#21. The Sleeping Rider | Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

Just like a child can never know about the sexual energy until there is growth in that dimension of life and a whole new world opens up, similarly one remains asleep to the spiritual energies until there is growth in that dimension as well.

Meditation Technique: Contemplate over shunya in all directions simultaneously, without any thought construct, and become one with the shunya.

Transcript

Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily live meditation session with me,

Dehansi.

We are meditating on 112 meditation techniques of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra.

A horse was galloping down the road as if the rider had something important to do,

Somewhere very important to go.

A man saw this horse galloping down the road.

He asked the rider,

Where are you going?

The rider said,

I don't know.

Asked the horse.

This is how we are also not knowing where we are going in life.

We don't know where we came from.

We don't know where we are going in life.

The rider is asleep and we say,

Ask the horse.

Maybe the horse knows where we are going in life,

But the rider is asleep.

What is this sleep that we talk about?

What is this sleep that we refer to when we say the rider is asleep?

All throughout spiritual traditions,

All masters,

All teachers,

Everyone who has explored spirituality to its fullest has said that the man is asleep.

The human is asleep.

What is this sleep?

Is it the physical sleep?

Is it the psychological sleep?

What is this sleep?

If you ask yourself,

If someone tells you,

A spiritual teacher tells you that you are asleep,

You would be offended.

You would say,

I'm awake.

What are you talking about?

What do you mean by I'm asleep?

Ask yourself,

What is this sleep referring to?

Because in this questioning,

In this asking oneself,

In this contemplation of what is this sleep,

Already the awakening starts.

What is this sleep?

Is this the physical sleep?

Is it the psychological sleep?

Or is this some other kind of sleep that has been referred to in all the spiritual traditions,

In all the spiritual teachings?

Let us take a moment to contemplate and understand what is this sleep?

Is this lack of some kind of psychological intelligence?

Is this lack of some kind of psychological emotion?

Is it lack of some kind of thought?

No,

There is no lack of thought.

There is no lack of intelligence.

There is no lack of emotion.

But what is this sleep?

This sleep is the lack of awareness.

This sleep is something where everything is there,

But a certain awareness is not there.

A certain growth,

A certain energy,

A spiritual energy is not there,

Which is otherwise it remains unnoticed.

It is something like when a child,

He or she is coming into the age of adolescence and when the time is right,

Then sexuality arises in the child and that is very very natural,

That is very normal for everyone to physically grow into it,

To psychologically grow into it,

To emotionally grow into it.

But before that,

Before that age,

Before that maturity,

Before that unfoldment,

Before that rise of energy,

Of sexuality,

There is no point in telling a child what is sexuality,

What does this mean in life,

What is the significance of sexuality in life.

No matter how much the child reads all about it in books,

No matter how much teaching is given to the child,

The child remains asleep.

The child remains kind of unaware to what this energy is,

What this development,

This growth is.

Very similar to this growth is also the spiritual growth.

In the spiritual growth,

You have a sleep for a while until the energy rises,

Until the consciousness unfolds,

Until comes a point where suddenly there is an awakening,

Suddenly everything changes in front of your eyes,

The teenager becomes the adult,

He or she understands what the role of this energy is in their life.

It's very similar,

But unfortunately across lifetimes,

We remain asleep on this spiritual energy,

On this dimension of spirituality which remains dormant in our life.

We grow physically to a certain point in our life and then we remain on that point,

We remain and after several years,

Then the body degrades.

Psychologically,

Emotionally,

Intellectually,

We also take a growth,

We also rise to a certain point and even psychologists say that our psychology is not more than on an average of a 15 year old.

And afterwards,

The growth remains constant,

Unless life throws situations at you where there is a chance to grow further,

Unless you yourself wish to grow further.

Spiritually as well is the same process,

But there is no necessity,

There is no compulsion,

It is only something that you are missing,

Something that you don't know that you are missing in life.

All throughout the life,

If you don't have the taste of spiritual awakening,

You have no idea what you are missing out on and all throughout your life,

You don't feel necessarily there is a need for an awakening.

The only reference points that you have in your life are love,

Compassion,

Joy,

Happiness and if you feel that there is a fundamental lack of all of those,

Then you turn towards spirituality,

Then you turn towards awakening,

Then you wish for that unfoldment of consciousness,

That rise of energy.

So this Tantra,

This journey that we are taking is not just about meditation techniques,

It is not just about addressing the mundane of life,

About fixing a certain mundane of life where there is some more calm,

Some more peace,

Some more centeredness,

Some more mindfulness.

It is a journey of that rise of that spiritual energy,

Of that unfoldment of your consciousness in you and suddenly there is an awakening.

That awakening turns into enlightenment.

So from asleep to awakening to enlightenment,

That is the process,

That is the entire journey of Tantra of any spiritual practice,

Of any spiritual growth.

On this journey,

On this growth,

Yes the techniques are there,

They are there to help,

They are there to provide support,

They are there for us to come out of our own structures,

Of our own creations where we are stuck in life and mind is one of those creations,

Mind is one of those self-created constructs which keep us trapped,

Which does not allow us to grow spiritually,

Which does not let us to see that we are somewhat asleep.

We need to move towards awakening,

Towards enlightenment.

So let us go through the meditation technique for today.

Let us listen to what Bhairava has to say in Vigyan Bhairava Tantra for today.

The technique for today,

Contemplate over sunya in all directions simultaneously,

Without any thought construct and become one with sunya.

Let me repeat.

Celebrate over sunya in all directions simultaneously,

Without any thought construct and become one with sunya.

Yesterday we did a technique to come out of the mind,

To unmind the mind where we define that mind is going in two directions,

It is going always to the right or to the left,

It is always going and moving in polarities,

In two extremes and the way to unmind the mind is to come in the middle.

Now Tantra Bhairava takes it further.

He says,

Contemplate over sunya in all directions simultaneously.

He is now saying move from these two polarities to all dimensions.

Your mind is moving in all different directions,

It is moving not only right and left,

It is moving forward,

Backwards,

It is moving at the top,

At the bottom,

It is moving in all different directions.

And when you bring yourself from all these different directions to the center and you disregard all these movements into different directions,

What happens?

Sunya,

Emptiness.

This is what is also the core of us.

This emptiness is the truth of us in pure consciousness,

In pure awareness,

In enlightenment.

You feel,

You see,

You realize that everything is sunya,

Everything is emptiness,

Everything is nothingness.

But as a technique,

Here Bhairava says,

Contemplate on the sunya in all directions.

How to do that as a technique?

Sit in a posture where your body is not leaning anywhere.

So your upper back,

Your head,

Both are not leaning to anything.

If you need a support to your lower back,

To below your body,

You can take that support,

But not your back,

Not your head.

So that there is space around your physical body.

And as you sit in silence,

You will visualize,

You will,

If need be,

Imagine that you are sitting in void,

In emptiness,

In sunya.

You are sitting all around your body is only void,

Is only emptiness.

In all directions,

Towards your right,

Towards your left,

Towards your front,

Towards your back,

In all directions is emptiness.

You are sitting in emptiness.

As you start sitting in this visualization that you are sitting in emptiness in all directions and your mind slowly starts to settle,

Your thoughts start to seize,

You are thrown into this void,

Into this emptiness.

Suddenly there is not only emptiness outside,

There is emptiness inside.

There is emptiness everywhere.

There is no body,

There is no mind,

There is no movement of whatsoever.

There's pure stillness,

Pure silence,

Pure energy in this void,

In this infinite emptiness that will be there inside and outside without any boundaries.

When you go into this meditation,

When you go into this technique,

You will start to realize yes,

The boundaries are blurring,

There is no,

There is emptiness outside,

There is emptiness inside.

When that starts happening,

You will naturally try to save your mind,

Try to save your thought,

Try to save yourself in that.

Let yourself go.

Let yourself completely disappear in that.

Let your mind dissolve in that.

Let all your past dissolve in that emptiness.

Everything all constructs,

All ideas,

All thoughts,

All pasts,

All images,

Everything let that dissolve in the energy of this infinite void of Shuneta,

Of Shunya.

What remains is awareness.

Not the mind,

But the awareness.

The only thing that remains is awareness.

That formless awareness which has no shape,

Which has no form.

If there is some still form left in that emptiness,

Let that form also disappear,

Dissolve.

Let go of everything in that emptiness.

Let us practice this very powerful,

Wonderful technique from Vigyan Bhairav Tantra by closing your eyes,

Taking a posture that is comfortable for you.

Ensure you are sitting without having your upper back,

Your head at rest.

Without any support of your upper back and head.

Sitting in a posture that is comfortable.

Allowing the breath to settle.

Allowing your awareness to arrive in this moment.

And as your body settles,

Your breath settles.

Bring your awareness to outside your body.

To the space surrounding your body.

There is walls,

Infinite,

Empty space.

On your right.

On your left.

There is a space in front of you.

Behind you.

There is a space in front of you.

Emptiness,

Nothingness,

Void.

Above you.

Below you.

All around you is infinite emptiness.

All around you is infinite awareness.

In whichever direction the awareness goes,

It's only emptiness.

All around you.

In all directions.

Visualize,

Feel the emptiness,

Nothingness,

The infinite void.

All around you.

As the mind settles,

Awareness on this infinite emptiness around you.

All around you.

All around you.

In your awareness,

In your silence,

This emptiness,

This nothingness,

Is all around you,

Inside you,

Outside you.

From all directions.

From all directions,

Let everything go in this emptiness,

This nothingness,

This energy of nothingness.

Your body,

Your mind,

Your thoughts,

All dissolve,

Disappear in this emptiness.

And only awareness of nothingness.

Drop all effort whatsoever and simply stay in this silence,

In this awareness of nothingness,

Of emptiness.

All right.

See,

Where we're at.

To your breath,

To your mind,

And very gently and slowly.

You may open your eyes,

Maintaining the awareness of the infinite,

Of the emptiness,

Of the nothingness.

And taking this experience in your day,

Allowing the energies to rise,

The consciousness to expand more and more and more in your life as you proceed.

If this meditation session touches you in ways you have ever wished,

The meditation,

The depth,

The silence,

The discourse,

If this resonates to you,

You are more than welcome to join this community of meditators that are sitting in this meditation,

In this silence,

Creating this alive space every day with their silence,

With their connection to each other.

You are more than welcome to join this community.

If this interests you,

Please write me an email with a little bit about yourself and why would you like to join this community.

What is it that you would like to give back to this community?

And I'll take it from there.

Once again,

Thank you very much.

Namaste.

Reviews

You should stop being in silence. The youngers need you.

Meditation on the awareness of emptiness…beautifully guided!

Expansive. Thank you 🙏🏼