Blessed Through Practice: Radiance Sutras Verse 140

During this session, we discuss Verse 140 of the Insight Verses from the 'Radiance Sutras', a translation of the Vijanana Bhairava Tantra by Lorin Loche. A meditation follows our discussion.

These sessions are recorded every week, and all are welcome.

Transcript

So today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras and this is an interpretation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra which is an ancient tantric text,

Comes out of the Kashmir Shaivism lineage and part of the foundation for kind of the point of the book is that the tantric perspective is that whatever we understand God to be,

Brahman,

Shiva Shakti,

Whatever,

It's also us.

That it's not out there,

It's not something we have to strive to make happy or we need to search for.

It's actually all within us.

I want to read you guys a quote.

It's funny,

I actually used this quote in my presentation yesterday because Kabir was in India and he actually was before the Mughal Empire.

For anyone listening to the recording,

I did a presentation with my daughter all about the Mughal Empire and so in my presentation I included this quote by Kabir.

People really were still listening to him quite a while through the Mughal Empire.

So this would be like the 1600s,

Kind of somewhere around there.

What he taught was a very,

He was part of more like the mystical side of things and this is one of my,

I'm going to read to you one of my favorite quotes by Kabir.

Are you looking for me?

I am in the next seat.

My shoulder is against yours.

You will not find me in the stupas,

Not in Indian shrine rooms,

Nor in synagogues,

Nor in cathedrals,

Not in masses,

Nor kirtans,

Not in legs winding around your own neck,

Nor in eating nothing but vegetables.

When you really look for me,

You will see me instantly.

You will find me in the tiniest house of time.

Kabir says,

Student,

Tell me,

What is God?

He is the breath inside the breath.

And this is a huge part of the tantric path to recognize the divinity inside of us,

That it's already here.

We can do practices but to understand that the practices bring us within so that we connect with who we actually are.

Because if you imagine us on a continuum,

Imagine over on this one side,

We are pure divine light,

We are pure consciousness,

We are omnipotent,

Omnipresent,

You know,

We are all the things that we imagine God to be.

And then way on the other end of the continuum,

I'm Katrina Boss,

Just me,

Just this 55 year old woman living in Goddard,

Ontario,

Canada,

You know,

Who has a bit of a hankering for tantra and yoga and lattes and chocolate.

Pretty unique,

Pretty individual,

Pretty just hanging out,

Struggles with things,

Has health issues,

Is learning about relationships,

Is figuring out how to fit into the world.

And we're all like that.

We've all got our unique little world that we are experiencing.

So sometimes we can get really caught up in that world.

And we're meant to.

Tantra is not about transcending this experience.

I'm supposed to dive into the world of Katrina.

But the crazy thing is,

The way to enlightenment is actually to dive deeper into Katrina.

The problem is,

Is inside of me right now,

There is an authentic Katrina.

And that authentic Katrina has a job.

She has a role to play in our journey.

Every person here has a role to play.

But the world gives us strange ideas.

But this isn't acceptable.

Or you should be doing this.

Or you should also be doing this.

One of my great challenges is,

I really am oversensitive to the feelings of everyone around me.

You can call it empathic.

You can call it anything you want.

But bottom line,

I have such deep inner wiring to really being worried that everybody's happy.

Tied in the wool people pleaser,

You know.

That's a challenge.

That's a challenge for this incarnation called Katrina Boss.

But it isn't everything who I am.

And when I dive deeper into even that,

That I would consider a challenge,

I'll discover something even more interesting about myself.

You know,

Maybe I'll discover a deep interconnectedness with those around me.

But because the world says I have to be the savior,

Or I have to,

You know,

If I don't care about what other people are feeling,

Then there's something wrong with me.

There's a layer of programming on top of the perfection that then twists it into something weird.

So the irony is,

The deeper each one of us goes into our personality,

Who we truly are,

Our feelings,

Our truth,

That's where we find God.

That's where we find the divine.

It's not even about me fixing my addiction to caring what everyone thinks.

It's not like once I figure that out,

I'm going to be closer to God.

It's just embracing it and saying,

Yeah,

That's a thing.

And the more I embrace it,

The more I just love me.

And then the more I love,

The more I am at peace,

And the more I relax,

And the more I realize the perfection that it all is.

So this is really the point of the Radiant Sutras.

The Radiant Sutras is a series of verses and practices and meditations that when we listen to them and then we say practice the ideas or we try to embody the philosophy,

We become closer to our own divinity.

Not closer to God out there,

Closer to the divinity that we are.

Imagine a world where all of us are connected with our own divinity.

Like genuine divinity.

I don't mean some weird,

Aloof,

Spiritual bypassing,

Strange thing.

I mean generally at peace.

Imagine what we could do.

Imagine what life would be like.

This is the point of the Radiant Sutras.

So today,

We're actually,

So last week we had class on Tuesday,

And I actually wanted to do verses 140 and 141,

But I was partway through last week's class and I wish I hadn't combined them.

I realized that,

I don't know,

When I was first reading them I thought,

Oh these go together,

I should just do them together.

And I was halfway through going,

No,

They should have been done separately.

So we're actually taking a step backwards and we're going to do 140 all by itself.

So if you were here last week,

Then,

You know,

Some of this might be a repeat,

But we're going to slow it down a little.

So if you're following along in the book,

We are reading verse 140 on page 153.

For anyone who's new to understand that the way this book is designed,

There are,

Initially there are banter verses,

Which are sort of this discussion between the divine and the physical,

Or Bhairava and Devi.

And then there are 112 yukti verses,

Which are the teachings.

These are the meditations.

We are now in the insight verses.

And so these are sort of,

We're kind of looking back at the 112 teachings now.

And it doesn't matter if you're new,

It's still helpful.

But just so you know,

That's the context of what we're reading right now.

So let's all close our eyes.

Let's breathe deeply.

Just release any thoughts.

If they're floating in your mind,

Just let them float by like clouds in the sky.

And come back into the blue sky that is your mind.

Establish yourself in even one of these practices.

Join with the goddess and God who are making love in every particle of creation.

Honor the power of speech,

And with every breath,

Bless the life that surrounds you.

So what comes to you when you hear that?

What feelings or what words roll through your mind?

Shakti is within Shiva,

And Shiva is within Shakti.

Mm-hmm.

I will let you know as soon as I stop weeping.

Hopeful expansion practice.

Be impeccable with your word,

The first agreement from the four agreements.

Words are an extension of our hearts,

Spoken and not spoken.

Love.

This feels so potent as Venus is in Gemini.

The power of the word.

Trying to imagine life without the power of speech.

Listen first before speaking.

Mm-hmm.

Overflow from self.

I'm going to read a direct translation of this sutra.

So this is a literal translation.

One attains the state of Bhairava if established even in one of these 112 Dharanas.

And by his speech,

He confers blessings or curses.

I'm going to read another translation.

If one is established even in one of these practices,

He will become Bhairava in himself.

He can affect anything by word alone.

He will have the power to confer benediction or malediction.

So there's two big parts of this teaching that are important.

The first part talks about the power of practice.

That if we simply find one of these sutras,

One meditation practice,

And we dive all the way into it,

And we practice it really seriously,

We can achieve Bhairava.

Bhairava is,

It's not bliss.

Bliss is a funny word.

Bliss makes us think it's about happiness.

Okay,

I'm always happy.

Bhairava is the essence of reality.

The essence of God,

The essence of Brahman,

The essence of everything.

There isn't a positive or negative thing.

It's not a happy,

Sad.

These are all physical ideas.

These are all ideas of our minds.

Bhairava,

It's like the Tao.

The Tao just is.

It's the essence of reality.

It's the essence,

The energy of the universe flowing through you.

It isn't good or bad or happy or sad or positive or negative.

It's just energy.

It's like electricity.

Is electricity good or bad?

It's just energy.

But something magical happens when we connect with that energy.

Imagine the suffering we feel because we don't think we're connected to it.

We think we're separate from divine energy and we feel that in our lives.

We feel alone.

We feel hopeless and helpless.

We feel like,

I can't get on top of this.

I don't know what to do.

But it's almost like I'm working and I'm trying so hard,

But there's no energy inside that's connected to the main hub.

Because if I was connected to the main hub,

I'd actually be able to make a difference.

If we ever feel like we can't find a solution,

We've disconnected from our core.

We've disconnected from that divinity inside of us.

It's not our fault.

It's not like we did it.

It's just life did it.

Circumstances,

Teachings,

Trainings,

Whatever.

We came to a place where we're just like,

I mean,

We were taught that we were nothing,

That we were sinful by nature,

That we have a good and a bad side inside and our good side has to hide our bad side or we always have to be improving.

It's the difficulty in the self-help movement.

On the one hand,

It's important to learn about ourselves and heal and shift and change and grow and understand the things that hold us back.

But we can actually become addicted to self-help,

Which actually sends a perpetual message to ourselves that there's something wrong with us and that we can always be improving.

Instead of like,

When do you get to just sit down and relax?

When do you just get to sit down and enjoy who you are right now?

Like right now.

Because the problem is,

As long as we continue to have,

Oh,

But there's this part of me that's good,

But there's this other part of me that really sucks and it just isn't good enough and I gotta fix that before I can do this and all that kind of thing.

We can't connect with Bhairava as long as we think that there are good and bad parts of us.

Because Bhairava,

There is no good or bad.

It just is.

So imagine understanding that we just are exactly as we are right now.

Right where you're sitting or lying or wherever you are.

Just imagine taking this inventory of self and then allowing all of the individual pieces of who you are to blend together in the most beautiful quilt of who you are and to understand that that quilt is a oneness.

And when we connect with that oneness,

We connect with Bhairava.

We connect with God.

So the question is,

Is there a practice that helps you stay connected in that way?

Is there a practice out of the Radiant Sutras,

Even somewhere else,

That when you do this,

You remember that every single part of you is wonderful?

So speaking of practice,

I believe that one of the reasons we actually struggle to practice something daily is because we don't really understand how great we can be.

Our brain records what it's experienced in the past.

But it's almost like we don't understand how powerful these teachings are.

We don't understand how powerful these meditations are.

I read a book called The Great Om,

Story of Pierre Bernard,

Man in the 1800s who brought Tantra and Hatha yoga to the West in a big way.

He practiced Tantra,

Tantric meditations and yoga and with such sincerity,

With such faith,

And I say faith,

And this is really important,

With such faith,

He was able to put himself in a state of anesthesia.

And doctors could actually do things to his body.

I'm not going to go into detail what they did,

But they'd be painful.

And he felt nothing because he had such a command of his consciousness.

And when he came out,

He was perfectly fine.

And it's not even like he had to recover from it.

He would then go on after the presentation.

These are well-documented experiences.

He did them many,

Many times.

And then he would go on to teach a lecture.

And when I read this,

It really struck me,

Really made me think,

We do not take these practices seriously enough.

It's almost like the world has demystified yoga and meditation to the point that it really is just an exercise program.

Like it really is just,

Oh yeah,

Do this and you'll feel a little bit better.

It'll help with your anxiety.

But it's almost like we've diluted it so much to make it digestible to the masses.

We really don't realize the transformative power that these practices actually have.

And one of the reasons for that is if I said to you,

Okay,

Let's choose this sutra,

This teaching.

So for example,

I'm looking at number 27 and it talks about looking and meditating on the chakras and specifically the third eye.

So let's say you say,

Okay,

I'm going to do this,

This meditation every day.

It's almost like a part of you thinks that,

And when I say you,

I also mean me.

A part of us thinks,

Well,

Yeah,

I mean,

I can get a little bit better.

It's kind of like,

If you've ever tried to lose weight,

We think that we're actually going to feel the same.

We're just going to be skinnier.

Because that's what we're thinking about.

But the reality is we're not just thinner,

We're lighter,

Our joints feel better.

Our body starts to feel differently.

Our gluteus maximus actually start moving us up the stairs.

All of a sudden we sleep better and we're eating,

Everything changes,

But we can't fathom it because there's this one thing that's bothering us.

And this could be depression,

Anxiety,

Anything,

Healing of any kind.

It's like all we think about is the one thing,

But we don't understand that it is a kaleidoscope of change that happens.

So imagine you do a practice,

And that's why the focus of this is if one practice,

Just choose one and dive into it wholeheartedly and have faith in it.

Have faith that when I do this every day,

My consciousness is actually going to take me to a place that I've never been before.

I will actually experience the world differently than I've ever experienced it in my life.

That the change possible is actually unfathomable from where I sit now.

So it's like imagining sitting where you are right now.

And imagine the things that stress you out today.

Maybe it's work,

Maybe it's money,

Maybe it's family,

Maybe it's relationships,

Maybe it's your health,

Maybe it's the world at large,

Who knows.

And this really chews on you.

And no matter how much you think about it and how much you journal about it and how much you talk about it with your friends or you read books or listen to podcasts or do whatever,

You just seem to circle the same thing.

And there's almost a hopelessness that comes over you that thinks,

Yeah,

My family's never going to change or this situation I'm in is never going to change.

Deep down,

No matter how optimistic we want to be.

So then all of a sudden,

We start doing a practice.

Sometimes we choose daily practices,

Yoga,

Meditation.

We choose the things that we like,

Right?

We choose the things that we're good at already.

And of course,

If we choose the practices that we're good at already,

We stay within our comfort zone,

We don't actually transform.

This is why I teach Kundalini Yoga.

It's set in kriyas,

And each kriya has a very specific intention.

And it's one of the difficult things as a yogi to know that it's actually the kriyas that you can't do that you need to do.

The kriyas that when you do them,

They invoke such anger inside of you and frustration.

These are exactly,

These are the kriyas that will transform you.

You can do the kriyas you like,

And they'll make you feel good.

And they may open up your body for the day,

And you may feel,

You know,

Wonderful.

And maybe that's exactly what you need.

But when you do the ones that you don't like,

And you have faith in them,

And you have faith in the process,

And you have faith in the,

It's funny that I'm saying faith so much today,

That you have faith that there's more possible than I can fathom right now.

So I'm going to stay focused,

I'm going to breathe,

I'm going to do the practice,

Whatever it is.

And then I'm just going to see what happens.

And then a month later,

You realize that those things that you were really stressed out about a month ago,

They all still exist.

But you truly have a different perspective.

It's just different.

Nothing's changed.

The members of your family are no different.

Maybe even your financial situation hasn't changed.

Maybe,

Whatever.

But it's almost like your consciousness has expanded.

So your viewpoint has expanded.

The potential solutions have expanded.

One practice with a little faith,

Exactly.

That's really what this was all about.

You know,

We don't have to do everything.

You just have to do the thing we're called to,

And dive deep.

Really dive deeply within it.

So I'm just going to,

Just in case new people have joined,

I'm just going to read it again.

And again,

I'm going to read the direct translation as well.

If one is established even in one of these practices,

He will become Bhairava in himself.

He can affect anything by word alone.

He will have the power to confer benediction or malediction.

So it's really important when we hear those words that the idea that the power of our speech can bless or curse whatever we're talking about,

That the point of this part of the sutra is that,

First of all,

Someone who has experienced Bhairava,

Someone who has experienced enlightenment at any level,

Would never desire harm for another person.

They would never confer malediction on somebody.

That's not going to happen.

It's an incorrect interpretation of this to say that once I am all powerful,

I can bless or curse you.

That's not what this says.

But what it does say is that as we become more and more connected to our source,

Our power of creation is heightened.

If a child is running down the stream and it's just running across the road or running down across a lawn or something,

And it's like,

I hate you.

I don't want,

You know,

And they're saying something.

How much creative energy is that going to manifest?

It's just a kid.

Just a little kid saying silly things,

Running down the road.

They're not connecting that with their divinity.

Their consciousness is all over the place.

Their consciousness is here and there and all over.

And I love that frog and I don't like that.

And I hate my sister and I don't,

You know,

And they're just,

They're just saying stuff.

It's not a lot of power in their word.

Then you become a teenager.

And,

You know,

You start to think of it deeper,

But you may still say things that are kind or unkind.

But what you say now is starting to hold some weight.

It's starting to matter.

It's starting to affect the people around them,

At least in their peer group.

The words they say,

It does create positive or negative ripples.

If we live our life,

Relatively unconscious.

And what I mean by unconscious,

If you imagine that you have your mind,

Your brain,

And it's out there doing stuff,

You know,

It's making choices,

It's driving cars,

It's doing whatever,

It's talking.

But it's not really connected with your soul.

What I mean by soul is the divine that lives in you.

Like,

For example,

In Hindu philosophy,

They would say Brahman is all things.

Brahman is the divine manifest in trees and cars and sun and,

You know,

Hills and valleys,

People everywhere.

Atman is the aspect of that that lives within me.

Atman is also Brahman.

But it's kind of the personalized version.

But it's still all,

Even though it's just me.

So when I say my soul,

That's what I'm talking about.

So how connected is your thoughts or are your thoughts to Atman,

To your soul,

To your deep truth,

To your universal truth?

The part of you that knows that we are all connected,

That we are all divine incarnations here on earth,

Having very different and various experiences.

So imagine this,

Just imagine this for a moment.

Imagine that you experience this.

This isn't a,

This is why the first part of this is so important.

This isn't an intellectual exercise.

The thing about Tantra is you can't think your way there.

You actually have to do the practice.

Your mind expands and your perception of the world changes.

But we can't change the perception of the world through thoughts and intelligence.

It's only through actual expansion of self.

It's kind of like the difference between a teenager who thinks they know what you should be doing and you know what else?

And I've got this idea and I know this and I know that and da da da.

And you know what?

Their ideas might actually be right.

They could be true,

But they haven't lived yet.

They haven't gone out and put anything into practice.

And once you've gone out in the world and you've actually played and your decisions matter and there's consequences,

Positive and negative,

Our perception of life expands.

And it's not quite as easy to have such strong opinions about some things.

And it's the same with enlightenment,

Whatever you want to call it.

It's almost like when we're young,

It's a very short,

A very small little amount that we understand.

And as we practice,

It expands and expands and expands.

And with that expansion,

We understand how interconnected we are.

So if I'm speaking to you,

What I say matters.

Or what you're saying to someone else,

It's almost like the farther along the path you go,

You realize your effect on people.

This is why in intimacy,

Like I teach a lot about tantric intimacy,

Sacred intimacy.

And the number one thing is we have to be kind.

We have to be careful.

Because what we say affects the other person.

And in an intimate relationship,

It affects them even more.

They know us inside and out.

They know our struggles.

They know we have opened ourselves over the course of a lifetime.

And they know our soft spots.

Intimacy and sex and stuff,

That's not about what tantra is.

But when we bring tantra to that,

And we go on this journey of expanding self,

We become so aware of our effect on the other person that we cannot be unkind.

Because we recognize the power of our voice.

We recognize the power of what we do to other people.

And it's wonderful.

It's a wonderful thing to walk through life understanding how important our actions are.

It isn't some weird responsibility that we have to worry about.

Oh,

But if I say this thing,

It's not like that.

We just have to slow down.

Breathe.

Remember who we are.

Remember the wisdom inside.

Lose all the judgment.

Forget about,

Oh,

They did this thing,

And that's wrong,

And this is right.

And forget all that.

Connect with Bhairava.

Connect with the oneness.

Connect with the essence of life.

Take a deep breath and share something helpful.

It's an amazing thing when we speak and we're kind of beyond,

What's that Rumi?

Is it a Rumi quote?

Out beyond the ideas of right or wrong,

There is a meadow.

Let's meet there,

Or something like that.

It's a beautiful quote.

Imagine that.

And so suddenly,

All we have to do,

Again,

Is find the practice that helps.

Go deep within.

Have faith that we truly can transform.

Like,

Imagine that.

Imagine in this moment that wherever you are,

Whatever seems impossible,

Whatever seems inevitable,

Your perception of that can change with practice.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

There is a field.

I'll meet you there.

Yes.

Thank you,

Kate.

Let's do a little meditation to finish up.

Let's just close our eyes.

Let's breathe deeply.

Expanding the belly as we inhale.

Contracting as we exhale.

With every inhale,

Feel light enter your body.

And with every exhale,

Feel darkness leave the body.

Feel the interplay of the in-breath and out-breath.

Feel how they kind of mix together for healing and inner quiet.

Connect in with your heart center.

The seat of your soul.

And breathe into that quiet.

Into the essence of who you are.

Feel yourself plug into the universe,

The earth,

God.

And then envision yourself walking through your days,

Feeling this creative energy inside.

Speaking to people,

Doing things.

As the world shifts and changes all around you.

And that you are making a difference.

Atra cha eka tame yukta,

Jayate bharava svayam.

Vaca karoti karmani shapta,

Anugraha karaka.

Establish yourself in even one of these practices.

Join with the goddess and God who are making love in every particle of creation.

Honor the power of speech and with every breath,

Bless the life that surrounds you.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

I'll see you guys later.

Reviews

Each word resonates deeply within my body as if i am you and you are me. Amazing! Thank you blessed being 💜

What a powerful sutra this one is!!!! And your reflection about it very insightful. Thank you Katrina