In this post, we finally get to the practice section of the text. As you probably know, the bulk of this scripture is devoted to practice. Verses 24 through 138 (out of 162) are all practice verses. A few practices get more than one verse, but most practices are encapsulated in a single verse. We’re going to learn the first of those practices below. Recall that what just happened is a discussion on the relationship of Shiva and Shakti, consciousness and energy, which are said to be as inseparable as fire and its power to burn. That was preceded by an explanation of what the fundamental nature of being is, which was defined as that overflowing state of fullness that we call ‘the Goddess’. This overflowing state of fullness or repleteness is a state in which you feel you need nothing outside of yourself except what naturally presents itself in the flow of experience moment to moment. This is the goal of the text: to abide in this state of fullness, this bharitāvasthā.
First, Bhairavī has a couple more questions for Bhairava. I really appreciate Her here, because she’s pushing him to get less philosophical and more practical, and this is what prompts the revelation of the 112 yuktis or yogic techniques. Goddess Bhairavī says to her husband, her lover, her interlocutor, her sometimes-teacher and sometimes-student, Bhairava,
श्री देव्युवाच
śrī-devy uvāca
The blessed Goddess said:
देवदेव त्रिशूलाङ्क कपालकृतभूषण |
दिग्देशकालशून्या च व्यपदेशविवर्जिता || २२ ||
devadeva triśūlāṅka kapāla-kṛta-bhūṣaṇa |
dig-deśa-kāla-śūnyā ca vyapadeśa-vivarjitā || 22 ||
यावस्था भरिताकारा भैरवस्योपलभ्यते |
कैर् उपायैर् मुखं तस्य परा देवि कथम् भवेत् |
यथा सम्यग् अहं वेद्मि तथा मे ब्रूहि भैरव || २३ ||
yāvasthā bharitākārā bhairavasyopalabhyate |
kair upāyair mukhaṃ tasya parā devi katham bhavet |
yathā samyag ahaṃ vedmi tathā me brūhi bhairava || 23 ||
O God of gods whose symbol is the trident and whose ornaments are made from human skulls: this state of fullness of the Divine—free of time, space, and locality, and impossible to represent [conceptually]—by what means is it attained? And how does the Supreme Goddess (Parā Devī) become the gateway into That? Answer me this in such a way that I can completely understand it, O Bhairava! || 22-23 ||
I want to point out a couple of things here. First, she demonstrates that she has really heard what he’s said by reflecting some of it back to him (that’s the bit in between the em-dashes). Then she has this question: “By what means it is realized & attained (upalabhyate)?” And she asks, “How is it that the supreme goddess becomes the gateway into that divine state of fullness?” Then she makes a heartfelt request: “Answer me this in such a way that I can completely understand it, O Bhairava.” (The word translated as ‘completely’, samyak, also means ‘properly’.) She’s saying, “You must answer me this in such a way that I can understand it completely and correctly.” She puts the onus on the teacher to explain it in such a way that the understanding that results is accurate and complete. And indeed, the primary onus is on the teacher for that. It’s up to the teacher to articulate things in a way that are crystal clear. That’s his or her responsibility.
In response, he simply launches into the practices. It’s a beautiful moment because she’s asked him to get practical, and instead of saying, “Oh yes, I will, but first let’s get a little more clear on the philosophy,” without another word he immediately launches into the practices in passionate response to her plea.
Bhairava’s reply consists of nine dozen techniques, practices, and contemplations that form the bulk of the scripture (vv. 24-138). Though the ordering of these practices (yuktis) sometimes appears random, the reader who takes a step back can discern thematic patterns that are occasionally interrupted by seemingly random verses that don’t fit the pattern. These thematic patterns, roughly, appear in this order: breath practices, kuṇḍalinī and subtle body practices, esoteric yoga practices (bindu, nāda, uccāra, etc.), emptiness/spaciousness practices, classical tantrik yoga practices, daily life practices, contemplative practices, and ‘becoming one with Bhairava’ practices.
Verse 24 gives us the first practice of this sacred scripture. It’s perhaps the most famous practice of this text, and it’s also a direct response to her second question. Remember, she said “How does the supreme goddess (Parā Devī) become the gateway into that state of divinity, that overflowing state of fullness and completeness?” The practice is an answer to that question.
भैरव उवाच
bhairava uvāca
Bhairava said:
ऊर्ध्वे प्राणो ह्यधो जीवो विसर्गात्मा परोच्चरेत् ।
उत्पत्तिद्वितयस्थाने भरणाद्भरिता स्थितिः ॥ २४ ॥
ūrdhve prāṇo hy adho jīvo visargātmā paroccaret |
utpatti-dvitaya-sthāne bharaṇād bharitā sthitiḥ || 24 ||
The Supreme Goddess constantly articulates as the life-giving flow of breath: prāṇa (exhale) rising up, and jīva (inhale)—the movement into embodiment—descending. By pausing at the two places where they arise, and filling those points [with silent awareness], one abides in the state of inner fullness (bharitā). || 24 ||
Word-by-word breakdown: ūrdhve = upward, prāṇa = exhale, hi = for/because, jīva = inhale, embodied consciousness; visarga = emission, flow of breath, the sound ‘h’, and the symbol : ; ātma (ifc.) = having the nature of; parā = the Supreme (Goddess); uccaret = articulates, expresses as, must be expressed as; utpatti = arising; dvitaya = pair; sthāna = place, point; bharaṇa = pausing, maintaining, supporting, filling, nourishing (this word is cognate with Bhairava/ī); bharitā = state of fullness (this word is cognate with Bhairava/ī); sthiti = state, condition. [Please note that the word-by-word breakdown is not sufficient to make your own translation, as some believe; you must also understood the grammatical rules of Sanskrit that the original author understood.]
The basic practice here is simple, even though the language of the verse is esoteric. We are to pause between the breaths and abide in stillness for a moment or two, with awareness gently focused at the heart (for the pause after inhale) or above the head (for the pause after exhale). The focal point of awareness moves vertically up and down between these two points when breathing (exhaling up and inhaling down).
Though the practice itself is simple enough, the Sanskrit of the verse poses a fascinating challenge for the translator, because it is impossible to render it correctly without knowing the technical terminology of Śaiva Tantra. The verse uses three technical terms. In this system, jīva means both the inhale and the movement into embodiment. Uccaret means both to breathe and to enunciate, specifically to utter a mantra in sync with the breath. Thus by using this verb the text’s author implies that we can join a mantra to the breath in this practice. It must be a two-syllable mantra, so the most likely candidates are so’ham or haṃsa, with one syllable on each breath. Finally, visarga, here translated as ‘life-giving flow of breath’, is also a technical term in the tradition, meaning ‘emission’, ‘creative power’, and ‘absolute potential flowing forth into manifestation’, depending on the context. In Sanskrit, the symbol for visarga is : (two dots stacked vertically), so the author of the text is doing something very clever here: s/he is subtly suggesting the visarga as a visual representation of the spatial awareness we cultivate in the practice (the lower dot corresponding to the base of the heart, which is the inhale terminus, and the upper dot to the dvādaśānta point, the upper limit of the energy body, about two or three fists above your head, which is the exhale terminus—but the crown of the head can also be utilized as the exhale terminus in this practice, and indeed that is recommended for beginners).
“Parā, the supreme goddess, constantly articulates herself as the life-giving flow of breath (visarga).” When the text’s author tells us that the Supreme Goddess is the visarga, he is telling us that She is the Absolute Potential that flows forth into manifestation, and She is the breath itself; and that we can experience Her through reposing momentarily in the space between the breaths, and filling that space with silent awareness.
How do we ‘fill’ the space? The commentator Śivopādhyāya says we should cultivate focused awareness of Bhairava’s śakti as the ever-unfolding primordial vibration that is subtly discernable when the movement of breath and mind comes to rest for a moment. Thus, each of the spaces between the breaths is realized as a kind of ‘pregnant pause’ full of potential for embodiment (at the end of the exhale) and for surrender (at the end of the inhale).
Now let’s go deeper in our understanding of this verse. An absolutely key thing here that most translations of the text don’t get right is that in this practice, you are imagining that the flow of breath, or rather the flow of prāṇa underlying the breath, moving up and down vertically in the central channel. So, the exhale rises up and out the crown of the head to a point above the head, and the inhale comes back down through the crown of the head and into the base of the heart. The verse says “the supreme goddess articulates (uccaret) as the visarga.” The word uccaret (related to uccāra, for which see verse 39) already implies a vertical movement, and since visarga means both the emission of breath and the symbol : (two dots stacked vertically, indicating extra aspiration in Sanskrit), there can be no doubt that the text is teaching that the two points of breath-pause are at either ends of a vertical line, that line being the sushumnā nāḍī or central channel. Here, then, the upper point of the visarga, the upper bindu, is above the crown of the head. It’s called the dvādaśānta point. How do we know that? Because the text is very concerned with this dvādaśānta point—in many other verses, this point is mentioned and utilized in practice. And the second point is at the base of the heart. That’s not specified in this verse, but we know it to be the case from other verses in the text that also utilize the base of the heart and juxtapose the point at the base of the heart with the dvādaśānta point.
A point of potential confusion here is that the exhale described as moving upward and inhale is described as moving downward. This is counter-intuitive for some folks trained in modern postural yoga. But inhale is literally down: the diaphragm moves down to create the inhale, and of course your nose is above your lungs, so the air is literally going down. But that’s not all: inhale is always understood as moving downward in Tantrik Yoga for a philosophical reason as well—inhale is the first breath you took as a newborn, so inhale is the choice to be alive in this body, a choice refreshed every few seconds. Inhale is the movement into embodiment on this Earth, and the direction of both embodiment and Earth is down. Exhale is conceptualized as having an upward direction because exhale is considered to be an opportunity to surrender to the universe. It’s offering your life force to the world. And exhale will be the last breath that you have in this body. In the tattva schema, Śiva-Śakti are always at the top, and Earth is always at the bottom. Inhale is down to earth, exhale is offering ourselves up to the Absolute.
Now I’ve explained all the words in the verse except for ‘hi’. This word means “for” as in “for it is the case”, so it can also mean “because”. This particle signals that Bhairava is responding to Bhairavī’s questions. He’s answering her question “How is it that the supreme goddess becomes the gateway into that divine state of fullness?” with the words “Because the Supreme Goddess articulates as the life-giving flow of breath, having the form of the visarga, whose movement consists of the upward flow of prāṇa and the downward flow of jīva, and the pauses in-between”.
What should we do with these two pauses, these two points from which the next movement of breath will arise? He says bharaṇa, we are to fill them. Fill them with what? With silent awareness, I infer. What’s indisputable is that the practice is one where we pause for a moment at the end of the inhale (at the base of the heart) before the exhale begins, and then we pause again at the end of the exhale (at or above the crown of the head), before the inhale begins. In that pause, you can feel this profound still, silent presence. —And again, a clever play on words. Bharaṇa is cognate with Bhairava/ī . By filling or nourishing those two points with still, silent awareness, one comes to experience the state of bharita, overflowing fullness (another cognate).
The important thing here is to actually do the practice, so I made this video for you to practice with:
My practical teaching on this verse is also influenced by Śivopādhyāya’s Sanskrit commentary on the text, composed in the 1700s. If you want to see his six (!) interpretations of verse 24, scroll to the bottom.
Now we turn our attention to verses 25-27, and we immediately discover an issue. Most translators have treated these four verses (24-27) as teaching four separate techniques, but I read them as four verses on one technique, Yukti #1. Why? Well, when you examine these four verses carefully, you don’t find four distinct practices, but rather slight variations on a single practice. Also, and even more importantly, if we don’t take these four verses as teaching one yukti, we don’t end up with the correct number in the end. I’ll explain: the text itself tells us that there are 112 techniques. However, most translators have failed to notice that verse 77 presents five techniques in one verse; so that must be compensated for elsewhere, or else we run out of techniques before we reach 112. The solution that seems obvious to me is that verses 24-27 all teach one technique—the foundational practice of the text meriting more than one verse. But you can be the judge for yourself as you examine the following three verses.
मरुतो ऽन्तर् बहिर् वापि वियद्युग्मानिवर्तनात् |
भैरव्या भैरवस्येत्थम् भैरवि व्यज्यते वपुः || २५ ||
maruto 'ntar bahir vāpi viyad-yugmānivartanāt |
bhairavyā bhairavasyettham bhairavi vyajyate vapuḥ || 25 ||
O Bhairavī! By not turning back [too soon] from the pair of spaces, inner and outer, where the breath pauses, the form of Bhairava is manifested thus through Bhairavī ( = the still space of awareness underlying the movement of prāṇa is revealed). || 25 ||
Word-by-word breakdown: marut = wind, breath; antar = inner; bahir = outer; vā = or; api = also; viyad = space; yugma = pair; anivartana = not turning back; bhairavyā = through Bhairavī; bhairavasya = of Bhairava; ittham = thus; bhairavi = O Bhairavī; vyajyate = is manifested; vapus = form, aspect, essence; beautiful form.
The ‘pair of spaces’ certainly refers to the two points mentioned in the previous verse: that from which the inhale begins (which is above the head, hence the ‘outer’ space) and that from which the exhale begins (at the base of the heart, hence the ‘inner’ space). One is invited to pause at the end of each inhale and exhale and experience the spaciousness of pure awareness (the “form of Bhairava”). We experience it “through Bhairavī” because She is the life-giving movement of breath, whose momentary cessation revealing the underlying silent presence. So you see, this verse is simply a further comment on the same practice presented in verse 24.
He says anivartanāt, “by not turning back” too soon from the pair of spaces, inner and outer, where the breath pauses, the form of Bhairava is manifested thus through Bhairavī. This rhythm, or spanda, of the prāṇa-śakti is here identified with Bhairavī. So, this movement and pausing of prāṇa reveals Bhairava, and Bhairava in this context is the still space of awareness, what Abhinavagupta calls viśranti—a place of total repose internally. The text is inviting us to make the pause between the breaths just a little longer so we can experience that. When you exhale up to the crown of the head or just above, at the end of the exhale the impulse to inhale again right away is very strong for most people, and he’s saying “don’t turn back too soon, just stay there, stay there at the end of the exhale for a moment and open up into spacious awareness, into surrender.” If you’re able to do that, then with practice this state of Bhairava, this still space of silent and yet nourished awareness will be revealed through Bhairavī—through the power of the breath.
Now we turn to verse 26, which, I argue, is still discussing the same practice. Some have suggested, however, that this verse is describing a spontaneous experience that can result from assiduous practice of Yukti #1, rather than describing a practice per se.
न व्रजेन् न विशेच् छक्तिर् मरुद्रूपा विकासिते |
निर्विकल्पतया मध्ये तया भैरवरूपता || २६ ||
na vrajen na viśec chaktir marud-rūpā vikāsite |
nirvikalpatayā madhye tayā bhairava-rūpatā || 26 ||
The power (śakti) inherent in the prāṇa should not go forth or enter in. When the Center expands, and thought-forms melt away by means of that [power], the Bhairava-state [manifests]. || 26 ||
Word-by-word breakdown: na = not; vrajet = depart, move forth; na = not; viśet = enter; śakti = power; marud-rūpā = having the form of wind/breath/prāṇa; vikāsite = is revealed, is expanded, is unfolded; nirvikalpatayā = through/as thought-free-ness; madhye = when the the Center; tayā = by means of that (fem. pronoun, construing with śakti); bhairava-rūpatā = Bhairava-formness; alternate reading, bhairava-rūpa-dhṛt = one is endowed with the Bhairava-state.
Alternate translation:
When the prāṇa-śakti does not move out nor enter in, the Center [suddenly] expands and thoughts melt away. By virtue of that, one is endowed with the Bhairava-state. || 26
Scholar-practitioner Paul Muller-Ortega has argued that many of the ‘methods’ of the VBT have to be understood as spontaneously arising experiences on the path of awakened meditation. This verse (and a few others) seems to support that argument; it can be read as alluding to an experience that occurs in meditation where the breath gets subtler and subtler, moving closer to the most intimate core of one’s being, until it spontaneously stops, along with the mind’s ideation, triggering the expansion of the Center (which denotes both the central channel and the awareness-presence that is the core of one’s being) and unveiling the ‘Bhairava-state’, the latter being a state of profoundly still emptiness that is paradoxically filled with the quiet intensity of pure Presence.
Now again we get a verse that is, to my mind, clearly describing the same practice. There’s no new information here, so the verse is almost redundant, unless it’s suggesting a stronger and/or longer kumbhaka (breath retention) than before.
कुम्भिता रेचिता वापि पूरिता वा यदा भवेत् |
तदन्ते शान्तनामासौ शक्त्या शान्तः प्रकाशते || २७ ||
kumbhitā recitā vāpi pūritā vā yadā bhavet |
tad-ante śānta-nāmāsau śaktyā śāntaḥ prakāśate || 27 ||
When that [breath-power] called ‘quiescent’ is retained after inhale or even after exhale, at the end of that [moment of stillness], the Tranquil One [Śiva] manifests through that power. || 27 ||
Word-by-word breakdown: kumbhitā = retained, breath retention, breath pause (fem. participle, construing with unstated noun, i.e. śakti); recitā = externally, after emptying, emptied (construing with kumbhitā); vā = or; api = as well; pūritā = internally, after filling, filled (construing with kumbhitā); vā = or; yadā = when; bhavet = there will be, must be, may be; tad-ante = at the end of that; śānta-nāmā = named 'tranquil' (adj. agreeing with an implicit feminine noun); asau = that (f.); śaktyā = by/through that power; śāntaḥ = 'the tranquil one' (Śiva); prakāśate = manifests, shines forth, appears.
When that breath-power, called śānta or ‘quiescent/peaceful’—the paused breath-power that retains all the energy of the prāṇa-śakti, the life-force—is held after inhale or even after exhale, then at the end of that moment of profound stillness, the Tranquil One manifests through that power, i.e. prāṇa-śakti. The tranquil one, in this nondual context, is your very own quiet presence, always there underneath everything, waiting to be discovered.
The use of the word ‘retained’ (kumbhita) here might imply some conscious effort in breath retention, in contrast with the spontaneity implied in the previous verse. Since the practice here is simply pausing between the breaths, there is nothing to distinguish it from Yukti #1. On the other hand, the verse may be referring to involuntary/spontaneous kumbhaka, such as when the diaphragm suddenly (and sometimes forcibly) moves down of its on accord, creating a deep inhale, then a pause. This generally happens only to experienced meditators with awakened kuṇḍalinī.
At any rate, even though there are subtle variances between the descriptions in verses 24-27, in my view, after considering at length, they are not significant enough to call them separate and distinct Yuktis.
Śivopādhyāya’s six interpretations of Yukti #1 (found in his commentary after verse 24; note that at least some of these can be combined and practiced simultaneously, as taught in the video above):
1. breathing up and down the central channel between the heart and the end-of-12, pausing briefly between the breaths and filling that ‘space’ or ‘point’ with awareness
2. Focusing on the object-world on the exhale, and subjectivity on the inhale (unmeṣa vs. nimeṣa, externalization vs internalization of awareness)
3. a-ha(m) : exhaling ‘a’ (pronounced ‘uh’ in Sanskrit) while cultivating awareness of transcendent Śiva, and inhaling ‘ha’ (or ‘ham’, pronounced ‘hum’) while cultivating awareness of the immanence of Śakti (together these syllables equal aham or ‘I’)
4. Contemplating transcendent unity on the upward exhale, and contemplating differentiated diversity on the downward inhale, seeing both as expressions of the freedom of Consciousness to appear in these modes. (this is slight variation on 3. above)
5. contemplation of the ‘Pure Universe’ (top 5 tattvas) on the upward exhale, and contemplation of the world of manifestation (the rest of the tattvas) on the downward inhale, being respectively generated at or from the levels of the dvādaśānta and the heart. Here the use of the Parādevī mantra, which pervades both, is suggested. (this is another variation on the practice given in 3. and 4.)
(Note that in #4 and #5 one utilizes conceptual contemplation (i.e. Śākta-upāya), cultivating an identification of oneself with the whole [sarvāhambhāva]; whereas #1 and #2 are non-conceptual, i.e. Śāmbhava-upāya)
6. repeat the syllable ‘ha[ṃ]’ with the upward exhale, and the syllable ‘sa’ with the downward inhale, forming the mantra HAṂSA. The first, Śivopādhyāya tells us, is the domain of Absolute Consciousness; the second is the domain of creative emission. in this practice the Goddess is the ‘wild swan’ (haṃsa) who removes [illusion] and fuses [one with the state of fullness]. (hāna, removes/samādhāna, fuses = ha/sa)