What is Moksha? Does entering the path of Bhairava Sadhana mean preparing for death — sitting in a corner, withdrawing from life, waiting for the end? And what is Kashi — only a city on the banks of the Ganga, or something far more personal and immediate? Shri Praveen Radhakrishna addresses these questions directly, reframes both concepts entirely, and adds two critical practical teachings: the warning about vicious thoughts during Sadhana, and the principle of Digambara — appearing before Bhairava with absolute, zero-pretension rawness.
What Is Moksha? Oneness While Living
The first and most important clarification: Moksha is not death. It is not the premature exit of a fifteen-year-old who sits for Bhairava Sadhana and disappears. It is not passivity, withdrawal, or waiting for the body to give out. Moksha is a state of living — the state of being fully administered by Kalabhairava while still inhabiting the physical body.
To understand this, Shri Praveen traces the origin of Bhairava back to the story of his emergence from Shiva's third eye — the cutting of Brahma's fifth head, the twelve years of wandering as penance, and the moment when the head fell to the earth. Where it fell, that place was called Kashi. And the presiding deity of Kashi ever since has been Kalabhairava. Hence the invocation: Kashika Puradhinatha Kalabhairavam Bhaje — "I worship Kalabhairava, the Supreme Lord of the city of Kashi."
Here is the key insight: the word "administers" is everything. Wherever Kalabhairava administers, that place is Kashi. Kashi is not only a geographical location — it is a state of being. Anyone can travel to the city of Kashi. But not everyone can enter Kashi the realm.
If Bhairava administers your Jiva — if you have placed him within yourself so fully that he is guiding your thoughts, emotions, and actions — then you are Kashi. You are in the state of Moksha. You are walking, breathing, working, and living — but you are doing it as someone inhabited and steered by Kalabhairava.
In that state, material threats become irrelevant. Ten thousand opponents cannot destabilize someone whose Jiva is administered by the greatest force in existence. And death, when it eventually arrives, is not feared — it is embraced as the final release of the body, the moment when the practitioner who has been partially One with Bhairava becomes completely One.
The Path Unfolds in Sequence
This state of Oneness with Bhairava is the first great goal. Once achieved, the next destination becomes possible: seating Adi Shakti — Mahakali — on the pedestal of Bhairava. When Bhairava lies down as the foundation and Mahakali stands on him, the practitioner becomes invincible in a qualitatively different way. Whereas Bhairava's Oneness brings steadiness and clarity, Mahakali's Oneness brings the capacity for decisive spiritual action. But the sequence matters — Bhairava first, then Adi Shakti.
This is Moksha: not a moment of death, but a progression of Oneness. The body lives and works and serves Dharma until it ends. The Jiva is increasingly One with the Deity. That is the destination.
Why Your Eyes Opened Late
A recurring concern Shri Praveen addresses is from practitioners who began their Sadhana in their thirties, forties, or sixties and feel they have "started too late." His response is direct: you were not supposed to begin earlier. The design required you to accumulate a certain weight of karma first.
You had to get married, take on the EMI, build the career, raise the children, care for the aging parents — because all of that is residual karma arriving from previous births. It needed to be incurred and embodied before the eyes could open to Bhairava's path. If you had known at age five, you would have skipped all those commitments — and then there would have been another birth waiting just to fulfil them. The "late awakening" is the design completing itself.
By the time the eyes open, you are ready. The weight of karma has arrived into the right configuration. And now, carrying all of that consciously — the job, the family, the financial commitments — is not an obstacle to Sadhana. It is the Sadhana. These things were earned; finishing them faithfully is how the remaining karma gets burned.
Starting before 33 is an accelerated track, but it means the practitioner is almost certainly not in their first Bhairava Sadhana life — the soul carries awareness of this path from previous births. No matter when one starts, once you are here, "that is all that matters."
The Wolf Man: Be True to Your Birth
Shri Praveen recounts the real case of a man discovered in a forest, behaving entirely like a wolf or dog — howling, walking on all fours, unable to communicate as a human. He had spent his life as a wild animal despite inhabiting a human body.
The teaching is pointed: if you were born into a specific form, be true to that form. If you spend your entire life trying to be something you are not, you waste the birth. This principle extends to diet, lifestyle, family status, social position, and every dimension of the incarnation.
Digambara: Coming Before Bhairava Without Pretension
Bhairava is Digambara — the one who wears nothing, who is clothed only by space itself. There is not a single covering, not a single ornament of pretentiousness on him. He appears exactly as he is.
This is not merely a description of his iconography. It is a teaching on how to approach him. When you sit for Bhairava Sadhana, do not put on a performance. Do not become a different, more "spiritual" version of yourself only for the forty-eight days of a Sankalpa (vow period), then revert to your natural self the rest of the year. He already knows what you are the other 317 days. The performance is not fooling him — but it is costing you authenticity, which is the one currency he actually values.
- If you were born into a non-vegetarian family and eat accordingly 365 days a year, do not pretend to be vegetarian for 48 days of Anushthan while planning to resume afterward. Bhairava knows. Be what you are.
- If you have a career, commitments, loves, and ambitions that predate your Sadhana — bring all of that into the room with you. Own it. Tell him what it is and why it is there.
- The ideal posture is to sit before him and say: "I realize my past life karma, the latent memories in my Jiva, and why I have been born this way. I have complete understanding of who I am. I sit before You Digambara — completely raw, with zero pretentiousness."
In that state of radical honesty, progress in Bhairava Sadhana accelerates dramatically — without complex mantras or elaborate rituals. Authenticity is the shortcut.
The Warning: Vicious Thoughts During Sadhana
One of the most serious practical warnings in this teaching concerns what happens when a practitioner sits for Bhairava Sadhana while harboring vicious or destructive thoughts toward another person.
Bhairava is the Bhootanath — the King of the Bhoota Ganas (spirit hosts). Every soul across countless ages that has attained Moksha under his guidance becomes part of his Bhootas — terrible in power, responsive to his will, and alert to the requests and thoughts of his practitioners. It is these Bhootas, not Bhairava himself in his Parabrahman Rupam (Transcendent form), who handle the day-to-day affairs of his devotees.
When a practitioner sits in Sadhana and, consciously or not, surrenders a vicious wish — the desire for a specific person's destruction, ruin, or suffering — the Bhootas act on it. Almost certainly. And they are not selfless laborers. They demand payment, drawn from the practitioner's Prana (life force). The practitioner may not understand why their own vitality is draining. They will thank Bhairava for solving the problem and not realize the Bhootas have collected their fee in a currency that does not show on any ledger.
The distinction that must be internalized:
- Acceptable: "I am suffering terribly. I don't know what to do. Help me. Remove this pain." — This is surrender of helplessness and grief. It is safe and answered with compassion.
- Dangerous: "I pray for the destruction of [name]. I want to see them ruined." — This is a vicious commission. The Bhootas will fulfill it. The payment in Prana will follow.
Until reaching a very advanced state in the Sadhana, always enter the Bhairava sitting with a clean, zero-agenda mind. Submit your pain, not your rage.
Material Desires in Sadhana
Another nuanced teaching covers the question of material desire in the life of a Bhairava practitioner. The answer is not "desire nothing" — it is more precise than that.
Anything that belongs to the life before the Sadhana began is not truly "material desire" in the problematic sense. The job, the children's education, the aging parents — these are residual karmas that must be fulfilled. Chasing after them is not materialism; it is dharmic obligation. Allow Bhairava to help with these things openly. Ask: "All this I had before I came to You. Tell me how to handle it so I can focus on You."
What becomes dangerous is new material ambition generated after the Sadhana begins. If the practitioner suddenly feels powerful and begins fantasizing about political positions, corporate domination, or social prestige that has nothing to do with their prior karma — that wish, offered before Bhairava, will be dangerous. It goes against the direction of the path entirely, and the Bhootas may grant it at a cost.
The summary is: Bhairava Sadhana first, everything else flows from it. Enough will always be provided to sustain what was karmically owed. Do not chase beyond that.
Conclusion: You Are Kashi
Kashika Puradhinatha Kalabhairavam Bhaje. Wherever Kalabhairava administers, that is Kashi. When he sits within your Jiva — when your ego and your Jiva have merged, when you bring zero pretentiousness to his feet, when you have released the old desires and accepted the design of your birth — you are Kashi. You are walking in the state of Moksha. You are not dead; you are more fully alive than ever before. You are untouchable. And when the body eventually goes, you leave with your chin held high, already One with him. That is the goal.