I Am Everywhere
Drop attachment to your own body and contemplate "I am everywhere"; with firm, undistracted vision, you grow happy and vast.
अपने शरीर के प्रति आसक्ति छोड़कर भावित करो "मैं सर्वत्र हूँ"; दृढ़, अनन्य दृष्टि से सुखी और व्यापक 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.)
My whole life I have felt myself shut inside this small body, Lord. Can that narrowness ever open?
सारा जीवन मैंने स्वयं को इस छोटे शरीर में बंद अनुभव किया, नाथ। क्या वह सँकरापन कभी खुलेगा?
Loosen the constant concern for and identification with the body, and contemplate, firmly: "I am not confined here — I am everywhere, present in all places."
शरीर के प्रति निरन्तर चिन्ता और तादात्म्य को ढीला करो, और दृढ़ता से भावना करो: "मैं यहाँ बँधी नहीं हूँ — मैं सर्वत्र हूँ, सब स्थानों में विद्यमान।"
Is this not mere imagination — wishing myself larger than I am?
क्या यह केवल कल्पना नहीं — स्वयं को जितनी हूँ उससे बड़ा चाहना?
Begin by simply loosening the assumption "I am only inside this body" — that assumption is itself the imagination. Then the expansive "I am everywhere" has room to become real. Hold it with a steady mind, the gaze not darting elsewhere.
पहले बस इस मान्यता को ढीला करो कि "मैं केवल इस शरीर के भीतर हूँ" — वही मान्यता तो कल्पना है। तब विस्तृत "मैं सर्वत्र हूँ" को सच होने की जगह मिलती है। उसे स्थिर मन से थामो, दृष्टि कहीं और न भटके।
And as the centre of "I" expands beyond the body?
और जैसे "मैं" का केन्द्र शरीर से परे फैलता है?
The contraction that caused your suffering relaxes into the spaciousness that was always its truth. Happiness follows of itself, for you rest as the all-pervading — no longer the small self, but the boundless consciousness I am.
जिस संकोच ने तुम्हें दुःख दिया, वह उसी विस्तार में ढीला पड़ जाता है जो सदा उसका सत्य था। प्रसन्नता अपने आप आती है, क्योंकि तुम सर्वव्यापी रूप में ठहरती हो — अब छोटा "मैं" नहीं, बल्कि वह असीम चेतना जो मैं हूँ।
Why it works
Our sense of self is normally glued to the body. This verse loosens that glue ("abandoning the stance of one's own body") and replaces it with the contemplation "I am everywhere". Held firmly and undistractedly, the centre of identity expands past the body into all-pervasiveness, and the contraction that caused suffering relaxes into happiness.
How to practice
- 1Relax the constant concern for and identification with your own body.
- 2Contemplate firmly: "I am not confined here — I am everywhere, present in all places."
- 3Hold this with a steady mind and a vision that does not dart to other things.
- 4Let the felt centre of "I" expand beyond the body until you rest as the all-pervading; happiness follows.
The deeper story
This is the felt, first-person form of the text's non-dualism: not merely "all is consciousness" but "I am that all-pervading consciousness". It anticipates the great recognition-statements where the practitioner declares the universe as their own Bhairava-nature.
Terms in this technique
- aham
- The sense of "I"; the self that is inquired into.
- ātman
- The true self; awareness as one’s own being.
- cit
- Consciousness itself, the aware principle.
- 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)