Awareness Is Not in the Pot
The awareness of an outer object, or of a desire within, is not really confined there; see it as all-pervading and become all-pervading.
घट आदि बाह्य वस्तु का ज्ञान, या भीतर की इच्छा — वह चेतना उन्हीं में सीमित नहीं; उसे सर्वगत भावित कर सर्वगत हो जाओ।
The conversation of Devi & Bhairava
A faithful retelling of the dialogue that frames this verse — the Goddess asks, and Bhairava answers with the teaching above. (The śloka is the scripture; the conversation dramatizes its meaning, in English and Hindi.)
When I know a pot, Lord, the awareness seems to be out there at the pot. When I feel a desire, it seems in here. Which is it?
जब मैं घड़े को जानती हूँ, नाथ, चेतना वहाँ घड़े पर लगती है। जब इच्छा अनुभव करती हूँ, वह यहाँ भीतर लगती है। वह कहाँ है?
Neither, and both. The awareness that knows the pot is not confined to the pot, and the awareness of a desire is not shut inside you. Notice that the same knowing lights up both.
न वहाँ, न यहाँ — और दोनों। जो चेतना घड़े को जानती है वह घड़े में बँधी नहीं, और इच्छा की चेतना तुम्हारे भीतर बंद नहीं। देखो कि वही एक जानना दोनों को उद्भासित करता है।
So the knowing only seems to sit in its objects?
तो जानना केवल अपनी वस्तुओं में बैठा-सा प्रतीत होता है?
Only seems. Contemplate that the awareness is not confined to them at all — it is all-pervading. Objects appear within it; it is not produced by them or trapped in them.
केवल प्रतीत होता है। भावना करो कि चेतना उनमें बँधी है ही नहीं — वह सर्वव्यापी है। वस्तुएँ उसी में प्रकट होती हैं; वह उनसे उत्पन्न नहीं, न उनमें फँसी।
And resting in that recognition?
और उस पहचान में ठहरकर?
Cease to localize awareness in things or in the body, and your own sense of being confined dissolves into all-pervadingness. The same awareness lighting up a pot "over there" and a feeling "in here" is one boundless awareness — and it is what you are.
चेतना को वस्तुओं में या शरीर में स्थित करना छोड़ दो, और तुम्हारा सीमित होने का भाव सर्वव्यापकता में घुल जाता है। वही चेतना जो "वहाँ" घड़े को और "यहाँ" किसी भाव को उद्भासित करती है, एक असीम चेतना है — और वही तुम हो।
Why it works
We assume the awareness that knows a pot is "out there" at the pot, and the awareness of a desire is "in here". This verse corrects that: the knowing-consciousness is never confined to its objects — it is all-pervading (sarvagata). Contemplating it so, and ceasing to localize it in things or in the body, the meditator comes to share its all-pervadingness.
How to practice
- 1Notice the awareness by which you know an outer object — say, a pot — or an inner movement like a desire.
- 2See that this knowing-awareness seems to be "in" the object or the desire.
- 3Now contemplate that the awareness is not actually confined to them at all — it is all-pervading (sarvagata).
- 4Resting in that recognition, let your own sense of being localized dissolve into all-pervadingness. Rest as that.
The deeper story
This is a precise Pratyabhijñā argument turned into practice: consciousness is not produced by or contained in objects; objects appear within it. Seeing that the same awareness pervades the "outer" pot and the "inner" desire dissolves the inside/outside divide and reveals awareness as sarvagata — the all-pervading Self.
Terms in this technique
- cit
- Consciousness itself, the aware principle.
- ātman
- The true self; awareness as one’s own being.
- aham
- The sense of "I"; the self that is inquired into.
- bhāvanā
- Contemplative imagination; cultivating a state through felt imagery.
Sources consulted
- Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava: The Manual for Self-Realization (Motilal Banarsidass, 1979)
- Swami Lakshmanjoo, Vijnana Bhairava: The Manual for Self Realization (Universal Shaiva Fellowship, 2007)
- Bettina Bäumer, Vijñâna Bhairava: The Practice of Centering Awareness (Indica Books, 2011)