Equal Toward Friend and Foe

Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra · dhāraṇā 100 · verse 125 (Jaideva Singh numbering)

Door 100Verse 125ordinary life · contemplationPracticeDraft · awaiting guardian review

Meet friend and foe, praise and blame, with the same even mind.

The verse

samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca samo mānāvamānayoḥ | brahmaṇaḥ paripūrṇatvād iti jñātvā sukhī bhavet ||

Being the same toward enemy and friend, the same in honour and dishonour, knowing that brahman is full everywhere, one becomes happy.

School paraphrase drawing on Jaideva Singh (1979), Christopher Wallis and Bettina Bäumer (as printed in Wallis's concordance); not a quotation.

Commentary

Singh: from the conviction that brahman is present everywhere comes equality of consciousness (samatā): the same goodwill toward all, neither elated by honour nor depressed by dishonour. He compares Bhagavad Gītā 5.18 and 14.25. Wallis: 'equal towards all'.

How to sit with it

Bring to mind someone you like and someone you find difficult; a moment of praise and a moment of blame. Recognise the same fullness present in each, and let the mind settle level, leaning toward neither. Carry that evenness into the day.

Where attention rests

The same attitude toward friend and foe, praise and blame

The fullness present in everyone

Not a body shape. The map is a level balance with friend and foe, praise and blame on either side, held even by the fullness present in both.

Breath

Natural breath. Count about four in and four out only if it helps you settle, then let the count go. No forced hold.

The counts are an optional school pacing aid, not part of the verse. Hold is always 0: this school never adds a deliberate breath-hold.

Any steady, comfortable position (school addition)

Any steady, comfortable position: sitting on a chair, sitting on the floor with support under the hips, or lying on the back. Standing or walking slowly is also acceptable when that is easier. Choose the position in which the body needs the least effort.

School addition. Verse 125 does not specify a body position. The seat is a convenience so the dharana can be practised; it is not part of the technique and makes no claim of tradition.

Safety

Pain is information. Pause, regress, or exit. Never push through sharp pain.
General practice caution only; not medical advice. Equanimity does not mean accepting harm: keep your boundaries, and step away from people or situations that are unsafe. If anything feels distressing (dizziness, agitation, strong emotion), stop, open the eyes and rest attention on the feet and the floor.
This door needs no particular posture: sit on a chair, sit on the floor with support, or lie down. Eyes may stay open.

Honesty

Door 100 follows Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra dharana 100 (verse 125) in Jaideva Singh's numbering. The door-to-dharana index is a School of 112 Doorways teaching device. Singh's sequence is one edition's count, not an ancient one-to-one canon. The seat, counts, reaction and beat scripts are school additions.

Door index = Jaideva Singh dharana number: Door 100 is dharana 100, verse 125. Other editions number differently (see dharana.numbering_variants).
The seat, breath counts, reaction metaphor, attention-map drawing and beat scripts are school devices, not part of the verse.
The English is a school paraphrase, not a quotation from any translator.
No medical claims. Reaction names are metaphors, not biochemistry.
New door researched on 2026-10-06 on branch research/vbt-houses-2-7; awaiting guardian review.

Verse verification: verified. Sanskrit: verified. English: school paraphrase. Review: pending guardian review.

The eight beats (spoken script)

Name the door. This is Door 100: equal toward friend and foe. Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra dharana 100, verse 125.
Geometry. No shape to make. Sit, or carry this into the day. The map is a level balance: friend and foe, praise and blame.
Orientation. Let the floor or the chair carry you. Eyes closed or soft.
Breath. Natural breath. Count about four in and four out only if it helps. No forced hold.
Attention. Bring to mind a friend, then someone difficult. A moment of praise, then of blame. The same fullness in each. Stay level.
Reaction cue. School image: a balance held level. A metaphor, not medicine.
Adiyogi thread. Verse 125: the same toward enemy and friend, honour and dishonour, knowing brahman is full everywhere, one becomes happy.
Exit / integrate. Take a slow, free breath. Carry the level mind into your next meeting with someone.

Sources

Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava or Divine Consciousness: A Treasury of 112 Types of Yoga (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979) [Dhāraṇā 100] VERSE 125: numbering, translation and notes. Checked against a scanned copy (text extracted with pdftotext), not a print copy.
Vijñānabhairava, GRETIL e-text (data entry Marino Faliero, 1998) verse 125: Sanskrit source for the IAST (input errors corrected against Wallis and the Singh scan where noted in dharana.sanskrit_variants)
Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra: The Mystery Within (2019 compilation of translations: Bäumer, Singh, Chaudhri, S. P. Singh & Maheshvarananda, Silburn, Dubois, Figueroa) 'Session Two' list: 'Dharana 100' = verse 125 (numbering cross-check; follows Singh). Parallel-translations section labels verse 125 as 'Dharana 102' (disagrees; see dharana.numbering_variants).
Christopher (Hareesh) Wallis, Vijñāna-bhairava-tantra translation concordance, Part 2 verse 125 = 'Equal towards all (Y100 ~ B3)'. Sanskrit and parallel translations (Wallis, Singh, Dyczkowski, Bäumer and others) used for the paraphrase.
Gabriel Pradīpaka, Vijñānabhairava (Sanskrit & Trika Shaivism) verse 125: Sanskrit compared. Pradīpaka's text shares much of GRETIL's input (it repeats several GRETIL errors), so it is not counted as an independent witness.
School of 112 Doorways: seat, breath counts, reaction metaphor, attention map drawing and beat scripts School devices, following the House 1 conventions (doors/HOUSE-1-REGISTRY.md, guardians/CHECKLIST.md). research/PROMPT_TEMPLATE.md is not present in the repository at 32e76c4.

Pain is information, never a badge. Never force the breath. Practice is not medical treatment. The door-to-dhāraṇā index is a School of 112 Doorways teaching device (school_device), not an ancient one-to-one canon.