15:56

The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra

by Methods of Contemplation

Rated
4.8
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
153

The Vijñānabhairava Tantra is a compendium of spiritual prompts to enter a state of complete absorption in the Absolute, while yet remaining with the power of creativity and fecundity. If any text could be synonymous with Methods of Contemplation, it's this one. In the text, the primordial Goddess Bhairavi asks Bhairava, who is none other than her very Self - how to untangle the myriad of paths and admonitions of the tantras. He responds by giving pointed instructions to winnow away the extroversion of the mind: complex ones, simple ones, ones you might already do. The point being - Reality itself is the door to Reality.

ContemplationMeditationTantraConsciousnessPranaOmAwarenessKnowledgeEmptinessApanaBrahman ConsciousnessNon Dual AwarenessThreshold State MeditationKnowledge Knower UnityUnlimited Space VisualizationSteady Gaze TechniqueObject ContemplationDarkness ContemplationEmptiness ContemplationAbyss GazingAkshara RecitationsBody Suspension VisualizationsBodyClear Sky GazingDesiring KnowledgeGazingNon DualityPranava Om RepetitionsRecitationsSoundsSwinging BodiesVisualizationsWhirling BodiesSpirits

Transcript

The Vijnana-Pairava Tantra Sri Pairava said,

Paradevi,

Whose nature is visarga,

Or creation,

Manifests as the upward prana and the downward apana.

By fixing the mind at the two points of generation of prana and apana,

The state of fullness results.

When the ingoing pranic air and the outgoing pranic air are both restrained in their space from their respective points of return,

The essence of Pairava,

Which is not different from Pairavi,

Manifests.

Light on the shakti arising from the root like rays of the sun,

Gradually becoming subtler and subtler,

Until at last she dissolves in the dvadasanta and Pairava manifests.

One who is adept in listening to the unstruck sound in the heart,

Which is uninterrupted like a rushing river,

Attains the supreme state of Brahma by mastery of shabda-brahman,

The form of Brahman as sound.

O Pairavi,

One who repeats the pranava om perfectly,

While concentrating on the void for protracted periods,

Experiences that space,

And by that supreme space,

The transcendental power is revealed.

One should concentrate with an unwavering mind on all existence,

The body and even the universe simultaneously,

As nothing but consciousness.

Then the supreme consciousness arises.

By entering that state preceding sleep,

Where the awareness of the outer world has faded,

The mind is absorbed in the threshold state,

Which the supreme goddess illumines.

By gazing on the space that appears variegated by the rays of the sun or an oil lamp,

There the nature of one's essential self is illumined.

One should steady the gaze without blinking on the gross form of any object.

When the mind is transfixed and made supportless,

Without any other thought or feeling,

It at once acquires the state of Shiva.

While sitting or lying down,

One should think of one's own body as being supportless or suspended in space.

Then,

In a moment,

The samskaras or thought constructs of the mind being reduced,

It ceases to be a reservoir of old mental dispositions.

O goddess,

As a result of slowly swinging or rocking the body,

One attains a tranquil state of mind and floats into the stream of divine consciousness.

O Devi,

Having fixed the gaze continuously on the clear sky without blinking,

And with a steady awareness,

At once the nature of Pairava is achieved.

Similarly,

While closing the eyes,

One should contemplate on the profound darkness spreading in front as the form of Pairava.

Thus they become one with that.

O Devi,

By recitation of Akshara,

The letter A,

In the absence of Bindu and Visarga,

A great torrent of knowledge of the Supreme Lord,

Parameshvara,

At once arises.

When one meditates on one's own self in the form of unlimited space in all directions,

The mind is suspended and Shakti,

In the form of consciousness,

Is revealed as the form of one's own self.

When desire or knowledge arises,

One should fix the mind there,

Thinking that to be the very self.

Making the mind absolutely one-pointed in this way,

The yogin realizes the essence of the tattvas.

Pairava is the nature of undifferentiated consciousness and all embodied forms.

Therefore,

Those persons who contemplate on all creation,

Pervaded by that consciousness,

Transcend relative existence.

Thinking on the manifest world as imagined or elusive,

Like a magic show or a painting,

And seeing all existence as transient,

Happiness arises.

Just as waves arise from water,

Flames from fire,

And light rays from the sun,

Similarly the waves of Pairava,

Which produce the different emanations of the universe,

Are verily my source.

Whirling the body round and round until it falls on the ground makes the energy causing commotion at once become static.

By that cessation,

The supreme state appears.

Standing above a deep hole or well and looking steadily downward into the abyss,

The mind becomes entirely free of vikalpas and dissolution immediately manifests.

Wherever the consciousness leads,

Through the channel of the eyes,

By contemplation on that object alone being of the same nature as that of the supreme,

Absorption of mind and the state of fullness are experienced.

When one perceives a particular object,

Acuity is established regarding all other objects.

Contemplating on that emptiness,

Truly,

Even though the particular object is still known or perceived,

The mind rests in tranquility.

The reality of Pairavi dwells everywhere,

Even in ordinary people.

By contemplating this way,

There is nothing other than her.

One attains this non-dual state of homogenous awareness.

Knowledge reveals all,

And the self of all is the revealer or knower.

One should contemplate on the knowledge and the knower as being one and the same.

Meet your Teacher

Methods of ContemplationSalisbury, MD, USA

4.8 (12)

Recent Reviews

Aaron

July 1, 2025

🥰

More from Methods of Contemplation

Loading...

Related Meditations

Loading...

Related Teachers

Loading...
© 2025 Methods of Contemplation. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

How can we help?

Sleep better
Reduce stress or anxiety
Meditation
Spirituality
Something else