Tantric · तांत्रिकDhyana shloka

What the Bhairava state is — Vijnana Bhairava 14-15

Bhairava's own answer to what he actually is: released from the reckoning of space and time, and unspeakable in the strict sense.

Vijnana Bhairava Tantra verses 14-15edition

Kaal Bhairav ·Shiva Bhairavi

Sanskrit · संस्कृत

दिक्कालकलनोन्मुक्ता देशोद्देशाविशेषिनी । व्यपदेष्टुमशक्यासावकथ्या परमार्थतः ॥ १४ ॥ अन्तःस्वानुभवानन्दा विकल्पोन्मुक्तगोचरा । यावस्था भरिताकारा भैरवी भैरवात्मनः ॥ १५ ॥

dikkālakalanonmuktā deśoddeśāviśeṣinī । vyapadeṣṭumaśakyāsāvakathyā paramārthataḥ ॥ 14 ॥ antaḥsvānubhavānandā vikalponmuktagocarā । yāvasthā bharitākārā bhairavī bhairavātmanaḥ ॥ 15 ॥

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Meaning

Released from the reckoning of direction and time, not particularised by any place or designation, she cannot be pointed at, and in the strict sense cannot be spoken. Her range is the bliss of one's own inner experience, freed from thought-constructs — that state, whose form is fullness, is Bhairavi, the state of Bhairava himself.

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

These are contemplative verses, read slowly rather than repeated. Two anuṣṭubh verses of four eight-syllable feet. dikkālakalanonmuktā compounds dik + kāla + kalanā + unmuktā; the join kalanā + unmuktā gives the long o. antaḥsvānubhavānandā is antaḥ + sva + anubhava + ānandā, four pieces with the visarga of antaḥ audible before the s. vikalponmuktagocarā has the same unmukta again — 'released from'. bharitākārā is bharitā + ākārā, one long ā at the join.

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

दिक्कालकलनोन्मुक्ताdikkālakalanonmuktā: released from the reckoning of space and time(nom. sg. f.)
देशोद्देशाविशेषिनीdeśoddeśāviśeṣinī: not particularised by place or designation(nom. sg. f.)
व्यपदेष्टुम्vyapadeṣṭum: to point at, to designate(inf.)MW1899-CDSL p.1031
अशक्याaśakyā: incapable of being(nom. sg. f.)MW1899-CDSL p.112
अकथ्याakathyā: unspeakable(nom. sg. f.)MW1899-CDSL p.1
परमार्थतःparamārthataḥ: in the highest sense(abl. adv.)MW1899-CDSL p.588
अन्तःस्वानुभवानन्दाantaḥsvānubhavānandā

Context

The goddess has asked, in the opening verses, what Bhairava really is: is he the nine-fold division, the mass of sound, the three-headed form, the three śaktis, nāda and bindu? Bhairava's answer in verses 9 to 13 is that all of those are provisional — described for those who need something to meditate on, offered the way a mother offers a sweet to get a child moving. Then come these two verses, which say what is left when the descriptions are withdrawn. vyapadeṣṭum aśakyā — 'incapable of being pointed at'. akathyā — 'unspeakable'. The text does not reach for these words as praise. It has just spent five verses dismantling the standard iconographic and phonic definitions, and this is the position it arrives at. bharitākārā, 'whose form is fullness', is the one positive term, and it is the etymological pivot of the whole text: bhṛ, to bear or to fill, is also one of the two roots the Shiva Purana uses at 3.8.47 to derive the name Bhairava. The tantra and the Purana are working the same syllable from opposite ends. The last words matter grammatically. bhairavī bhairavātmanaḥ — the state is feminine, and it belongs to Bhairava. Śakti is not something Bhairava has; she is what his state is.

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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