Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 75

Just before you sleep

Anaagatayam Nidrayam Pranashte Bahya Gochare|

Savastha Manasa Gamya Para Devi Prakashate||

Just at the moment when you are slipping into sleep and your mind is shutting off its association with the external sense objects just as the eyes close, and it is yet to fully fall asleep, take your attention to the awareness that is present in the intervening period of transition. The Supreme Goddess shines there. (Pix. and text: Swahilya Shambhavi. Pix. A dusk-time view of a minaret in the distance on a Chennai evening.)

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 74

Where the mind is content there lies supreme bliss

Yatra Yatra Manastushtihi Manastathraiva Dharayeth|

Tatra Tatra Paranandas Swaroopam Sampravartate||

Nothing is spared in the Tantra as a means to meditatye on the divine experience. Here in this verse, it is contemplation on the happy moments that you have experienced in the past. When you sit down for meditation, bring your awareness to the happy incident. At the source of this experience lies the supreme joy that makes its presence felt. It also goes without saying that a mind that is content at all times, revels in this blissful state forever. (Pix: The O' Brothers - Ojasvin and Omjasvin in a show of joy and contentment.) - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 73

Sensual pleasures

Geetadi Vishayaswada Samasoukhyaikatathmanaha|
Yoginasthanmayasthwena Manoroodhesthadathmatha||
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Listening to music and other sensual pleasures, the mind attains a sort of equanimity. The mind of the yogi attains the state of self by riding the crest of the sensual wave. - (Swahilya Shambhavi)

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 72

Food and Drink

Jagdhipanakritollasa Rasanandavijhrimbhanaath|
Bhavayeth Bharithavasthaam Mahanandasthatha Bhaveth||
Here we go! We all love food. We love the taste of sweets and savouries, coffee, tea, ice cream, pizzas, burgers - just about anything. Next time, around you, put something that you like (or don't!) into your mouth, here's the meditation for you - when you are happy with tasting something solid or liquid contemplate on the blissful feeling feeling that arises. In that state of fullness, you experience the maha ananda. (Pic and text: Swahilya Shambhavi. Tasting a juicy apple at the heights of Deoria Tal in Rudra Prayag District, Uttarakhand, Himalayas.)

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 71

When you meet with friends

Aanande Mahati Prapte Drishteva Bandhavechirath|
Aanandamudgatam Dhyathva Tallayanthanmana Bhaveth||

When we meet our dearest friends or someone beloved to us, there is a great joy in that meeting. When you meditate upon this joy that springs within, when you remember the incident in complete detail, you experience the mind merging with consciousness. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (New found young friends at a Samskrita Prashikshana Shibiram in Hosur recently organised by Samskrita Bharati.)

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 70

Remembering the embrace

Lehana Manthana Kotaihi Stree Sukhasya Bharathsmrite|
Shaktyabhavepi Deveshi Bhavedananda Samplavaha||

If Shiva were to be conducting a modern-day meditation workshop, then this verse would feature under the category of "Strictly for couples alone!" There is a direct allusion to sex and a glimps of ananda. When the man remembers totally the kissing, hugging and pressing embrace of a woman and the joy that arises out of sexual union, oh queen among gods, (Parvati), even at the time when the women is absent, the bliss that is present ever swells from within.
Being aware of this bliss totally you become aware of the witness who is watching the event of bliss arising out of the sexual experience.
Tantra shows the day-to-day path to meditation. And this is one way which makes use of the explosive energies involved in the sexual act to turn the mind inwards toward the awareness. (A pathway of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple where the divine Meenakshi married Lord Shiva in the form of Sundareshwarar. Pic. Swahilya Shambhavi.

Vignana Bhairava Tantra - 69

When Shiva and Shakti unite.....

Shakti Sanga Samkshubdha - Shakthyaveshavasanikam| Yatsukham Brahmatathwasya Tatsukham Swakyam Uchyate||
In all of the Vignana Bhairava Tantra, it is this verse and the next that refer to the topic that Tantra is famously misunderstood and misquoted for. Shiva tells his wife Parvathy, yet another way of experiencing the truth.
At the time of union with shakti (woman) in a physical communion, there is an experience of excitement at the time of getting absorbed in the experience. That experience of pleasure when witnessed totally, you discover the Brahma Tatwa. Watching that experience dispassionately gives you a glimpse of the one who watches - the Brahman.
Tantra is unique in the sense that it does not deny any aspect of life by calling it bad or taboo. It includes every aspect of daily life, including sex and showing the means of realisation through all that we do. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Tiruvannamalai hills from my view atop a building's terrace.)