In the subtle stream of the Trika tradition, especially as it is brought to light by my Pujya Gurudeva Swāmi Lakṣamaṇajū, Ajāpa Gāyatrī is not just a technique, it is a doorway to the deepest core of the Self. This sādhanā is not for the ordinary seeker. It is for those whose soul yearns for the Supreme, so intense that even the slightest movement of breath becomes a means of union with the Parābhairava.
Ajāpa Gāyatrī is a path of inquiry – insight, constant contemplation. It is a sādhanā done with the slow and silent movement of breath, in which every inhalation and exhalation is so soft that even the practitioner himself cannot hear it. It is the breath that does not make a sound. It is the breath that has become subtle, that has become pure through awareness and contemplation. It is the breath that reveals your real own self.
But where to focus?
Not on the movement of breath, but on that empty space, on that sandhi [junction], on that sacred pause. When the inhalation is complete and the exhalation has not yet begun – there is a gap or silence. Similarly, when the exhalation ends and the next breath has not yet begun – there too the same gap or silence prevails. These points are the birthplaces of the breath, and these are the gates of the ultimate truth, where the mind dissolves, where the individual cannot enter.
My Guru Swāmi Lakṣamaṇajū often used to say:
“This is not just prāṇāyāma, it is the ultimate sādhanā. You are observing Śiva in that breathless breath.”
The sādhaka must maintain unbroken awareness, constantly, every moment renewed – concentrated, intense, like a ray of light, on the centers between these two breaths in each and every act. If even a single breath passes without awareness – it is as if the thread of the ultimate is lost at that moment.
In Yoga Vāsiṣṭha, Ṛṣi Vāsiṣṭha tells Lord Rāma in the same spirit:
“Clench your teeth, clench your fists, tighten every nerve of the body – but conquer the mind.”
This is a symbolic metaphor. It symbolizes not just physical effort, but the intensity of inner determination and austerity required to steady the mind. Unless this inner victory takes place, Ajāpa Gāyatrī remains only a thought – not an experience.
What does it mean to conquer the mind?
It means to calm its restlessness, to concentrate it, to bring it completely under the gaze of awareness. Then the movement of the breath becomes a mantra. And when this mantra appears by itself without being chanted, when it gives you breath, and not you to it – then it is real Ajāpa. This is the secret.
As this sādhanā matures, the sādhaka feels that the breath is moving by itself, but he himself is completely situated in the witness – unmoved, untouched, always present. This is the door to enter the motionless-vibration, and beyond it – Parābhairava, the Supreme Being.
Ajāpa Gāyatrī is not just a sādhanā, it is the manifestation of the inner sacrifice – the sacrifice in the awareness of breath, the sacrifice of individual consciousness in the universal consciousness, the sacrifice in the silence of sound. This is the ultimate sādhanā, the most subtle śaivayoga, and true remembrance.
For those who walk this path with brutal confidence and determination, the breath becomes a ladder to the constellations, and the silence between breaths – the throne of Parābhairava within.
— Ｎａｇｋｕｍａｒ です.