The Shiva Sutras, by Vasugupta, are divided into three parts. According to Kshemaraja, the three parts correspond to the three means (upayas) for the attainment of liberation (moksha), as revealed by Kashmir Shaivism. The three upayas for traveling from individual limited consciousness to universal God consciousness are shambhavopaya, shaktopaya, and anavopaya.
- The first and highest means is called shambavopaya.
- The second means, for aspirants of medium qualifications, is called shaktopaya.
- The third means, called anavopaya, is regarded as inferior.
Abhinavagupta, drawing from the Malinivijaya Tantra, defines shambavopaya as the upaya wherein the aspirant achieves entry (samavesha) into supreme consciousness just by the grace of his master, without adopting any process. He does not use thought (dhyana), mantra, or any other aid to meditation.
Shaktopaya is defined as the upaya where the aspirant achieves mystical entry (samavesha) through contemplation of the mental object that cannot be spoken or recited.
Anavopaya is defined as the upaya where mystical entry takes place through concentration on parts of the body (sthanaprakalpana), contemplation (dhyana), recitation (varna), taking the support of the breath (uccara), and mantras.
The means of traveling from limited consciousness to universal consciousness depends on the ability of the aspirant. Abhinavagupta tells us in the Tantraloka that the aspirant should always try for the highest and best thing first. Failing that, he should try for the next best, and so on. Thus, in his Tantraloka, he has defined and elaborated the highest upaya, Shambavopaya, first. His descriptions of shaktopaya and anavopaya follow.
And so it is that the Shiva Sutras also start with the highest and most refined means. The first awakening explains the highest upaya, shambhavopaya; the second awakening explains shaktopaya, and the third awakening explains anavopaya.
This is an excerpt from the Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening, revealed by Swami Lakshmajoo, third awakening 3.16.
Then, such a yogi, when he does this kind of process . . .
असमस्थः सुखं ह्रदे निमज्जति ॥१६॥
āsanasthaḥ sukhaṁ hrade nimajjati // 16 //
. . . he is then seated in the real posture; he is the one who is seated in the real posture (āsana).
Actually, postures which are explained in Yoga Darśana:63 padmāsana, siddhāsana, svāstikāsana (all these āsanas that are explained by Yogeśvarānanda in Pahalgam, 64 you already know); those āsanas are in reality no āsanas at all. Those are not seats. The real posture for yoga – Śivayoga – is only one, and that is to be understood. You have to understand what real posture for such a yogi is.
And seated in that real posture, sukham hrade nimajjati. Hrade means, he nimajjati, (nimajjati means enters and dives), enters and dives – easily, (sukhaṁ means without any effort) – he enters and dives easily in the ocean of nectar. Hrade means in the ocean of nectar, he enters and dives there.
You know diving?
Just go inside.
āsyate, nityamaikātmyena sthīyate asmin iti āsanaṁ,
paraṁ śāktaṁ balaṁ
So this posture in reality is the ‘supreme energy of awareness’. When you hold and possess the supreme energy of awareness – that is posture. When you are always aware, in each and every act of your life you are aware, you are seated in that posture.
That is real āsana.
This [yoga postures] is not āsana. This āsana is only imitation of that āsana, only imagination. Real āsana is actually when you are absolutely residing in that state of absolute awareness, awareness of Self.
Do you understand?
yastatra tiṣṭhati
The yogi who resides and rests there is seated there on that posture, in that posture . . .
parihṛta-parāpara-dhyāna-dhāraṇādi sarva-krīyāprayāso
. . . leaving aside all the efforts of prāṇāyāma, breathing exercises, concentration, meditation, dhyāna, dhāraṇā etc., he leaves this aside and only remains aware of what he is actually. You have to remain in thatposture and that’s all, nothing to do. You have not to do any practice afterwards. It is why he has put sukham, ‘without any effort’ . . . without conducting any effort of breathing exercise, or yogic exercise, or prāṇāyāma, or dhāraṇā, and contemplation, meditation – all these things
he puts aside. Only he is seated in that posture.
nityaṁ antar-mukhatayā tadeva parāmṛśyati yaḥ,
So, in interior way . . .
Is interior way correct?
JOHN: Yes.
SWAMIJI: . . . – interior way – in interior way he perceives that reality of his embodiment of awareness. That embodiment of awareness he perceives in interior way, not external way. You must not be aware of your dress, you must not be aware of your beauty, or charm, or body, or anything. You must be aware of your nature, what you really are. That is in real sense awareness.
sa sukham anāyāsatayā, hrade, viśvapravahaprasara-hetau
(not recited)
Sa sukham, he, without any effort, anāyāsatayā, enters in that that hrada, that ocean, ocean of nectar, viśva pravaha prasara hetau, where from this universe rises and expands (pravāha, rises, and prasara, expands).
svacchocchalattādiyogini parāmṛtasamudre nimajjati
So this is that ocean which is filled with nectar, real nectar. And he dives there, nimajjate, he dives and enters for good. What is diving?
For diving he explains what diving really is.
dehādi-saṁkoca-saṁskāra-broḍanena tanmayībhavati /
He lets the impressions of deha [body], prāṇa [breath], puryaṣṭaka [subtle body] and śūnya [voidness];65 those impressions he dives and makes them sinks in that ocean of nectar, and he becomes one with that nectar. This is the real way of diving.
yaduktaṁ śrī-mṛtyujita-bhaṭṭārake evaIn Mṛtyuñjāya Tantra [Netra Tantra] it is said:
nordhva dhyānaṁ prayuñjīta nādhastānna ca madhyataḥ
nāgrataḥ pṛṣṭhataḥ kiñcinna pārśve nobhayorapi //
(Netra Tantra 8.41 – not recited)
Nordhva dhyānaṁ prayuñjīta, you have not to put concentration on upwards, on sahasrārdha cakra; nādhastat, neither on mūlādhāra cakra; nāgrataḥ, not on the tip of nose; na pṛṣṭhataḥ, not on the back side; an kiñcinna pārśve nobhayorapi, not on the nostrils (breathing and exercising prāṇa and apāna), you have not to put concentration on that.
nāntaḥ śarīrasaṁsthaṁ tu na bāhye bhāvayetkvacit /
nākāśe bandhayellakṣyaṁ nādho dṛṣṭiṁ niviśayet //
(Netra Tantra 8.42 – not recited)
Nāntaḥ śarīra saṁsthaṁ tu, nor you have to concentrate in your body, somewhere in body; na bāhye bhāvayet kvacit, nor in universal way of
concentration; nākāśe bandhayet lakṣyaṁ, you have not to put your concentration on ether, on vacuum; nādho dṛṣṭiṁ niviśayet, nor you have to put your meditation on adhaḥ, (adhaḥ means downwards.)
na cakṣur-mīlanaṁ kiñcinna kiñcit dṛṣṭibandhanam /
avalambaṁ nirālambaṁ sālambaṁ naiva bhavayet //
(Netra Tantra 8.43 – not recited)
Na cakṣurmīlanaṁ kiñcit, you have not to close your eyes; na kiñcit dṛṣṭi bandhanaṁ, you have not to open yours eyes, i.e., keep your eyes widely open; avalambaṁ nirālambaṁ sālambaṁ naiva bhavayet, you have not to take any support in meditation, nor absence of support.
nendriyāṇi na bhūtāni śabdasparśarasādayaḥ /
evaṁ tyaktvā samādhisthaḥ kevalaṁ tanmayībhavet //
(Netra Tantra 8.44 – not recited)
Nendriyāṇi, you have not to concentrate on organic field;66 na bhūtāni, not on these universal beings; śabda sparśa rasadayaḥ, not on sound, not on touch, not on the sensation of śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and gandha, these five ways of organic sensations; that too you have not to do. Evaṁ tyaktvā samādhisthaḥ kevalaṁ tanmayī bhavet, all these you have to put aside and enter in that Universal Being of Awareness. This is what Śaivite yogis do successfully.
sāvasthā paramā proktā śivasya paramātmanaḥ /
nirābhāsaṁ padaṁ tattu tatprāpya vinivartate //
(Netra Tantra 8.45 – not recited in full)
This state is really of yogi . . . actually this state of yogi is the real state of Śiva. Nirābhāsaṁ padaṁ tattu, this state is nirābhāsa, this state is not
revealed to others, it is revealed only to the revealers.
You know revealers?
One is revealed . . .
But that state is not revealed, that state is the revealer. It is subjective, it is not objective. Subjective way of revealing is there, and this is the state of the real nature of Śiva.
Bas!
DEVOTEE: What happens when you work in interior way?
SWAMIJI: Active in interior way, not external way!
DEVOTEE: What are you supposed to do when you are active in interior way . . . how can you be active?
SWAMIJI: Active in being “aware of yourself!”
DEVOTEE: Then that is not an activity . . . not aware of anything, but you are not active?
SWAMIJI: That is real, real activity is that. Real activity is not moving here and there.
The revealed is not the point. Revealer is the point to be sought; the state of revealer, that who reveals.
JOHN: In other words, it’s not something . . .
SWAMIJI: That which is revealed is not the point to be sought. That who reveals is worth searching.
Don’t you understand – revealer?
JOHN: It is not something separate.
SWAMIJI: No, not separate from that subjective consciousness . . . not separate from subjective consciousness, it is only subjective consciousness.
|| End of text for sūtra 16 ||
63 Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras.
64 A yoga ashram in Kashmir.
65 Deha, wakefulness; puryaṣṭaka, dreaming; prāṇa, dreamless sleep; and śūnya, voidness. [Editor’s note]
66 Organic field means the organs of action (karmendriyas) and the organs of knowledge (jñānendriyas). [Editor’s note]
