The Elements That You Are: Radiance Sutras Verse 24

During this session, we discuss Verse 24 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 this book called the Radiant Sutras,

Which is a translation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra,

An ancient tantric text,

By Lauren Roche.

It's not really a literal translation as much as it's an interpretation,

So that our minds can actually hear the message.

Sometimes when we take Sanskrit and we directly translate it into English,

We don't get the subtleties.

That if we were a Sanskrit scholar,

We would understand that,

Oh no no,

But when you say this word and this word in this context,

This is really what we're talking about.

Sometimes we also don't understand because there's an entire cultural reference,

Like a belief system that we don't understand.

If I generalize in the Western mind,

We really focus on what is,

What exists,

What we perceive to be valuable,

Are the things in our life,

The thoughts,

The things that take up space.

Whereas in many philosophies in the Eastern mind,

It's the space that's valuable.

It's the endless opportunity of nothingness,

Of void,

Of shunya,

Because it's in that space that anything's possible.

It's like I remember when I first divorced,

I moved out with my daughter and we had a very small apartment.

There wasn't room for both of us to have our own bedrooms.

So instead we got Japanese futons that would roll out and we would roll out our futons and sleep in the living room.

And then in the morning we would roll them back up and put them in the closet.

It was really interesting studying this idea that when you have a very small space,

People would have this empty space.

At supper time,

They would bring out a table that would fold down and they would cook the food and they would eat.

And then after supper time,

They would put that away and the space was empty again.

And then when it was bedtime,

You would roll out the futons and you would sleep.

And in the morning you would roll them back up and you're back with this space.

And so even the idea of space to them means anything's possible.

If they looked at our homes,

They would say,

But every moment is so defined.

Where is the change?

Where is the opportunity for newness?

This is why it's so beautiful what Lauren has done with this tantra,

Because it allows the spirit of the Sanskrit for us to hear.

So it's very beautiful.

So I'm going to read today's sutra,

Which is number 24 on page 59 for anyone who has the book.

If you don't have the book,

Totally awesome.

Highly recommend owning this book.

It is such a beautiful,

Beautiful book.

It's my favorite book in the tantric lineages because you can just pick it up,

Read a passage and let that be your meditation for the day.

Just sort of let it float through you all day.

It's very,

Very lovely.

So I will read it and then we'll have a conversation.

And then we'll do a meditation.

So even if you have the book.

Let's just close our eyes.

Let's breathe deeply,

Expanding the belly as we inhale,

Contracting as we exhale.

And just feeling into that eternal part of who you are or that eternal aspect of who you are.

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.

Space loves everyone equally.

In meditation,

Luxuriate in knowing this deep and simple truth.

Every cell is an organ of sense infused with majesty.

So what stands out for you when you hear that?

What feeling do you have?

What thoughts roll through your mind?

Such a lovely poetic sutra.

My soul transcends most of the time we do these readings.

Supernovas.

Perfect harmony.

We are the earth and sky.

Treasure.

I love this one so much.

Every element loves the other.

It makes me feel effervescent.

Everything we are is from the earth.

I'm envisioning my body made up of the golden highways,

Rich with all the infinite resources on the universe.

I am divine connection to everything in the universe.

We are and hold all possibilities.

My skin is stardust.

We are golden.

We have everything we need.

Everything inside of us.

It's like when you think of how our bodies will generate whatever chemicals it needs.

That whatever pharmacopia or pharmacy we need will all be,

Like we have all the elements inside of us to create it.

Everything.

Every element that exists out there exists inside of us.

Isn't that crazy?

It reminds me of,

So when a baby is conceived,

Sperm and egg come together,

And what happens is you become,

The baby begins as this lump of grey matter,

Of neurons.

And the neurons basically start to replicate.

And then the neurons,

This is like one of the most miraculous things to me about being a human.

I can't begin to fit my head around.

These neurons travel through that little embryo and become whatever the body needs.

These little DNA creations travel and form heart tissue and form liver tissue and create skin tissue,

Create lymphatic tissue.

Like every cell in our body is actually the same,

But it's appearing in whatever way we need it to.

That is beyond my comprehension.

That this skin and this hair and my liver are all created from these originating stem cells.

We are all part of the universe.

There is no reason to struggle when our eyes see another person's face.

It's so beautiful,

These mantras rock.

All the elements we are made of that are above iron in the periodic table are given to us by the explosion of supernova.

All the minerals,

The minds,

The seas,

The trees,

The places we get resources,

They're all inside our bodies.

And inside all bodies,

All living beings begin this way.

We are all one.

So what's interesting is this is a continuation from last week's reading.

I'm just going to read you last week's reading for a moment.

These are all recorded and uploaded to Insight Timer,

Just so you know if you ever want to go back and do a different sutra.

Last week's was,

Forget all of your ideas about the body,

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

Just be with any area of it,

This present body,

As permeated with limitless space,

Drenched in freedom.

I'm going to read you another translation of this week's.

And this comes out of this book called the Sri Vijnana by Rava Tantra,

The Ascent by Satya Sangananda Saraswati.

So this is a literal translation,

Word for word,

Literal.

O gazelle-eyed one,

Concentrate upon all the constituents of the body pervaded by space,

So that the thought becomes steady.

I'm going to read you another translation,

Which is very similar.

This one says,

O gazelle-eyed one,

And then in brackets it says,

If the aspirant is incapable of shunyavava immediately,

And I'll explain that.

Let him contemplate over the constituents of his body,

Like bone,

Flesh,

Etc.

,

As pervaded with mere vacuity.

After this practice,

His contemplation of vacuity will become steady,

And at last he will experience the light of consciousness.

I'm going to read this one just once more.

O gazelle-eyed one,

If the aspirant is incapable of shunyavava immediately,

Let him contemplate over the constituents of his body,

Like bone,

Flesh,

Etc.

,

As pervaded with mere vacuity.

After this practice,

His contemplation of vacuity will become steady,

And at last he will experience the light of consciousness.

So what he means,

He's calling us O gazelle-eyed one.

So gazelle,

The beautiful deer-like creatures on the savannah,

Kind of doe-eyed.

It's so funny because a part of me feels like they're mocking me.

Oh,

Little grasshopper,

So naive.

But in some ways,

They're kind of right.

That we are so attached to the things in life.

We're so attached to our belief that it's the things that matter.

It's the manifestations that matter,

Whether I have this or I have that or I have this or this person does this.

Like we are so lost in this illusion that the individual pieces are even real.

So they're kind of saying,

I understand your naivety and I understand your suffering because you think all this is real.

And you are struggling with that.

But I don't think they're being mean.

I've never heard a tantric teaching bee that it's mean or anything.

It could also be the wide-eyed look of wonder.

Yeah,

Well,

And this is why he says,

O gazelle-eyed one,

If the aspirant is incapable of shunyabhava immediately,

That's what he's saying.

So shunyabhava,

Shunya is the contemplation of nothingness.

So if you are incapable of simply dropping in to this nothingness bliss,

Then he's saying,

O gazelle-eyed one,

I get that this is hard to fathom kind of idea.

And again,

Maybe that's just my own interpretation of it.

But what they're saying is perhaps it's hard to do it that way.

Perhaps it's hard to just imagine your entire being as emptiness.

Because that's what the previous sutra,

The previous sloka is saying.

It's saying,

Imagine your entire body filled with nothingness,

With bliss.

And they're saying now,

If you're just sort of like,

Are you kidding?

What are you talking about?

They're like,

You know what,

Then?

Let's look inward at all the constituents of our body.

Let's imagine every little bit.

Let's imagine every cell and all of its miraculous manifestation.

And can we do that?

Can we look into every single cell and see it as a miracle?

So if you looked inward and understanding that our liver cells,

They're the same as everything else.

But if we look into the cells of our liver,

We can see how the cells have manifested as physical.

If we look under the cell through a microscope,

We might see how it's appearing,

All of its whatever it needs to create a liver cell.

If we continue looking deeper with an electron microscope,

And we look at the atoms that make it up,

We soon find out that it's just energy.

It's just charged particles flying in an orbit around shunya,

Otherwise known as dark matter.

If we look at the cells in our bones,

We can look at them under a microscope and we can see,

Ah,

It has formed to have these elements and these elements and these elements.

And no matter how many elements are inside those bones under an electron microscope,

They're just energy.

And all of that energy is created from our very specific DNA,

Our very specific energy pattern.

My liver is not your liver.

It's created very differently.

What really is in that energy pattern?

What's really,

Why are we so unique?

Why do we each have a different DNA sequence?

What is that?

What is it that really makes us each different?

Sure,

Physically,

We might look different.

We might talk differently.

But what is that?

What is this energy that's come together in all these different,

Almost infinite permutations and manifesting this way?

And to think that on some level,

It's all just emptiness.

But that emptiness isn't a bad thing.

It's all potential.

And so this is the second part of this other translation here,

When he says,

So let him contemplate over the constituents of his body,

Like bone,

Flesh,

Etc.

,

As pervaded with mere vacuity.

It's actually,

It's emptiness.

After this practice,

His contemplation of vacuity will become steady,

And he at last will experience the light of consciousness.

So think about that.

When our minds are filled with all the things,

All the things of life,

The stuff,

Our minds are busy.

Our minds are thinking about that and thinking about this and thinking about that.

It's just like,

Our minds are busy.

But if we can contemplate the quiet,

If we can contemplate the emptiness,

If we can even for a moment,

Experience the emptiness of our bodies,

Our mind becomes quiet because we realize that there's nothing to think about.

We will return back to the world and think about whatever it is that's next.

That's what we'll do.

But the foundation of Tantra is to combine the divine and the physical,

To combine the energy and the physical.

So the problem is,

Most of the time in our lives,

We actually never quiet our mind.

We stay in that hyper,

There's this,

There's this,

There's that,

There's this,

There's that,

You know,

And we're just focus,

Focus,

Focus,

Focus on everything.

And we start to believe that all of this is actually real.

Now it is real.

I don't want to make this sound like it's all an illusion,

So nothing matters.

That's not true.

It is real because it's here for our experience and it exists.

Just in the same way that we might be made up of nothingness,

But we are very real.

We absolutely exist,

But there's a subtlety that we can play with,

That although we are real,

We are also infinite.

Now these words don't make sense.

This is where we're blending the philosophy of the singularity,

That we are all one,

And duality,

Where we are all separate,

Intentionally separate,

For a very important experience.

So if we can sit and contemplate the glorious nothingness that we are,

It adds an aspect of wonder to us.

Then we all of a sudden go out into the world and we're talking to someone,

And as much as we care about this person and we're listening,

We are also in awe of the fact that these two people are talking,

Or cooking,

Or making love,

Or whatever.

There's a wonderment that comes in to the experience.

It changes everything.

And the very fact that we can't explain how this changes our life,

That's what's real.

It's a subtlety.

I also find it fascinating to imagine that our bodies are actually filled with all of these elements.

You know,

There's gold,

That there's every element that exists out there inside of us.

You know they always say that,

That the entire world exists inside of us,

That we never have to be lonely because everything exists right here.

And again,

This doesn't mean that we don't go out and talk to people and make friends,

And seek friends and partners and community.

It's both.

Because when we know we're whole,

And we know that we have everything in the universe here,

We really value the people that we interact with.

We're not dependent on them.

We're not dependent on situations.

We don't need anything to happen.

We just look around going,

How fun is this?

So we're going to do a meditation,

And we're going to play with this sutra.

And feel free to just stretch out your body,

And just release any part of you that might feel fidgety before we sit.

You can also lie down if you want to.

It's more of a contemplative meditation than a sit upright pranayama.

So let's sit nice and tall.

Let's close our eyes,

Or lie down and close your eyes.

Let's just breathe deeply.

As you're breathing,

Making sure your belly is expanding as you inhale,

Contracting as you exhale,

Becoming aware of your diaphragm,

The muscle underneath your ribcage.

As you inhale,

Seeing and feeling it drop into the belly,

Opening the lungs.

As you exhale,

Feeling the diaphragm press up into the lungs,

Pushing the air out,

And then bringing your attention to the organs in your belly,

Even if you don't know where they are.

Imagine a stomach,

The liver,

The kidneys in the back,

Pancreas,

Your intestines,

Rectum.

As you're breathing,

Feeling that diaphragm pressing down,

Massaging those organs,

Feeling them gently moving in this day-long dance that they do.

Bring your attention to your legs,

Your knees,

And your feet,

And your ankles.

If there's any discomfort or pain,

Focus there.

Bring the breath to that area.

Let your focus come up to your shoulders,

Your arms,

Your elbows,

Your wrists,

Your hands.

Again,

If there's any discomfort or pain,

Allow all of your attention to go there.

Then moving up into your head,

Your jaw,

Your eyes,

Your forehead,

And just noticing your cheeks,

Your nose,

Your ears.

Now imagine that all of these wonderful parts of our body are atoms,

Charged particles,

Alive,

Full of prana,

Light.

Imagine all of these atoms forming into different cells,

Creating all of these parts of our body.

Then again,

See the organs,

See the bones,

The blood vessels,

The neurons in our brain,

All formed from these cells.

Then let's go back to the cell level,

And then deeper into the atom.

Now feel the whole body as nothingness,

As shunya,

As pure potential,

Like a night sky.

Breathe into that beautiful openness,

Freedom.

Feeling this freedom,

I would like you to think of one,

Two,

Or three words that you would love to infuse your body with.

As if you were making a cup of tea,

And you were adding herbs or tea bags to the water,

And you were letting the essence flow through your whole body,

Permeating every cell.

Think of one word to start even,

Like peace,

Love,

Stability.

Whatever word comes to you,

Really look at it,

Feel it merge with all of your cells,

All at once.

Breathe,

Integrating,

Allowing the essence of this word to infuse your body like tea.

Then really love this word,

Create a connection with this word,

And feel the ripple effects of this essence in your body,

Your mind,

Your spirit.

Play with that,

With all the words that you would love to fill yourself with,

To know that we begin in pure energy potential.

We can choose what to infuse that potential with.

Then just breathing deeply,

Just feeling these wonderful feelings flowing through our body,

Through our cells,

Long deep breaths that flow all the way to your toes,

To your fingertips.

Sarvam deha gatam,

Dravyam vyad vyaptam,

Mriga ikshen,

Vi bhaivayat tatas tasya,

Bhavana sa sirah bhavet.

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.

Space loves everyone equally.

In meditation,

Luxuriate in knowing this deep and simple truth.

Every cell is an organ of sense infused with majesty.

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

Reviews

Beautiful❣️🥀⚘️☄️
Thank you so kindly Katrina❣️⚛️
Namaste🙏🏼✨️♾️☮️☯️⚛️⚘️☄️

The first word that came to me was precious. All the elements I am made of are so precious. The gold and silver but also the river and ocean. Then the word calm came to me. The night sky with its darkness and immensity, all within me. And last came, patient. Being patient with myself, with my gazelle eyes looking outside what I already can find inside if I take the time and energy to really look through Meditation. I already have everything inside me. It’s great to have it reflected by others around me and seek the company of others. But it’s also great to recognize how wholesome I am. Merci Katrina for sharing these verses and your take on them with us.