In this excerpt, Swami Lakshmanjoo explains why YOU are really Parabhairava (supreme state of God Consciousness). This is from the Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, chapter 8 by Swami Lakshmanjoo.
Oṁ. Oṁ means:
antarālīnatattvaughaṁ cidānandaghanaṁ mahat /
yattattvaṁ śaivadhāmākhyaṁ tadomityabhidhīyate //271
Antarālīna tattvaughaṁ, where all of these differentiated thirty-six elements and one hundred and eighteen worlds are consumed inside (antarālīna tattvaughaṁ). And that state which is cid-ānanda-ghanaṁ, filled with all consciousness and all bliss. Yat-tattvaṁ śaivadhāmākhyaṁ, which is the reality, the abode and residence of Lord Śiva. Tad-om-ityabhidhīyate, that is [the meaning of] oṁ.
And that oṁ you should recite inside.272 “Recite” means you should live in that oṁ.
And māmanusmaran, at the same time, you should live in that oṁ and see that oṁ is Parabhairava; the body of Parabhairava is oṁ.273
Yaḥ prayāti tyajandehaṁ [verse 13], at that time [one] who shatters this physical body at the time of death, sa yāti paramāṁ gatim, he is sentenced to that supreme state of Parabhairava.274
अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः ।
तस्याहं सुलभः पार्थ नित्ययुक्तस्य योगिनः ॥१४॥
ananyacetāḥ satataṁ yo māṁ smarati nityaśaḥ /
tasyāhaṁ sulabhaḥ pārthanityayuktasya yoginaḥ //14//
Pārtha, Hey Arjuna, O Arjuna, who in this way, ananyacetāḥ, being one-pointed and one-pointedly remembers Me who is Parabhairava, and remembers Me always, in each and every activity of his daily routine of life in his lifetime, tasyāhaṁ sulabhaḥ pārtha, for him, I am at his disposal, nitya yuktasya yoginaḥ, because that yogi is always a yogi. He has not accepted any other activity besides this yoga.
It is said somewhere [in a Shaivite text], he gives reference:
vyāpinyāṁ śivasattāyāmutkrāntirnāma niṣphalā ।
avyāpini śive nāma notkrāntiḥ śivadāyinī ॥
If Parabhairava is all-pervading, what is the meaning of throwing ones own body and entering into God consciousness? It is useless. What has he to throw and where has he to go? Wherefrom he has to go, that is Parabhairava! To which point he has to go, that is Parabhairava! That utkrāntiḥ means to jump. How will he jump? From which point will he jump? And to which point will he enter?
It is just a joke, it is baseless. It makes ones own self laugh. Utkrāntiḥ has no meaning.275 Avyāpini śive tattve, [even] if Śiva is not all-pervading, still then utkrāntiḥ has no meaning.276
And Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa, in his [Stava] Cintāmaṇi (he was a Shaivite master, one of the ancient Shaivite masters), his reference also Abhinavagupta puts in his commentary:
nimeṣamapi yadyekaṁ kṣīṇadoṣe kariṣyasi ।
padaṁ citte tadā śaṁbho kiṁ na saṁpādayiṣyasi ॥
[Stava Cintāmaṇi, śloka 115]
If, in the period of one twinkling of the eye, You make somebody, some fortunate soul blissful by fixing him in the state of Parabhairava, kim na saṁpādayiṣyasi, then what more could You do? You have done everything for him.277 So whatever is being done in one twinkling of an eye, that is all [that is needed].278 There is no effort, there is no [need] to insert effort. There, tīvra tīvra śaktipāta279 is found and that is under your control, not under the control of Parabhairava. That tīvra tīvra śaktipāta is under your own control!
This is the Shaivite Philosophy.
JOHN: How is it under your control? How?
SWAMIJI: How?
JOHN: You said tīvra tīvra śaktipāta is under your own control.
SWAMIJI: Because you are Parabhairava. You have to produce śaktipāta for yourself. When you don’t like, then don’t produce it, still you are great. When you don’t like, as somebody does not like to have śaktipāta, what then? He is always there.
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271 Verse from Amriteshvara pūja. [Editor’s note]
272 “Vāk niyamaḥ (vānniyamaḥ), that is word, internal word. And that internal word must be, you must speak internal word through mind. . . . that is parā vāk.” Ibid.
See footnote 228 for an explanation of the four levels of vāk.
273 “Māmanusmaran means you must remember Me repeatedly. Remember Me and then remember Me again, afresh. Don’t put only one push of memory of God, that won’t do . . . it will fade. . . . Refresh this push again and again. . . . That is anusmarana; repeatedly you have to remember Him.” Bhagavad Gītā (1978).
274 Or one “who leaves this attachment for body [during their life-time]. . . . This is tyajan dehaṁ, he must not be attached to this bodily existence through mind. That is a real death.” Ibid.
275 “Utkrānti [means] coming out from this physical body and getting entry in God consciousness–that is utkrānti. That is ekadeśena; eka-deśena means God consciousness is situated somewhere [else].
“This kind of teaching that is found in Bhagavad Gītā is absolutely incorrect. Sāra śāstras does not recongize this kind of dhāraṇa. Sāra śāstras say, “why to go? Where to go? What is up and what is down? Down below is Lord Śiva, up is Lord Śiva.
“Yadi sarvagato devo vadotkramya kva yāsyati. Athāsarvagatas tarhi ghaṭa-tulyastadā bhavet. If Lord Śiva is everywhere, then this body is also Lord Śiva! Why should you leave this body and go in higher level–what is there? If Lord Śiva is not everywhere, athāsarvata, if He is only in seventh [heaven], not in other worlds, ghaṭa, then He is [like] a pot, then He is just like [an inanimate object].”
Swami Lakshmanjoo, Tantrāloka, 14.33-34 (1980).
276 “Avyāpini śive tattve, if God consciousness is not pervading, even then the leaving of one thing [i.e., one’s body] and holding another thing [i.e., God consciousness] has no charm. What will you leave and what will you hold if God consciousness is not there? If God consciousness is there, what is the fun in leaving and holding? If God consciousness is not there, what is the fun in leaving and holding?” Bhagavad Gītā (1978).
277 “If You keep my mind, if You make my mind, only for one moment, one second, nimeṣamapi yadyekaṁ, ekaṁ nimeṣa, (nimeṣa means only for one twinkling of eye, that is only for one second), if You make my mind kṣīṇadoṣe without any blemishes, without any blemishes of variety of thoughts, i.e. variety of foreign thoughts except Your thought.” Swami Lakshmanjoo, Stava Cintāmaṇi, 115 (1980-81).
278 “Iti yeṣāṁ śaṅkā. So, those people who consider, who take this for granted that, ‘it does not matter if you think of God for your lifetime; if you have thought over God and concentrated on God for your lifetime, and at the time of death you don’t remember Him, you will be destroyed, you will be ruined,’ those people who say this, tān vīta śaṅkānkartum, this decision is incorrect . . . and this point is declared by this śloka: ananyacetāḥ satataṁ yo māṁ smarati nityaśaḥ, that person who remembers Me in his lifetime, always he will be with Me and he will not be destroyed at the time of death [even] if he does not think of Me.” Bhagavad Gītā (1978).
279 Tīvra tīvra śaktipāta means “super-supreme grace.” See footnote 33. See also Kashmir Shaivism–The Secret Supreme 10.66. [Editor’s note]
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