Prāṇa Dhāraṇā · Dhāraṇā 3
न व्रजेन्न विशेच्छक्तिर्मरुद्रूपा विकासिते । निर्विकल्पकतां भूयात्निर्विकल्पस्वरूपतः ॥
na vrajen na viśec chaktir marudrūpā vikāsite | nirvikalpakatāṃ bhūyāt nirvikalpasvarūpataḥ ||
When śakti in the form of breath neither goes out nor enters, upon expansion, the state free of thought arises from its own nature without constructs.
The third technique deepens into the breath’s dead point. Here Bhairava uses śakti instead of prāṇa — because he speaks not merely of air but of the conscious energy riding upon it. When this śakti neither exits (na vrajet) nor enters (na viśet), it abides in its expanded form (vikāsite).
This is not about holding the breath. It is about recognizing the instant where energy rests in itself. Nirvikalpa — without mental constructs, without images, without words. The natural state of mind when it is not fabricating thought.
Nirvikalpasvarūpataḥ — literally, “from the own nature that is nirvikalpa.” The mind does not become something new. It discovers what always was beneath the constant noise of thinking.