Osho
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra (The Book of Secrets)
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!
Shiva replies:
Breath techniques
1. Watch the gap between two breaths [34]
Radiant One, this experience may dawn between two
breaths.
After breath comes in (down)
and just before turning up (out)the beneficence.
2. Watch the turning point between two breaths [35]
As breath turns from down to up,
and again as breath curves up to down
through both these turns,
realize.
3. Watch the fusion of two breaths [38]
Or, whenever in-breath and out-breath fuse,
at this instant touch the energy-less,
energy-filled center.
4. Be aware when breathing stops [41
Or, when breath is all out (up) and stopped of itself,
or all in (down) and stopped
in such universal pause, one's small self vanishes.
This is difficult only for the impure.
Attentiveness, Five Techniques of
5. Focus your attention on the third eye [59
Attention between Eyebrows,
let mind be before thought.
Let form fill with breath essence
to the top of the head
and there shower as light.
6. Focus on the gap during your daily activities [63
When in worldly activities, keep attention between
two breaths,
and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.
7. A technique to be aware in dreams [65
With intangible breath in center of forehead,
as this reaches the heart at the moment of sleep,
have direction over dreams and over death itself.
8. Watch the turning point with devotion [68
With utmost devotion,
center on the two junctions of breath
and know the knower.
9. [9a] Lie down as dead [69
[9b] Stare without blinking
[9c] Suck something and become the sucking [69
Lie down as dead.
Enraged in wrath, stay so.
Or stare without moving an eyelash.
Or suck something and become the sucking.
Transcend Dreaming Devices [ch. 6, pp. 75-86]
To become an observer [p. 84
Life as fate; one is fulfilling a predetermined pattern
Playing a role as an actor in a play. [cf. #58 infra]
Techniques to put you at ease
10. Become the caress [93
While being caressed, Sweet Princess,
enter the caress as everlasting life.
11. Close your senses, become stonelike [97
Stop the doors of the senses when feeling the
creeping of an ant.
Then.
12. Let yourself become weightless [98
When on a bed or a seat,
let yourself become weightless,
beyond mind.
Centering Techniques
13. Concentrate totally on one object [121
Or, imagine the five coloured circles of the peacock tail
to be your five senses in illimitable space.
Now let their beauty melt within.
Similarly, at any point in space or on the wall
until the point dissolves.
Then your wish for another comes true.
14. Put your awareness on your spine [124
Place your whole attention in the nerve,
delicate as the lotus thread,
in the center of your spinal column.
In such be transformed.
Penetrate the Inner Techniques
15. Close all the openings of your head [149
Closing the seven openings of the head with your hands,
a space between your eyes becomes all-inclusive.
16. Absorb the senses in your heart [151
Blessed One,
as senses are absorbed in the Heart,
reach the center of the lotus.
17. Do not choose, keep in the middle [154
Unminding mind, keep in the middleuntil.
Inner Centering
18. Look lovingly at an object [174]
Look lovingly at some object.
Do not go to another object.
Here in the middle of the object
the blessing.
19. Sit on your buttocks only [179]
Without support for feet or hands,
sit only on the buttocks.
Suddenly the centering.
20. How to meditate in a moving vehicle [180]
In a moving vehicle, by rhythmically swaying,
experience.
Or in a still vehicle,
by letting yourself swing in slowing invisible circles.
21. Concentrate on a pain in your body [183]
Pierce some part of you nectar filled form
with a pin,
and gently enter the piercing
and attain to the inner purity.
Seeing the Past as a Dream
[ch. 15]
22. Look at your past, dis-identified [205]
Let attention be at a place
where you are seeing some past happening,
and even your form,
having lost its present characteristics,
is transformed.
23. Feel an object and become it [210]
Feel an object before you.
Feel the absence of all other objects but this one.
Then leaving aside the object-feeling
And the absence-feeling,
Realize
24. Watch your Moods [212]
When a mood against someone or for someone arises,
Do not place it on the person in question,
But remain centered.
Stop techniques
25. Stop! [232]
Just as you have the impulse
To do something,
Stop.
26. Face any desire [238]
When some desire comes, consider it.
Then, suddenly, quit it.
27. Exhaust yourself and drop to the ground [242]
Roam about until exhausted and then,
dropping to the ground,
in this dropping be whole.
Intellectual and feeling type techniques
28. Imagine yourself losing all energy [266
Suppose you are gradually being deprived
of strength or of knowledge.
At the instant of deprivation,
transcend.
29. Devote yourself [269
Devotion frees.
Looking techniques (three)
30. Close the eyes and Stop their movement [293
Eyes closed,
See your inner being in detail.
Thus see your true nature.
31. Look at an object as a Whole [297
Look upon a bowl without seeing
The sides or the material.
In a few moments become aware.
32. Look at an object as if for the first time [301
See as if for the first time
A beauteous person
Or an ordinary object.
Looking techniques (four
33. Look into the Limitless sky [326
Simply by looking into the blue sky
Beyond the clouds,
The serenity.
34. A secret method [328]
Listen while the ultimate mystical teaching is
imparted.
Eyes still, without blinking,
at once, become absolutely free.
35. Look into a deep well [330]
At the edge of a deep well
look steadily into its depths until
the wondrousness.
36. Withdraw yourself completely [331
Look upon some object,
Then slowly withdraw your sight from it,
Then slowly withdraw your thought from it.
Then.
From words to pure sounds to Being
37. Beyond words and sounds [352
Devi,
Imagine Sanskrit letters in these
Honey filled foci of awareness,
First as letters,
The more subtly as sounds,
Then as most subtle feeling.
Then, leaving them aside, be free.
38. Feel yourself in the center of sounds [357
Bathe in the center of sound,
As in the continuous sound of a waterfall.
Or, by putting the fingers in the ears,
Hear the sound of sounds.
Soundlessness, soundfulness and Total Awareness
39. Intone a sound and become it [380
Intone a sound,
As AUM, Slowly.
As sound enters soundfulness,
So do you.
40. Listen to a fading sound [386
In the beginning and gradual refinement
of the sound of any letter,
Awake.
41. Listen to a stringed instrument [388
While listening to stringed instruments,
Hear their composite central sound;
Thus omnipresence.
Dropping the Mind Methods
42. Use sound as a passage toward feeling [409
Intone a sound audibly,
Then less and less audibly
As feeling deepens
Into this silent harmony.
43. Focus your mind on the tongue [413
With mouth slightly open,
Keep mind in the middle of the tongue.
Or, as breath comes silently in,
Feel the sound HH.
44. A method for those with a sensitive ear [416
Center on the sound AUM
Without any A or M.
From sounds to Inner Silence
45. Intone a word ending in AH [436
Silently intone a word ending in AH.
Then in the HH,
Effortlessly, the spontaneity.
46. Closing ears and contracting rectum [442
Stopping ears by pressing
And the rectum by contracting,
Enter the sound.
47. Use your name as a mantra [445
Enter the sound of your name
And, through this sound,
All sounds.
The spirituality of the Tantric sex act
48. In the sex act, do not seek the release [466
At the start of sexual union
Keep attentive on the fire in the beginning,
And so continuing,
Avoid the embers in the end.
49. Shaking in sex [469
When in such embrace your senses are shaken as
leaves,
Enter this shaking.
50. Make love without the partner [470
Even remembering union,
Without the embrace,
Transformation.
51. When joy arises, become it [472
On joyously seeing a long-absent friend,
Permeate this joy.
52. Eat and drink consciously [473
When eating or drinking,
Become the taste of food or drink,
And be filled.
Turning Inward toward the Real
53. Self-remembering [491
O lotus eyed one,
Sweet of touch,
When singing, seeing, tasting,
Be aware you are and discover the
Everliving.
54. Feel the satisfaction [493
Wherever satisfaction is found,
In whatever act,
Actualize this.
55. Be aware of the gap between waking and sleep
At the point of sleep,
When the sleep has not yet come
And the external wakefulness vanishes,
At this point Being is revealed. [496
56. Think of the world as an Illusion [499
Illusions deceive,
Colors circumscribe,
Even divisibles are indivisible.
Techniques to witness the fluxlike film of life
57. Be undisturbed by desires [520
In moods of extreme desire
Be undisturbed.
58. See the world as a drama [525
This so-called universe
Appears as a juggling,
A picture show.
To be happy, look upon it so.
59. Stay in the Middle between two polarities [527
O Beloved,
Put attention neither on pleasure nor on pain,
But between these.
60. Acceptance [529
Objects and desires
Exist in me as in others.
So accepting,
Let them be transformed.
From the wave to the Cosmic Ocean
61. Experience existence as wave-ing [550
As waves come with water
And flames with fire,
So the Universal waves with us.
62. Use mind as the door to Meditation [554
Wherever your mind is wandering,
Internally or externally,
At this very place, this.
63. Be aware who is sensing [557
When vividly aware
Through some particular sense,
Keep in the awareness.
2nd Bk.
Tantric methods for awareness and nonjudgment
64. At the beginning of a strong sensation, be aware [582
At the start of sneezing, during fright,
In anxiety, above a chasm, flying in battle,
In extreme curiosity, at the beginning of hunger,
At the end of hunger,
Be uninterruptedly aware.
65. Do not judge [587
The purity of other teachings
Is an impurity to us.
In reality,
Know nothing as pure or impure.
Finding the changeless through the changing
66. Be aware of that which never changes in you [609
Be the unsame same to friend
as to stranger,
in honor and dishonor.
67. Remember that everything changes [614]
Here is the sphere of change, change, change.
Through change consume change.
Remaining with the Real
68. Be hope-less [639
As a hen mothers her chicks,
mother particular knowings,
particular doings,
in reality.
69. Go beyond bondage and freedom () [642
Since, in truth,
Bondage and freedom are relative,
These words are only for those
Terrified with the universe.
This universe is a reflection of minds.
As you see many suns in water from one sun,
So see bondage and liberation.
Tantric meditation using light
70. Visualize light rays rising up your spine [666
Consider your essence as light rays
From center to center up the vertebrae,
And so rises livingness in you.
71. Visualize a spark of light jumping from one
chakra to the next [671
Or in the spaces between,
Feel this as lightning.
72. Feel the presence of the ever-living existence. [672
Feel the cosmos as a translucent
ever-living presence.
Conscious doing
73. Become the clarity of the cloudless sky [693
In summer when you see the entire sky
Endlessly clear,
Enter such clarity.
74. Feel the whole universe in your head [697
Shakti,
See all space as if already
Absorbed in your own head
In the brilliance.
75. Remember yourself as light [699
Waking, sleeping, dreaming,
Know you as light.
Coming back to existence
76. Dissolve into darkness [720
In rain during a black night,
Enter that blackness
As the form of forms.
77. Bringing out the inner darkness [726
When a moonless rainy night
is not present,
close your eyes, see blackness.
So, faults disappear forever.
78. Develop pure attentiveness [727
Whenever your attention alights,
At this very point,
Experience.
From death to deathlessness
79. Focus on fire [750
Focus on fire rising through your form
From the toes up
Until the body burns to ashes
But not you.
80. Imagine the whole world burning [753
Meditate
On the make believe world
As burning to ashes,
And become being above human.
81. Everything converges in your being [755
As, subjectively, letters flow into words
and words into sentences,
and as, objectively,
circles flow into worlds
and worlds into principles,
find at last these converging in our being.
Only the unreal dissolves
82. Feel, dont think [778
Feel: my thought, I-ness, internal organsme.
83. Change your focus to the gaps [784
Before desire
And before knowing,
How can I say I am?
Consider.
Dissolve in the beauty.
You are everywhere
84. Detach yourself from your body [804
Toss attachment for body aside,
Realizing I am everywhere.
One who is everywhere is joyous.
85. Think of nothing [809
Thinking no thing
Will limited-self unlimit.
Watch from the hill
86. Imagine the unimaginable [832
Suppose you contemplate
Something beyond perception,
Beyond grasping,
Beyond not beingyou.
87. Feel I am [836
I am existing.
This is mine.
This is this.
O, beloved, even in such know illimitably.
Techniques to become one with the world
88. Know the knower and the known [861
Each thing is perceived through knowing.
The self shines in space through knowing.
Perceive one being as knower and known.
89. Include everything in your being [866
Beloved,
At this moment,
Let mind, knowing, breath, form,
Be included.
Start creating yourself
90. Touch your eyes lightly [891
Touching eyeballs as a feather,
Lightness between them opens into the heart
And there permeates the cosmos.
91. Experience your etheric body [895
Kind Devi,
Enter etheric presence
Pervading far above and below your form.
Destroy the limits
92. Be aware of moments of no-thought [917
Put mindstuff in such inexpressible fineness
Above, below and in your heart.
93. Consider your body limitless [923
Consider any area of your present form
As limitlessly spacious.
[A Buddha is a Nobody (ch. 66)]
Go beyond mind and matter
94. Feel yourself saturated [943
Feel your substance,
Bones, flesh, blood,
Saturated with cosmic essence.
95. Concentrate on the breast, or on the root of the penis [948
Feel the fine qualities of creativity
Permeating your breasts
And assuming delicate configurations.
You are unknown to yourself
96. Look into unlimited space [971
Abide in some place endlessly spacious,
Clear of trees, hills, habitations.
Thence comes the end of mind pressures.
97. Fill endless space with your bliss body [979
Consider the plenum
To be your own body of bliss.
Forget the periphery
98. Feel the peace in your heart [999
In any easy position
Gradually pervade an area between the armpits
Into great peace.
99. Expand in all directions [1003
Feel yourself as pervading all directions,
Far, near.
Fear of transformation goes deep
100. Remain detached [1025
The appreciation of objects and subjects
Is the same for an enlightened
As for an unenlightened person.
The former has one greatness:
He remains in the subjective mood,
Not lost in things.
101. Believe that you are all-powerful [1029
Believe omniscient, omnipotent, pervading.
Seek the rhythm of opposites
102. Imagine spirit within and without [1052
Imagine spirit simultaneously
Within and around you
Until the entire universe spiritualizes.
103. Do not fight with desire [1056
With your entire consciousness
In the very start of desire, of knowing, know.
104. The limits of perception [1058
O Shakti,
Each particular perception is limited,
Disappearing in omnipotence.
105. Realize the oneness of existence [1060
In truth forms are inseparate.
Inseparate are omnipresent being
And your own form.
Realize each as made of this consciousness.
Become each being
106. Become each being [1080
Feel the consciousness of each person
As your own consciousness.
So, leaving aside concern for your self,
Become each being.
107. Know only one consciousness exists [1084
This consciousness exists as each being,
And nothing else exists.
108. Become your own inner guide [1087
This consciousness is the spirit of guidance
Of each one.
Be this one.
Emptiness, the philosophy of
109. Feel your body as empty [1109
Suppose your passive form to be an empty room
With walls of skinempty.
110. Be playful in activity [1112
Gracious One, play.
The universe is an empty shell
Wherein your mind frolics infinitely.
111. Beyond knowing and not-knowing [1117
Sweet heartened One,
Meditate on knowing and not-knowing,
Existing and non-existing.
Then leave both aside that you may be.
112. Enter the space within [1118
Enter space, supportless, eternal, still.
