The Spirit of Being: Preface to the Vijnana Bhairava

It’s easy to feel stress around the holidays, to get caught up in all the particulars of getting the right presents for everyone, cooking the best meal, and even spending enough time with loved ones. It’s true, we have to do a little extra during the holidays, or a lot extra, but we shouldn’t limit the ‘extra’ to our ‘to do lists’, instead we should remind ourselves that the real ‘extra’ of the holidays is the extra awareness it takes to feel the ‘spirit’ of the season. Tonight’s teachings remind us that we have to quiet the mind if we want to open the heart and feel the spirit of the season, and that the real spirit we seek to experience is the Bliss of our own hearts.

For tonight’s discussion, we can consider Shiva/Bhairvava to be the spirit of the holiday season.

Verse 14: “This state of Bhairava is beyond the limitation of space, time, and formation. It has no space, It has no time, It has no form–It is beyond that, beyond these three…this state is, in fact, indescribable, It can’t be described. Akathyā paramārthataḥ, in reality, It can’t be told. Antaḥ, internally It happens; It is filled with your own ecstasy, your own ānanda. It is beyond the apprehension of vikalpa (vikalpa unmukta gocara), beyond thought…That state is not the object of vikalpas, It can’t be perceived by vikalpas (thoughts). You can’t perceive It through the mind…[Bhairavī] has gone above [becoming] the object of thoughts.”

We see here that the experience of Bhairva cannot be found with a map, at a particular time, or in a particular form. The spirit of the season can’t be described exactly, or even precisely told to you. It is a personal experience of your own heart opening. This holiday spirit is beyond all thought, above all thoughts, and can’t be comprehended by the mind.

JDS: “Vikalpa is a thought-construct. Vikalpas are various mental counters through which people carry on the business of life.

Vikalpas may refer to various things of the external world like tree, flower, river, ect. or various images, fancies, ect. of the mind. In vikalpa, mind sets a limit to one particular thing or idea, and differentiates it from the rest; mind constructs a 'particular' by means of thought which it marks of from the rest of the world or from other ideas.

Each vikalpa has two aspects; the positive aspect consists of the idea that is selected, and the negative consists of the rest that are set aside or rejected. [Which is why we say that] Vikalpas are concerned with particulars. Secondly, vikalpas are relational i.e. there is always a subject-object relationship in vikalpas. Reality is non-relational, there is no object outside Reality. Therefore vikalpas are unable to grasp Reality. There is, however, one suddha or pure vikalpa, viz., the thought that I am Siva’.”

Shiva tells us that it is the nature of the mind to dissect— to differentiate, and that this is essential for daily life, as it allows us to tell one street from the next, one plant from the next, etc. But this method can never truly describe the experience of unity at the heart of the yogic tradition. It can say “unity”, but the mind itself can’t experience it. So how do we ever know the experience of Unity, of Shiva, of our true nature, Parvati asks for the benefit of all…

Verse 15: One can be aware of that only when one is completely free of all thought-constructs (vikalponmukta-gocarä). One can have an experience of that bliss in his own inmost self (when one is completely rid of the ego, and is established in pürnahanta i.e. in the plenitude of the divine I-consciousness).

That state of Bhairava which is full of the bliss of non-difference from the entire universe (bharitākära) is alone Bhairava or Sakti of Bhairava.

Here we see three descriptions of the path to our true nature. First we are told that when we calm our mind, our awareness of our true nature naturally rises up. This is also the first 3 sutras of Patanjali’s text, like the surface of the water calming and instantly revealing the life within it. Second we are told that we can rid ourselves of the ego in order to experience it— this is the active processes of yoga that we are familiar with, the practice of surrender, of tapasya, our daily sadhana. Of course these are both sides of the same coin— the practice of surrender is how we calm our mind. And last in this verse we are told of a very unique aspect of this experience— something that Babaji teaches us often. THat the experience we seek is not of the mind, but is a ‘state of being’, a ‘state of Bhairava’ as its written in the text. The taste of honey can be described to you, but the experience of honey can only be alluded to— the experience of Shiva is different than the description of Shiva, and as practitioners we must remember that it is the experience we seek, not the description. This means that at the heart of our journey is the necessity of going beyond the limitations of the mind.

As Patanjali put it so eloquently: Through self-enquiry the practitioner gains insight, but eventually all mental logic must come to an end in bliss. Following that is the comprehension that all is the Self (yoga).

And this is the leap we all must take— we open a door and then we walk through it. Ask for help and it is given. Knock on the door of your heart and let it open. As Faith teaches, we repeat Tara’s mantra, and then we receive the energy— we don’t just keep knocking and knocking. The holidays are a time that we say to each other, ‘magic does indeed exist’. It might not exist in the way the movies portray it, but for a yogi we have the tools to make the most of such a season— and even more importantly, we have a practice that keeps this door open all year long. No matter what tradition we might have grown up in, or how we have merged them in our lives, the path is the same— as can be seen in the old zen story that shows the similarities between followers of Jesus with the teachings of Buddha. The story begins with a university student visiting his mediation teacher, Gasan. THe student asked him: “Have you ever read the Christian Bible?”

 “No, read it to me,” said Gasan.

 The student opened the Bible and read from St. Matthew: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these....Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”

  Gasan said: “Whoever uttered those words I consider an enlightened man.”

 The student continued reading: “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.” Gasan remarked: “That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddha-hood.”