowing.

I long to merge with you,

Be filled with your nourishing essence.

Lead me into joyous union with the life of the universe,

That I may know it fully,

Realize it deeply,

And breathe in luminous truth.

The one who is intimate to all beings replies.

Beloved,

Your questions require the answers that come through direct living experience.

The way of experience begins with a breath,

Such as the breath you are breathing now.

Awakening into luminous reality,

May dawn in the momentary throb between any two breaths.

Exhaling,

Breath is released and flows out.

There is a pulse as it turns to flow in.

In that turn,

You are empty.

Enter that emptiness as the source of all life.

Inhaling,

Breath flows in,

Filling,

Nourishing.

Just as it turns to flow out,

There is a flash of pure joy.

Life is renewed.

Radiant One,

The life essence carries on its play through the pulsing rhythm of outward and inward movement.

This is the ceaseless throb,

The rhythm of life,

Terrifying in its eternity,

Exquisite in its constancy.

The inhalation,

The return movement of breath,

Sustains life.

The outgoing breath purifies life.

These are the two poles between which respiration goes on unceasingly.

Between them is every delight you could desire.

Even when the senses are turned outward,

Your attention on the external world.

Attend also to the inner throb,

The pulsing of creative impulse within you.

Enter these turning points,

Where the rhythms of life transform into each other.

Breath flows in,

Filling,

Filling.

In this moment,

Drink eternity.

Breath flows out,

Emptying,

Emptying,

Offering itself to infinity.

Cherishing these moments,

Mind dissolves into heart,

Heart dissolves into space,

Body becomes a vibrating field,

Pulsing between the fullness and the emptiness.

At the end of the exhale,

Breath surrenders to quietude.

For a moment,

You hang in the balance,

Suspended in the fertile spaciousness that is the source of breath.

At the end of the inhale,

Filled with the song of the breath,

There is a moment when you are simply holding the tender mystery.

In these interludes,

Experience opens into exquisite vastness,

With no beginning and no end.

Embrace this infinity without reservation.

You are its vessel.

Follow the path of the life force as she flashes upward like lightning through your body.

Attend simultaneously to the perineum,

That bright place between the legs,

To the crown of the skull,

And that shining star place above the head.

Notice this living current becoming ever more subtle as she rises,

Radiant as the morning sun,

Until she streams outward from the top of the head into all-embracing gratitude.

Thus,

Become intimate with the life of all beings.

Trace the river of life that flows through you,

The luxuriously rising energies gradually touching each of the centers along the spine.

Savor every shimmer of color along the way.

Enter each area tenderly,

Loving as you go,

Finally gently dissolving in the crown of the head,

Then above,

In the space above the head,

The great dawn.

Let your attention glide through the centers of awareness along the spine with adoring intent.

There is a song to each area of the body,

Resonating in sweet vortices,

Long rhythmic vowels and hums,

Ah and ee,

Um and mm,

Resounding on and on.

Find the harmonies emanating from the circulation of life energies.

Listen to these as sounds,

Then more subtly as an underlying hum,

Eventually as the most subtle feeling,

Then diving more deeply,

Dissolve into freedom.

Rest the attention easily in the forehead,

In the eye that is made of light.

Cherish the delicate energies glowing there.

Allow attention to inquire upwards into the radiant space above the head.

The small self enters delicious omnipresence.

It remembers and knows as its truth.

Gradually the luminosity of that truth fills the body to overflowing as it rises through the crown of the head into a shower of light.

The senses declare an outrageous world,

Scents and sounds,

Ravishing colors and shapes,

Ever-changing skies,

Iridescent reflections.

All these beautiful surfaces decorating vibrant emptiness.

Divine love is courting you,

Light as a feather.

Every perception is an invitation into revelation,

Hearing,

Seeing,

Smelling,

Tasting,

Touching,

Ways of knowing creation,

Transmissions of electric realization.

The deepest reality is always right here,

Encircled by splendor in the center of the sphere.

Meditate where the body thrills to the currents of intimate communion.

Follow your senses to the end and beyond,

Into the heart of space.

The journey begins here,

With whatever is capturing your attention.

Are you gazing at the patterns on some wall?

Are you daydreaming about a celebrity?

Is there someone you love and long to cling to,

Disappear into?

A soul who is a chalice for beauty to pour into the world?

Whatever your focus,

Give your whole being.

Gradually,

Step by step,

The infinity from which you both have emerged will encompass you with blessing.

Inside the skull there is a place where the essences of creation play and mingle.

The ecstatic light of awareness and the awareness of that light.

The divine feminine and masculine sport with one another in that place.

The light of their love play illumines all space.

Rest in that light,

Ever present,

And gradually awaken into the steady joy of that which is everywhere.

There is a current of love energy that flows between earth below and sun above.

The central channel of your spine is the riverbed.

The streaming is as delicate and powerful as the tingling touch of lovers.

Entering here,

Radiance arches between above and below.

Your whole attention resting in the subtle,

Vibrating in the center of the spinal column,

Tracing this current between earth and sun,

Becoming magnetism relating all worlds.

Lift your hands and with a gesture,

Turn aside all forces of the outer world.

Attend to the vibrancy within.

Let the fingers lightly touch and bless eyes,

Ears,

Nostrils,

Mouth,

All the entrances to the head.

Invite attention to be within the skin and cherish the quiet shimmer of vital energies.

When you notice an inner gateway,

Enter with love as one coming home.

As the surge of light substance rises,

Follow it up into the space between the eyebrows where it breaks out as an orgasm of light.

When you close your eyes,

Attention turns toward the inner glow.

The heart sees its own light,

Pulsing with subtle flame.

In your forehead is a single eye.

Here,

Streams of living electricity flow together.

The body of substance and the body of light fuse into one.

Above your head,

A star is shining,

The soul,

Luminous in its own realm.

Life arises from itself in a swirling motion of flame.

Being becomes body.

In meditation,

Adore the subtle fire.

When heart,

Head,

And above dissolve into radiance,

Bathe deeply in that ocean of sound vibrating within you now as always,

Resonating softly,

Permeating the space of the heart.

The ear that is tuned by rapt listening learns to hear the song of creation.

First like a hand bell,

Then subtler like a flute.

Hear still as a stringed instrument,

Eventually as the buzz of a bee.

Entering this current of sound,

The listening one forgets the external world,

Becomes absorbed into internal sound,

Then absorbed in vastness,

Like the song of the stars as they shine.

The roar of joy that set the worlds in motion is reverberating in your body,

And the space between all bodies.

Beloved,

Listen.

Find that exuberant vibration rising new in every moment,

Humming in your secret places,

Resounding through the channels of delight.

Know that you are flooded by it always.

Float with the sound,

Melt with it into divine silence.

The sacred power of space will carry you into the dancing,

Radiant emptiness that is the source of all.

The ocean of sound is inviting you into its spacious embrace,

Calling you home.

Think of any vowel,

They are all delicious.

Savor the sound with infinite gentleness.

Attend to where it comes from within you,

And to where it goes when it fades away.

Listen to the subtle,

Ever-changing tones,

Layer upon layer.

Discover what gradualness is.

The power of sound will lead you into the power of silence.

Syllables are born from space,

Resonate in space,

Then melt into spaciousness.

Know this silent spaciousness as yourself.

Immerse yourself in the rapture of music.

You know what you love,

Go there.

Tend to each note,

Each chord,

Rising up from silence and dissolving again.

Vibrating strings draw us into the spacious resonance of the heart.

The body becomes light as the musician,

And you,

One with the great musician,

Who is even now singing us into existence.

Bodies feed on sound.

Sonic waves on inner waters nourish every nerve.

Vibration strengthens bones.

Ecstatic undulation awaits you.

Take a bite of crunchy K,

Slippery S,

A rugged R.

Enjoy a yummy vowel,

Ah,

Ee,

Oh,

Or goo.

Throw it in a bowl of mmm.

Treasure the impact on your tongue.

Cream,

Shreem,

Rom,

Yum,

Cream,

Lum.

Produce a sound out loud,

Then whisper softly.

Now hear with your inner ear.

Allow the resonance to enchant you within.

The sound goes on resounding,

Continuing of itself as the hum dissolves into silence.

Be nurtured in the tenderness of infinite space.

The radiance of space permeates the body and all directions simultaneously.

Space is always here,

Already here before you're noticing of it.

What we call space is a presence,

Permission to exist,

And worlds within which to express.

Without thinking about it,

Without forming mental images,

Rest in this vast expanse,

Friends with infinity.

Your back is a gateway to the sky.

The celestial dance is a story of space and time,

Is coded in the spine.

Attend simultaneously to the area around your tailbone,

Vibrating with luminous space,

And to the spine as a channel gushing with radiant emptiness.

Here,

Where particles flash in and out of existence,

Is the origin of mind.

Behind the spine is infinity.

Below the perineum,

Invisible pulsating roots open downward into space.

The heart is wide as a spiral galaxy.

Steadily consider back,

Root,

Heart,

And know the living body of vastness that you are.

Forget all of your ideas about the body,

It's this way or it's that way.

Just be present with any area of it.

This present body as permeated with limitless space,

Drenched in freedom.

This body is made of earth and gold,

Sky and stars,

Rivers and oceans,

Masquerading as muscle and bone.

Every substance is here,

Diamonds and silver,

Magical elixirs,

Ambrosia that gives visions,

Herbs that nourish and heal,

The foundation of the planet,

Immortal magnetic iron circulating in the blood.

Every element in you loves the others.

Earth loves rain,

Sky loves sun,

Sun loves the space it shines through,

And space loves everyone equally.

In meditation,

Luxuriate in knowing this deep and simple truth.

Every cell is an organ of sense,

Infused with majesty.

Attend to the skin as a subtle boundary containing vastness.

Enter that pulsing immensity,

Discover that you are not separate from anything there.

There is no inside,

There is no outside,

There is no other.

No object to meditate upon that is not you.

The one who is at play everywhere says,

There is a space in the heart where everything meets.

Come here if you want to find me.

Mind,

Senses,

Soul,

Eternity,

All are here.

Are you here?

Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart.

Listen to the song that is always resonating.

Give yourself to it with total abandon,

Quiet ecstasy is here,

And a steady regal sense of resting in a perfect spot.

You who are the embodiment of blessing,

Once you know the way,

The nature of attention will call you to return.

Again and again answer that call,

And be saturated with knowing,

I belong here,

I am at home.

Put attention into the luminous connections between the centers of the body where the mind loves to dissolve.

Base of the spine and top of the head,

Genitals and heart,

Heart and throat,

Throat and forehead,

Forehead and crown of the skull.

Enter that glowing net of light with a focus born of awe,

And even your bones will know enlightenment.

This body is sustained by altars to the radiant nectar of life.

Around you an ocean of air ready to become your breath.

Above the head the glow of an invisible sun,

Within the spaciousness of the heart a pulsing throb of creation where the breaths meet,

Fuse,

And transform into each other.

Whenever,

Wherever your mind wanders,

Whatever you wonder,

Return to the luminous,

Choose any altar,

Throw your attention again and again into one of these centers where spirit and flesh consummate their love.

Day by day old whirlpools fade,

The endless circles,

You are living in the temple of essence.

Live for a few days in the meditation.

I am immersed in the flame,

The flame of time,

The flame of love,

The flame of life.

The universal fire flows through me.

Step into that fire wholeheartedly,

Starting with the big toe,

Then surrendering everywhere.

Only the not-self,

Which doesn't exist anyway,

Burns away.

Listen to this continually and awaken into tranquility.

Your essence is renewed in the flame,

For it is flame and knows itself as flame since the first heartbeat of creation.

Imagine the entire world consumed by flame.

Stay steady,

Do not waver.

As fire transmutes form into light,

The soul reveals itself to itself as radiance.

Experience the substance of the body and the world as made up of vibrating particles,

And these particles made up of even finer energies.

Drifting more deeply,

Feel into each pulse of energy as it condenses from infinity and dissolves back into it continuously.

Noticing this,

Breathe easily,

With infinity dancing everywhere.

Strong or soft,

Wild or serene,

Wherever breath flows there is a song.

Hear its whisper touching the face,

Singing in the throat,

Dancing spirals in the sanctuary of your heart.

In this practice of listening,

A moment may come when you just want to lie down.

This is a doorway,

Surrender.

Fall into the wide open embrace of life.

You are the instrument breath is playing.

All the meditations you have ever loved are vibrating in this luxurious hum,

Continuing even in sleep and dreams.

This is your school,

Just you and infinity.

The texture of the self is untamed freedom.

This whole universe is a path of liberation,

A vast arena for your endless play.

Play,

Let your awareness be everywhere at once.

Planets,

Stars,

Swirling galaxies,

Subatomic moats,

All are dancing within you.

Enter the rhythm,

Descend into the space between beats,

Dissolve into intimacy with the dancing one.

The air I am breathing was exhaled in ecstasy by an ancient sun.

This earth I am standing on was born of cosmic fire.

The blood flowing through my veins is as salty as the primordial ocean.

The space permeating my body is infinite as the space all around.

Above,

Below,

To all sides,

Within,

The elements of the universe are engaged in their ceremony of delight.

This is my religion.

The attraction between suns is the same as the love pulsating in my heart.

Shining one,

Breathing out,

Let go and fall into knowing all of creation as existing within space and you are absorbed in that vibrant empty fullness.

In this moment,

Your body is intimate with space,

Exchanging essence for essence,

Balancing in the midst of vast emptiness.

No utter freedom.

Space is worthy of worship and wonder,

It is the field within which everything exists.

Rest your eyes in emptiness,

Inside a room,

A temple,

Even a little jar,

Any contained space.

Throw the one who is seeing into the center and trust your mind to the embrace of space.

In a flash,

All boundaries dissolve.

Go into a wide open space,

Gaze without looking anywhere.

The mind stops its building of thoughts and rests on its own foundation,

Immensity.

The light that you see by is the light that comes from inside.

Watch for a moment in which two opposing perceptions occur,

Wanting to go and not going,

Knowing and simultaneously not knowing.

In the midst of this dilemma,

Let go of both perceptions and jump into the interval between.

Reality flashes forth,

Your being is the shining field of awareness,

The continuum in which the opposites play.

Cast aside the 10,

000 things and love only one.

Don't go on to another,

Engage your lively awareness with this one focus,

One object,

One thought,

One symbol.

Now go inside,

Find the center,

The soul,

The heart.

Right here in the middle of the feeling,

Attend the blossoming,

Attention vast as the sky.

Delight in this entire universe as permeated with divine awareness and every area of your body,

Your feet,

Your face,

Your shoulders,

Made out of divine awareness.

The body of the planet beneath you,

Out beyond the farthest horizons,

The stars and the reaches of space are all arising from divine wisdom.

Know this and dissolve into peace.

Breathing is the flow of the divine,

Where the rhythms of life turn into each other,

The eternal exchange.

Pour one breath into the other,

Out-breath into the in-breath,

Into the out-breath,

Awaken to equanimity,

At peace in the play of opposites.

With one sweep of attention,

Gather in the whole universe and remember it as your body of bliss.

The deep rhythms of life pulsating,

Stir an ambrosia flowing and overflowing everywhere.

Drink the nectar of all-pervading joy from this radiant cup that is your very body.

You whose existence melts me,

Whenever you dissolve into helpless laughter,

Transported by a magic show,

Antics or jokes,

Having your armpits tickled,

Drenched by a sudden shower or any of nature's tricks,

Dive into the source of that laughter.

Surrender to the surge of joy,

Illuminating the essence of reality.

Rivers of power flowing everywhere,

Fields of magnetism relating everything.

This is your origin,

This is your lineage.

The current of creation is right here,

Coursing through the subtle channels,

Animating this very form.

Follow the gentle touch of life,

Soft as the footprint of an ant,

As tiny sensations open to vastness.

Power sings as it flows,

Electrifies the organs of sensing,

Becomes liquid light,

Nourishes your entire being.

Celebrate the boundary where streams join the sea,

Where body meets infinity.

As the fires build in sexual joy,

Enter that blessed place between the legs,

Embrace the holy energy shimmering there.

Follow the rising flow undulating throughout the spine,

Shivering with pleasure.

As the fire intensifies and flashes upwards,

Suspend the breath for a moment,

Throw your whole self in,

Become brilliance in your bodily form,

In union with primordial bliss.

At the moment of orgasm,

The truth is illumined,

The one everyone longs for.

Lovemaking is riding the currents of excitation into revelation,

Two rivers flow together,

The body becomes quivering.

No inside and no outside,

Only the delight of union.

The mind releases itself into divine energy and the body knows where it came from.

This is reality and it is always here.

Everyone craves the source and it is always everywhere.

When by oneself flooded with delight,

Simply in the memory of that kiss,

Here is the inner ritual.

That lick,

That taste of nectar,

That caress,

Embrace,

Particular pressure,

Your subtle body replays the dance.

Inundated by divine sensations,

Melting,

Merging,

Swelling,

Surrender to the deluge.

Know it as your own.

This ocean of bliss is you.

In the great joy of seeing a loved one after a long absence,

A flash of recognition ignites you.

Space becomes charged.

The bond between you shimmers and a surge of delight arises in your being.

Beloved,

Find within you the source of this surge.

Melt into that place of upwelling,

A wave rolling in a vast ocean of delight.

Eating dark chocolate,

A ripe apricot,

A luscious elixir,

Savor the expanding joy in your body.

Nature is offering herself to you.

How astonishing to realize that this world can taste so good.

When sipping some ambrosia,

Raise your glass,

Close your eyes,

Toast the universe.

The sun and moon and earth danced together to bring you this delight.

Sip the nectar on your tongue as a kiss of the divine.

All around you,

In every moment,

The world is offering a feast for your senses.

Songs are playing,

Tasty food is on the table,

Fragrances are in the air,

Colors fill the eyes with light.

You who long for union attend this banquet with loving focus.

The outer and inner worlds open to each other.

Oneness of vision,

Oneness of heart,

Right here in the midst of it all.

Mount that elation,

Ascend with it,

Become identical with the ecstatic essence embracing both worlds.

Wherever,

Whenever you feel carried away,

Rejoicing in every breath,

There,

There is your meditation hall.

Cherish these times of absorption,

Rocking the baby in the silence of the night,

Pouring water into a crystal glass,

Tending the logs in a crackling fire,

Sharing a meal with a circle of friends.

Embrace these pleasures and know,

This is my true body.

Nowhere is more holy than this.

Right here is the sacred pilgrimage.

Live in alertness for such a moment,

My beloved,

As if it were your one meeting with the divine.

When sleep has not yet come and the sweet buzz of exhaustion permeates the body,

Linger in the awe of relief as your head touches the pillow.

Everything in you is yearning to let go.

So let go,

Let your body fall into something deeper than sleep.

With your mind,

Enter the soft luminous glow of the soul.

Gaze out at space,

Aware of multicolored luminosity permeating everywhere.

The blue sky filled with the rays from the sun,

The night sky dark yet crisscrossed by the light of a billion stars.

How can this be?

All space is the same,

Inside you and far away.

Lose yourself in spaciousness.

Come home to your true self.

You who have been seeking,

Whatever path you are on,

A moment will come when divine pulsation grabs you and carries you into its dance.

In the midst of ecstatic motion,

Your body dissolves into light,

Leaving only the soft glowing benediction of the bones.

You become the face of fury,

Yet serene within.

Eyes fly open in amazement,

Seeing the unseen vastness,

Or you become a tongue tasting upward into the nectar of eternity.

The soul reveals itself to itself through movement,

Energy-infused undulations and gestures of hand,

Foot,

Spine,

Face,

And form.

The invisible loves the visible.

Sit in any relaxed,

Comfortable pose.

Sense the earth below as insubstantial,

A pillow of air,

Air that is always vibrating,

Minute particles in ecstatic motion,

Poised here,

No support below,

No support above,

No support for the feet or hands,

No support for the mind.

Be completely at peace.

Oceans embrace a continent,

Space welcomes the sun.

Embrace yourself this generously.

Form your arms into a circle and cherish the arising of serenity.

Attend the birth of something new.

Thoughts dissolve into peace as you become the one who embraces all.

Find something so enchanting to behold that you are transfixed,

Ravished.

Allow yourself to be captivated.

Gaze upon its form with the eyes of wonder.

Attend to details,

This shape,

Texture,

These colors.

How can something so beautiful possibly exist?

With a steady gaze,

Melt into the field of space embracing that form.

At once,

Be at one with the divine who is looking through your eyes,

Loving creation.

The tongue is made of truth and flame.

On it dance the triple fires of spirit,

Body,

And soul.

Trace this dance from the depths of your core,

Rising upward through the crown of your being.

Every offering of breath and food feeds this holy flame.

Touch the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth lightly.

Inquire into the luminosity above.

Breathe out with a quiet ah.

You are an altar to the flame of life.

Throw yourself into the throbbing intensity.

Become this dance,

Absorbed in radiant splendor.

Sitting on a soft seat or lying on your mat,

Experience the space below as offering no support.

You are simply suspended,

Floating in space.

Structures of the mind release.

The reservoir of habits dissolves.

In an instant,

Lifetimes of patterns vanish.

Rocking,

Undulating,

Swaying,

Carried by rhythm,

Cherish the streaming energy flooding your body as a current of the divine.

Oh,

Radiant one,

Ride the waves of ecstatic motion into a sublime fusion of passion and peace.

Adorable one,

Sit or lie down completely immobile,

Beholding the cloudless sky,

Or,

If there are clouds,

The sky beyond.

As vastness envelops you,

The body vanishes,

Thoughts forget to come.

In this moment,

You are the nature of the great sky.

Enter the space inside your head.

See it as already infinite,

Extending forever in all directions.

This spaciousness that you are is permeated by luminosity.

Know this radiance as the soul of the world.

Dreaming,

Dreaming,

Sleeping,

Awakening rhythms of darkness and light,

Day and night,

Night and day,

Wondering,

Who am I?

Who am I?

Who is morphing through this ever-shifting flow?

Beloved,

Wake up.

Dance in your true body before time.

Shimmering energy without end.

Secrets are hidden in darkness and difficult nights.

You awaken into a pang of aloneness,

A howl of separation.

This is the call of the dark one.

The roar of life seeking its source,

The union you long for is within reach.

Throw off all hesitation.

Become one with the fear.

Plunge into the uncanny blackness,

Eyes wide open.

As if there were no other choice.

Vibrating with fierce tenderness,

Breathe intimately with the wisdom of infinite space.

Close your eyes and imagine an expanse of terrible darkness surrounds you.

No objects,

No light,

No moon,

No stars.

Nothing but blackness spreading to infinity.

Do not shrink in terror.

Do not turn away.

Give yourself to the blackness with no hope of light.

Surrender completely.

Contemplating this feeling,

Merge with the mystery of night.

Whenever any of the senses is impaired,

It becomes a gateway to infinity.

Whether by deprivation,

Injury,

Or age,

Obstruction of the senses invites awareness of the soul.

The mind can no longer take the world for granted.

Inhalation spirals inward and touches the glistening emptiness,

The reality behind appearance.

Shining one whose body flows with power.

When you are astonished,

Startled,

Or afraid,

And gasp,

A shocked inhalation,

Right there,

Right there,

Sense the vibration of that gasp on your palate.

The shimmer of that sound in the mouth evokes a flood of knowing,

A gush of the divine.

Listen to the inner sound,

The one you wrote outward into this life,

Into this manifestation of yourself.

Savor the sound of ah,

Softly continuing,

Resonating through all the nerves of your body,

Permeating,

Expanding everywhere.

Know this as the sound of ongoing creation.

Meditate on the self as being vast as the sky,

A body of energy extending forever in all directions,

Above,

Below,

All around,

In the embrace of infinite space,

Awakened to your true form,

Divine creative energy revealing herself as you.

The sting of a wasp,

Rip of a nail,

A razor's slice,

The needle's plunge,

A piercing word,

A stab of betrayal,

The boundary crossed,

A trust broken.

In this lacerating moment,

Pain is all you know.

Life is tattooing scripture into your flesh,

Scribing incandescence in your nerves.

Right here,

In this single searing point of intolerable concentration,

Wound becomes portal,

Brokenness surrenders to crystalline brilliance of being.

People talk about mind and ego,

Let's just drop this whole conversation,

Consider instead there is no mind,

There is no ego,

There is only the vivid reality of this surprising moment at play,

Beckoning.

The universe is here to reveal unlimited splendor,

Infinite diversity of expression.

No one can withstand her allure,

Adore the colors and shapes of her enchantment and know,

The one who permeates it all is a great lover,

Deeply relating above and below,

Mortal and immortal,

Transient and eternal,

Perceive the terrifying beauty,

Be free to suffer and to be thrilled,

To tolerate intolerable ravishment.

Just as desire leaps up and you perceive the flash,

The sparkle,

Quit from its play and maintain awareness in that clear and shining space from which all desire springs.

Radiant one,

Inquire,

Before desire arises in me,

Who am I?

Before I know anything,

Who am I?

Seek always the intimate joy of your original self and move through this world in freedom.

Whenever a wanting moment comes,

Celebrate the rising of desire as a sparkling impulse of energy vibrating the body into motion.

In a flash of knowing when intelligence arises,

Attend to this rising as the elimination of the self.

Desiring and knowing,

Knowing and desiring,

Just for a breath,

Forget what you want,

Forget what you know.

Receive the real teaching,

The essence of earth,

Air,

Fire,

Water and space,

Beloved.

Reject the reality of everything.

Deny the universe of appearance.

Say no to the phenomenal world,

Reside in the secret place inside.

As joy rises in the heart,

At this sudden freedom,

Enter there and dwell.

The heart of the universe pulses in all hearts.

There is one who is the life in all forms.

There is one who is joyful in simply existing in all bodies,

As all bodies.

Explore the life that is the life of your present form.

One day you will discover it is not so different from the life of the secret one,

And your heart will sing triumphant songs of being at home everywhere.

Desire,

Lust,

Longing,

Anger humming in your blood,

Confusion,

Jealousy,

Bewilderment swirling in your head.

Catch the first hint as passion rises,

The first quickening heartbeat.

Embrace that vibrancy with a mind vast as the sky.

Witness the elemental motion of emotion,

Fire burning,

Illuminating,

Water gushing,

Cleansing,

Air inspiring,

Soothing,

Earth supporting,

Holding,

Space expanding,

Embracing.

You are in the temple of desire.

Go deeper still and rest in essence.

Awaken to the infinite spiritual energy surging into form.

Contemplate the entire universe as a magic show on the grandest scale imaginable.

Fabulous art,

An immense painting in motion.

The divine is a magician swirling galaxies of fire,

Juggling atoms,

Planets,

And us.

Everything,

Everything is fleeting.

Meditating on this magic,

Great happiness rises in the heart.

This space is good,

That space is bad,

The ride is rough,

The ride is smooth.

We are thrown into suffering,

We are thrown into joy.

Beloved soulmate,

Find the space in the center.

The pulsing spaciousness encompassing all opposites.

Here the essences of creation are at play.

Earth,

Water,

Fire,

Air,

And space,

And the senses that perceive them.

The center is the dancing ground.

Drop the thought,

I am this body.

Abandon the limitation,

I am only here in this specific place and time.

Embrace instead,

I am not my body,

I am not this place,

I am not this time.

There is no place,

There is no time.

Realize I am everywhere,

Sustained by infinite bliss.

Trees have desires,

Rocks have knowledge,

Jugs are full of emptiness and joy.

All embodied ones have this in common.

All are propelled by the same one whose pulse beats in your breast.

Shed insularity,

Be all pervasive,

Delighting in kinship everywhere.

God knows,

There is me,

And then there are all those others.

This is common to all.

Lovers know,

There is me,

And the source of this me is ever mysterious.

Lovers know,

Each contact with another is a spark of the divine.

Lovers move through this world,

Awake to intimacy.

Each touch a revelation,

Never to be repeated.

Turn your awareness into the bodies of other living beings.

Feel what those others are feeling.

Leave aside your body and its needs,

Abandon being so local.

Day by day constrictions will loosen as you become attuned to the current of life flowing through us all.

Toss aside your map of the world,

All your beliefs and constructs,

Dare the wild unknown.

Enter in this terrifying freedom,

Naked before the universe.

Commune with the one who knows everything from the inside.

Invisible power pervading everywhere,

Divine presence permeating everything.

Breathe tenderly as the lover of all beings.

There is a knower who experiences everything.

There is a presence dancing everywhere.

There is a lover who embraces us all.

I am one with that light.

I am one with that power.

I am one with that love.

Waves rise from water,

Flames arise from fire,

Rays emanate from the sun.

So do you and I shine forth from the mysterious one.

Wander and wander to the point of exhaustion,

Whirl until you lose all control,

Dance until you are ready to drop,

Then drop,

Fall to the earth,

Surrender to the swirl of sensations surging through your form,

Dissolve in awe as arising energies continue the dance in your inner world,

Beyond motion and commotion,

Become the body of ecstasy.

You are stunned,

Powerless,

You thought you knew what was going on,

Now you realize you don't have a clue.

You are stopped in your tracks,

Everything within your skin is shaking.

Enter this shaking,

Get curious,

Look around inside with wonder,

Unmind your mind.

All the walls have fallen down,

Go ahead and dissolve.

The one who has always been,

Who has seen much worse than this,

Is still here.

Radiant One,

Please listen to me.

The essence of all the teachings is right here.

Open your eyes with a soft and steady gaze.

Look out upon creation,

Receive waves of light as they enter your eyes,

Singing of infinity.

The light touching the back of your eyes is immortal,

Born in the primal sun.

Be present to this enlightenment.

This is the ancient knowing,

A sanctuary that is everywhere.

Galaxies are flowers on this altar.

Close the ears that track the outer world,

Open the ears of the soul,

Engage the muscles at the base of the pelvis,

The intimate special places,

And cherish the vibrating energies there contained.

The song of creation,

Sustaining,

Enlivening,

Is thrumming in your body.

Whispering secrets,

Listen in.

Meditating on the symphony of your own life currents,

Enter the palace of the divine.

Position yourself safely at the edge of a cliff or gorge.

Gaze into the abyss and see only depth.

Immediately,

Doubts dissolve,

Dilemmas disappear.

Be steady as mind releases itself into its natural freedom.

Wherever your heart journeys,

On whatever expedition,

In your outer life and secret inner realms,

Breathe in intimacy with infinity.

Where can you go to avoid the one in whom all exists?

Reach down into your deepest being,

Take a stand in eternity.

Walk through this world,

See every situation as an expansion of the mystery.

Savor the tremble of recognition.

The divine in you is touching the divine out there.

Light moves on its pathways through space,

Enters the eyes,

And you absorb the luminous.

Each sense is a current of divinity,

Sparkling with mystery,

Light,

Motion,

Space,

Vision,

Awareness.

All are composed of omnipresence,

The senses connecting you to the outer world.

Our paths of communion with the inner world.

Every sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch,

A greeting from the beloved.

Ravenous with hunger,

Exploding with joy,

Sneezing uncontrollably,

Burning with desire,

Reeling with amazement,

Staggered by grief,

Fleeing from danger,

Desperately lost.

Intensity awakens wild attentiveness everywhere.

Ride the shockwave inward to touch the great self,

The power from which you arise.

When the unforgettable calls you,

The memory of something noble,

Generous,

Inspiring,

Accept the gift,

Savor every detail.

The beauty we admire is a visitation from another moment,

Infusing body and heart.

Memory transports us beyond time and space into the living presence of wonder.

Engage your gaze with something,

Anything,

Adore its form and essence,

Give it your all.

Tiptoe away into another realm as if not wanting to wake your lover.

Emptied of engagement,

Enter the temple of unknowing.

Dissolve in wonder.

Where does anything come from?

Be wildly devoted to someone or something.

Cherish every perception.

At the same time,

Forget about control.

Allow the beloved to be herself and to change.

Passion and compassion,

Holding and letting go,

This ache in your heart is holy.

Accept it as the rise of intimacy with life's secret ways.

Devotion is the divine streaming through you from that place in you before time.

Love's energy flows through your body toward a body and into eternity again.

Surrender to this current of devotion and become one with the body of love.

Love is particular.

When you love someone,

A tangible,

Touchable someone,

The whole world opens up.

If you want to know the universe,

Dare to love one person.

All the secret teachings are right here.

Go deeper and deeper still.

The gift of concentration is the spaciousness that surrounds it.

Focus illuminates immensity.

All this talk of purity and impurity,

These are just opinions.

Beyond them are the miraculous energies of creation.

Rays of light from a trillion suns illuminate the altar of your sky.

Rolling blue-green oceans sanctify the air you breathe.

In this moment,

You are inhaling their blessing.

Who are you to call any of this pure or impure?

Find the center around which everything revolves.

Stand here and be flooded with joy.

The reality of the divine is everywhere apparent,

Especially among people who haven't even thought about it.

The very nature of I-consciousness,

To be an individual,

Is in essence divine.

The excitement of the Eternal One is throbbing in the heart of every creature.

Know this and be without superiority,

Inferiority,

Or resentment at your limitations.

It's always the same.

Barbarians and blockheads,

Rival queens and kings.

The drama rolls on and on.

When people honor you,

You are supposed to feel honored.

When you don't get respect,

They expect you to sulk in indignation.

One minute you're cruising on a throne in the sky,

And the next you're standing on some bleak patch of dirt.

I say,

The sun regards all with a steady eye.

The force sustaining earth and sky calls everyone to awaken from this trance.

This whole world revolves around an axis,

And I am that.

When you are friends with the friend to all beings,

Nothing is the same.

Rich beyond measure,

Abundant beyond counting,

You can move through this life laughing.

Opinions of others have no rulership over you.

Abandon all these attitudes of wanting to prolong pleasure and avoid suffering.

Let the heart be itself and feel whatever is there.

Freed from clinging and avoiding,

The heart regains its poise and revels in creation.

Plunging deep into its center,

Discover that the heart is moved by a pulse that is everywhere.

Delightful divinity permeates everywhere.

Senses cannot grasp it.

Images cannot represent it.

It is totally free,

Free to appear as form,

Free to be beyond form.

Heart and body and mind in unison,

Attend the unimaginable.

In the intercourse of unknowable and known,

An awakening will be born in you as you join with that reality which you already are.

When you gaze in wonder at the stars,

Become enthralled with the vast spaciousness between them,

Space is an incomprehensible being,

An invisible presence,

Independent,

Independently wealthy,

Without beginning or end,

And giving.

Space bestows an unbounded theater for suns,

Planets,

Constellations to dance their graceful orbits.

Space offers you an infinite arena to play,

Explore,

And experience.

Receive this gift of freedom.

Receive this gift of freedom.

Set your mind free to wander anywhere it wants.

Think any thought,

Ride any wave,

Surge in any direction.

The instant a thought springs up,

Abandon it and move on.

Don't let the mind rest anywhere.

In this way,

Gain entry to the bliss of the silent depths beneath the surf.

We all tremble.

We all know fear.

Turn to the one life pervading the universe whose name dispels fear.

Find that name resonating in your heart.

Luminosity permeates the universe,

And the secret sound that hums everything into existence resounds everywhere.

Listening to the inner sound continually,

Become lovers with the secret one.

The next time the thought arises,

I want this or I think that,

Grab a hold of this I.

Perceive it by itself.

Wonder,

Who is this I?

I am animal.

I am human.

I am a loving heart.

I am a questioning mind.

I am a particle of infinity.

I am a witness to creation.

I am consciousness itself.

In meditation,

Embrace all these dimensions.

Reach into the source.

The luminous world of dancing energies and ever-changing relatedness.

Native of eternity,

At home in infinity,

Breathing immortality.

Let these words sing in every cell.

Oceans of splendor,

Luminous energies of creation,

Pulsating everywhere,

Always.

Hear these astounding words continually.

Each phrase an invocation.

Let the sounds ripple through you.

Resonate with the all-pervading hum of truth.

And know every fleeting moment is supported by forever.

The juggler with her spinning torches conjures dazzling wheels of fire.

The magician taps his wand and suddenly a net of jewels sparkles in the darkness.

What do we love in magic?

Each gesture is a kind of jest,

Inviting us beyond itself into the deepest magic of all that divine alone is.

All that we see is the performance of the divine magician.

Stand at the center of this wonder and breathe the wild serene.

There is no image you can hold,

No thought you can thank.

That encompasses the great self.

Your essence is immortal and unchanging,

Yet it is the foundation for all that moves.

Rest in the shimmering emptiness that is the source of this world.

And remember who you are.

Shiva says,

Not for me bondage,

Not for me liberation.

I am beyond such nonsense.

The sun is not trapped when it shines in a river,

Illuminating the lives of the fishes.

Nor is the sun freed again when it reflects off a ripple back into the sky.

Bondage,

Freedom.

Notions arising from fear and separation.

Look upon the universe and see only me.

Consider all the pain and all the pleasure you have ever experienced as waves on a very deep ocean which you are.

From the depths,

Witness those waves,

Rolling along so bravely,

Always changing,

Beautiful in their self-sustaining power.

Marvel that once you identified with only the surface of this ocean.

Now embrace waves,

Disembodied,

Embrace waves,

Depths,

Undersea mountains,

Out to the farthest shore.

The light of consciousness illumines the world.

The world reflects this splendor.

Energy and matter,

Essence and manifestation,

Reveal each other to each other.

Individual soul and cosmic energy,

Pulsing heart and infinite awareness.

Our secret lovers always merging in oneness.

When the secret slips out,

There is laughter and a flash of brilliance in the air.

Shining one,

In these teachings,

I have given you more than 112 ways of entering the stillness beneath the waves.

Cherish any one of these.

Make it your own.

Embody your inborn wisdom.

Establish yourself in even one of these practices.

Join with Shakti and Shiva,

Who are making love in every particle of creation.

Honor the power of speech,

And with every breath,

Bless the life that surrounds you.

Delight in these meditations,

My adored one.

Play with creation as it plays with you.

Playing becomes smaller than an atom.

Travel through the expanse of space.

Drink the elixir of immortality.

Bathe in the stream of these life-giving teachings.

Flirt with the tingling sparks of vitality surging through your body.

Live your whole life as a festival,

A celebration,

Liberated in love and work.

Shakti then asks,

If this is the nature of the universal self,

Then who is to be worshipped?

Who do I invoke,

And who do I meditate upon?

To whom do I offer oblations?

To whom do I sacrifice?

If everything is divine,

And consciousness merges with that divine essence,

Then what happens to the distinction between worshipper and worshipped?

The light who shines in us all replied.

Oh,

Shakti,

The practices you are speaking of refer only to the externals.

When you enter into the great self,

All prayers go on inside you spontaneously,

Without ceasing.

In reality,

All songs of gratitude and ecstatic love-making are resonating in every part of you.

All songs of gratitude and ecstatic love-making are resonating in every particle of creation,

At every moment.

When you are established in this recitation,

You are listening,

And you hear them.

Plunging without reservation into the ocean of bliss is meditation.

No image,

No thoughts,

No prop.

Concentrating on the image of a god with a body,

Eyes,

And a mouth is not meditation.

Worship does not mean offering flowers.

It means offering your heart to the vast mystery of the universe.

It means letting your heart pulse with the life of the universe,

Without thought and without reservation.

It means being so in love that you are willing to dissolve and be recreated in every moment.

Being transformed by even one of these practices,

Fullness of experience develops breath by breath.

One day,

The desire of the self for the great self is consummated.

Come ready for that moment.

The real transmutation,

The most sacred offering,

Is to pour the elements of your body,

All of your sensual impressions,

Into the fire of the great void.

Your richness of experience is the wine you offer to the divinity that is everywhere.

The real sacrifice is to let your sorrow be destroyed by the vast power of the universe and to live in radiant bliss.

Senses dissolve.

Mind dissolves.

The objects of sense dissolve.

Even the void is dissolved.

This is transcendence.

Emanating from the embrace of feminine and masculine is a wheel of delicious divine energies.

The center of this wheel is right where you are.

Live here and let your heart stream with an unending flow of adoration.

In this way,

Tend the altar of love.

The real purification with water is to bathe in the essence of eternity and to stand in your true body.

Stunning autonomy,

Luminous bliss,

Invisible consciousness pulsating,

Always in every direction.

The flowers,

The incense,

Grains,

Spices,

And honey offered in ritual are made out of the same divine stuff as you.

So who then is worshipped?

Breath flows in,

Breath flows out.

Traveling always the curving path,

Breath flows spontaneously of its own will.

Thus all breathing beings continually give reverence.

Be conscious of this unconscious prayer for love is the most holy place of pilgrimage.

Love invites you to enter this temple where each breath is adoration of the infinite.

Breath flows into this body as a nectar of the divine.

Every breath is a whisper of love.

Here is the ritual I ask of you.

Be the cup into which I pour this bliss,

The elixir of immortal peace.

The breath flows out with the sound sah.

The breath flows in with the sound ah.

Ah,

Thus thousands of times a day everyone who breathes is inhaling love.

Know this and be in great joy.

Listen to the ongoing prayer that is breath.

Life shall dance in you,

A dance of ever-renewing delight.

Adorable Shakti,

These practices are a nectar I share with you.

Drink from this cup whenever you are thirsty or crave to be refreshed in the essence of life.

Know that this ambrosia is available to you everywhere for the universe is made out of it.

Simply go to the intersection of flesh and spirit.

Breathe the tiny sparks that fly within this very body are many gateways to the infinite.

Where body and soul consummate their passion for each other.

Share these teachings with all generous hearted people who come your way and ask.

When you meet someone whose heart is vibrating with the flow of love,

Let your words and energies be free as you're breathing.

Friends,

Relatives,

Neighbors,

People who abide in your village,

City,

Country,

Be not concerned with their attitudes towards these teachings.

Everyone is discovering the intimate universe in their own way.

This nectar is here within every breath,

Every desire,

Every transition.

From waking to sleeping and sleeping to waking.

Once you have set out on the path of intimacy with the immortal essence of life,

Never turn your back on it my shining one,

Never turn away.

Though every moment be surprising,

Revelatory,

Unrecognizable and full of wonder,

Continue to cherish each breath.

Live in gratitude for the ambrosia we imbibe in turning out-breath to in-breath into out-breath.

Shakti replies,

You whose drum is the pulse of creation,

Whose dance is the motion of all worlds,

You who are more intimate than my very breath,

I am suffused with satisfaction.

My questions have led to fullness.

You have sung to me of the ways of union of Shakti and Shiva,

Of energy and wisdom,

Time and space,

Personal and impersonal.

Finite and infinite.

You have sung the song of being at home in the universe.

Having said that,

Shakti,

Radiant with delight,

Embraces her lover.