Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

[Jesse Andrews]

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra :
The masterpiece of Meditation


No discussion on meditation is complete without mentioning the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra This 5000 year old ancient Indian text on meditation is considered by many as the last word on meditation.

Vigyan ~~ Science ( in Hindi )

Bhairav ~~ An ancient mythological God of Hindu religion.

Tantra ~~ ( A mystical spiritual path. Read more)

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra is an ancient text on meditation. It contains 112 techniques of Meditation. Basically in the form of a dialogue between lord Shiva and his wife Parvati (refer to as Devi in the book), this books discusses 112 meditation techniques which can be used for realizing our true self.

The book starts with a question from Devi regarding the nature of reality. She asked Shiva about Universe, about fundamental nature of this world, how one can go beyond space and time to understand this truth.

The remaining book is all about Shiva’s answers to Devi’s queries.

He does not tell her what is.

He tells her a method…then another method.. then another …he goes on.

He tells her how.

He tells her how one can realize this reality…through 112 methods of centering in the self.

The methods are in their seed form. The entire book can be written in one long piece of paper. However, these methods in their seedy form point towards various powerful meditation techniques. On contemplating upon these techniques, one can find one of the most impressive and powerful collections of meditation techniques which are simple yet very effective.

It is said that 112 techniques of meditation of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra are all inclusive. It is said that there is no meditation techniques which has not been covered in Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. These Meditation techniques are for people of all age and all times. These meditation techniques were for those who had lived in the pasts, for those who are living in the present and for all those who’ll born in future.

This meditation techniques are for all humanity of all time. Past, present, future.

It is said that it is impossible for anybody not to find a technique (out of 112 techniques) suitable to his own level of spiritual development and inner temperament.

What follows next is a detailed commentary on 112 techniques of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra by Osho Rajneesh - one of the most prolific and influential spiritual guru of our time. Osho, in his life time, has been one of the most important and trustworthy authority on meditation. (Read more about Osho here) In his commentary on Vigyan Bhairav Tantra , Osho has simplified the 112 meditation techniques into a layman’s language. This lectures on Vigyan Bhairav Tantra was given by him during 1972-73 in India and were later published in a book titled ‘ The Book of Secrets’. Many considered this book as one of the most important book of Osho. It is an highly acclaimed book on meditation. There are full 8 pages of reviews alone of this book on ‘Amazon.com’ with almost all the readers giving it a five star rating.

We are giving the entire text of Osho’s commentaries on ‘Vigyan Bhairav Tantra’ for the benefit of our readers. However, if you want to read this book offline you may order it from Amazon.com here.

Please note : Very Important

This explanation of 'Vigyan Bhairav Tantra' (and of 108 meditation techniques it contains) was originally given by Osho during a live discourse. A discourse is a continuous flow of words. However, when the discourse is published into book, one has to use paragraphs to give it a proper readable structure. Therefore, we have to break the Osho's discourse in brief paragraphs so as to make it easy-to-read and internet-friendly. Please also note that during the discourse, Osho also gave answer to various queries from the listeners. All such questionnaires have not be published here. Only meditation techniques have been provided. If you want to read those questionnaires also, please read the printed version of the book or read them online at the original source given below

Source/Courtesy : Oshoworld.com, where almost all the books of Osho are available online for reading. (Both English & Hindi version)

Disclaimer: These Meditation techniques are being published for educational and informational purpose only. Let me reiterate what I have already stated in home page : use your own discretion while trying them.

Having said that, I sincerely hope that this series of discourses by Osho on 'Vigyan Bhairav Tantra' will also give you a wonderful opportunity to know Osho - the man who has been one of the greatest meditation master this world has ever had.




Here begins the 'Vigyan Bhairav Tantra' : 112 Techniques of meditation

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

Introduction:


Devi Asks:

O Shiva, what is your reality?
What is this wonder-filled universe?
What constitutes seed?
Who centers the universal wheel?
What is this life beyond form pervading forms?
How may we enter it fully,
above space and time,
names and descriptions?
Let my doubts be cleared!


Osho says:

Truth is always here. It is already the case. It is not something to be achieved in the future. You are the truth just here and now, so it is not something which is to be created or something which is to be devised or something which is to be sought. Understand this very clearly; then these techniques will be easy to understand and also to do. Mind is a mechanism of desiring. Mind is always in desire, always seeking something, asking for something. Always the object is in the future; mind is not concerned with the present at all. In this very moment the mind cannot move -- there is no space. The mind needs the future in order to move. It can move either in the past or in the future. It cannot move in the present; there is no space.

The truth is in the present, and mind is always in the future or in the past, so there is no meeting between mind and truth. When the mind is seeking worldly objects it is not so difficult, the problem is not absurd; it can be solved. But when the mind starts seeking the truth the very effort becomes nonsense, because the truth is here and now and the mind is always then and there. There is no meeting. So understand the first thing: you cannot seek truth. You can find it, but you cannot seek it. The very seeking is the hindrance. The moment you start seeking you have moved away from the present, away from yourself, because you are always in the present. The seeker is always in the present and the seeking is in the future, you are not going to meet whatsoever you are seeking. Lao Tzu says, "Seek not; otherwise you will miss. Seek not and find. Don't seek and find."

All these techniques of Shiva's are simply turning the mind from the future or the past to the present. That which you are seeking is already there, it is the case already. The mind has to be turned from seeking to non-seeking. It is difficult. If you think about it intellectually it is very difficult. How to turn the mind from seeking to non-seeking? -- because then the mind makes non-seeking itself the object! Then the mind says, "Don't seek." Then the mind says, "I should not seek." Then the mind says, "Now non-seeking is my object. Now I desire the state of desirelessness." The seeking has entered again, the desire has come again through the back door. That is why there are people who are seeking worldly objects, and there are people who think they are seeking non-worldly objects.

All objects are worldly because "seeking" is the world. So you cannot seek anything non-worldly. The moment you seek, it becomes the world. If you are seeking God, your God is part of the world. If you are seeking MOKSHA -- liberation -- NIRVANA, your liberation is part of the world, your liberation is not something that transcends the world, because seeking is the world, desiring is the world. So you cannot desire nirvana, you cannot desire non-desire. If you try to understand intellectually, it will become a puzzle. Shiva says nothing about it, he immediately proceeds to give techniques. They are non-intellectual.

He doesn't say to Devi, "The truth is here. Don't seek it and you will find it." He immediately gives techniques. Those techniques are non-intellectual. Do them, and the mind turns. The turning is just a consequence, just a by-product -- not an object. The turning is just a by-product. If you do a technique, your mind will turn from its journey into the future or the past. Suddenly you will find yourself in the present. That is why Buddha has given techniques, Lao Tzu has given techniques, Krishna has given techniques. But they always introduce their techniques with intellectual concepts.

Only Shiva is different.

He immediately gives techniques, and no intellectual understanding, no intellectual introduction, because he knows that the mind is tricky, the most cunning thing possible. It can turn anything into a problem. Non-seeking will become the problem. There are people who come to me who ask how not to desire. They are desiring non-desire. Somebody has told them, or they have read somewhere, or they have heard spiritual gossip, that if you do not desire you will reach bliss, if you do not desire you will be free, if you do not desire there will be no suffering. Now their minds hanker to attain that state where there is no suffering, so they ask how not to desire. Their minds are playing tricks.

They are still desiring, it is only that now the object has changed. They were desiring money, they were desiring fame, they were desiring prestige, they were desiring power. Now they are desiring non-desire. Only the object has changed, and they remain the same and their desiring remains the same. But now the desire has become more deceptive. Because of this, Shiva proceeds immediately with no introduction whatsoever. He immediately starts talking about techniques. Those techniques, if followed, suddenly turn your mind: it comes to the present. And when the mind comes to the present it stops, it is no more. You cannot be a mind in the present, that is impossible. Just now, if you are here and now, how can you be a mind? Thoughts cease because they cannot move.

The present has no space in which to move; you cannot think. If you are in this very moment, how can you move? Mind stops, you attain to no-mind. So the real thing is how to be here and now. You can try, but effort may prove futile -- because if you make it a point to be in the present, then this point has moved into the future. When you ask how to be in the present, again you are asking about the future. This moment is passing in the inquiry, "How to be present? How to be here and now?" This present moment is passing in the inquiry, and your mind will begin to weave and create dreams in the future: some day you will be in a state of mind where there is no movement, no motive, no seeking, and then there will be bliss -- so how to be in the present?

Shiva doesn't say anything about it, he simply gives a technique. You do it, and suddenly you find you are here and now. And your being here and now is the truth, and your being here and now is the freedom, and your being here and now is the nirvana.

The first nine techniques are concerned with breathing.

Go here for other techniques http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/techniques/Vigyan_bhairav_t...