Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 39

The Pranava Mantra

Pranavadi Samuccharat Plutante Shoonya Bhavanat
Shoonyaya Paraya Shakthya Shoonyatameti Bhairavi

Shiva addresses Parvati here as Bhairavi and describes the process of merging with the transcendental void by chanting the Pranava Mantra. The Pranava Mantra - Om - AUM - is called so because it contains Prana Shakti, the cosmic energy of the Universe. Chanting the Pranava Mantra with perfection is to take in the breath deeply, experiencing it at the navel and while exhaing - letting it with the sound of Om as 'A.....U.....M.....' in equal proportion. At the end of the chanting, there is a silence. The silence has always existed but there is a possibility of experiencing it better after a sound rises and falls. That silence and void is the Truth of one's being. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 38

Anahata Naada

Anahate Patrakarne Bhagnashabde Sariddrute

Shabdabrahmani Nishnataha Param brahmadhigacchathi

Sound or Naada is classified as two types in classical music. One is Ahata Naada or sound that is created by playing on a musical instrument or by the human voice. The other is Anahata naada that is not created, but just exists in creation. This Tantra talks about listening to the unstruck sound that happens uninterruptedly like a flowing river. One who is able to withdraw into a silent space without and even from the noise of the mind within, becomes an adept in hearing this sound in the heart energy centre or the Anahata chakra. Listening to this sound absorbs one into the supreme Brahman consciousness. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Photo: Guilia strumming at my veena when she came home, clicked by my friend Susan. Muthalaly)

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 37

A subtle fire within

Dhamaantha Kshobhasambhoota Sukshmagni Tilakakritim

Bindum Shikante Hridaye Layante Dhyayato Layah

Once the agitations and shaking of the mind is over, there is a state of inner being that one arrives at. It is a tranquil experience of a point of light in the middle of the forehead, at a point behind the head in line with the forehead and in the heart. A subtle fire of energy shines on its own in these regions. Being with that energy of light takes you the closest to consciousness where one finally merges into. - Swahilya Shambhavi

(Pic. A lamp that floats in the Ganga at Rishikesh offered by a devotee. The fire that burns in the centre is symbolic of the subtle fire within, which eventually merges into consciousness - the river. (Swahilya)