From void to void...
Lilian Silburn offers us here an approach to the voids we can experience in meditation.
They have the advantage of giving us a precise idea of our path and of the depths we may have reached.
Above all, this text shows that emptiness, although a very beautiful thing to discover in one's life, must quickly be gone beyond, at the risk of getting stuck in it...
INNER VOID
This void, related to the heart, appears at the moment one leaves the objective domain, the whole of objects as a Yogi perceives them, before reaching the domain of subtle, properly mystical knowledge. It puts an end to the impressions of duality concerning one's limited person and one's body. The Yogin loses awareness of his body and of the surrounding world while remaining aware of the void itself, against which a purified knowledge stands out. If he is not attentive and tends towards a passive void, he can hardly avoid dreamless sleep or sterile concentrations from which he cannot emerge without the help of a master. If he remains attentive, he will coagulate his doubts within the conscious void, but he will have to make a great effort to melt these coagulations. As for the duality of objectivity, its final melting happens suddenly when he enters the ineffable Anâkhya, an active Samâdhi which gives access to the domain of pure knowledge. Yet here again, it is difficult to avoid a passive Samâdhi in which one feels peace and bliss, but which carries the danger of stagnation.
INTERMEDIATE VOID
The void related to knowledge, more dynamic and therefore more precious than the previous one, opens up at the moment of passing from the still differentiated domain of subtle knowledge to the undifferentiated domain of the pure conscious subject (the I). Pure self awareness alone remains in this illuminated void, which is accompanied by great bliss. In it, the projection of the objective universe comes to an end, as does the discursive knowledge it brings with it.
Once again, 2 possibilities open up to the Yogin at the very instant he enters this void:
If he lacks vigilance, he falls into the spiritual sleep of Yoga (Yoganidra), a passive Samâdhi in which only very pure notions float. Should he settle there, he will become a true conscious adept of the void, from which he will not easily emerge without a good master. If, on the other hand, he enters the void with full sharpness of mind, he melts, by a simple act of awareness, the last vestiges of doubt, as subtle as a sheet of burnt paper which seems to keep its shape but vanishes at the slightest flick.
According to the Svacchanda, the intermediate void occurs at the moment when the vital energy, the udâna breath or Kundalini, having reached the throat, crosses the palate, the centre between the eyebrows and the forehead, and reaches the crown of the head. A vertical rise like an arrow, as soon as the udâna fire has consumed the last traces of duality, that is, the fear of falling back into it.
Carried by the impulse of the heart, the Yogin sinks into the interstitial void, a lucid void vibrating with the illumination of the Self, active Samâdhi and pure inwardness, the intuition of the fourth state.
The I consciousness, deployed until now as knowledge and as known object, was hidden by these 2 veils and determined by them. When they are reabsorbed, the I alone remains in its naked state, able to enjoy undetermined ecstasy.
HIGHER VOID
The higher void, which appears at the moment when the I thus purified is about to recover the awareness of the Universal I, puts an end to bondage, that is, to individual limits, and the Self is revealed in it in all its radiance. But although the yogin frees himself from his slavery, he is not yet truly free, for he does not master energy, and although he has recognised the identity of the Self and Siva, he does not yet perceive the divinity spread everywhere, including in obstacles.
This void extends to everything except the supreme Conscious Subject.
Some beings stagnate in this void; they are the fools of God, living constantly in ecstasy under the hold of a power they do not understand. Deprived of the full use of their intellectual faculties, they wander here and there as if drunk, unaware of the world and of themselves, without desire or intention; under these conditions they cannot carry out any lasting activity in a universe in which they have not regained their footing. It is probably at a higher level, at the moment when the yogin passes from the individual void to the universal void, as he seeks to bring into balance the Self realised during ecstasy and his vision of a universe not yet fully imbued with ecstasy, that we should place the state the Shaivites call ghûrni, a kind of intoxication caused by too powerful a flow of vibrations; the yogin staggers physically and spiritually, seized with vertigo as the last supports of individuality collapse.
For those who experience them, these states are fullness; but for those who have gone beyond them, such fullness will seem incomplete, and even empty, compared with divine oneness.
The yogin has so far reached only the void of inwardness; his energy flies in kha, in the hub of the Wheel of consciousness, but not yet in vyoman, the ineffable immensity. He must therefore cross other emptinesses in which he will become aware of the universal I endowed with all its power. It is less a matter of going beyond than of a blossoming of the original experience of a Self not yet realised in its cosmic dimension.
UNIVERSAL VOID OF ALL PERVADING ENERGY
Vyoman, or cosmic immensity.
This great void (mahâçûnya) belongs to the all pervading energy (vyapinî), which begins to invade the previous voids. A spontaneous harmony then sets in between inner life and outer life.
The limits of the body having fallen away, the yogin penetrates everywhere into the ethereal void (vyomavyâpti). The breath of life, now diffuse (vyâna), leaves the body to spread through the cosmos and soon becomes one with universal Life (prânana). The divinity is no longer revealed only in the intimacy of the Self, nor even in the Self manifested in all its radiance, but even in what was considered devoid of Self, such as fetters, notions, and so on.
VOID OF EQUALITY (SAMANA)
Finally, subjectivity having poured into objectivity and objectivity into subjectivity until they become equal, the yogin finds himself immersed in the very subtle and indefinable void of equality, from which cosmic limitlessness will arise. Squeezed time has lost its vitality in the absence of the alternation that fed it. Spatial and temporal limits crossed, the mystic dwells in the peaceful ground of universal manifestation. A marvellous state in which Siva alone acts, where a single thought reigns, without intention, where all calculation ceases forever because time and death have been overcome.
If, having reached the stage of impassive and equal energy (samanâ), the yogin turns his gaze towards the world again, he has sovereign command of supernatural powers: identifying with the void proper to all pervading energy, he becomes omnipresent through it. If he becomes absorbed in the void related to samanâ, he shares in the omniscience of this energy, and the same applies to the other voids and their specific energies. But if, in his tireless will to transcend everything in order to reach Paramaçiva, he loses interest in these higher faculties, shaking off his last attachments, he is swallowed up in the void beyond all thought.
SUPRAMENTAL VOID (UNMANA)
It is in this void that the vibration of the ineffable Reality awakens. Yet here again, for the first time, there arises the possibility of reaching two kinds of void: either the mystic remains in cûnya, or he sinks for good into the ultimate anâkhya, the Ineffable.
He rests in the transcendent void (çûnyâtiçûnya) if, lacking boldness (vîrya), he does not seek to leave the blissful and impassive equanimity (samatâ) in order to enjoy the expansion and withdrawal of the universe. He therefore does not exercise his free efficacy in the world perceived as multiple and diverse.
Because he has not reached undifferentiated totality or fullness, he is described as void, or as Siva without relation to the universe.
Always in ecstasy, a great Swan gliding on the surface of the waters without soiling its immaculate whiteness, he still perceives a distinction between pure and impure. Facing a universe that unfolds before his eyes like a show, he stays motionless, in nirvâna, passive and without desire, having no reason to act since he is bathed in an indescribable peace and in the bliss of Consciousness.
In this state of absolute void, the supreme conscious subject, which, carried beyond the circle of time, had swallowed up objectivity, will in turn be devoured by the highest of energies, unmanâ, if he leaves this passive samâdhi, or if, having avoided the transcendent void, he reaches through the impetuosity of his impulse the active and instantaneous samâdhi proper to the ultimate Ineffable.
It is of the latter that it is said to be the non absolute that eliminates both the void and its opposite.
The energy of this void, with which the mystic identifies, gives him access to Siva, whom he receives as penetrating the cosmos almost entirely.
Thus, from void to ever deeper and vaster void, the integration of the sensible world into Paramaçiva takes place: first the known object is reabsorbed into knowledge, then knowledge into the knowing subject; the latter, having reached universality, brings to Siva the nectar of the universe that he has gathered for him all along the path, foraging among the radiant flowers of sensations, feelings and ideas.
SEVENTH VOID
Yet the six previous emptinesses must be abandoned in favour of a seventh, extremely subtle, which bears no relation to any state whatsoever, since, the penetration being complete, Siva is present everywhere. Then, if there is no longer any state, the universal conscious subject (able to become aware of it) has in turn only to disappear, swallowed up in the ultimate energy identical to Siva. Since nothing more can be said of him from now on, he is called ineffable. This ultimate anâkhya contains everything, the infinitesimal in Siva and Siva in the infinitesimal. It is the perfect void, the absolute, fullness, cosmic bliss, the supreme Peace where Paramaçiva is not different from his free energy. In this way the all powerful Consciousness establishes the differentiated world within its own essence, like a reflection in a mirror; and at the same time it reveals itself as both differentiated and undifferentiated: either it causes the phases of appearance, persistence and disappearance of the universe to follow one another within itself, as on the surface of a mirror, or, like the mirror, it remains one and indivisible, unaffected by the many changing reflections, free from everything, though capable of all the worlds in one eternal moment.
Such is also the activity of the ineffable being, who to all appearances lives like an ordinary man while having recovered awareness of himself and of the universe, these being identified and transfigured.
With divinised knowledge, will and activity, he delights in acting, bold and free, as if at play. His spontaneous activity is therefore compared to that of a powerful king who, exulting in his strength, takes pleasure in marching like a simple foot soldier.
Lilian SILBURN.
I take a posture, for example Bhujangasana (the cobra), and I let time pass, concentrating on visualising the path of the breath in Susumna.
The breath rises on the in breath and comes down again on the out breath...
Pranayama opens the door to the postures and reveals their secrets...
With each breath the energy rises, the breath becomes longer and longer.
Longer and longer, longer and longer, longer and longer...
It becomes completely silent; one can barely see that I am breathing.
The energy that manifests is very strong and fills my mind, which falls silent!
The energy is so strong that the body enters total stillness.
The energy is so strong that the breath stops completely for a very long time.
The gaze, turned upwards, is completely fixed; it is no longer looking but seeing a scene that no longer has meaning, importance or depth...
Everything is caught in a kind of concrete in which the body can no longer move, where the posture disappears...
It is beyond me and carries me away for I do not know how long.
I come out of the posture; in the seated position the energy is very strong, and the cobra posture is still there.
Inner and outer worlds merged so long ago already...
The stillness in the seated posture is total; the breath itself no longer exists.
Then things go further...
The energy rises from centre to centre, and something like a strange pleasure arises; a boundless happiness overwhelms me and carries me towards the light in which everything dissolves.
I remained a motionless observer until the moment of fusion.
Minutes and minutes go by, the sattvic quality shifts towards tamas and the breath returns.
The body has kept no trace of the practice, except for an extraordinary lightness; it is ready for a new posture, a new attempt, unique, total and complete…
Denis