Shiva Sutras

ShivaIntroduction

This whole universe has come into existence just to carry you to God consciousness.

– Swami Lakshmanjoo

Spending my days reading the Shiva Sutras is a source of great joy for me. Each time I read a verse, I move deeper into consciousness. I am convinced that the Shiva Sutras contain the highest form of knowledge that has ever existed. Your understanding will be based on your level of consciousness at the time. The Shiva Sutras are organized into three sections or means (Upayas) based on the ability of the student:

  1. 1st Awakening: Sambhavopaya (highest)
  2. 2nd Awakening: Saktopaya (medium)
  3. 3rd Awakening: Anavopaya (inferior)

I humbly offer you my understandings of the Shiva Sutras in the sincere hopes that you will be curious enough to read and study them further. For simplicity, I choose to use as few Sanskrit terms as possible. I also avoid the more complex understandings of Kashmir Shaivism. You will want to study these for yourself.

The Shiva Sutras direct our attention beyond all limiting ideas of self, all contracted notions of identity, and all finite constructions of the intellect, to a sublime space of the uttermost Consciousness within us. It is there, in what comes to be called the pulsating Heart of Shiva, that we each arrive at our final spiritual destination, our true home, and our deepest embodiment of what is most real, most valuable, and most meaningful.

– Paul Muller-Ortega

The Origin of the Shiva Sutras

In the valley of Kashmir 860-925 AD lived Vasugupta. He was recognized as an enlightened master, and a man who possessed superior knowledge and wisdom. Fully God-realized, he was filled with a tremendous purity of heart and was intensely devoted to the Lord Shiva. He did not accept the various teachings of those masters who lived in Kashmir at that time.

One night Lord Shiva infused a dream into Vasugupta’s consciousness for the purpose of restoring those secret teachings that had been lost to the world even in Vasugupta’s time. The dream revealed the existence of a large rock at the foot of Mahadeva Mountain.

Shiva told Vasugupta to go find that rock and lift it, for underneath a great esoteric teaching would be found inscribed into it. Vasugupta awoke and set off to search for this sacred rock. Upon finding the rock nestled on the side of a small stream, he touched it and the mere touch of his hand caused the huge rock to at once turn over – and written on it there underneath were the Shiva Sutras.

Vasugupta was filled with wonder and joy. He began to study these sutras and over time absorbed them and shared them with his best students, always remembering that in the dream Shiva had cautioned him to reveal them only to those who are fit for grace. So it was then, so it is now.

The Commentaries

There are three complete commentaries and one smaller commentary:

  • Siva Sutra Vimarsini by Ksemaraja (10th century C.E.)
  • Siva Sutra Varttikam by Bhatta Bhaskara (11th century C.E.)
  • Siva Sutra Varttikam by Varadaraja (15th century C.E.)
  • Siva Sutra Vrtti by an unknown author (10th century C.E.)

1st Awakening – Sambhavopaya

1.1

caitanyamatma

The independent state of supreme consciousness is the reality of everything.

Beneath the curtain of each atom lies concealed the life increasing beauty of the face of the Beloved.

– Mahmud Shabistari (14th century Sufi poet)

Everything in this entire universe is God consciousness, including non-material things such as thoughts. It is all one.

God is not far away from us, not up in the clouds or seated on a golden throne high in some inaccessible heaven. God is within us. Therefore, there is nowhere to ascend to. We have no distance to cross, except in our own consciousness. God is waiting eternally within our Hearts, waiting patiently for us to turn and embrace that which we always are.

Consciousness is always conscious of its Self. Consciousness intelligently organizes itself, and moves intelligently through all its operations; Consciousness self-organizes itself, is not ruled by anything else, higher or in a separate way; It does not require anything outer, anything objective, in order to organize within itself, the structure of its own inherent pattern.

The investigation of the Tantric tradition then, is the detailed investigation of this intelligence pattern of movement, which is then deployed within, and from, and as, the expression of the Absolute Consciousness.

Its fundamental nature is that it deploys itself in movement, and as a result of this movement, there arises, indeed, our own life.

– Paul Muller-Ortega

Completely understanding and experiencing of this sutra is liberation.

1.2

jnanam bandhah

Knowing differentiatedly is bondage and not knowing undifferentiatedly is bondage.

The veiling process of God consciousness, is bondage. Also known as Anavamala, or limited knowledge.

However, there is nothing that is separate or different from God consciousness, so it is not as if there is some separate entity or object that is known as mala which would somehow have the ability to veil or conceal God consciousness, but rather, it is the Supreme Lord Himself (Shiva) who, out of the very power of his own free-will, brings about the self-veiling or self-concealing of Himself. This is due to his power of Mahāmāya, the great Illusion. This self-imposed limitation alone is what constitutes the source of bondage.

Bondage occurs when:

  1. You see the appearance of differences.
  2. You forget that you are universe.

Your consciousness is in fact undifferentiated knowledge, the one God consciousness. Therefore being unaware that everything and everyone that exists is not separate from you, is bondage.

All metaphysical and philosophical theories are simply beliefs or imaginary concepts of thinkers. No diversity is the real truth. There is only undifferentiated knowledge.

1.3

yonivargah kalasariram

Mayiyamala and karmamala are also bondage.

The knower of truth thinks, I do not do anything… it is only the senses operating on their objects.

– Bhagavad Gita V.8

See the three malas.

1.4

Jnanadhisthanam matrika

The Universal Mother commands this triple knowledge.

Our universe is created by the subtlest sound, known as the universal mother Matrika.

Sound creates letters. Letters make up words. Words create difference. We think “I am different from others” and “this thing is mine” and so on, thus continuing along the path away from our actual state of Being the One. We become the victim of our every thought, the sound as words that carry us away from our real nature of universal consciousness. Thus we are played by this mother Matrika, who pushes us deeper into the energy of illusion (Maya Shakti).

1.5

udyamo bhairavah

That effort – the flashing forth of active awareness – that instantaneously makes universal consciousness shine, is Bhairava.

Bhairava is the Sanskrit word for the Oneness. Bhairava is the combined three forces that constitute the universe: BHA indicates the maintenance of the world, RA the withdrawal of the world, and VA the projection of the world.

Concealed within each of us is the right to become the One, or rather we in fact return to Oneness, the Bhairava state, which is our origin. For some there is the wondrous possibility of instant enlightenment. Great souls who by active effort and the heroic sheer intensity of their one-pointed focus can expand their consciousness instantaneously in a ‘flashing forth’ of Universal Consciousness and become Bhairava.

The seeker must be capable of absorbing this kind of awareness. The state of consciousness required is described as the “penetrative inescapable state of trance, which absorbs your individual being” [Malinivijaya Tantra]. You must practice active meditation. What is active meditation? Active meditation is when there is no yawning, no leaning, and no other thought interfering during meditation. It is actively one-pointed awareness. Passive meditation will carry you towards nothingness. It is a waste of time. Whenever you meditate, you must meditate in an active way. You must want this more than anything.

Immersion into the state of Bhairava will carry you to the highest state of consciousness and there you will find the power of absolute free will (Svantantrya Shakti). In this state there is “nothing to meditate on … There is no way to go, there is no traveling.” [SLJ] You are Home.

1.6

sakticakrasamdhane visvasamharah

By establishing and meditating on the wheel of energies, the differentiated universe comes to an end.

When, at the time of meditating on the wheel of energies, he digests and destroys everything (the 36 tattvas) – death, the sphere of time, the collection of all activities found in the world, the totality of all emotions, becoming the object of all perceptions, becoming the object of one thought or various thoughts – in his own supreme being he causes that whole to enter in that supreme consciousness of God [Bhargasikha Sastra].

1.7

jagratsvapnasusuptabhede turyabhogasambhava

Such a heroic yogi experiences the expansive state of turya in the differentiated states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep.

The heroic yogi, who has destroyed this entire universe by meditating on the collective wheel of energies and through that process has achieved the expansive state known as turya, and who embraces everywhere, in waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and also in turya, the all-pervading oneness of God consciousness, ascends to and is established in that supreme summit of turya, the state known as “beyond the fourth” (turyatitam).

1.8

jnanam jagrat

External organic knowledge constitutes the waking state.

Read more about the 4 States of Consciousness.

1.9

svapno vikalpah

Internal perceptions and thoughts compose the dreaming state.

Read more about the 4 States of Consciousness.

1.10

aviveko mayasausuptam

Forgetfulness and the negation of awareness is the dreamless state or maya.

Read more about the 4 States of Consciousness.

1.11

tritayabhokta viresah

The one who enjoys in the oneness of awareness all of the three states – waking, dreaming, and deep sleep – becomes the master of all organic energies.

Once you achieve the turya state, you become a purifying light shining in the world. Everything you experience is God. There is no difference between this world and the state of samadhi.

You are simply the witness, pure awareness, of the dance of life. You naturally become non-attached to this world, no longer bound by your acts. You become the independent master, the player of the vehicle and not the played.

1.12

vismayo yogabhumikah

The predominant sign of such a yogi is joy-filled amazement.

You become filled with joy and amazement. Understanding the divine play makes you smile. Each experience is new, exciting, and fun. You live in the now, so your joy cannot be diminished. There is no possiblility of traveling the path of repeated births and deaths.

1.13

iccha sakttiruma kumari

For such a yogi, his will is one with the energy of Lord Siva, unobstructable, completely independent, always given to play.

Once you have established union with your true self, you are given the free will (Svatantrya) of God.

This energy is playful. It creates, protects, and destroys the entire universe. It is absolutely pure, therefore it does not require anything else for enjoyment. The yogi experiences the divine play even in other universes. The adventure of God never ends.

1.14

drisyam sariram

This entire perceived world is his own self.
or,
His own body is just like an object to him.

The enlightened no longer think, “I am this body.” They understand that “I am this whole universe.”

1.15

hridaye cittasamghattad drisyasvapadarsanam

When his thoughts are diverted to the centre of God consciousness, then he feels the existence of God consciousness in oneness in the objective world and in the world of negation.

Similar to verse 1.7.

In Kashmir Shaivism, the heart (hridaya) is not the muscle that pumps blood through the body. The heart is an ancient symbol in India and is mentioned in the Rigveda as that which can see what the physical eyes cannot. The heart is within us all and simultaneously is the foundation of everything. When we unite our consciousness with the heart within, we get union with this all-pervading God-consciousness.

When you make your mind enter into the light of consciousness (cit prakasha) then your mind feels this whole universe as one with that universal being.

We must go within to make all these teachings into the one-pointed focus that will lead to our final liberation. The truth is not out there, because there is no out there. There is only the One, permeating and pervading the All. The ineluctable truth is everywhere for those who can “see” with the heart.

1.16

suddha-tattva-samdhanadva’pasusaktih

Or by aiming at the pure element of Siva, he possesses Siva’s unlimited energy.

If you take aim at the highest state of God-consciousness, you will experience everything in this universe as divine. We take aim in meditation with the idea that we will hit our target during this sitting not the next one.

Entrance into this absolute supreme state releases you from “the entangling energy that binds you with the wheel of differentiated perception [SLJ].” You feel that your body and all this universe are one with God-consciousness. This experience is said the make any yogic powers pale in comparison.

1.17

vitarka atmajnanam

Any inference of such a yogi is knowledge of his own real self.

You always know that “I am Lord Shiva, one with the universe.”

1.18

lokanandah samadhisukham

The joy of his samadhi is bliss for the whole universe.

When you maintain continuous, uninterupted, one-pointed awareness, your samadhi will carry the whole universe into that supreme bliss.

1.19

saktisandhane sarirotpattih

By infusing his energy of will, the embodiment of that which is willed occurs at once.

You are a magician, a genie. Anything you focus on, manifests into reality. You are bestowed with great powers.

However, using these powers is not the goal. Using them is a step down from God consciousness. Elevated yogis do not care for powers that manipulate the world of matter, the illusionary world. All their energy is focused on God.

1.20

bhutasamdhana-bhutaprithaktva- visvasamghattah

By the greatness of this achievement of the energy of will, the yogi can focus his awareness and heal the sick and suffering, separate elements from his body, and be free from the limitations of space and time.

There are a few more powers you attain. You can heal yourself and others. You know the past, present, and future anywhere in the universe.

1.21

suddhavidyodyaccakresatva-siddhih

… pure knowledge rises he becomes the universal and by that knowledge master of the wheel.

You realize that you were never anything but God. You are the universe experiencing itself. All this is your divine play. It is being manifested by you through your divine powers.

1.22

mahahridanusamdhanan mantraviryanubhavah

By the attentive continuity of meditation on the great ocean of consciousness, the power of supreme I is attained.

The great ocean of consciousness contains everything within it. The currents of this ocean manifests everything in this universe, including the five senses.

Kashmir Shaivism contains a Theory of the Alphabet (Matrikacakra) detailing precisely the emergence of the universe through sound as letters. The word mantra is used here in the understanding that the universe arises from the supreme I-consciousness, which is the source of all mantras. Mantras are made up of sound as letters. The essence of all these sounds is one sound, the soundless sound.

When you are able to maintain in an unbroken focus the union (yoga) of your consciousness with this great ocean, the Shakti power of God’s free will is revealed. These Shakti powers create all knowledge, and the acts of manifestation, preservation, and destruction. The potency of the mantra of I-consciousness is experienced by uniting with the Shakti power of this ocean within you.

2nd Awakening – Saktopaya

2.1

cittam mantrah

Mind is mantra.

The word mantra here in this sutra does not mean the mere reciting of some Sanskrit words. Mantras are wonderful and they can make us feel good temporarily; but this sutra reveals that even if we chant all day, if our mind is wandering, our efforts are fleeting at best. Our efforts must be active and intensely focused.

The word mantra here refers to the “thought of a sacred word” which arises in the mind of one absolutely purified. The mantra that will bring you to the real understanding of yourself.

The life of all mantras is solely the energy of God consciousness. When that energy is absent, the these collections of words are useless…

– Tantra Sadbhana

2.2

prayatnah sadhakah

(For such a yogi) pauseless effort brings about his attainment of God consciousness.

Once again we are reminded of the intense effort required to achieve God consciousness. There must be no pause in our effort.

Kashmir Shaivism teaches that we must become aware of God consciousness in our every act, our every thought, in every moment throughout our days and nights, even in the dream state. No matter what we are doing, we need to remain undistracted from our goal. This pauseless effort is most easily achieved when we are filled with intense desire and longing. When we want God more than anything else, then such pauseless effort is not so difficult.

The yogi must first possess such a determined longing that it will lead to the resolution, “I will sit until I attain the state of God consciousness or I will leave my body.” The effort must be filled with such determination. It must not be passive effort, it must be active effort. That active effort itself is God consciousness.

– Spanda Karika

2.3

vidyasarirasatta mantrarahasyam

The secret essence of mantra is establishment in the body of the knowledge of oneness.

The essence of all mantras is the supreme knowledge of oneness. The word mantra in this sutra does not mean those chanted sequences of traditional Sanskrit words. Here mantra refers to the supreme God, that God consciousness that permeates the universe and is the point of the formation of the collection of all sounds. All letters are actually one with mantra and those mantras are one with mother, the energy of Lord Siva, and that mother is one with Lord Siva himself.

Shaivite texts often take the form of Shiva speaking to his consort Parvati, who asks him questions and his replies provide the reader with eternal wisdom. In this sutra Shiva explains to Parvati that those people who are hypocrites and do not sincerely perform their spiritual practices, because of these misdeeds he has extracted the splendour from their mantras and thus their mantras become useless. It is your consciousness alone that makes a mantra successful.

2.4

garbhe cittavikaso’visista vidyasvapnah

When a yogi’s mind is satisfied with the expansive body of illusion, then he falls in the world of differentiated perceptions and his knowledge of being is just like that of ordinary living beings.

Those lights in the center of the eyebrows and divine sounds in the center of heart are obstacles for samadhi.

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali  3.37

The experiences that come in front of this yogi are obstacles to attaining real samadhi. These are obstacles for that yogi. For worldly men, on the other hand, they appear as great powers and they appreciate these powers. Attachment to these  limited powers holds them in samsara, the repeated cycles of death and birth.

2.5

vidyasamutthane svabhavike khecari sivavastha

The pure knowledge of God consciousness effortlessly rises and this state of Siva is realized as one with the state of khecari.

When the yogi realizes that these limited powers of seeing lights and hearing sounds are nothing more than useless obstacles on the path Home, then these distracting toys disappear and the real state of God consciousness emerges effortlessly. Then this yogi flies into the ether of supreme knowledge.

This state is termed KHECARI (pronounced ka-char-ee) and literally means, “that which moves in the sky or empty space.” However, here moving in space indicates the idea of the universe as a hologram and ‘movement’ implies the existence of the whole within every part. When you are in one location, you are in all. When you are treading the way of totality, you must see the totality in a piece of the totality. Take one part of the universe and see the whole universe existing there .

2.6

gururupayah

The master (guru) is the means.

Achieving God consciousness is the goal and in this sutra we are told that the guru is the means. The real guru is one who can reveal to you the reality of God consciousness, not one who asks for money or labor.

The real masters are those who have experienced and become one with Lord Shiva. The guru serves as a reservoir of truth that will carry the disciple across the ocean of all doubts.

Guru simply means teacher. If it were not for the dedicated men and women who spend their lives studying and teaching the ancient wisdom, we would have no access to such knowledge. These individuals deserve our respect. Surely it is easy to understand that in an ashram, where many people are living and eating together, there must be order and rules as there are in any institution.

The guru is not a worldly being. The guru is, in the real sense, the supreme energy of Lord Shiva. Perhaps our teachers are waiting patiently eternal within us all – and if we are aware, they are simultaneously everywhere.

2.7

matrikacakrasambodhah

(The disciple attains) the knowledge of the wheel of the hidden mother (Matrikacakra)

If a man wants to understand the mystery of life, if he wants to turn to the source of his being, he will have to understand the mystery of Matrika. Matrika not properly understood only confines us to the feverish activities of life, and thus becomes a source of bondage. If properly understood, she becomes our savior.

– Jaideva Singh, Shiva Sutras

It is said that enlightenment will dawn on those who understand the mechanics of the Matrikacakra. Therefore we may be motivated to study elemental powers and their correlations to the Sanskrit letters, which produce the splendid sacred waveforms that create our universe.

This knowledge can only be attained by the grace of the master, because the Matrikacakra theory is profoundly elaborate, encompassing the entire process of manifestation – and in reverse, the dissolution of the external holographic universe. A trusted teacher who has mastered this knowledge would be infinitely valuable.

The existence of the entire universe is encoded within the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet.

The universe is made up of 36 elements known as Tattvas. The 50 letters in Sanskrit represent these 36 elements.

Shiva represents the Oneness, the element (tattva) that contains all the other elements within it. There is only the One.

In Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva is always moving, in motion; he is the embodiment of movement. This movement is described by the word Spanda.

2.8

sariram havih

The establishment of I consciousness on the body becomes an offering in the fire of God consciousness.

We have three bodies: gross, subtle, and subtlest. The gross body is experienced in waking state, the subtle body in the dreaming state, and the subtlest in the state of deep sleep. We make the mistake of believing that these three bodies are our real identity. We put ‘I consciousness’ on these three states and think, ‘I am my body.’ Even after death, our consciousness remains identified with and attached to the spirit body.

As we understand how the universe and everything in it is generated by sound as letters, we can remove this ‘I consciousness’ from the three bodies. Symbolically we offer them into the fire of God consciousness, causing them to be digested in the fire of God consciousness. When we have done this, made this symbolic offering, then only God consciousness and no other consciousness remains. The yogi finds the kingdom of God consciousness everywhere.

2.9

jnanamannam

(For such a yogi) differentiated perception is his food
or,
knowledge of his own nature is his food.

When we come to experience the universe as the Oneness, then it is said that the food of such a yogi is differentiated perception. In other words, everything that the five senses transmits to our brain as the multiplicity of solidified matter is ‘digested’ as food.

I believe that what this verse implies is that when we reach union with the One, we are so exalted and in such a state of subtle bliss that we feel completely full. We are no longer interested in the food provided by the five senses. We are filled in God consciousness.

He is always intoxicated in his own self because of the knowledge of his real nature gives him complete satisfaction.

– Swami Lakshmanjoo

For the ones seeking enlightenment, we must understand that only a continual unbroken great awareness will hold the sought after state of God consciousness. When I was young, people often said that in spiritual life we experience ‘one step forward and two steps back.’ This experience of going in-and-out of God consciousness is described in the Shiva Sutras. We can and often do lose what we have earned – and we must then regroup and with even greater intensity win back our God consciousness.

2.10

vidyasamhare tadutthasvapnadarsanam

Although he is established in God consciousness in samadhi, yet not being able to maintain awareness, after a short time he enters into the dreaming state.

Almost all mediators have experienced at one time or another, dozing off during meditation. This sutra says that when we cannot maintain one-pointed awareness, we enter into the dreaming state.

When you cannot maintain awareness, the energies which hold us in maya, will ‘play’ with us. They will bring all kinds of distractions into our consciousness and direct our focus back to the senses. This is their job. Shiva is so powerful that he must create endless ways to ‘trick’ himself into remaining in the holographic universe he created for his own ‘play’ of concealing and revealing.

3rd Awakening – Anavopaya

The third section of the Shiva Sutras offers the aspirant practical means (upayas) to achieve God consciousness. Ways of maintaining awareness in breathing, reciting mantras, and other disciplines are explained. This is called Anavopaya, which is said to be the ‘inferior’ means because it utilizes the external, literally the five elements—earth, water, fire, air, and ether; and requires more effort.

For those who have active noisy minds or are intellectually inclined, these methods are useful. They serve to lead us into right thinking about our universe and who we are in it.

3.1

Atma cittam

Individual being is the mind entangled in the wheel of repeated birth and death.

Atma cittam describes the mind that has become entangled in the various sense impressions, which make us believe that our individual egos are the ‘doers’ and that life is about satisfying our endless desires for things, people and power.

Atma is the Sanskrit word usually taken to mean the Self, the individual soul within each of us. The use of the word ‘soul’ is misleading in the context of Indian thought. In the west we have been taught to believe that each of us has an individual soul and when we die our unique-to-us soul goes to heaven or hell, or even nowhere.

However the understanding of Atma in the Sanskrit texts is this: There is only one Atma. There is only one soul. In the final, deepest, and ultimate level of being, there is only one soul. Atma is the Oneness, God consciousness, which takes on the temporal appearance of separation and limitation, to conceal and reveal Its nature, and play in Time and Space.

3.2

Jnanam bandah

(For this limited individual), all knowledge is bondage.

Here we have forgotten our real nature, which is God consciousness, and have fallen into the illusion that we are separate from the Oneness. This false delusional state is the result of the three intellectual organs. Our intellect selects what we might want, our mind tells us how we can get what we want, and attachment to the results is produced by our ego – “I have done this. This is mine.”

3.3

Kaladinam tattvanamaviveko maya

Being unable to possess the undifferentiated knowledge of the thirty-one elements, you live in those elements, from kalā to pṛithvī (earth), which are the expansion of the energy of illusion (māyā śakti).

In Kashmir Shaivism we learn that when we experience the world as differentiated multiplicity, we are consequently pushed further into delusion. As long as we think that we are one with our body and God is not – then our own senses, mind, intellect, and ego will draw our consciousness ever deeper into the webs of bondage.

This movement down in consciousness is reversed when we realize the truth. Finding God within you reverses this process.

For those who are fully aware of God consciousness, organs of action and organs of the intellect lead them to that supreme state of God consciousness. For those who are not aware, these same organs deprive them completely of that God consciousness.

– Swami Lakshmanjoo, Spanda Karika 1.20

3.4

Sarire samharah kalanam

You must make all the circles (kalās) in your body enter one into the other from gross to subtle.

Take your attention from the gross orbit to the subtle orbit and then to the subtlest orbit, absorbing one into another.

– Swami Lakshmanjoo

The mind wanders ceaselessly. Anyone who has ever tried to meditate or even sit in silence for a time has discovered what a wild horse monster the mind can be.

Here in the Shiva Sutras we are introduced to the idea of a means to God consciousness by taking your thoughts through specific sequences in order to discipline the mind, thereby purifying your thoughts from delusion.

Our hologram is divided into five circles or enclosures, from gross to subtle. We are told to use our imagination to move from the gross manifestation to the subtle. We do this by putting the effect into the cause, moving from one circle of manifestation to the next, which lies within it—like layers of an onion—until we reach the cause of all the layers and find there is only One.

3.5

Nadisamhara-bhutajaya-bhutakaivalya

The merging of the movements of breathing, controlling the gross elements, diverting attention from all objective senses and directing it towards the centre of the movement of the breath, and removing your consciousness from the grip of the elementary field, …

In this sutra, Swami Lakshmanjoo explains a breathing technique that removes our awareness from the gross elements and diverts our attention away from the five senses.

3.6

mohavaranatsiddhih

… these powers are brought into existence when a yogi’s consciousness is covered by the energy of illusion (māyā).

Moha means delusion and ignorance; moha is Maya, the veil of illusion that is drawn over the undifferentiated Oneness to produce the appearance of differentiated multiplicity. Maya “carries your consciousness away from the reality of the Self. [SLJ]”

Various supernormal powers come to the yogi after achieving success in the practices of meditation, concentration, controlling the breath, etc. Most westerners have been led to believe that these paranormal powers are good, a reward, and the desirable consequence of hard work on the path. However the Shiva Sutras say that these siddhic powers are merely another product of the illusory veils of Maya covering our consciousness, and therefore they prevent us from experiencing the real supreme state of God consciousness.

Is this a sort of last temptation? Does the God-within offer the aspirant super powers just before he/she reaches the goal as a final test for Itself? The journey Home is the sole purpose for this universe and we may be assured that its Creator has made this adventure of consciousness both interesting and challenging.

The yogi who is not seduced by these siddhic powers will continue on the path with yogic practices such as meditation, etc., but will “not be caught in the grip of these limited yogic powers. [SLJ]” Holding God consciousness in continuity, without any break, is the ultimate great challenge for those who seek liberation from the endless cycles of birth and death. These siddhic powers will only distract you and trap your consciousness in the realm of the temporal illusory hologram.

3.7

Mohajayad anantabhogat sahajavidyajayah

After conquering the field of illusion (māyā) by destroying its many impressions, one attains the victory of the pure knowledge of consciousness.

We will reach God consciousness only when the last impressions (samskaras), including even the most faint and elusive remaining impressions of Maya’s illusory veils are completely overcome and destroyed. This is our journey. “Illusion is this completely differentiated universe filled with impressions and experiences. [SLJ]”
We experience God consciousness within – and also as pervading the whole universe. Our adventure is not completed when we find God only within ourselves, we must experience the feeling that God is everywhere.
The ability to feel God within you is the beginning, however it is still a form of bondage because you perceive the outside world as being different from you. You judge people as different from you, good/bad, etc. Everyone is God and you are God, therefore everyone and everything is an extension of that which you have always been and always will be – the Real.
The world is not impure. Impurity is only the false perception of the differentiated limited mind conditioned by temporal predispositions accumulated through the good and bad experiences of multiple lifetimes. We each carry in our subtle body (puryashtaka) our past-life collection of judgments about what brings pleasure and what brings pain.
“The mind (manah) is only the collection of differentiated knowledge (samkalpa). It does not matter whether it is pure knowledge or impure knowledge. Both of these exist in limitation, in the cycle of the mind in bondage. [SLJ]”
Svacchanda Tantra 5.394: “When you progress beyond the idea (samkalpa) of good and bad, of pure and impure, then actually, when you think deeply about it, there is no difference between individual consciousness and God consciousness. [SLJ]”

3.8

jāgratdvitīyakarah

The waking state is another formation of his real nature of consciousness.

3.9

nartaka ātmā

The dancer in this field of universal dance is his self of universal consciousness.

3.10

raṅgo’ntarātmā

The player is the internal soul.

3.11

prekṣakāṇīndriyāṇi

His own organs are spectators.

3.12

dhīvaśātsattvasiddhiḥ

By means of a supreme intellect filled with awareness of the self, this yogī experiences that he is actually acting.

3.13

siddhaḥ svatantrabhāvaḥ

The state of absolute independence is already achieved.

3.14

yathā tatra tathānyatra

This (absolute independence) is the same in the external world as it was in samādhi.

3.15

bījāvadhānam

Maintain breakless awareness on that supreme energy which is the seed of the universe.

3.16

āsanasthaḥ sukhaṁ hrade nimajjati

Seated in that real posture, he effortlessly dives in the ocean of nectar.

3.17

svamātrānirmāṇamāpādayati

Experiencing that this objective world is the product of his subjective consciousness, he can create anything he desires.

3.18

vidyā ‘vināśe janmavināśaḥ

When his knowledge of the Self is permanently established, then birth (and death) are gone forever.

3.19

kavargādiṣu māheśvaryādyāḥ paśumātaraḥ

In the world of letters, words and sentences, the eight energies of the Lord, who are the mothers of beasts (take control and hold him).

3.20

triṣu caturthaṁ tailavadāsecyam

The fourth state (turya) must be expanded like oil so that it pervades the other three: waking, dreaming and deep sleep.

3.21

magnaḥ svacittena praviśet

The yogī who is merged in his self must enter completely with his mind filled with great awareness.

3.22

prāṇasamācāre samadarśanam

When his breath begins to slowly move out toward the external state, then he also experiences the pervasion of God consciousness there.

3.23

madhye ‘varaprasavaḥ

He does not experience the state of God consciousness in the centre of these three states.

3.24

mātrāsvapratyayasaṁdhāne naṣṭasya punarutthānam

When a yogī, in coming out from samādhi, also attempts to maintain awareness of God consciousness in the objective world, then, even though his real nature of self is destroyed by the inferior generation of self-consciousness, he again rises in that supreme nature of the self.

3.25

śivatulyo jāyate

He becomes just like Śiva.

3.26

śarīravṛittirvratam

His virtuous behaviour is the maintenance of his body.

3.27

kathā japaḥ

Ordinary talk of life is the recitation of mantra.

3.28

dānamātmajñānam

His only purpose for remaining in his body is to impart knowledge to others.

3.29

yo’vipastho jñāhetuśca

The one who rules the wheel of energies becomes the cause of inserting knowledge in others.

3.30

śvaśaktipracayo’sya viśvam

For him, this universe is the embodiment of his collective energies.

3.31

sthitilayau

This universe is the expansion of his energy in objective impressions and in the dissolution of those impressions.

3.32

tatpravṛittāvapyanirāsaḥ saṁvettṛibhāvāt

Although he is determined in creating, protecting and destroying the universe, even then he is not separated from the real state of his subjectivity.

3.33

sukhaduḥkhayorbahirmananam

He experiences his joy and his sadness just like an object, with “this-consciousness” separate from his being.

3.34

tadvimuktastu kevalī

Separated from pleasure and pain, he is established in real seclusion.

3.35

mohapratisaṁhatastu karmātmā

The yogī whose God consciousness is destroyed by this state of illusion is dependent on his action.

3.36

bhedatiraskāre sargāntarakarmatvam

He drives away the field of differentiated perceptions and enters into a new world of God consciousness.

3.37

karaṇa śaktiḥ svato’nubhavāt

The power of creation is the experience of every individual.

3.38

tripadādyanuprāṇanam

Emerging from turya, insert the absolute bliss of that state into the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states and they will become one with that state of turya.

3.39

citta sthitivaccharīra karaṇabāhyeṣu

This awareness of God consciousness should not only be infused in that state where one’s mind is established in one-pointedness but it should also be infused in the establishment of his body, in his organic actions and in the external objective world.

3.40

abhilāṣādbahirgatiḥ saṁvāhyasya

Due to the insatiable and insistent desire to fill the gap (in his nature), his flow and movement are toward the objective world, not subjective consciousness, and so he is carried from one birth to another.

3.41

tadārūḍhapramitestatkṣayājjīva saṁkṣayaḥ

All desire vanishes in that fortunate person whose consciousness is established in his own real nature. For him the state of being a limited individual has ended.

3.42

bhūtakañcukī tadā vimukto bhūyaḥ patisamaḥ paraḥ

For him, the five elements are only coverings. At that very moment, he is absolutely liberated, supreme and just like Śiva.

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