DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRA - I.6

Śakticakrasandhāne viśvasaṁhāraḥ शक्तिचक्रसन्धाने विश्वसंहारः (sūtra I.6)

Śakti here means power; cakra group; sandhāne – in the/when there is/through the union; Therefore, śakticakrasandhāne means,  the coming together of the group of powers.  When the fusion of all the powers takes place in oneself, i.e. when one becomes united with the group of powers, viśvasaṁhāra, the second part of this sūtra unfolds. Viśva means the universe; saṁhāra – dissolution. Therefore, viśvasaṁhāra means the dissolution of the universe.

This sūtra says that when the aspirant’s awareness becomes intent, all the powers of the Self come together and the universe disappears as a reality that was different and separate from the Self. This is Śiva-realization. For example, let us assume that a river runs through a mountain range. There will be several glaciers in the mountain, and when they melt they form a river.  When the glaciers have completely melted away, what remains is only the river. In the same way, when the aspirant devours the different aspects of his materialistic life, viz. when he becomes one with them all, they dissolve like glaciers revealing the true nature of Śiva. The materialistic world is nothing but the body of Śiva, as He alone pervades everywhere. 

Bhairava, also known as Śiva is the Supreme Consciousness. This Supreme Consciousness of Śiva is also known as pratibhā, which is svātantrya-śakti.  Svātantrya-śakti can be explained as the Free Will of Śiva, where there is no manifestation of the universe as different and separate from Himself.  Svātantrya-śakti, the Free Will of Śiva, the “I”-consciousness of Śiva, the independent autonomy of Śiva, in spite of being aware of It’s nature takes control of all the powers both sequentially and simultaneously (krama and a-krama), both in the form of being empty and full or both.  Though Śakti is said to be manifest in various forms, yet She assumes none of these forms.

It is only the Svātantrya-śakti, the independent power of autonomy of Śiva, i.e. Śakti, who is manifest in the form of expansion, from the lowest level to the highest level of consciousness of the aspirant’s own awareness. When an aspirant becomes united with all the powers emanating from Śakti, the entire universe disappears as a reality different and separate from himself. In other words, the lowest of the tattva-s or categories of the universal manifestation dissolve into the highest of the tattva-s, i.e. in Śiva, one's own Self. This can be explained as a state where the aspirant continues to exist with his physical body and exists in the materialistic world, still the aspirant is associated with the Supreme Consciousness, both at the same time. To explain this further, there is disappearance of the universe, as a reality different and separate of oneself and not an “absolute disappearance of the universe to be replaced with a kind of void”.

Spanda-Kārikā (I.1) says that Śiva, who is the cause of all form of cosmic powers, creates and dissolves the universe by mere winking of His eyes. Again I.19 says that nothing being material (causal, subtle or gross matter) gets in the way of the aspirant because he is Śiva or Arodhya, the One, who is never obstructed by anything at all.

DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRA - I.5

Udyamo Bhairavaḥ उद्यमो भैरवः (sūta I.5)

Udyam means moving upwards. It refers to the sudden rush of overflowing consciousness.  It is like the water moving up with great force in an artificial fountain. The usage of the word ‘Consciousness’ is to be understood from the next word Bhairava. Bhairava means Śiva. The sudden emergence of Śiva consciousness like a flash is the reward to the aspirant’s ability to fix his individual consciousness on the Self within. Spiritual practice makes the aspirant perfect and he is rewarded for his perfection. There is a penultimate state, the state where the aspirant is totally pervaded by the consciousness of Śiva and this penultimate state is known as pratibhā, the flash of His Light.

This upward movement Śiva consciousness is due to the manifestation of Consciousness of Śiva as the universe. When this happens, Śiva neutralises all His powers or śakti-s (not Śakti, His veiling power) and dissolves all the thought processes causing dyads or dualism.  The obscured Light of Śiva is revealed. In other words, when the Supreme Consciousness of Śiva pervades the aspirant, he realizes that he is Śiva.  This state of udyama is possible only if the entire concentration is fixed on the Bhairava within him and not externally. There is no point in seeking Him outside his body, as Śiva is within, causing bliss and illumination.

This aphorism subtly conveys that realising Him is not possible by practice alone. The Grace of Śiva is absolutely essential to reach this state, beyond normal state of human mind.

{Further reading on pratibhā: The Self performs five acts - sṛṣṭi, sthiti, saṁhāra, tirodhāna and anugraha (creation, sustenance, dissolution, annihilation and grace or re-creation). But the krama system says that svātantryasaṁvit Śakti, also known as the absolute power of freedom of Paramaśiva, substitutes tirodhāna and anugraha with anākhya and bhāsā. Anākhya approximately refers to the state of turya (the fourth state of consciousness as per Advaita) and bhāsā refers to the fifth state of consciousness turyātīta. The state of bhāsā is also known as pratibhā. Pratibhā has been used differently in different contexts. It is the spiritual power that makes the aspirant to attain Śiva, by making him apathetic to normal sensory powers. The illumination of pratibhā increases with practice. While gaining higher illumination on one side, it begins to destroy the power of māyā on the other side.  In other words, knowledge begins to dawn on him gradually, corresponding to the brightness of pratibhā. Though there is no change in the illumination of pratibhā, it is the aspirants practice in gaining knowledge that determines the brightness of pratibhā to him. It is said that pratibhā is primarily to draw attention to the subjective basis (mind) of the objective consciousness.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.ii.15) uses the word bhāsā (the verse is discussed in the previous aphorism). It says, “tasya bhāsā sarvamidaṁ vibhāti” which means that by Its Light, everything else is lighted. The Upaniṣad endorses the point of view of Trika philosophy, which says that Self Illumination of Śiva alone is realized by a yogi. Both Trika and Advaita agree on the point of Self-illumination of Śiva.} 

DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRA - I.4

Jñānādhiṣṭhānaṁ mātṛkā ज्ञानाधिष्ठानं मातृका (sūtra I.4)

Jñāna here means the knowledge that has been discussed in sūtra I.2.  There, jñāna referred to as the limited knowledge or ajñāna (jñaana in sūtra I.2 is kiñcijjñaana or limited knowledge, while ajñaana is completely absence of knowledge, this is the difference, i.e. āṇavamala lets a little knowledge pass, viz. it throttles but not stops the flow of knowledge). It is only the limited knowledge that precludes the individual self to realize the Supreme Self, though factually there is no difference between the Self and the self. Adhiṣṭhāna means the seat or basis. Mātṛkā refers to the Divine Mother.  It also means the Mother energy of phonemes, Śakti. She is introduced here for the first time in this Scripture.

This sūtra says that Śakti, in the form of uncomprehended Mother, also known as Śabda Brahman is the cause for limited knowledge. The limited knowledge is caused by the three mala-s that have been discussed in the previous sūtra. Mātṛkā also means the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet beginning from a to kṣa (अ to क्ष). The Divine Mother is subtle because She is in the form of unmanifested sound. She limits the knowledge of Supreme by prefixing “I am”.

Let us take this through an example. Suppose an aspirant is walking. When someone asks him, what he is doing, he will answer ‘I am walking’. The usage “I” denotes his gross body and not the Self within.  This is called bondage or attachment. An aspirant gets attached to his gross physical body while carrying out his actions. Therefore, the infinite Śiva is apparently bound by the limited body of the aspirant.  This is called ignorance or ajñāna. This ignorance happens because of formation of various words that are capable to interpreting the different states of the mind and in particular the opposites. For example, happiness and sorrow, pressure and pain, love and hatred, comfort and discomfort. The formation of words gives rise to such subtle states of mind, as the mind is always subtle and work closely with the subtle body.

Knowledge is of two types – superior and inferior. Śakti presides over both these types of knowledge. Superior knowledge works internally with consciousness and inferior knowledge works externally with shapes and forms. Further details have been provided in sūtra I.2 under parā. There are three types of Śakti-s who work on an aspirant. The first one is Ghorā, which makes an aspirant to become attached to the materialistic world and thereby blocking his spiritual path by constantly manifesting powers. The second one is Mahāghorā causing delusion in the mind of the aspirant and makes him become attracted to materialistic world. The third and the last one is Aghorā Devī also known as Aghorī. They are essentially of nature of liberation and free from duality and hence they are capable of making the aspirant to walk through the path of spirituality to attain liberation. These three Śakti-s are the seat of sense organs. Mātṛkā works in close association with the other four Śakti-s Ambā, Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī and Vāmā discussed in the previous aphorism. Mātṛkā is the power of Śiva.

Spanda Kārikā (III.13) also conveys the same meaning. It says that the aspirant is not able to realize the glory of Śiva, as he is deluded by innumerable words that create links between him and the materialistic world. Hence this aspirant is known as paśu. Paśu means the individual soul that continues to be deluded by the effects of māyā. Spanda Kārikā (III.15) says that the eight deities presiding over the alphabets hide the aspirant’s true nature by making his associated with words. Without words thoughts cannot originate and without thoughts association with matter, which causes attachment to worldly existence is not possible.

{Further reading on mātṛkā varṇa rūpinī (Lalitā Sahasranāma - nāma 577) from Advaita point of view. Lalitā Sahasranāma is Advaita Scripture. She is in the form of fifty one alphabets of Sanskrit called matṛkā. These fifty alphabets are split into six groups and worshipped in the six cakra-s from mūlādhara to ājñā. These alphabets have different colours and is said to be closely related to cosmological studies. A comparative narration is drawn between Śiva and Śakti and vowels and consonants. Vowels are always active and dynamic in nature and therefore vowels are compared to Śakti; consonants are compared to Śiva. Without Śiva-Śakti combine, the universe cannot exist, as they are two different aspects of the Brahman. In the same way, sound cannot exist without vowels-consonants combine. The sound originates from Śabda Brahman whereas the universe originates from the Brahman. She is the Śabda Brahman.

She wears a garland made up of fifty one alphabets, which was discussed in nāma 489 akṣa-māladi-dharā. Another interpretation says that She is the Mother (matṛkā) of all letters (varṇa-rūpinī). This theory goes to prove that She is the creator of all the alphabets. These alphabets are the foundation of Śrī Cakra. Based upon the theory that Śrī Cakra is a human body, these alphabets form the foundation of human existence. The difference between animals and man is the decoding and understanding of sound, which becomes possible because of Śabda Brahman. Meditating on matṛkā-s and Śrī Cakra as one, is a way of worshipping Śrī Cakra. This is called Kailāsa prastāra. There are two more prastāra-s. They are meru - prastāra where tithi nitya devi-s and Śrī Cakra are meditated upon as one and meditating Vāc devi-s (authors of this Sahasranāma) and Śrī Cakra as one is called bhū- prastāra. Prastāra means flight of steps.} 

DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRA - I.3

Yonivargaḥ kalāśarīram योनिवर्गः कलाशरीरम् (sūtra I.3)

Yoni here means Māyā.  Manifestation of the universe is due to the effects of māyā. Varga means multitude of similar things and in this context it means the progeny of Māyā. Therefore, yonivarga refers to māyīamala, the impurity causing duality. It is the impurity generating differences causing duality.  Thus the first part of this sūtra, yonivargaḥ refers to the process of creation of the universe. Kalā means actions and śarīram means body. Therefore, the second part of this sūtra kalāśarīram refers to the actions that form the part of materialistic life. Kalāśarīra is kārmamala, the impurity generating feeling of doership.

The cause of bandha or bondage used in the previous sūtra is explained here. It has already been discussed that mala or innate impurity is the cause for bondage. The previous sūtra said that āṇavamala is the original cause for bondage.  This sūtra, further adds two more mala-s - māyīya mala and kārma mala and all three mala-s cause bondage.  The bondage is caused by afflicting the consciousness of the aspirant.  As a result of the afflicted consciousness, the distance between the aspirant and Śiva is widened. That is why, the previous aphorism said that limited knowledge is bondage (jñānaṁ bandhaḥ).

In this sūtra, māyā is said to be cause of this materialistic universe, because Māyā is the root-cause for Prakṛti. However, the original cause for the universe as a whole is Śakti.  As a result of the appearance of body, one gets attracted towards it forgetting the Self within. In other words, the Self is completely hidden, again due to His own power known as māyā-śakti. Māyā-śakti is not māyā-tattva, because the former is His Power to produce duality, and the latter is a mere veil produced by āaṇavamala.

Now it is to be seen how māyīya-mala and kārma-mala cause bondage. Māyīya mala is the impurity arising out of māyā. Kārma-mala is the cause for one’s karmic impressions, known as vāsanā.  Karmic account is embedded as impressions in subconscious mind that is attached to the causal body.  These three mala-s can be summarised as follows: āṇavamala is the impurity also known as innate ignorance. Āṇavamala is the cause of kārma-mala, the impurity that is at the root of one’s karma. Māyīya-mala is the mala that is responsible for transmigratory existence arising of out of māyā.

This sūtra is interpreted differently by Bhāskara. He says that yoni represents the four powers viz. Ambā, Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī and Vāmā^*.  They are nothing but forms of Absolute or anuttara (Parama Śiva, beyond whom, there exists nothing) only. All these four powers together constitute the physical body. According to him, kalāśarīra means the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, from a to kṣa (अ to क्ष). The alphabet originates from the four powers known as yonivarga. To summarise Bhāskara’s commentary, yonivarga (the four powers of anuttara) is the cause for the Sanskrit alphabet. Alphabet form words and the words bring forth the world.  

*Yoginīhṛdaya discusses about these four goddesses. Ambā, the Mother rules over the rest three.  Yoginīhṛdaya correlates these four goddesses with the four levels of speech. Ambā is parāvāc. When she is moved to bring forth the universe, held within herself in seed form, she brings forth Vāmā, who vomits (vāma means vomiting) the universe, who is the power of will known as icchāśakti and abides in paśyanti. The power of knowledge, also known as jñānaśakti is in madhyamā and is known as Jyeṣṭhā. Raudrī, the power of action or kriyāśakti is in vaikharī.

Kalā is one of the five kañcuka-s (कञ्चुक) or coverings of māyā and they are kāla, vidyā, rāga, niyati, and kalā. Kāla is also known as notion of time, that measures the past, gives enjoyment in the present and contains unknown future. Vidyā introduces intelligence. Rāga induces desires for objects. Niyati fixes the order and sequence of karma. Kalā is the one that is being discussed in this sūtra. They together form a covering around māyā. The omnipotence of the Supreme is made to appear as limited because of kalā. This is the reason for specifically choosing only kalā out of the five kañcuka-s of māyā.

Spanda Kārikā also explains this in I.9. When the individual self is afflicted by his own impurities, gets attached to his worldly existence. This state of the self is impure in nature. When the highest state appears, his limited existence wanes away, leading to realisation. Impurities are of three kinds. The first one is āṇava mala, which occurs, when the Will of Śiva, known as icchāśakti contracts itself. Jñānaśakti or the power of knowledge is obscured by āṇavamala and as a result of which infinite knowledge becomes limited in the aspirant. When the knowledge becomes completed limited, antaḥkaraṇa also known as inner psychic apparatus is formed. Since the limitation spreading duality is caused by māyā, this is known as māyīya-mala.  The last one is kriyāśakti, the power of action. This reduces the omnipotence to limited organs of action, making the aspirant to accrue karmas, both good and bad. This is kārma-mala. Thus the interconnection between icchāśakti, jñānaśakti and kriyāśakt and āṇavamala, māyīya mala and kārma mala is established.

{Further reading on māyā from Advaita point of view: Brahman, also known as God is full of inexplicable and inexhaustible energy. Inexplicable because, Brahman just cannot be explained, as He is a way beyond normal human consciousness. He is inexhaustible because irrespective of drawing His energy for creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe, potency of His energy always remains the same. The significant part of his energy is known as His illusionary aspect, which is often referred as māyā.  Through this illusionary power, he throws a veil around Him, so that, His true nature is not seen.  What is not seen is His Reality and what is seen through His illusionary aspect is the worldly existence. His power of māyā is His very own undifferentiated power. The nature or prakṛti has two types of powers.  One is undifferentiated and the other differentiated and the former leads to the latter.  The three guṇa-s or attributes lie in equal proportion in undifferentiated nature. This is the state of prakṛti just before creation begins.  When the equilibrium of guṇa-s is disturbed, the creation begins to happen, leading to different creatures, where one of these guṇa-s predominate.

God is also known as Brahman, the highest Reality of the universe, beyond which nothing exists. The Brahman in unconditioned state is known as Para-Brahman or the Supreme Spirit.  This Supreme Sprit is beyond normal human consciousness. He is called unconditioned because, He has not manifested yet. The Brahman has two aspects - kāraṇa (cause) or nirguṇa (devoid of attributes) and kārya (effect) or saguṇa (with attributes).  Nirguṇa Brahman is devoid of any attributes and is the purest form of Consciousness.  He is the cause or source of creation. He is the One, who is beyond normal human comprehension.  He is devoid of shapes and forms.  He is also changeless and infinite. He is beyond time and space. He is the passive energy and is Self illuminating.  The other aspect of the Brahman is saguṇa Brahman who is full of attributes and qualities.  He is the effect of nirguṇa Brahman.  Without nirguṇa Brahman, saguṇa Brahman cannot exist. Saguṇa Brahman is the active part of Pure Brahman.  Māyā is the mysterious power of saguṇa Brahman that makes it possible for the universe to appear.  Universe is nothing but reflective image of the Brahman also known as His power of projection, which is known as māyā.

Māyā is ignorance.  For easy understanding, a rope is normally cited.  You see a piece of rope in darkness and mistake it for a snake.  Though it is only a rope, it gives you a deceptive look as a snake. When you put on the light, you find it is only a rope and not a snake.  What is the state of your mind when you look at the rope as a snake?  Fear engulfs you.  When you find that it is not a snake and only a rope, your mental condition suddenly changes from fear to happiness.  This happiness is the bliss, when you truly realise the Brahman. The deceptive look of the rope as snake is māyā. Therefore māyā is a factor that causes ignorance in you and makes you to believe the real as unreal.  Let us take another example of a film.  In a movie there are actors.  These actors are known in the movie by different names and qualities.  The inherent quality of a person who acts will not be the same as that of the character he plays, as he merely projects the character of a hero or a villain.  When you see the person on the screen you mistake him for the role he assumed on the screen forgetting his true nature.  Identifying the actor with the role he assumed for the movie is māyā . When the movie is over, what you see is only the white screen.  The white screen does not change and it remains the same always, even when a movie is being projected. What you see on the screen is only the movie and not the white screen behind the pictures.  The white screen is the Brahman. White screen always remains the same, without modifications. Though māyā and ignorance are identified as the same, in reality they are not.  Ignorance is the quality of an individual.  You can’t call the world as ignorant, whereas you can call a person as ignorant.   

We often talk about projecting power of the Brahman. Let us understand this with an example.  The potential form of a huge tree remains in its tiny seed. This potential state of the tree is the casual state.  When the seed begins to sprout, the casual state of the tree undergoes change to become the effect.  Cause is the seed and the effect is the tree and this is called projection.  This transition between cause and effect is called projection.  Knowledge of understanding the potential state of the tree is intellect.  This is called transcending māyā. Understanding the tiny seed behind the huge tree is intellect.  The universe appears gross in nature.  To understand the potential state of the gross form of the universe is Realisation.

The gross form of the universe that you see is not real!  What you see is a contracted Reality.  Brahman, as you know is omnipresent and He alone is omnipresent.  When He is omnipresent, what you see should be only the Brahman and nothing else.  Then why do we call people by names and forms?  This is the power of māyā.  It deceives you; it conceals the Reality from you.  It reveals only the projection and not the source.  By trusting your sensory organs you believe in what you see. You know people only by their names and forms.  You trust your senses and you do not want to go past the senses.  You continue to stay with the senses as you do not want to use your intellect.  Intellect has the capacity to discriminate.  It can tell you what is real and what is not.  You are not making attempts to understand the reality.  Hence, you continue to remain confused and perplexed. You are only using your influenced mind.  Your mind is influenced by your sensory organs, and in this case your eyes influence your mind by identifying a person known to you by his name. You do not want to put into use your intellect.  Intellect alone has the capacity to discriminate and realise the One, who is the cause for the entire creation. Intellect would have told you that He is a soul like you.  It would have used its discriminatory abilities.

Brahman also called the Supreme Sprit or the Self is hidden in all the beings.  Without the presence of that Supreme Spirit, existence is not possible.  It is the force behind all our activities. This Supreme Spirit can be realized only through the process of looking within with absolute confidence that He can be found.  What you are seeing with your biological eyes is nothing but the illusionary aspect of māyā.  You can be pardoned for mistaking a rope for a snake for the first time, second time or even the third time.  If you still insist that it is only a snake and not a rope, then the problem is with your mind.  Someone could even call you as a person afflicted with schizophrenia. To understand that it is not a snake and it is only a rope needs intellect.  Intellect alone has the capacity to discriminate between real and unreal.  You cannot continue to remain in the grip of spiritual ignorance.  The human life is the precious gift of God and no time should be wasted in knowing our Creator.  When we realize Him, we will be relieved from the pains of transmigrations. Life is always a misery, whether rich or poor.  The intensity of the misery alone differs.

Māyā has two types of powers.  One is the concealing power and another is the projecting power. Let us take the example of rope.  The real nature of the rope is concealed and projected as snake. The Brahman is concealed by māyā and projected as objective world.  To realise the reality, one has to overcome both the concealing and projecting powers of māyā successively.  The concealing power is more dangerous than the projecting power, because it always makes you to misidentify an object, leaving aside its originality

Māyā is not something that is considered as evil. Māyā is inherent in creation.  It is also Brahman’s own power. Māyā can be removed only by spiritual knowledge and repeated affirmations. You have to negate māyā and only your own intellect can do that. Intellect is not your birth right.  Intellect is to be acquired. You have to learn to negate the illusionary aspect of the Brahman in the form of māyā and go past it to realize Him.  There is no other way the Brahman can be realized except by transcending His own projecting power of māyā.  When you want to go past māyā, the first thing that you should do is to get rid of attachments and bondage. These two make you to get engrossed in gross forms.  When you are so attached to the gross forms, you are deluded by the gross forms.  You call them as your father, mother, wife, daughter, son, friend, foe, etc.  They are the results of the projecting power of māyā.  Their real form, the Self is concealed from you.  If you choose to ignore the gross shapes and forms and look for the inner Self, you are bound to transcend māyā and at this stage, you have crossed the greatest hurdle in your spiritual path.  The final liberation for you is not far away from this point.}

{Further reading Icchāśakti-jñānaśakti-kriyāśakti as provided in my book Lalitā Sahasranāma (nāma 658): She is in the form of three energies – the energy of will, the energy of wisdom and the energy of action.  These energies form a part of trīśikā.  Trīśikā (tri + iśikā) means analysis of three.  Tri means three and iśikā means Īśvarī, the power, abiding in divine consciousness.  She is the controller of all triads in the process of creation.  For example, the three acts of the Brahman, creation, sustenance and dissolution.  Though She is said to be Īśvarī of creation, etc, She is not different from Śiva.  The supreme divine consciousness on the point of expansion according to Her inherent nature is Icchā śakthi.  The actual process of expansion is jñāna śakti and the process of diversity leading to creation of the universe is kriyā śakti.  The One who is the possessor of all three śakti-s or energies is known as parā-śakti or the Supreme energy.} 

DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRA - I .2

Jñānaṁ bandhaḥ ज्ञानं बन्धः (sūtra I.2)

Jñāna means limited knowledge and bandha means bondage.  In the previous sūtra, it is said that consciousness is the Self.  Realising Śiva is Self realisation. The present sūtra explains why Śiva cannot be realized that easily.  This is because of the limited knowledge acquired through the senses.  The supreme knowledge is Śiva’s Illumination, Prakāśa. The Illumination (the source of light for the whole universe) of Śiva is obscured by impurity or mala, discussed in the previous sūtra. When it is said that the whole universe is nothing but Consciousness, which is Śiva, which is also known as cosmic consciousness, how can there be another existence in the form of mala apart from Śiva? Therefore, mala is explained as ajñāna, the innate ignorance of an aspirant. . This ajñāna is called āṇavamala, which forms the ego of the apirant. Aṇu + mala = āṇavamala.  Aṇu is the empirical self. Empirical self is nothing but the innate ignorance of the jīva (living being) and mala is the factor of limitation. Because it limits the universal Self as the empirical self, mala is also known as impurity.  It is the impurity of the individuality. Because of the presence of āṇavamala, the individual soul is unable to realize the all across-the-board grandeur of Śiva, also known as Pūrṇatā.  The individual soul, instead of trying to realize Śiva to avert transmigration, instead gets attached to sensory enjoyments, known as bhoga.

In as much as no second exists apart from Śiva, it is only Śiva, who causes this limitation.  This state is called māyāparamātā.  Māyā means illusion and paramātā means the knower, the jīva. This limitation is caused by His mahāmāyā, the supreme concealing act arising out of His own power of absolute freedom or His svātantrya śakti. Mahāmāyā is the reason for differentiating between the Supreme Self and the empirical self.  Mahāmāyā is divided into two states, parā² and aparā. Parā mahāmāyā is where the traces of duality still exist. Aparā mahāmāyā is where the yogi dwells only with prakāśa form of Śiva (cit-śakti¹) without Śakti. It is termed as Mahāmāyā to indicate that it is the superior kind of māyā. It is ultimately the āṇavamala that produces the thought differentiation from Śiva in the mind of the aspirant.

This is also explained in Spanda-Kārika (I.9) which says that it is due to the disturbed mental state of an empirical individual that alone causes mala or impurity making him to indulge in the materialistic world. When his afflicted mental condition is remediated enabling him to identify himself with Śiva, the Supreme Light of Śiva appears to him. This concept is further expounded in Spanda-Kārika (III.14) which says that the increased bondage in an empirical self  makes the blissfulness of Supreme Śiva wanes away, making the empirical self to lose his freedom.

The ajñāna discussed above causes twin effects in an empirical self.  First it makes the aspirant to think that the true Self is not the Self and secondly considering his gross body as the true Self.  This is imperfect knowledge.  There could be a question why this sūtra says jñānaṁ bandhaḥ instead of ajñānaṁ bandhaḥ. This sūtra should be read as a-jñānaṁ bandhaḥ only by borrowing ‘a’ from “ātmā”, where one extra ‘a’ is given in last syllable. The correct usage of ātmā is only ātma.

{1.Further reading on cit-śakti as provided in my book Lalitā Sahasranāma (nāma 416) based on Advaita philosophy: Cit means pure consciousness and the pure knowledge. (Accoroding to Trika philosophy, Cit means only Śiva without Śakti.   The Brahman (without attributes or nirguṇa Brahman) is made up of three important aspects.  They are sat (perpetual existence), cit (the present nāma – pure form of consciousness) and ānanda (the bliss).  These three attributes together is called saccidānanda and the Brahman is also known by this name.  Saccidānanda means existence (sat), consciousness (cit) and bliss (ānanda). The pure consciousness here means the spiritual consciousness.  Only the pure and un-afflicted knowledge is capable of producing spiritual consciousness, leading to realization. 

What is Cit?  It is also known as cidātma.  When this is reflected in universal nescience, it is known as the Īśvara and when reflected in individual nescience it is known as soul. Īśvara is not the Brahman as it is the reflection of universal nescience.  There are two aspects to this interpretation.  Here, Īśvara is said to be only reflective in nature and not self-illuminating.  Self-illumination is the exclusive quality of the Brahman. Secondly, the Brahman can never be associated with nescience.  This Īśvara is said to be the Lord of prakṛti or the Nature.  When the soul or individual nescience comes into contact with prakṛti, the soul induces evolution of a new physical body, for the karma-s embedded in it to manifest.  However, Īśvara remains in an unconditioned form, but the soul continues its conditioned form afflicted by the lower levels of consciousness, which is also known as individual conscience.  Īśvara remains un-afflicted by the influence of three guṇa-s and the soul gets influenced by three guṇa-s, leading to creation.  Īśvara can be interpreted as the cosmic counter part of soul.  Īśvara and prakṛti in combination with other twenty four principles or tattva-s cause the creation.   Therefore, we get introduced to a new principle in this nāma that is known Īśvara tattva or the principle of Īśvara in this Sahasranāma. 

Since Īśvara is said to be the Lord of prakṛti, it can also be called as the aggregate aspect of māyā and the individual souls are aggregative.  This principle or tattva of Īśvara is one among the four distinctive states of the Brahman, the other three being avyakta (nāma 398), hiraṇyagarbha (nāma 638). It is within the subtle body.  It binds all the constituents of the universe together) and virāt (nāma 778. the universal cosmic form). 

 Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (V.1) also refers to this phenomenon.  ‘Para Brahman is higher than hiraṇyagarbha.  Knowledge and ignorance are both hidden in Para Brahman.  Ignorance is the cause of birth and death, but knowledge leads to immortality.  He who controls ignorance and knowledge is separate from both.  That is Brahman (pure and without attributes) the supreme’.}

{2. Further reading on parā as provided in my book Lalitā Sahasranāma (nāma 366): In the next few nāma-s Her Śabda (sound) Brahman form is going to be discussed.  The literal meaning of ‘Brahman’ is growing, developing, swelling, expanding, evolving etc.   This nāma refers Her un-manifested form (of the Brahman). 

In order to understand this nāma and the next few, origin and evolution of sound becomes a necessity. 

Prakāśa and vimarśa form of the Brahman are quite frequently referred to while discussing the Supreme Reality or the Absolute. Generally it is to be understood that prakāśa form represent Śiva and vimarśa form represent  Śakti. Śiva or Parameśvara (parama means the highest) is pure and unblemished self-illuminating light and Śaktī or vimarśa is the realisation of this pure light. Prakāśa and vimarśa cannot be separated. There is a Sanskrit saying that word and its meaning cannot be separated; in the same way Pārvatī or Śaktī and Parameśvaran or Śiva cannot be separated from each other. When there is a brilliant light, one needs to have knowledge to realise it as light. Suppose, there is a candle burning, and on seeing the candle with light, one can say that the candle gives light. When one wants to see a candle light, he needs to have a lighted candle. The light and its visibility though separate, are interdependent. Visibility is the expression of light and without the source of the light, visibility becomes impossible.  In the same way, light is of no use, if it is not reflected making the visibility possible. Both light and its expression together is known as light. This is called prakāśa vimarśa māyā or the Absolute. Sound originates from this Absolute form.

This Absolute form is also called parāvāc form. This parāvāc is primeval stage. The sound in this stage can be called as a seed that has not yet germinated. When the seed begins its germination, the stage is called paśyantī (nāma 368).  At this stage the seed has the desire to grow. The stem becomes visible and the seed is set to commence its journey of growth. Though it is known for certain that there is going to be a tree at a future date, one does not know how the tree would be, big or small, fruit bearing or barren etc. When the sapling grows to a certain height, one is able to see its leaves, he will be able to identify what type of tree that would be. This stage is called madhyamā (nāma 370). The sapling further grows to become a tree, when one is able to see its flowers and fruits. He is able to recognize the nature of this seed totally now. The complete form of the tree is known at this stage. This is called vaikharī stage. These three stages originated from the form of the Absolute, the seed in this example. Absolute form is called as parāvāc. Parā mean the highest form or the supreme form and vāc means sound. Parāvāc means the supreme form of sound. From this parā form or the seed form sound germinates, grows and yields words.  The result is a full word with meaning.

In a human being this parāvāc is said to be in the form of kuṇḍalinī (nāma110) energy posited in mūlādāra cakra or base cakra. From the base cakra, the seed of the sound begins its ascent, reaches manipūraka cakra or navel cakra in the form of paśyantī, moves to anāhat cakra or heart cakra in the form madhyamā and reaches viśuddhi throat cakra as vaikharī where the final cleansing takes place. From the throat cakra the physical form of words are delivered. The vibration of kuṇḍalinī energy is the seed of the sound. When a desire of speech arises, it manifests as Śabda Brahman at mūlādhāra and moves up to take a physical form and delivered through throat cakra in the form of vaikharī. Śabda Brahman is the Brahman in the form of sound. Like universe manifesting from the Brahman, words originate from Śabda Brahman. In reality, these two Brahman are not different.

To understand this better, we have go back to the creation.  In terms of Sāṁkhya philosophy, the creation is based on twenty five tattva-s or principles (against twenty four tattva-s normally considered).  The addition here is Īśvara tattva.  These twenty five principles are 1. Puruṣa (the individual soul), 2. Prakṛti (nature), 3. Buddhi (intellect), 4. Ego, 5-9. Jñānendriya-s (cognitive senses, like ear, nose, etc), 10-14. Karmendriya-s (action senses like legs, hands, etc), 15-19. Tanmātra-s (subtle primary elements like taste, smell, etc), 20-24. Mahā bhūta (five basic elements like ākāś, air, etc) and finally as 25^th tattva, Īśvara.  Here Īśvara means the Brahman and puruṣa means the individual soul that gets various shapes and forms.  The concept of Brahman is beyond all the other twenty four tattva-s.  Puruṣa and Prakṛti both are aboriginal principles, but there exist certain differences between them.  Puruṣa is known as jīva-ātma or the individual soul which is a conscious spirit with positive principle. Prakṛti is unconscious matter with negative principle.  When puruṣa interacts and conjoins with prakṛti (opposite energies are attracted to each other), the prakṛti manifests into other twenty one tattvas and binds the puruṣa or soul into subtle and then to gross matter.  The gross matter is the physical form of man and subtle matter is antaḥkaraṇa a (mind, intellect, consciousness and ego).  The stage before this union is called avyakta (nāma 398) or un-manifested form.  In the stage of avyakta, when modifications in the form of manifestation is about to happen, māyā spreads its veil depending on the karmic density of the soul.  This is how the creation is explained in the scriptures.

This un-manifested form or avyakta is called kāraṇa bindu because it is smaller than an atom.  Bindu means a dot and kāraṇa bindu means origination of cause.  When the time is ripe for kāraṇa bindu to manifest, it pulsates and vibrates getting ready to manifest and this gives rise to another dot called kārya bindu or effect dot, where the cause is manifested as effect.  From this effect-dot or kārya bindu, arises another dot called nāda bindu or sound-dot.   The sound is ultimately delivered through nāda bindu after undergoing further refinement.  The kāraṇa bindu resides in mūlādhāra cakra and during it’s ascend undergoes these modifications and delivered in the form of audible sound. 

Parā has three stages.  Its original parā form is considered as supreme and is full of energy.  In order to manifest, it gradually loses its supremacy and energy level and becomes parā-parā the mediocre level of supremacy.  It further loses its strength at the exact time of manifestation and becomes aparā where it loses its supremacy and become manifested.  These three stages are known as Śiva, Śaktī and nara (man).  This way also She is known as parā.  As the subsequent nāma-s discuss further about the evolution of sound from its parā or supreme form, therefore contextually this nāma is to be considered from the angle of Śabda Brahman only.

Rig Veda (I.164.45) also discusses this modification and it says,

catvāri vāk parimitā padāni tāni vidurbrāhmaṇā ye manīṣiṇaḥ |

guhā triṇi nihitā neṅgayanti turiyaṃ vāco manuṣyā vadanti | |

“Four are the definite grades of speech; those learned who wise know them; three deposited in secret, indicate no meaning; men speak the fourth grade of speech. Four grades of speech are – Om, Bhūḥ Bhuvaḥ Suvaḥ and these are known as Parā, paśyantī, madhyamā and vaikharī.  Parā is the innermost at the origin; paśyantī pertains to heart, madhyamā to intellect and vaikharī, phonetically expressed through organs of speech.”}

DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRA - I.1

Caitanyamātmā चैतन्यमात्मा (I.1)

Caitanya means consciousness and ātmā refers to the Self. Caitanyam is derived from the word cetana (चेतन). Both caitanya and cetana mean only consciousness (Cetana is the conscious being and caitanya is his state, i.e. Consciousness. Caitanya = Śiva + Śakti, while mere Cít or consciousness is only Shivá as Prakāśa or Light. As Ātmā has Power apart from mere Light, the word used was Caitanya (Śiva and Śakti) and not Cít (Śiva), in order to denote Śiva and Śakti and not Śiva alone, who is like the Brahman in Advaitavedānta, viz. devoid of Śakti. Svātantrya is Anandaśakti, i.e. Śakti Herself always). But cetana also means visible or conspicuous. The entire universe emerges from caitanya, which has two sides, one is gross and the other is subtle. Gross is made up of names and forms and the subtle is made up of antaḥkaraṇa, which comprises of mind, intellect, consciousness and ego. Gross forms give direct experience and the subtle forms give internal experience. This is how the universe appears. How is caitanya related to Ātmā? The purest form of caitanya is Ātmā, the Self.

It can also be explained that cetana (a conscious being) is a person with caitanya (consciousness).  Conscious being or cetana is an embodiment of absolute freedom which is also known as svātantrya.  But this absolute freedom in an individual is restricted to his knowledge and activity.  But Śiva, the Supreme Lord alone has got the unrestricted absolute freedom which is known as His svātantrya śakti or Absolute Freedom. This kind of Absolute Freedom is not found in individual beings, also known as sakala-s. Sakala means the one with power, which operates only in a limited way. It is limited because it operates only in dream and active states. During deep sleep state he is devoid of power as he does not move and this state is known as pralayākala as opposed to sakala. who is afflicted with three types of mala-s discussed later in this aphorism and has not advanced spiritually This is the state where Śakti begins to extract the universe from Him by casting Her spell by veiling the Self, thereby causing differentiation between the Self and self. This differentiation is caused by akhyāti, meaning ignorance or non-realisation

Consciousness can be realized only if one is conscious i.e. if one is conscious of Consciousness. The purest form of consciousness is Śiva, the Supreme.  Thus consciousness becomes both anupāya and svaprakāśa. Anupāya is one of the four factors that lead to final liberation. Anupāya means instantaneous realisation of Śiva without exceptional effort by the practitioner. Svaprakāśa means Self illuminating, an exclusive quality of Śiva. None other than Śiva is Self-illuminating. This is beautifully explained in Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.ii.15) which says,

na tatra sūryo bhāti na candratārakaṁ

nemā vidyuto bhānti kuto'yamagniḥ |

tameve bhātamanubhāti sarvaṁ

tasya bhāsā sarvamidaṁ vibhāti ||

न तत्र सूर्यो भाति न चन्द्रतारकं

नेमा विद्युतो भान्ति कुतोऽयमग्निः।

तमेवे भातमनुभाति सर्वं

तस्य भासा सर्वमिदं विभाति॥

The verse says that in the presence of Śiva (Brahman according to advaita), the sun does not shine, nor do the moon and stars, nor does lightning, let alone this fire.  When Brahman shines, everything else follows.  By His light, all these are lighted.

Therefore, svaprakāśa is one of the many exclusive qualities of Śiva and Śiva alone. In the same way, purest form of caitanya is Śiva and Śakti. All things irrespective of whether they are sentient or insentient is consciousness only, as without consciousness they cannot even appear with shapes and forms. If the omnipresent nature of Śiva is accepted then the pervasion of caitanya in the universe is also to be accepted. It is only the shapes and forms of both sentient and insentient beings differ and the pervasion of consciousness in all of them. It is only caitanya that causes mala or impurity of the beings. It is called adjunct because it is subordinate to knowledge.  Mala-s are of three types and they are āṇavamala, kārmamala and māyīyamala and these will be discussed as we progress. It is only the āṇavamala that causes limitation of universal consciousness into an empirical self. A Self realised person is not afflicted with mala, as he is liberated from the limiting factor to realize the unlimited factor viz. Śiva. Since consciousness pervades the entire universe and the pure form of consciousness is Śiva, a liberated person moves from the limiting factor to un-limiting factor and in both the cases, consciousness is present. It is only the āṇavamala that causes ego in a person making him appear with lack of fullness.  He thinks that he is not perfectly complete..  As far as caitanya is concerned, it is present in both macrocosm and microcosm; otherwise, the omnipresent nature of Śiva becomes questionable.

Vijñānabhairava (verse 100) says, “The Brahman who is characterised as Consciousness is present in all beings.  It does not vary from person to person. The one who realises that the Brahman prevails everywhere conquers the world.” For understanding and realising the Truth one has to go through certain mental process.  Mental process consists of three components.  The first one is learning and the second one is analysing and the third one is experiencing. Śiva is omnipresent and He prevails both internally and externally being the crux of learning.  Study of Upaniṣad-s and other scriptures that make elaborate discussions on the Brahman, by means of negations and affirmations is analysing.  Experiencing means developing higher level of consciousness and the experience culminates in Śiva realisation.  Meditation is a source of help only in the last stage.  Without understanding the subject, meditation is a process of wasting one’s time.  It is like writing an examination without the basic knowledge of the concerned subject. 

Spandakārikā (I.2) says, “As nothing can conceal His nature, obviously there can be no obstruction anywhere and in whom, the whole world originated and rests.”

First sūtra says that caitanya does not merely mean consciousness.  It refers to the one who perceives both knowledge and action.  He has the unhindered freedom to cognize and act. By referring to Ātmā, it means the nature of Reality, where ego is absent.

{Further study on Consciousness:  Consciousness is one of the four inner psychic organs and the most important as well.  Literally consciousness is explained as an alert state of knowledge in which you are aware of yourself and your situation.  Simply, it is a reference to your state of awareness.  The purest form of Consciousness is God.  When you transform your inherent and individual consciousness as the purest form of consciousness, it means that you are a Self realised person. In spirituality, the other components of inner psychic organs work in coordination with consciousness. According to Trika, antaḥkaraṇa is only mind intellelct and ego. There is no consciousness being studied in Trika with reference to antaḥkaraṇa. In Advaitavedānta, Cít (consciousness) is added to the group of three organs, but this doesn't happen in Trika because Caitanya, that is Cít – Śiva or Prakāśa, endowed with power or Śakti, is already permeating all from the very beginning.

The difference between conscience and consciousness is to be understood.  Conscience is the motivating factor that is capable of correct and valid reasoning.  It forms a moral principle that governs your thoughts and is always preceded by a thought process.  Thought process is nothing but usage of your mind to consider something carefully.  Any thought process in association with conscience causes an action.  Therefore, your actions depend upon the type of conscience and thoughts you have or you acquire over a period of time.  If you develop positive attitude, you perform only good actions.  If you develop negative attitude, you end up becoming a negative personality.  Though one might have both positive and negative attitudes, what is predominant, only matters. A holy person has become holy, mainly because of his holy thoughts. But according to Trika, no limited individual can attain real holiness on his own.  Your conscience is decided by the imprints in your mind.  There is a war between good and bad, always going on in your mind.  Whichever wins, decides your conscience.  Conscience is the factor that ultimately decides your character, whereas your consciousness is the connecting factor between your inner self and your thoughts. It is the binding factor of all your sensory inputs for the mind to consider.

The level of consciousness is not the same in everyone.  There are several factors that affect your level of consciousness.  The mental state in which you grow up is the primary factor that decides your level of consciousness and your mental state depends upon your environment. If you live among holy men, you become a holy man; if you live among criminals, you turn out to be an evil doer. However, His freedom is never obstructed or regulated by anything. He can do whatever He wishes, even to be a holy man among criminals.  If your environment is conducive to your mind, your level consciousness is at its best.  It is reflected by your mental state of happiness.  If you have feeling of guilt and shame, your level of consciousness rapidly declines and reaches its lowest level. Therefore, the level of consciousness purely depends upon your mental state. If you nurture too many thoughts in your mind, you become a confused person and you will not be able to take right decisions at the right time.  In this stage, your level of consciousness is too low.

Let us take an example of an apple.  There are two persons who see this apple.  One is a spiritual person and another is a mundane person.  The spiritual person on seeing this apple goes ahead with his work and does not think about this apple after seeing it.  His connection with the apple begins and ends in a moment.  The mundane person, who sees the apple desires to acquire that apple and makes enquiries about its availability, price, etc.  He develops attachment to the apple and also develops desire to acquire it.  All his thoughts are focused only on the apple, till he gets it. In other words, he will not be able to concentrate on anything else, till his desire for apple is satiated. Though there may be other thoughts in his mind, nothing is as strong as the thought of the apple. 

When you firmly decide to advance spiritually, you have to purify your consciousness.  There is no need of purification in Trika, because everything is already totally pure. Consciousness can be purified only by the mind only according to Advaita and not according to Trika, because consciousness is always pure according to Trika. When the mind is full of attachments and desires, you cannot purify your consciousness. You have to get rid of the impressions in your mind. Again according to Trika, this is not possible because, consciousness is the Purest Reality. All your ungratified desires form impressions in the mind.  Purifying your consciousness is entirely within your control and no extraneous elements can purify it.  Let us take the case of apple again.  The spiritual person though has seen the apple is no more associated with the apple. Merely observing of the apple will not cause any impressions in his mind.  In the case of mundane person, his mind is fully occupied with apple till he gets it.  The mind of the spiritual person is pure whereas the mind of the mundane person is afflicted with the thought of apple.  Apple is merely an example.  The materialistic person will have too many thoughts in his mind.  These thoughts not only fight against each other making his mind a battle field.  This is how consciousness begins to play its role. Lesser is the intensity of your thoughts, higher will be the level of your consciousness. But again in Trika philosophy, consciousness is always pure and hence there is no question of different level of consciousness.  Hence Trika uses upper case while referring to Consciousness.

When your mind is not crowded with thoughts, it has more time and space to work on your spiritual aspirations.  Your spiritual journey commences only if you are able to transcend the limiting aspects. Limitation is caused by measurement.  Any object is limited due to its three dimensional measurement.  The apple has dimensional limitation.  When you fix your consciousness on the apple, your consciousness at that time remains limited.  When you look beyond that apple, though the apple will continue to remain in the same place, you are able to transcend the limitations of the apple.  When you look beyond the apple, you are looking into space. When you are looking beyond the object, the difference between the subject and object disappears.  Here, apple is the object and act of seeing is the subject.  When there is no object, there is no subject as well.  This is an instance of knower and the known merging together.  Where there is no subject - object relationship or knower - known relationship, normal physiological functions are suspended.   You will only now focus into infinity or universality.  This is the state of bliss, where only inner silence prevails.  Inner silence is a precondition for the state of bliss. According to Trika, bliss is the state of silence, as in the state of bliss you are fully pervaded by Śakti, His very own power. When you are able to sustain Her pervasion, She liberates you, paving way for realising Śiva.

Often consciousness is treated on par with the mind, which is not fully factual.  When consciousness and mind are the same, then there is no necessity to include both of them separately as the components of inner psychic organs.  One is tend to treat both mind and consciousness as the same because of different states of mental conditions such as super conscious mind, conscious mind, subconscious mind and unconscious mind.  Though consciousness and mind are not the same, yet consciousness is related to the mind. Consciousness is the foundational aspect of your physical body.  Your physical body is superimposed on your consciousness.  Therefore, consciousness is spread throughout your body and not just restricted to your mind.  As mind controls other aspects of your system, it also prevails over your consciousness.  At the end of your spiritual journey, you tend to say that you are not the body, but you are pure consciousness.  Pure Consciousness is self illuminating.  Only pure consciousness is self illuminating. If your mind is afflicted due to stress, your consciousness becomes depleted and weak.  This establishes the relationship between the mind and consciousness as per Advaitavedānta.  

The difference between a yogi and a materialist is the way they look at.  A man becomes a scientist, doctor or engineer by connecting his consciousness with external objects.  A yogi is the only person who has developed the ability to look within. A yogi keeps his mind under his control and an ordinary man is under the control of his mind. The evil impressions of the mind manifest as negative thoughts and surface in consciousness. Now the war between conscious mind and unconscious mind begins. If you keep your mind under your control, you can ensure that evil thoughts embedded in the subconscious mind do not get manifested. Even if they manifest, you can annihilate them by the power of your consciousness.  But your inherent bondage makes you not to realise this and you continue to appear perplexed and confused.  Mind and consciousness are always interconnected and consciousness passes through the mind. When it passes through the mind it acquires strong impressions of the mind.  That is why, to purify the consciousness, one’s mind needs to be purified first. The purification of consciousness is possible only if sensory perceptions and mind are purified.  All the three are interrelated. Though consciousness by nature is always pure, the impressions of the mind keep it as strained. Consciousness always stay behind the mind in its original illuminated form and when this pure form light transcends an afflicted mind, the pure light gets diffused as impure light making everything appear as deceptive and illusionary. In the process you lose out the reality.  You are confounded with illusions.  This happens because you have not purified your mind.  In reality, the purest form of consciousness is God.  All the beings are reflections of His Self illuminating light.  If you keep different types of vessels filled with water under the sun, the same sun shines in different vessels that are in different shapes and forms.  If God is the sun, we are the vessels.  If God is macrocosmic, we are microcosmic, forming a part of His grand macrocosm. But again, according to Trika there is no purification of mind.

By nature, human consciousness is attached to the world of senses.  When we want to progress spiritually, we have to fight against our inherent nature.  That is why spiritual path has so many obstacles. Human consciousness is different from cosmic consciousness.  Divine consciousness or cosmic consciousness is free from sensory influences.  A closest comparison is our free will.  Free will is the sense of being that is empowered to consciously choose between alternative courses of action with full knowledge that you have chosen otherwise. Free Will is a mass of Consciousness landing on you, right now. You just experience It, when you have no mind to think about it.

Consciousness cannot be in different pieces.  Fragmentation happens because of separate individuality, which in turn gives rise to independent status to the mind.  To realize God, you have to bring your attention to a point where duality begins.  At this point, your consciousness is in its purest form.  It is comparatively easier to pull back an afflicted mind from this stage.  If you focus your concentration on this conceived point, fragmentation of consciousness ceases and you are ready to enter into the state of unified consciousness and ultimate bliss.  Pure Consciousness, Self, God and Brahman are all the same.  The dualistic appearance of the world is due the existence of āṇavamala.  In reality, there is nothing existing except the Self, the Pure Consciousness.  Consciousness does not change, but your mind changes frequently.  It is the inherent nature of mind.  When a person dies, only his physical body dies.  His consciousness does not die nor his subconscious mind and karmas.  It is like electricity.  Electricity does not change and always remain the same.  If a bulb is fused, we change the bulb or we even change the design of the bulb.  But the electric energy that burns the bulb does not change.  Always remember that energies do not change.  Heat energy, wind energy, etc are typical examples.  They do not change at all.  They always remain the same. But they manifest in different shapes and forms.  In the same way, the Cosmic Consciousness does not change.  It remains the same, as God alone is eternal and does not change.  It is only the body that changes during transmigrations.  You attain liberation when your individual consciousness dissolves into the undifferentiated consciousness.  You can feel this, as this means that you have transcended your sensory influences.  You are ready to be liberated when you individual consciousness is preparing itself to merge with the Cosmic Consciousness.  Cosmic Consciousness and Self consciousness are the same. Individual consciousness and self consciousness are the same.

There are degrees to the level of consciousness.  If you have a measuring scale of 12 inches, 1 – 4 is the mundane level of consciousness.  At this level, you will have more of negative energies than the positive energies.  5 – 8 is the medium level of consciousness.  Here, you develop spiritual aspirations and you begin your spiritual practices.  You give serious thought to transforming spiritually, leaving aside your religious compulsions.  9 – 12 is the highest level of consciousness and 12 is the Self or Prakāśa beyond which nothing exists.  In the lower level of consciousness you are bound by inherent human feelings like desire, attachment, guilt, hatred, anger, fear, etc predominate. At 9 – 12 level you have love, gratitude, compassion, etc prevail.  The transition between the lower level and the higher level takes place in the middle level of consciousness.  This is the stage where your negative energies are getting ready to get subdued to pave for positive energies.  Your spiritual journey commences at 1 and culminates at 12.  At the level of 12, your soul no more exists as a separate entity and it will get merged with the Brahman, once all your karmas are spent.  At the levels 10 and 11, you are a completely transformed person, radiating love and compassion.  Men around you begin to adore you. 

The purification of individual consciousness happens only in those persons who have higher spiritual intellect and high standards of moral living.  Spiritual emancipation happens at an average age of thirty to forty five years of age. This is not the case in spirituality alone; it is the case with every individual success.  A person’s growth is decided only during this fifteen year period. At around thirty years, the seed is sown and at around forty five, results are reaped.  Therefore, the age at which one begins his spiritual pursuit also counts for complete fulfillment of spiritual aspirations which can be decided only by Him. 

DETAILED STUDY OF SHIVA SUTRAS - INTRODUCTION

We have, on July 29, 2010 had begun basic discussion on Śiva Sūtra-s . Beginning from today, we are going to discuss Śiva Sūtra in detail under the series “Detailed Study of Shiva Sutras”.  This series will take forward beauty of the Trika Philosophy from the earlier simplified and easy to understand series.  Every attempt has been made to explain various terms in a very detailed manner with additional notes wherever necessary.  There may be few instances where Advaita philosophy is also explained so as to establish a synthesis between Trika and Adviata.

I recall the sayings of Gabriel Pradīpaka once again, which was published in the introduction to my book Śiva Sūtras. “Advaita Vedanta is similar to Trika in many points, but there are some similarities in the “summit”. i.e. in the concept of God and the way He manifests the universe. Attempting to make synthesis of Trika and Advaitavedānata is very difficult.”

A small note given in my Śiva Sūtra book on  Advaita and Trika Philosophies can be read here.

VISHNU SAHASRANAMA 346 - 354

346. Padmanābhaḥ पद्मनाभः

Repetitive nāma-s 48 and 196.

It is said that the Soul resides in the heart. It is not the biological heart, but it is the heart cakra, which appears like a lotus flower. Since Lord Viṣṇu, resides there merely witnessing all the activities of the gross body, He is addressed as Padmanābha.

347. Aravindākṣaḥ अरविन्दाक्षः

His eyes appear like lotus flower. There is significance for comparing eyes of Gods to lotus flowers. Since the petals of a lotus flower are wide, eyes of Gods are also wide so that they can view many things at a time. It is only the poetic interpretation of the beauty of His eyes.

348. Padmagarbhaḥ पद्मगर्भः

Padmagarbha refers to the interior of a lotus flower. Nāma 346 described the seat of the Soul and this nāma describes the Soul itself. The Soul is embedded deep within. Chāndogya Upaniṣad (VIII.1) explains this. It says, “This body is the city of Brahman.  Within it is an abode in the shape of a lotus (heart) and within that there is a small space. One must search within this space and earnestly desire to know what is there.” This is known as Self-realization.

349. Śarīrabhṛt शरीरभृत्

When the Soul is endowed with a body It is called Śarīrabhṛit. By being present within the body, the Soul sustains and nourishes the body.  This does not mean that the Soul directly nourishes and sustains.  By Its mere presence, the body is being nourished by food, water and air.  If it is said that He nourishes the body, then it makes the Soul as the Saguṇa Brahman or Brahman with attributes.  Only māyā is Saguṇa Brahman. Soul is Nirguṇa Brahman.

350. Maharddhiḥ महर्द्धिः

He is the possessor of great wealth and also a perfectionist. Generally wealth and perfectionism do not go together. Because He being a perfectionist, all the gods and goddesses perform their duties out of fear for Him, carry out their duties meticulously.  If any of the gods err even marginally, the universe will be annihilated. 

Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.iii.3) says, “From fear of Brahman, fire gives heat, the sun shines, Indra, Vāyu and Yama do their duties.” He is such a perfectionist. Taittirīya Upaniṣad (II.1) says that He nourishes the universe by producing the elements and finally the food that helps all the beings to sustain.

351. ṛddhaḥ ऋद्धः 

Repetitive nāma 278.

He is the one who has conclusively demonstrated that He is the Brahman. He demonstrates this by His various actions and unique leadership. He commands respect. In spite of all His acts, He Himself does not take credit. He gives the entire credit to Māyā, His very own creation. Both Brahman and Māyā are not different. His concealing and projecting power is known as Māyā

352. Vṛddhātmā वृद्धात्मा

Vṛddha means old and this nāma says that He is oldest Soul.  It is the poetic way of expressing that He is oldest in the universe and from Him alone, everything originated. Puruṣasūkta says that He was born much ahead of all gods.

First He alone was present and when He wanted to create the universe, He created māyā who becomes the cause for the manifestation of the universe.

353. Mahākṣaḥ महाक्षः

His eyes are being described as great, because they are wide and look like lotus flowers. They are great because, they can see the entire universe at the same time, in contrast to the human eyes, whose of vision is limited.

354. Garuḍadhvajaḥ गरुडध्वजः

Garuḍa is His vehicle, often known as the mythical bird and dhvaja means flag.  Generally flags are fixed in the chariots of kings.  It is like national flag. Garuḍa has brilliant lustre, which made gods and goddesses frightened.  He can fly in any height.