The Three Voids
Steadily contemplate emptiness at the back, the root, and the heart all at once; in that simultaneity, the thought-free dawns.
पीठ, मूल और हृदय में शून्य को एक साथ स्थिरता से भावित करो; उसी युगपत् में निर्विकल्प का उदय होता है।
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.)
A single emptiness I can hold, Lord. But you spoke of holding several at once. Why?
एक खालीपन तो मैं थाम सकती हूँ, नाथ। पर आपने एक साथ कई थामने की बात कही। क्यों?
Sense emptiness at the back of the body, at the root, and in the heart — and hold all three steadily, at the same time.
पीठ में, मूल में, और हृदय में खालीपन का अनुभव करो — और तीनों को एक साथ, स्थिरता से, थामे रखो।
Holding three at once, the mind cannot settle on any one.
एक साथ तीन थामते हुए, मन किसी एक पर टिक नहीं पाता।
That is exactly the device. With three voids held together, the object-seeking mind has no single place to fixate, and it falls of itself into the thought-free state. The simultaneity is the key.
यही तो युक्ति है। एक साथ तीन शून्य थामे जाने पर, वस्तु-खोजी मन के पास टिकने को कोई एक स्थान नहीं रहता, और वह स्वयं ही निर्विकल्प अवस्था में गिर जाता है। युगपत्ता ही कुंजी है।
And in that thought-free wholeness?
और उस विचार-रहित समग्रता में?
Pure awareness dawns. These three voids lie along the very axis the energy climbs; rest them in simultaneous emptiness, and you taste the body already dissolved — a foretaste of the all-pervading void that is myself.
शुद्ध चेतना उदित होती है। ये तीन शून्य उसी धुरी पर हैं जिस पर ऊर्जा चढ़ती है; उन्हें युगपत् शून्यता में टिका दो, और तुम शरीर को पहले से विलीन रूप में चखती हो — उस सर्वव्यापी शून्य की झलक जो मैं स्वयं हूँ।
Why it works
Holding emptiness at three points of the body simultaneously overloads the object-seeking mind: it cannot fixate on one location, so it falls into a thought-free (nirvikalpa) condition. The simultaneity is the device — three voids at once leave no foothold for thought, and pure awareness dawns.
How to practice
- 1Sense emptiness at the back of the body — open space behind you.
- 2Sense emptiness at the root, the base of the trunk.
- 3Sense emptiness in the heart, the centre of the chest.
- 4Hold all three voids steadily and simultaneously; in that thought-free wholeness, rest as the awareness that opens.
The deeper story
These body-voids (śūnya at pṛṣṭha, mūla, hṛt) lie along the central axis the energy verses ascend. To rest them in simultaneous emptiness is to experience the body as already dissolved — a foretaste of the all-pervading void the text calls Bhairava.
Terms in this technique
- śūnya
- Void, emptiness — not nothingness but open, contentless awareness.
- madhya
- The middle, the centre, the gap between two states — a key VBT doorway.
- hṛdaya
- The heart; the spiritual centre, the "space" within the chest.
- laya
- Dissolution, absorption; the merging of attention into its source.
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)