Tantric · तांत्रिकDhyana shloka

Shakti is the door — Vijnana Bhairava 20-21

The single most quoted line of the Bhairava tantras: shaivi mukham ihochyate, here Shakti is called the face.

Vijnana Bhairava Tantra verses 20-21edition

Sanskrit · संस्कृत

शक्त्यवस्थाप्रविष्टस्य निर्विभागेन भावना । तदासौ शिवरूपी स्यात् शैवी मुखमिहोच्यते ॥ २० ॥ यथालोकेन दीपस्य किरणैर्भास्करस्य च । ज्ञायते दिग्विभागादि तद्वच्छक्त्या शिवः प्रिये ॥ २१ ॥

śaktyavasthāpraviṣṭasya nirvibhāgena bhāvanā । tadāsau śivarūpī syāt śaivī mukhamihocyate ॥ 20 ॥ yathālokena dīpasya kiraṇairbhāskarasya ca । jñāyate digvibhāgādi tadvacchaktyā śivaḥ priye ॥ 21 ॥

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Meaning

For one who has entered the state of Shakti, contemplation is without division; then he becomes of the very form of Shiva. Here, Shaivi is called the face. Just as a lamp is known by its light and the sun by its rays, and by them the divisions of space and the rest are known — so, beloved, is Shiva known by Shakti.

This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.

A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.

How to recite

The famous half-line is worth learning as a unit: śaivī mukham ihocyate. ihocyate is iha + ucyate, 'here it is called', merged into a long o. śaktyavasthāpraviṣṭasya is śakti + avasthā + praviṣṭasya, a genitive, 'of one who has entered the state of Shakti'. yathālokena is yathā + ālokena, one long ā at the join. tadvacchaktyā is tadvat + śaktyā, 'so, by Shakti', where the t assimilates to cch before the ś.

Time: brahma muhurta

Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong

ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ: Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
श ष स · ś ṣ s: Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
ः · ḥ (visarga): A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
ं · ṃ (anusvara): Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū: Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh: A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.

Word by word

शक्त्यवस्थाप्रविष्टस्यśaktyavasthāpraviṣṭasya: of one who has entered the state of Shakti(gen. sg.)
निर्विभागेनnirvibhāgena: without division(inst. sg.)
भावनाbhāvanā: contemplation, bringing into being(nom. sg. f.)MW1899-CDSL p.755
शिवरूपीśivarūpī: of the very form of Shiva(nom. sg.)
शैवीśaivī: Shaivi, the power belonging to Shiva(nom. sg. f.)MW1899-CDSL p.1090
मुखम्mukham: face; mouth; entrance(nom. sg. n.)MW1899-CDSL p.819
उच्यतेucyate: is called, is said(3rd sg. pres. pass.)

Context

śaivī mukham ihocyate is the line the Bhairava tantras are quoted for, and mukha is the reason. It means face, and it means mouth, and it means entrance — the mouth of a cave, the opening of a vessel. All three senses are working. Śakti is the face by which Shiva is recognised, the mouth through which he is spoken, and the door through which he is entered. English translations have to choose one; the Sanskrit does not. Verse 21 then explains it in the plainest possible terms, and the plainness is the point. Nobody sees a lamp; you see its light, and by that light you see the room. Nobody looks at the sun; you see by its rays, and the rays are how you know where things are. Shiva is not an object of knowledge and Shakti is not a lesser substitute for him — she is the only mode in which he is available at all. nirvibhāgena bhāvanā, 'contemplation without division', is the practical instruction inside the doctrine, and it is what the 112 dhāraṇās that follow are all methods for. The order of the text matters: the principle is given, then the techniques. priye, 'beloved', at the end is a reminder of the frame. The whole text is Bhairava answering Bhairavi, so the verse explaining that Shakti is the door is spoken to Shakti.

Shadanga — the six limbs

The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.

chhanda: anushtubh
devata: Bhairava

Recited at / traditionally recited for

Dhyana (meditation)Knowledge (jnana)

Classified as Tantric — From the Tantras. Typically built on bija (seed) syllables. Basis for this classification.

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