Tantric · तांत्रिकDhyana shloka

Who is worshipped, and who is satisfied — Vijnana Bhairava 16-17

The verse that asks the question a devotional platform has to sit with: in a reality of that kind, who exactly is being worshipped?

Vijnana Bhairava Tantra verses 16-17edition

Kaal Bhairav ·Shiva Bhairavi

Sanskrit · संस्कृत

तद्वपुस्तत्त्वतो ज्ञेयं विमलं विश्वपूरणम् । एवंविधे परे तत्त्वे कः पूज्यः कश्च तृप्यति ॥ १६ ॥ एवंविधा भैरवस्य यावस्था परिगीयते । सा परा पररूपेण परा देवी प्रकीर्तिता ॥ १७ ॥

tadvapustattvato jñeyaṃ vimalaṃ viśvapūraṇam । evaṃvidhe pare tattve kaḥ pūjyaḥ kaśca tṛpyati ॥ 16 ॥ evaṃvidhā bhairavasya yāvasthā parigīyate । sā parā pararūpeṇa parā devī prakīrtitā ॥ 17 ॥

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Meaning

That is to be known, in truth, as his body — stainless, filling the universe. In a supreme reality of that kind, who is the one worshipped and who is the one satisfied? That state of Bhairava which is sung of in this way is proclaimed the Supreme Goddess, supreme by her supreme nature.

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

Two anuṣṭubh verses. The first is unusually plain for this text — tad vapuḥ tattvataḥ jñeyaṃ, 'that body is to be known in truth', with jñ pronounced closer to a gy or a nasal j than to a clear j and n. evaṃvidhe pare tattve is a locative absolute, 'in such a supreme reality'. In verse 17 the word parā appears three times in one line — sā parā pararūpeṇa parā devī — which is the verse leaning on its own key word rather than a transmission error.

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

वपुःvapuḥ: body, form(nom. sg. n.)MW1899-CDSL p.920
तत्त्वतःtattvataḥ: in truth, in reality(abl. adv.)MW1899-CDSL p.432
ज्ञेयम्jñeyam: to be known(gerundive nom. sg. n.)MW1899-CDSL p.425
विमलम्vimalam: stainless(nom. sg. n.)MW1899-CDSL p.951
विश्वपूरणम्viśvapūraṇam: filling the universe(nom. sg. n.)
पूज्यःpūjyaḥ: one to be worshipped(nom. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.641
तृप्यतिtṛpyati: is satisfied

Context

kaḥ pūjyaḥ kaśca tṛpyati — 'who is worshipped and who is satisfied?' — is the sharpest line in the text, and it is not rhetorical decoration. Worship assumes two parties, one offering and one receiving. The verse has just described a reality that is viśvapūraṇa, filling everything, and asks where the second party is supposed to stand. The tantra does not answer by abolishing worship. The 112 dhāraṇās that follow are all methods, and the text spends its whole length teaching them. What the question does is fix the register: the practices are ways of arriving at a state, not transactions with a being situated elsewhere. Verse 17 then says what that state is called when it is named as a deity — parā devī, the Supreme Goddess. Read together with verse 15, the identification is complete: the state of Bhairava, Bhairavi, and Parā are three names for one thing. This is the Trika position stated as compactly as it is ever stated. It is worth being plain that this is a minority reading within the broader Bhairava tradition rather than the popular one. Most Bhairava worship in India today is directed at a deity with a shrine, a dog and a specific jurisdiction. Both readings are old; this library carries the Kashi-and-Kotwal material as well, and neither is presented as the correction of the other.

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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