Magnifying Shiva: Shiva Sutra 3.15
3.15: bījāvadhānam // “Maintain breakless awareness on that supreme energy which is the seed of the universe.”
In the natural world we all recognize that a seed contains the blueprints and impulse for what an organism will become, though it’s quite unfathomable. In Yoga, Shiva is the seed that contains the blueprints and impulse for all of manifestation— unfolding as the infinite forms of the manifest universe. On the tattvic map, its easier to see Shiva in this seed form.
But as we know in the natural world, even after the seed dissolves into the soil, those blueprints and impulses are still embedded in every cell of that organism as microscopic DNA. In yoga too, we are taught that Shiva is concealed within every cell of manifestation. Shiva is essentially our DNA, a double helix of consciousness and bliss floating in a state of pure being.
In the natural world we use a microscope to strip away manifestation in order to perceive and interact with this atomic level of reality. In yoga too, we use meditation practices to strip away manifestation in order to perceive and interact with the subtle level of our being.
Science and Yoga teach that the atomic level of an organism is a storehouse of tremendous power and transformation. If you want to treat a disease, for example, you treat it at this level. If you want to release alot of power, you work at this level. One way we interact with this in Yoga is through the teachings of Matrika Shakti— the power of sound vibration.
When we do mantra, we start by saying it at the level of the mouth, feeling the words on the tip of our tongue. This is the mantra at the level that our senses can perceive. Like a microscope, we zoom in on the vibration of the mantra, magnifying it through the lens of the throat chakra. This amplifies the power of the mantra, without amplifying it’s volume. We keep going from here, zooming in further to the mantra at the heart, or maybe even the navel, as we seek to interact with it in its seed form.
As Muktananda teaches: “Everyone is aware of the speech of the tongue. It is called vaikhari and corresponds to the gross body. With the subtle intellect, one can also know the second level of speech, which is in the throat. There, words have taken form but have not yet emerged. This level is called Madhyama and corresponds to the subtle body. At a deeper level, words exist in the heart. This is the third level of speech, paśyanti, which corresponds to the causal body. Here, words are hidden, and what arises at this level is matrika… The moment one understand the matrika Shakti and its work, one is no longer a human being. When the matrika Shakti expands within, in this very body one becomes Shiva.” (Nothing Exists not shiva, p. 7-9)
In the external world, we can simply buy a lens to zoom in to this layer of reality, but in ourselves the means of magnification is known as Avadhāna. Avadhana is translated as “putting your mind on a single point, again and again, in continuity, without pause.” So for example in mantra practice it’s not important how fast, loud, slow, or quiet, you do the mantra— the only thing that is important is the continuity of your mantra.
In the 21 Tara‘s book, the Kempo brothers have a wonderful teaching on how to make the recitation of mantra most beneficial that helps to bring these teachings from the Sutras, and our lineage, into even sharper perspective:
“Chant mantra continuously, without a definite beginning and end to each repetition. Chant with a speed that is as quick as possible while allowing you to keep each syllable clearly in mind. Each syllable is equally important. Meditate that the inner sound of tree true nature is merging with the voice” (21 Taras, 44) This instruction is helpful on so many levels because it really describes how to do mantra without limiting itself by volume or speed, but rather by helping the practitioner focus on what’s really important— their focus and inner connection.
Lakshmanjoo goes on to describe the breakless awareness of Avadhana as such a unique kind of effort that it “comes from above”— meaning that it is not a ‘common’ kind of effort, but a unique effort that yields a unique experience. This calls us back to the non-artificial effort of the previous sutras, effort that is “absolutely natural” yet “filled with intense desire…originating from the center of your heart” (Sutra 2.2). Perhaps this is why Swami Rudrananda said that his realization, his enlightenment, was actually learning how to work. Because this how literally defines our experience. This is the nature of the Buddhichitta practice, the supreme preparation, a practice that helps us prepare for practice.
So this sutra teaches us three important things. First, we must prepare for practice in order to cultivate non-artificial, Akrita, effort. This means that the effort of our practice is a practice in itself. Second, we should strive for continuity in our practice, the breakless awareness of Avadhāna. This is how we magnify our experience and see through the infinite layers of samsara to our true nature. And finally, this breakless awareness should be pointed towards the seed of our practice, whether that is the sound vibration of the mantric at the heart, the still point of the breath, or the space of movement surrounding our asana practice.