Bliss from Remembered Delight
Even without a partner, the vivid memory of intimate delight can flood you with bliss; enter that bliss.
साथी के बिना भी, आत्मीय आनन्द की प्रबल स्मृति से आनन्द की बाढ़ उमड़ सकती है; उसी आनन्द में प्रवेश करो।
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 one I love is far away, Lord, I ache with longing. Is there any doorway in that absence?
जब कोई प्रिय दूर हो, नाथ, मैं विरह से तड़पती हूँ। क्या उस अभाव में भी कोई द्वार है?
Even there. Recall, vividly, a moment of intimate delight — an embrace, a tenderness — and let the body remember it so fully that the bliss actually rises now, in the present, though no one is here.
वहाँ भी। किसी आत्मीय आनन्द के क्षण को सजीव रूप से स्मरण करो — एक आलिंगन, एक कोमलता — और शरीर को उसे इतनी पूरी तरह याद करने दो कि आनन्द सचमुच अभी, वर्तमान में, उठ आए, यद्यपि यहाँ कोई नहीं।
But the joy returns only because I remember them.
पर आनन्द तो केवल इसलिए लौटता है क्योंकि मैं उन्हें याद करती हूँ।
Then release the memory, and keep only the flood of bliss. It does not vanish with the person — which tells you the joy was never in them. Enter that bliss and trace it to its source within you.
तो स्मृति को छोड़ दो, और केवल आनन्द की बाढ़ को रखो। वह उस व्यक्ति के साथ लुप्त नहीं होती — यही बताता है कि आनन्द कभी उनमें था ही नहीं। उस आनन्द में प्रवेश करो और उसे भीतर अपने स्रोत तक ले जाओ।
So even longing can be turned into a path home?
तो विरह को भी घर लौटने का मार्ग बनाया जा सकता है?
Even longing. Delight is intrinsic to awareness — partner or no partner, the nectar is your own. What another seemed to give, you find welling up from within; and the absence becomes a doorway as surely as the meeting.
विरह को भी। आनन्द चेतना का सहज स्वभाव है — साथी हो या न हो, अमृत तुम्हारा अपना है। जो दूसरे ने दिया जान पड़ा, वही तुम भीतर से उमड़ता पाती हो; और अभाव भी मिलन जितना ही निश्चित द्वार बन जाता है।
Why it works
A strong memory of pleasure can rekindle the felt bliss without the original cause being present. The verse uses this to make a point: the joy was never really in the other person or event, but in consciousness itself. By summoning the bliss through memory and then dropping its cause, attention rests in self-existing ānanda.
How to practice
- 1Recall, vividly, a moment of intimate delight — an embrace, a kiss, a wave of tenderness.
- 2Let the body remember it fully, so that the felt bliss actually rises now, in the present.
- 3Release the remembered person and scene; keep only the flood of bliss itself.
- 4Enter and rest in that bliss, tracing it to its source within you.
The deeper story
This verse pairs with the union teachings: there bliss arises in contact, here in mere remembrance. Together they argue, in the boldest tantric manner, that delight is intrinsic to awareness — partner or no partner, the nectar is one's own.
Terms in this technique
- ānanda
- Bliss; the joy intrinsic to consciousness.
- śakti
- Energy, the dynamic power of consciousness; Devi.
- bhāvanā
- Contemplative imagination; cultivating a state through felt imagery.
Sources consulted
- Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava: The Manual for Self-Realization (Motilal Banarsidass, 1979)
- Bettina Bäumer, Vijñâna Bhairava: The Practice of Centering Awareness (Indica Books, 2011)
- Osho, The Book of Secrets (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998)