Become the Taste
In eating or drinking, become the taste itself, and through it the fullness.
खाते-पीते समय स्वयं स्वाद बन जाओ, और उसी से पूर्णता में पहुँचो।
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.)
Even eating distracts me from you, Lord. Must I fast and deny the senses to find you?
भोजन तक मुझे आपसे भटका देता है, नाथ। क्या आपको पाने के लिए मुझे उपवास करना और इन्द्रियों को रोकना होगा?
No — eat, and find me in the eating. When you taste food or drink, do not stand back and judge it. Plunge in; become the taste itself, so fully that the one tasting and the taste are no longer two.
नहीं — खाओ, और खाने में ही मुझे पाओ। जब तुम भोजन या पेय चखो, तो पीछे खड़े होकर उसका मूल्यांकन मत करो। उसमें कूद पड़ो; स्वयं स्वाद ही बन जाओ, इतनी पूरी तरह कि चखने वाला और चखा जाने वाला दो न रहें।
But is pleasure not a temptation that binds?
पर क्या सुख वह प्रलोभन नहीं जो बाँधता है?
Pleasure binds only when you grasp at its object. Here you do the opposite: you do not chase the food, you dissolve into the relish. In the fullness of the taste, undistracted, the small self thins and a deeper fullness opens — the bliss that is consciousness tasting itself.
सुख तभी बाँधता है जब तुम उसकी वस्तु को पकड़ती हो। यहाँ तुम उल्टा करती हो: तुम भोजन के पीछे नहीं भागतीं, तुम रस में घुल जाती हो। स्वाद की पूर्णता में, बिना भटके, छोटा "मैं" पतला हो जाता है और एक गहरी पूर्णता खुलती है — वह आनन्द जो चेतना का अपने को ही चखना है।
So a single mouthful, fully met, can carry me inward?
तो एक कौर भी, पूरी तरह आत्मसात किया हुआ, मुझे भीतर ले जा सकता है?
A single mouthful. Delight is a face of the absolute; the relish of taste is a spark of the bliss that is my own nature. Savour it all the way to its source, and the smallest pleasure reveals the great one.
एक ही कौर। आनन्द परम का एक मुख है; स्वाद का रस उस आनन्द की चिनगारी है जो मेरा अपना स्वरूप है। उसे उसके स्रोत तक पूरी तरह चखो, और सबसे छोटा सुख सबसे बड़े को प्रकट कर देता है।
Why it works
When attention merges completely with a vivid sensation like taste, the usual split between experiencer and experienced briefly collapses. The verse uses the pleasure of eating as a ready-made absorption: in the fullness of the taste, undistracted, one slips into the fullness (ānanda) of awareness itself.
How to practice
- 1Take a small sip or bite. Stop everything else.
- 2Let the whole of attention pour into the taste, the texture, the warmth.
- 3Do not think about the food — be the sensation of it.
- 4Let that complete presence to one sense spread into presence itself.
The deeper story
Here the Vijñāna Bhairava anticipates its famous teaching that delight (ānanda) is a face of the absolute. The relish of taste is treated as a spark of the bliss that is consciousness's own nature; savoured fully and traced to its source, the small pleasure reveals the great one.
Terms in this technique
- sparśa
- Touch, contact; the sense-field of the body.
- rasa
- Taste, essence, savour.
- bhāva
- Feeling-state, emotion, mood — used as a doorway.
Sources consulted
- Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava: The Manual for Self-Realization (Motilal Banarsidass, 1979)
- Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati, Sri Vijnana Bhairava Tantra (Yoga Publications Trust, 2003)
- Osho, The Book of Secrets (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998)