Khem Nefermed
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Within my studies of Vedic texts, this one was pretty fascinating, so I'll go over the entire text. This text was discovered in the 8th century CE, but it is attributed orally to schools of Tantra far before this. The author is unknown, and it is claimed to have been received from Shiva. The only context I'd say one needs (other than far more years of meditation and study than I have to deeply understand the original Sanskrit meaning) is that this is discussed within the Tantric metaphysical system of Samkhya.
Here, Shiva is Purusha and Prakriti is Shakti. This system does not disagree with Zevism, it is simply a way of categorizing existence.
The text starts with Shakti asking Shiva about the nature of existence, and Shiva gives 112 answers for obtaining these, which are meditational principles and techniques. What I will explain of these is very surface level. These are Sanskrit texts where every word can be analyzed quite deeply, and they have rich symbolic meaning. May this post raise your curiosity, propel you to study more (starting with the material found in ToZ), and encourage you in meditation.
As this is a long one, do take breaks to read it if necessary. I will not be going over each of the 112, only through some, because this post would be far too long. Not all of these are in order, I will be jumping around.
Sri Bhairava [Shiva] said: Paradevi [Shakti], whose nature is creation, manifests as the upward prana and the downward apana. By fixing the mind at the two points of generation, the state of fullness results.
The most basic explanation of this, as this is a deep verse, is that Shakti or the energy, can be understood and wielded by focusing on the breath.
When the ingoing pranic air and outgoing pranic air are both restrained in their space from their return, the essence of bhairava, which is not different from bhairavi [Shakti], manifests.
Life is in the breath, and consciousness, awareness, is in the stillness between breaths. This points (among other things, I will not repeat that these have many meanings) to Void Meditation.
When Shakti in the form of vayu [pranic air] is still and does not move swiftly in a specific direction, there develops in the middle, through the state of Nirvikalpa [awareness without subjectivity], the form of Bhairava.
This describes holding the breath in Pranayama.
When Kumbhaka takes place after Puraka [inhale] or Rechaka [exhale], then the shakti known as shanta is experienced and through that peace (the bhairava consciousness) is revealed.
The mysteries of the Kumbhaka hold, for which High Priestess Maxine gave brilliant and powerful numerological patterns of the breath hold.
Concentrate on the Shakti [bioelectricity] arising from the Root like the rays of the sun, gradually becoming subtler and subtler, until at last she dissolves in the dwadashanta [point between the eyebrows] and bhairava manifests.
Meditate on that Shakti moving upwards like lightning through all the chakras one by one to the dwadashanta.
Raising energy to the Third Eye.
The twelve should be pierced successively through proper understanding of their twelve letters. Thus becoming liberated from the gross then the subtle, one by one, at the end (of its journey) the kundalini becomes Shiva.
Raising the Serpentine energy through the Chakras (including the ones above the head), which have been opened with sufficient vibration.
One who repeats the Pranava [AUM] perfectly, while concentrating on the void for protracted periods, experiences the void, and by that void the transcendental shakti is revealed.
Whoever contemplates even on the letters [AUM] from first to last, in the form of void, verily that sadhaka [practitioner, devotee] by meditation on the void becomes the void.
All the directions should be contemplated upon simultaneously in one's own body as space or void.
This is Directing Energy Meditation.
One should fix his sight (on the empty space) inside a pot, leaving aside the enclosing structure. Thus, the pot being gone from sight, the mind will at once be dissolved.Through that laya the mind becomes completely absorbed (in the void).
When the mind is restrained to one object of awareness, casting all others aside and not allowing movement to take place from one to another, then inside that perception the awareness blossoms.
Anyone who has done for a while the Dot Awareness Meditation will recognize this.
Enter that state preceding sleep, where the awareness of the outer world has faded, the mind is absorbed in the threshold state which Shakti illumines.
This is about Trance.
Offering of flowers, is not puja [worship], but making one's mind steady in mahakasha [great void] is worship indeed.
The text also goes into some oneness ideas which Zevism has not outright "rejected" as some think, but rather explained PROPERLY. The "all is one" New Age rhetoric is the product of uninitiated minds reading what they should not have read. These are thought exercises, metaphysical concepts, and techniques for meditation. High Priest as well as Lady Maxine have gone in depth in many sermons about how the all is one mentality, if taken to a reductive extreme, leads only to ruin.
A pretty good translation can be found here, but I would also advise searching the Sanskrit terms yourself. It will help you learn more, and get a more accurate idea of the verses.
Here, Shiva is Purusha and Prakriti is Shakti. This system does not disagree with Zevism, it is simply a way of categorizing existence.
The text starts with Shakti asking Shiva about the nature of existence, and Shiva gives 112 answers for obtaining these, which are meditational principles and techniques. What I will explain of these is very surface level. These are Sanskrit texts where every word can be analyzed quite deeply, and they have rich symbolic meaning. May this post raise your curiosity, propel you to study more (starting with the material found in ToZ), and encourage you in meditation.
As this is a long one, do take breaks to read it if necessary. I will not be going over each of the 112, only through some, because this post would be far too long. Not all of these are in order, I will be jumping around.
Sri Bhairava [Shiva] said: Paradevi [Shakti], whose nature is creation, manifests as the upward prana and the downward apana. By fixing the mind at the two points of generation, the state of fullness results.
The most basic explanation of this, as this is a deep verse, is that Shakti or the energy, can be understood and wielded by focusing on the breath.
When the ingoing pranic air and outgoing pranic air are both restrained in their space from their return, the essence of bhairava, which is not different from bhairavi [Shakti], manifests.
Life is in the breath, and consciousness, awareness, is in the stillness between breaths. This points (among other things, I will not repeat that these have many meanings) to Void Meditation.
When Shakti in the form of vayu [pranic air] is still and does not move swiftly in a specific direction, there develops in the middle, through the state of Nirvikalpa [awareness without subjectivity], the form of Bhairava.
This describes holding the breath in Pranayama.
When Kumbhaka takes place after Puraka [inhale] or Rechaka [exhale], then the shakti known as shanta is experienced and through that peace (the bhairava consciousness) is revealed.
The mysteries of the Kumbhaka hold, for which High Priestess Maxine gave brilliant and powerful numerological patterns of the breath hold.
Concentrate on the Shakti [bioelectricity] arising from the Root like the rays of the sun, gradually becoming subtler and subtler, until at last she dissolves in the dwadashanta [point between the eyebrows] and bhairava manifests.
Meditate on that Shakti moving upwards like lightning through all the chakras one by one to the dwadashanta.
Raising energy to the Third Eye.
The twelve should be pierced successively through proper understanding of their twelve letters. Thus becoming liberated from the gross then the subtle, one by one, at the end (of its journey) the kundalini becomes Shiva.
Raising the Serpentine energy through the Chakras (including the ones above the head), which have been opened with sufficient vibration.
One who repeats the Pranava [AUM] perfectly, while concentrating on the void for protracted periods, experiences the void, and by that void the transcendental shakti is revealed.
Whoever contemplates even on the letters [AUM] from first to last, in the form of void, verily that sadhaka [practitioner, devotee] by meditation on the void becomes the void.
All the directions should be contemplated upon simultaneously in one's own body as space or void.
This is Directing Energy Meditation.
One should fix his sight (on the empty space) inside a pot, leaving aside the enclosing structure. Thus, the pot being gone from sight, the mind will at once be dissolved.Through that laya the mind becomes completely absorbed (in the void).
When the mind is restrained to one object of awareness, casting all others aside and not allowing movement to take place from one to another, then inside that perception the awareness blossoms.
Anyone who has done for a while the Dot Awareness Meditation will recognize this.
Enter that state preceding sleep, where the awareness of the outer world has faded, the mind is absorbed in the threshold state which Shakti illumines.
This is about Trance.
Offering of flowers, is not puja [worship], but making one's mind steady in mahakasha [great void] is worship indeed.
The text also goes into some oneness ideas which Zevism has not outright "rejected" as some think, but rather explained PROPERLY. The "all is one" New Age rhetoric is the product of uninitiated minds reading what they should not have read. These are thought exercises, metaphysical concepts, and techniques for meditation. High Priest as well as Lady Maxine have gone in depth in many sermons about how the all is one mentality, if taken to a reductive extreme, leads only to ruin.
A pretty good translation can be found here, but I would also advise searching the Sanskrit terms yourself. It will help you learn more, and get a more accurate idea of the verses.
