This is the continuation of the Bodhapañcadaśikā by Abhinavagupta, who wrote the [15 verses of wisdom] ‘those dear devotees who are not intellectually inclined”. See previous verse 10 here.
यदेतस्यापरिज्ञानं तत्स्वातन्त्र्यं हि वर्णितम् ।
स एव खलु संसारो जडानां यो विभीषकः ॥११
yadetasyā-parijñānaṁ tat-svātantryaṁ hi varṇitam /
sa eva khalu saṁsāro jaḍānāṁ yo vibhīṣakaḥ // 11 //
Yadetasya apari-jñānam, now if we don’t understand like this – that this is only a trick – there is no time, actually there is no span of time, it appears like that; if it were correct, then there would not have happened this difference of time, i.e., only your one day is equal to 100 years of mosquito; in one days time he is created, he protects, he does everything of his own and he is destroyed, . . .*
ERNIE: Twenty-four hours would be the same for everybody?
SWAMIJI: Yes, 24 hours according to your own cycle, 24 hours according to the cycle of Lord Śiva . . . (no, not Śiva) – Sadāśiva.18
*. . . and not knowing this, when you don’t know it (what?) . . .*
BRUCE P: The difference.
SWAMIJI: *. . . the difference; tat svātantryam, that too is independent svātantrya of Lord Śiva. You should not go in the depth of why, why it is not understood. If it is not understood that too is svātantrya [freedom] of Lord Śiva.
Sa eva khalu saṁsāra, and that is the world. That not knowing, not knowing in that way is saṁsāra, this ‘existence of the world’. Jaḍānāṁ yo vibhīṣikaḥ, and those who are ignorant, they are terrified, it terrifies them. This kind of svātantrya, this kind of independent svātantrya of Lord Śiva, terrifies those who are ignorant – they cry.
BRUCE P: Not knowing that they don’t know?
SWAMIJI: No. They don’t know that they don’t know!
BRUCE P: They feel that they don’t know?
SWAMIJI: No they don’t feel. If they would feel ‘they don’t know’, then they would know. As soon as they feel that they don’t know they would know.
BRUCE P: Then what terrifies them?
SWAMIJI: Not knowing! Just not knowing, and not knowing that they are not knowing.
ERNIE: Pure ignorance
SWAMIJI: Pure ignorance. Not knowing that they are ignorant.
BRUCE P: How do they know that they are ignorant?
SWAMIJI: They don’t know. They think that they know, but they are ignorant. They know that they are living in saṁsāra [the cycle of repeated births and deaths].19
And they don’t know the difference of time; that this is different in each and every being. They don’t know that. That, not knowing that is saṁsāra, and that too is the sweet will or svātantrya of Lord Śiva. He has created this not knowing also.
And this not knowing terrifies those who are ignorant. They are caught in that grip, they cry.
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18 In the state of Śiva ( Paramaśiva) there is no time. The concept of time only starts with the creation of Sadāśiva.
19 Saṁsāra – in the cycle of worldly existence.
Source: Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami LakshmanjooKashmir Shaivism and the Transformation of Life - Six-part online series featuring Swami Lakshmanjoo’s revelation of “Fifteen Verses of Wisdom” the Bodhapancadashika. Coming soon!
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