Tune into Tantra: Sri Bhairava Stotra by Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande
gītādi-viṣayāsvādāsama-saukhyaikatātmanaḥ | yoginas tanmayatvena manorūḍhes tadātmatā || 73 ||
The yogi who relishes music and song to the extent that s/he merges with it becomes filled with unparalleled happiness, attains heightened awareness, and experiences oneness with the Divine.
~ Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, Verse #73, Yukti #45 ~
Translation by Christopher Hareesh Wallis
Welcome to my ongoing series looking into the long and rich tradition of music, song and dance in Tantra.
Music and dance as devotion to celebrate the joy of divine consciousness has always been central to Tantra, and other Hindu-derived practices. However when most people think or talk about Tantra, music and dance is often overlooked or unconsidered.
But in Tantra, the absolute consciousness is always vibrating to the primordial music of the universe. When God is at play, God is often dancing.
All you have to do is look at images or statues of Shiva or Kali, and if they’re not in meditation they’re most probably dancing. In Tantra music and dance is a meditation, a yoga. The Tandava dance of Shiva being a perfect example, or the image of Shiva as Nataraja (Lord of Dance) being another one. And Mother Kali is often depicted divinely and triumphantly dancing on Shiva’s chest.
Shiva Nataraja. Photo © Rohan Reddy / Anāhata Tantra.
The first piece of music I would love to share with you is called the Sri Bhairava Stotra. This beautiful hymn was composed by the luminous Tantric sage Abhinavagupta near to the end of his life around the early part of the 11th century in Kashmir, India.
Here it is beautifully rendered by the indomitable Indian musician Dr. Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande with music by Sh. Bajan & Abhay Rustam Sopori.
Dr. Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande and her band in concert.
Abhinavagupta was, without a doubt, one of history’s most brilliant Tantra teachers and one of the greatest spiritual and intellectual giants India has produced. He was, and is still, hailed as a genius and a polymath – a Tantric, practitioner, philosopher, aesthetician, art critic, dramaturgist, Yogi, metaphysician, songwriter, musician, devotee, researcher, historian, linguist, commentator and so much more. He wrote more than sixty works, some very detailed and extensive, and all considered classics of the highest order in Indian spiritual history.
Painting of Abhinavagupta by Claudia Dose
The Sri Bhairava Stotra is devoted to Kalabhairava, a fierce, yet compassionate aspect of Shiva. In the hymn Abhinavagupta describes Bhairava (Shiva) as pervading the whole universe, full and primordially original.
Legend has it that upon sensing his death, Abhinavagupta made a final pilgrimage to the Bhairava Guha cave, located near the town of Beerwah in Kashmir, followed by over a thousand of his disciples. The story goes that he alone entered the sacred cave, reciting the Sri Bhairava Stotra. This was the last time Abhinavagupta was seen.
The Sri Bhairava Stotra is still sung regularly till this day at some ashrams and places of worship in India like the Ram Shaiva Trik Ashram Fateh Kadal in Srinagar, Kashmir, and at Gole Gujjral in Jammu.
You can read the Sanskrit lyrics and English translation of the Sri Bhairava Stotra here.
Kalabhairava statue at Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo by Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia, via Wikimedia Commons.
With love, Rohan
ॐ
May our bodies and minds be healthy.
May our thoughts be filled with love.
May our practice be free of obstacles.
May we carry its benefits into the world.
ॐ
ॐ नमः शिबय
