The Soul Of The World: Radiance Sutras Verse 62

So today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras and this is a beautiful translation interpretation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.

And this set of sutras takes us on a journey to ourselves really.

But not like ourselves like our ego self or our true self or anything like that but more like our true expanded self.

You know imagine that we really are these full chakra aligned beings that as real as our first chakra is as we connect to the earth our seventh chakra is just as real as we connect with the universe with God with consciousness with Shiva however we understand that that both are just as real.

Like imagine that imagine that all the complexity in your life all the relationships the money the learning the fun the joy everything all the moving parts in our first chakra second chakra realities that there is just as much maybe even more in the sixth and seventh chakra realities our intuition our thoughts our senses our ability to experience the oneness and wonder of the universe.

Imagine if all that integrated that everything we experienced in life had all of those dimensions not just all the you know sorry now I have a Pocahontas song in my head but all the colors of the wind but all the aspects of reality are here.

Imagine living like that imagine every time you eat imagine every time you see another person and all of a sudden instead of seeing John you see John his aura his ancestry his perception his insights his thoughts his hopes his dreams everything.

We don't just see the personality we're used to we see this infinitely interesting person imagine that's really the journey to Tantra but that's a lot you don't just overnight suddenly be able to walk around in this expanded consciousness and still get to work and still feed the kids and still care about I don't know whatever it is we care about here on earth.

Tantra is not about transcending the world and moving off to an ashram in the Himalayas like Tantra is about taking all of this beautiful wonder and bringing it into our lives but that's a journey of very small steps steps and then you take one little step but the key is to fully do that step and allow that step to permeate your whole being allow it to change us completely and then when all the dust has settled and we've shifted we take another step.

So last week for example we had a meditation and the meditation was to meditate on the sky to experience the expansiveness of the sky to let ourselves get lost in it and this seems too simple it's like we want something that's difficult we want a challenging Kriya we want something that we want something that is complex to memorize and all that the idea of just going out and releasing ourselves to the sky well what's that going to do I mean it's nothing so what I look at the sky all the time this is the thing how do we bring wonder back into our life how do we bring infinite reality into what we see around us well we have to contemplate infinity and things like the sky are a great example and so it's interesting because when it see Tantra for me I believe is extremely timely right now now I think in this year of 2024 I believe our consciousness is shifting at such a rate all we have to do is pay attention and allow ourselves to change like allow the change to happen like all we have to do is let go of our old programs and we will just simply rise in that shift of consciousness I don't know if you guys are experiencing it but all I know is every time I go into town or I go and do something it's like everything keeps changing it's like the matrix is changing or something right before my eyes and how I'm perceiving things is just things is just changing like issues that once really would have bothered me or things that would have triggered me just don't even touch me they're just they're just way over there and it's not that I don't care I'm more passionate and entertained by life now than I've ever been you know and I'm just so engaged and yet I just sort of look around and it just keeps shifting it's so interesting and as Adrienne says there through silence and stillness I believe that the answers for our evolution or whatever we're seeking right now is hiding in plain sight it's right there it's it's in in the places that you don't expect it's in meditations on the sky when you lie there and you actually gaze into the sky and you really allow yourself to completely receive the infinity that we're looking at and you let that infinity go through your bones like I believe that's the path and as soon as we're looking for really fancy things or complicated things it's like a distraction it's still entertaining our ego making us think that oh see now you're doing really hard work like this is really good you're a total tantric now but that's not the answer so that's what this this that's what the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra is it's a series of tiny exercises to slowly shift our consciousness in the most gentle way so this book I didn't write this book this book is written by Lauren Roche and I highly recommend it because it's just the most beautiful book if you want to have that gentle transition into being tantric so today we are going to read a sutra we're going to read sutra 62 then we're going to have a discussion and then we're going to have a meditation shifting for you which is changing the collective through your lens or actually people are changing on their own it doesn't feel like the world is changing it feels like I'm changing like it feels like I'm looking at the same thing but it's like I don't I don't know that it changed I don't know that I don't know what changed again how historically okay do you guys know how warp speed works in Star Trek I'm sorry so but if you imagine time as a long string we experience time walking along this string bit by bit bit by bit well if you suddenly go to warp speed what happens is imagine the string there becomes a loop in it so this the street the string suddenly goes down and then back up like it creates like a a valley in the string right so the string is going along horizontally and then suddenly it goes all the way down and then all the way back up and then it goes all the way down and all the way back up so now the the string is is this sort of sine wave so what warp speed is is you're basically instead of going along the string one step at a time you're starting at that top of the wave and then jumping to the next top of the wave and then jumping to the next top of the wave that's what warp speed is so you're still traveling through time but you're able to jump in in these in the sine wave that's what it feels like in my consciousness it feels like i don't remember how i got here i don't remember why it looks different now like historically you would kind of it's sort of an organic shift right you're just sort of shifting along with time and you just you know over over five ten years you study spirituality and do yoga and meditation and all things change but now it's almost like i'm not remembering i like the change but i'm not remembering the change and so it's very curious that's why i feel like these tantric practices are more potent today than they ever have been okay you guys ready so whether you have the book or not i invite you to close your eyes and let's breathe deeply together expand your belly as you inhale contract as you exhale you really find that part of you inside inside that is still that never changes imagine that part of you that is exactly the same today as it was when you were six months old just connect in with that part of you your eternal self enter the space inside your head see it as already infinite extending forever in all directions this spaciousness that you are is permeated by luminosity know this radiance as the soul radiance as the soul of the world where does this take you is there a feeling or a thought or a word that rolls through your mind infinity we are one with the soul of the world to heart coherence heart to mind and then beyond expanding and quitting my human concerns infinite regeneration honesty vast awareness i'm going to read another version of this i'm going to read another version of this so this is a literal translation from this book called shri vijnana bhairava tantra the ascent one should contemplate on the sky as the form of bhairava until it is all absorbed in the forehead then all that space will be entered by the essence of light in the state of bhairava this is why we use lauren roche's interpretation it's a little a little thick i'll read you another one another one the yogi should contemplate the entire open space or sky under the form of the essence of bhairava and as dissolved in his head then the entire universe will be absorbed in the light of bhairava we are already infinite the spaciousness is available to us at all times yes so bhairava bhairava is almost impossible to define it's like defining god or something or infinity even you can't define infinity it's not possible mystical and like the flower growing out of the sidewalk even in the dark we can find the light and grow from our soul space yes and we're going to get back to part of what you said exactly bhairava is the essence of the universe it is all things it is duality it is oneness it is all the things that's why this this book it's called the vijnana bhairava tantra vijnana wisdom understanding the wisdom of bhairava understanding bhairava as much as we possibly can they call this a dharana dharana is one of the eight limbs of yoga but on its own it's simply a word that means focused concentration and they call this a chid akasha dharana and chid means consciousness akasha means ether or space so we hear of the five elements earth air wind fire and ether so ether is really interesting because ether is directly connected to the spiritual aspect of life if you were to imagine space that within us there is space space that the air flows in space that the earth exists in space that fire space that water flows in that the ether it's like the conduit for life but it is an element so chid akasha it's the space of consciousness imagine for a moment the space of consciousness where do we think where do we perceive the world it's kind of like for all the neuroscience that's been happened that has happened in the last 60 80 years no one has ever seen a thought no one has ever identified a memory a fear an emotion nothing no matter how much we look in the physical world we cannot find thoughts we can see parts of the physical world light up when certain things happen but we can't find the thought so now imagine that thoughts consciousness emotions instinct intuition that they all exist in the ether they don't exist in the water of us the physicality of us the breath of us the fire in us they exist in the ether which is why they can't be found by modern science they don't believe in ether they don't believe in intuition and yet in the yogic world our entire experience here on earth is created by our consciousness it's just like what we were talking about earlier before our class we walk through the world and everything we experience is derived from our consciousness a couple years ago we did a series all about the levels of consciousness in david hawking's book power versus force which all can be found here on insight timer and part of the teaching there is that depending on the level of consciousness you are existing in right now this is how you will interpret and how you will see the world around you so if you're living in a state of fear and it's not a judgment lots of people have had lives that have taught them to live in a state of fear out of sheer survival instinct well then as you walk around the world everything you see you will interpret through the filter of fear when you hear the news you will hear it through the filter of fear as opposed to someone who maybe is living in a state of courage they may walk around the world and they may see something exactly the same as the person who was fearful but the fearful person will see this as great danger and the one living in courage will see this as an interesting opportunity or they'll see the other person struggling and they'll say well they'll figure it out this will strengthen them they'll find a way same same reality although our consciousness dictates everything and that's hard to fathom sometimes especially in a world where we're kind of taught to be victims and we're taught to you know we're sort of lived within this weird domination world it's like no no that's not it no no no this is really happening it's like no things really are happening but your consciousness is coloring it in your consciousness is creating it so now imagine you have this aspect within you this chid akasha this space of consciousness and they say that it lives in our forehead which is very interesting because this is our frontal cortex and the frontal cortex is fascinating to me because in theory this is our the place in our brain where we have abstract thought i believe that this is designed for us as humans as a place to dream in our life whatever it is we want to do whatever it is we see in the world we have this beautiful laboratory in our frontal cortex that has infinite possibilities infinite just think of how our thoughts can just flow and flow and flow and flow and flow and flow and flow and flow and flow in positive ways or in negative ways so we have this infinite laboratory here that we can literally access anything we want in the universe and in that space we can create our lives it always reminds me of what nikola tesla said that when he wanted to create an invention when he wanted to invent something he would first invent it in his mind and he would test it in his mind and he would make all the changes in his mind so that by the time he actually created it on the earth he'd already tested it in this infinite laboratory in our frontal cortex but of course the challenge is that because we've lived in this very strange shadow world that we've lived in for millennia now that frontal cortex got hacked by the fears of our parents the sins of the forefathers 10 generations it got hacked by marketing media telling us that if you don't if you're not skinny no one's gonna love you if you don't make seven figures no one's gonna think you're successful if if if if if it kind of took this beautiful infinite laboratory and sorry i'm back to star trek you know there was that great uh one of their classic shows was called the trouble with tribbles do you guys ever see that one and the tribbles were these little fuzzy creatures but they would multiply infinitely quickly that's the problem with our frontal cortex we have these negative thoughts and these fears and these fears and these experiences from our past and everything else and they they grow like tribbles in our head they just grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and all of a sudden we are completely exhausted before we even get started and we're not we're not dreaming in our life we're just lost in the chaos of fear and everything like nobody like what do you do this is why we meditate this is why we gaze at the sky we aren't meant to have our frontal cortex filled with tribbles by the way for anyone who english isn't your first language language tribble isn't a real word it's just a made-up name of little fuzzy aliens so we do these meditations to clear the frontal cortex to clear the space of consciousness to clear our ethers because when our ether is clear we can create amazing things they actually say that all dharana and dhyana which is the state of absorption happens all in the frontal cortex in the chit akasha in the space of consciousness so the way this particular sutra works is that you imagine the space behind and we'll do this meditation in a minute but you imagine this space of consciousness within you and you can imagine it behind your forehead if you close your eyes there's a space but behind the eyes up into the forehead and this is this space where ether lives i mean it lives everywhere but this is where we see now if you imagine that ether is essentially dark matter when you imagine like what's really interesting about ether and the idea of dark matter is when you imagine our cells our current accepted theory of reality in the scientific world is atomic theory is atomic theory it's not necessarily true but that is our current understanding is that we are all made of atoms and the atoms are essentially these little pockets of light swirling around what dark matter but that's what it's called in science is dark matter so we have these little charged particles of energy looping around ether and this is what creates all matter so ether for all intents and purposes is darkness there's no light in it there's no light in it so when you imagine this dark matter and you close your eyes and you imagine vast expanse of space like the sky the light that exists in a blue sky and you bring that light that spaciousness into the space behind your eyes into the forehead you bring that expansiveness into your ether this is how we experience the expansiveness of Bhairava within us so i'm going to go back to the literal translations for a minute okay so ready the yogi should contemplate the entire open space or sky under the form of the essence of Bhairava and as dissolved in his head then the entire universe will be absorbed in the light of Bhairava here's another this is the other literal translation and i'm repeating this because we're going to do a meditation but this is something that we can do all the time all the time you could be sitting in traffic driving your car gaze up at the expanse of the sky above you allow it to permeate your forehead allow it to permeate your frontal cortex allow it to completely release all the tribbles any time of the day in such a beautiful tantric practice okay here's another translation one should contemplate on the sky as a form of Bhairava until it is all absorbed in the forehead then all that space will be entered by the essence of light in the state of Bhairava so this brings light to the dark matter within us we are this infinite beautiful creation of dark matter and all we have to do is meditate is meditate on the spaciousness all around us it's almost like imagine tantra a huge teaching in tantra is that we as human beings are the microcosm of the macrocosm of the world so if you cannot fathom this ether within you if you can't fathom space of consciousness within you look at the sky and without words without our brains without our ego constructs concentrate on the sky and allow yourself to be absorbed into it and then bring that awareness inside your own mind all right you guys ready so let's close our eyes and let's breathe deeply you're welcome to sit for this meditation you're welcome to lie down for this meditation whatever you like let's breathe deeply i'm going to lead it as if you're sitting so imagine a line going from your root chakra the place where you're sitting place where you're sitting all the way up through your body up to the seventh chakra to the crown of your head and feel your body align with that line let your spine stretch up let the crown of your head stretch up to the sky let your body be heavy on the earth feel your root magnetically connected to the center of the earth feel the beautiful matter of the earth of your body and flowing up through the spine through this beautiful line up to the crown through the spine through this beautiful line up to the crown feel the vast infinity above you you can feel the sky but even to go further out into space feel all of this beautiful space so in your mind's eye i'd like you to imagine getting up and going for a walk and you're walking down the most peaceful road breathing deeply you can hear the birds singing you can smell freshly cut grass there's a gentle breeze you can feel the air on your face then you see a path and you turn to start to walk down the path and you go by some trees and some stumps and some rocks you can hear more birds the smells of the forest become rich in your nose and then you see a beautiful patch of grass and then you see a beautiful patch of grass and you go and you lay down on that patch of grass and you close your eyes and you can feel the sun warming your face warming your hands and your arms your breath becomes deeper as your belly rises as you inhale falls as you exhale and you gently open your eyes to look at the blue sky and you can still hear the birds around you and you can feel the earth beneath you and your mind is very restful it's very quiet and you gaze at the sky like you've never seen sky before maybe it's been winter time or it's been cloudy and so the sky alone is so beautiful and you allow yourself to see the sky through your eyes going forward but also in your periphery and you start to realize how vast and beautiful it is and something in you can feel the infinity of what you're looking at and as you breathe you start to breathe that infinity into your body you feel it swirling inside of you you feel it permeating your forehead flowing in and imagining a tiny light forming in your forehead a very gentle light and then it starts to get brighter and brighter and clearer soon that light is filling your whole forehead and then it's slowly moving out into your brain this beautiful light is permeating every cell and it's slowly moving down into your shoulders and your arms every breath this light lights up the ether of all of your cells your lungs your lungs your lungs of all of your cells your lungs your heart your liver your kidneys your intestines all the vertebrae in your back your nervous system imagine all of the nerves all of the atoms being conscious of the ether within each one feeling this light flowing down your legs down your arms and then very quickly this light expands beyond your body and it permeates the space all around you and then beyond your aura and then into the trees the animals the rivers and you start to realize that the whole world is permeated with this light this light of life existence and as we breathe we breathe into this space all around us Vishat enter the space inside your head see it as already infinite extending forever in all directions this spaciousness that you are is permeated by luminosity know this radiance as the soul of the world enter the space inside your head see it as already infinite extending forever in all directions all directions this spaciousness that you are is permeated by luminosity know this radiance as the soul of the world let's take a deep breath in together let's take a deep breath in together exhale and let's open our eyes and come back I would love to know how you feel or what thoughts roll through your mind lately I've been feeling like I just don't want to be here dealing with crap anymore I know I'm just on a low wave there's a lot rising right now for everybody my best idea or my what I believe about it the most is that all of our past lifetimes are coming to be healed and it's very overwhelming so we all are having low times just just so you know you're not alone if you're feeling low there's a lot of ebbing and flowing going on past lifetimes healings indeed that's why they fit feel so familiar and yet not necessarily timely like it doesn't necessarily make sense in our life and yet we actually have to let things go whatever it is whatever it is that's holding us we have to let it go like we don't need to carry it anymore one of my friends she says that there's no checked baggage anymore we only have carry-on luggage now you know we used to have be able to have all of these issues packed in the back there's no more storage everything's coming out of storage everything you're not everything in the closets everything in the basement everything in the in the attic it's all coming out in the attic it's all coming out and the only way through is just really gently you just find one thing you have to look at you just have to let things go do some yoga do some meditation walk by the lake do whatever it is you can do to release it so thanks so much for being here i hope you have a wonderful day