The Goddess whose spacious gaze hosts the dance

The Nada Brahman is the sound of the universe created by the vibratory field that surrounds us.  This etheric field extends through all things and is known in Sanskrit as Akasha - space.   Akasha contains everything; the yin of consciousness, the witnessing awareness and the yang of prana - life force energy.    

Through the cosmic spiral of our innate intelligence the seed to recreate over and over again is sown and grows in spiral patterns.  Small parts break off but assume the same shape as the whole of which they always retain a connection to.   Just as the japa mantra is repeated over and over again and sound flows out through the mouth but returns via the ears into the heart and mind so the energy of the universe is always present and ever changing.  

Creativity is our highest nature, but when we create things we become bound by time - the time in which the creation is manifested.  Consciousness, found in the stillness, between the arising and falling away of everything is the driver of this illusion that we are bound by time in space.

Termed the Akashic field or the Akashic record,  space or ether is the web from which everything is born and into which everything must dissolve.  It is a living entity made up of layer upon layer of invisible vibratory energy.  

The Goddess Bhuvaneshwari, the 4th of the great wisdom goddesses or Mahavidyas, holds the essence of space in her captivating gaze.  She is the invisible dancer,  hidden within the miraculous dance of the universe.  As she births planets, stars and galaxies, she unleashes all forms out of herself - like a spider spins its web and then retreats to the centre to wait, so Bhuvaneshwari is the core - the space that exists within all things.   The universal energy that springs forth from her gaze dances around her hidden form like a swirling mist, concealing the principal dancer.

We are made of vibrational energy - this is the unrealised or concealed truth that Bhuvaneshwari can help us to uncover. Her divine game of hide and seek is intended to entice the seeker to look beyond material form, Prakriti.  As we seek to observe the inner world that permeates underneath the tangible physical aspects we know,  a process of unwrapping subtler and subtler layers ensues.  An experience of energy as sensation arises as the mind turns it's gaze inwards focusing on the direct realisation of change - Annica.  The nature of impermanence is at the very root of our innermost experience.  Meditating on the Goddess enables us to develop a deepening awareness of the etheric space that exists within, the space that is free of attachment to transient external form. We can notice her presence most viscerally in the still space expanding between each breath.

Bhuvaneshwari's shadow is that of constriction.  We become bound by our desire for knowledge.  To know it to be able to label, to define, to create a permanent reference that we can build upon. We apply this labelling attitude to all forms, including ourselves.  This however restricts us to certain ways of being, as we cut off any potential to be other than what we define ourselves as.  The quality of space, pure space is unlimited, vast, eternal, full of pure potential.  We limit our capacity to be by the desires that create a false idea of who we are.  Not only do we fall under the illusion of prakriti, the world and everything in it, but we lose step with the dance of the divine universal energy. We become disconnected from our essence and from each other.  Our natural spirals of creation and dissolution are replaced by attachment to desiring outcomes, the things we want or feel we deserve or aversion to those we don't want manifesting in our lives.  Harmony, beauty, flow and innate wisdom are lost, replaced by suffering and separation from source energy.

The practice of evoking the deities arose with the Tantra tradition, around the 5th century.  Tantra recognises that spiritual growth and understanding can be found in every experience, in the mundane and the miraculous, the wondrous and the devastating.   Myth and metaphor surround the Mahavidyas and like synapses in the brain, they can help connect us to a deeper understanding of who we are; where we are functioning from, the thoughts, habits and actions that are channelling our life experience. These, once recognised, can be changed through repetition of a new patterning that becomes a more rewarding habit.  

In this self knowledge offered we can investigate with kindness. Creating spaciousness around our own definitions of who we and others are. And right now, in these turbid times we can use the inspiration of Bhuvneshwari's essence of limitless space to help us be spacious around others's opinions and feelings. As we allow awareness of annica to punctuate the world that is now reawakening, we can attempt to understand more openly it's eternal flux and tune into the Nada Brahma; the sound of the universe's energy vibrating through her cosmic spiralling dance.