Indriya Dhāraṇā · Dhāraṇā 60
प्रणवाद्योच्चारणेन शब्दपूर्व्यं हि शून्यताम् । ध्यायेत्शून्ये मनो याति शून्यतैवात्मता भवेत् ॥
praṇavādyoccāraṇena śabdapūrvyaṃ hi śūnyatām | dhyāyet śūnye mano yāti śūnyataivātmatā bhavet ||
By the pronunciation of praṇava and others, meditate on the void that precedes sound. The mind goes to void; the void itself becomes being.
Sixtieth technique. Praṇavādyoccāraṇena — by the pronunciation of Oṃ and other mantras. Śabdapūrvyam — what precedes sound. Before sound is born. The silence before. The space of pure potentiality.
Śūnyatāṃ dhyāyet — meditate on that prior void. Not on the sound. On what is there before sound. When you prepare to say Oṃ, there is an instant of silent intention. There lies the creative void from which all sound emerges.
Śūnye mano yāti — the mind goes to void. Śūnyataivātmatā bhavet — the void itself becomes identity. You cease to be the one who pronounces the mantra. You become the silence from which mantra is born. This inversion of identity — from agent to source — is the essence of tantric practice.