Vidyāsamutthāne svābhāvike khecarī śivāvasthā. (Sūtra II.5)
विद्यासमुत्थाने स्वाभाविके खेचरी शिवावस्था॥

Vidyā – knowledge; samutthāna – emergence; svābhāvika – natural or inherent; khecarī – consciousness aligned with empirical Self; śiva – Śiva; avasthā – to abide in a condition.

When one thinks always about Śiva, it is natural that he loses his attention on his own self. When his consciousness is aligned with universal consciousness, leaving aside sensory influences, there emerges sudden spurt of his inherent supreme knowledge and in that condition, he realizes Śiva. The acquisition of knowledge becomes a precondition for realizing Śiva.

Vidyā means supreme knowledge, the knowledge about Śiva. Śiva means the purest form of illuminated consciousness, from whom everything in the universe originates. This supreme knowledge already exists in all the human beings. But due to the effect of māyā, this supreme knowledge do not manifest, unless efforts are initiated by means of one’s will power. If one does not have the necessary will to kindle this muted knowledge, it remains muted forever. Unless this inherent knowledge is made to manifest, the ultimate goal of spirituality cannot be attained. Therefore, this inherent knowledge has to emerge out to fix his consciousness beyond his own self.

Khecarī is a part of divine Śaktī known as Vāmeśvarī. She is called Vāmeśvarī because She causes the universe to emerge from the Supreme consciousness of Parā-Śiva or Paramaśiva. There is nothing beyond Paramaśiva. Any spiritual aspirant can reach only up to this level as there is nothing beyond That. Vāmeśvarī, by incessantly co-existing with Paramaśiva, reveals the nature of Śiva in a different perspective. The essential or true nature Śiva is not revealed by Her due to Her own inherent nature of māyā. It is important to understand that Śaktī is neither inferior nor superior to Śiva. But at the same time, it is to be understood that Śiva can exist without Śaktī, but He becomes inert without Her, whereas, Śaktī, cannot exist without Śiva. Unless both of them are present, creation cannot happen. This is the fundamental principle of creation.

Vāmeśvarī causes the creation of the universe through four of Her exclusive powers, given to Her by Śiva. They are kecarī, gocarī, dikcarī and bhucarī. These powers operate on the sphere of empirical Self, internal tools known as antaḥkaraṇa (mind, intellect, consciousness and ego – all at the individual level), the external organs (sensory organs) and external objects. These four together are called śaktī cakra. Out this four, kecarī is referred in this sūtra. Kecarī is the state of Śiva, which is the highest level of consciousness, pure, unpolluted, un-afflicted and above all Self-illuminating, from which alone Śaktī causes the universe to emerge. The consciousness of Śiva is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscience. But the consciousness of Śiva is veiled from individual self by the effects of māyā, the source of which is Śaktī.

This sūtra says, that one has to reach the stage of consciousness of Śiva to enjoy the bliss arising out His pure consciousness to attain liberation, by waking up his muted knowledge that is inherent in his self. To reach this stage, one has to transcend the other three exclusive powers of Vāmeśvarī. When an aspirant reaches the consciousness level of Śiva, the mantra “I am That” is automatically revealed to the aspirant. When the aspirant becomes Śiva, the reflex action is “I am That”.