What we call our environment is made up in part of other beings – both people and animals. Tantric meditations from ancient texts such as the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra invite us to pay deep attention to all of these relationships and inter-relationships, and dare us to become capable of greater intimacy. We are called to appreciate, with tenderness, what happens when we unite, separate, and come together again. I love this meditation from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. My heart often aches, and this practice somehow puts me right with the world.
In the great joy of seeing
A loved one after a long absence,
A flash of recognition ignites you.
Space becomes charged,
The bond between you shimmers,
And a surge of delight arises in your being.
Find within you the source of this surge.
Melt into that place of upwelling,
A wave rolling in a vast ocean of delight.
?nande mahati pr?pte d???e v?
b?ndhave cir?t
?nandam udgata? dhy?tv? tallayas
tanman? bhavet
The original Sanskrit is extremely succinct. As an oral tradition, it was crafted to be memorized and chanted. The words have dozens of layers of resonance, and meaning, approximately: Ananda: bliss, joy. Mahati: great. Prapta: realized, obtained. Drishte: having seen. Va: or. Bandhave: kin, friend, relative. Chirat: a long time. Anandam: bliss.Udgatam: rises, ascends, is born. Dhyatva: by meditating. Tat-layah: in that melting, absorption. Tat: that. Manah: intelligence, perception, mind-heart. Bhavet: becomes.
These words speak of an experience we all know, a very human moment. The teaching suggests we dive deeper into the joy and cherish it with the total power of our attention. Take this rising bliss, this anandam udgatam, as a gift of the divine, meditate on it, and merge with it. Ananda is also a dimension of the divine – a vast oceanic experience, an ocean of delight. Even though we as souls are incarnate, we are also in oneness with eternal consciousness bliss, sat-chit-ananda. When we see someone we love, a gateway to this divine bliss opens up. Each separation and reunion with a loved one reminds us of the union of body and soul. One of the meanings of Yoga is “union,” and therefore a reunion teaches us something about Yoga.
Bandhave refers to bonding, and resonates with bandha, a realm of Yoga techniques which involve “containing” the vital energies or prana of the body. Thus the word suggests that a human attachment, a bond, if approached with skillful awareness, is a way of touching the divine. Our relationships are pathways to enlightenment.
You can do this practice in the very moment you see a loved one, in the flash of recognition. Dive into that rising bliss with the mind of a yogi. Use the powers of perception you have developed by Yoga to notice that first split second when you know: This is one I love. This technique is part of a whole series that trains you to notice the space between your body and other bodies. Space is not empty – especially the space between lovers. Space is vibrant, pulsing with longing and radiance, a shimmering emptiness that is full of potential.
Make a practice of meditating on the joy you feel when you think of someone you love. This is your personal gateway to ananda.
Each person you love or have loved is a doorway to the divine. When you think of them, it is as if you are thinking a mantra, a name of God. When you unite with them, even by cherishing their memory in your heart, you are practicing a kind of Bhakti: Love Yoga.
Dogs are masters of this dharana. When a dog sees someone they love, they don’t hold back. They levitate with bliss, it rises in them and they leap. Lately, part of my practice has been to meditate on the uninhibited joy dogs express. Teachers are everywhere in our environment, and in the connections we have with all other living beings. Who are your teachers?
The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra describes 112 Yogas of wonder and delight for touching the divine in the midst of daily life. The teaching is framed as a conversation between lovers, Shakti and Shiva, the Goddess Who is the Creative Power of the Universe, and the God who is the Consciousness That Permeates Everywhere.
Dr. Lorin Roche began practicing with the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra in 1968 as part of scientific research on the physiology of meditation. He has a PhD from the University of California at Irvine, where his research focused on the language meditators generate to describe their inner experiences. He is the author of The Radiance Sutras and Meditation Made Easy. With his wife, Camille Maurine, he wrote Meditation Secrets for Women. A teacher of meditation for 46 years, Lorin’s approach centers on how to customize the practices to suit one’s individual nature. Lorin leads the Radiance Sutras Meditation Teacher Training, a 200 hour certification program registered with Yoga Alliance. Lorin teaches regularly at the Esalen Institute and around the world.