WHAT ARE THE SHIVA-SUTRAs?
The Śiva-sūtra is a Tantrik text of 77 aphorisms: mysterious and powerful terse phrases that point us beyond the mind and deep into our own conscious experience. These teachings were revealed by the awakened ones of the Śaiva tradition, the siddhas and yoginīs who lived in the mountains on the east side of the Valley of Kashmīr in the ninth century.
The Śiva-sūtras were gathered and compiled by a great master named Vasugupta, who, the tradition says, was one “whose heart had been purified by the spiritual transmissions that he had received from numerous Śaiva Yoginīs and Siddhas.” It was these awakened ones who taught Vasugupta the secret of the principle of Pulsation (spanda-tattva), that is, the innate dynamism of consciousness that manifests the divine play of conscious experience. The tradition says, “the outflow of the nectar of the principle of Pulsation—that is the hidden essence of all the esoteric teachings—was transmitted to the Guru Vasugupta from the mouths of the Siddhas, the accomplished ones.” (Spanda-vivṛti)
On the other hand, a legend related some generations later by the master Kṣemarāja, who wrote The Recognition Sutras, goes like this: “Once Paramaśiva, desiring to benefit mankind by preventing the nondual tradition from dying out in a society almost completely permeated by dualistic teachings, appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and revealed to him that there was a secret teaching inscribed on a huge rock on Mt. Mahādeva [in the Valley of Kashmīr; see photo above] and that he was to learn it and reveal it to others. When he awoke he looked for that rock, and turning it over by a mere touch of his hand saw that it confirmed his dream. He then acquired from it these Śiva-sūtras, which are the epitome of Śiva’s hidden teachings.”
[If you ask me, the previous story of their origin is more believable, in addition to be closer to the time of their revelation.]
This sublime nectar has been transmitted through the centuries: carefully guarded, copied and recopied by hand for 1100 years until it reached the modern world, so precious are its teachings. They cannot be summarized easily, for each of the 77 sentences of this scripture can be contemplated for weeks or months on end and still reveal more wisdom.
Such aphorisms were never meant to be understood on their own; they were designed to require the explanation of a qualified teacher. For the tradition of classical Tantra is and always was primarily oral in nature. The transmission from teacher to student through living language the student can understand is sacred; it is the heart of the Tantrik tradition.
In this day and age people seek teachings that are easily understood. But such teachings can only be superficial. Are you not curious to explore the depths of consciousness through these sutra-transmissions, crafted in a far distant time and place yet pointing to that which is universal in human experience and fundamental to the nature of reality?
These teachings are not self-help platitudes but pulsations of pure awakened awareness. They are for those who want a radically transformed experience of life itself.
Here are the first 32 sūtras, in my translation, with notes from the Sanskrit commentaries on the text.
NOTE: here I present only the sūtras (with a few notes), lacking the commentary needed to truly understand these sublime teachings.
Kashmir Valley, satellite image.
𑆯𑆴𑆮𑆱𑆷𑆠𑇀𑆫 ✽ शिवसूत्र ✽ Śiva-Sūtra
1. चैतन्यमात्मा caitanyam ātmā: Consciousness is the Self.
‘Consciousness’ means the activity of awareness. (Varadarāja’s Vārttika)
2. अज्ञानं बन्धः (a)jñānaṃ bandhaḥ:
Ignorance is bondage. / Knowledge is bondage.
Kṣemarāja: That limitation alone is bondage which (1) has the nature of ignorance, i.e. non-awareness of one’s non-difference from the Divine or (2) has the nature of contracted knowledge in the form of āṇava-mala which makes one consider oneself as incomplete & imperfect.
Abhinavagupta: For this reason, the Śiva-sūtra teaches that ‘ignorance’ is any kind of knowledge that does not entirely illuminate the reality of that-which-is-to-be-known. || 26 || This is the teaching demonstrated by the [first] two sūtras, when reading them both in conjunction and separately (“Consciousness is the Self; knowledge/ignorance is bondage”). || 27 . . . with the second sūtra (jñānaṃ bandhaḥ), referring to the act of knowing or cognizing, a [subject-object] duality within this pure Awareness is indicated. || 29 || Through a second reading [of the sūtra, breaking the sandhi to read ajñānaṃ bandhaḥ], it is taught that ignorance is that which manifests duality. .
3. योनिवर्गः कलाशरीरम् yonivargaḥ kalāśarīram
The group of sources is the body of powers.
The group of sources becomes the body of [obscuring] energies. (following Bhāskara)
The classes [of things originating] from the World-source and a body [constrained] by the limited power of action [also constitute bondage]. (following Kṣema)
4. ज्ञानाधिष्ठानं मातृका jñānādhiṣṭhānaṃ mātṛkā
The matrix [of language] is the foundation of knowledge.
5. उद्यमो भैरवः udyamo bhairavaḥ
The ‘upwelling’ is Bhairava. / Bhairava is the primordial dynamism [of consciousness]. (AS)
(The arising of each new energy-state or experience is an opportunity to realize the nature of consciousness.)
Kṣema: “The ‘upsurge’ is the sudden emergence of goddess intuition (parā pratibhā), the upwelling of consciousness consisting of expansive awareness. It is Bhairava because He is full of the entire universe insofar as He is the cohesive wholeness of all His powers and assimilates into Himself every differentiated perception.”
6. शक्तिचक्रसंधाने विश्वसंहारः śakti-cakra-saṃdhāne viśva-saṃhāraḥ
When one unites with the circle of Powers, the universe is withdrawn.
7. जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुसुप्तभेदे तुर्याभोगसम्भवः
jāgrat-svapna-susupta-bhede turyābhoga-sambhavaḥ
[Then] arises the expansion of the Fourth state into the divisions of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep.
8. ज्ञानं जाग्रत् jñānaṃ jāgrat: The “waking state” refers to cognitive activity.
9. स्वप्नो विकल्पाः svapno vikalpāḥ: “Dream” means mental constructs.
10. अविवेको माया सौषुप्तम् aviveko māyā sauṣuptam
“Deep sleep” means non-discernment, self-concealment.
11. त्रितयभोक्ता वीरेशः tritaya-bhoktā vīreśaḥ
One who experiences these three [as the Fourth state] is the ‘Lord of Heroes’, [the embodied form of the Divine].
12. विस्मयो योगभूमिकाः vismayo yogabhūmikāḥ: The stages of yoga are wondrous.
13. इच्छा शक्तिरुमा कुमारी icchā śaktir umā kumārī
The Power of Will is the Maiden Umā. ( = parā bhaṭṭārikā)
It abides within all beings, it is the life-force of all things that breathe, it is attained through yoga [but] is difficult to master for those who have not mastered themselves. || 22cd-23 ||
14. दृश्यं शरीरम् dṛśyaṃ śarīram: All that is perceptible is the body.
15. हृदये चित्तसङ्घट्टाद् दृश्यस्वापदर्शनम् hṛdaye citta-saṅghaṭṭād dṛśya-svāpa-darśanam
Bhaskara’s interp: By fusion of the mind with the Heart [of Awareness], one has the vision of the ‘perceivable’ (viz., svasvarūpa) and of [lucid] dreams.
My & Kṣema’s interp: By fusion of the mind with the Heart [of Awareness], there arises the vision of [both] the perceptible world and the void as [nothing but that Awareness]. / . . . as [they truly are].
16. śuddha-tattva-sandhānād vā 16a. svapada-śaktiḥ 16b. apaśu-śaktiḥ
Through contemplation of the Pure Principle, Energy [comes to rest] in her own abode.
1.17 वितर्क आत्मज्ञानम् vitarka ātma-jñānam
Wordless reflection leads to insight into the nature of the Self.
18. लोकानन्दः समाधिसुखम् lokānandaḥ samādhi-sukham
The bliss experienced by ordinary people is not different from the joy of samādhi. OR
The bliss of [the unity of] the objective & subjective worlds is maintained through the pleasure of mindfulness.
1.19 शक्तिसन्धाने शरीरोत्पत्तिः śakti-sandhāne śarīrotpattiḥ
When the energies unite, the body arises.
Bhāskara’s commentary:
1) the power which fills (āpūraṇī-śakti, = visarga-śakti = kaulikī-śakti), “the pure emissive power, the womb of the universe from which flows the flux of creation” (MD);
2) the power of bliss (hārdī-), the energy which issues from the union (melāpa) of siddhas and yoginīs that gives rise to camatkāra and sudden immersion (sāhasa) into jagadānanda;
3) the sovereign power of Will (īśānī-);
4) the power of emanation (vāmā-) which flows from the unmeṣa of consciousness as the will to know/create all things
5) the power of embodiment (mūrti-), “the highest form of the energy of action in which the powers of the absolute, will and knowing cooperate to stimulate the ebb and flow of energies from universal consciousness” (MD)
20. भूतसन्धानभूतपृथक्त्वविश्वसंघट्टः
bhūta-sandhāna-bhūta-pṛthaktva-viśva-saṃghaṭṭaḥ
Synthesizing elements, separating elements, and the intimate union of all things.
21. शुद्धविद्योदयाच्चक्रेशत्वसिद्धिः śuddha-vidyodayāc cakreśatva-siddhiḥ
Due to the arising of pure wisdom, there is the attainment of the mastery of the Wheel.
22. महाह्रदानुसंधानान्मन्त्रवीर्यानुभवः mahāhradānusaṃdhānān mantravīryānubhavaḥ
Due to contemplating & merging with the Great Lake, one experiences that which invigorates mantras.
Chapter Two: sahaja-vidyā-udaya (the arising of spontaneous wisdom-mantra)
2:1 cittaṃ mantraḥ: The mind is Mantra.
“The mind [that contemplates ultimate reality] is mantra.”
Kṣema: The mind is that by which the ultimate reality is cognized, i.e. brought into awareness. The cognition [in question] is an awareness of the Prāsāda, the Praṇava, and other [mantras] that have the nature of an all-encompassing vibration. ~ Mantra is that by which the nature of ultimate reality is considered secretly. ~ And for this reason, there is the etymological analysis of this [word mantra] as having the property of “thinking” [man] which is really the pulsation [of consciousness] and the property of “protecting” [tra] consisting of dispelling the cycle of suffering based in duality. ~ Furthermore, it is simply the mind of the devotee—being fused with the awareness of the mantra-deity—that is the mantra. ~ When the mantra and the repeater are [seen as] different, [the mantra] is never efficacious. The entire root [of mantra practice] is knowledge [of their unity].
2:2 Prayatnaḥ sādhakaḥ: Effort is effective.
Bh: Excellent is said to be the effort [exerted] to penetrate the nature of the mind. It is [generated] by repeated meditation. Quotes Trikasāra: “Mantra is said to be the inherent nature of the power of consciousness, for by concentrating on it the yogī abides established on Śiva’s plane of being.”
Kṣema: That effort is natural whose engagement is based in the initial unfolding of the intention to know the mantra. That [effort] is itself efficacious, which means it bestows upon the repeater of the mantra identity with the deity of the mantra.
2:3 vidyā-śarīra-sattā mantra-rahasyam
The secret of mantra is the beingness of the body of wisdom.
Bhāskara: by wisdom we mean the unfolding of one’s own inherent light; it is the expansion of Spontaneous Immediacy (sāhasa-unmeṣa) (Dycz: …of the thrill of energy) . . . through being ‘possessed’ by pure Awareness. This is the Being of the body of the one who recites Mantra.
2:4 garbhe citta-vikāso viśiṣṭo ’vidyā-svapnaḥ (Bh)
garbhe citta-vikāso ’viśiṣṭa-vidyā-svapnaḥ (Kṣ)
garbhe citta-vikāso viśiṣṭo vidyā-svapnaḥ (CW)
Bh: The expansion of the conscious subject in the ‘womb’ [of the Goddess] [results in the dissolution of] the distinction-dream of ignorance. (Garbha = prakāśānanda-sāra)
Kṣ: The expansion of the mind in the ‘womb’ [of Māyā] constitutes the [delusional] dream of ‘common sense’.
CW: The expansion of the heart-mind in the Womb is the exalted dream of the vidyā (wisdom-mantra).
2:5 vidyā-samutthāne svābhāvike khecarī śivāvasthā
When the insight that is inherent in one’s essence-nature arises, there is the Śiva-state, that of roaming free in the Sky [of Consciousness] (khecarī mudrā).
2:6 gurur upāyaḥ: The Guru is the means.
Bh: Here the Guru is the power [of consciousness] said to be the supreme means to realisation because it is always gracious. It sustains one’s body and leads one to a true teacher who takes his support from that which the seeker seeks. His speech directs one on the path which leads to repose in the abode beyond the mind.
2:7 mātṛkā-cakra-sambodhaḥ
The Awakening to the Matrix-Wheel. /
Full awareness of the Circle of Mothers.
2:8 śarīraṃ haviḥ: The body is the offering.
2:9 jñānam annam: Cognition is food. / Insight is nourishment.
2:10 vidyā-saṃhāre tad-uttha-svapna-darśanam
When insight dissolves, there remain [merely] the visions and dreams arising from it. / When the mantra dissolves, one has the vision of dreams that arise from it.