Even Maya Is Not Separate
Maya, the deluder, and the limiting powers are themselves contemplated as not separate from the Self; then nothing stands apart.
माया (विमोहिनी) और कलाएँ आदि तत्त्वों के धर्म — इन्हें भी आत्मा से अभिन्न भावित करो; तब कुछ पृथक नहीं रहता।
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.)
I have fought delusion and limitation all my life, Lord. Must they be conquered before I am free?
मैंने आजीवन मोह और सीमा से संघर्ष किया, नाथ। क्या मुक्त होने से पहले इन्हें जीतना होगा?
Do not fight them. Notice the very forces that seem to bind you — confusion, limitation, the sense of lack — and contemplate even these as not separate from your own Self.
इनसे लड़ो मत। उन्हीं शक्तियों को देखो जो तुम्हें बाँधती-सी लगती हैं — भ्रम, सीमा, अभाव का भाव — और इन्हें भी अपने आत्मा से अभिन्न भावित करो।
Even delusion is not other than the Self?
मोह भी आत्मा से भिन्न नहीं?
Even māyā, the deluder, is my own self-veiling power. Hold it, and all the principles of experience, as forms of the one consciousness you are. As nothing is left standing apart, the division delusion depends on collapses.
माया भी, वह मोहिनी, मेरी ही आत्म-आवरण शक्ति है। उसे, और अनुभव के सब तत्त्वों को, उसी एक चेतना के रूप में थामो जो तुम हो। जब कुछ भी अलग खड़ा न रहे, वह भेद ढह जाता है जिस पर मोह टिका है।
So embraced as the Self, the very thing that bound me loses its power?
तो आत्मा के रूप में आत्मसात की गई, जिस वस्तु ने मुझे बाँधा, वही अपनी शक्ति खो देती है?
It does. Māyā cannot bind what it cannot stand apart from. Seeing truly, bondage itself is consciousness — and there was never anything other to be bound by.
खो देती है। माया उसे नहीं बाँध सकती जिससे वह अलग खड़ी ही न हो सके। सच्चाई से देखो तो बन्धन स्वयं चेतना है — और बाँधने को कभी कोई दूसरी वस्तु थी ही नहीं।
Why it works
This verse refuses to exclude even māyā — the deluding power — and the kalās (the forces that limit and contract consciousness). Rather than rejecting them, one contemplates these and all the tattvas as not separate (na pṛthak) from the Self. When even the binding principles are seen as one's own consciousness, nothing remains outside; the division that delusion depends on collapses, and māyā can no longer bind what it cannot stand apart from.
How to practice
- 1Notice the forces that seem to bind and delude you — confusion (māyā), limitation, the sense of lack.
- 2Instead of fighting or fleeing them, contemplate even these limiting powers as not separate from your own Self.
- 3Hold them, and all the principles of experience, as forms of the one consciousness you are.
- 4As nothing is left standing apart from you, rest in that seamless non-separation.
The deeper story
In Trika, māyā and the kañcukas (limiting "sheaths") are not a foreign prison but Shiva's own self-veiling power. To contemplate them as non-separate from the Self is the heart of recognition: bondage itself is consciousness, so seeing truly, there was never anything other to be bound by.
Terms in this technique
- cit
- Consciousness itself, the aware principle.
- ātman
- The true self; awareness as one’s own being.
- śakti
- Energy, the dynamic power of consciousness; Devi.
- aham
- The sense of "I"; the self that is inquired into.
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)