Greetings to everyone!
I recently came across this text, and I like it very much. However, I haven't been able to find any source for it, so I'm curious to hear what you think about it. Have any of you encountered this text before, or what is your opinion of it?
Thank you very much in advance! Daniel
अद्वैतस्वातन्त्र्यविज्ञानतन्त्रम्
Advaita-svātantrya-vijñāna-tantram
The Tantra of the Recognition of Non-Duality and Freedom
“At the beginning of the universes, Kṛṣṇa divided Himself into two parts: one is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord of the cowherd girls, the other is Mahādeva.”
Devī Bhāgavatam, Book 4, Chapter 2
अथ भैरवी उवाच — Bhairavī’s Question
एकं चेत् परमं तत्त्वं कथं द्वैतमिदं विभो ।
कथं भोक्ता च भोग्यं च कथं काम्यं च कामुकः ॥
ekaṃ cet paramaṃ tattvaṃ kathaṃ dvaitam idaṃ vibho |
kathaṃ bhoktā ca bhogyaṃ ca kathaṃ kāmyaṃ ca kāmukaḥ ||
If the supreme reality is one, O all-pervading Lord, how does duality appear? How arise the experiencer and the experienced, the desirer and the desired?
कुतो देहः कुतो विश्वं कुतो भेदस्य सम्भवः ।
कथं भेदः प्रशाम्येत कथं कामः प्रसिध्यति ॥
kuto dehaḥ kuto viśvaṃ kuto bhedasya sambhavaḥ |
kathaṃ bhedaḥ praśāmyeta kathaṃ kāmaḥ prasidhyati ||
Whence arise the body and the world, and whence the appearance of difference? How is difference pacified in its source, and how is desire brought to its true completion?
देहक्षेत्रं कथं देव कथं बालद्वयं मनः ।
कथं क्रीडारसं प्राप्य स्वभावं पुनराप्नुयाम् ॥
dehakṣetraṃ kathaṃ deva kathaṃ bāladvayaṃ manaḥ |
kathaṃ krīḍārasaṃ prāpya svabhāvaṃ punar āpnuyām ||
How, O Lord, is the body itself the field? How may consciousness be contemplated as the two children? How, entering the rasa of their play, may I recognize my own nature again?
कथं क्षेत्रं तनुर्भूत्वा कुण्डली भैरवी भवेत् ।
भैरवश्च कथं देहे प्रकाशोऽनुभवे स्थितः ॥
kathaṃ kṣetraṃ tanur bhūtvā kuṇḍalī bhairavī bhavet |
bhairavaś ca kathaṃ dehe prakāśo ’nubhave sthitaḥ ||
How does the field manifest as the body? How is Bhairavī present as Kuṇḍalinī? And how does Bhairava abide in embodied experience as the light by which it is known?
हृदयोत्थाश्च ये कामाः कथं शक्तिस्वरूपिणः ।
कथं बालस्वरूपेण द्वैतग्रन्थिर्विलीयते ॥
hṛdayotthāś ca ye kāmāḥ kathaṃ śaktisvarūpiṇaḥ |
kathaṃ bālasvarūpeṇa dvaitagranthir vilīyate ||
How are the desires arising from the heart forms of Śakti? And through the form of the children, how is the knot of exclusive duality dissolved?
भैरव उवाच — Bhairava’s Answer
शृणु भैरवि तत्त्वं मे क्षेत्रदेहरहस्यकम् ।
बालभावं समाश्रित्य स्वभावं प्रत्यभिज्ञसे ॥
śṛṇu bhairavi tattvaṃ me kṣetradeharahasyakam |
bālabhāvaṃ samāśritya svabhāvaṃ pratyabhijñase ||
Listen, Bhairavī, to the mystery of the field and the body. Taking refuge in the contemplative form of the children, you recognize again your own nature.
क्षेत्रं देहः स्वयं चित्तं बालरूपद्वयं स्मृतम् ।
भैरवो भैरवी चैव एकचित्तस्य क्रीडितम् ॥
kṣetraṃ dehaḥ svayaṃ cittaṃ bālarūpadvayaṃ smṛtam |
bhairavo bhairavī caiva ekacittasya krīḍitam ||
The field is contemplated as this very body; consciousness is contemplated in the two child-forms. Bhairava and Bhairavī are the play of the one Consciousness, not two independently existing principles.
न तत्र न्यूनता काचिन्न कामोऽपूर्णतात्मकः ।
पूर्णानन्दरसः क्रीडा स्वातन्त्र्यस्य विजृम्भिता ॥
na tatra nyūnatā kācin na kāmo ’pūrṇatātmakaḥ |
pūrṇānandarasaḥ krīḍā svātantryasya vijṛmbhitā ||
There is no deficiency there, nor is primordial desire born from incompleteness. The play is the rasa of complete bliss, the unfolding of Consciousness through its own freedom.
The two children are therefore not two eternal substances. They are two distinguishable forms within the self-manifestation of one awareness: Bhairava as luminous awareness and Bhairavī as its inseparable freedom, power, self-apprehension, and manifestation. Their distinction is real as appearance and play, but never separation in being.
Each prose section below is accompanied by a Sanskrit anuṣṭubh-style metrical recension and IAST transliteration. The Sanskrit verses are a newly composed metrical rendering of this work, not quotations from an ancient source.
I. Vṛndāvana, Kailāsa, and the Field
वृन्दावनं स्मरेन्नित्यं प्रेमक्रीडारसाश्रयम् ।
तन्मध्ये कैलसं ध्यायेदुमया सहितं शिवम् ॥
vṛndāvanaṃ smaren nityaṃ premakrīḍārasāśrayam |
tanmadhye kailasaṃ dhyāyed umayā sahitaṃ śivam ||
कैलासपृष्ठतो ध्यायेत् क्षेत्रं विस्तीर्णमद्भुतम् ।
स्वदेहमेव तत् क्षेत्रं चित्क्रीडायाः प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥
kailāsapṛṣṭhato dhyāyet kṣetraṃ vistīrṇam adbhutam |
svadeham eva tat kṣetraṃ citkrīḍāyāḥ pratiṣṭhitam ||
दक्षिणे सरसी रम्या वामे वनपरम्परा ।
देहक्षेत्रे तयोर्मध्ये बालौ क्रीडापरायणौ ॥
dakṣiṇe sarasī ramyā vāme vanaparamparā |
dehakṣetre tayor madhye bālau krīḍāparāyaṇau ||
I contemplate Vṛndāvana as the timeless space of love, relationship, play, and the manifold moods of experience.
Within its expanse I contemplate Kailāsa. Upon Kailāsa I contemplate Mahādeva and Umā.
Behind Kailāsa the landscape opens into a broad field. When I meditate, I do not place an alien landscape before myself. My own body is contemplated as this field.
The field is bordered on the right by a lake and on the left by belts of forest. Beyond the forest opens Vṛndāvana, and beyond another belt of forest lies the yellow-sanded village.
I do not contemplate the body as an inert point. The body becomes a landscape of manifestation. As body, I am the field; as consciousness, I am the awareness in which the two children play.
II. The Two Children
न न्यूनत्वात् प्रवर्तेते बालौ क्रीडारसोत्सुकौ ।
पूर्णस्य स्वेच्छया शक्तिः क्रीडारूपेण वर्तते ॥
na nyūnatvāt pravartete bālau krīḍārasotsukau |
pūrṇasya svecchayā śaktiḥ krīḍārūpeṇa vartate ||
भेदो लीलार्थमुदितो न भेदः परमार्थतः ।
भैरवो भैरवी चैव चिदेकस्य स्वरूपिणौ ॥
bhedo līlārtham udito na bhedaḥ paramārthataḥ |
bhairavo bhairavī caiva cidekasya svarūpiṇau ||
भैरवोऽहं भैरवी चाहं बालरूपे व्यवस्थितः ।
एकानन्दस्य रूपे द्वे क्रीडतः क्षेत्रमध्यतः ॥
bhairavo ’haṃ bhairavī cāhaṃ bālarūpe vyavasthitaḥ |
ekānandasya rūpe dve krīḍataḥ kṣetramadhyataḥ ||
I am Bhairava and I am Bhairavī, contemplated in the child-forms: two forms of one bliss playing within the field.
I run after the beautiful form running before me. Then the play reverses and the other child-form follows me. At other times the two sit facing one another; at other times they play in different places of the field.
The movement of the children does not arise from lack. There is no object whose acquisition could make Consciousness complete. The movement itself is the free play of fullness.
Bhairava's joy continues in Bhairavī's joy, and Bhairavī's joy in Bhairava's joy. The distinction permits relation and play; non-separation prevents that distinction from becoming absolute division.
I do not contemplate this from outside. As body I am the field; as consciousness I am their common ground; as Śakti I am the movement of their play.
III. The Lake and the Closed Lotuses
क्षेत्रदक्षिणभागे तु सरसी विमला शुभा ।
निमीलितानि पद्मानि तस्यां सुप्तानि भावयेत् ॥
kṣetradakṣiṇabhāge tu sarasī vimalā śubhā |
nimīlitāni padmāni tasyāṃ suptāni bhāvayet ||
देहभावाः प्रसुप्तास्ते पद्मेष्वव्यक्तरूपिणः ।
यथाकालं प्रबुध्यन्ते शक्तेः स्वातन्त्र्यलीलया ॥
dehabhāvāḥ prasuptās te padmeṣv avyaktarūpiṇaḥ |
yathākālaṃ prabudhyante śakteḥ svātantryalīlayā ||
आकाशं सलिले भाति भिन्नं चाप्यविभाजितम् ।
तथैव विश्वमखिलं चिदाकाशे प्रकाशते ॥
ākāśaṃ salile bhāti bhinnaṃ cāpy avibhājitam |
tathaiva viśvam akhilaṃ cidākāśe prakāśate ||
On the right side of the field lies a wondrous lake. Its shore is surrounded by flowers and plants; animals move around it and birds above its water. Closed lotuses rest upon the surface.
Within the closed lotuses I contemplate embodied manifestation. What unfolds as bodily experience is present here in an unexpanded form.
The sky is reflected in the lake. Water and sky are distinguishable without becoming alien to one another. Their relation is already present in the one field of experience.
Because my body is the field, the lake too belongs to the landscape of my embodiment. Because awareness is not other than the power by which the landscape appears, I am also the one who knows and plays within it.
IV. The Yellow-Sanded Village
वामे वनान्तरे ध्यायेद् ग्रामं पीतसिकतामयम् ।
गेहं भग्नं च वरणं शुष्ककूपं च भावयेत् ॥
vāme vanāntare dhyāyed grāmaṃ pītasikatāmayam |
gehaṃ bhagnaṃ ca varaṇaṃ śuṣkakūpaṃ ca bhāvayet ||
तत्रापि बालकौ तौ द्वौ नामरूपान्तरस्थितौ ।
संकोचे शक्तिमन्विच्छेन्न दोषं धर्मतां नयेत् ॥
tatrāpi bālakau tau dvau nāmarūpāntarasthitau |
saṃkoce śaktim anvicchen na doṣaṃ dharmatāṃ nayet ||
Beyond the forest belt on the left I contemplate a yellow-sanded village: dry pale sand, a house, a broken fence, a sandy courtyard, and a dried-up well.
The two children appear here as well. Their play may continue under names such as Adharma and Mṛṣā and through the forms associated with them.
I do not deny the destructive forms of experience. I seek the deeper power appearing through them without declaring their contracted expression either identical with or different from the uncontracted state.
Thus the practice is the recognition of identity, not the erasure of distinctions of function, consequence, or conduct.
V. The Field Becoming the Body
क्षेत्रमेव तनुर्भूत्वा स्वशक्त्या सम्प्रकाशते ।
भैरवी शक्तिरूपा सा भैरवः प्रकाशकः ॥
kṣetram eva tanur bhūtvā svaśaktyā samprakāśate |
bhairavī śaktirūpā sā bhairavaḥ prakāśakaḥ ||
The field, becoming the body, manifests through its own Śakti. Bhairavī is that Power; Bhairava is the luminous awareness by which manifestation is revealed.
न भिन्नौ भैरवीशौ तौ न चैकत्वेन नाशितौ ।
एकस्य चित्स्वभावस्य क्रीडया रूपभेदिनौ ॥
na bhinnau bhairavīśau tau na caikatvena nāśitau |
ekasya citsvabhāvasya krīḍayā rūpabhedinau ||
Bhairava and Bhairavī are not separate realities, nor are their forms destroyed by unity. Through play they are differentiated forms of the one nature of Consciousness.
बालक्रीडा न नश्येत सा देहेऽपि प्रवर्तते ।
क्षेत्रं देहत्वमापन्नं स्वातन्त्र्येण प्रकाशते ॥
bālakrīḍā na naśyeta sā dehe ’pi pravartate |
kṣetraṃ dehatvam āpannaṃ svātantryeṇa prakāśate ||
The children's play does not perish; it continues in embodiment. The field appears as body through the freedom of Consciousness.
Bhairavī may be contemplated in embodiment as Kuṇḍalinī, the contracted and unfolding power of the same Śakti.
Bhairava does not become merely the limited belief 'I am only this body.' Bhairava is the light of awareness through which even bodily identity is experienced.
The limited bodily 'I' is therefore not outside Bhairava, but neither is limitation itself the fullness of Bhairava. It is a contracted mode of the one power of self-experience.
The practitioner does not reject the body. The body is recognized as a real appearance within Consciousness, a form of its self-manifestation.
VI. Desire and Icchāśakti
पूर्णे चिति न वै न्यूनं काममूलं सुखं परम् ।
संकोचाद् विषयाकाङ्क्षा विकासादिच्छया स्थिता ॥
pūrṇe citi na vai nyūnaṃ kāmamūlaṃ sukhaṃ param |
saṃkocād viṣayākāṅkṣā vikāsād icchayā sthitā ||
कामं मूलं नयेद् धीमानिच्छां शक्तिं च भावयेत् ।
शक्तिं भैरवसाम्येन पश्यन् पूर्णत्वमाप्नुयात् ॥
kāmaṃ mūlaṃ nayed dhīmān icchāṃ śaktiṃ ca bhāvayet |
śaktiṃ bhairavasāmyena paśyan pūrṇatvam āpnuyāt ||
सिद्धिर्वा न भवेद् बाह्या कामस्य विषयाश्रया ।
स्वमूलस्य परिज्ञानं प्रथमं फलमुच्यते ॥
siddhir vā na bhaved bāhyā kāmasya viṣayāśrayā |
svamūlasya parijñānaṃ prathamaṃ phalam ucyate ||
कामस्य मूलमानन्दो नेच्छा न्यूनत्वसम्भवा ।
संकोचे विषयाकाङ्क्षा पूर्णे सा इच्छाशक्तिता ॥
kāmasya mūlam ānando necchā nyūnatvasambhavā |
saṃkoce viṣayākāṅkṣā pūrṇe sā icchāśaktitā ||
The deepest ground of desire is bliss; primordial willing does not arise from deficiency. Under contraction it appears as longing for an object; recognized in fullness, it is the power of willing, icchāśakti.
Thus the root of embodied desire is not lack in the field. There is no lack in the uncontracted ground.
Yet the recognition of this ground is not a guarantee that every object imagined by the limited individual must externally appear. The fruit of recognition is first the recognition of the power within desire.
I follow desire toward its source: from object-longing to willing, from willing to Śakti, and from Śakti to the non-separation of Bhairavī and Bhairava.
A desire may be fulfilled, transformed, relinquished, or remain unfulfilled as an external event; none of these by itself determines whether its ground has been recognized.
VII. The Dissolution of Exclusive Duality
अहं त्वमिति भेदे तु क्षेत्रं स्मृत्वा विशेद् बुधः ।
काम्यकामुकभेदे च बालरूपं विचिन्तयेत् ॥
ahaṃ tvam iti bhede tu kṣetraṃ smṛtvā viśed budhaḥ |
kāmyakāmukabhede ca bālarūpaṃ vicintayet ||
भेदं नैव विनाश्येत न कुर्यादेकतां जडाम् ।
भेदस्याप्याभासभावं चिदैक्ये प्रत्यभिज्ञयेत् ॥
bhedaṃ naiva vināśyeta na kuryād ekatāṃ jaḍām |
bhedasyāpy ābhāsabhāvaṃ cidaikye pratyabhijñayet ||
When within the body 'I' and 'other' appear, I return in recognition to the field. When 'desirer' and 'desired' appear, I return to the children.
When 'within me' and 'outside me' appear, I recognize that all these positions arise within one field of manifestation.
I do not erase the two child-forms. I do not force one into the other. I am Bhairava; I am Bhairavī; and I am the field in which their relation appears.
Thus I do not annihilate difference. I dissolve only the claim that difference means absolute separation.
This is the loosening of the knot of duality: bheda remains available to experience, while bheda is recognized as an ābhāsa within non-divided Consciousness.
VIII. Kuṇḍalinī
देहक्षेत्रे परा शक्तिः कुण्डलीभावमाश्रिता ।
नान्या वस्तु स्वतन्त्रा सा चितः स्वातन्त्र्यरूपिणी ॥
dehakṣetre parā śaktiḥ kuṇḍalībhāvam āśritā |
nānyā vastu svatantrā sā citaḥ svātantryarūpiṇī ||
संकोचं देहभावं च मन्त्रं बोधं विकासनम् ।
भैरवः प्रकाशयति स्वप्रकाशस्वरूपतः ॥
saṃkocaṃ dehabhāvaṃ ca mantraṃ bodhaṃ vikāsanam |
bhairavaḥ prakāśayati svaprakāśasvarūpataḥ ||
In embodiment the field continues as my own body. Bhairavī continues as Śakti and is contemplated as Kuṇḍalinī.
Kuṇḍalinī is not a second substance imprisoned inside the body. She is the power of Consciousness appearing according to the conditions of embodiment and capable of recognition in her uncontracted nature.
Bhairava is the awareness illuminating the entire process: contraction, bodily identity, mantra, movement, recognition, and expansion.
Thus field, body, Kuṇḍalinī, awareness, and play belong to one continuum of manifestation.
IX. Dharma and Svabhāva
धृधातोर्धर्मशब्दोऽयं धारणार्थे निरूपितः ।
स्वभावधारणं धर्मं ध्यानेऽस्मिन् परिभावयेत् ॥
dhṛdhātor dharmaśabdo ’yaṃ dhāraṇārthe nirūpitaḥ |
svabhāvadhāraṇaṃ dharmaṃ dhyāne ’smin paribhāvayet ||
नाधर्मो धर्मतां याति शक्तिदृष्ट्या कदाचन ।
संकोचं तु परिज्ञाय स्वभावं पुनराश्रयेत् ॥
nādharmo dharmatāṃ yāti śaktidṛṣṭyā kadācana |
saṃkocaṃ tu parijñāya svabhāvaṃ punar āśrayet ||
I connect dharma with the semantic field of dhṛ: holding, bearing, sustaining, supporting. In this practice, dharma is contemplated as that which supports the recognition and expression of one's deeper nature.
Adharma is not redefined as secretly identical with dharma. Rather, even in contracted movement I seek the Śakti without denying the distinction between contracted and uncontracted expression.
I do not destroy identity. I release its exclusivity. The limited 'I' is returned to the wider ground from which it arose.
Thus returning to svabhāva means recognition, not annihilation.
X. The Names and the Unstainability of Śakti
न किञ्चिच्चित्परं वस्तु सर्वं तस्याः प्रकाशनम् ।
तथापि हिंसया हिंसा धर्मो नैव प्रजायते ॥
na kiñcic citparaṃ vastu sarvaṃ tasyāḥ prakāśanam |
tathāpi hiṃsayā hiṃsā dharmo naiva prajāyate ||
नाम्नां मूलानि पश्येत ध्यानोपायेन साधकः ।
रूढार्थं न परित्यज्य शक्तिं तेषु विचिन्तयेत् ॥
nāmnāṃ mūlāni paśyeta dhyānopāyena sādhakaḥ |
rūḍhārthaṃ na parityajya śaktiṃ teṣu vicintayet ||
The powers appearing through destructive, fearful, painful, or contracted forms are not outside Consciousness. Nothing can stand outside the all-inclusive field of manifestation.
This does not mean that injury becomes non-injury, falsehood becomes truth, or destructive conduct becomes dharma merely through etymological reinterpretation.
In contemplating names such as Adharma, Mṛṣā, Dambha, Māyā, Lobha, Nikṛti, Krodha, Hiṃsā, Kali, Durukti, Mṛtyu, Bhīti, Niraya, and Yātanā, I may examine their linguistic movements as contemplative supports, while preserving their established meanings and ethical or experiential distinctions.
The recognition sought is deeper: the energy by which even contraction appears is Śakti; contraction itself is not thereby declared the uncontracted state.
XI. Preparatory Mantra Practice
भैरवं बालरूपेण मन्त्रकाले विचिन्तयेत् ।
देहं क्षेत्रं विजानीयाद् भैरवीं च पुरःस्थिताम् ॥
bhairavaṃ bālarūpeṇa mantrakāle vicintayet |
dehaṃ kṣetraṃ vijānīyād bhairavīṃ ca puraḥsthitām ||
भैरवीं बालरूपेण पुनर्मन्त्रे विचिन्तयेत् ।
दृष्टिभेदो भवेद् यत्र चिदेकैव प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
bhairavīṃ bālarūpeṇa punar mantre vicintayet |
dṛṣṭibhedo bhaved yatra cidekaiva pratiṣṭhitā ||
1. Baṭuka Bhairava
AUM BATUKA BHAIRAVAAYA NAMAHA
During this mantra I contemplate myself in the child-form of Bhairava. My body is the field. Awareness is luminous and playful, and before me appears the beautiful Bhairavī-form that is never truly outside awareness.
2. Ucchiṣṭa Cāṇḍālinī
AUM NAMO UCCHISTA CHANDALINI VAAGVAADINI RAJMOHINI PRAJAAMOHINI STRIMOHINI AAN AAT YEVE VAYU UCCHISTA CHANDALINI SATYAVAADINI KI SHAKTI KURU SVAAHAA
During this mantra I contemplate myself in the child-form of Bhairavī. The body remains the same field. The apparent change of standpoint occurs within one awareness.
XII. The Five Mental Offerings
भैरवी भैरवं ध्यात्वा पञ्चोपहारमर्पयेत् ।
भैरवो भैरवीं ध्यात्वा मनसैव प्रतिगृह्णीयात् ॥
bhairavī bhairavaṃ dhyātvā pañcopahāram arpayet |
bhairavo bhairavīṃ dhyātvā manasaiva pratigṛhṇīyāt ||
दाताहं ग्राहकोऽहं च क्षेत्रं चाहं तथैव च ।
भेदः पूजाक्रमे तिष्ठेद् वियोगो नास्ति तत्त्वतः ॥
dātāhaṃ grāhako ’haṃ ca kṣetraṃ cāhaṃ tathaiva ca |
bhedaḥ pūjākrame tiṣṭhed viyogo nāsti tattvataḥ ||
The offering takes place at this point of the practice. When I meditate in the form of Bhairavī, I mentally prepare offerings for Bhairava; when I meditate in the form of Bhairava, I receive them from Bhairavī.
The five contemplative offerings retained here are meat, alcohol, sweets, flowers, and fragrance. They are mental offerings in this recension.
As Bhairavī I offer; as Bhairava I receive. Then the standpoint reverses.
The offering does not occur between two absolutely alien beings. I am the one who offers, I am the one who receives, and I am the field in which offering and reception become manifest.
The distinction is ritually preserved; separation is not.
XIII. Main Mantra Stage
मुख्यमन्त्रजपे देहं न त्यजेत् साधकः क्वचित् ।
क्षेत्रभावेन तिष्ठेत चिद्रूपं स्वं विचिन्तयेत् ॥
mukhyamantrajape dehaṃ na tyajet sādhakaḥ kvacit |
kṣetrabhāvena tiṣṭheta cidrūpaṃ svaṃ vicintayet ||
कदाचिद् भैरवो बालः कदाचिद् भैरवी भवेत् ।
दृष्ट्योर्भेदेऽपि चिदेका क्रीडया बहुधा स्थिता ॥
kadācid bhairavo bālaḥ kadācid bhairavī bhavet |
dṛṣṭyor bhede ’pi cidekā krīḍayā bahudhā sthitā ||
1. Ucchiṣṭa Gaṇeśa
AUM HREEM GAM HASTI PISHAACHI LIKHEE SVAAHAA
During this mantra I remain within the wholeness of the body-field.
2. Baṭuka Bhairava Mantra I
AUM HREEM BATUKAAYA AAPADUDDHAARANAAYA KURU KURU BATUKAAYA HREEM
3. Baṭuka Bhairava Mantra II
AUM KLEEM VEEM RUUM DHRUM GHNEEM HREEM BATUKA BHAIRAVAAYA NAMAHA SVAAHAA
In the main stage I do not leave the body. As body I am the field; as consciousness I recognize Bhairava and Bhairavī as inseparable aspects of one awareness.
At times I occupy one child-standpoint, at times the other. At times the children face one another; at times one follows the other.
The original mood of the field is not deficiency. It is the freedom of fullness to appear as relation, movement, differentiation, and return.
XIV. Dhāraṇā of the Lake
सरस्यां पद्ममुद्दिश्य देहबीजानि भावयेत् ।
अव्यक्तानि स्थितान्यत्र शक्तिक्रीडाविकासिनि ॥
sarasyāṃ padmam uddiśya dehabījāni bhāvayet |
avyaktāni sthitāny atra śaktikrīḍāvikāsini ||
जले व्योम यथा भाति न दूरं नापि तन्मयम् ।
भेदाभेदौ तथा ध्यायेत् स्वदेहे चिदधिष्ठितौ ॥
jale vyoma yathā bhāti na dūraṃ nāpi tanmayam |
bhedābhedau tathā dhyāyet svadehe cidadhiṣṭhitau ||
I go to the lake on the right side of the field and contemplate the closed lotuses. Within them lie the latent possibilities of embodied manifestation.
The sky is reflected in the water. The water does not travel to another realm in order to obtain the sky, nor does the sky become water. Difference and non-separation are simultaneously contemplated.
I experience my body in the same way: not as an alien prison to be abandoned, but as a manifestation whose deeper nature can be recognized.
I return not to another place, but to a deeper recognition of this very field of experience.
XV. Final Dhāraṇā
क्षेत्रोऽहं देहरूपेण बालौ चित्तस्य रूपिणौ ।
भैरवोऽहं भैरवी चाहं क्रीडैवाहं निरन्तरम् ॥
kṣetro ’haṃ deharūpeṇa bālau cittasya rūpiṇau |
bhairavo ’haṃ bhairavī cāhaṃ krīḍaivāhaṃ nirantaram ||
As body I am the field. The two children are forms appearing within Consciousness. I am Bhairava; I am Bhairavī; I am their ceaseless play.
कामस्य मूलमानन्दं ज्ञात्वेच्छाशक्तिरूपतः ।
द्वैतग्रन्थिं विलाप्याहं स्वभावं प्रत्यभिज्ञये ॥
kāmasya mūlam ānandaṃ jñātvecchāśaktirūpataḥ |
dvaitagranthiṃ vilāpyāhaṃ svabhāvaṃ pratyabhijñaye ||
Knowing the root of desire as bliss and recognizing it as the power of willing, I dissolve the knot of exclusive duality and recognize my own nature.
I do not annihilate bodily identity. I recognize it as a limited standpoint within a greater field of awareness.
I do not demand that the world conform to every contracted desire as proof of realization. I recognize the fullness from which the power of desire arises.
I remain in this body. I meditate in this body. Whatever fulfillment, transformation, action, or relinquishment follows is received within the freedom of Consciousness.
XVI. The Swan Returning to the Lake
अभ्यासफलसम्पत्तौ हंसरूपेण मे मनः ।
स्वह्रदं पुनरायाति यत्र तस्य निकेतनम् ॥
abhyāsaphalasampattau haṃsarūpeṇa me manaḥ |
svahradaṃ punar āyāti yatra tasya niketanam ||
When the fruit of practice ripens, my mind, contemplated in the form of a swan, returns to its own lake, its dwelling.
सृष्टीन् ब्रह्म च लङ्घित्वा हृष्टो हंसोऽवरोहति ।
ह्रदस्य सलिले रम्ये स्वस्थानं पुनराश्रितः ॥
sṛṣṭīn brahma ca laṅghitvā hṛṣṭo haṃso ’varohati |
hradasya salile ramye svasthānaṃ punar āśritaḥ ||
Passing in contemplation beyond the worlds and conceptual absolutes, the joyful swan descends upon the beautiful water of the lake and rests again in its own place.
The swan is not an entity escaping creation. It is a contemplative image of recognition: awareness ceases to seek itself elsewhere and recognizes its own field as the place of manifestation.
XVII. Bhairava Questions Bhairavī
भैरवीं प्रति देवेशः प्रोवाचेदं ततो वचः ।
भैरवि ब्रूहि मेऽद्य त्वं क्षेत्रं कुत्र प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥
bhairavīṃ prati deveśaḥ provācedaṃ tato vacaḥ |
bhairavi brūhi me ’dya tvaṃ kṣetraṃ kutra pratiṣṭhitam ||
Then Bhairava addressed Bhairavī: Tell me now, Bhairavī: where is the field established?
कौ तौ बालौ च तत्रैव नित्यं क्रीडापरायणौ ।
कामः कुत्र समुद्भूतः कुत्र चैव निवर्तते ॥
kau tau bālau ca tatraiva nityaṃ krīḍāparāyaṇau |
kāmaḥ kutra samudbhūtaḥ kutra caiva nivartate ||
Who are the two children devoted to play within it? Where does desire arise, and into what does it return?
द्वैतग्रन्थौ विलीनायां का त्वं भैरवि मे वद ।
dvaitagranthau vilīnāyāṃ kā tvaṃ bhairavi me vada |
When the knot of exclusive duality has dissolved, who are you, Bhairavī?
भैरव्युवाच — Bhairavī’s Recognition
क्रीडाहं ध्यानरूपाहं साधकोऽहं तथैव च ।
क्षेत्रं चाहं मन्त्रनादो ध्यानस्य फलमेव च ॥
krīḍāhaṃ dhyānarūpāhaṃ sādhako ’haṃ tathaiva ca |
kṣetraṃ cāhaṃ mantranādo dhyānasya phalam eva ca ||
I am the play, the form of meditation, and the practitioner. I am the field, the sound of mantra, and the fruit of meditation.
प्रकाशोऽहं विमर्शोऽहं स्वातन्त्र्यं चिद्रसोऽप्यहम् ।
कुण्डलीभावमापन्ना देहे शक्तिरहं स्थिता ॥
prakāśo ’haṃ vimarśo ’haṃ svātantryaṃ cidraso ’py aham |
kuṇḍalībhāvam āpannā dehe śaktir ahaṃ sthitā ||
I am luminous awareness and its self-apprehending power; I am freedom and the rasa of Consciousness. Assuming the mode called Kuṇḍalinī, I abide in the body as Śakti.
भैरवोऽहं भैरवी चाहं भेदाभेदविवर्जिता ।
स्वभावं प्रत्यभिज्ञाय नित्योदितसुखात्मिका ॥
bhairavo ’haṃ bhairavī cāhaṃ bhedābhedavivarjitā |
svabhāvaṃ pratyabhijñāya nityoditasukhātmikā ||
I am Bhairava and I am Bhairavī, beyond the limitation of either absolute difference or featureless identity. Recognizing my own nature, I am the ever-arising fullness of bliss.
क्रीडानन्दस्य नित्यं वै विचित्ररूपिणी स्थिता ।
इत्यद्वैतस्वातन्त्र्यविज्ञानतन्त्रम् ॥
krīḍānandasya nityaṃ vai vicitrarūpiṇī sthitā |
ity advaita-svātantrya-vijñāna-tantram ||
I abide eternally as the manifold forms of the bliss of play. Thus ends the Advaita-svātantrya-vijñāna-tantram.
XVIII. Etymological Appendix — Sanskrit Verses, IAST, and English
Dharma
Root: dhṛ
English: to hold, bear, sustain, support. In the meditation: that which bears or supports its own nature.
Adharma
Root: a- + dharma
English: the privative prefix a- + dharma. In the source text: that which has lost its own nature.
Mṛṣā
Root: mṛṣ
English: forbearance, endurance, permission; allowing something to take place. Used here as a contemplative semantic association.
Dambha
Root: dambh
English: assumption of a particular behavior or appearance.
Māyā
Root: mā
English: measuring, apportioning, creating, projecting.
Lobha
Root: lubh
English: attraction, desire, strong orientation.
Nikṛti
Root: ni- + kṛ
English: ni-: downwardness, inwardness, placement or fixing; kṛ: doing, making, creating, performing. A morphological contemplation retained from the original text.
Krodha
Root: krudh
English: agitation, boiling up.
Hiṃsā
Root: hiṃs
English: striking, injury, wounding; alteration of integrity.
Kali
Root: kal
English: counting, measuring, ordering, calculation.
Related semantic field in the source: kāla, kalpa, kalpanā.
Durukti
Root: dur-/dus- + ukti
English: dur-/dus-: difficulty or obstruction; ukti: utterance, expression.
Mṛtyu
Root: mṛ
English: passing away, cessation, dissolution, transformation.
Bhīti / Bhaya
Root: bhī
English: trembling, being shaken, withdrawal. In bodily experience: trembling, defensive reflex, readiness.
Niraya
Root: nir- + ay
English: nir-: moving away/outward/departure; ay: going, movement, progression.
Yātanā
Root: yā / tan
English: yā: going, proceeding, wandering, flowing; tan: extending, stretching, spreading, manifesting; tanū: bodily extension.
Bhairava
Root: bhī + rava
English: bhī: trembling/bodily response; rava: sound, resonance, vibration.