Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

[Nefastos]

Devotion frees.

The exact opposite of our usual secular view. But what is "devotion"? Not a blind belief, unquestioning worship of whatever supposed authority, is meant here. Freedom given by self-chosen idiotism is illusionary & empty, leading to mayavic bonds instead of leaving them.

True devotion is comprehensive by definition, and henceforth it must be able even to criticize & correct itself. Devotion is not casting away of intellect, it is intellect brought under the guidance of one's heart & that heart's Master, whichever name is given to Him or Her.

Devotion is like Yoga, which one literal meaning is putting oneself under a yoke. It is the process of harmonizing oneself by accepting one simply can't follow every possible path, but that one can & should choose a path that is closest to one's heart. It's actually very hard practice for a modern seeker, because there are so many interesting things. How to find the red thread going through all that finds positive resonance in our hearts, & at the same times take steady steps onwards, not straying to long & often painful by-roads that may last for a lifetime or more?

As I said, there are equally good possibilities in every religion, & even in philosophies which seek the Truth without calling that search "religion". But here's an example:

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

This "yoke", as said, is literally Yoga (= spiritual practice) of any a religion: the yoke of Jesus is a little different from the yoke of Lucifer, and so forth. Every one of these devotional ways of life demand that kind of sacrifice that feels right & meaningful to the devotee.

But whatever the way of devotion, an Idol or ideal picture is needed. However subtle, there's always an ideal of sorts, even if one worships void, sunyata or absolute death: there is & will always be like a simulacrum that we need to guide that process, because our personal selves need directions even to direct ourselves to that which is actually everywhere. One can be iconoclast only by philosophy, not in reality.

That is what herein is meant by the first part in italics. Every occultist understands that our "Father" is not that poor, many times veiled picture of the so-called "God" of the Churches, but something altogether different: Truth itself, as said. Likewise, "Son" is not that symbolistic, killed & castrated Jesus-figure hanging dust-covered above the altars of human folly, but rather the spiritual Life that necessarily & always flows forth from the spiritual Truth. The Truth ("Father") is the formless Self, the Life ("Son") is a personal Ego, born from that Truth seemingly without a mother, because they are actually one & the same. The Fire and the Flame.

That is why we need devotion. Only by keeping in the "Flame" we can know the "Fire": there's no fire that could be grasped by our mind without some simulacrum created by it. Without gods, there is no God; without masters, there is no Master. Devotion is seeking one's god or master & then keeping in Him/Her as the highest possible ideal seen as practice, as an avatar of One Truth.

"For wherever I link the string of thoughts' end, there it will return, and to what form I believe my soul is cast, thereto it shall be cast; 'according to your faith be it unto you' – and the meaning of belief is certainly not in the wish for the truthfulness of one’s own delusions, but in the level of subconscious knowledge."

[Nefastos]

Eyes closed,
See your inner being in detail.
Thus see your true nature.

"Your inner being" is that Son, one's personal god, an inner Master: the ideal self that is one's true monadic Ego. Its form, that the stanza suggests to picture in detail, is our eidolonic body, that every aspiring man or woman is building up - slowly, if one has only little faith in spiritual ethics; or quickly, if one lives mainly for that striving for ascension, as an occultist does.

The apparent danger is easy to spot here: we can fall to wrong anthropomorphism & picture so detailed picture of our ideal self that it starts to hinder our process instead of helping it. It can be either an inadequate set of attributes pictured, or even too childish a way to see this inner god. We might easily confuse it with some divine pictures shown to us before, or the symbols that are supposed to uplift our spirit & inspire us might begin to imprison us in too narrow a view. The picture might become more demanding than helpful, or it can even become idol to worship our lower personality still burdened with all its flaws & failings.

But if we understand & remember these problems, they can be avoided. While picturing this ideal self, we must at all times be ready to add nuances, sophisticate it, and often even completely revaluate things, keep changing symbols whenever the heart's silent intuition whispers so. This inner picture should be taken as an icon, & we can understand that icons can be of greater or lesser value, regarding of their maker's intuition & artistic abilities. If the icon is bad, it doesn't lessen the value of what it's trying to picture, but we must remember not to confuse the true thing with a poor picture. Sometimes it's enough to smile to oneself: today this is the best picture I'm capable of; maybe tomorrow or the next week I can do better.

One more thing. This building of Self's personal idol is very Luciferian practice, but as such, it must also be used in a Luciferian way. That is, not separating earthly from the spiritual. It is not enough for us to see this eidolonic self in isolated meditation; we must picture ourselves as it at every moment, during our everyday life. Only in that way we can actually grow to become it. It's surprisingly easy for many people to picture oneself as a lofty spiritul being, an adept already, but when it comes to those everyday things, we still act selfishly or foolishly, without passion or compassion, making too much mediocre choices. But that can be helped by remembering the true (ideal) self at the midst of our everyday workings. It can make a trivial work most meaningful if we take it as a test to keep in our ideal. Little by little, we'll become the gods we're bearing within, but only by this kind of gradual ascension in everyday life. Taken as that, "eyes closed" means that one should make himself blind to the superficial futility of things. There's nothing futile in the world that is ultimately power.

[Nefastos]

Look upon a bowl without seeing
The sides or the material.
In a few moments become aware.

Looking upon a bowl that's filled with clear liquid is a common method of scrying in many cultures (including elves... or the already mentioned devas). Here the tantra can be taken as a meta level of that practice, where both the bowl & the liquid is seen through ("without seeing") to the subliminal perception.

Once again it can be done with or without an actual physical object. The bowl is also the physical/energetical receptacle of man, its content the astral or akashic fluid that carries the vision or, better still, "awareness". It is the magic mirror of being. Used by incarnated human being it is his or her astral reflection; used by disincarnated Ego it is our physical incarnation or its recollection.

Sides of the bowl are to be forgotten in the process, also the material. These mechanical structures are of no importance. What is meaningful is the vision sought, & by whose awareness the meaning is transferred. Our whole life is an act of scrying gone through by Self (âtma). It's only because of our monadic Ego's yet unperfected samadhi that we have forgot that we're actually the dreamer and not (t)his astral dream.

EDIT: Cool picture link changed to less cool & less restricted text link.

[Nefastos]

See as if for the first time
A beauteous person
Or an ordinary object.

How do we see these at the first time? The first with positive fascination, the latter as with neutral disinterest. Both of these methods are able to lead us onwards to fuller spirituality, if taken seriously. The first path is the path of the heart, the second the path of reason.

The lesson here is not to mix them with one another, not to jump between them uncontrollably, and not to bring along negative ambitions. If we bring emotions to our spiritual search, we must bring them in a positive way: in a form of fascination, of awe. The world is a constant miracle, always fresh, always magical, never exhausting itself.

Once again, this would be the way of beholding Fullness; another, the way of beholding Void.

Even in the latter case we do not try to separate ourselves from the world by denying it, for that would not succeed. Rather, we see it as perfectly neutral. It is what it is, but we have chosen not to be interested: there's nothing new under the sun. For this kind of practice, I recommend recurrent reading of Dhammapada.

[Nefastos]

Simply by looking into the blue sky
Beyond the clouds,
The serenity.

The blue sky is where the starry space of Venus changes into the earth-centered but equally free stratosphere guided by Jupiter. From the latter, also the former can be understood. Where does this freedom of Air end? It has boundaries nowhere. When looking at the azure sky we're looking at the immense depth of God.

Was it Paracelsus who said that if one could see the demons inhabiting space, the life on earth would become unbearable? Very Lovecraftian way to put it, but the idea is that what seems like empty space to us is not empty whit, but rather as full of its own kind of life as a drop of sea water under the microscope. All this life lives constantly side by side - and even within - our own. Every moment is an explosion of primordial life, ultimately free, ultimately mysterious, ultimately a form of God.

The clouds may help us to see the dimensions of the sky. The sky, that limitless open space, would exist without clouds or stars to reveal it, but when we see only the blue sky, it might seem like a two dimensional shield to us, impenetrable, if we're not claivoyant to the vision of its great opening to immeasurable depths. With the help of majestic clouds, we can understand the greater majesty of sky & space beyond.

This should open our hearts to the true inspiration of the most serene power & insight.

[Nefastos]

Listen while the ultimate mystical teaching is imparted.
Eyes still, without blinking,
at once, become absolutely free.

There are not many possibilities to us for actually hear the ultimate mystical teaching to be imparted - for I wouldn't usually count listening to YouTube New Age videos as such. But it's a good thing we can once again take this as a purely mental practice, like the former & all the former stanzas. A mind capable of invoking different feelings inside can manage all of the practices without never even opening (or closing) one's eyes or moving (or stopping to move) a muscle. Also the "ultimate mystical teaching" can be felt when it is not actually heard.

Blavatsky gave a great meditation practice once. Try to think of something, she said, that surpasses your understanding. Take, for example, the nature of Dhyan Chohans (the cosmocrators) - what are they like? When one's mind stumbles and falls because the object of meditation cannot be contained within it, the lock of that little mind can be broken (or opened) & the consciousness freed.

This practice is nearly the same. We let the "ultimate mystical teaching", that is, some very high-class occult instruction or metaphysics talk to us, we open ourselves to it, let it tremble our whole being. Legends from many different traditions of the different cultures tell us that a single word from a true teacher can liberate a pupil who has been able to fight her way to the boundaries of her own understanding. We are taught that when the pupil is ready, the teacher will be there; waiting at the gate of the secret sound.

"Without blinking", taken symbolically, means two things: firstly, utmost attention (dharana) that does not dwindle with the calls of a profane life. Secondly, it means that one should not be taken back with the mystical teaching that by its nature is always somewhat terrifying. When the time comes for the student to gain some new occult experience, she might at first be scared because that new teaching is so strange or the phenomenon so unlike she has experienced before. If she "blinks", is taken back for just a moment, this new fragile link is severed, and the teaching comes to an abrupt end. One should be fearless not only when struggling one's way to the accomplishment, but at the time of that accomplishment, too.

[Nefastos]

At the edge of a deep well
look steadily into its depths until –
the wondrousness.

Once again a method that might be easy, for some, to take & practice literally. As such, it needs not much commentary: the psychological effect can be sought for & tried. As a purely mental practice, this "deep well" is a bit different. What are the "depths" of one's mind?

C.G. Jung has been discussed at regular intervals lately, and with him, also Nietzsche who - for Jung - was an exemplar of someone becoming obsessed by one's inner daemon. Everyone is familiar with Nietzsche's statement about the abyss gazing back. Likewise occultism & even quantum mechanics tell us that there is no such thing as absolutely neutral observer who's not part of the equation of events in any way.

The "deep well" is therefore our subconscious mind, seemingly subjective but actually opening to macrocosmic Anima Mundi. The secret of success here is, it must be beheld "steadily". Only it's practically impossible at first, for the demons which gaze back from the abyss are invoked by our own dependent mind, and thus exactly that which has the power to shake it most. The stalwart steadiness must be earnt. When reached, "wondrousness" is told to occur. What's this wondrousness? It's the dumbfounding understanding of the fact that we ourselves are both the creators of our world, i.e. its gods in literal sense, and the victims of our misguided creation. For the abyss - that deep dark water of the well - projects back the mirror images of our subconscious mistakes, & when these have been by slow & careful study corrected, the world is ours to make - this time consciously. That precise creation is inwardly enlightenment & outwardly the highest kind of magic.

[Nefastos]

Look upon some object,
Then slowly withdraw your sight from it,
Then slowly withdraw your thought from it.
Then.

Perhaps the most classic form of yoga.

One can choose whatever object preferred or what happens to be close by. The important things here are a) word "slowly" & b) that both the sight & thought are mentioned, & in this order. When we stop looking at an object it still lingers in our mind as a ghost. Not allowing our attention to drift to another object, we keep ourselves in this, but from its physical perception go first to mental and then, with another slow & careful step, to purely abstract without form. Then - we are in the world of spirit.

That abstract thought is at every moment our soul's natural habitat, it's just a matter of focusing to attune our consicous thought to it & not to the world of phenomena. It's a similar process to adjusting one's eyesight to look at a spot in the wall behind the computer monitor & not this text read in exactly the same line of sight. The minuscule muscles that adjust themselves according to the command of the mind work not only with the physical eye, but with the intellectual eye as well.

Nota bene: A good thing in these most classic yoga practices are that they can be practiced everywhere. The next time your evil nemesis imprisons you within his dungeon, you can rejoice: "Finally I can practice my yoga without interruption."

[Nefastos]

Devi,
Imagine Sanskrit letters in these
Honey filled foci of awareness,
First as letters,
The more subtly as sounds,
Then as most subtle feeling.
Then, leaving them aside, be free.

This reminds me of that incredible masterpiece of tantric occultism, Abhinavagupta's Paratrisika Vivarana.

This particular practice might be difficult for the people who are not familiar with Sanskrit, much less its letters' linguistic & tantric connotations. Some may know enough Hebrew or even Greek kabbala to use similar method with these languages though, and the runic alphabet should work as well. Those unable to use but a profane alphabet should ponder its letters a bit (or, a lot) before putting them in this kind of use. Whichever alphabet is chosen, we must seek to understand its letters' deeper meaning by symbolistic & associative study before meditating them in this way.

The four steps herein mentioned are: letters as forms, then as sounds, then as feelings, then as spirit, which frees us. Once again, we're tracing the flow of emanation (universal creation) upstream.

What are "these honey filled foci of awareness"? Our thoughts themselves, the chitta or the substance differentiated by the process of manas. Like droplets of water or crystal spheres wherein to gaze, they reflect microcosms for us to behold as tiny symbols. Buddhi-manas brings this substance to life, after which kâma-manas puts it in known order; stamps it with rational names & forms (namarupa). In yoga, this process is reversed. While doing meditative practice we should understand that even while these chitta forms are our fetters to samsara, they are still sweet ("honey-filled") foci of our basic - sacred - awareness.

It's interesting to note how after a while vocative is used again in the beginning: "Devi". I take it to mean that we should put ourselves to this process understanding that feminine principle should here be the Egoic one (the one to be identified with). I may be a man right now, but when I'm following that magical process back to God, in a way I am also His feminine consort of whom He takes complete care. It's also a hint that this particular practice is a lofty one. In many previous practices different wordings are used to present what kind of attainment can be hoped for. Here, the yogi (occultist) takes the place of the Goddess herself, & should know his/her position from the very start of this meditation. It will help & carry him on, helping to maintain the right kind of attitude.

[Nefastos]

Please consult me, brothers & sisters:

There have been almost no discussion in & about this topic, although many seem to have been reading it. Because of that, I am unsure how to continue my process.

My main reasons to start reading & commenting this particular text were two:

1) To take an example of the much-referred tantric manuals under practical investigation, to help people to whom they seem a distant topic to see them as quite understandable - as opposed of demanding to give oneself primarily to Hindu symbolism, theology or cultural studies.

2) To underline my own idea of the possibility of going through the whole process of occult practice as an metaphysical process of the mind, meaning that there are no outer demands whatsoever. One can take, or leave, any physical practice or meditation, because at their very core it is the mind they are working with; and thus the mind can always wrestle with its ideas without any outer help of gestures, postures, ceremonies, diets, &c. The latter ones can always be chosen - although carefully - according to one's need & temperament, being not the actual key themselves, but only "keys to the key (of mind)".

Both of these I think we have here accomplished, going through 37 of the 112 stanzas. With these, I would be content to stop this linear process of going through them one by one. Rather, in this discussion we might speak of both the commented & the yet uncommented stanzas when a need or someone's interest arises, & I could turn my attention to other working. Let's say, going through some grimoire with the similar consistency.

What do you think?