Dr. Alka's paper on Bhāvanā in texts and traditions and Bhāvanā to attain the state of Bhairava
Channel: IIAS Shimla
Date: 2022-01-18

Dr. Alka Tyagi, Fellow of IIAS Shimla, giving her final presentation on Bhāvanā in texts and traditions and Bhāvanā to attain the state of Bhairava: Nistaranṅg upadeśas of The Vijñānabhairava Tantra, in the seminal hall of the Institute. 
In this presentation, we shall look at two chapters of my research here at IIAS. The first section is Bhāvanā in texts and traditions, and the second section is ‘Bhāvanā to attain the state of Bhairava: Nistaranṅg upadeśas of The Vijñānabhairava Tantra’. Section One:‘Bhāvanā in texts and traditions’ In Kashmir Śaivism’, bhāvanā is used as generic as well as a specific term.
We would look at the specific as well as the generic use of the term within the context. Further, in Trika scheme of awakening, concept of bhāvanā is defined as a method and is closely associated with the Śaktopāya which falls in the middle of the other two upāyas - Śāmbhavopāya and Āṇavopāya. It is used as an intermediary aid to support the mind so that mind can take a leap beyond its own mind-ness. The objective of all the three means (upāyas) is absorption (Samāveśa') into the Bhairava
state. The process differs in each of the three upāyas depending on which of the three aspects of human psychophysical complex is being used namely a) consciousness, b) mind, intellect and ego, or c) the body, breath etc. Each succeeding aspect is grosser than its predecessor and so also are the corresponding means. Our aim is to see how bhāvanā is at the centre of all the three upāyas and supports each of them. At the same time, in order to understand full implications of the concept of bhāvanā as it is used within Kashmir Trika Śaivsim, we would also look at bhāvanā in a broader context. The concept of ‘bhāvanā’ has existed with different connotations in various religious traditions in India. We have already mentioned the Bhakti path in which the devotional saints’ compositions are unmistakably marked with bhāva. Notion of ‘bhāvanā’ also forms the basis of one of the most important forms of Hindu worship, the ‘Śodas ̣opcāra Pūja’ or the sixteen-fold worship. In every act of devotional worship, ‘Bhāvanā’, along with faith, is a necessary ingredient.
‘Bhāvanā’ is also at the core of ‘Kādi’ line of Śākta tantric practice (Śri Vidyā). A whole text of Bhāvanopniśad prescribes creative visualisation of various components of individual being as the components of the Śricakra, which in turn is a creative representation of Supreme Goddess, Mahā Tripurasundari. Similarly, very close in affinity to Kāśmir Śaiva connotation of Bhāvanā as a form of ‘Śuddha-vikalpa’(pure earlier but it was first documented in the 8th CE. As we said before, it is a 
commentators like Kṣemarāja to integrate the Tantra smoothly into the Trika exegetical system. Expostulation and consolidation of Trika darśana, as we have discussed in the previous chapters, began with Acaraya Somānanda, was developed by Utpaladeva and Abhinvagupta and to which Kṣemarāja himself contributed a great deal by writing lucid commentaries on many of the core texts along with his own Pratyabhijñāhṛdayaṃ. On the Vijñānabhairava Tantra
Kṣemarāja’s commentary Vivṛttiis found only up to verse 23, after which
Sivopādhyāya’s commentary Udyota(18th CE), is available.
The Trika exegetes between 9th and 11thcreate an impenetrable system of logic to demonstrate the interiority of creation-reality in the their philosophical treatises while not relegating the externality of the tantric ritual tradition. Acarya Abhinvagupta establishes the reality levels in the perspective of interiority principle in the first fourteen chapters of his Tantrāloka and from fifteenth chapter onwards, he inclusively describes the significance of ritual aspect in an extremely refined spirituo-philosophical discourse. The VijñānabhairavaTantra, however, much before the Trika masters, ruthlessly discards the ritual aspect completely. Bhairava’s brief exposition of the nature of reality being the experience of fullness within, happens just in four verses (14-17) and the obsoleteness of all external ritual is shown in just five verse (9,19,11,12,13)in a highly condensed but clear and elevated manner. Towards the end in the course of 13 verses, Bhairava reveals that true ritual is executed
within one’s own consciousness. The (in)famous ritual aspect in its prevalent external form of the Tantric practice that made them undesirable for the mainstream (e.g. householder) sādhaka is rejected up-front as something for aprabuddhamatinama (those whose intellect is underdeveloped) in the Tantra,and the whole paraphernalia of the external ritual is brought into the space of inner experience. This is completely in tune with idea of absolute non-dualconsciousness and foregrounds the Trika principle of interiority, in which, consciousness is the ultimate substratum for ritual as well as dhyāna(meditation).