IdentitySensationVerse 107advanced
Consciousness in Another
Feel awareness in another's body as vividly as in your own; releasing concern for your own body, you grow all-pervading.
Source verse · Verse 107
स्ववदन्यशरीरेऽपि संवित्तिमनुभावयेत्। अपेक्षां स्वशरीरस्य त्यक्त्वा व्यापी दिनैर्भवेत्॥
svavad anyaśarīre'pi saṃvittim anubhāvayet | apekṣāṃ svaśarīrasya tyaktvā vyāpī dinair bhavet
Feel awareness in another's body as vividly as in your own; releasing concern for your own body, you grow all-pervading.
▶ Practice this technique10 / 20 min · eyes either
How to practice
- 1Bring to mind another person or being, present or imagined.
- 2Feel the consciousness alive in their body just as you feel it in your own — the same inner sense of "being aware", there.
- 3Let attention rest as much in that other body's awareness as in your own.
- 4Gradually release the exclusive concern for your own body; over time, awareness comes to feel all-pervading.
Practice note. Begin with someone you feel close to, then extend it. The practice gently unsticks "I" from this one body.
Terms in this technique
- cit
- Consciousness itself, the aware principle.
- ātman
- The true self; awareness as one’s own being.
- 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)
- 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)