What is Kashmir Shaivism?

when we talk about Hinduism or sanatana Dharma the focus is usually on the so-called Vedic or brahmanical tradition that incredibly complex web of beliefs and practices related to the ancient Vedic texts and the philosophies that are based on those texts such as vedanta for example which we have talked about at length previously on this channel even I in my video on The Vedas said that this group of texts is the one unifying factor in the large category that we call Hinduism today which actually isn't entirely true indeed there exists and have existed other Traditions that still fall under the umbrella of Hinduism that didn't grow out of The Vedic tradition they are of course still for the most part in conversation with The Vedas and The Vedic tradition but not as their primary source we already talked about one such tradition Tantra in a previous episode and today we're going to continue in a similar line because one of the most significant and yet surprisingly less known forms of Indian religion and philosophy has been the non-dual school called Kashmir shaivism a school where the god Shiva is worshiped as the one reality and consciousness of all things and whose main foundational figure abhinava Gupta is one of the greatest and most impressive philosophers in history [Music] in terms of non-dualistic schools of Hinduism a Dwight the vedanta is definitely the most famous around the world but a serious rival has always been Kashmir shaivism often also called tarika shaibism it is also a strongly non-dual and monistic tradition but with a focus on Shiva rather than Vishnu and with some significant differences in terms of metaphysics Kashmir shaivism shouldn't necessarily be seen as a fixed school it is in fact more of a name for a complex group of related non-dual thinkers and philosophies in the shivai tradition in and around Kashmir it's thus hard to pinpoint An Origin or founder as such but the most Central and maybe foundational figure is the amazing philosopher and Mystic abhinava Gupta who is often said to have brought together the complex array of different philosophies and religious Traditions at the time into a unified system that we know as Kashmir shaivism abhinava Gupta is really one of the most significant figures in Indian history and it's strange and a little sad that he isn't more well known and appreciated his writing span a vast amount of subjects from metaphysics and tantric practices scriptural commentary and even Aesthetics but before we start exploring him further let's back up a little bit first what are the basics of what we're discussing here Kashmir shaivism is as the name suggests a form of shaivism so what is shaivism then shavism is a name to denote a vast group of religious traditions in India that worship the god Shiva as the primary deity this is in opposition to for example vaishnavism which are Traditions that worship Vishnu as the primary deity and all the schools we've discussed so far primarily the different schools of vedanta associated with ramanuja mava and to some degree shankara are more so a part of the vaishnavai tradition so shaivism is the worship of Shiva and from there the topic branches out into a web of many different schools and tendencies only if one of which is Kashmir shaivism not whereas the vaishnavi tradition is often based primarily on The Vedas upanishads and works like the famous bhagavad-gita the Shiva tradition has some different Origins even though drawing a clear line like this should be avoided the earliest known forms of sectarian shaibism appear in the first few centuries CE or A.D around the second to third century at this point we have groups like The pashupatas and the siddhanta shivaites both shivai Traditions that focus on worship of Shiva with the aim of becoming United with him at the same time these early forms of shaivism are dualistic in nature that is they conceive of a clear ontological difference between Shiva as the Lord Pati and the human being and the created World it isn't until later that we see the development of a more non-dualistic strand within this tradition the main textual sources for most of the Shiva tradition are the so-called agamas a vast collection of texts that were commented on by people like abhinava Gupta later on so this is one aspect of this development the emergence of the agamic text and a devotional tradition dedicated to Shiva in particular at the same time we also see the emergence of the tradition known as Tantra with its own text which went under the same name that is Tantra this was a tradition that put an emphasis on esotericism spiritual practice and the body and senses as important vessels for enlightenment sometimes even using erotic imagery the tantric strand was easily harmonized with the shivite schools and indeed developed in tandem with them the two basically influencing each other we have dedicated a full episode to Tantra in particular if you want to know more about that topic but Tantra also became Central to another important aspect of the larger shy by tradition namely shaktism or the worship of the goddess or female aspect of the Divine often called Shakti it's already getting a little complicated but bear with me so there are schools of devotional shaivism dualistic schools of shaivism there are developing in tandem where in connection with other schools or movements like tantrism and shaktism but the first example of a properly non-dualistic shaibism comes in this scripture called the Shiva sutras a collection of aphorisms thought to have been revealed to the 9th century Sage vasugupta Legend says that he had a dream where Shiva told him to go to a certain rock on which the sutras were inscribed this is thus considered to be the words of Shiva himself in a way and as the foundational text or texts for non-dual Kashmir shaibism vasugupta may have been a historical figure and tradition says that he had two students kalata and somananda the former figure kalata is often thought to be the author of another foundational text the spandakarika the treat is on vibration which talks about the Ultimate Reality of Consciousness as vibration or spanda an essential vibration that is at the core of reality and which can be used to reach Enlightenment this is another key aspect of non-dual shaivism at the time that second student somananda originated another significant tradition namely the philosophical School of recognition called pratya bijna in Sanskrit this school is perhaps best represented by his student with paladeva and proposes that everything is one with the absolute unified Consciousness that is Shiva and that humans can reach Liberation by recognizing their own fundamental reality as that very consciousness as we saw aside from these philosophical development the tantric systems had also developed into a significant force in particular these schools known as kawla or kramakala with a focus on worship of the goddess or Shakti in the form of Kali as well as what is known as the tarika lineage with focus on three Divine energies would become important for Kashmir shaivism it should be pointed out that while we've been talking about these as different schools or movements we should be very careful not to draw two Stark borders between them because they've always been very strongly interrelated and and and connected to each other right the the borders between them aren't clear at all but it can be helpful to look at it from this basic perspective to get a better grasp of the overall development of this tradition but it can be a little difficult to grasp how this all fits together and in what way even for myself if I'm being honest the primary master of Kashmir shaivism in the 20th century lakshman Joe formulated it in this way tarika is the overarching term and pratya bijna kawla Karama and spanda all fit under this category as sub-systems quote the tarika system is comprised of four subsystems the pratya bijna system the kawla system the Kramer system and the spanda system these four systems which form the one thought of the trica system all accept and are based on the same scriptures because it is here that abhinava Gupta enters the scene and starts a project of basically synthesizing all of these related schools and movements into a coherent and very impressive system abhinava Gupta was probably born sometime around 950 to 975 A.D in the region of Kashmir he came from a brahmana family and clearly had a passion for learning as he basically started studying every subject imaginable he would have studied scriptures like the agamas and the tantras and the Shiva tradition as a whole as well as the traditional Vedic literature he studied all the so-called schools of Hindu philosophy or the darshanas like sankya vedanta nyaya and judging from his text he had a Mastery of all these topics it seems that he even studied non-hindu religions like Buddhism and Jainism and had an impressively comprehensive grasp of these topics as well he also studied things like philosophy of language drama music and Aesthetics all topics that he would write important Works about this also came with a spiritual vocation and it was soon also initiated into the tantric traditions of kawla and Karama under teachers like shambunata who was his main Guru and belonged to the kawala lineage as well as putiraja and many other gurus he said to have reached spiritual illumination or Enlightenment through these tantric practices he was taught not only these spiritual practices of Tantra and goddess worship but also the philosophy of recognition and the spanda school that we mentioned earlier in other words abhinava Gupta was an incredibly learned and accomplished person he was a scholar and polymath able to intellectually tackle a vast amount of different subjects as well as an enlightened Guru involved in spiritual practices and teaching his own students this path to realization at the same time he wasn't a renunciating monk who lived alone in the woods or something he lived with his family and stayed active as a teacher and friend all of which is connected to the ideas of Tantra and shaivism and its emphasis on living in the world rather than detached from it a topic that we'll return to later he seems to have been quite the character as descriptions from that time attest to quote abhinava Gupta has his eyes trembling in ecstasy in the middle of his forehead is a conspicuous tilaka made of Ashes he has hanging from his ear his long hair is held by a Garland of flowers he has a long beard and golden skin his neck is dark with a shining yaksha Panka powder his upavita string is hanging down loose from his neck he wears a silken cloth as white as Moonbeams and he sits in the yogic position known as virashana one hand is held on his knee holding a rosary with his fingers clearly making the sign that signifies his knowledge of the highest Shiva he plays on his resonating loot with the tips of his quivering fingers of his lotus-like left hand all of this learning and spiritual practice allowed his genius to shine through in his many writings in works like the Tantra loka his largest and most significant philosophical theological work he explicates a system that expertly brings together all the strands of thought at the time into a unified Hall from the devotional shy my tradition to the philosophies of the Shiva sutras the philosophy of recognition and spanda the tantric schools of kawla Karama and trika as well as many other areas of knowledge it's all harmonized in an incredibly impressive way in the writings of abhinava Gupta those who study his texts are met with the density and difficulty in his writings and it really requires you to have an almost equally broad knowledge of all the Hindu schools of philosophy and scriptures to fully appreciate and understand what he is trying to do the Tantra loka has never been translated into English sadly but that isn't his only text he wrote the Tantra Sara as a kind of summary of the former work as well as devotional hymns commentaries on scriptures and independent philosophical treatises for example even though he was a shy bite abhinava Gupta wrote a famous commentary on the bhagavad-gita which is of course a primarily vaishnavai text with the god Krishna at its Center in the fields of arts and Aesthetics he also wrote a word called abina babarati a commentary on the natya shastra by barata Muni which tackles topics related to the Performing Arts and the theory of rasa at the center of any aesthetic experience of art this has become one of the most important and influential works on this topic of Aesthetics in the history of India and it kind of deserves a topic or an episode of its own actually and it really shows you the the breadth and ingenious arabinava Gupta that even though he's primarily famous for his his writings in the Kashmir Shiva tradition he's also one of the most influential writers on Aesthetics in in Indian history he was that much of a polymath and a broad thinker in that regard in shorts abhinava Gupta was quite a genius who had a mass passive impact on Indian intellectual history and most importantly for our discussion today he is the most Central and foundational figure in what we call Kashmir shaivism as we saw he took a bunch of schools and lineages and unified them into this incredible philosophy which he himself often called simply trica which we which is where we get the name tarika shaivism the reason that is most often called Kashmir shaibism in the west is simply because abhinava Gupta and all the other non-dualistic thinkers were mentioned mostly lived in Kashmir and the school has been associated with that region ever since then in a sense all of what were talked about so far fall under the category of Kashmir shaivism it's a name for the non-dual forms of shaivism that flourished in Kashmir at this time and which was primarily systematized into the form we know it today in the writings of abhinava Gupta so now we thus get to that very difficult part where we're supposed to somehow Define or summarize what Kashmir shaivism is all about so what does this tradition teach well first of all and this is often the case with things like this Kashmir shaivism isn't just a quote-unquote philosophy in the modern sense of that word it does include doctrinal speculation about metaphysical realities and such things for sure but a significant aspect of this tradition is its participatory and practical aspect it is a spiritual tradition in the Tantra lineage that emphasizes practices like meditation mantras asceticism and other spiritual practices with the aim of reaching Liberation through knowledge of One's Own Unity with Shiva or with absolute Consciousness so this should be kept in mind throughout and I will try my best to include these practical aspects even though they are a lot harder to talk about for various reasons but if we focus more on the theoretical aspects of this tradition what does it say about reality and our place in it the basic principle of Kashmir shaibism is a strict non-dualism there is only one unified reality the Supreme Consciousness which is identical with Shiva Shiva is everything and thus everything consists of and takes place within that one consciousness I could also put it this way all that is is consciousness a single absolute Consciousness in which everything takes place and which everything is Consciousness is identical to being itself or existence to exist means to be Consciousness to be experienced by an awareness that is identical to yourself that Consciousness the absolute itself the real is represented by and is identical to the god Shiva so Shiva is being and the reality of all things there is only Shiva in other words this is a non-dualistic and monistic theology or philosophy but there are also a lot of complexities to this system of thought which we will have to dive deeper into now you probably know that I'm usually not too fond of comparisons but it might be helpful in this case to look at the other major and most famous non-dualistic School of Hinduism advice and see where the two diverge because there are indeed a few significant differences between them a Dwight davidanta and its Representatives like shankara talks about the absolutes as Brahman which in some schools is identified with Vishnu but in the more strictly non-dualistic advaita is usually seen as an attribute less reality the Kashmir shy bites also talk about Brahman occasionally and it is clear that they see their concept of Shiva as identical to Brahman but they prefer to use the more personal Divine form of Shiva as the embodiment of the real and use many different names for it such as well Shiva bhairava para meshwara the Supreme Lord and similar words the reason for this emphasis on the more personal form of the Divinity will become clear later on in the discussion the two schools are indeed similar in that they conceive of the world in non-dualist terms there is only the absolutes and nothing other than it has self-existence but they also conceive of this non-dualism in significantly different ways in advaita vedanta there is only the one Brahman and everything else is a kind of Illusion Brahman is one and absolute an unchanging essence of reality this means that all multiplicity we experience hence everything we experience as other than Brahman quote unquote is unreal in a sense it's the result of what's known as Avidia or ignorance and Maya illusion we falsely see all these things in the world and superimpose self-existence and identity upon them but in reality none of it's real because it's all the Brahman now it needs to be said that this is not some kind of existential nihilism in fact writers like shankara argue precisely in opposition to nihilism they aren't saying that nothing is real as such but that everything is simply the one Brahman and everything we experience as other than Brahman is false insofar as it is other than Brahman just like the person in the famous analogy falsely thinks that he sees a snake on the road when in reality it's only a rope so we should realize the illusory nature of the world but not in the sense that there is nothing there at all only insofar as we see a snake when in reality it's just a rope when we realize what is real the snake doesn't disappear into nothingness instead we just see it and but for what it truly is which is a rope similarly the world is real insofar as it is Brahman but unreal insofar as it is seen as other than Brahman in its multiplicity this means that advaita vedanta emphasizes a kind of turning away from the world the world as we know it is unreal and we are to transcend this world to reach the one Brahman which is our true identity once we look past the world aduaita is a negating non-dualism in other words Brahman is alone one and unchanging and to reach it we must negate everything else which is illusory this is not the approach of the Kashmir shivites they agree that the absolute in this case Shiva is all that there is and nothing exists apart from him but their view of the relationship between the absolutes and our everyday world of experience and multiplicity is fundamentally different The World Is Not An Illusion at all multiplicity is not unreal it's a real manifestation of the Oneness of Shiva in other words it's a philosophy of affirmation everything is Shiva including multiplicity and every aspect of the world as we experience it Shiva or Supreme Consciousness is one for sure but he's also multiplicity and one does not cancel out the other in fact in order for Shiva to be absolute in order to uphold a true non-dualism or monism it must somehow unify Oneness and diversity as a single identical thing writes quote we do not base our contention that reality is won because of the contradictions inherent in saying that it is dual it is your approach that accepts this method well if Duality and Oneness were in fact to contradict each other they would clearly be two distinct realities in other words if Oneness and Duality were truly two different things where Duality is false and Oneness is real as the advaitan would say that very statement implies Duality because the conceives of two opposing Concepts different from each other the shy bites like abhinava Gupta instead affirm that Oneness and Duality or diversity is one and the same thing it's all encompassed by the reality of Shiva the eminent scholar Mark deshkovsky says quote the Shiva method is one of an Ever widening inclusion of phenomena mistakingly thought to be outside the absolute the vedanta on the other hand seeks to understand the nature of the absolute by excluding every element of experience which does not conform to the Criterion of absoluteness until All That Remains is the unqualified Brahman the shaivas approach is one of affirmation and the vedantans one of negation they arrive at the absolute from opposite directions this approach of the shivaites is not only important on a philosophical level but it also has significant impact on the Practical aspects of the tradition which we'll see later in this way and many others the Shiva of Kashmir shaivism is significantly more Dynamic and kind of In Motion than the static and unchanging Brahman of vedanta Shiva is a personal God he is the Supreme Consciousness and being which include the dynamic aspects of manifest reality he is a reality which pulsates and vibrates it's a Consciousness that knows itself in a dynamic self-knowing that manifests the universe precisely as the content of that self-knowing indeed in this sense Shiva is often seen as having two quote-unquote aspects aspects which are still part of the same one consciousness the fullness of Consciousness include what is known as prakasha the Divine Lights Of Consciousness this is Shiva as he is in his eternal self the pure essence of the Supreme Lord quote prakasha is the pure Luminosity or self-showing that constitutes the essence and ultimate identity Atma of phenomena that things appear at all is due to the Lights Of Consciousness and their appearing is itself this light which bestows on all things their evidence manifest nature secondly there is vimarsha which is the reflective Consciousness that Sheba has of himself Shiva as Consciousness and similarly to the news of titanus and neoplatonism is simultaneously awareness being aware of itself through an awareness that is identical to itself the Supreme Lord includes an aspect that reflects upon itself Consciousness is conscious of itself and this reflective awareness is vimasha this second aspect of the Supreme is also identified with Shakti the goddess or divine feminine to the masculine Shiva in other words the absolute itself and thus reality as a whole is in a sense a dynamic Union and separation between feminine and masculine Shiva and Shakti often represented as a kind of sexual act where awareness reflects upon itself in a kind of pulsation or vibration that lies at the core of reality indeed this idea is Central to the very conception of creation and the nature of the universe why does Shiva create the universe to use abrahamic language how does the one absolute Supreme Lord go from his inherent state to the world of Multiplicity where does all this come from as we saw the vedanton would basically say that it doesn't the world of Multiplicity is an illusion it is Maya if anything it is the play or Leela of God that manifests the false sense of diversity and Duality which pervades the universe and which ultimately we must transcend to reach Brahman the shivites have a rather different idea to them it is this very Dynamic aspect of the Supreme self that results in the manifestation of the world of diversity there is a huge emphasis put on the concept of the freedom of Shiva the svatantria Shiva is absolutely free and acts according to his Free Will and it is this freedom and will that results in the creation of the world as we saw Shiva is both the absolute Transcendent self for Consciousness the utmost unchanging light of subjectivity itself but that Consciousness also contemplates itself right it looks back at itself which creates a kind of artificial kind of duality it must right there's the person who who's contemplating and the thing that is contemplated so when Shiva contemplates himself that creates this kind of artificial Duality between the contemplator and the contemplated but in reality they are of course one on the same thing here we have Shiva as the light of Consciousness and Shakti the divine feminine as the self-reflexive aspect of that Consciousness which becomes the active power of Shiva to create this reflexive relationship between the light of pure Consciousness and its self-reflexive power is known as spanda a vibration or pulsation it's important again here to remind ourselves that this is not an actual Duality there's no difference between Shiva and Shakti in reality between pure Consciousness and its power Shiva remains one and unchanging you can kind of imagine it like when you look at one of those pictures that can be like either a dog or a rabbit depending on how you look at the picture it's the same picture but depending on how you look at it it appears as a different thing so this Duality this artificial Duality between Shiva and Shakti can be seen as in this kind of same way this Duality is only in appearance depending on how we look at it but really it's the same reality that's contemplating itself abhinavagupta points out that while the Supreme Lord manifests movement and is dynamic that doesn't mean at all that there is an actual change or movement within the reality of Shiva he is one with all things including with the changing and moving diversity of the world but he never actually changes or or or becomes anything other than the Oneness of itself in spite of all these things he somehow Still Remains one and unchanged quote by a vibration we mean subtle movement it is subtle in the sense that although it moves not it manifests motion the light of Consciousness is not at all separate from manifestation yet it appears to be so thus that which is immobile associated with a variety of manifestation manifests as movement this Dynamic vibration has significant metaphysical consequences when he contemplates himself and through his Free Will Shiva sort of conceals his absolute nature he becomes Limited in a sense the result is the manifestation in consciousness of the world of Multiplicity as an appearance of the absolute and successive limited forms to its own self indeed the Kashmir shivites use the metaphor of a mirror to explain this calling it the doctrine of pratibimbawada or reflection the universe as we know it is like the reflection in a mirror a reflection of infinite absolute Consciousness in fleeting limited forms in a mirror that is also identical to that absolute in other words it is the limited appearance of Shiva in Shiva through an awareness that is Shiva lakshman Jewel writes quote the universe therefore is reflected in the mirror of Consciousness not in the organs during the five gross elements these are merely tatvas and cannot reflect anything the real reflector is consciousness in Consciousness however you see only the reflected thing and not the object that is reflected that which is reflected is in fact swatantria Shiva or shiva's free will this whole universe is the reflection of svatantria in God consciousness the only part of this mirror metaphor that doesn't work is the fact that in a real mirror there is an outer object that is reflected in the mirror and this is obviously not the case here there is no outer object what is reflected in the mirror where the mirror is consciousness and the thing that is mirrored the object that is being mirrored is consciousness itself it's the mirror itself and what we see in the mirror is the limited forms or appearances of Consciousness in the mirror of Consciousness reflecting Consciousness itself it is the self-knowledge of the self Mark deskowsky writes quote the universe is the wonderful variety of shiva's nature created by him when he reflects on himself and thinks I am diverse Shiva contemplates none other than himself whether he knows himself as the multiplicity of things or as their undivided source all the multiplicity of the world is real completely real if we were to say that it's unreal in any way even in its diversity as the vedant would say we would be saying that God isn't real Shiva is all there is and the world is only this manifestation of Shiva to his own awareness and through his active power which is Shakti but while this multiplicity is real it is also simply the Oneness of the Supreme contemplating itself so its non-duality is never compromised again abhinava Gupta says quote everything that exists resides within the Blessed Lord bairava whatever appears within our hearts or leaves the point of our tongue resides I say in parameshwara who is not limited by time is one with Consciousness and is perpetually United with all the powers he constitutes a Unity which coexists without contradiction where the hundreds of creations and dissolutions which are manifested by his contraction and expansion and that is by means of these that he expresses his freedom this reality of Shiva therefore has neither beginning nor end and is Luminous with its own light its Essence is a complete Freedom which consists in perfect Independence determined by the fullness of all things within itself it Embraces all principles which are in effect identical with it and Mark discovsky summarizes it really nicely in his book called the doctrine of vibration by saying quote Unity Is Not Mere negation of Distinction but the absence of difference in diversity this is a doctrine of reality which is simultaneously deceptively simple but also very complex Shiva is everything but it's not a simple or crude pantheism Shiva is also completely Transcendent at the same time in his pure nature quote we cannot simply consider Shiva to be the sum total of the entire manifest reality he is more than that infinitely more however his condition of surpassing his own manifestation does not in any way cause him to be separate from that manifestation and just as the world comes to be through this process of Shiva concealing himself it also always goes back and comes back to resting in the Oneness of the Supreme a movement of going out and returning back although this movement of course takes place within itself Shakti is a very important concept to Kashmir shaibism as we've already seen it is the power of Shiva the part that is self-reflexive and which manifests the universe all of the world is Shakti in a direct sense all that we see around us is the activity of Shakti where Shiva sort of remains hidden in the darkness of the unfathomable unchanging consciousness Shakti the goddess or divine feminine is in a constant pulsating Act of love with Shiva when Shakti becomes separated so to say from Shiva the world comes to be as the self-reflexiveness of Consciousness whereas when the two unite again the world returns to nothingness in the Oneness of the absolute we could go on all day about the intricacies of this philosophical system but these are the basic features of the metaphysics of Kashmir shaivism a strict non-dualism that in order to maintain that non-dualism involves a view of the Divine as both unity and diversity as both being Transcendent and unchanging and simultaneously Dynamic and active quote creation is to make that which shines within externally manifest while it still preserves its original internal nature therefore the object must be made manifest by that in relation to which it is said to be internal and which makes the internal externally manifest so this leads us to the Practical aspects of this tradition which are as we said in the beginning maybe the most important part this is after all the tradition that is in primarily interested in spiritual practices and and sort of reaching Liberation right the individual person being freed from the the wheel of samsara about preaching Liberation as is very common across all of indic religions or indic religious Traditions these theoretical or philosophical aspects that we've talked about basically only serve as the tapestry or the theoretical explanation for the experiences and practices that are at the core of this tradition so what is actually the goal for the non-dual shivite well as the school of recognition indicates it is to realize or recognize one's identity with the Supreme Lord to realize that oneself and everything in reality are simply the absolute self of Shiva it is to recognize that we all are Shiva and that there is nothing else in a sense it is to sort of say Unite with God but in reality there is no uniting of course because Shiva can't Unite with himself rather the emphasis is on realizing or recognizing that we already are unified with or identical with Shiva indeed in the opening prayer to his commentary on the bhagavad-gita abhinava Gupta says quote stating briefly Moksha is merging with the Lord Shiva with whom everything is identical whose nature is Purity who is the doer of all actions omniscient free from desire and permanently manifest and this is done in slightly different ways than in other Traditions the affirmative nature of the system means that there isn't as much focus on renunciation and world negating the world isn't an illusion it's not Maya in the sense that the vedantans believe at least the advice of advantage Maya is the creative power and will of Shiva which creates a real world of Multiplicity not only that but the world in all its diversity is literally Shiva or Shakti not just in the sense that Shiva is its underlying true reality which hides beneath the illusion of Multiplicity but as that multiplicity too we aren't to turn away from the world and from the senses but instead to use them to reach Enlightenment the shivites do affirm a kind of asceticism for sure this isn't Hedonism we are still to turn away from the false understanding of the things of the world as self-existing and independent and to instead see them as identical with Shiva quote take one particle of anything which exists in this world in that one particle there is to be realized the totality of the whole universe the totality of energy is found in one particle everything is full of one thing and one thing is full of all things this is where we see adherence of this tradition not necessarily being renunciant monks like what is common in other Hindu schools instead the Shia bites often had families and lived a regular householder's life with a job Etc the pleasures of the senses whether that be food beautiful music or theater scents or even sex none of it isn't heavily bad or to be avoided instead one should enjoy the sense experiences to the fullest but to do this means to not enjoy them for themselves as most regular people do instead all sense experience and enjoyment should only be used as a way to reach God to see them as the reflections of God and with the awareness of their metaphysical role which can help us on the path to enlightenment this is important the shivites are not hedonists and certainly practice rigorous spirituality where one does not blindly follow one's lusts or desires but it does involve a more affirmative look at the body and its experiences of the world of Multiplicity as something potentially good as an experience of the activity of Shakti or the manifestation of the Supreme self and Consciousness and only if it is pursued and understood in such a way is it truly beneficial one can easily get lost in these sensible if one doesn't understand it properly but if one realizes that one's own self is not the limited physical body and mind but infinite Consciousness itself then the body becomes a temple a place where through the Divine senses one can directly experience the pulsation of spanda or of Shakti as it manifests the absolute the most influential figure in the philosophical School of recognition with paladeva writes quote how wonderful is it that although only one sound that is shiva's name is always on the tips of their tongues yet his devotees can taste the ineffable relish of all the objects of the senses as far as the ritual practices that the Kashmir shivites actually took part in this is a complicated topic as we said earlier this is essentially a tantric tradition right this belongs to the larger lineage of Tantra and so when we look at the practices of Kashmir shaivism they are often the same or very closely related to those same practices within the tradition the larger tradition of Tantra we've dedicated a full episode to Tanta in particular which you can advise if you want to know more or go more deeply into those particular practices and one such aspect we have just talked about namely the the the employment of sense experience and the body as a as a way to reach Enlightenment rather than something to be completely shunned or turned away from one can use the body and and the experiences of the of this of the of the senses even feelings of lust and such feelings one can use those to experience the pulsation of Consciousness the the so-called spanda right of Shiva and that can be a vessel to Enlightenment so this emphasis on the body this more more positive look at the body and the senses is one aspect and many practices and rituals involving the senses and the body rather than those that neglect the body like in many other yogic tradition for instance but in general it's somewhat difficult to talk about the actual practices of this tradition because it is one that is essentially esoteric or initiatory in order to take part in the tradition you need to be initiated by a teacher a guru who will then impart the teachings and practices to you specifics can vary depending on the person and because it is esoteric it isn't really something that is spoken about publicly now you can find out about a lot of these practices through books and such esotericism is rarely truly esoteric these days but still there is a level of secrecy at the core here which prevents us from truly knowing some of the details but in general just like in Tantra at large tarika Shiva practice involves different forms of meditation there is often talk about a one-pointed or single-pointed meditation which can mean a form of meditation where one literally fixes one's Gaze on a single point or more generally as fixing one's mind on a particular concept or visualization the guru will teach different techniques of meditation which might involve things like breath control and visualization techniques this is another key aspect of Tantra the practice of visualization as a means to reach higher spiritual States if you've ever seen the beautiful and complex mandalas often associated with Tibetan Buddhism for example then you have encountered an example of this mandalas are often images used precisely as a help or Aid in these visualization practices and can involve different gods or Divine worlds and scenes with Incredible depth that is meant to be sort of trans inducing basically similarly another important key feature of this tradition are of course mantras phrases or words usually given specifically by a guru to the initiate that are chanted and often during meditation the most famous Mantra sound is probably the OM which often comes to represent the Brahman or Divine as a whole and as an underlying sound or vibration from which the whole universe emerges another common Mantra in the shaibai tradition in particular is om namah shivaya but there are many different mantras and variants that can be assigned by a guru indeed when talking about practice in the Tantra loka abhinabagupta divides it into four different levels or means to realization the no means anupaya the Divine means the empowered means shaktopaya and the individual means the first three of these are exclusively internal practices levels on which Consciousness recognizes and contemplates itself in different modes it is only in the lowest level the individual means that actual physical spiritual practices are apart a kind of yoga in other words closest student comments on this by listing a few of these core practices of shaiba Tantra yoga which is different in many ways from the classic yoga of patanjali he mentions posture Asana regulation of the breath pranayama focusing of attention darana meditation dhyana and contemplation samadhi these individual means in turn lead to the person achieving the higher means she reaches the empowered means which are all internal from this one reaches the Divine means and finally the no means which is when one is simply non-distinct from the reality of Shiva and simply experiences infinite Consciousness as that Consciousness itself Shakti is often seen as the door Toshiba it is through Shakti the creative power that we eventually reach Shiva and since Shakti is that power that is manifested everywhere we experience Shakti through the body and the senses hence aesthetic experiences such as listening to music can be a form of spiritual practice as well as more controversial things such as rituals involving sex indeed Tantra is today in the west primarily and wrongly associated with sex as we explored in our previous video this is often a grave misreading or misunderstood aspect of this tradition as I hope you have seen Tantra is so much more than that but it is true that sexual rituals while not that common or Central have played a part because the sexual act represents the union and relationship between Shiva and Shakti the two primary aspects of supreme Consciousness itself one can use that profoundly powerful Central experience of sex as a tool for enlightenment through a mirroring of the essential pulsation of reality itself in a kind of microcosmic form when the two practitioners are engaging in a ritual Act of sex they are mirroring the sexual act of Shiva and Shakti the the basic pulsation movements of reality itself in any case this is only one of a number of different practices involved in Tantra when Kashmir shaivism in particular and it should not be over emphasized the way it has been so often it still is very much so in the Western World when talking about the topic of Tantra all of these practices whether they be mantras or meditation or bodily practice of course have a single purpose of becoming one with the infinite consciousness of Shiva to merge one's individual Consciousness to the absolute shemaraja says quote the yogis who has achieved a state of complete absorption even when risen from meditation inwardly vibrating like a drunkard and Blissful inebriation from the after effects of the nectar of contemplation sees all things dissolving in the sky of Consciousness like a cloud in the Autumn sky he plunges repeatedly within himself and becomes aware of his identity with Consciousness by the practice of introverted contemplation thus even when he is said to have risen from absorption he is one with his experience of it at this point one becomes what one already was one becomes aware of the all-encompassing nature of Shiva whose totality includes all manifestation and diversity in a single Dynamic Oneness the Supreme Consciousness from which through which and in which all of reality unfolds this has obviously been just a very short introduction to an incredibly complicated topic the tradition of tarika shaivism or Kashmir shaivism stretches back for Millennia and has been incredibly influential especially on the religions and philosophies of India it has still survived up until this very day with practitioners all around the world taking part in its teachings and practices it also once again points the incredible diversity of what we refer to as Hinduism or sanatana Dharma while eduita vedanta is definitely the most famous example of a non-dualistic school within that religion Kashmir shaivism is another example of a similar philosophy that is simultaneously different in some significant ways and is a lot to offer in terms of its teachings it offers some profound ideas about the nature of reality and produce some of the greatest thinkers in the history of the world such as abhinava Gupta if you want to dive deeper into the topic than there is as always a list of sources and recommended readings in the description which I highly recommend that you check out sadly there isn't as much written on Kashmir shaivism as one would maybe hope at least not compared with other philosophical schools in Hinduism like vedanta for example but there are some essential texts and articles that you can advise all of which again are in the description for now I'm going to leave it at that but be sure that Kashmir shaivism and its many representatives are going to show up again in the future in future episodes on this channel if you want more content like this about these topics then feel free also to subscribe to the channel and give the video a like and maybe even a comment and let me know what you think and maybe suggestions for future episodes for example as always I would like to thank my patrons so so much for their continuing support I wouldn't be able to do any of this without you guys and sometimes I like to shout out some of the new arrivals on my patreon team so here are a few new names Dolly Christopher all coins flement Brax and Sam thank you all so so much for the support patreon is really the best way to support this channel it helps me uh gather the the the books for research it helps pay for video editing softwares and and and all the all the stuff that I need to make these videos as good as possible so I'm truly humbled and eternally grateful to all of you for supporting this Channel and my work a work of bringing free content and educational content on the world's different religious and philosophical traditions which is something that I am incredibly passionate about and which it seems there is a lot of you out there who are passionate about it as well and so it really is all thanks to you guys all of my patrons and all the viewers out there so thank you so much if anyone else wants to become a patron and support this channel that would of course be highly appreciated so I'm Gonna Leave links to all that stuff in the description and probably also not pinned comments you can check it out there I hope you learned something today and I'll see you next time [Music] thank you

Channel: Let's Talk Religion

Views: 250,204

Keywords: What is kashmir shaivism, kashmir shaivism, trika, trika shaivism, tantra, tantrism, tantric hinduism, hinduism, non-dualism, non-duality, shaivism, shiva, abhinavagupta, utpaladeva, aghori, pantheism, indian philosophy, eastern philosophy, spirituality, eastern spirituality, Kashmir, hinduism history, non-dualistic hinduism, advaita vedanta, vedanta, advaita, let's talk religion, filip holm, sufism, shiva sutras, tantraloka, shakti, shaktism, divine feminine

Id: gstT4WIDlwk

Length: 50min 22sec (3022 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 26 2023