IdentityVisualizationVerse 124intermediate
Bhairava Even in the Ordinary
The Bhairava-state is present everywhere, even in the most ordinary things; nothing exists apart from it — this is the non-dual way.
Source verse · Verse 124
सर्वत्र भैरवो भावः सामान्येष्वपि गोचरः। न च तद्व्यतिरेक्तेण परोऽस्तीत्यद्वया गतिः॥
sarvatra bhairavo bhāvaḥ sāmānyeṣv api gocaraḥ | na ca tadvyatirekteṇa paro'stīty advayā gatiḥ
The Bhairava-state is present everywhere, even in the most ordinary things; nothing exists apart from it — this is the non-dual way.
▶ Practice this technique10 / 20 min · eyes either
How to practice
- 1Look at ordinary, even trivial things around you — a cup, a stone, a passing sound.
- 2Contemplate that the Bhairava-state — pure awareness — is present right there, in each of them.
- 3Recognise that nothing whatsoever exists apart from that awareness; there is no "other".
- 4Rest in this non-dual seeing (advayā gati), in which everything, however common, is Bhairava.
Practice note. No special or sacred object is needed — the point is to find the absolute in the ordinary, until the line between sacred and mundane disappears.
Terms in this technique
- bhairava
- The fierce, all-encompassing form of Shiva; ultimate consciousness.
- cit
- Consciousness itself, the aware principle.
- aham
- The sense of "I"; the self that is inquired into.
- bhāvanā
- Contemplative imagination; cultivating a state through felt imagery.
Sources consulted
- Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava: The Manual for Self-Realization (Motilal Banarsidass, 1979)
- Swami Lakshmanjoo, Vijnana Bhairava: The Manual for Self Realization (Universal Shaiva Fellowship, 2007)
- Bettina Bäumer, Vijñâna Bhairava: The Practice of Centering Awareness (Indica Books, 2011)