Kashmir Shaivism

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Kashmir Shaivism is a school of spiritual teaching and practice that arose during the eighth century in Kashmir, India. After a period of obscurity, the tradition has experienced a renewal during the last 100 years amongst both academics and spiritual seekers. Kashmir Shaivism is a monistic tantric system of belief and practice. It says that the universe is a manifestation within the one Consciousness, and that all things are that Consciousness in essence. The fundamental statement of Kashmir Shaivism is expressed in its very first aphorism, which translates as both "The Self is Consciousness" and "The nature of reality is Consciousness" (Shiva Sutras I.I Chaitanyam Atma).

1 Siva, the Great Initiator and Saviour
2 The Siva Sutra
3 Classification of the written tradition
4 Abhinavagupta
5 History of Kashmir Shaivism
6 Shaivism in relation to other religions or spiritual paths
7 Possibilities of learning and practicing Kashmir Shaivism today
8 See also
9 External links

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Siva, the Great Initiator and Saviour

Kashmir Shaivites believe that Siva is that aspect of God that manifests as the Great Initiator or the Great Saviour of the beings enchained by ignorance and suffering. We can say that any aspiration and passionate prayer for spiritual growth and liberation is addressed to this aspect of the Divine. In India, this aspect is known as Siva ("The Good and The Kind"). According to Kashmir Shaivism, any manifestation of the Divine liberating Grace comes from Siva. In any process of spiritual breakthrough, whether we know it or not, it is actually the grace of Siva that manifests.

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The Siva Sutra

The tradition of Kashmir Shaivism was transmitted during centuries from master to disciple only, from "mouth to ear". The first great initiate recorded in history of this spiritual path was Vasugupta (860–925 BC). Vasugupta formulated for the first time in writing the principles and main doctrines of this system. After Vasugupta, the esoteric literature of Kashmir Shaivism explosively blossomed and lasted for almost four centuries, during which it became very voluminous and it reached an exceptional philosophical depth.

The first fundamental work of Shaivism, traditionally attributed to Vasugupta, is the Siva Sutra, a collection of 77 elegant and precise aphorisms, completely unintelligible for the uninitiated. The Siva Sutra is considered to be a revelation coming directly from Siva.

This work outlines a more direct and quick spiritual path in which the appeal to the Divine Grace has an essential role. According to myth, Vasugupta was told in a dream by Lord Shiva to go to a rock on Mahadev Mountain. He went there and when he touched the rock, it turned over where there were written these 77 revelations. That rock, called Shankarpal, is supposedly still there today. Others say Vasagupta received these statements in deep meditation. Kashmir Shaivites believe that the Shiva sutras are a direct transmission from a higher level of Consciousness.

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Classification of the written tradition

In general, the whole written tradition of Shaivism can be divided in three fundamental parts: Agama Sastra, Spanda Sastra and Pratyabhijna Sastra.

1. Agama Sastra are those writings that are considered as being a direct revelation from Siva. These writings were first communicated orally, from the master to the worthy disciple. They include essential works such as Malénivijaya Tantra, Svacchanda Tantra, Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, Ratnamala Tantra, Mrgendra Tantra, Rudrayamala Tantra, Siva Sutra and others. There are also numerous commentaries to these works, Siva Sutra having most of them.

2. The main work of this category is Spanda Karika of Vasugupta, which has many commentaries. Out of these many commentaries, two are of major importance: Spanda Sandoha (this commentary talks only about the first verses of Spanda Karika), and Spanda Nirnaya (which is a commentary of the complete text).

3. Pratyabhijna Sastra are those writings which have mainly a metaphysical content. Due to their extremely high spiritual and intellectual level, this part of the written tradition of Shaivism is the least accessible for the uninitiated. Nevertheless, this corpus of writings refer to the simplest and most direct modality of spiritual realization. Pratyabhijïä means "recognition" and refers to the spontaneous recognition of the divine nature hidden in each human being (atman). The most important works in this category are: Isvara Pratyabhijna, the fundamental work of Utpäladeva (who is a central figure of the Shaivism tradition – he combined in a harmonious way the impetuous and endless love for the Divine and the most refined rational knowledge and metaphysical discernment), and Pratyabhijna Vimarasini, a commentary to Isvara Pratyabhijna. Isvara Pratyabhijna means in fact the direct recognition of the Heart (i.e., essence), meaning the direct recognition of God-the-Father inside ourselves. Before Utpaladeva, his master Somananda wrote Siva Drsti (The Vision of Siva), a devotional poem written on multiple levels of meaning.

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Abhinavagupta

All these three branches of the Shaivism tradition were put together by the great philosopher Abhinavagupta (c. 975-1025 AD). Among his important works, the most important is the Tantraloka ("The Divine Light of Tantra"), a work in verses which is a majestic synthesis of the whole tradition of Shaivism. Abhinavagupta succeeded in smoothing out all the apparent differences and disparities that existed among the different branches and schools of the Kashmir Shaivism of before him. Thus he offers a unitary, coherent and complete vision of this system.

Tantraloka was commented and expanded upon by Jayaratha, another important exponent of the Kashmir Shaivism who lived a few centuries after Abhinavagupta.

Tantraloka has a major importance for the whole tradition of Shaivism. Abhinavagupta realized that this work is very difficult to understand for an ordinary disciple, and therefore he composed a summary of it in prose called Tantrasara ("The Essence of Tantra").

Trika is made up of several spiritual schools.

1. The oldest (historically speaking) of these schools is called Krama. In Sanskrit, 'krama' means 'process', 'order' or 'succession'. The basic idea of this system is that the road to perfection has certain stages or steps. Each of these steps is governed by an aspect of the Divine. Therefore, God is actually present all the way, but each new step reveals a more profound face of Him. The Krama system is based upon the concept of Sakti as the Supreme Creative Energy of Siva, and even more specific, upon a certain aspect of Sakti which is related to succession and time. This aspect of Sakti is none other than the Great Cosmic Power of Time and Eternity – Kali. The Krama School presents a new facet of Kali: in this system, Kali is not only one of the Great Cosmic Powers out of ten, but Kali is seen as being The Supreme Divine Power (ParaSakti). (Remember that each Cosmic Power can lead the aspirant to the supreme state).

2. Another very important school of Shaivism is the Kaula School. In Sanskrit, 'kaula' means 'community', '(restricted) circle (of initiates)', 'family' or 'totality'. This is a tantric (left hand) school par excellence, and here Sakti plays a paramount role. The Kaula teachings make the skeleton of Tanträloka and Tantrasära. Among all his spiritual Masters, Abhinavagupta mentions more often and considers the most important Sambhunatha, a Kaula School Master. (Abhinavagupta had other Masters, for example Laksmanagupta).

3. The third fundamental system of Kashmir Shaivism is Spanda. This system is also centered around Sakti, here also called Spanda. Therefore, from the Initiation point of view, the central role is not played by Siva but by Sakti. This is not paradoxical because in the spiritual vision of Shaivism, Siva and Sakti are not two separate realities. Siva and Sakti are two-in-one, and they seem separate only for the ignorant and limited mind that is subjected to duality. In truth, Siva is Sakti and Sakti is Siva; when we have consciousness, there is also energy. When we have energy, there is consciousness who animates that energy. Therefore, for the aspirant to spiritual liberation, the instrument (path) is Sakti and not Siva. Siva is the transcendent aspect of the Divine, being beyond any mental representation. Anything we could imagine about Siva is not Siva, because Siva cannot be defined, cannot be thought, cannot be evoked. He is beyond anything we could imagine, desire or think. We cannot relate directly to Siva, but we can get to Him through Sakti, which represents the immanent aspect of the Divine. God is both transcendent and immanent. If God would be only transcendent, it results that Creation would be without God, in other words it would be governed by somebody else, which is absurd. God is also immanent (present in the world), in the Heart (i.e., center) of each particle, of each human being. For the ignorant, God is hidden, invisible, but a spiritually awakened being perceives God everywhere. This is why the esoteric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism is also called Mahaguhya, term that can be translated as 'The Supreme (maha) secret (guhya)’ but also 'The Supreme (maha) non-secret (aguhya)'. These two mysterious aspects of God (Transcendence and Immanence) are called Siva and Sakti respectively. We can get to Siva through Sakti, and for this we can start exactly from where we are, from our level of consciousness. And even if Siva is reflected inside each of us as atman, we aspire toward this Siva with our mind, desires, affection, etc., therefore with something that is not Siva per se. This is the great miracle of Sakti: Sakti is present both at the human level and at the cosmic level. Sakti is the link between man and God. Sakti is the magical thread that has one end in the transcendence of Siva and the other end in the manifested worlds. If Sakti would not exist, there would be nothing to connect us with God.

4. Besides these three main spiritual schools (Krama, Kaula, Spanda) of the Trika system, there is another one, more recent, called also "the easy and very short path", which is accessible only to the very few who have the appropriate level of inner preparation. This school is called Pratyabhijna – the direct recognition of the Divine neature. Therefore, Pratyabhijna is the fourth way of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition (do not mistake it with the Fourth Way of Gurdjieff !!). Pratyabhijna comprises not so much techniques as it defines and induces through direct transmission certain inner attitudes that are necessary for instantaneously awakening the Divine Consciousness in us. This system shows very clearly that we are in fact not looking for anything else that what we already are (the Divine Supreme Self). In other words, we are looking for ourselves. Then why go outside us? We must only become fully aware of ourselves and remember (at an experiential level) that we are always one with God. This is all that must be done. This fundamental remembrance (Pratyabhijna) of God is the crowning of any genuine spiritual path: once you are on the threshold of ecstatically merging into God, only there do you remember (recognize) your essential, divine nature.

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History of Kashmir Shaivism

Kashmir Shaivism is a part of the more general Shaivist religion. Sivaism is strictly speaking the oldest spiritual path. The archaeological discoveries at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa reveals Sivaism to have an ancient history of thousands of years. Traces of it can be found under different names in all genuine spiritual paths.

In general, it can be said that the Kashmir Shaivism has two main historical periods: one before Abhinavagupta and one after Abhinavagupta. Before Abhinavagupta, the different schools of Shaivism still had many doctrinal differences between them. These differences were the result of different visions of the different spiritual principles. Owing to Abhinavagupta, the Kashmir Shaivism tradition became unitary and very strong. Unfortunately, this did not last long after his time. Following Abhinavagupta in his lineage was Ksemaraja, his direct and most important disciple. After Ksemaraja, the tradition of Shaivism gradually extinguished in Kashmir. It had another boost about 300 years after Ksemaraja, in the South of India, where lived a few great initiates in this spiritual path: in the first place, the illustrious Jayaratha, who magistrally commented upon Tantraloka, then Bhattanarayana, who wrote a very profound initiatic poem called Stavacintamani (The Sacramental Sanctuary of the Jewel of the Divine Love). The last yogi to continue the Shaivism tradition in Kashmir was Swami Brahmacharin Laksman Joo, who died in 1992. Laksman Joo had a phenomenal memory, he knew by heart the whole Tantraloka with all its commentary, along with other traditional texts. Nevertheless, Laksman Joo did not have the spiritual realization and force of Abhinavagupta. About Abhinavagupta it is said that he was an incarnation of Siva. From the beginning, he was extremely strong, both in his mind and in his direct experimentation of spiritual states. Abhinavagupta was a prolific writer and even today he is unanimously accepted in India as one of India’s greatest philosophers and aesthetician (he also wrote extensively about art and aesthetics). According to his theory of aesthetics, the essence of genuine art is not different from the essence of spiritual search. Even today, his aesthetic work remains unique and it is the highest expression of Indian aesthetics. He succeeded to unify all visions and doctrines in a unitary corpus and to give them a common spiritual foundation.

Abhinavagupta was born around 950 a.d. and he lived until the IXth century a.d. The date and place of his passing away are not known. There is a legend that says that he went together with a big number of his disciples into a cave and from that day on neither he nor his remaining disciples were ever seen again. It is believed that they translated into a parallel dimension and left the physical plane.

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Shaivism in relation to other religions or spiritual paths

The schools of Shaivism have an attitude that most of the time do not conform to the accepted Brahmanic tradition. Shaivism is not exclusively based upon the Veda-s, therefore it cannot be said that Shaivism is a prolongation of the Veda-s. Shaivism has discovered a new path toward God that is even more profound than the one outlined in the Veda-s. The main differences between these two systems come from the introduction of the concept of Sakti, The Power or The Energy of God. This concept does not appear in the Veda-s with the same clarity. Compared to the Veda-s, Shaivism is a new spiritual path that is more direct and that can offer the highest realisation here and now, in this lifetime.

The Kashmir Shaivism is considered by some to be the most pure, elevated and direct spiritual path. It is extremely interesting to note that this path is very close to the esoteric Christianity. In Kashmir Shaivism, just as in Christianity, the main emphasis is placed on the Divine Grace and on the awakening of the Heart. There are many accounts about the fact that Jesus actually travelled, during the 'missing 18 years', through India and Tibet and that he stayed for a long time in Kashmir, according to some Tibetan documents. Even though there is a gap of many centuries from the time of Jesus since the first works on the Kashmir Shaivism were put on paper, there are nevertheless striking similarities between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Kashmir Shaivism.

Kashmir Shaivism also has a very strong tantric influence. Moreover, it can be rightly said that the tradition of the Kashmir Shaivism is the most pure and elevated form of tantrism. In Kashmir Shaivism, just as in tantrism, the main idea is that everything is intimately related to everything else, like in a holographic model of the universe. In this way, every aspect of Creation, even the most insignificant, is closely and directly related to any other aspect. In this vision, the whole Universe is in fact a gigantic web of virtual resonant fields that occur between each anu ('atom') of the Universe and all the other anu-s. In both tantric and modern quantum physics vision, both space and time have a holographic structure, and this means that every particle of space virtually contains, due to specific resonances, all the other particles. Thus, the part is reflected in the whole and the whole is reflected in the part. In the same way, each particle of time (each 'moment') contains in it all eternity. By deeply knowing one single moment, we can know the whole eternity, and by knowing deeply one single atom we can know the whole universe. This is possible because of resonance, a concept permeating the Kashmir Shaivism under the name of spanda, mantra or sakti, in general. It is deeply significant that nowadays resonance becomes more and more important in modern science.

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Possibilities of learning and practicing Kashmir Shaivism today

Kashmir Shaivism has almost disappeared as a practiced spiritual system. Even in Kashmir there are very few people still following this spiritual path. The most notable recent Shaivist is Swami Lakshman Joo. Some occidental researchers have studied and brought to light parts of the traditional writings including: Mark S.G. Dyczkowski (UK), Paul Eduardo Muller-Ortega (USA) and Lilian Silburn (France).

Raniero Gnoli (Italy) is perhaps the only person who attempted the translation of Tantraloka from Sanskrit into an European language (Italian). His book Luce dei Tantra was published originally in 1972 and is one of the most ambitious projects of translation in the contemporary Indology.

Another important exponent of the Kashmir Shaivism was Swami Muktananda, a disciple of Bhagawan Nityananda. Muktananda created a Shaivist school (called Siddha Yoga) with branches in many countries. His school and direct disciples still exist today.

The most recent Kashmiri Shaivist school appeared in 1995 in Romania as an integral part of the largest Romanian yoga school, MISA. This Shaivist school is very theoretically and practically intensive and spans over more than a decade of individual studies. The basic concept behind the theory and practice of Kashmir Shaivism in this school is resonance, as explained by its founder Gregorian Bivolaru. Resonance is considered to be the fundamental reality in the Universe. Every being operates through the agency of five fundamental energies: consciousness (cit), blissful void (ananda), will/love (iccha), knowledge/intuition(jnana) and action (kriya) – all of whom are just expressions of the fundamental principle of resonance. Also, all the seven force centers (chakras) are just complex resonant systems. (Resonance is also very important in physics in the last 100 years, as it gradually became the essence of Quantum physics and of even new developments as the String theory.)

The most accomplished historical scholar of Kashmir Shaivism is Alexis Sanderson of All Souls College, Oxford, whose article Shaivism and the Tantric Traditions (1986) is probably the best place to start for those interested in an academic introduction to the topic.

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