The Manual for Self Realization: 112 Meditations of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra

by Lakshmanjoo, John Hughes (Editor)

The chapters of this book, Kashmir Shaivism–The Secret Supreme, are based on the most essential teachings of Abhinvagupta’s magnum opus Tantrāloka. Here, the twentieth century's great philosopher saint Swami Lakshmanjoo, presents a systematic unfolding of the Tantric teachings of the ancient tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. This profound tradition, long enshrouded in secrecy, is so rich and detailed in its descriptions of the ascent of individual consciousness to universal God Consciousness, that it has been characterized as ‘a mystical geography of awareness’. Here lies the key that unlocks the secrets of the oral tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, and provides the reader with the necessary tools to venture into this wondrous landscape.

Genres: Hinduism, Spirituality

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 30, 2015

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[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his comments on Verse 24 of the scripture, Swami Lakshmanjoo speaks of the prana being exhaled from the heart to a space outside the body that is twelve finger-widths downward from the tip of the nostrils. And then, upon inhalation, of prana moving from the space outside the body back into the heart again.

Jaideva Singh while working closely with Swami Lakshmanjoo created a translation of the scripture. In that translation, Verse 24 reads as follows:

Para devi or Highest Sakti who is of the nature of visarga, goes on (ceaselessly) expressing herself upward (ūrdhave) (from the centre of the body to dvādaśanta or a distance of twelve fingers) in the form of exhalation (prānā) and downward (adhah) (from dvādaśanta to the centre of the body) in the form of inhalation (jiva or apana). By steady fixation of the mind (bharanat) at the two places of their origin (viz., centre of the body in the case of prānā and dvādaśanta in the case of apāna), there is the situation of plenitude (bharitāsthitih, which is the state of parāśakti or nature of Bhairava).

Singh (in consultation with Lakshmanjoo) then goes on to explain his translation in some detail.

At my request, in 1974 - 1975 Swami Lakshmanjoo and Pandit Dina Nath Muju created an English rendering of the scripture for me. Their rendition of verse 24 reads as follows:

Verse 24. The ingoing breath is (sounds) Ham and outgoing breath is (sounds) So. Observe their junction both within your heart and outside. Fullness results.

I should mention that Sanskrit a sounds like the u in the English word hum.

The incoming and outgoing breaths sound like the Sanskrit name of a bird: the swan (haṃsa).

On the South Asian subcontinent, the haṃsa (swan or goose), a migratory waterfowl, is poetically credited with the almost alchemical gift of being able to extract milk from a mixture of milk and water.

Some scholars have reasoned this attribute arose from the bird's ability—while floating lotus-like on lakes—to extract the milk-like nectar (kṣīra, 'milk') from the fibres within the stalks of lotus plants. The bird does so between breaths.

On the Asian subcontinent, this ability of the haṃsa serves as a metaphor for the discernment of the yogi(ni) who, knowing the one thing—shoreless consciousness—which having known, the yogi(ni) needs know nothing else.

In Yoga and the Hindu Tradition (1977), Jean Veranne expounds on the direct phonetic-symbolic link between the act of breathing and the name of the migratory bird [haṃsa]. When we breathe in, the text asks, does not the air as it enters make the sound ham [hum]? And when we breathe out, does not the air hiss as it leaves, making the sound sa? So that we are all of us, however unwittingly, forever repeating hamsa! hamsa!

The air goes in making ham! [Sounding like the English word hum.]
It goes out making sah!

So the living being lives life repeating endlessly the mantra of the bird! One needs only to become aware of this to be free from all sin. (Dhyanabindu Upanishad)
. . . .

Veranne continues as follows:

It should be added that the same two syllables in reverse order (with a slight phonetic change required by the rules of Sanskrit grammar) mean something quite different: so'ham, so'ham (I am It, I am It!) we also all proclaim as we breathe, and "It," needless to say, is hamsa, the Atman. Again, moreover, consciousness (a real, effective, experienced consciousness ) of the secret meaning of the two syllables so'ham has a liberating power. By repetition of this new mantra (esoterically identical with the first), one obtains liberation because one is relizing the identity of the self and the inner controlling force (antar-yamin)—yet one more name of Atman-Brahman. Combined, the two mantras are an encapsulation of the entire doctrine: "My true self is the Atman there in the deepest heart of myself!"

. . . .

Again, ham sounds like the English word hum.

In the translation Swami Lakshmanjoo and Dina Nath Muju prepared for me, Verse 25 reads as follows:

The energy of breath flows in and out. Be aware of the interval outside and inside. Divine manifests.

Mysteriously, in 19th century Germany there was a popular card game that taught players some basic facts about famous writers, artists, and composers. For instance there was a card for Longfellow and also one for the composer Robert Schuman. Herman Hesse was particularly fond of Schuman's piece “Vogel als Prophet” (The Bird as Prophet) from his collection Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), Op. 82. This piece is known for its ethereal and mysterious qualities, often evoking the image of a bird with prophetic abilities.

Herman wrote that it may have been while playing that card game that he first received the idea for writing his magnum opus, The Glass Bead Game.

Ever since he wrote the book, for which he was awarded a Noel Prize in 1949, his readers have conjectured about what precisely the Game described within the book's pages entails.

Mysteriously, I believe it may have something to do with breathing in and out, and with Atman (Sanskrit for Self [as Shoreless Consciousness]).

Hesse distinguishes between (i) an intellectual-aesthetic level of the Game and (ii) a sacral dimension of the game, of which most of the Game's players have no inkling. This distinction is like that between (i) dichotomizing thought structures and (ii) knowledge that transcends the mind, such as jnana (which also has to do with breath).

Consider the following passage (from the Winston translation of the GBG):

Perhaps this is the place to cite that other passage from Knecht's letters, which also deals with the Glass Bead Game, although the letter in question addressed to the Music Master, was written at least a year or two later. "I imagine," Knecht wrote to his patron, "that one can be an excellent Glass Bead Game player, even a virtuoso, and perhaps even a thoroughly competent Magister Ludi, without having any inkling of the real mystery of the game and its ultimate meaning. It might even be that one who does guess or know the truth might prove a danger to the Game, were he to become a specialist in the Game, a Game leader. For the dark interior, the esoterics of the Game, points down into the One and All, into those depths where the eternal Atman eternally breathes in and out, sufficient unto itself. One who has experienced the meaning of the Game within himself would by that fact, no longer be a player; he would no longer dwell in the world of multiplicity and would no longer be able to delight in invention, construction, and combination, since he would enjoy altogether different joys and raptures. Because I think I have come close to the meaning of the Glass Bead Game, it will be better for me and for others if I do not make the game my profession, but instead shift to music."

Careful readers should note that although Hesse does not use the word Atman, in his original German, the translators do, because of the close relationship between breath and spirit in Indo-European languages.

Consider, for instance, the following etymology of the German word for Atem:

Atem, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German âtem (âten), Old High German âtum, masculine, ‘breath, spirit’; compare Middle High German der heilege âtem, Old High German der wîho âtum, ‘the Holy Spirit;’ Modern High German collateral form (properly dialectic) Odem. The word is not found in East Teutonic; in Gothic ahma, ‘spirit,’ is used instead (see achten). Compare Old Saxon âðom, Dutch adem, Anglo-Saxon œ̂þm (obsolete in English), ‘breath.’ The cognates point to Aryan êtmon-, Sanskrit âtmán, masculine, ‘puff, breath, spirit’; also Old Irish athach, ‘breath,’ Greek ἀτμός, ‘smoke, vapour.’

In the translation of the scripture Swami Lakshmanjoo and Pandit Dina Nath Muju prepared for me, Verse 26 reads as follows:

When the mind is silent and breath ceases to flow in and out, it stays of its own accord in the centre. Watch the moment. Divinity dawns.

This is the most beautiful of the verses on breath: the most effortless. Here the emphasis is not on the breath or the mantra, but on the state of consciousness beyond thought. When that state suddenly floods duality. There is only one thing. There is no space available anywhere for any technique or even the thought of a technique. There is no duality. There is only one thing. One is no longer a player of the game of meditation.

In that state: breathing has become suspended.

Jaideva Sing's comments on Verse 26 read as follows:

1. In this dhāraṇā, prāṇa (exhalation) and apāna (inhalation) cease and madhya dasa develops, i.e., the prānasakti in the susumna develops by means of nirvikalpabhava, i. e., by the cessation of all thought-constructs; then the nature of Bhairava is revealed.

Sivopadhydya in his commentary says that the nirvikalpa bhava comes about by Bhairavi mudra, in which even when the senses are open outwards, the attention is turned inwards towards inner spanda or throb of creative consciousness which is the basis and support of all mental and sensual activity, then all vikalpas or thought-constructs cease. The breath neither goes out, nor does it come in, and the essential nature of Bhairava is revealed.

2. Dvdadasanta means a distance of 12 fingers in the outer space measured from the tip of the nose.

3. The difference between the previous dhāraṇā and this one lies in the fact that whereas in the previous dhāraṇā, the madhya dasa develops by one-pointed awareness of the pauses of prana and apana, in the present dhāraṇā, the madhya dasa develops by means of nirvikalpa-bhava.

Abhinavagupta has quoted this dhāraṇā in Tantraloka v.22 p. 333 and there also he emphasizes nirvikalpa-bhava. He says that one should fix one’s mind with pointed awareness on the junction of prana, apana and udana, in the centre, then prana and apana will be suspended; the mind will be freed of all vikalpas, madhya dasa will develop, and the aspirant will have the realization of the essential Self, which is the nature of Bhairava.

Sivopadhyaya says that since this dhāraṇā takes the help of madhyadasa, it may be considered to be an anava updya. But the development of madhyadasa is brought about by nirvikalpa-bhava in this dhāraṇā. From this point of view, it may be considered to be sambhava upaya.

Only the swan knows for sure. :-)