Bhairava

[Agnideva]

Namaste.

Bhairava = "Terrific"

Bhairava is a fierce form of Lord Shiva. I am trying to find some information about Bhairava. I thought I would post anything I find on this thread, and invite others to share their knowledge on Bhairava.


Bhairava form in Kathmandu, Nepal

Thanks.

OM Shanti,
A.

[Jigar]

Namaste Agnideva,
I sugggest to possiblyy look into the root of Rav As I suspect upon a suspicion of wordology.


maste nam,
jigar

[Agnideva]

I sugggest to possiblyy look into the root of Rav As I suspect upon a suspicion of wordology.

Namaste Jigar,

Bhairava is derived from bhaya (fear), so means fearful or terrific. I checked up on rava for you, and rava means cry or roar. But, I don't think rava is part of the etymology of Bhairava.

OM Shanti,
A.

[Agnideva]

Shri Bhairava Deva

Bhairava holds within Himself the entire universe by reducing all the Shaktis to sameness with Himself and inasmuch as He completely devours within Himself the entire mass of ideation (which is responsible for sense of difference) - Shiva Sutras, Jaideva Singh

Bhairava means "terrifying" and it is an adjective applied to Shiva in His fearful aspect. Yet in Kashmir Shaivism, the three letters of this name are taken in a different manner. Bha means bharana, maintenance; ra means ravana, withdrawal and va means vamana, creation of the universe.
The Rudrayamala Tantra, quoted in a puja manual Bhairava Upasana, describes the worship of Vatuka Bhairava, or Bhairava as a small boy, and gives his mantra as hrim vatukaya apadudharanaya kuru kuru batukaya hrim. Although the ascription to Rudrayamala is commonly found in the colophons of tantrik texts, these passages do not appear in the modern work now available.

However, the same work gives dhyanas, or meditation images of Vatuka Bhairava as comprising the entire three gunas, and also separately as Vatuka in His sattvik, rajasik and tamasik guises. In his form as the three gunas, He is described as being like pure crystal, effulgent as the rays from 1,000 suns, shining like a sapphire thundercloud and wearing sapphire coloured clothing. He has three eyes, eight arms, four arms and two arms, depending on the preponderance of the guna, has a fanged, fearsome gaping mouth, and a girdle and anklets of live serpents. He is digambara (naked as space), He is the prince-lord (Kumaresha), and is very powerful. In his right hands he holds a staff with a skull on the top (khatvanga), a sword, a noose and a trident. His left hands hold the hourglass-shaped damaru drum, a skull, he shows the mudra bestowing boons and holds a snake in the last.

The sattvik dhyana describes Vatuka Bhairava as resembling crystal, and as white as the kunda flower, wearing celestial clothing and nine gems, of a flaming appearance, adorned with anklets of bells, having a bright, beautiful and handsome face, with three eyes. He has two hands, one of which wields a trident (shula).

The rajasik dhyana says he resembles the rising sun, with three eyes, with red limbs, in his four hands showing the sign bestowing boons, and holding a skull. In one of his left hands he holds a trident and with the other shows the mudra (hand gesture) dispelling fear. He has a blue, bejewelled throat, on his forehead is a fragment (kala) of the crescent moon and he wears clothes red as the banduka flower.

The last, tamasik dhyana, has Vatuka Bhairava as stark naked, blue in colour, with reddened hair, with terrifying fangs, three eyes, anklets of jingling bells, and with eight arms.

The yantra of Bhairava, in all his different forms, is similar to that shown below.



From the yogic point of view, if an individual applies the Bhairava Mudra, he or she looks both outwards and inwards at the same time and is one with Shiva-Shakti. Bhairava is terrible, terrifying, because He represents pure consciousness, before which the kleshas (obstacles) and conditioning of an ignorant human being crumble.

Source: http://www.shivashakti.com/bhairava.htm

[Jigar]

Namaste AgniDeva,
I find that Lord Shiva seems to be at a major confliction within himself issuing a self sense of eternal damnation among brothers.


Om Kara,
jigar

[Agnideva]

I find that Lord Shiva seems to be at a major confliction within himself issuing a self sense of eternal damnation among brothers.

Namaste Jigar,

The Divine fearful forms are rarely understood in the correct sense. This is one of the reasons why I created this thread. There are fearful forms used in all Hindu denominations. In Vaishnavism, the bhairava form of Vishnu is Ugra Narasimha. Similarly in Shaktism, there are Bhairavi or Kalaratri forms of Divine Mother. The fearful forms go to show that it is not only what we perceive as good and beautiful that is Divine, but so also what we perceive as ugly and bad. Death and dissolution are as much a part of the Divine, as are birth and creation. Otherwise, we will be left with God and the opposite of God (Satan); eternal salvation vs. eternal damnation. The benign and fierce representations are created on purpose to provide balance. One is meant to see the benign in the fierce forms, and the fierce in the benign forms. And then that which is beyond both benign and fierce. This is my opinion on the subject.

OM Shanti,
A.

[sarabhanga]

Namaste,

bhairava (from bhIru) means “frightful, terrible, horrible, or formidable”.

bhIru (from bhI) means “fearful, timid, cowardly, or afraid”, and it indicates “a shadow” ~ and the plural is bhIravaH.

So that bhairava is “one of the fearful ones” (the frightful or formidable one) or “one who is of the timid ones” (fleeting or hidden, or protecting those who are afraid) or “one who is of the shadows”.

bhI is “to fear” or “to be afraid or anxious”.

And ru is “to roar, bellow, howl, yelp, or cry aloud”, “to make any noise or sound”, “to sing” or “to praise”; and ru means “to break, shatter or dash to pieces”, “to kill or to be angry”, “to speak”, or simply “to go”; and ru indicates “sound or noise”, “fear or alarm”, “battle or war”, and “cutting or dividing”.

So that bhIru is “to roar, howl, cry out, etc. fearfully” (either out of fear or invoking fear); or “to praise anxiously”.

rava (from ru) is “a roar, yell, cry, howl, song, hum, clamour, or outcry”, “thunder” or “talk” or “any noise or sound (e.g. the ringing of a bell, etc.)”.

So that bhIrava is “a frightful sound” or “formidable thunder” (etc.), and bhairava is the one connected with such shattering or piercing noises.

bhA means “to shine” or “to be bright or luminous”, “to shine forth or appear”, “to be splendid or beautiful or eminent”, “to show, exhibit, or manifest”, or “to be or exist”.

And bhai is the first person singular present case of bhA ~ “I am shining or luminous”, “I am eminent”, “I am appearing or manifesting”, “I am being or existing”, or simply “I am”.

So that bhairava is the “formidable ‘I am’ roar”, the “fearful cry of being”, the very “sound of existence”.
ॐ
And bhairava, through the root ru is intimately related with the howling rudrAH (plural of rudra).

In essence, bhairava is an avatAra of rudra.

[Arjuna]

Namaste.

Bhairava = "Terrific"

Namaste,

Sri Bhaskararaya in LS-Bhashya provides quite specific ethimology of Bhairava, producing it from "bhIru", women.
Cologne Sanskrit Lexicon lists this meaning as "pl. of a class of Apsaras".

Since Tantras say that every man has a nature of Bhairava, this points out to a specific doctrinal moment: man is the Bhairava by virtue of a woman, because she is vimarsha-rUpiNI, she gets him to know himself as Atman.

[atanu]

Namaste,

------
Since Tantras say that every man has a nature of Bhairava, this points out to a specific doctrinal moment: man is the Bhairava by virtue of a woman, because she is vimarsha-rUpiNI, she gets him to know himself as Atman.

Namaskar Arjuna,

This is just stupendous; can you please expand a bit?

Regards

Om Namah Shivaya

[Arjuna]

Namaskar Arjuna,
This is just stupendous; can you please expand a bit?

Namaste Atanu,

This is based upon Paradvaita doctrine of prakasha & vimarsha. Of course we cannot speak of pure prakasha as such when some kind of objectivity is referred to, but on a relative level masculine is reflection of prakasha, while feminine of vimarsha. Then, every individual is affected by malas thus being limited consciousness (essentially there is no affection, but solely voluntary self-limitation of Maheshvara). Since prakasha is static pole of Chiti, it is inert. And it is only vimarsha (shakti) which can remove limitations, transforming Anu into Shiva. On the absolute level vimarsha is the power of awareness by which Chiti (or Anuttara) knows itself; on level of manifestation vAmA (woman) is the power that enables self-realisation. For this reason Tantras speak about Vamachara.

Shiva-sutra say "udyamo bhairavaH". What is udyama?
udyama m. the act of raising or lifting up, elevation; undertaking , beginning; the act of striving after, exerting one's self, exertion, strenuous and continued effort, perseverance, diligence, zeal.
Basically udyama is same as ArohaNa, power symbolized by Murugan's Vel ("shakti" in Sanskrit). This elevation, ArohaNa, is direct manifestation of spanda-shakti, vibration of Consciousness, the pulse of Tattva-hridaya. The most intense ArohaNa is brought about by love and aesthetic feeling. It leads to the state technically called chamatkAra in Kashmir Shaivism and kAmakalA in Shrividya.
Bhairava is "related to women" – yoginis of Samvitchakra, while he resides in its center. This mandala doesn't imply primitive physical models (say that women are necessarily to be numerous), but shows certain principle. Shakti is Chakreshvari, and she can be the whole Samvitchakra in one and the only woman. Bhairava is attracted towards shakti and aroused, and by knowing shaktichakra (the circle) he realises himself as the center, bindu.
In this context the doctrine of KulayAga (aka 5M) should be understood. The 5 makaras are rays of the shaktichakra. And, "tadbhoktA bhairavassvayam".
Ultimately the whole manifestation is realised as shaktichakra, which results in divine ecstasy, jagadAnanda.

In addition I provide a small passage which i posted smwhere on Yahoo groups more than a year ago:

As Shakti is the self-awareness power of the Absolute (Anuttara), vimarsha, while Shiva is the light of pure consciousness, prakasha, so in the manifested existence these two are represented in the forms of women and men. In this sense we can understand the verse of Shaktisangama-tantra saying that “all men are forms of Mahakala and all women are of the nature of Kali and Tara” (Kalikhanda, 5. 4–5). In the process of upasana it is women who elevate men for the provided reason – all activity is done by vimarsha, prakasha being the static pole, Linga.
That is why Tantras underline again and again that without company of a woman there is no complete perfection. The love feeling manifested between woman and man is the primal vibration of the Godhead, spanda. It is this process which is the direct means to self-realization urged by the direct impact of divine power of grace, shaktinipata. What exists in Tantric practice as its sexual side is a vessel for the descent of anugraha, being more its result rather than its cause. That is why it is clearly told that only love saves; from perfect love naturally evolves erotic aspect, kama. It is by this kama Devi is pleased and served through. In this course we can notice that women is a cause of the self-realizing, svatma-sakshatkara. In every relation with a woman sadhaka can unite with a certain aspect of vimarsha – this is a kind of inner maithuna which is prescribed in Tantras to be practiced with any woman one likes. Its nature is of consciousness and need not be necessarily reflected in actual sex.
What is essential for the proper understanding and application of the most sacred Tantric doctrine is the rasa-darshana, meaning “mystical vision through feeling”. If Tantra is taken to be mere technical ritual (be it radical or conventional) it turns to be useless as well as if it is taken as a dry theory – like what had mostly happened with Kashmir shaivism and partly with Srividya.