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CenteringDissolutionLightVerse 30advanced

The Twelvefold Ascent

Carry awareness up through twelve stages, gross to subtle to supreme, releasing each in turn; at the end, Shiva.

Source verse · Verse 30
क्रमद्वादशकं सम्यग्द्वादशाक्षरभेदितम्। स्थूलसूक्ष्मपरस्थित्या मुक्त्वा मुक्त्वान्ततः शिवः॥
kramadvādaśakaṃ samyag dvādaśākṣarabheditam | sthūlasūkṣmaparasthityā muktvā muktvāntataḥ śivaḥ
Carry awareness up through twelve stages, gross to subtle to supreme, releasing each in turn; at the end, Shiva.
▶ Practice this technique15 / 20 min · eyes closed

How to practice

  1. 1Sense the central axis rising through twelve subtle stages (the dvādaśānta sequence), from the base upward.
  2. 2At each stage, feel it first in a gross way, then more subtly, then in its supreme, near-formless aspect.
  3. 3Having touched each level, release it — let it go and move to the next.
  4. 4Releasing stage after stage, arrive where nothing more is left to release. Rest there; the verse says it is Shiva.
Practice note. A graded ascent of letting-go. Do not cling to any stage, however luminous — the practice is the releasing, and the goal is what remains at the top.

Terms in this technique

suṣumnā
The central subtle channel running through the spine.
bindu
A point or drop; a concentrated point of light or awareness.
laya
Dissolution, absorption; the merging of attention into its source.
madhya
The middle, the centre, the gap between two states — a key VBT doorway.

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)
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