Today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras,
This beautiful book by Lauren Roche which is an interpretation of the Vijnana Bharava Tantra.
Beautiful tantric text and the goal of this text is to help us experience our true divine nature.
And it doesn't mean that I want to be this aloof human walking around staring at the little people or something like that.
It's not that.
It's more like how do I fully live in this being?
How do I live fully as this incarnation in whatever size,
Shape,
Circumstances I find myself?
With the presence and the consciousness of the divine,
How do I add that expansive aspect of myself into what often seems like a very limited existence full of difficulties or gifts or whatever?
So today we are reading number 107.
So let's close our eyes for a moment and breathe deeply.
And let's take a few breaths,
Letting our bodies shift out of the doing space and into the being space,
Into the receiving space.
And connecting with your eternal self,
That part of you.
Maybe you feel it in your heart chakra,
The center of your heart area,
That part of you that is timeless,
That never changes.
Let's just breathe from that place.
We all tremble.
We all know fear.
Turn to the one life pervading the universe whose name dispels fear.
Find that name resonating in your heart.
Luminosity permeates the universe and the secret sound that hums everything into existence resounds everywhere.
Listening to the inner sound continually become lovers with the secret one.
Where does that take you?
What feelings rise inside?
What words come to mind?
Find what brings you joy.
We are not ever alone.
Oh my sweet God,
This was my exact meditation yesterday.
Lovers with the secret one.
I'm going to read you another interpretation of this mantra,
Of a sutra.
And so this what I'm going to read to you is a literal interpretation of it.
So this is much denser.
The word Bhairava denotes he who dispels all fear and terror,
Who howls and cries,
Who gives all and who pervades the entire universe.
He who constantly repeats the word Bhairava becomes one with Shiva.
This is why our friend Lauren Roche created a poetic interpretation.
This time of year our fruit trees hum with the sound of bees reminds me that we all hold that secret loving vibration.
Connect to the universe.
Exactly.
So there's a few things I want to say about this sutra.
It's funny how I want to keep calling it a mantra.
So the word Bhairava,
This book that we're reading from is called the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.
And Vijnana means wisdom of Bhairava.
Now Bhairava has hundreds and hundreds of interpretations.
Some equate Bhairava with Brahman.
And Brahman basically means the energy of all things manifest and unmanifest.
You could equate this depending on how you see the word God.
You could equate it with consciousness.
You could equate it with the primal vibration that brings all life into existence.
Another interesting translation of Bhairava is that Bhairava is the gatekeeper or the sentinel to experience Shiva.
Now Shiva and in some interpretations Bhairava and Shiva are the same.
And Shiva again is what you might call God or what you might call supreme consciousness or the consciousness of all things.
Like it's not like this thing up there.
But Shiva and Shakti are the same.
But Shakti is the manifest version of Shiva energy.
So Shiva basically exists everywhere in the universe in the form of Shakti.
And again this is all just words and language and things trying to paint a picture.
So first they talk about the fear.
That we all tremble.
That we all experience fear.
One of the primary teachings of Tantra is that this fear comes from our separation from that energy.
That on one end of the spectrum I really am just Katrina Boss.
I am 56 years or I don't know how old I am,
55 years old.
I live in Goderge,
Ontario,
Canada.
Whatever might the facts are of this incarnation that I might say about me.
And on the other end of the spectrum I am Bhairava.
And every single one of us can say that.
That we are all this constricted,
Limited,
Version,
Creation,
Refraction of light,
However we want to say it.
And we do need to fully be that person.
It isn't about not being Katrina.
The point is to be me.
But we are also this divine presence.
And the pain that we feel and the fear that we have comes from us forgetting that.
And it's really easy to forget that.
And a big part of this particular sutra is actually the use of language.
They call it matrika.
And again there's a lot of meanings of the word matrika.
Mostly it's about mother,
Divine mother,
But it also means the alphabet.
Specifically the Sanskrit alphabet,
But really all alphabet.
And how the sound of words are creation.
That we create our reality through language.
And through the words because every single sound that we use is like they call it a power of shakti.
And through that we perpetually create.
So throughout our life we may have been given particular words that describe God,
Bhairava,
Brahman,
Eternal consciousness,
Whatever that is.
And those words have power in our lives.
So for example,
Maybe you were raised in a Christian home and the word God means beloved father.
And it fills you with joy.
The very sound of the word just makes,
Kind of like Katie said,
It's like feels like a big hug.
Or maybe your experience of religion was very negative and very painful,
Even damaging.
And the word God means punishing,
Judgment,
Filled with hypocrisy of you know what man has done with the world.
And so the minute someone says God,
Your whole being contracts.
And maybe fear happens and anger happens and all these things.
The power of this word,
The power of this word is huge.
Or maybe you were raised in an indigenous culture where the idea of Bhairava,
Oh God,
Is maybe nature or father sky and mother earth.
Or maybe it's so intrinsic to your life there is no even word to it for it.
You just,
It's just everywhere.
The problem with these words is it creates,
We can't help the words create a,
Depending on the belief system you were raised in,
Maybe God is out there.
Shiva is out there.
Bhairava is out there.
And it separates me and I'm just this lowly sinful wretch of a being.
I need to keep doing things to prove myself.
And we do this all the time in life.
We do things to prove ourselves.
We think that we're supposed to become something.
We think that we're supposed to succeed as if there's something to succeed in.
So we're going to do a little experiment here.
Because what this sutra says is to repeat a mantra,
To repeat a word that describes for you Bhairava,
Or consciousness,
Or God.
And it could be anything.
And again,
To imagine this for a moment,
That the word,
Like we don't want to necessarily do it out of our head.
We want to think about it like,
What is a word that when I say it,
I feel expansive?
It could be freedom.
It could be love.
It could be God.
It could be goddess.
It could be awareness,
Consciousness.
But I would love for you guys to share in the chat,
What word,
If you were to repeat that word over and over again,
What would shift you into an expanded state?
And you may have many words,
But I'd love to know what the first word is that comes to you.
Love.
Let go.
Beloved.
Openness.
Truth.
Divine Spirit.
Joy.
Love.
Rainbow.
Connection.
Eternal One.
Goddess.
Earth.
Everlasting Energy.
Light.
Love.
Om.
So,
Here's a question.
How does this sound,
This word,
For you?
And to know that there's no right answer for what I'm trying to,
What I'm asking.
How does this word,
When you say it inside,
How does it dispel fear for you?
If you imagine a fear you may have,
And then you say this word,
What changes inside?
Peace.
Floating.
It engulfs it.
Connection.
Connection and peace.
Support.
I feel supported.
The acknowledgement that I'm not alone.
I feel lighter,
Happier.
It gives strength.
Connection to divine energy.
Not alone.
Expansive.
My fears are scared away.
It gives relief and understanding.
It makes me look at my fear in a more honest way.
It's beautiful.
Feel connected to everything and everyone.
Peace and presence.
That the fear is okay to be here.
It's beautiful.
So,
Let's do a little meditation.
So,
Wherever you are,
Vertical,
Horizontal,
If you're driving a car,
Then just don't close your eyes.
But let's close our eyes for a moment,
Assuming you're not driving a car.
Let's just breathe deeply.
Expanding the belly as we inhale,
Contracting as we exhale.
I'd like you to imagine a great room inside of you.
And inside this room,
Everything that you are is in there.
All the topics that you think about and engage with every day.
Maybe there's aspects of your work.
Maybe there's family,
People you love,
Friends,
Issues in the world,
Issues in your own life,
Joys that you partake in.
And I'd love for you to just sit in the center of that room and look around it.
Maybe it's a great circular room.
Just imagine all of the pieces of your life are present in that room.
Maybe they each take a particular form that only your heart and mind understand.
And I'd like you to allow all the emotions to also be there.
Because we are alive.
We are meant to interact with all of these things with our whole heart and soul.
And now,
In your mind's eye,
To speak out loud your word or your phrase that represents expansion,
Bhairava,
God,
Consciousness,
Whatever that word or phrase is.
And just allow it to live in the room.
Visualize yourself speaking it in a whisper,
Out loud,
However you want.
And maybe in your mind's eye,
You're just closing your eyes.
And hearing the vibration in your mind.
But allow that word to permeate every aspect of your life.
And then very gently imagine each one of those pieces all fitting together inside of you.
Which may seem like a lot,
But you're sewing them all together with this word.
Recognizing this incredibly multifaceted,
Joyful being that you are.
Feeling your breath become deeper in your mind's eye and in your body.
And then saying the word one more time.
And then resting the visualization.
Just sitting in your present body with your eyes closed.
We all tremble.
We all know fear.
Turn to the one life pervading the universe whose name dispels fear.
Find that name resonating in your heart.
Luminosity permeates the universe.
And the secret sound that hums everything into existence resounds everywhere.
Listening to the inner sound continually,
Become lovers with the secret one.
Thank you so much for being here.
We hope you have a wonderful day.
