Swami Lakshmanjoo explains what happens when differentiated perception is totally destroyed, His spanda overflows and He creates this world again.
This is an excerpt from Abhinavagupta’s Paramarthasara, The Essence of the Highest Reality, by Swami Lakshmanjoo. Now also available as video on demand.
द्रष्टा श्रोता घ्राता
देहेन्द्रियवर्जितोऽप्यकर्तापि ।
सिद्धान्तागमतर्कां
श्चित्रानहमेव रचयामि ॥५०॥
draṣṭā śrotā ghrātā
dehendriya-varjito’py-akartāpi /
siddhāntāgama-tarkāṁś
citrān-aham-eva racayāmi //50//
[verse not recited or translated]130
इत्थं द्वैतविकल्पे
गलिते प्रविलङ्घ्य मोहनीं मायाम् ।
सलिले सलिलं क्षीरे
क्षीरमिव ब्रह्मणि लयी स्यात् ॥५१॥
itthaṁ dvaita-vikalpe
galite pravilaṅghya mohanīṁ māyām /
salile salilaṁ kṣīre
kṣīram-iva brahmaṇi layī syāt //51//
In this way, dvaita vikalpe galite, when differentiated perception–and the threat of differentiated perception–the threat of differentiated perception is galite, is finished, is totally destroyed, pravilaṅghya mohanīṁ māyām, and mohanīṁ māyā also(i.e., ignorance, misunderstanding), and [when you know that] this [ignorance] is not the actual position, then salile salilaṁ, just as water is diluted in water [or] milk is diluted in milk, in the same way, this whole universe will be diluted in Parabhairava.
इत्थं तत्त्वसमूहे
भावनया शिवमयत्वमभियाते ।
कः शोकः को मोहः
सर्वं ब्रह्मावलोकयतः ॥५२॥
itthaṁ tattva-samūhe
bhāvanayā śiva-mayatvam-abhiyāte /
kaḥ śokaḥ ko mohaḥ
sarvaṁ brahmāvalokayataḥ //52//
[not recited or translated]131
कर्मफलं शुभमशुभं
मिथ्याज्ञानेन संगमादेव ।
विषमो हि सङ्गदोष-
स्तस्करयोगोऽप्यतस्करस्येव ॥५३॥
karma-phalaṁ śubham-aśubhaṁ
mithyājñānena saṁgamād-eva /
viṣamo hi saṅga-doṣas-
taskara-yogo’py-ataskarasyeva //53//
This is the theory of karma, the theory of actions, which bear fruit (karma phalam). It is good and bad; it is always good and bad.
Actions, all actions, [that] are being done, they are always bearing good fruit and bad fruit.
But it is because of association with brutes, when Parabhairava is associated with brutes, with rākṣasas (demons). He has made friendship with rākṣasas because of His own choice. Viṣamo hi saṅgadoṣa, Parabhairava is a devil! Parabhairava has become a devil in the market. Parabhairava is to be shot down–this Parabhairava. And that also is observed by Parabhairava in the upper level. Not [only] in that upper level [but] in the lower level also.
JOHN: So Parabhairava is shooting Parabhairava?
SWAMIJI: Yes, shooting-Parabhairava and shot-Parabhairava, at the same time.
JOHN: And the means of shooting also.
SWAMIJI: The means of shooting and . . .
JOHN: Pramāṇa, prameya, pramātṛ . . .
SWAMIJI: Yes.
JOHN: . . . and pramiti.132
SWAMIJI:
लोकव्यवहारकृतां
ये इहाविद्यामुपासते मूढाः ।
ते यान्ति जन्ममृत्यू
धर्माधर्मार्गलाबद्धाः ॥५४॥
loka-vyavahāra-kṛtāṁ
ye ihāvidyām-upāsate mūḍhāḥ /
te yānti janma-mṛtyū
dharmādharmārgalā-baddhāḥ //54//
Those brutes who treat with respect, with great behavior, ignorance, dull ignorance–those people who respect and behave faithfully with attachment [to] this ignorance, those brutes are sentenced to fearful hells, dirty hells. Those are sentenced to [those hells and then they cry], “Aaaaah, aaaaah! Who will uplift me here? Who will take me out [of here]? I am gone! Aaaaa-aaaaaah!” And Parabhairava is also enjoying that! This is what happens in this world.
It is their own way of doing. Nobody is responsible. He is responsible. Parabhairava is responsible. What then [if He is] responsible? Who will put Him to task? Who will investigate Him? Nobody! He is Himself the investigator of all. He is not to be investigated. Nobody has the guts to investigate Him because there is no one [other] than Parabhairava existing anywhere. He is everywhere.
GEORGE: Like I took this wretched bus ride. That was my doing.
SWAMIJI: Yes, it was your choice.
अज्ञानकालनिचितं
धर्माधर्मात्मकं तु कर्मापि ।
चिरसंचितमिव तूलं
नश्यति विज्ञानदीप्तिवशात् ॥५५॥
ajñāna-kāla-nicitaṁ
dharmādharmātmakaṁ tu karmāpi /
cira-saṁcitam-iva tūlaṁ
naśyati vijñāna-dīpti-vaśāt //55//
When the time comes for Parabhairava to remain in His . . . Parabhairava, when He likes to be established in His own nature, He then collects all this fuel of the universe–the wretched universe, which is just not worth having; He thinks that it is not worth having now–bas, He collects it, and makes all cotton heaps and [ignites it] . . .
GEORGE: Matches. He lights it.
SWAMIJI: Yes, and matches.
. . . by His awareness (the awareness of Parabhairava is the matches). He burns it and then there is no nomination, no impression, no thought, nothing, as if nothing had happened. There is only Parabhairava, Parabhairava, bas, Parabhairava. Nothing remains in the background, nothing. There is no space, no time, nothing, no formation. There is only that God consciousness, not with a body, [but with] that spanda133. Spanda only remains there, everywhere. Not “everywhere”. It is only spanda. There is no space. There is no wood, there is no carved wood, nothing. There are not these houses–they disappear. There is only spanda then left.
Then, when this spanda is too much functioning, then He creates this world again.
What? When it overflows, [when] His spanda overflows, this overflow means that there is another new creation of the world.134 And there will be Rāmarāja.135 At that time, there will be Rāmarāja. And you will see, one by one, you will see Rāmarāja.
ज्ञानप्राप्रौ कृतमपि
न फलाय ततोऽस्य जन्म कथम् ।
गतजन्मबन्धयोगो
भाति शिवार्कः स्वदीधितिभिः ॥५६॥
jñāna-prāptau kṛtam-api
na phalāya tato’sya janma katham /
gata-janma-bandha-yogo
bhāti śivārkaḥ sva-dīdhitibhiḥ //56//
[not recited or translated]136
तुष-कम्बुक-किंशारुक-
मुक्तं बीजं यथाङ्कुरं कुरुते ।
नैव, तथाणवमाया-
कर्मविमुक्तो भवाङ्कुरं ह्यात्मा ॥५७॥
tuṣa-kambhuka-kiṁśāruka-
muktaṁ bījaṁ yathāṅkuraṁ kurute /
naiva, tathāṇava-māyā-
karma-vimukto bhavāṅkuraṁ hy-ātmā //57//
Just as bījam, any seed (tuṣa means the husk; kambhuka means that medium covering; kiṁśāruka means gross husk), muktaṁ bījam, if it is separated from these three, this, any seed, bhavāṅkuram yathā na kurute, it does not aṅkuram kurute, it does not produce a sprout.
In the same way, āṇava karma vimukto, āṇavamala, mayīyamala, and kārmamala, these three malas (impurities)–one is the subtlest mala (that is āṇavamala), mayīyamala is the medium mala, and kārmamala is the gross mala–[from] these three malas137, if once the individual soul is separated, na bhavāṅkuram kurute, it won’t produce repeated births and deaths. He is totally freed from the pangs of repeated births and deaths. He is just like Parabhairava.
___________
130 “I am the seer, I am the hearer, I am the smeller, although I am without bodily organs. And although I am not their composer, yet I alone create the various schools, scriptures, and philosophical arguments.” Paramārthasāra, John Hughes (1972).
131 “And when the aggregate of tattvas has thus become integrated into Śiva through awareness, then what grief or what delusion could be for one beholding the universe as Brahman?” Paramārthasāra, John Hughes (1972).
132 Pramāṇa (cognitive), prameya (objective), pramātṛ (subjective), and pramiti (supreme subjective). For a further explanation, see Appendix A-15.
133 “The element of spanda is that being of God consciousness in which this whole universe exists and from which this whole universe comes out. . . . And [God consciousness] is not only the resting place of the universe, this is the prasara sthana also, the flowing energy; this universe comes out from that. . . . It has to exist in God consciousness and it is coming out from God consciousness in God consciousness, because there is no other space for the universe to exist.” Swami Lakshmanjoo, Parātrīśikā Vivaraṇa audio, USF archive. For more on spanda, see Appendix A-14.
134 “When it overflows, then you want to disconnect it. That is His position; disconnected because of too much of it [i.e., spanda, ānanda, svātantrya]. You want to get disconnected from that state and then [again] connect yourself, [then] it gives pleasure. That is svātantrya. This is why this whole universe is created. Otherwise, there was no reason to create this universe when God was there already in His own knowledge, completely. This differentiation has come out because of that overflowing of that God consciousness. The ecstasy of God consciousness is overflowing and then this happened to His own nature.
“Look at [a child]. When he is too much excited, he jumps, he hits his head. In the same way, God has done this. He has crushed His own nature because of too much of ecstasy. He wants to disconnect that ecstasy. But that ecstasy in its real way cannot be disconnected at all. He knows that. But still, for fun, He disconnects this for the time being. And, at the time of again realizing His own nature, He feels that It was already there.” Swami Lakshmanjoo, Bodhapañcadaśikā, USF archive.
135 King Rāma, the seventh incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu, is often invoked as an example of the perfect leader. During his reign, there was said to have existed an ideal society. [Editor’s note]
136 “In the attainment of enlightenment, his acts do not bear fruit, therefore how can there be birth for him. Since the bondage of birth has departed from him, he shines as the sun with his own rays, free of the bondage of birth, in the form of Śiva.” Paramārthasāra, John Hughes (1972).
137 For an explanation of the malas, see Appendix A-3. See also Kashmir Shaivism–The Secret Supreme,7.47-49.
