A meditation on seeing God everywhere
inspired by The Radiance Sutras, a new version of the vijnana bhairava tantra
Minds wander. That’s what they do. Attention is dynamic by nature, always on a Quest.
Hearts are always looking for love. The heart, by design, longs to be in the rhythm of giving and receiving.
In the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, the Goddess Devi dares her lover, Bhairava, to tell her the secrets of Yoga. In reply, he sings of 112 yuktis (Yogas) for touching the divine right here in the midst of life. This is the 93rd yukti.
In this practice, the Yoga is in the wandering and searching.
Wherever attention journeys,
On whatever expedition
In your outer world and
Inner secret realms,
Breathe in intimacy with omnipresence.
Where can you go to avoid
The One in Whom All Exists?
Reach down into your deepest being.
Take a stand in eternity.
Walk through this world, see any situation
As an expansion of the divine mystery.
Savor the tremble of recognition
The God in you touching the God out there.
yatra yatra mano yati
bahye vabhyantare ‘pi va
tatra tatra sivavastha
vyapakatvat kva yasyati
For those who do not enjoy diacritical marks, here is an alternate spelling (Pundits and fundamentalists, cover your ears and eyes and go jump in the Ganges to purify yourself):
yatra–yatra manah yaati baahye vaa abhyantare api vaa
tatra–tatra shiva–avasthaa vi-aapakatvaat kva yaasyati
Going on a journey into the Monier-Williams dictionary, the entry for yatra yatra reads: “in or to which place, where, wherein, wherever, whither, anywhere . . . whatever.” Yatra yatra is the primordial “Whatever … wherever, dude.” This sutra was apparently composed by an enlightened hipster.
A verse of this type is just 32 syllables, so the composers like to pack as much meaning as possible into each syllable. They were huge punsters, delighting in the play of sounds, exploiting multiple meanings of words, and using similar-sounding words. For example, if we lengthen the a’s in yatra we get yatra, “going, setting off, journey, march, expedition, going on a pilgrimage.” If we accept this paronomasia of yatra (wherever) and yatra (expedition), we get something like “Whatever expedition, whatever pilgrimage,” which works in the sense of the verse here. But whatever; it works either way.
Mano or manas means mind (in its widest sense as applied to all the mental powers), intellect, intelligence, understanding, perception, sense, conscience, will, the internal organ of perception and cognition, the instrument through which thoughts enter or by which objects of sense affect the soul, sometimes joined with hrdaya, heart, the spirit or spiritual principle;
Yati – moves; Bahye or bahya – being outside (a door, house), situated without, outer, exterior; Va – or; Abhyanta – interior, being inside of, included in, inner part, inside, “on intimate terms,” a lover; Api – also, even, sometimes used as an expletive; Tatra tatra – in that and that place, here and there, everywhere, (according to some, “on that continually”);
Shiva – “The One in whom all things exist,” auspicious, gracious, kind, benevolent, “The Auspicious One”;
Avastha – to go down to, reach down to, to take one’s stand, remain standing, to stay, abide, to abide in a state or condition, to enter, be absorbed in; Vyapaka – permeates, spreading; Kva, where; Yasyati – will go.
Get down, reach down, into your deepest being. Take a stand in the benevolent infinity that is always spreading and permeating everywhere. Know that wherever the heart goes, wherever attention goes, you are touching a particle of the eternal expansion of creation.
The practice here is “Set your mind free.” Do not exercise any control, stay loose. Perceive every situation as a little hologram of the divine play. Let attention travel wherever it will in the universe, and know: Where can one go that is not in the all-pervading One?
There are as many ways of practicing this as there are people on Earth. You can take this stance toward every mood, sensation, and mental image arising in meditation. Are you feeling pleasure? Are you feeling pain, sorrow, delusion, dejection, or sexual joy? Consider these all to be aspects of the mystery. Wherever your mind moves, outer or inner, you are dancing with the One Infinite Life. Find your way of looking at that hot babe in Yoga pants, bird flying overhead, or highway patrol officer, and abiding in the knowledge, “That being is part of eternity, just as I am.”
The journey always begins here – whether you are daydreaming of American Idol or a Hindu idol. The movement of attention is the movement of love. Whatever your awareness is touching is part of the divinity of creation. Just as you are.
(To see the full definitions of every word in the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, visit lorinroche.com and look in the Sanskrit section, where each word of the text is linked to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary online. This text is from the oral tradition, so the meaning of the words is just the beginning – the wordplay continues with the sounds, rhythms, and puns.)
Lorin Roche is….
Dr. Lorin Roche has been practicing and teaching from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra since 1968. 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. The Radiance Sutras, a new version of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, is available from Lorin’s website: lorinroche.com. Email comments and questions to lorin@lorinroche.com.
The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra describes 112 Yogas of wonder and delight for touching the divine in the midst of daily life. Dr. Roche does one-to-one coaching with individuals wishing to evolve their daily meditation practice and trains Yoga teachers in how to teach meditation. Call (310) 570-2803 for more information.
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.