Vignana Bhairava Tantra

Many ways to meditation

If there is a text to suit the ways and means of each human being in converting ordinary and extraordinary situations in life into a means for meditation - it is the Vignana Bhairava Tantra. These over a 100 ways to meditate as told by the Guru of Yoga - Lord Shiva to his consort Parvati who questioned him as Arjuna did to Krishna in the battlefield on what it takes to experience the divine awareness.

Many a situation in life - a technique from a verse in the Vignana Bhairava Tantra has come to my rescue in understanding what the masters say when they talk of the Self. I wish to share here with you - a verse a time, picked not in any particular order, but at random.

If meditation is being in that space where thoughts come and go - float like clouds in the sky, then each technique of the Vignana Bhairava Tantra is the way to be in the present moment - in the consciousness.

When you happen to be in a vast open space, where there is not a soul to even holler out to, it may be a vast desert with the sun's rays beating down, it may be the big wide sea and just yourself before it, it can be alone on the slope of a mountain or just by yourself on the terrace, staring into the dark night's sky....

Nirvriksha Giribhithyadi Deshe Drishtim Vinikshipeth

Vileene Manase Bhave Vrittih Ksheenah Prajayathe.

You may be walking past a mountain where there are no trees. You may just gaze at a big rock. Look into it fully and be there. The numerous thoughts that arise, with the support of images that you see outside will stop. The thoughts will become lesser and lesser and will disappear. Next time you happen to be alone in a wilderness, it is the place to meditate with eyes wide open.

(Pic. The lone trail to Charan Paduka, behind the crowded temple for Lord Vishnu at Badrinath in the Himalayas.)