The Hum Of Truth: Radiance Sutras Verse 109

During this session, we discuss Verse 109 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

Today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras.

The Radiant Sutras is a translation or an interpretation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra,

An ancient tantric text that comes out of Kashmir Shaivism.

There are many,

Many tantric schools and Kashmir Shaivism is one of them.

The way that tantra sees the world is that the divine and the human and everything are all the same.

It's not that there is a god out there that we believe in or report to or something.

That every single thing on earth is god,

Including us.

In order for us to have a human experience,

We forget a lot of it intentionally.

It's one of those things that it's hard to have an experience.

It's kind of like,

You know,

This might be a weird analogy,

But let's say you were born to incredible wealth and you never really had to work.

You never really had to sacrifice in that kind of way and you really wanted to have that experience.

You wanted to have the experience of living as part of society and have the stresses that other people have.

A friend of mine who was very,

Very wealthy,

He once said,

You know,

He never understood,

You know,

One day he walked into where one of the places he owned and everyone there had bought into a lottery and they were all talking about what they would do if they won their million and many of them said they wouldn't work any longer and they,

Well,

They would definitely quit their job kind of thing and my friend was really hurt.

He was like,

What do you mean?

Like,

Don't you work because you love it here?

Like,

Why would you work here if you don't love it?

And he had no concept of what it would be to actually have to work to pay rent,

To pay for the kids braces,

To pay for insurance for your car.

It was absolutely beyond him and I stayed with him for a while when I was traveling and then it was interesting even meeting a lot of his friends because this was actually a real challenge for them.

There was something missing that many of us who live in that day-to-day,

Work-a-day grind or whatever you want to call it,

There was a almost a sense of meaning that they lacked and as much as we may think that it doesn't feel like we're attaining meaning by making money and paying rent,

When you don't have it,

Life becomes weird and it's very hard to articulate.

So now let's imagine this from this Tantric perspective,

That you have everything you want,

You know everything,

You are omnipotent,

Omnipresent,

You are everything,

Everywhere,

All the time,

There is no time,

But you actually thought,

You know,

I would actually love to experience time and the passage of time and I'd love to experience space where I could actually travel from place to place and I'd actually love to experience what it would be like to be any one person here listening to this talk right now,

But that would require a limitation because each one of us is perfectly unique and so we each have various challenges,

Various gifts,

Various upbringings,

Various teachings,

Various tendencies and these are all limitations and wouldn't it be interesting to experience life like that person?

How unique would that be as opposed to just always experiencing everything all the time?

And so if we go back to our analogy of our friend who has never had to work and they say,

Well I'd like to have to go and work and feel what this feels like,

Well one,

They have to give up obviously all the bank accounts and the money,

They also have to give up their connections because people who are wealthy like that have a lot of very high-standing connections,

So all of a sudden they go to get a job and they start at an executive level,

So imagine you didn't have that either.

So we actually require the limitations to have an experience,

To have a juicy experience.

And so this is sort of the premise of Tantra,

That we are all here,

Every person that's here right now,

We're all here having our own unique and limited experience and not limited in a negative way,

Limited by design.

It's kind of like if you've ever been a writer or an artist or tried to create anything,

Sometimes you can feel stuck,

Like you just don't know what to do next.

And so there's all these fun little writing tricks,

Like you can only write with your left hand or you're given four words and you have to write something about those four words and it's the limitation that actually triggers spontaneous creation and creation in a way that you never would have thought before.

This is the premise of Tantra,

That our limited human experience is awesome.

Every one of us,

Every challenge,

Every difficulty,

Every gift,

Every uniqueness,

Every eccentricity,

Everything that makes us different from the next person is brilliant and by design,

Because that's what creates an interesting creative experience.

But sometimes we get so lost in those limitations,

We become depressed.

We struggle with the lack of power,

With the lack of insight,

With the lack of opportunity.

You know,

We struggle that we don't think we have enough time.

And this is where the journey of Tantra and the journey of our Radiant Sutras is to remember,

Yes,

Yes,

You are living this interesting,

Individual,

Limited human life.

And you are infinity.

You are also divinity.

Again,

It's not about transcending this life,

Because this life is the point.

That's why we incarnated.

So that's what the Radiant Sutras is all about.

And today we are reading Psalm 109 for anyone following along in the book.

So let's all close our eyes.

Breathe deeply.

Expanding the belly as we inhale.

Contracting as we exhale.

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.

What do those words bring up for you?

Feelings or thoughts or.

.

.

Are there any words that specifically stay in your mind?

Wow,

I just had a vision of me,

Part of a great river,

Floating along,

Part of a hole,

And it seemed like a big hug.

It's beautiful.

Every moment is supporting you.

We are never alone.

Native of eternity.

I feel this.

What was the next line after that?

At home in infinity.

I'm inspired to juggle.

Mmm,

That's always a good thing.

The beauty of the whole of life being held in oneness.

Felt like an invitation to experience the vastness of forever.

I love the final line of the sutra.

Fleeting moments are supported by forever.

Everything we encounter is sacred.

Yes,

At home in infinity,

This is where I can rest.

I'm going to read another translation of this.

So this is a direct translation,

Not an interpretation.

Meditating every moment on the words eternal,

Omnipresent,

Supportless,

All-pervasive,

Master of the universe,

One attains fulfillment in according with their meaning.

Here's another translation.

Eternal,

Omnipresent,

Without depending on any support,

All-pervasive,

Lord of all that is.

Meditating every instant on these words in conformity with their sense,

One attains his object.

This is why we are eternally grateful to Lauren Roche for giving us a more easily digestible version.

So what this sutra is saying to us philosophically is when we ponder the words that describe God,

When we repeat them and think them,

We will attain their essence.

And so the sutra literally repeats omnipresent,

Eternal,

Supportless,

Master of the universe.

And that when we think about these things,

It's like we can think about it in terms of,

Like whatever that is for you,

Whatever God is,

Brahman,

Bhairava,

Shiva,

Shakti,

Whatever that divinity is for you,

When you imagine the qualities of the divine,

They also are you.

Because we are just a microcosm of the divine.

But very often it's easier because we live in this limited human experience,

It's easier for us to close our eyes and imagine the vastness of God,

Or the vastness of Shiva,

The vastness of divinity.

That's easier.

Omnipotent,

Omnipresent,

All-knowing.

This is easier for us to imagine because we've all had life experiences that seem to have shown us that we're not that.

We know that we're not all-powerful and we can't just seem to will whatever we want.

And we're very conscious that we do live in time and space,

And you know,

This is all a reality.

And sometimes rent is hard to pay.

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be omnipotent when I'm struggling.

These are not aspects.

And in fairness,

They're not aspects that we're supposed to walk around feeling.

Again,

As we talked about earlier,

We're meant to have a human experience.

We're meant to lean in to whatever assignment we've been given.

That's the point.

But we also can remember,

And this is where it's very interesting,

Like Tantra.

Tantra isn't something that can be understood with the mind.

No matter how many books we read,

No matter how much money we give to gurus and retreats and all these kind of things,

You cannot learn your way into Tantra.

So the only way to actually have the Tantric experience,

To become Tantric,

Is to do particular practices.

When you do the practice,

You have an experience that is indescribable.

And I don't mean indescribable like fireworks and explosions and seventh chakra revelations.

That's not what I mean by indescribable.

I mean,

It's hard to describe.

Earlier today,

Before class,

I was doing Nadi Shodhana,

Which is alternate nostril breathing.

And if you asked me to describe what I experienced while I was doing that,

I can't describe it to you.

It's kind of like a hundred things were happening.

Sometimes thoughts were sneaking in,

Other times there was lovely quiet,

And then other times my breath became very deep and my body kind of had a lovely sensation.

And then all of a sudden I was thinking about this workshop I'm planning.

And then all of a sudden I was like,

It's an indescribable experience.

But inside that experience are little moments,

Like little moments of light,

Little moments of expansion.

This is the blessing of doing a practice.

If we really deeply pay attention,

We shift inside.

And so a practice like this mantra or this particular sutra is to say,

Imagine you were just going to sit still for a moment and think of the word omnipotent or all-powerful.

And you're just going to sit there and you're just going to imagine all-powerful over and over again.

You couldn't help it,

But after five minutes you would feel more powerful,

Even if it's in the tiniest way.

And then what you do is you ask your soul to just repeat this all day long in my heart.

All day long,

Remind me of this one thing.

And then all day long you close your eyes every so often and you think the all-powerful.

Now what's most important though is that you choose something that really deeply resonates for you.

And it may not be this language.

This is language that was written,

You know,

I don't even know when this was written.

Hundreds of years ago anyway,

Thousands of years ago.

So in our language today,

If you were to imagine a virtue of the divine,

And I'm a word that you would use that is a quality of divinity that you would love more of in your life,

Like peace,

Love,

Joy,

Freedom.

What is your word that you would love to repeat?

Patience.

Limitless.

What other words?

Even if you ask yourself,

What would you love more of right now?

For me,

My big word is ease.

Scarlet literally read my mind.

Or I read Scarlet's mind,

Hard to say.

Joy.

Equanimity.

Joy.

Courage.

Peace.

Understanding.

Lightness of being.

Flow.

Serenity.

Freedom.

Energy.

Relief of pain.

Wisdom.

Moksha.

Connection.

Acceptance.

Kindness.

I genuinely believe that the greatest things in the universe,

Like,

You know,

We're always asking,

What are the answers?

How do I become happy?

How do I do whatever it is?

And I truly believe that the answers are hiding in plain sight.

They're so much more simple than we think.

We've been raised to believe that things are very complicated.

But it is something as simple.

And it's not just about putting the word joy on your fridge or something.

That can help.

But to imagine,

Like,

This is the power of mantra,

The power of language,

The power of actually making sound.

Like,

This is no small thing.

They call it Shabad.

If you imagine yourself quiet,

And now an intention rises,

And I want to say freedom.

I am actually bringing spirit,

Breath,

Through my mouth,

Through my vocal cords,

My fifth chakra.

And I am sounding out the word freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Or bliss.

And it can be in Sanskrit,

You can say,

Ananda,

As long as that means something to you.

It can't just be a rote thing to do.

It has to mean something to you.

To really understand that when we speak,

We are bringing air and sending out a sound wave into the universe.

Every word.

Joy.

Hope.

Love.

Freedom.

Ease.

All of these things are affecting us.

This is where it's really important that this is an active thing to do.

It isn't something that we just write in our journal and leave it,

Or put in our fridge,

Or put in our bathroom mirror.

All of these things can help,

But we have to do the active practice.

And I don't know whether it's because we have been taught by shysters for so long,

You know,

Oh do these three things and it will do whatever.

And so we do them.

Or we don't do them.

Because it doesn't work anyway.

Like it's not real.

So we tend to poo-poo practice.

So to actually just do it.

Even today,

To walk away from today's class with whatever your word is.

I'm famous.

I love writing things on my wrist,

Because then I'll remember and then it washes off by tomorrow and I get to start fresh.

You know,

But whatever that word is,

Don't just look at it.

When you see it,

Walk down the street and say equanimity.

Love.

Gratitude.

And don't shy away from the real divine qualities too.

All-powerful.

All-knowing.

Timeless.

Everything everywhere.

I don't know about you,

But does that feel a little bit harder?

Like it's a little harder to actually repeat all day long?

Omnipotent.

All-powerful.

All-powerful.

All-powerful.

I don't know about you,

But for me that's a stretch.

That feels like a stretch.

And yet,

When I say it,

It rings something inside of me that my soul knows.

It's reconnecting with an aspect of ourselves that is true.

The interesting thing is that the things I want,

I want for others too.

As I read others' words,

I want those things too.

And you bring up a beautiful point.

Because why is that?

Because we're all God.

We're all Shakti,

Shiva,

Brahman,

Bhairava.

We're all the same spark.

And we've all intentionally forgotten.

And so,

Of course,

When we tap into our soul and our soul responds with,

I need more of this to remember who I am.

And these are all the beautiful facets of the diamond that every single one of us is.

There's nobody here that's going to say,

Yeah,

I'm not really into joy.

You know,

I don't know about ease.

We all want them.

As Murray says,

This is where we are all one.

We are all from that same spark,

Incarnated in these wonderful,

Infinitely unique ways.

So now imagine this.

Imagine a tantric world.

And what I mean by that isn't a perfect world.

But imagine there's 124 people here.

And today,

Or this evening,

Wherever we are in the world,

We have our word,

Our facet of the diamond.

And we walk around today repeating this word whenever we can.

Maybe we're driving.

Maybe we're making dinner.

Maybe we're doing something that we can repeat out loud,

A word.

And we are repeating this word.

And this word is going out into the field.

And we're all repeating all these aspects of that diamond for everyone all around us.

Wouldn't that be amazing?

Does anyone have any thoughts you want to share before we do our meditation?

So wherever you are,

Let's close our eyes.

Let's breathe deeply.

And just imagine the words omnipotent,

All,

Omnipresent,

Everything,

Everywhere.

Omniscient,

All-knowing,

Master of the universe.

And just allow that feeling to just permeate your body.

Imagine a place in your mind's eye where you feel expansive.

Maybe it's lying under a night sky or a blue sky.

Maybe it's sitting on top of a mountain or at a beautiful lookout over a lake.

Or an ocean.

Or maybe it's simply sitting in your favorite chair where all your world is around you.

Breathe a little bit deeper.

Expand your mind.

Expand your reach energetically with your breath.

Nitya vibhu niradhara vyapaka cha akhila adhipa shabdan pratik shanam dhyayan krita artha artha anu rupata 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.

Let's just take a few more deep breaths and allow a word to rise from your soul.

Whose essence you desire more of right now.

Speak it out loud.

Let's take one more deep breath together.

Exhale.

Let's come back together.

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

Reviews

There is so much power in words, I saw a quote recently “If it isn’t happening now, it isn’t happening” I felt instantly grounded and peaceful . Thank you Katrina 🙏🏻