The Omnipresent State of Shiva (Verse 116)¶
1. Exercise Title & Verse¶
The Omnipresent State of Shiva (Dhāraṇā 93)
2. Sanskrit (IAST)¶
yatra yatra mano yāti bāhye vābhyantare'pi vā / tatra tatra śivāvasthā vyāpakatvāt kva yāsyati // 116 //
3. English (Literal)¶
Wherever the mind goes, whether externally or internally, right there is the state of Śiva. Because of His all-pervasiveness, where could it go?
4. Main Commentary (Bhāṣya)¶
Padārtha Mano yāti means the mind moves or wanders. Bāhye vābhyantare'pi vā means whether toward the outside (objects of the senses) or the inside (internal states like grief or joy). Śivāvasthā is the state or resting place of Śiva, the supreme reality. Vyāpakatvāt means because of its absolute all-pervasiveness.
Anvaya Wherever the mind wanders—whether outward toward a physical form or inward toward an emotion—the state of Śiva is already precisely there. Because this reality is entirely all-pervading, where else could the mind possibly go to escape it?
Tatparya The core teaching of this verse is the radical omnipresence of divine consciousness. There is no spatial location, internal feeling, or physical object outside of it. The practitioner does not need to wrench the mind away from ordinary things to focus on a "holy" object. Every object the mind touches—a blue jar, a sudden anxiety, a surge of sexual excitement, or a wave of profound sorrow—is already an expression of Śiva.
Sādhana Let the mind wander freely without attempting to restrict or control it. Notice where it naturally lands. Do not reject the destination or try to substitute it with a traditional meditative focus. Instead, recognize that the very capacity to perceive that object, and the substance of the object itself, are nothing but the expansion of consciousness. See every movement of the mind not as a distraction, but as consciousness touching itself.
5. Jaideva Singh — The Logical¶
Whatever attracts the mind—whether an external form like a jar or a color, or an internal event like a thought or an emotion—let that be taken as Śiva with full conviction. Make it the object of meditation. When meditated upon as Śiva, the object or emotion can no longer stand out as something isolated from the universal stream of consciousness. It is bound to appear as that Universal Consciousness itself in that particular aspect. This dissolves selfish desires and frees the mind from useless vikalpas (thought-constructs), ensuring entry into the divine state.
6. Swami Lakshmanjoo — The Lineage¶
Keep your mind absolutely loose. Do not put any effort into controlling it. The outside objective world consists of the objects you perceive outwardly. There are inward objects also: grief, sorrow, sadness, joy, excitement of sexual joy, confusion. Keep your mind loose from both sides. When you let the mind go loose and see that whatever it touches is only the expansion of your own consciousness, where can that state of Śiva go? It is already there!
7. Mark Dyczkowski & Christopher Wallis — Context & Philology¶
N/A — Neither Dyczkowski nor Wallis provide direct commentary on this verse in the available sources.
8. Daniel Odier — The Somatic Grounding¶
N/A — Odier gives only a brief appendix translation for this verse. The available Odier material does not supply a verse-specific bodily cue beyond that bare rendering.
9. Paul Reps — The "Sudden Hit"¶
N/A — Reps technique #93 maps to the shock-events cluster reflected in Verse 118, not to this dhāraṇā.
10. Upāya Type¶
There is a distinct divergence between the commentators here. Singh classifies this as Śāktopāya, treating the mind's focus on any object as a conceptual doorway to the divine. Lakshmanjoo unequivocally calls this Śāmbhavopāya, emphasizing the immediate, will-like recognition required when the practitioner simply leaves the mind "absolutely loose" without any mediated effort to control it.
11. Resonance Check (Adhikāra)¶
This practice requires an attitude of radical acceptance and a capacity to relax the deeply ingrained habit of mental control. It is suited for the practitioner who is exhausted by effortful concentration and is ready to trust that awareness is self-existing everywhere.
12. The "What Else?" — The Pitfall¶
The pitfall is confusing the instruction to "let the mind go loose" with permission for passive daydreaming or unconscious rumination. The practice is not to space out, but to maintain a razor-sharp, immediate recognition that the exact place the mind has landed—even if it is petty anger or boredom—is made entirely of Śiva.
13. Verse-Specific Glossary¶
- vyāpakatvāt: "Because of all-pervasiveness." Here it specifically means that there is no boundary or edge to reality; no object, thought, or feeling can exist outside of consciousness.
- vikalpa: Conceptual differentiation or thought-construct. In this verse, treating a thought or an emotion as separate from Śiva is the vikalpa that must be dissolved by recognizing its true nature.