VoidSensationDissolutionVerse 43intermediate
The Body as Open Space
Feel empty space in every direction within your own body at once; thought-free, you become all space.
Source verse · Verse 43
निजदेहे सर्वदिक्कं युगपद्भावयेद्वियत्। निर्विकल्पमनास्तस्य वियत्सर्वं प्रवर्तते॥
nijadehe sarvadikkaṃ yugapad bhāvayed viyat | nirvikalpamanās tasya viyat sarvaṃ pravartate
Feel empty space in every direction within your own body at once; thought-free, you become all space.
▶ Practice this technique10 / 20 min · eyes closed
How to practice
- 1Sit and bring a soft awareness to the whole body at once.
- 2Imagine that the body, in every direction, is open empty space — no solid mass, only spaciousness.
- 3Hold the felt sense of inner space in all directions simultaneously, not part by part.
- 4As the mind grows thought-free, let the boundary between inner and outer space fall away — everything is felt as one open space.
Practice note. Begin part by part if needed, but aim for the whole body sensed as space "all at once". The thought-free wholeness is what opens it.
Terms in this technique
- ākāśa
- Space, ether; the open expanse, inner and outer.
- śūnya
- Void, emptiness — not nothingness but open, contentless awareness.
- cidākāśa
- The space of consciousness; the inner sky of awareness.
- bhāvanā
- Contemplative imagination; cultivating a state through felt imagery.
Sources consulted
- Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava: The Manual for Self-Realization (Motilal Banarsidass, 1979)
- Bettina Bäumer, Vijñâna Bhairava: The Practice of Centering Awareness (Indica Books, 2011)
- Swami Lakshmanjoo, Vijnana Bhairava: The Manual for Self Realization (Universal Shaiva Fellowship, 2007)