Subtle Channels Of Light: Radiance Sutras Verse 44

During this session, we discuss Verse 44 of the Yukti Verses from the 'Radiance Sutras', a translation of the Vijanana Bhairava Tantra by Lorin Loche. A meditation follows our discussion. These sessions are recorded on a weekly basis and all are welcome.

Transcript

So today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras.

It's a beautiful book by Lauren Roche and it is an interpretation,

Translation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.

I also reference a couple of other books.

This one is called the Sri Vijnana Bhairava Tantra The Ascent by Swami Sathya Sagananda Saraswati and also this one called Vijnana Bhairava by Jai Deva Singh.

Those ones I kind of use for the literal translations and just it's interesting to hear what various yogis and swamis say about these beautiful sutras.

So what's going to happen is we're going to read a sutra.

Today if you have the book we are reading number 44 on page 79 and you don't have to have the book at all.

I highly recommend it.

It's the most beautiful,

Beautiful book of tantric transformative passages.

What we're going to do today is we're going to read a passage and kind of listen to it from our inner self.

Then we're going to share our thoughts and then I'm going to,

We're going to do a deep dive into what the sutra is all about,

The tantric aspect,

How we see the world this way and then we're going to do a meditation so that we can experience it.

One of the reasons I love this book so much is that very often when we want to study tantra we're looking for a path.

We want to know that I'm going to do this and then I'm going to do that and that's going to lead me on my path.

You know it's sort of like the westernization of yoga.

That I want to learn yoga and I want to learn to teach yoga or I want to learn to master yoga.

So the western mind says okay well then let's find out what all the possible asana are.

Let's find out all the possible breathing techniques and if I learn them all then I'm a yogi.

This is the path of yoga.

But it isn't the path of yoga.

That's just our curious western mind.

Whether it's based in our education system that you have to learn everything,

Memorize it,

Get the A and now you have accomplished this thing,

You have your certificate.

Because the true path of yoga is more like a labyrinth.

Yesterday a bunch of us went to see Norma's paintings.

My friend Norma who channels these incredible sacred works and she's,

I don't know,

Norma's probably like 88 now.

One of the pieces that really stuck out for me was this painting of the labyrinth.

And a lot of her work is about the sacred feminine coming back and really being integrated into our lives.

And there's over 500 paintings.

It's not like it's all about the feminine.

But of course for me this is very interesting.

And the labyrinth is an interesting,

Not just a metaphor,

But it's an interesting way of understanding the world.

Because one of the challenges with the patriarchal energy or mentality that we have been raised in is we have this belief that life is like a straight line.

If I just make the plan,

I work the plan,

And then I get that result.

That's how I get there.

But we all know that's not how life works.

It's almost like we're heading towards the goal and then all of a sudden someone gets sick and you end up sidetracked.

And then all of a sudden you start heading back towards the goal and all of a sudden something else happens.

And life ends up looking a lot more like a labyrinth.

But we interpret it as a negative or a waste of time or why is this taking so long and am I making the wrong choices?

But what if this is the feminine path?

And again there's a time for the masculine.

There's a time for that straight path.

There's also a great,

I don't know if it's a Buddhist quote or a Taoist quote,

And the quote is simply the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

So there's wisdom there too that says if you want something,

Stop fooling around.

Focus.

Get there.

There's good wisdom in that.

But it doesn't apply to everything and it doesn't apply to life.

And it definitely doesn't apply to a spiritual path.

There is no direct line of a spiritual path.

A spiritual path is extremely organic.

And by organic I mean that it rises out of the earth in its wild and natural state.

And it follows where it follows naturally.

And so suddenly that labyrinth of a life that we have is very rich.

And it's very important.

One of the ladies pointed out when we were talking about the labyrinth yesterday,

That sometimes in life we're heading towards the center,

Right?

We're heading towards the goal.

And all of a sudden we think we're so close,

Like we're almost knocking at the door and all of a sudden we get turned all the way around and we go all the way out again.

And then we start winding our way back.

Which is really interesting.

When you think of it,

How often we get so close to something.

But what if it's too much?

What if it's too hot?

What if we're actually not ready for that?

Intellectually we think we're ready,

But we're not ready.

Even imagine the journey of dating.

For anybody here who has been single as an adult,

Dating is like a labyrinth.

It is like,

You think you're close and then all of a sudden it goes sideways and all of a sudden you're heading back and all of a sudden you're going over here.

And you're having all these bizarre experiences.

Sometimes you're hurt,

Sometimes you're the one hurting someone,

Sometimes you're alone,

Sometimes when it rains it pours,

Sometimes you're just like,

What in the heck?

And you realize that maybe I need all this.

What if all of these twists and turns and this journey through the labyrinth is actually unpacking generations of patterns?

Whether we believe in inherited patterns from our parents or karmic patterns from previous lives.

What if this labyrinth is perfect?

What if it's the point?

When I was thinking about this and we were discussing it yesterday,

All I kept thinking was,

Wow,

Does that ever take the pressure off?

Suddenly,

No matter where we are in our life right now,

We are perfect.

We are in some place in the twists and turns of the natural divine feminine labyrinth of true living.

The peace I feel inside of me since we talked about this yesterday,

I can't even tell you.

And so this is why I love this book as being part of our tantric path.

Because there's all of these beautiful little sutras.

As we read each sutra,

We have one little glimpse,

One little glimpse of a realization.

Wherever we are in the labyrinth,

Wherever we are in this interesting creation that our life is,

We have one illumination from a tantra and we expand a little.

Are we perfect?

Are we now a tantric being?

Are we now walking around like the Buddha or something?

No,

Because we are deep in the human labyrinth.

And what if that's why we're here?

What if that's why we're on earth?

Is to enjoy this journey through the labyrinth of life.

What if that's the point?

And that's really how I see even our Mondays together,

Is that these are all just these beautiful little illumination times.

And truthfully,

I believe that this is the true tantric path.

I don't think there's a series of things to memorize,

Or a series of rituals to master.

I think the tantric path,

And it certainly has been in my life,

It is this glorious labyrinth.

This morning I was at the dog park and this one lady,

Every so often she and I cross paths,

Like every couple of weeks we end up at the dog park at the same time.

And it's just the two of us and our two dogs.

And she just looked at me and she was telling me that,

She goes,

You're really into like holistic stuff,

Right?

And I said,

Yeah.

And she said,

You know,

I started to meditate because I have to release this trauma from my life.

And she started sharing with me about her trauma and all that kind of thing.

And she says,

Thanks for letting me say this because I haven't been able to talk about it and all that.

And I'm just standing in the dog park,

You know,

And it's kind of raining and,

You know,

And she said,

You're so calm.

You're always so calm.

And of course,

It's such a curious thing.

And I appreciate that.

But I mean,

All of you guys can relate to that,

That you don't really know how you got where you are.

For good or for evil,

Right?

It all just came out of this curious things,

All these tiny little choices and little aha moments and you just sort of keep wandering through life.

Maybe that's what it is.

It's the eternal wonder.

I walk in a local labyrinth often.

I love your analogy because there are sections of the labyrinth that you begin to doubt the labyrinth path will take you to the center.

Totally.

I love that.

And so to me,

That's the greatest context to receive these sutras,

To experience these classes,

That wherever we are in the labyrinth,

It will take us forward.

But we don't necessarily know which direction that is.

But it is leading us to ourselves.

But it's doing it organically.

Sometimes the sidetracks can change our perspective on going forward.

Totally.

I'm so inspired by the labyrinth right now.

So let's close our eyes.

Wherever you are,

Whether you're sitting or lying,

Doesn't really matter.

Let's just breathe deeply.

Let everything else go.

Connect with your breath and be aware of your physical existence.

Be aware of what you look like physically.

If you were walking down the street,

How people would recognize you.

Be aware of your body,

Whether it feels good or whether it has pain or whether it's hot or it's cold.

And just to kind of be aware of this life experience we're having here,

This physical experience.

And then become aware of the timeless part of you.

The timeless part of you that maybe you feel it in your heart center or maybe you feel it radiating out into your whole body,

Animating this physical form.

But let's be aware of that eternal self and just float there while we listen to the sutra.

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 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.

What comes to you when you hear that?

Feelings or thoughts or words.

Follow the gentle touch of life.

Power sings as it flows.

What a great sutra to describe connection.

Celebrate the boundary.

Allow power to dissipate.

Swirling with nature.

Yes,

Celebrate the boundary.

Perhaps there are no boundaries.

Soft as the footprint of an ant.

Now that is truly soft.

Feeling the current of the subtle channels.

Channels.

I'm caught on the fact that an ant has a footprint so small yet so significant.

All that is within lies all around.

These are such amazing sutras.

So the funny thing about this sutra for me is that when I hear this sutra,

All I think about is how alive the world is.

My initial interpretation is,

Wow,

The world is alive and we have to quiet ourselves to be able to feel this world.

And then I read a literal translation of this.

So here's a literal translation.

By blocking all the channels of perception,

The prana shakti moves slowly upwards through the spinal column.

At that time,

Feeling the sensation of an ant crawling in the body,

One experiences supreme bliss.

By blocking all the channels of perception,

The prana shakti moves slowly upward through the spinal column.

At that time,

Feeling the sensation of an ant crawling in the body,

One experiences the supreme bliss.

Reading this thinking,

Is this the wrong sutra?

And I triple checked it and it's the right sutra.

So I went a little bit deeper into it.

We did a meditation like that.

Exactly.

We did.

It was actually in numbers 36.

We did a meditation like that,

Where when you block the external senses,

You have a chance to feel the kundalini rise inside.

And again,

To always understand that how we interpret this in this moment is the most important thing.

How you interpret this in this moment is the most important thing.

What we're going to talk about is a perception of this.

What was the pranayama called?

It was number 36.

It's where we put our hands and we cover all the orifices of the senses.

So what's really interesting about this is they talk about this blocking of the external senses,

But they actually talk about the idea that there are 10 channels of perception.

Five,

What they call karmendriyas and five jnanendriyas.

And this is really interesting because this to me talks to this boundary where the sea touches the lake or whatever you want to call that.

Like I remember when I was overseas and where you see a saltwater ocean or a sea and you see the places where the freshwater meets it and they don't mix,

But they're kind of side by side.

There's a curious boundary between them.

And it's a curious idea within us to think that there is a boundary between our physical life and sensation and that divine self.

That perhaps they're not mixed.

That there actually is a gentle separation as subtle as seawater and freshwater.

So karmendriyas,

These are the things that we do and actually we'll go to the jnanendriyas.

These are the five senses,

Eyes,

Nose,

Ears,

Tongue,

And skin.

So the way they understand this is that the way that we experience the world,

Maya,

Prakriti,

Whatever you want to call it,

How we experience the world,

How we receive information is through these jnanendriyas.

So that's how we experience the world.

So all information coming into us is through those five senses.

Then we do something with that information.

We do something with that energy.

And what we do with that energy are these karmendriyas.

These are the feet that move.

These are the hands that grasp and hold.

This is the rectum that eliminates.

These are the genitals that procreate.

And this is the mouth that speaks.

So our entire existence on this earth is all about what am I receiving through the five senses and what actions am I taking through my hands,

Feet,

Mouth,

Rectum,

And genitals.

That's it.

That's our whole physical experience here.

So that's very interesting because that's kind of our whole life,

Our whole mental processes between what we receive and what we're going to do about it.

So what this sutra is all about is what if you cut off yourself from that entire experience?

Not just the receiving,

But also any doing of the things.

If we can do that,

If we can sit in meditation,

If we can whatever it is that helps you to release all of that,

Then suddenly the entire physical being becomes silent.

The whole self becomes quiet.

And what happens is,

You know,

We talk about this kundalini,

The snake that lies dormant at the base of the spine.

They say that all of a sudden its little head pops up and says,

What's going on?

Like what's going on?

And they say at that point,

That little snake starts to gently rise up through the beautiful shushmana,

The beautiful central channel up the spine,

And it slowly starts to rise.

And it's so subtle,

It feels like the footprints of an ant.

That's very interesting.

When you think of why we want to meditate,

Why we want to be quiet,

Because oftentimes when we're meditating,

Sometimes our mind is going at a million miles an hour,

Or we're cold,

Or we see things and stuff whatever,

Right?

We hear things.

But what if we knew that,

You know what,

My goal while I'm meditating is to release these 10 senses of perception.

I don't want to receive anything from the physical world.

And no matter what I do receive,

I'm not going to do anything about it.

So that's why when you're going to sit and meditate,

Make sure you have a blanket over you.

Make sure you're warm.

Make sure you're okay.

Make sure you're comfortable.

Make sure you're sitting comfortably.

And then when you're sitting still,

Even if you hear something,

Even if you feel something on your skin,

Because it's amazing how twitchy we can get.

When we release the external ones,

We release the hands,

The feet,

The skin,

All that.

It's like,

I'm not going to do anything about it anyway.

I'm releasing that.

That's a really big deal.

That's like if you are,

If you do yoga,

And you're practicing Shavasana,

And Shavasana is corpse pose.

Well,

What are we doing when we practice corpse pose?

We are releasing all 10 of these perceptions.

Because corpse pose is not resting at the end of a yoga class.

Corpse pose is practicing lying perfectly still.

But the only way to do it is to release these 10 avenues of perception,

That no matter what I feel,

I'm not going to move my body.

No matter what I hear,

I'm not going to respond to it.

Because how often you're lying in Shavasana,

And suddenly your face is itchy.

But you're practicing,

I'm not playing there.

I'm not playing there.

And then the wildest thing is the itch goes away.

And all of a sudden,

Your body is perfectly still.

But you have to consciously decide,

I'm going to let go of all of these avenues of processing the world around me.

So now imagine Shavasana has a whole other purpose,

That I'm going to lie perfectly still and release all of these things.

So that the shushmana can allow the kundalini to gently flow as quietly as an ant,

And as subtly as an ant up through my central channel.

Imagine,

You know,

And they talk about that,

When we're able to do this,

When we're able to release that physical world,

And we're able to actually start to feel that,

What they say is we enter this gap,

This gap between,

I think somebody mentioned it earlier,

Between what we are receiving,

And sit in meditation,

Reflect in silence.

Yeah,

It's like that Viktor Frankl quote,

Right,

That between what we receive and how we respond,

There is a space.

And in that space,

There is a space,

And in that space holds all of our choice in our whole life and everything,

Right?

That's not what he said,

But it was something like that.

So we go into this middle space,

Into this central quiet space,

Where we can experience real life.

Isn't that crazy?

It kind of blows my mind.

In stillness is the alchemy,

Stimulus and response.

Thanks,

But imagine when you really think about that,

That our whole life,

Every single second of our day is a combination of stimulus and response.

That's all there is.

I receive this information,

I do this.

That's our entire existence.

So this is also,

You know,

Stepping back a little bit,

It's also how we create our lives,

Right down to the most subtle thing.

If we can access this middle ground,

If we can access this quiet in the middle,

And access our divine self,

You know,

Maybe that's how our life becomes divine.

So are we an empty vessel to receive the stimulus,

Or are we programmed to certain responses?

I would assume it's a combination.

We have a lot of pre-programmed responses that are really good.

They are survival mechanisms,

That we come into this earth with certain things pre-programmed,

So we'll survive.

Then society programs us,

And then maybe we even have energetic patterns that we've inherited from our families,

And maybe even our own karma.

But I just find that fascinating,

To think that every single thing,

Our whole world,

That's all it is.

Just stimulus and response.

Let's do a meditation.

Let's sit nice and tall.

Or if you're lying on a bed,

Feel free to continue and be fully relaxed.

The crown of your head rise toward the ceiling.

Tuck your chin in a little,

Straighten the spine,

And let's breathe deeply.

I'd like you to imagine,

In your mind's eye,

A visual of your own spine and body.

So right now,

In your mind's eye,

Picture your pelvic bone,

Your pelvic girdle.

See the spine with the vertebrae rising up out of it,

All the way up into the top of the neck.

Visualize the skull sitting on top of that.

Now imagine beautiful lines of energy flowing from the root of your spine,

All the way up your spine,

Up into the head,

Perhaps up into the third eye,

And then out the crown of your head,

Into the universe.

Imagine beautiful lines of energy flowing through your entire body.

This is what they call prana shakti,

The energy force of shakti,

The life force of our physical being.

Imagine your chakras,

However you'd like to see them.

Maybe you see them as circles and colorful circles,

Or you see them as white energy vortices.

But visualize an energy center right where you're sitting,

At your perineum,

And then see another one just below your navel.

And you can see these in color if you like,

That the root chakra is perhaps red,

And the one below the navel is orange.

There's another one above the navel which is yellow,

And one in the heart center that's green.

There's one in the throat which is blue,

Up into the third eye between the eyebrows,

Maybe that's a dark blue,

And up into the crown that's purple.

Feel all of this energy,

This divine energy flowing through your body,

And seeing yourself sitting there in your mind's eye.

Be aware of the world around you,

Not physically,

But feel the energy.

Energy.

Sound is just an energy.

Light is just an energy.

And so be aware of this curious energy all around you.

Now let's imagine for a moment that we're going to release that energy,

So that our ears,

We're just going to ignore the energy coming in our ears.

Our eyes are closed,

So we're not worrying about what we see.

We're going to release any awareness of our tongue,

Or what our mouth tastes like.

We're going to release any sensation we might receive through our skin.

And then we release any sensation through our nose.

So suddenly it's just us in our inner world,

Our inner universe.

And because nothing is coming in,

We have nothing to respond to,

Nothing to react to.

And just focus on the breath.

It's interesting that the breath is not included in any of these processes to let go of,

Because this is the movement of the life force through us.

So as your house becomes quiet,

Your temple,

Your body,

Visualize this beautiful kundalini prana shakti energy at the base of your spine.

And feel it start to pulse very gently.

Visualize this tiny subtle channel flowing up along the spine.

And with every breath,

Feel this energy gently rising,

Very subtle,

Like the footprints of an ant.

Maybe it gently flows up to that point below the navel,

And you feel your lower body vibrate a little bit,

Very gently.

And just with your breath,

Feel this energy.

So while this energy is gently flowing,

I would like for you to envision a symbol in your mind's eye.

A symbol that represents the light of consciousness.

Whatever that is,

Just allow it to rise.

And now allow yourself to focus on that symbol.

As you breathe,

Feeling this light of consciousness enter your mind,

Feeling this divine energy.

And whatever it's doing is perfect,

Even if it's quiet,

That's perfect.

Then I'd like you to release all visualization and just breathe deeply through the nose.

Feeling whatever energy is in your body,

Flowing down your arms and your legs and in your belly.

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 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 the body meets infinity.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Exhale.

Let's slowly bring back our sensory organs.

Be aware of the sounds around you.

Be aware of the smells,

The taste of your mouth,

The feeling of the air on your skin.

And then start to move your body a little,

Move your hands and your feet.

Rejoin the world.

Rejoin the world of stimulus and response.

So thank you so much for being here and I hope you have a wonderful day.