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SoundVoidVerse 40intermediate

The Void Before and After a Sound

Contemplate the empty silence at the very beginning and end of any sound; through that void, you become void-formed.

Source verse · Verse 40
यस्य कस्यापि वर्णस्य पूर्वान्तावनुभावयेत्। शून्यया शून्यभूतोऽसौ शून्याकारः पुमान्भवेत्॥
yasya kasyāpi varṇasya pūrvāntāv anubhāvayet | śūnyayā śūnyabhūto'sau śūnyākāraḥ pumān bhavet
Contemplate the empty silence at the very beginning and end of any sound; through that void, you become void-formed.
▶ Practice this technique5 / 10 / 15 min · eyes closed

How to practice

  1. 1Sound any single letter or syllable, or simply attend to a sound as it occurs.
  2. 2Notice the silence just before it begins, and the silence just after it ends.
  3. 3Rest attention in those two empty edges — the void out of which sound rises and into which it falls.
  4. 4Let that void fill you, until you feel yourself become void-formed (śūnyākāra). Rest there.
Practice note. A cousin of the fading-chant and visarga techniques, but here the doorway is the silence on both sides of a sound — the emptiness that frames every utterance.

Terms in this technique

śabda
Sound, word — both spoken and inner.
śūnya
Void, emptiness — not nothingness but open, contentless awareness.
nāda
The inner, unstruck sound; subtle vibration.
praṇava
The syllable AUM/oṃ, the primordial sound.

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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