#5. A Moment When Everything STOPS | Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily live meditation session with me,

Dhyanser.

We're meditating on 112 meditation techniques of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra.

Tantra is the deepest penetration into human consciousness.

With these 112 techniques,

This penetration of tantra,

This energy of tantra,

It crosses the physical.

It goes into the energy of the human consciousness.

It touches the energies of the human consciousness and works there.

Tantra is a work on energies.

It has less to do with the physical.

It uses the physical,

But the work,

The real work that is happening is in your energies.

And for this work to happen in your energies,

For this knowledge,

For this vibration to travel from the divine to the human,

There is a polarity that is needed.

For this travel,

For this transfer,

For this transmission of this knowledge of divine,

Of this vibration of divine to the human consciousness,

A certain polarity is needed.

What is that polarity?

The polarity of masculine and feminine.

See that other systems of yoga,

Zen,

And any other system,

They are the frameworks that are created,

Systems created by human beings.

But tantra is divine.

It comes directly from the divine.

At the level of divine,

There is no division between masculine and feminine.

But as this energy descends,

It has to take polarities.

It has to split between the masculine and the feminine.

Thus,

The story of Bhairava and Bhairavi.

Thus,

This love story,

Which is a narration,

Is a dialogue between Bhairava and Bhairavi,

Where Bhairava is giving these techniques,

112 techniques to Bhairavi,

Is a narration,

Is a split between the masculine and the feminine.

And therefore,

In all these sessions,

My emphasis has been to be very receptive of tantra.

Is because this potentiality has to be created,

This polarity has to be created between the divine and the human consciousness for any kind of transmission to happen.

But as we take that stance,

As we take that receptive stance,

Lots of questions arise in us.

It challenges our psyche.

It challenges our ideas about what is masculine,

What is feminine.

Am I masculine?

Am I feminine?

What is that?

And in that challenging,

Lots of questions arise in our consciousness.

And it is important that we clarify these questions as they come along.

Otherwise we will miss.

Otherwise we will remain close to what is being transmitted to us.

What is descending from the divine,

Which is not masculine,

Which is not feminine.

So one of these,

One of the meditators raised a similar question.

This energy as it descended upon the meditator,

A question arise.

And let me share this question with you.

It is very significant question.

And also to clarify,

To understand what this means for each one of us and not just for this one lovely meditator.

The meditator asked,

Why is Bhairavi the feminine portrayed as unconscious and Bhairava the masculine portrayed as conscious?

Was this reflective of the times in ancient India,

When perhaps women were seen as lesser than men?

Really I see that feminine is as powerful,

Wise and conscious as the masculine.

This question is so significant because this is not just the question of one meditator.

This is your question.

This is my question.

This is a question for all of us as we come in contact with the energy of Tantra.

As the requirement is to be receptive,

This question is natural.

It arises.

It has several parts to it.

Let us unfold some of its aspects so that this also does not remain as a question in our consciousness.

First of all,

Masculine and feminine has nothing to do with men and women.

The conversation here is not about men and women.

It is about masculine and feminine.

We both,

Men and women,

We both are masculine and feminine.

So it has nothing to do with the portrayal of Bhairavi as woman and Bhairava as men.

Bhairavi is not a woman.

Bhairava is not a man.

We are not talking about this physical realm of man-woman.

We are talking about energies where it is masculine and feminine.

Then the second question arises.

The feminine portrayed as unconscious and the masculine portrayed as conscious.

This sounds contradictory.

This sounds challenging.

This sounds very much not intuitive.

Why is that?

It is because these are two different dimensions.

Masculine,

Feminine,

Conscious and unconscious are two different dimensions.

Here what is being said is when you remain receptive,

Then there is this transmission of knowledge which also means you have both conscious and unconscious in you.

But your unconscious as long as it remains masculine,

As long as it remains penetrating,

It will not receive.

So your unconscious has to become receptive to the conscious.

This is what is being said.

Not that the unconscious is feminine or feminine by its nature is unconscious and masculine by its nature is conscious.

That is not the point.

That is not the emphasis.

But the emphasis is that as the unconscious becomes receptive,

As the unconscious takes the energy of the feminine,

Then there is a possibility of transmission.

Then there is a possibility of this higher consciousness,

This energy of Bhairava to come and penetrate the unconscious and the unconscious becomes the conscious.

So this is what is being said.

This is what is being said as a prerequisite that your energies to receive this have to be receptive,

Have to be in a state of receptivity,

Of more of feminine than of masculine irrespective of your male or a female.

It does not matter.

Only then the unconscious will unfold.

If the unconscious will remain masculine,

If the unconscious will remain something that is not yet open,

You will feel difficulties with tantra.

The vibrations of tantra either will rub against your energies and will not be able to penetrate or you will miss the point.

So what is being said is in order to have this unconsciousness unfold and become one with consciousness,

You have to let the unconscious become receptive,

Unconscious become feminine.

It is something that is very difficult to understand or to accept but once you see it very clearly,

Once you see that there is no challenging of masculine,

Feminine to the conscious and the unconscious,

They are on different dimensions,

Then you will be able to appreciate what this process is of transmission.

Then another aspect of this question,

Was this reflective of the times in ancient India when perhaps women were seen as lesser than men.

In India,

Women were never seen lesser than men.

In fact,

In ancient India,

Women were always seen higher than men.

All the goddesses,

If you see in the Indian mythologies,

In the Indian religions,

The goddesses,

The female version have always a higher positioning than the male versions.

But again,

What we are discussing here has nothing to do with men and women,

Has nothing to do with male and female.

So please make the distinction very very clear.

Then the questioner says,

Only I see that the feminine is as powerful,

Wise and conscious as the masculine.

Here there is a conditioning of the meditator,

A conditioning of the mind which not only this meditator has but all of us have.

We always want to compare,

We always want to equate.

These masculine and feminine energies are two complete set of energies having their own nature,

Perfect in their own ways.

There is no comparison of the feminine and the masculine.

This urge of equating,

This urge of putting one higher than the lower,

This urge of comparison is of the mind.

It is not of your energies.

The energies in you,

They flow as they flow.

The masculine flows in you,

The feminine flows in you.

They never are contradictory to each other.

They never come in conflict with each other.

It is what your mind is what is creating this conflict between the masculine and the feminine.

It says who is higher,

Who is lower,

Let us see,

Let us have a comparison,

Let us have a competition.

This competitiveness,

This comparison is of the thought,

Is of the mind.

It has nothing to do with the nature of your reality.

With that,

Let us move into today's technique.

We have been discussing breath meditation techniques as Bhairava gives these techniques,

The first few techniques are all based on breath.

So let us listen to the technique that is there today,

Learn what this means and take this into our experience during the meditation.

The technique for today is when the energy of breath is retained either outside or inside,

Experience peace and remember it.

It is a very very simple technique.

The last few techniques were slightly more complicated,

Especially the one that we discussed yesterday.

It was more demanding,

It asked more of your understanding.

But today's technique is very very simple.

Everyone can do this technique.

It says when the energy of breath is retained either outside or inside,

Experience peace and remember it.

Bhairava wants you to have a taste,

A remembrance of peace.

See that the way our life is structured,

We have forgotten what really peace is,

What the taste of inner peace is.

Very rarely we come across those moments where finally there is peace.

Finally when the mind settles,

It gives away the way for our awareness to just be and in that being the peace that is there,

That is natural to us,

We have forgotten somewhat the taste of that.

As we were children,

If you remember,

There was peace,

There was time,

There was space.

Now there is no peace,

There is no time,

There is no space.

So once again through this technique,

Once again connect to this taste of inner peace.

Connect to that innocence that is there in us which always is at peace.

He says when the energy of breath is retained either outside or inside.

So those who have been following these sessions in the past understand what that means.

Let me very briefly say it.

What this means is when you are breathing in between inhalation and exhalation,

There is a gap.

And in today's technique,

The emphasis is on the stop,

Is on the retention.

When the inhalation,

When the breath comes in,

Has completely come in and it stops for that very small fraction,

That millisecond,

That second,

That moment when the breath stops,

In that stop there is peace.

In that retention there is peace because in that stop energy is retained,

Your mind also gives away the way for your awareness.

For that very millisecond,

For that very second,

For that very small moment,

Suddenly the clouds they are clearing up.

For that very second,

The mind stops.

For that very second,

All the thinking it settles.

And as you exhale again,

Then with the flow of the energy,

The mind functions again,

The thoughts function again.

And then there is another stop after complete exhalation when the energy is completely outside,

There is a stop,

There is a pause in that stop,

In that natural stop,

There is peace,

The mind is giving away the way.

So there are these two points,

One is after the exhalation and the one is after inhalation.

In these two stops,

Try to exaggerate this stop a little more.

Try to feel this stop,

The stop that happens after exhalation,

After inhalation.

These two stops,

If you feel these two stops,

You will see there is peace,

This is the source,

The doorway to peace.

Once again,

Reminding us how it feels when the thinking stops.

And from there on,

You can enter into the space of inner peace.

Let us take this into our practice,

Into our meditation,

Into our silence.

Please close your eyes and take a posture that is comfortable for you with your hands in your lap or on your thighs.

Your body alert and at rest with your head,

Neck,

Back aligned,

Straight and at rest.

Bring in your awareness to your breath.

And with every exhalation,

Your body more and more at rest.

Your mind settling,

Your awareness on your breath,

Flowing along with the flow of your breath.

So 100 or 100 plus minutes.

Your meditation system is powerless now.

With every breath,

Your awareness flowing along with your breath.

Observing your breath.

This flow of inhalation and exhalation.

This flow of inhalation.

There is more and more on your breath.

Taking a distance from your body,

From your mind.

Breath in the foreground and everything else in the background.

As you observe your breath more clearly,

Shift your attention to the stop,

To the pause after inhalation and after exhalation.

Observe this natural pause,

This natural stop that happens to you,

This natural stop that happens after inhalation and after exhalation.

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At a very minute moment,

When the breath stops,

Everything stops in that moment.

All the thoughts,

Thinking,

Ideas,

Images,

Everything in your consciousness,

It loses its grip in that pause,

In that stop.

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As you observe this stop,

This pause,

You may exaggerate that pause for a second.

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The inhalation and exhalation flows naturally,

And the pause,

The retention,

Happens for a second.

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All your energy,

All your focus,

On the pause,

So much so that in inhalation and exhalation,

You remember the pause.

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No more effort.

Leave everything naturally.

Your breath,

It stops.

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Stay in the stillness,

This awareness.

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Don't touch anything.

Don't try to change anything.

Simply remain aware and silent.

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I'm concerned with the body,

With the breath,

With the mind,

With the world.

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And very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes,

Maintaining the stillness,

The silence,

And the centeredness of your awareness in this moment.

Take these qualities,

These states,

As you proceed in your day.

Thank you very much.

Namaste.