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SoundVoidVerse 40intermediate

The Void Before and After a Sound

Contemplate the empty silence at the very beginning and end of any sound; through that void, you become void-formed.

किसी भी वर्ण के आदि और अन्त के शून्य (मौन) को अनुभव करो; उसी शून्य से तुम शून्य-रूप हो जाते हो।

Source verse · Verse 40
यस्य कस्यापि वर्णस्य पूर्वान्तावनुभावयेत्। शून्यया शून्यभूतोऽसौ शून्याकारः पुमान्भवेत्॥
yasya kasyāpi varṇasya pūrvāntāv anubhāvayet | śūnyayā śūnyabhūto'sau śūnyākāraḥ pumān bhavet
हिन्दीकिसी भी ध्वनि या वर्ण के ठीक आरम्भ से पहले और अन्त के बाद जो शून्य — खाली मौन — है, उसे अनुभव करो। उस शून्य के सहारे साधक स्वयं शून्य-भूत हो जाता है, और अन्ततः शून्याकार — शून्य-स्वरूप — पुरुष बन जाता है।
EnglishContemplate the empty silence at the very beginning and end of any sound; through that void, you become void-formed.
▶ Practice this technique5 / 10 / 15 min · eyes closed

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.)

देवी · the Goddess

You showed me the silence after a sound dies, Lord. Is there silence before it begins too?

आपने मुझे ध्वनि के मरने के बाद की चुप्पी दिखाई, नाथ। क्या उसके आरम्भ होने से पहले भी चुप्पी है?

भैरव · Bhairava

Both edges are empty. Sound any letter or syllable, and notice the silence just before it begins and the silence just after it ends — the void out of which sound rises and into which it falls.

दोनों किनारे शून्य हैं। कोई वर्ण या अक्षर बोलो, और उस चुप्पी को देखो जो उसके आरम्भ से ठीक पहले और अन्त के ठीक बाद है — वह शून्य जिससे ध्वनि उठती और जिसमें गिरती है।

देवी · the Goddess

And I rest in those two empty margins?

और मैं उन दो खाली किनारों में ठहरूँ?

भैरव · Bhairava

Rest in them, and let that void fill you. Every sound is framed by silence; dwelling at its edges, you are shaped by the emptiness rather than by the world — you become void-formed.

उन्हीं में ठहरो, और उस शून्य को तुम्हें भर जाने दो। हर ध्वनि चुप्पी से घिरी है; उसके किनारों में बसकर, तुम संसार से नहीं, शून्य से ढलती हो — तुम शून्याकार हो जाती हो।

देवी · the Goddess

So the silence that brackets every word was a doorway all along?

तो हर शब्द को घेरने वाली चुप्पी आरम्भ से ही एक द्वार थी?

भैरव · Bhairava

All along. Every letter rises from and returns to the silent source; resting at its edges is resting at the origin and the dissolution of all speech at once.

आरम्भ से ही। हर वर्ण उसी मौन स्रोत से उठता और उसी में लौटता है; उसके किनारों में ठहरना समस्त वाणी के उद्गम और विलय में एक साथ ठहरना है।

Why it works

Every sound is framed by silence — emptiness before it begins and after it ends. Contemplating those two voids around any letter shifts attention from sound to the silence that holds it. Dwelling there, the verse says, one becomes "void-formed" (śūnyākāra): awareness takes the shape of the emptiness it rests in, free of the contractions that sound and thought impose.

How to practice

  1. 1Sound any single letter or syllable, or simply attend to a sound as it occurs.
  2. 2Notice the silence just before it begins, and the silence just after it ends.
  3. 3Rest attention in those two empty edges — the void out of which sound rises and into which it falls.
  4. 4Let that void fill you, until you feel yourself become void-formed (śūnyākāra). Rest there.
Practice note. A cousin of the fading-chant and visarga techniques, but here the doorway is the silence on both sides of a sound — the emptiness that frames every utterance.

The deeper story

This completes the family of sound-doorways — fading chant, unstruck sound, visarga-end — by isolating the silence on both sides of any sound. In Shaiva terms, every varṇa rises from and returns to the silent anuttara; resting at its edges is resting at the source and dissolution of all speech.

Terms in this technique

śabda
Sound, word — both spoken and inner.
śūnya
Void, emptiness — not nothingness but open, contentless awareness.
nāda
The inner, unstruck sound; subtle vibration.
praṇava
The syllable AUM/oṃ, the primordial sound.

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)
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