– B N Pundit
With regard to basic philosophical problems about life, its origins, aims, etc., and also about the phenomenal existence, the Shaivism of Kashmir finds loopholes in most of the schools of Indian thought.
Nyaya – Vaisheshika
So far as the atomic theory of Nyaya-Vaisheshika is concerned, Kashmiri Shaivism points out in it some logical defects in the theory of the combination of atoms for the purpose of the creation of molecules, binaries, etc. Because such combinations are possible on, only, one side of the atoms concerned, and that disproves the partlessness of atoms. A grouping together of atoms, as maintained by Vaisheshikas, does also disprove their partlessness and sidelessness. Besides, the Shaiva philosophers are eager to find out the origin of atoms as well. Ishvara, creating the universe in accordance with the divine law of causation and under the consideration of the past actions of beings, is reduced to utter dependence, which disproves his Almightiness. The state of the Apavarga position of a being is, in accordance with the Agamic revelation and logical understanding, the position of a being in the state of Sushupti, the dreamless sleep, and beings lying in such a state of animation are counted as a class of bonded beings, known as Pralayakalas. Such state in dreamless sleep can not be taken as a state of the pure revelation of, exactly, the real nature of the Self and has not been accepted in Shaivism as the real liberation. It is just a temporary cessation of the cycles of births and deaths.
Samkhya
The Samkhya theory of spontaneous transformation of the unconscious root-substance can not be accepted as a satisfactory explanation of the creation of the phenomenal existence. Such substance can, no doubt, undergo transformation favorable to bonded beings, but being totally unconscious and ignorant, it can not take into consideration any particular aims and objects of such individual beings, having, multifariously, different types of psychological tendencies and efficiencies, as well as different types of past actions. Unconscious elements like winds, clouds, rains, rivers, oceans, etc., have their spontaneous movements, but these are not aimed at any particularly definite types of objectives of any individual beings. The wonderfully complex types of the transformations of the unconscious root-substance, aimed at different objectives of multifarious variety, do suggest the guidance from some omniscient and conscious authority, which has not been discovered and accepted in the Samkhya system. Besides, how can the root substance, which is totally unconscious in its nature, see as to which of the beings have developed the discriminatory knowledge in their intellect and which of them have not been able to do it? Therefore, it cannot make a decision to leave alone any being with such discriminatory knowledge. No unconscious element can discriminate a being having the right knowledge, from others, who do not have it. Therefore, Prakrti shall not leave alone any being, and thus, the Kaivalya type of liberation cannot occur at all, with respect to any person. Then the position in the state of Kaivalya is also a variety of dreamless sleep and beings lying in it cannot rise above the position of Pralayakalas. These are the main loopholes in the Samkhya-Yoga theory of transformation as pointed out by the Shaivas.
Buddhism
As for the Buddhist principle of non-existentialism, it also cannot satisfy the curiosity of an intelligent and wise thinker. Human psychology proves that only such a being can have the recollection of a particular object or action, who has, actually had its experience. Events experienced by ‘A’ cannot be recollected by ‘B’. Any transmission of the impression of experience among different knowing entities is not at all possible. Such impressions of ‘A’ cannot become transmitted to ‘B’. Therefore, the principle of the non-existence of the Atman as the recollector and that of the existence of the chains of different conscious minds, undergoing births and deaths and – ending finally in total extinction, as taught by the Buddhist philosophers, cannot satisfy a curious seeker of truth. Besides, the position of Nirvana comes, virtually, out to be an absolute type of dreamless sleep and beings in such sleep have been counted in Shaivism among Pralayakalas.
Advaita Vedanta
The position of Brahma-Nirvana, as taught by Advaita Vedanta, is also a finer type of Sushupti, just having a peep into Turya, which enables such Vedantins to see the Self as Sat, Chit, and ananda. Teachers like Gaudapada and Shankara were, in fact, Agamic practitioners of Srividya, and were highly devoted to the mother-goddess of Tantrism. They taught the monistic and theistic absolutism to their worthy disciples and discussed the current logical aspect of their philosophy just for the sake of debates with the protagonists of Buddhist non-existentialism. The tragedy of it was the fact that the propagation of that philosophy, right from Vachaspati Mishra to Sriharsha, laid all emphasis on its dry logical aspect and ignored the practical one. Advaita Vedanta became a philosophy meant for discussions, debates, and competitions in earning royal patronage at the courts of Indian princes and rulers. Even the trustees of the Mathas of Vedanta cared very little about the propagation of its theological practice and took instead, earnest care in the financial position of their monasteries and their popularity in royal courts. Such Vedantins can, in the view of Shaivism, attain the position of a class of semi-bonded beings called Vijnanakalas. Bhaskararaya of the Tamil land has been one of the very few followers and practitioners of real Vedanta, as taught in Upanishads and also as propagated by Siddhas with the help fo the agamas. Vedantins in Kashmir were mostly the Vaishnavite philosophers devoted to Pancharatra system. The tradition of the Advaita Vedanta of Shankara did not at all get itself established in Kashmir before the rule of the Dogra monarchs (19th century). The present Shankaracharya temple at Srinagar was given such a name in the time of Maharaja Pratap Singh when the present linga was installed in the ancient temple which had remained empty for centuries after the reign of Sikandar Butshikan. The stone temple concerned was originally built by an ancient ruler named Gopaditya and the Linga installed in it by him, was called Jyeshtharudra, the hill having been known as Gopadri. Muslims from the time of Sikandar (fifteenth century) started to call the temple as Takhte-Suleman. An ancient bilingual grave inscription mentioning the temple concerned under two such names (Jyestharudra and Takhte-Suleman) is still available at Srinagar. All details of the Kashmir tour by Shankaracharya, as given in a fourteenth work entitled Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava, are based on mere poetic imagination. This thing can be proved by a comparison of that work with a tenth-century work known as Shankaravijaya by Anantanandagiri. No trace of either the system of Sannyasins or the tradition of the Vivartavada of Advaita Vedanta was seen in the valley before the Dogra rule.
All the above-mentioned schools of Indian philosophy take the supposed beginningless and causeless ignorance as the basic cause of the bondage of worldly beings and loopholes in such principle have already been discussed. Pancharatras and later Vaishnavas, as well as the Shaivas of the south, have carried their philosophy to a position closer to mythology. Their Salokya (residence in the abode of the Divine), Samipya (His close vicinity), and Sayujya (partial identity with Him) have not been accepted in Kashmir Shaivism as the positions of beings in the highest type of liberation and they have not therefore been recommended for aspirants following Shaiva Advaita. Such positions can, at the most, be taken as superior types of heavenly life, but not liberation from all bondage. Sufficiently similar is the case with some positions occupied by the Tirthankaras in the uppermost regions of space, known in Jainism as Alokakasha and Siddhasila, as advocated by the masters of that philosophy.
Kashmir Shaivism establishes highly theistic absolutism as its fundamental metaphysical principle. It is a monistic philosophy establishing the fact that there is only one eternally existent reality and that is the infinite, eternal and pure consciousness, shining as the infinite ‘I’ or Self which may not be confused with ego. It is consciousness alone and nothing else. Such infinite consciousness lies beyond the scope of all interior and exterior means of knowing, including all senses and the whole mental apparatus. Being beyond the scope of knowing, it is taken as an absolute reality, satisfying all the particulars of absolutism. Epistemologically, it is beyond the scope and reach of all Pramanas or proofs known to logicians. It is, in fact, its own proof, as it shines with a brilliant luster in the practice of Shambhavi Mudra of the Trika Yoga. Even when all the organs, senses, and the whole mental apparatus are lost sushupti, an individual being continues to shine by the virtue of the light of his pure consciousness. As soon as a shiva-yogin transcends the state of sushupti and finds himself established in Turya, the state of spontaneous Self-revelation, his finite individuality becomes one with the infinite and absolutely pure I-consciousness and he attains thus, a direct revelation of his real Self, consisted of only the infinite and pure I-consciousness, lying beyond the scope of mind and all mental activities. The whole mental apparatus, as well as the finite ego, are both lost, for the time being, into the infinite and absolute I-consciousness and an aspirant actually feels to be one with the pure and infinite consciousness.
So far as the manifestation of the phenomenal existence of all physical and mental entities of multifarious variety is concerned, the practitioners of Shambhavi Mudra did not see it as anything brought about by any element like the beginningless and inexplicable basic ignorance but discovered it as the outward manifestation of the theistic powers of the infinite and pure I-consciousness. The question can arise here, as to why should such pure consciousness manifest such a phenomenal existence, which is full of misery. Such questions arose in an ancient time in the mind of Gautama Buddha, who did not, therefore, accept the world as a creation by Divine, but as a result of the past impressions of the constantly flowing currents of individual minds. Advaita Vedantins discovered the monistic metaphysical reality as infinite and absolutely-tranquil pure consciousness alone, but the Shaivas of Kashmir saw the blissful self-awareness as the essential character of such pure consciousness, with the result that it is aware of itself and its divine potency. Such awareness of the absolute Self, with regard to its character of the divine essence, takes the form of an outward vibration of the inward blissfulness, and such vibratory nature of the absolute reality, called Spanda, makes the absolute pure consciousness ever active towards the outward projection of its divine powers, resulting in the manifestation of divine activities of phenomenal creation, preservation, absorption, etc., happening in the manner of reflections. The phenomenal existence is, thus, due to the outward reflection of the divine powers of the pure and monistic absolute consciousness, which, being playful on account of its nature of blissfulness, plays the divine sport of phenomenal creation. This is the main difference between the Vedantic and Shaivite views regarding the ontological and cosmogonical views of their philosophy.
Thus, the Yogins of Kashmir saw the infinite and pure consciousness as being limitlessly blissful in nature and discovered it as the one complete whole of all divine powers. They saw such consciousness as ever-playful on account of its nature of blissfulness, working out a vibratory activity termed as Spanda, with the result that it is always manifesting outwardly the reflections of its divine powers. Why does a poet create his wonderful poetic world? Experiencing a forceful charge of his poetic talent, he becomes active in creating outwardly his poetic world – which is lying inwardly in him in the form of the powers of such talent. The whole physical and mental existence was discovered by Shiva Yogins as lying within the divine theistic potency of the absolute consciousness in the form of such potency alone. Besides, they saw it as being manifested outwardly through the divine vibratory activity of such consciousness. The absolute consciousness does, thus, manifest playfully its divine powers in the form of the whole phenomenal existence as well as the divine activities of creation, preservation, and absorption of the cosmos. Besides, it is the result of the theistic nature of the absolute consciousness that it pushes into oblivion its real nature and appears as numerous types of living beings of multifariously different types and capabilities, consisting of various types of finite I-consciousness, known as souls or beings. Such created beings forget their infinity, purity, and divine potency. They pursue petty types of several pleasures through right and wrong means and their right and wrong actions result in pleasure and pain, being experienced by them in constant cycles of births and deaths. Such forgetfulness of the real nature of a being, caused by the divine activity of the absolute consciousness, was seen by Shiva Yogins as another divine activity, termed as Pidhana or Vilaya, meaning the activity of self-oblivion. Pantheists also say that God becomes Himself the whole phenomena. But Advaita Vedantins could not see and tolerate such apparent change in the changeless Brahman and therefore they declared that the phenomenal manifestation was due to the past impressions of beginningless ignorance and was false in nature, just like the appearance of the dream-world. The Vaishnavas also could not see any change in the form of God. Therefore, they argued that the phenomenal manifestation was due to the multifarious transformations of His divine power alone, forgetting the fact that He and His divine powers are, actually identical – meaning any change in the form of one implies such change in the other. But Shaiva Yogins did not feel the necessity of such suppositions or imaginations with regard to such problems. They realized the fact that phenomenal manifestation is, basically, due to some outward reflections of the divine powers of Paramashiva, the Almighty. Since the Almighty is playful on account of the exuberance of blissfulness, He jets out the reflections of His divine powers within the plane of the luminous aspect of His consciousness. Such infinite and pure consciousness is not only luminosity shining as the infinite, all-pervading, and all-containing spirit, the infinite ‘I’ is always fully aware of its divine nature as well. As already argued above, a great poet, experiencing a powerful charge of the awareness of his extraordinary poetic talent, starts at once to reflect it out into the plane of his intellect and speech and that becomes the creation of his poetic world. Lord Shiva, being constantly charged with the awareness of His divine powers, is always casting outwardly the reflections of such powers to create, preserver, and absorb the phenomenon and to conceal as well as to illuminate His true pure and divine nature. No reflection involves any entity into any change or transformation. Crystal does not get transformed while bearing the reflections of multifarious lights. Almighty is thus manifesting all the five divine activities in a reflectionary manner and doing so, does not get involved in any transformation or change. He is ever changeless. Inwardness or outwardness does not mean here anything related to the conception of space. I-ness or subjectivity is termed as inwardness and thisness or objectivity is called outwardness.
Philosophy is known in India as Darshana. Darshana means a direct revelation, a direct experience, independent enlightenment, not depending on any mental faculty of thinking, understanding, and reasoning, etc. Such instrumental aids of knowledge did not find any place between the discoverer of the truth and the truth discovered by him. Darshana is a direct revelation or enlightenment. It is an intuitional experience of the self by the self. No prominent logical element of philosophical thinking did, thus, find any important place in the process of Darshana in ancient India. As said above, such elements were used only in the process of expression and such expressions drew authority from scriptures. Such Darshana of India was practiced and realized by long lines of Aupanishadic teachers and their disciples for several millennia of years. The practitioners of darshana did not bother to conduct logical debates. They instead had some frank discussions based on the direct realization of the truth. The logical aspect of philosophy was later given a forceful start by Gautama Buddha, sometime during the middle of the third millennium of the age of Kaliyuga. He advised his listeners not to believe in the correctness of his sermons, so long as they were not logically convinced. Logical thinking did thus replace the ardent faith and the place of adherent practice was usurped by logical discussions and debates. Such turn in the development of the Darshana Vidya of India got a very strong push from the powerful royal patronage of great emperors like Ashoka and Kanishka, as well as from strong support of later powerful kings like Harsha. Such a process of a radical change in the growth and development of Indian thought had a strong influence on the traditions of the ancient Indian Darshana, proceeding on the basis of Upanishads and Agamas. Some of such mutually conflicting trends in the growth of Indian Darshana gave rise to the development of six Vedic schools of thought, four main schools of Vaishnavsim and Shaivism, four important schools of Buddhism, and several schools of Jainism in India. Darshana thus came very close to philosophy and the two names started later to be used synonymously. There were some such mystics in Europe as well who proceeded on the path of the direct realization of the truth but they did neither get any royal patronage nor any intelligent and ardently devoted admirers. Thus such teachings in the west did not develop as any schools of philosophy. These are even now counted in the west among Mysticism, which is often placed there outside the field of philosophy.
But, in spite of such upheaval in the field of development of Indian philosophy and its growth ahead, the basic masters of most such schools of thought did not lose their faith in or adherence to, the practice of Yoga, yielding an intuitional realization of the philosophical truth. They continued still to have face to face realization of the truth about man and his phenomenon, though, in course of time, such actual practitioners were reduced to a negligible minority and the field of philosophy came into the hands of dry logicians, well-versed in discussions and debates, aimed mostly at gaining royal patronage in the courts of some big states in India. But it remained yet a fact that some ardent Yogins were still taken as the masters of different schools of thought. Thus, the ancient masters of Nyaya-Vaisheshika were practical Yogins, practicing the Pashupata system. Samkhya-Yoga philosophers practiced the Yogic system of Kapila, an ancient sage of India. Different schools of Vaishnavism patronized the practice of Yoga taught in Pancharatra Agamas. Schools of Shaivism in the south used to propagate the practice of Yoga as taught in Shaiva Agamas. In medieval times, the writers of works on Nyaya, having forgotten the practice of such Agamic Yoga, took refuge in the Yoga of Patanjali. The great Sankaracharya and his grand preceptor Gaudapada were prominent Yogins practicing the Tantric Yoga of Srividya. Vijnanavada, the most prominent sect of Buddhism, is still known as Yogachara on account of its special adherence to the practice of Yoga, for the purpose of having a direct realization of the truth. During the long process of such academic development, the Darshana of India, though coming sufficiently close to the subject known as ‘philosophy’ in the west, did not totally lose its basic Darshana character, consisting of direct intuitional realization and revelation.
A question arises here as to why there is so much mutual difference in the basic philosophical principles and doctrines of the different schools of thought in India when all of them are basically derived from the intuitional realization of the truth revealed by means of Yogic practices. The answer to such objection lies in the differences in Yogic discoveries regarding the character of life as it functions in different states and sub-states, of animation as well as in the different higher and lower varieties of Yoga through which such character of life is directly realized. The character of the self and the phenomenal existence, as discovered by the Yogins of India through their intuitional insight, can be classified into four main types of waking, dreaming, sleeping, and the revelatory one. The waking existence, called Jagrat Satta, is gross in its character. Beings residing in it conduct their functions through their gross forms. This world of ours is one of its typical examples. The finer existence of gods, semi-gods, ghosts, and forefathers, etc. is the subtle existence, termed as the dreaming existence or Svapna Satta. Beings in such existence work through their subtle mental bodies, consisting of mind, intellect, ego, senses, and organs, all in their subtle forms. They function, nearly in the same manner in which we, the waking beings, do in our dreams. The still finer existence is the sleeping one, called Sushupti, the dreamless sleep. Enlightened beings, having realized themselves to be such pure individual I-consciousness that transcends even mind and all mental apparatus, but not having had the realization of their divine potency, belong to such existence. They do not have any miseries of worldly life, do not at all indulge in any mental or physical activities, relax constantly on perfect tranquility and rest motionlessly like the pure space. Theirs is an elevated existence, an existence of partial liberation. The fourth type of existence is that of such liberated beings, who have had a direct realization of the exact real self, along with its divine character. They relax joyfully while enjoying the tastes of their purity, infinity, and the bounties of divine potency. Such beings consist of only the pure and divinely potent I-consciousness, which should not however be confused with ego. They relish blissfully the sweet awareness of their divine potency. Such existence is known as Turya, the fourth type of existence. It is, in fact, an existence of Yogins to whom the true nature of the Self is already revealed.
The animation of ordinary beings, like people of this world, does also move up and down, through all these four varieties and our functioning in them is known as the four states named Jagrat, the waking one, Svapna, the dreaming one, Sushupti, the sleeping one and Turya, the fourth one of self-revelation. The waking state of animation is not of any special interest from our philosophical viewpoint. A type of Yogasamadhi focussed on the dreaming state of animation, revealed to our ancient teachers, the nature of such subtle existence of heavens, hells, etc., as well as the religious paths that can lead an aspirant to heaven and can save him from falling into hell. Such teachers in India developed the Mimamsa philosophy. Many other religions in the world do also have philosophies and doctrines believed to be leading to the heavenly existence of various types.
The revelation of the truth, as it shines at the initial step of Sushupti, the sleeping state of animation, was attained by some Vedic practitioners of Pashupata Yoga and they developed the philosophy of Nyaya-Vaisheshika. They discovered the finest aspect of self as being pure individual consciousness, having no propensity towards any activities, though possessing the capabilities to know, to do, to dislike, and so on. An individual being, having realized such pure character of his self, attains freedom from all kinds of misery and turbulence and lies in eternal peace and absolute tranquility, just like the pure space. His consciousness does not yield any fruit other than such undisturbed and eternal tranquility. Such position of a being, having been named Apavarga, was proclaimed by Nyaya-Vaisheshika yogins as the final goal of life. It is, in fact, the picture of the self, as it shines at the initial step of sleeping animation and, as it was revealed to logicians through a successful practice in the Yoga system of Pashupatas. Some other Pashupatas who were not ardent logicians and who worshipped Pashupati Shiva in the manner of Naga monks discovered the nature of the self as it shines at the initial step of Turya. Their position shall be clarified ahead.
The Nyaya-Vaisheshikas did not discover the real essence of the phenomenal existence in their Yoga Samadhi. Therefore, taking help from some Vedic scriptural passages, they built such system of theistic philosophy which propounds the theory of the creation of all phenomena by Ishvara, the only omniscient and omnipotent supreme authority, out of atoms which have been accepted there as eternally existent components of the whole physical existence. Besides, they accepted the eternal existence of several entities like time, space, mind, souls, etc. All creation, preservation, and dissolution are, according to them, worked out, administered, and conducted in accordance with the divine law of Karman, which cannot be ignored even by that supreme authority. All such principles of their philosophy were established by the teachers of Nyaya-Vaisheshika through their intellectual calculations, aided by scriptural passages and wisdom. Inference worked out on the basis of experience and scriptural authority was mostly resorted to by them in proving the correctness of their principles. So far as their Samadhi is concerned, it did not provide them with any solution about the problems regarding the phenomenon, because that did not at all appear in such Samadhi, which is a finer variety of Sushupti, the state of simple animation that does not allow any objective manifestation.
The teachers of the Samkhya-Yoga system reached a step deeper into the sleeping animation and discovering the self as free from all turbulence caused by the mind, intellect, ego, and all the senses found all mental activities as the functions of non-self, attached somehow to the self. Using their finer wisdom and finding some support in some scriptural passages of Upanishads, they built the theory of transformation of Mulaprakriti, the root substance known as Pradhana tattva, the principal substance as well. Such Tattva is precisely the same substance as the cosmic energy of modern physics. Such teachers of philosophy declared that the root substance, undergoing outwardly a series of transformations, appears gradually in the forms of intellect, ego, mind, senses, organs, subtle and gross objective elements, and all these combine into the emergence of the whole universe consisting of multitudes of subjects, objects, and instrumental elements. Thus, they discovered the source of atoms and many other eternal elements of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika in the cosmic energy. Having immense adherence to the Yoga system taught by the ancient sage Kapila, they prescribed the practice of Yoga, discussed later in the Yogasutra of Patanjali, as the means to realize the fact that the self of a being is, in fact, absolutely tranquil, having no turbulence of knowing, doing, desiring, etc., and also to see all such turbulence as a wonderfully complex transformation of Prakriti, so much so that one should actually feel that he does not have any relation with any mental or physical transformation of Prakriti. Having developed such discriminative knowledge in them, they become free from all the transformations of Prakriti and consequently do not take up any other physical body after death. Prakrti has no personal motive in clinging to worldly beings in the form of their physical and mental form. The only two motives behind such activities of Prakriti are:
1. Fructification of the past actions of ignorant beings.
2. Development of the above-mentioned discriminatory knowledge in them.
As Prakriti does not see any motive in clinging on to the person of a being who has earned such discriminative knowledge, she leaves him alone, withdrawing all senses, organs, and mental apparatus from him. Consequently, such a being does not take up any other body and becomes free from the cycles of birth and death. Lying absolutely alone, he stays eternally in such a position of loneliness, the Kaivalya of the Sankhya-Yoga systems, and that has been said to be the final aim of life.
Seeing all the phenomenal changes as different modifications of Prakriti, and finding them as happening spontaneously on account of the basic nature of such basic elements, the teachers of the Samkhya philosophy did not bother about God and His Godhead. Patanjali, the author of Yogasutra, accepts Ishvara as an eternally liberated being, having been the preceptor of all the ancient Yogins like Kapila, and having the correct knowledge of everything in the universe. Ishvara has not been, thus, accepted as the Almighty, the master ruler of the whole universe in the Yogasutra, though meditation on Him has been accepted as helpful in attaining perfection in Yoga and calming down obstacles in its practice.
The Vijnanavadin and the Shunyavadin thinkers in the Buddhist tradition, putting their sharp intellect into action, while taking into consideration the nature of the self at a still finer position in the sleeping state of animation, realized a continuous flux of momentary I-Consciousness (Alaya Vijnana) as the element is taken, generally and wrongly, as the Atman. They termed it as Vijnana or a momentary mental consciousness. Comparing the phenomenal existence, along with all its functions with the mere apparent objective existence of the dream world, they worked out the two principles of:
1. Non-existence of all objective entities outside the field of consciousness.
2. The false appearance of their individual self shining as ‘I’, caused by some past impressions, lying in the flux of Vijnana, the flow of mental consciousness.
Besides, they discovered the annihilation of all the past impressions and the consequent stirless flow of simple and motionless momentary mental consciousness as the final goal of life. The Shunyavadin Buddhists, going still deeper in the dreamless sleeping animation, discovered the final attainable position as the perfect extinction of the flow of the light of I-consciousness. Both such positions are known in Buddhism as Nirvana, meaning extinction of the flow of the momentary mental I-consciousness, talked about as Atman. In the view of a Shivayogin, that is the picture of the truth as it shines at the finest step of sleeping animation. It is the state of perfect sleep, devoid of even the active impressions of the dreaming and waking states. All the entities appearing in the mental and physical existence were taken by such Buddhist thinkers, as some non-existent and merely apparent phenomena, just like those appearing in our dreams.
Most of the Yogins in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta did also have nearly the same type of revelation about the nature of the self and the working of the phenomenal existence. The Nirodha Samadhi of Vedanta did also reveal to practitioners a sort of Nihilism and consequently, they also declared all the physical and mental phenomena to be non-existent, comparing them with the children of barren women. But even they had a peep into Turya state, the state of the spontaneous revelation of the real nature of the self, shining as the base on which the flux of momentary mental consciousness stands. Therefore, they announced the real nature of the self of a being as consisted of eternal, infinite, and pure I-consciousness. They discovered such single and pure consciousness as the real self of each and every being and declared its nature as being consisted of pure existence and infinite consciousness, having blissfulness as its essential character. So far as the phenomenal existence of physical and mental entities is concerned, they declared it as appearing merely on the basis of the ignorance of worldly beings and compared it with our dream world. The pure infinite consciousness, termed as Brahman, was declared by them to be the only really existent truth. They denied the real and separate existence of any beings other than Brahman. Like the Buddhists, they also found the cause of the appearance of all physical and mental phenomena in the basic ignorance of worldly beings. Since no physical or mental entity enjoys any real existence, they did not accept the authority of any real master as its ruling administrator. Therefore, they denied the real existence of God, soul, and the universe, though, for the purpose of the attainment of Nirodha Samadhi, they advised to worship God, just as an aid and also as a means to get worldly and heavenly pleasures, which are only desired by ignorant beings. The individual existence of all, worldly and heavenly beings, was declared as simply appearing on account of our basic ignorance. Once a being sheds off his such ignorance, he feels that he is none other than Brahman, the only existent reality. As soon as such a being sheds off his physical form, at the time of death, his individuality gets at once dissolved and he starts to shine as Brahman alone. That is the Brahma-Nirvana or Mukti, which is announced by Vedantins as the final goal of life. Such Advaita Vedantins explained the theistic teachings of Upanishads as the lower Vedanta, meant for a lower category of aspirants and accepted their purely absolutist teachings as higher Vedanta, meant for highly meritorious aspirants. It was on account of such leanings of the Advaitins towards the Nihilistic views of the Buddhists that some Vaishnava philosophers called them ‘Pracchanna Bauddhas’ or crypto-Buddhists. Abhinavagupta takes such Brahmavada as a theory coming very close to Shunyavada.
All the above-mentioned schools of thought have accepted the existence and the effect of the past impressions of the beginningless ignorance as the basic cause of the miserable position of all worldly beings.
None among the ancient or later teachers of the above schools find an answer or even devote much intellect and Yogic practice to some great philosophical problems like a few listed here: Where from did the basic ignorance (Avidya) emerge? What could have been the cause of its emergence? Whom could it involve? Could it have involved Brahman, the only existent reality? If so, the absolute purity of Brahman is gone. It could have, no doubt, involved an ignorant being, if such a being would have existed at all in addition to Brahman. But such an argument would refute the principle of the absolute monistic unity propounded by Vedanta. If Avidya, the basic ignorance, is so powerful as to manifest beings other than Brahman, and also to involve them in bondage, it may continue to do so even after the attainment of the revelation of the truth through the practice in Nirodha Samadhi. The principle of the beginninglessness and causelessness of the basic ignorance of beings in bondage is such a locuna, which spoils the merits of all the above-mentioned schools as it amounts logically to a sort of escapism. The Advaita Vedanta accepts, openly, the inapplicability of Avidya.
Such logical problems were solved satisfactorily by Shaiva-Shakta scholars of thought and to some extent by some schools of Vaishnavism. The teachers of such schools approached the problem, not only through the faculties of head but also through those of the heart as well. Adding a devotional attitude to Yogic investigation of the truth, they realized absolute theism as the essential character of the basic reality, called by them respectively as Shiva, Shakti or Narayana. Their practices in devotional Yoga of Agamic origin revealed to them the basic nature of self as it shines at different steps of Turya state, the fourth state of animation consisting of the spontaneous and intuitional revelation of the truth about the self and its environment.
Such devotional practitioners of Yoga discovered the origin of all phenomena in the theistic nature of such basic absolute authority called Shakti or Shiva. They saw the whole worldly process of creation etc. as the playful manifestation of the divine power and nature of the Supreme. Besides, they prescribed such devotional worship and practices in Yoga which can lead to the exact realization of the basic character of the self as well as that of the Supreme, along with His divine powers. Such devotional Yoga can lead aspirants either to a close union with Parameshvara or to an absolute unity with Him, with the result that they, getting freedom from misery, start to taste the blissfulness of the divine powers of Parameshvara.
The Turya state of animation discovered by such devotional Yogins is also of several higher and lower steps. Aspirants reaching their lowest step discover themselves as servants and associates of the Lord, though they also do taste the bounties of Godhead. They like to stay on such the lowest step of Turya, the step of sheer pluralism or Bheda. Devotees discovering the truth at the second-highest step of Turya have the realization of Bhedabheda, that is, mono-dualism. They seem themselves as being partly identical with the Supreme, as well as partly different from Him, just as the grains of pomegranate fruit and the fruit itself as a whole are seen as mutually different and identical. The third step in Turya reveals monism and aspirants with such realization see themselves as not at all different from the absolute reality. That is Abheda.
Many teachers of such philosophies in the South gave them a mythological covering by depicting the absolute reality as a personal Deity, living in His divine abode and being worshipped thereby all the realized souls as His devotees. Most of the Vaishnava teachers, like the Pantheists in the West, avoided absolutism and preferred their stay in such abode of their personal deity. The Shaivas of the South did rather confuse absolutism with such theism depicting a personal deity. But the Shaivas of Kashmir laid sufficient weight on the absolutist character of the Supreme. Even the dualistic and monodualistic Shaivas of Kashmir rose high above such divine abodes of a personal deity and prescribed such paths of devotional Yoga which could lead to a pure spiritual position of Bheda as it exists in the state of Mahamaya, where all beings have the experiences of the bounties of the infinite divine essence of Godhead but do yet see themselves as being different from the Supreme and from one another. That is, in fact, the initial step of Turya existence. These are the Shaivas of the school of Amardaka.
Those of the school of Srinatha see themselves as partly different as well as partly non-different from the absolute reality. The aspirants of the Tryambaka school of Shaivism discovered their absolute unity with Paramashiva. The same has been the case with the aspirants belonging to the Ardha-Tryambaka school of Shaivism, which flourished at Jalandhara Pitha, the modern town of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. All such schools of Shaivism in the North adhered to absolutism along with theism. Their theory is thus theistic absolutism. The Shaivas of the south were less absolutist in their view. Most of them followed cults devoted to shiva as a personal deity, though there has been sufficient agreement with Kashmir Shaivism in their views on practical Yogic methods of Agamic origin. The clearer pictures of truth as it shines at the first three steps of the Turya are, thus, the philosophical views of the schools of Amardaka, Srinatha, and Tryambaka. The psycho-physical capacities and situations of all the aspirants in the world are not of one and the same standards. Therefore, the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism proceeded through such viewpoints of diversity, diverse-unity, and perfect unity, so that aspirants could choose paths suited to their psychological standards and aptitudes.
There is a vast difference between the two monistic philosophies of Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism. The Shaivism of Kashmir, unlike such Vedanta, traces out the root cause of all phenomena within the divine essence of the Brahman of Vedanta, known here as Paramashiva. Shiva Yogins realized themselves as non-different from the absolute reality, the Parabrahman of Upanishads and the Paramashiva of Shaivism. Unlike the Advaita Vedantins, they did not see the absolute Godhead as something imposed on Brahman by Maya, but like the seers of Upanishads, they discovered it as the essential character of the absolute reality. All the functions of Godhead were discovered by them as the essential character of that reality.
The only absolute reality revealed to them through practice in the highest method of Trikayoga, consists of that absolutely pure consciousness, which knows no limits of time, space, and causation. It is such infinite consciousness that was seen by them as their real self. They discovered limitless blissfulness as the essential character of that infinite consciousness. Such blissfulness was seen by them as constantly becoming playful and the consequent playfulness was revealed to them as manifesting outwardly the divine powers of the Absolute, in the manner of reflections. Such outward reflections of the divine powers of the Absolute were seen by them as the apparent manifestations of all the thirty-six Tattvas, all the seven categories of beings, all the planes of the phenomenal existence, all the heavens, hells and human worlds situated therein and all the pure, impure and semi-pure souls as well as the activities of creation, preservation, absorption, self-oblivion and self-revelation, and everything about bondage and liberation and so on. All this is manifested in the manner of such a dramatic performance, in which the divine powers of the Absolute do serve as a stage, costumes, actors, characters, emotions, sentiments, audience, etc., of this limitless universal drama, managed and directed solely by the wonderful divine powers of the absolute consciousness, endowed with all capability of such exuberances.
A blessed person in this world has to study the Shaiva scriptures and philosophical works composed by ancient masters of Shaivism and has to seek initiation in Shaiva system of Yoga. Then he has to practice some of its many varieties and, as a result of such practice, he has to discover his real nature to and recognize himself, as none other than the absolute and pure I-consciousness (not to be confused with ego), which is infinite in nature and possessing all the infinite divine powers. An aspirant has to tread such a path of Yoga and knowledge through a highly devotional attitude. Such an attitude is always helpful in attaining quick success in Yoga and in saving the practitioner from any temptations to misuse the superhuman powers that occasionally develop in such a Shivayogin. Having recognized his real nature of Shivahood, he has to pass the remaining portion of his mortal life as Jivanmukta, imparting the knowledge of the theory and practice of Nondual Shaivism to worthy persons. At the end of his mortal life, he either merges into the infinite consciousness or attains some position of sweet authority in the long hierarchy of divine administration. Having enjoyed there, the tastes of divine authority, he, shedding off that divine individuality, becomes finally one with the Absolute. This is, in short, the sum and substance of the monistic Shaivism of Kashmir and is essentially based on the actual intuitional experience of Yogins.
This Shastra, according to tradition, came down to this world through some constant unbroken chain of preceptors and disciples, beginning with divine personalities like Srikanthanatha, Lakulisha, etc., and coming gradually down to human beings. When in the course of such transmission through generations of human teachers, it lost much of its essence and became very faint in its character, Lord Shiva, in the form of Srikanthanatha at the Kailasa mountain, sent down three perfect beings to this world for a fresh propagation of this Shastra. They were the previously mentioned Amardaka, Srinatha, and Tryambaka, who started to propagate the philosophy of Shaivism through the viewpoints of dualism, mono-dualism, and monism respectively. Tryambaka gave a start to two monistic schools of Shaivism through his son and daughter. He was himself imparted the perfect knowledge of the theory and practice of monistic Shaivism by sage Durvasas. His sixteenth descendent named Sangamaditya came to Kashmir in about the eighth century and settled there permanently. His school flourished here abundantly and many Siddhas known as Mathika-Gurus appeared in it. They obtained the divine scriptures of Shaiva monism from divine sources and propagated their teachings to aspirants in Kashmir. The tradition of that school of Tryambaka continued to flourish in the valley of Kashmir up to the present disturbances, created by militant Islamic fundamentalists, under the rule of the so-called secular leaders at the center, who have a greater interest in daydreams of establishing a socialistic pattern of society, and who do not consequently mind the annihilation of the highly valuable cultural treasures like the tradition of monistic Shaivism. The other school of Tryambala was flourishing at Kangra in the time of Abhinavagupta but now there is no trace of it anywhere in the country. The two schools of Amardaka and Srinatha were also flourishing in Kashmir in the time of Abhinavagupta. Amardaka school had extended its influence even up to the Tamil land in the South. But the local traditions of both schools have now totally vanished. Shaiva monism of Kashmir has had, thus, a very ancient origin and spread and was just reoriented by Tryambaka, to whom it was imparted by sage Durvasas in the Kailasa region of greater India of the past. Such history of the origin and spread of Kashmir Shaivism has been recorded in the ninth century by Somananda in his Shivadrishti. Abhinavagupta also has given some information about it in his Tantraloka and Jayaratha has quoted passages from ancient Shaiva scriptures in such context. The historical account given in Shivadrishti may appear to most modern scholars as a mythological description, but some authentic historical evidence can prove such tradition to be correct. Some clear evidence can throw light on the constantly prevalent tradition of Shaivism, right from the hoary past. Such evidence includes archeological findings and references in ancient literature. The most ancient archeological evidence found at places like Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Mughal-Gundai (in Baluchistan), Gudimalam (in South) includes phallic emblems, ring-shaped yoni emblems, chiseled lingas, yonis and mother Goddess figures, Tantric diagrams, and an idol of the three-headed Pashupati Shiva, figures of Yogins in Samadhi with serpents standing erect and guarding them on either side, the bust of a Shivayogin with his eyes half shut and his sight directed towards the tip of his nose, reminding the description of Shambhavi Mudra of the Trika system of Kashmir Shaivism.
Continuation of different religious and theological elements of Shaivism, especially that of the practice of Shambhavi Mudra as well as the gradually developing popularity of Shaivism among the Vedic Aryans can be proved by the below facts:
1. Initially, Rudra of Rigveda, who had somehow become identified with the Pashupati Shiva of the Indus Valley people, was counted as a non-popular Vedic deity.
2. The Shulagava rite, as given in a Kalpasutra, proves that the sacrificial beast offered to Rudra was sacrificed outside the fire altar.
3. Transfer of supremacy of Vedic gods, from Indra of Rigveda to Rudra of Yajurveda, indicates a victory of Pashupati Shiva (with whom Rudra had got identified), over the Vedic Aryans which can have happened gradually by the growing influence of Indus Valley people over the Vedic Aryans through mutual give and take.
4. The Daksha episode of Mahabharata proves two historical facts:
(i) Shiva or Rudra was not initially accepted by Vedic Aryans as a god worthy of worship by Vedic Aryans.
(ii) But later they had to accept him as such a god. That must have been a new cultural development among Vedic Aryans and can have been due to the influence of the superior civilization of original Indians.
5. When, in the course of time, both Vedic and non-Vedic faiths got mingled into one single epic Hinduism, Vedic gods like Indra lost their grandeur, and Vishnu, Shiva, and Mother Goddess attained prominence once again.
6. Vishnu in Mahabharata is the supreme administrator in the divine administration but has to work under the restrictions of divine law while Shiva is the supreme authority who may follow such law or may ignore it, as he is not bound by anything like that. Such evidence proves the emergence of Shaivism as a very important element by epic Hinduism.
Somananda’s mention regarding the continuance of the tradition of monistic Shaivism, right from the hoary past, can be proved to be correct on the basis of some references from ancient literature as given below:
1. The Rudra hymns of the Yajurveda verify the development of sufficient popularity of the Rudra-Shiva cult among Vedic Aryans during the middle of the Vedic period.
2. Shiva was accepted as the supreme authority by Aryans and non-Aryans alike by the beginning of the age of Mahabharata.
3. The Shaivite religio-philosophical views came to be considered as prime elements of Indian faith by the time of Shvetashvatara Upanishad.
4. The practice of Yoga attained high popularity among Vedic Aryans by the same period, though it had started to attain it even in the period of early Upanishads like Katha, Chandogya, etc.
5. Shambhavopaya, the highest type of Trika Yoga was expressed in the sixth chapter of Bhagavadgita.
6. The Mahabharata episodes of Lord Sri Krishna, who had received the secrets of Shaiva theism first by Upamanyu and then by Durvasas, prove the continuation of Trika Yoga throughout such long ages.
7. Some very essential elements of Shambhavopaya can be found expressed in the Yatidharma portion of the third chapter of the Smriti of Yajnavalkya.
8. Shankaracharya, while commenting on Shvetashvatara Upanishad, quotes a lengthy dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Gargi. It discusses several secret elements of Shambhavi Mudra in sufficient detail though the source of the quotation has not been mentioned there.
9. Kalidasa describes such Shambhavi Mudra with a beautifully poetic style in the third canto of his Kumarasambhava.
10. The Shabdabrahmavada principle, dealt with in the very beginning of the Vakpadiya, proves that Bhartrhari must have received initiation in some practice of Shaiva monism. His Shabdabrahmavada cannot be understood clearly except through the help of some works on Kashmir Shaivism.
11. Avadhutagita refers to the Shambhava, Shakta, and Anava upayas of Kashmir Shaivism as well as to its several other terms such as pada, pinda, etc.
12. Some argue that descriptions of Shambhavayoga can be found in some Vachanas of some Virashaiva saints of Karnataka.
Such occasional clear descriptions of some typical Yogic practices of the Trika system of Kashmir Shaivism prove the fact that the practical aspect of this philosophy continued to be prevalent among long lines of preceptors and disciples in India right from the hoary past to the medieval ages. Acharya Amritavagbhava, a Shaiva philosopher of the present age, received initiation in Shambhava Yoga from sage Durvasas at his ancestral home in Varanasi in 1919. He practiced it and his practice revealed to him the basic principles of monistic Shaivism through a direct intuitional revelation.
Kashmir Shaivism, as it is available to us, was academically developed by two traditions of Brahmana scholars, one of them consists of the indigenous Pandits of Kashmir, called Bhattas and the other one was of such Brahmana families, which having migrated to the valley around the time of the great Karkota rulers of Kashmir, had also practically become Kashmirians in all essential respects. Somananda, Utpaladeva, and Abhinavagupta belonged to such migrant families of scholars. Vasugupta may also have belonged to such a family of Atrigupta, the ancestor of Abhinavagupta. The same has been the case with Lakshmanagupta. But Yogins known popularly as Bhattas belonged to the same indigenous Brahmana families of Kashmir. Such Brahmanas are for instance even now called Bhattas in the valley. Bhatta Kallata, Bhatta Pradyumna, Bhatta Narayana, Bhatta Bhaskara, Bhatta Bhutiraja, Bhattenduraja, Bhatta Divakaravatsa, and many other teachers under such family name, belonged to the indigenous Kashmiris. As has already been said, Sangamaditya, the sixteenth descendent of Tryambakaditya, settled in Kashmir in about the eighth century. The monistic school of Shaivism thus got transplanted from the Kailasa region to the valley of Kashmir. It flourished well in the valley and many great yogins appeared among the descendants and the lines of the disciples of Sangamaditya. Atrigupta, an ancestor of Abhinavagupta, being a great scholar, was invited to Kashmir and got settled here with the patronage of King Lalitaditya. Utpaladeva refers to his father as a Lata and that proves his family to have originally belonged to Gujrat. His ancestors may also have settled in Kashmir in the eighth century. Many scholars and saints known as Bhattas, the indigenous Brahmanas of Kashmir, who appeared in these migrant families, joined the school of Tryambaka. Many Siddhas among them discovered many scriptures of Shaiva monism and became consequently known as Matthikaguravah. Such scriptures have been counted as sixty-four in Srikantha Samhita, quoted by Jayaratha in his commentary on Tantraloka of Abhinavagupta. Some Siddhas, having still finer efficiency, discovered another group of six scriptures known as Saura Bhargashikha etc. They have been accepted to be higher in merit than even the above-mentioned sixty-four. These six scriptures were classified into two groups of three each and one such group is well known under the name Trika. It has been mystically called Shadardha, the half of six, as well. Such Trika Agamas are: Siddha Tantra, Malini Tantra and Vamaka Tantra (known at present as Namaka Tantra). Then there were two groups of ten and eighteen Agamas as well, and those adhered respectively to dualistic and mono-dualistic views.
Such twenty-eight Agamas are well known in the South also, but the above mentioned sixty-four and six Agamas were well known to the Shaivas of Kashmir only, though Shankaracharya refers in his Saundaryalahari to sixty-four Tantras of Shiva as well. As such Shaiva Agamas served as the sources of the philosophy and theological practices of Shaivism. The Shaivism of Kashmir has the closest relation with the Trika Agamas, though it draws from many other Agamas as well. Tantras are the same as Agamas. The word Agama means the truth revealed, clearly, through intuitional realization. The same truth, proceeding far ahead, through long lines of the respective preceptors and disciples, was called Tantra, the word being derived from tanu vistAre. Passages from these dualistic and mono-dualistic scriptures have also been quoted as authority in most of the important works on Kashmir Shaivism. There were, in fact, no hard and fast barriers dividing the teachings of these 10, 18, 6 Shaiva scriptures, either mutually, or from the three Trika Agamas. Many topics are common to all such scriptures and many viewpoints also are common to them. Such Agamas are the source-books of Kashmir Shaivism.