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Om ! Gods ! With ears let us hear what is good; Adorable ones ! With eyes let us see what is good.

With steady limbs, with bodies, praising, Let us enjoy the life allotted by the gods. May Indra, of wide renown, grant us well-being; May Pusan, and all-gods, grant us well-being. May Tarksya, of unhampered movement, grant us well-being. May Brihaspati grant us well-being. Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !

Bhavanopanishad is listed under the category of Shaktha Upanishads viz. the Upanishads that delineate the tantric outlook and attempt to reconcile that with the Vedic approach. Bhavanopanishad is affiliated to Atharva Veda. It is a major text in the Sri Vidya - Sri Chakra tradition; and, brings out, very crisply, the symbolism of Sri Chakra and its upasana; its spiritual mode of worship of kadi (samya) school, and contemplation. Bhavanopanishad is an important text for the practice of antaryaga, the internal worship. It is described as an Upanishad in the sense of a secret doctrine or a liberating-wisdom.
The Bhavanopanishad is closely related to the Tantra-raja-tantra, another major tantric text of the Kadi School of the Sri Vidya tradition. The Kadi_ matha is regarded the most orthodox among all the schools of Sri Vidya tradition. It insists on virtue, discipline and purity of rituals. Its attitude is Sattvic; and itsform of worship is internal. Hence Kadi School (also known as Samaya) is regarded as Para Vidya (transcendental knowledge) where the worship (archana) is conducted in the space of ones heart (hrudayakasha madhye).

establish a relation between structures of the human body and Sri chakra. The Sri Chakra, in turn, is
The main purport of Bhavanopanishad is to regarded as a projection of the essential characters of the universe. There is an attempt to harmonize (samarasya) the micro (pindanda) and the macro (brahmanda), with Sri Chakra being the median imbibing in itself the characteristics of the both. Bhavanopanishad lays greater emphasis on symbolic representations and contemplation, than on rituals. The text begins with salutations and surrender to the Guru, hailing him as the fountainhead of the liberating wisdom. Then it goes on to relate the human constitution in its physical, mental and vital levels to the nine-fold energy represented by the nine enclosures of the Sri Chakra. A significant portion of the text is devoted to the enumeration of the nine enclosures (avaranas) that compose the Sri Chakra yantra; and to their geometric, cultic and psycho-physical representations. The method of enumeration adopted is the samhara-krama (absorption or dissolution method), which commences from the outermost avarana and proceeds inwards, systematically, till the central point of the Sri Chakra, the bindu, is reached. In short, the text attempts to construct a harmonious relation between the micro and the macro; between the Tantric and the Vedic; and between worship and contemplation. It also renders the Tantric worship sattvic and sublime. In the Sri Vidya tradition, the concept of Bhavana (after which the text is named) has a very special significance. In the tantra tradition, the worship is classified as external (bahir-yaga)

and internal (antar-yaga). In the former the worship is offered to a concrete representation of a divinity which inspires devotion and reverence. Here, the object of adoration and worship is gross (sthula). The devotee looks upon the mother-goddess as having a human form which he can see and touch. The services (upacharas) are offered to that form as if it were the most adorable and highly revered human being. The worship also includes praising the divinity (stuti), repeating the mantra handed down by the Guru (japa), which the tongue can utter and the ears can hear. There is also the contemplation on the glory of the God (dhyana). This form of worship is termed as gross (sthula). The text says that external worship is only a stepping stone, a preliminary procedure; and, one must go beyond that in due course. The external worship is a means and not an end. The other form of worship viz. antar-yaga, the internal worship, is in two stages with external props (saadhara) and without such props (nira_dhara).The props referred to here are the physical accessories, such as image, gestures (mudra) or sounds. The devotee understands and appreciates the symbolism involved in those objects of adoration and in the ritual sequences. He knows that the props are there to help him and guide him along the path; and yet he submits to them, entirely, with devotion and reverence until the wisdom dawns. His dependence on the props tapers gradually. The worship here tends to be subtle (sukshma).

The second stage of antar-yaga is transcendental (para), leading to gradual dissolution of mind in intense contemplation and visualization of identity with the mother-goddess. His entire psyche is immersed in the mother principle. Now, the external rites, worships or conducts, no longer carry any meaning, for him.

The devotees consciousness undergoes a transformation with the realization that he and the Mother are one. Such transformation is termed Bhavana. Etymologically, the term is derived from the root bhu (to be) to suggest bringing something into being. It also suggests a mental process that transforms an idea into reality. In an extended sense, the term means contemplation or meditation, comprehending the abstract as real and tangible. The expression Bhavana here is taken to mean, internal worship (antar yaga) of the Devi, visualizing Sri Chakra as identical with ones own being (sva_atma shakthi) and offering worship through mental constructs , projections and visualizations. The method of Bhavana is regarded as the sublime form of worship for attaining liberation, even while one is alive (jeevan mukthi). Bhavana emerged as a very significant concept in the development of the tantric tradition; and, to an extent, it rescued the tantra from totally degenerating into grotesque and abominable cult practices. It came as a breath of fresh air cleansing the polluted atmosphere of the tantra. It helped sublimating the coarse tantric beliefs into universal principles. The advocacy of meditation (bhavana) rendered the tantra acceptable to householders too. It also helped to reconcile the tantra outlook with the Vedic ethos.

The Bhavanopanishad is in the form of terse Sutras and it is not easy to understand its import without the aid of a commentary. The most well known of all the commentaries on Bhavanopanishad is The Bashya by Bhaskararaya Makhin, who called himself Saubhagyabhaskara.

Bhavana Upanishad / Bhavanopanishad

1. The holy Teacher is the Power (Para-Sakti) that is the cause of all. 2. Of that Power the body with its nine orifices is the form. 3. It is the holy Wheel in the guise of the nine wheels. 4. The Power of the Boar is paternal: Kurukulla, the deity of sacrifice, is maternal. 5. The (four) human Ends are the oceans (purusharthas - dharma, artha, kama and moksha). 6- 7. The body with the seven constituents (Chile, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen) like the skin and the hair is the island of the nine gems. 8. Resolutions are the wish-granting trees; energy (of the mind) is the garden of the trees of plenty. 9. The six seasons are the tastes, namely sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, astringent and saltish, which are apprehended by the tongue. 10. Knowledge is the material for worship; the object of knowledge is the oblation; the knower is the sacrificer. The meditation on the identity of the three, knowledge, its object, and the knower, is the worship rendered to the holy Wheel. 11. Destiny and sentiments like love are (the miraculous attainments like) atomicity, etc. Lust, anger, greed, delusion, elation, envy, merit, demerit these constitute the eight powers of Brahma, etc. (Brahma, Maheshvari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Raudri, Charmamunda and Kalasamkarsini). 12. The nine abodes (muladhara etc.,) are the powers of the mystic gestures. 13. The earth, water, fire, air, ether, ear, skin, eye, tongue, nose, speech, feet, hands, the organs of evacuation and generation and the modification of mind are the sixteen powers such as the pull of lust, etc. 14. Speech, grasp, motion, evacuation, generation, and the attitudes of rejection, acceptance and apathy are the eight (entities) such as the flower of love, etc. 15. Alambusa, kuhu, visvodara, varana, hastijihva, yasovati, payasvini, gandhari, pusa, sankhini, sarasvati, ida, pingala and susumna these fourteen arteries are the fourteen powers such as the all-exciting, etc. 16. The five vital breaths and the five minor breaths are the ten divinities of the outer spokes, (styled) Sarvasiddhiprada, etc. 17. The digestive fire becomes fivefold through distinctions based on its association with this pre-eminent breath. (They are) what ejects, what cooks, what dries, what burns and what inundates. 18. Owing to the prominence of the minor breath, these (fires) in the human body come to be styled as the corroder, the ejector, the agitator, the yawner and the deluder. They promote the digestion of the fivefold food: eaten, chewed, sucked, licked and imbibed. 19. The ten aspects of Fire are the ten divinities of the inner spokes, Sarvajna, etc. 20. The qualities of cold, heat, pleasure, pain, desire, sattva, rajas and tamas are the eight powers, vasini, etc. 21. The five, rudimentary sound, etc., are the flowery shafts. 22. Mind is the bow made of sugarcane. 23. Attachment is the cord (that binds). 24. Aversion is the hook. 25. The unmanifest, the Great, and the principle of Egoism are the divinities of the inner triangle: Kameshvari, Vajreshvari and Bhagamalini. 26. Absolute awareness, verily, is Kameshvara. 27. The supreme divinity, Lalita, is ones own blissful Self. 28. Of all this the distinctive apprehension is the red glow.

29. Perfection (ensues from) exclusive concentration of the mind. 30. In the performance of meditation consist (various acts of) respectful service. 31. The act of oblation is the merger in the Self of distinctions like I, Thou, Existence, non-Existence, the sense of duty and its negation, and the obligation worship. 32. Assuagement is the thought of identity of (all) objects of imagination. 33. The view of times transformation into the fifteen days (of the half lunar month) points to the fifteen eternal (divinities). 34. Thus meditating for three instants, or two, or even for a single instant, one becomes liberated while living; one is styled the Siva-Yogin. 35. Meditations on the inner wheel have been discussed (here) following the tenets of Saktaism. 36. Whoso knows thus is a student of the Atharvasiras.

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