Vijnana Bhairava: The Practice of Centring Awareness

"Vijnana Bhairava" by Betina Baumer.

I recently had the fortune of listening to the original transcript and listening to the original Vijnana Bhairava audio recordings by Swami Lakshmanjoo, and have the following to say about this book by Betina Baumer and Sarla Kumar.

1. Baumer should have clearly stated that her book is NOT a commentary by Swami Lakshmanjoo, but in fact, an edited version by herself and Sarla Kumar, based on a transcription made from the original audio recordings of Swami Lakshmanjoo.

2. After listening to the original recordings one finds many mistakes in Baumer’s book. The consequences being, that in years to come Baumer’s books will tarnish the reputation of Swami Lakshmanjoo, and further mislead sincere aspirants who adopt some of the practices which are incorrectly indicated by Baumer.

3. On a more serious note: Baumer should have had the dignity to reject this project in the first place, but in that she can claim some innocence, since, as indicated in the introduction, she was strongly persuaded by Prabha Devi to undertake this work.

4. What Baumer did not know was that Prabha Devi first offered the same manuscript of Vijnana Bhairava to a well respected pundit, the late Professor P.N. Pushpa, who promptly returned the work stating clearly that, "It would be highly unethical to undertake such work in Swami Lakshmanjoo's name without the consent of the person, or persons, who had prepared the original manuscript.”

5. Undaunted, Prabha Devi chose Baumer as the second victim to achieve her own end, i.e. the promotion of her own name in Shaiva circles. This should not surprise anyone, since it is now common knowledge that Prabha Devi, after living so many years in close proximity to Swami Lakshmanjoo, took it upon herself to take one of the masters hand written manuscripts "Trika Rahasya Prakriya" and publish it under her own name.

6. But, in order to share some of the blame it would not be out of place to say that, before publishing this Vijnana Bhairava, both Baumer and Kumar were informed by the leaders of Swami Lakmanjoo’s Trust in India, that the manuscript belonged to someone else (John Hughes) who have been given specific instructions by Swamiji to publish this work. This both Baumer and Kumar chose to ignore, and despite being told that the original manuscript had many mistakes, which Swami Lakshmanjoo latter corrected and clarified with John Hughes, they still decided to publish.

6. So, for the record, although it is briefly stated in the introduction, it is up to Baumer to clearly state on the cover of this book that this is an edited version based on a transcript of Swami Lakshmanjoo’s original recorded lectures. That way she reader will be more aware of the fallibility of Baumer and Kumar, and not Swami Lakshmanjoo who lived and breathed this teaching.

great awareness