Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 56

Earth from the beginning

Bhuvanaadvaadirupena Chintayeth Kramashokhilam|

Sthoola Sukshma Parasthithya Yavadante Manolayaha||

Focussing the mind on a particular thought or image is Dharana. Here, Shiva tells us to take the mind to the point of time before the Earth was born. There was just an empty vast. Though science is still grappling to tell us the story of the earth, we know for sure now that universes are born and die, stars are born and die, the plants have their birth and death too. The earth too has its humble beginnings from nothingness and has been gradually expanding and consolidating over a period of time. Focussing on the gross, subtle and the supreme state of being of the earth beyond the gross and subtle as pure consciousness, the mind dissolves in the end. Swahilya Shambhavi. (The sea of clouds from above the skies. Pic. Swahilya Shambhavi.)

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 55

The sun and its light are the same

Peenam cha durbalam shaktim dhyathva dwadasha gochare|

Pravishya Hridaye Dhyayan Mukta Swatantrya Mapnuyath||

When you get to watch the sunlight falling at your doorstep in the morning, it is no different from the sun itself. But at the peripheral end of the sun's circumference, the light is still visible to the gross eyes. It is far weaker than the heat of the sun in space.

This tantra tells us to meditate on the weak layer of the mind energy that constantly keeps grazing on the objects of perception and action. In all our activities, our senses are involved. While eating for instance, the tongue tastes the food, the eyes see the dining table and other objects around, the ears hear the sounds outside and the food chewed in the mouth, the nose smells the food and the fingers touch the food, plate, spoon, bowl or anything that come in contact with it. All these actions use up the weak layer of energy.

Meditating on this layer of energy which manifests in 12 ways - through the 10 organs of perception and action and the mind and ego, you are able to experience an expression of consciousness that grazes around in this world of sense perceptions. When you enter deeply into the heart of this energy, you become free and attain to enlightenment. - Swahilya Shambhavi

(Pic: Reflection of the sun on the placid waters of the Ganga at Rishikesh. - Swahilya Shambhavi.)