TANTRA & ADVAITHA-THE BINDU CONSCIOUSNESS OF NONDUALITY
In my own spiritual journey, I have been lucky to walk all the four paths of bhakti, kriya, karma and jnana yogas and found deep connecting dots amongst them all. The cults of paths, practices, Gurus and programming have lost their clutch on this mind now after the single running thread has been witnessed in great detailing and observation. All paths have led me only to myself and hence I speak from a neutral standpoint of not belonging to any spiritual lineages of Sri Vidya or any other traditions. The paths of TANTRA & ADVAITA have fascinated me and this inspiration has led me to wander deep into their wisdom. Essentially, Tantra is freedom and beingness of the moment. It is the spontaneity and flow of this life and not a set of practices, theories. Tantra is the breathing pulsatile spanda of each and every living moment and hence if one wishes to relish it as a state alone rather than a medium to an end, one has arrived at a more mature outlook towards TANTRA. Tantra practices are aesthetically and powerfully designed to awaken one with pleasure and aware engagement both at once. SRI VIDYA being one of its tenets is the path of worship of the SHAKTI principle and as we all know, it’s a celebration of the atomic substratum of our universe.
ADVAITA is the jnana marga based on the use of the mind to grasp its own source by the intriguing question, “WHO AM I” and discarding everything as unreal ( Neti, Neti) to come to one single source point of the self. Rather dry and difficult for most of us, it’s a razor-sharp steep uphill curve without any deviations. It is For a mature mind only as the body-mind identity is mostly too strong for most to discard as unreal.
In my own journey, I found the paths culminating at the lotus feet of my Guru, Shree Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi. Most of us know him for Advaita and the enquiry methods he strongly advocated all who visited him with questions. But to the minds that approached him with surrender and devotion, he displayed the karuna of the mother and took complete responsibility for their lives. We may learn and accumulate many things in our lives but only with the grace and Gurus’ blessings, we may find real meaning to what we learn. We may experience the truth rather than just knowing it. And in that experience be set free from the strong biases and paradoxes we may hold against paths and people different from us.
As we all know, The Bindu of the Shree Yantra is the final apex point. What is the characteristic of this Bindu as a dot? A dot has no beginning or end and can only be a single entity. hence a Bindu is a manifested consciousness of oneness. In view of the personal spiritual story of a saadhak, the BINDU represents the final point of culmination where all becomes one. This Adwaith bhava is not an intellectual point where the ego is focussed to arrive, but is the hridayam/womb of all-knowing. The point where the mind has sunk into the heart. A place of shoonyata where the triputibhedaof DRIG DRISHYA VIVEKA ( knowing, known and the act of knowing) all have dissolved. There is nothing to be done here. Only beingness happens in all its spontaneity. The saadhak is a jivanmukta where his liberation prevails inspite of all his engagements of any type. This ardhanareeshwara state of SHIVA SHAKTI sambhoga is the atma bindu/self. The bindu is the mauna of the self where all mental judgements have drowned and only the pure being lives in solitude, silence and freedom.
In light of the sacred text, Lalitashasranama, I would like to quote a few names which point towards this BINDU BHAVA and how it can be cultivated. Manan, jigyaasa and sadhana all are necessary when one wishes to aim for such a state. The quest to know the self, the saadhnas to develop willpower and the inner meditation to absorb the understanding, all play their own roles in the journey. After this is done, there comes a point where no amount of effort or intention can make this state happen and only at divine timing and in abidance, the fruit ripens. Verse 178 of the Lalitashasranama says, “BINDU TARPAN SANTHUSTA” which means she who is pleased by the offerings to the Bindu. We may offer haldi, Kumkum and other external abhishekams but metaphorically one must understand that these are mere external inspirations. The true offering to the bindu which Divine Mother seeks from us is our ego and she is waiting to have this aahuti from us..
Name 625, KAIVALAYAPADADINI is also beautiful as she is the granter of the supreme kaivalaya state of the nondual self that we are. Verse 162 states, : antar mukha samaradhya, bahir mukha sudurlabha” which she is reminding us not to focus our awareness to external things but nudging us to look within and realize her as the self. We may get too lost in the external rituals and sadhana goals , not paying attention to doing self enquiry and meditation to absorb her true essence which is beyond the mind.
Thus, the Bindu bhava is where we are all arriving at, in our own ways and time. I wish all of you a celebratory and awakened journey to the Bindu.
Thankyou
Shree Matre Nmaah!
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