Kashmir Shaivism
Encyclopedia
Trika
Trika, a concept of Kashmir Shaivism, refers to the 3 goddesses Parā, Parāparā and Aparā which are named in the Mālinivijayottata-tantra, a Bhairava Tantra.This gives Kashmir Saivism its other name, Trika.-Śiva, Śakti and :...
and its philosophical articulation Pratyabhijña. It is categorized by various scholars as monistic idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
(absolute idealism
Absolute idealism
Absolute idealism is an ontologically monistic philosophy attributed to G. W. F. Hegel. It is Hegel's account of how being is ultimately comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole. Hegel asserted that in order for the thinking subject to be able to know its object at all, there must be in some...
, theistic monism, realistic idealism, transcendental physicalism or concrete monism.)
Due to the Islamic subjugation of north India, Kashmir Saivism is essentially extinct.
Kashmir Shaivism arose during the eighth or ninth century CE. in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
and made significant strides, both philosophical and theological, until the end of the twelfth century CE.
"Kashmir Shaivism has penetrated to that depth of living thought where diverse currents of human wisdom unite in a luminous synthesis." - Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
(9 May 1861 - 7 August 1941) Nobel Prize in Literature (1913).
Origin
Kashmir Saivism, a householder religion, was based on a strong monistic interpretation of the Bhairava Tantras (and its subcategory the Kaula Tantras), which were tantras written by the Kapalikas. There was additionally a revelation of the Siva Sutras to VasuguptaVasugupta
Vasugupta was the author of the famous Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta. The author was believed to have amassed knowledge and recognition through direct realization. He was a native of Kashmir and was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. One night Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and instructed him to...
. Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede Shaiva Siddhanta
Shaiva Siddhanta
Considered normative tantric Saivism, Shaiva Siddhanta provides the normative rites, cosmology and theological categories of tantric Saivism. Being a dualistic philosophy, the goal of Shaiva Siddhanta is to become an ontologically distinct Shiva . This tradition was once practiced all over India...
, a dualistic tradition which scholars consider normative tantric
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
Shaivism
Shaivism
Shaivism is one of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer,...
. The Shaiva Siddhanta goal of becoming an ontologically distinct Shiva (through Shiva's grace) was replaced by recognizing oneself as Shiva who, in Kashmir Saivism's monism, is the entirety of the universe. Somananda, the first theologian of monistic Saivism, was the teacher of Utpaladeva, who was the grand-teacher of Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
, who in turn was the teacher of Ksemaraja.
Anuttara, the Supreme
Anuttara is the ultimate principle in Kashmir Shaivism, and as such, it is the fundamental reality underneath the whole UniverseUniverse
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
. Among the multiple interpretations of anuttara are: "supreme", "above all" and "unsurpassed reality". In the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
alphabet anuttara is associated to the first letter - "A" (in devanagari
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
"अ"). As the ultimate principle, anuttara is identified with Śiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, Śakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
(as Śakti is identical to Śiva), the supreme consciousness (cit), uncreated light (prakāśa
Prakasa
Prakāśa is a concept of Kashmir Shaivism translated by various authors as "light", "splendour", "light of consciousness" , "luminous and undifferentiated consciousness" or "primordial light beyond all manifestations"...
), supreme subject (aham) and atemporal vibration (spanda). The practitioner who realizes anuttara' through any means, whether by her own efforts or by direct transmission by the Grace of Shiva/shakti, is liberated and perceives absolutely no difference between herself and the body of the universe. Being and beings become one and the same by virtue of the "erotic friction," whereby subject perceives object and in that act of perception is filled with nondual being/consciousness/bliss. Anuttara is different from the notion of transcendence
Transcendence (philosophy)
In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word's literal meaning , of climbing or going beyond, albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages...
in that, even though it is above all, it does not imply a state of separation from the Universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
.
Aham, the Heart of Śiva
Aham is the concept of supreme reality as heart. It is considered to be a non-dual interior space of Śiva, support for the entire manifestation, supreme mantra and identical to Śakti.Pratyabhijña
Pratyabhijña is the philosophical articulation of Kashmir Saivism. Pratyabhijña literally means "spontaneous recognition", as it does not have any upāyas (means), that is, there is nothing to practice; the only thing to do is recognize who you are. This "means" can actually be called anupāya, SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
for "without means". Ksemaraja, the student of Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
, uses a mirror analogy to explain Pratyabhijña.
Kaula
Although domesticated into a householder tradition, Kashmir Saivism recommended a secret performance of Kaula practices in keeping with its heritage. This was to be done in seclusion from public eyes, therefore allowing one to maintain the appearance of a typical householder.Svatantrya, self-created free will
The concept of free will plays a central role in Kashmir Shaivism. Known under the technical name of svātantryaSvatantrya
Svātantrya is the Kashmiri Shaivite concept of divine sovereignty...
it is the cause of the creation of the universe - a primordial force that stirs up the absolute and manifests the world inside the supreme consciousness of Śiva.
Svātantrya is the sole property of God, all the rest of conscious subjects being co-participant in various degrees to the divine sovereignty. Humans have a limited degree of free will based on their level of consciousness. Ultimately, Kashmir Shaivism as a monistic idealist philosophical system views all subjects to be identical - "all are one" - and that one is Śiva, the supreme consciousness. Thus, all subjects have free will but they can be ignorant of this power. Ignorance too is a force projected by svātantrya itself upon the creation and can only be removed by svātantrya.
A function of svātantrya is that of granting divine grace - śaktipāt. In this philosophical system spiritual liberation is not accessible by mere effort, but dependent only on the will of God. Thus, the disciple can only surrender himself and wait for the divine grace to come down and eliminate the limitations that imprison his consciousness.
Causality in Kashmir Shaivism is considered to be created by Svātantrya along with the universe. Thus there can be no contradiction, limitation or rule to force Śiva to act one way or the other. Svātantrya always exists beyond the limiting shield of cosmic illusion, māyā
Maya (illusion)
Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
.
The Siva Sutras
The first great initiate recorded in history of this spiritual path was VasuguptaVasugupta
Vasugupta was the author of the famous Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta. The author was believed to have amassed knowledge and recognition through direct realization. He was a native of Kashmir and was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. One night Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and instructed him to...
(c. 875-925). Vasugupta formulated for the first time in writing the principles and main doctrines of this system.
A fundamental work of Shaivism, traditionally attributed to Vasugupta, is the Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta
Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta
Shiva Sutras are a collection of seventy seven aphorisms that form the foundation of the tradition of spiritual mysticism known as Kashmir Shaivism. They are attributed to the sage Vasugupta of the 8th century C.E....
. Traditionally, these sutras are considered to have been revealed to Vasugupta by Shiva. According to myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, Vasugupta had a dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
in which Shiva told him to go to the mountain in Kashmir. On this mountain he is said to have found verses inscribed on a rock, the Shiva Sutras, which outline the teachings of Shaiva monism. This text is one of the key sources for Kashmir Shaivism. The work is a collection of aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s. The sutras expound a purely non-dual (advaita
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
) metaphysics. These sutras, which are classified as a type of Hindu scripture known as agamas, are also known as the Shiva Upanishad Samgraha (Sanskrit: ) or Shivarahasyagama Samgraha.
Classification of the written tradition
The first Kashmiri Shaiva texts were written in the early ninth century CE.As a monistic tantric
Tantras
Tantras refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Although Buddhist and Hindu Tantra have many similarities from the outside, they do have some clear distinctions. The rest of this article deals with Hindu...
system, Trika
Trika
Trika, a concept of Kashmir Shaivism, refers to the 3 goddesses Parā, Parāparā and Aparā which are named in the Mālinivijayottata-tantra, a Bhairava Tantra.This gives Kashmir Saivism its other name, Trika.-Śiva, Śakti and :...
Shaivism, as it is also known, draws teachings from shrutis, such as the monistic Bhairava Tantras, Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta
Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta
Shiva Sutras are a collection of seventy seven aphorisms that form the foundation of the tradition of spiritual mysticism known as Kashmir Shaivism. They are attributed to the sage Vasugupta of the 8th century C.E....
, and also a unique version of the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
which has a commentary by Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
, known as the Gitartha Samgraha. Teachings are also drawn from the Tantraloka
Tantraloka
Tantrāloka is the masterwork of Abhinavagupta, who was in turn the most revered Kashmir Shaivism master. On account of its size and scope it is a veritable encyclopedia of nondual Shaivism, a treasure text containing the synthesis of the 64 monistic āgamas and all the schools of Kashmir Shaivism....
of Abhinavagupta, prominent among a vast body of smritis employed by Kashmir Shaivism.
In general, the whole written tradition of Shaivism can be divided in three fundamental parts: Āgama Śāstra, Spanda Śāstra and Pratyabhijñā Śāstra.
1. Āgama Śāstra 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 Mālinīvijaya Tantra, Svacchanda Tantra, Vijñānabhairava Tantra, Netra Tantra, , Rudrayāmala Tantra, Śivasūtra and others. There are also numerous commentaries to these works, Śivasūtra having most of them.
2. Spanda Śāstra, the main work of which is Spanda Kārikā of Vasugupta, with its many commentaries. Out of them, two are of major importance: Spanda Sandoha (this commentary talks only about the first verses of Spanda Kārikā), and (which is a commentary of the complete text).
3. Pratyabhijñā Śāstra are those writings which have mainly a metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
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. Pratyabhijñā means "recognition" and refers to the spontaneous recognition of the divine nature hidden in each human being (atman
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
). The most important works in this category are: Īśvara Pratyabhijñā, the fundamental work of Utpaladeva
Utpaladeva
Utpaladeva was one of the great teachers of the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism.Utpaladeva, an influential philosopher-theologian of the Pratyabhijna school of Shaiva thought composed the Ishvara-pratyabhijna-karika, or 'Verses on the Recognition of the Lord' and the 'Shivastotravali'.-External...
, and Pratyabhijñā Vimarśinī, a commentary to Īśvara Pratyabhijñā. Īśvara Pratyabhijñā means in fact the direct recognition of the Lord (Īśvara) as identical to one's Heart. Before Utpaladeva, his master Somānanda wrote (The Vision of Siva), a devotional poem written on multiple levels of meaning.
Abhinavagupta
All the four branches of the Kashmiri Shaivism tradition were put together by the great philosopher AbhinavaguptaAbhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
(approx. 950-1020 AD). Among his important works, the most important is the Tantraloka
Tantraloka
Tantrāloka is the masterwork of Abhinavagupta, who was in turn the most revered Kashmir Shaivism master. On account of its size and scope it is a veritable encyclopedia of nondual Shaivism, a treasure text containing the synthesis of the 64 monistic āgamas and all the schools of Kashmir Shaivism....
("The Divine Light of Tantra"), a work in verses which is a majestic synthesis of the whole tradition of monistic
Monism
Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...
Shaivism. Abhinavagupta succeeded in smoothing out all the apparent differences and disparities that existed among the different branches and schools of Kashmir Shaivism of before him. Thus he offers a unitary, coherent and complete vision of this system. Due to the exceptional length (5859 verses) of Tantraloka
Tantraloka
Tantrāloka is the masterwork of Abhinavagupta, who was in turn the most revered Kashmir Shaivism master. On account of its size and scope it is a veritable encyclopedia of nondual Shaivism, a treasure text containing the synthesis of the 64 monistic āgamas and all the schools of Kashmir Shaivism....
, Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
himself provided a shorter version in prose, called Tantrasara
Tantrasara
The Tantrasara is a work attributed to Abhinavagupta, the most famous historical proponent of the Trika or Kashmir Shaivism philosophy of Hinduism. It is said to a condensed version of the Tantraloka, Abhinavagupta's Magnum opus....
("The Essence of Tantra").
Jayaratha
Another important Kashmiri Shaivite, Jayaratha (1150-1200 AD,), added his commentary to TantralokaTantraloka
Tantrāloka is the masterwork of Abhinavagupta, who was in turn the most revered Kashmir Shaivism master. On account of its size and scope it is a veritable encyclopedia of nondual Shaivism, a treasure text containing the synthesis of the 64 monistic āgamas and all the schools of Kashmir Shaivism....
, a task of great difficulty which was his life long pursuit. He provided more context, numerous quotes and clarifications without which some passages from Tantraloka would be impossible to elucidate today.
Krama
The term krama means 'progression','gradation' or 'succession' respectively meaning 'spiritual progression' or 'gradual refinement of the mental processes'(vikalpa), or 'successive unfoldment taking place at the ultimate level', in the Supreme Consciousness (cit).Even if the Krama school is an integral part of Kashmir Shaivism, it is also an independent system both philosophically and historically. Krama is significant as a synthesis of Tantra
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
and Śākta
Shaktism
Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi – the Hindu Divine Mother – as the absolute, ultimate Godhead...
traditions based on the monistic
Monism
Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...
Śaivism. As a Tantric and Śakti-oriented system of a mystical
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
flavor, Krama is similar in some regards to Spanda as both center on the activity of Śakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
, and also similar with Kula
Kaula
Kaula Island, also called Kaula Rock, is a small, crescent-shaped offshore islet in the Hawaiian Islands.-Geography:It is located west-southwest of Kawaihoa Point on Niihau, and about west of Honolulu. The island is actually the very top of a volcanic tuff cone that rests on top of a larger,...
in their Tantric approach. Inside the family of Kashmir Shaivism, the Pratyabhijñā school is most different form Krama.
The most distinctive feature of Krama is its monistic-dualistic (bhedābhedopāya) discipline in the stages precursory to spiritual realization. Even if Kashmir Shaivism is an idealistic monism, there is still a place for dualistic aspects as precursory stages on the spiritual path. So it is said that in practice Krama employs the dualistic-cum-nondualistic methods, yet in the underlying philosophy it remains nondualistic. Krama has a positive epistemic bias, aimed at forming a synthesis of enjoyment(bhoga) and illumination(mokṣa).
Spanda
The Spanda system, introduced by VasuguptaVasugupta
Vasugupta was the author of the famous Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta. The author was believed to have amassed knowledge and recognition through direct realization. He was a native of Kashmir and was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. One night Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and instructed him to...
(c. 800 AD), is usually described as "vibration/movement of consciousness". Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
uses the expression "some sort of movement" to imply the distinction from physical movement; it is rather a vibration or sound inside the Divine, a throb. The essence of this vibration is the ecstatic self-recurrent consciousness.
The central tenet of this system is "everything is Spanda", both the objective exterior reality and the subjective world. Nothing exists without movement, yet the ultimate movement takes place not in space or time, but inside the Supreme Consciousness(cit). So, it is a cycle of internalization and externalization of consciousness itself, relating to the most elevated plane in creation (Śiva-Śakti Tattva
The 36 tattvas
In Kaśmir Śaivism, the 36 tattvas describe the Absolute, its internal aspects and the creation including living beings, down to the physical reality. The addition of 11 supplemental tattvas compared to the allows for a richer, fuller vision of the Absolute...
).
In order to describe the connotations of the Spanda concept, a series of equivalent concepts are enumerated, such as: self recurrent consciousness - vimarśa, unimpeded will of the Supreme Consciousness (cit) - svātantrya, supreme creative energy - visarga, heart of the divine - hṛdaya and ocean of light-consciousness - cidānanda.
The most important texts of the system are Śiva Sutras
Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta
Shiva Sutras are a collection of seventy seven aphorisms that form the foundation of the tradition of spiritual mysticism known as Kashmir Shaivism. They are attributed to the sage Vasugupta of the 8th century C.E....
, Spanda Karika and Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra.
Contemporary Kashmiri Saivites from Kashmir
- LalleshwariLalleshwariLalleshwari , also known as Lalla, Lal Ded or "Lal Arifa". She was a mystic of the Kashmiri Shaivite sect, and at the same time, a Sufi saint. She is a creator of the mystic poetry called vatsun or Vakhs, literally 'speech'...
(1320-1392) - Bhagwan Gopinath (1898-1968)
- Swami Lakshman JooSwami Lakshman JooSwami Lakshman Joo Raina was a famed mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism. He was known as Lal Sahib by followers and considered by them to be a fully realized saint.- Family :...
(1907-1991)