A Few Words about Kashmir Shaivism

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KASHMIR SCHOOLS
There are several important schools of the Kashmir Shaivism, of which the most elevated belong to the Trika system.

The word “trika” is the Sanskrit for “trinity”, suggesting the essential idea that everything in the universe has a threefold nature. We can express this trinity as: Shiva (God), Shakti (His fundamental creative energy) and Anu (the individual, the limited projection of the divinity).

Trika includes several spiritual schools:
1. Krama – in Sanskrit “process”, “order”, “controlled succession”.
2. Kaula (Kula) – in Sanskrit “community”, “family”, “totality”.
3. Spanda – term denoting the Supreme Divine, Creative Vibration.
4. Pratyabhijna – term referring to the direct recognition of the Divine Essence.

These branches of the Shaivite tradition were brilliantly synthesized and unifies by the most illustrious personality and the greatest spiritual accomplished person of this system, the sage Abhinavagupta.

The most important work he wrote Tantraloka, in verse, unifies all the apparent differences between the Shaivite branches or schools of Kashmir Shaivism until that moment, offering a coherent and complete vision of the system.

Realizing the difficulty of such a task, Abhinavagupta wrote also a summary in prose, entitled Tantrasara (“The Supreme Essence of the Tantra“).

PARALLELS WITH OTHER TRADITIONS
“The metaphor of Shivas cosmic dance unifies mythology, religious art, and modern physics. It is indeed as Coomaraswamy said, poetry, but not less science” (Jacques Bergier)

Among the numerous authentic religions and spiritual paths, the shaivism is remarked through the universality of its conceptual model.

In other words, the initiatic vision and understanding offered by the shaivism is so comprising that in it one can find correspondences and similitudes with almost all authentic spiritual paths of the world.

In this respect, the resemblance and similitude with Christianity are outstanding: the trinity – fundamental concept both in Shaivism and in Christianity; the stages of getting close and then united to God are almost identical both in the practice of the meditation – as modality related to the Path of the Individual Being (Anavopaya) from Shaivism, and in the Prayer of the Heart – a spiritual method characteristic to the orthodox Christianity; the overwhelming love and ardor towards God are characteristics of both Christian mystic people and of the Shaivite ones.

In Shaivism we find, integrated in a unitary vision, techniques and methods that are also found in yoga, tantra and the Zen Buddhism.

In this respect, it is significant the fact that Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, a Shaivite treatise is also one of the fundamental treatises of Zen Buddhism (Japan) and Chan Buddhism (China).

The universality of the vision of Kashmir Shaivism must not surprise us, considering the fact that Shiva represents that aspect of the divinity that is manifested as Great Initiate or Great Savior of the creatures chained by ignorance and suffering.

We can rightfully say that any sincere and frenetic call upon the Divinity is in fact addressed to this aspect of Savior; this hypostasis is known in India as Shiva (“the good and kind”) and any manifestation of the divine grace is closely related to Shiva. Thus, even if the human being does not know it, in any illuminating process Shivas grace plays an essential part.

The comprising vision of the Shaivism is not reduced to correspondences and similarities with other spiritual traditions.

What is truly amazing, even more today when the science knows such unbelievable progress, gaining ground in front of all religions and spiritual paths is the fact that the most modern theories of the contemporary science find obvious correspondences in the vast spiritual tradition of Kashmir Shaivism: the holographic pattern of the universe, the theory of the morphogenetical fields, the theory of the strings, the quantum mechanics, etc.

THE VISION ON ART
Authentic art – an instrument for the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism
In the entire tradition of Kashmir Shaivism there are present numerous artists who manifested their talents in parallel with the sages and the masters belonging to the Trika school, who had themselves powerful artistic senses.

Thus, the great sage and liberated soul Abhinavagupta composed several poems in the glory of the Lord and wrote almost his entire work in verse, just as the other Shaivite sages.

Authentic art can be a spiritual path, but unlike the “traditional” yoga, this path is not accessible to everybody, but it becomes a true spiritual path only when the person who perceives it is endowed with a certain type of sensitivity.

Initiatic art is accessible when our soul can vibrate, rejoice, and be filled with delight, happiness or charm while contemplating a certain artistic work. This is a state related to the awakening of the soul.

Essentially, the artistic emotion awakened by art in the receivers soul has, according to the Shaivite tradition, of an ineffable and ecstatic savor, bearing the Sanskrit name of rasa.

The most important aesthetician of India is unanimously accepted as being Abhinavagupta, who has two fundamental works on this area, Abhinava Bharati and Dhavanyabaratloka locana.

From Abhinavaguptas point of view, art is a manifestation that is both exterior, and interior in nature, a deeply spiritual manifestation.

Abhinavagupta indicates that the role of art is to awaken a certain ineffable savor, a sublime feeling, completely and definitely different from all other common human perceptions.

It has a general character, and it is a cosmic perception. On the basis on this intense emotion (anger, joy, fear, amazement, etc.), experienced in a fully aware manner, art determines the passage from individual (ego) to universal.

In art, the whole objective world is first of all reduced to the essential, then purified and transfigured; it is presented in a pure form, without any individual, limited contingencies. Authentic art transposes us almost instantaneously in a divine plan, generating in our consciousness a state of universality and union.

Chinnamasta

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In the Tantric pantheon, the sixth Great Cosmic Wisdom is Chinnamasta, the goddess without head.

This particularity suggests her capacity of transcending the mind and its functions, so that in the end she achieves the ecstatic reabsorption in the Supreme Void of the Absolute Divine Consciousness.

The headless image of Chinnamasta caused along the centuries, many adverse reactions and erroneous interpretations even amongst the specialists in Hinduism, as she is associated with the obscure magical practices and traditions of Tibet and India.

In fact, these hasty considerations are only limited attempts from certain westerners to understand the deeply esoteric sense of certain aspects from the Tantric spiritual tradition, those aspects that go beyond the modern people’s conventionalism and patterns built on preconceived ideas.

Consequently, the relatively natural tendency of the researchers of Hinduism, when facing representations of Chinnamasta was to see in the images of the headless goddess the manifestation of some macabre aspects and psychic deviations.

Therefore, it was impossible for these researchers to accept the idea of a spiritual symbolism with deep esoteric significations.

WISDOM TRANSCENDS MIND
From a psychological point of view, what really causes the feeling of fear and rejection at the idea of a headless entity is the idea of lack of identity, which people immediately associate with their own being.

Or, we know that identity is the key element of “support” in the manifestation, the basis of understanding and of the conception about the world. Once this idea or support was eliminated, people feel confused, with no point of reference, lost in a tenebrous unknown.

Thus, people will unconsciously or consciously try to protect themselves not only against losing their identity, but also from the idea or exterior suggestions implying this separation of identity or ego.

The modern man, whose behaviour and way of thinking is mainly reasonable and logical, considers that “losing one’s head” equals losing touch with the regular sense of reality, which is nonetheless true from certain points of view.

However, from a spiritual point of view, these aspects have completely different significances.

For the initiate yogis, being without head is one of the known subtle metaphors referring to the transcendence of one’s identification with the bodily consciousness or to the overcoming the attachment towards thoughts and desires.

Practically, we do not observe our head more than we notice the back of our body, and the experience of the inside of the skull is basically the experience of an empty space because nobody can say they “feel” their brain and the annex glands.

Consequently, at a lucid and detached analysis, from the symbolic perspective of these aspects, we can say that we “have no head” until the moment when we look at our body in the mirror.

From the yogic spiritual tradition, the condition of the headless state represents in fact our true inner nature, of the divine and perfectly detached witness.

Implicitly, this condition proves that our present “location” in this body is not more than an illusory appearance and not a fundamental reality of our being.

If, in fact the powerful and constant thought “I am the body” would no longer be sustained by the mind, the individual consciousness would gradually go back to its originar condition, that which is not dependant on either form or thought.

Moreover, this idea of the absence of the head is frequently used as a spiritual metaphor in the spiritual tradition of Jnana yoga, Advaita Vedanta and Zen.

WHO DIES BEFORE DYING, DOES NOT DIE AFTER DYING
Consequently, the Great Cosmic Wisdom Chinnamasta whose representation is headless, is the Great Cosmic Wisdom who helps the sincere and devoted yogi to dissolve his or her mind, including all the ideas, attachments, habits, preconceived ideas into the Pure Divine Consciousness, helping him or her to transcend the mind and to merge with the supra-mental state (unmana) of the Divine Beatific Void.

This is why we need not fear the loss of our head or of time, because sooner or later death takes us all through the great passage, regardless whether we want it or not.

In fact, the only path to the spiritual awakening is the so-called “sacrifice of the mind”, implying the renunciation at the complicated mechanism of attachment and possession thoughts, of which the most persistent is the idea “I am the body”.

In the spiritual tradition this sacrifice is symbolized by the cutting off of the head, suggestively indicating the separation of the mind from the body, that is the freedom of the consciousness from the material outfit of the physical body.

On the other hand, it helps the release of the potential subtle energies present in the practitioner’s being.

We can still ask ourselves: why does this concept need to be pictured in the terrible image of Chinnamasta when it could be explained and analyzed theoretically in less “shattering” conditions?

The answer is that usually the visual images have greater and more dramatic impact on the subconscious determining faster and more forceful changes in one’s conceptions and actions, and achieving more effective breaks to the essential nature than a theoretical lecture.

Generally speaking, the mind can accept the points of view presented in a theoretical lecture, and still avoid the reality of these teachings, while the impact of the image cannot be avoided as easily, because the image “communicates” more intensely and more directly with the spiritual heart of the being.

The suffering caused by the sacrifice of the ego represents for many people a tough experience, whom many try to avoid, although they admit its spiritual importance.

This type of experience usually causes a complete re-orientation of the energies towards deeply spiritual purposes and therefore it is assimilated, in the initiatic tradition to a “second birth”.

The terrible image of Chinnamasta, the headless goddess, is the most expressive way to suggest the fundamental transformation of the human being, meaning the renunciation at the limited and ephemeral individuality of the ego, so as to be absorbed ecstatically in the plenitude of God’s Universal Consciousness.

The iconographical representations of Chinnamasta show her holding her own head, whom she cut herself, in her right hand, and drinking the blood springing from open throat.

Even so, her face does not indicate suffering, or pain, but it shows the beatific feeling of contentment and beatitude.

The significance of this aspect is that of the joy of transcending the earthly condition and of the suffering caused by its loss.

At the same time, Chinnamasta’s image represents maybe the most energic form of manifestation of the goddess Shakti eloquently indicating the power of transformation in full action.

As a result of this fact, the cut head does not appear as lifeless, but it is even more alive than previously. The consciousness is not limited at the dimensions and functions of the body, but it exists separately from it.

Only when it is freed from the “prison” of the body the consciousness can express itself plenary, acquiring the profound divine freedom and knowledge.

Even if the idea of transcending the corporal consciousness can be frightening for certain people, the idea of remaining confined to the bodily consciousness and being subject to the influence of the body and death appears as even more frightful.

 

 

The human being experiments only a small fraction of the infinite game of the divine light in the manifestation and precisely this fragment can be reflected and most of the times distorted through the limited capacities of perception of his or her senses.

Therefore, the pleasure offered by the body and its senses is most times smaller than the pain, the suffering and the illness the people have to face during a lifetime.

From this point of view, in which the yogi feels incarcerated in the prison of the senses and bodily desires, the Great Cosmic Wisdom Chinnamasta appears as the Saviour from the slavery of the gross matter.

In the ecstasy of the happiness she experiments all the time, Chinnamasta can drink all the blood that here expresses the joys and sufferings, the pain and the hopes of the earthly life, absorbing and sublimating the whole fragmented experience of time, with its disappointments and illusions.

Chinnamasta does this extraordinary process of absorption and transformation of all that is ultimately ephemeral and illusory without forgetting her essentially divine nature, which is the very immuable and eternal nature of the Supreme Self Atman.

Although the form under she appears to the mortals is terrible and frightening, Chinnamasta represents one of the beneficial and deeply transforming energies of the Macrocosm, and of the microcosm.

THE GREAT COSMIC WISDOM CHINNAMASTA OFFERS US PERFECT DISCERNMENT
There is a close correlation between Chinnamasta and Kali, in the sense that Chinnamasta represents from a certain perspective the concretisation of Kali’s energy.

She is also oriented towards the spiritual transformation of the sincere devotee at perfection. In this aspect of hers, Chinnamasta is name also Prachanda Chandika, identifying herself with the most terrible form of Kali, which is Chandi.

On the other hand, her terrible aspect can also be correlated with the Great Cosmic Wisdom Tripura Bhairavi as Chinnamasta is, just as Tripura Bhairavi a great fighter.

Nonetheless, while Tripura Bhairavi resonates more with the tellurian fundamental energies, as her location is Muladhara Chakra, Chinnamasta resonates more with the dynamic subtle energies of air.

From this point of view, we can say that Chinnamasta acts mainly in what we call the intermediary world, in that world that connects the transcendent aspect of the manifestation with the material one.

Thus she represents the lightning that unifies the sky and the earth, which are analogically associated with the mind and the body of the human being.

Her fundamental goal is to free the people from the limitations inherent to their condition of incarnate spirits.

If Chandi (Kali’s most terrific aspect) destroys the demons and satanic entities, the aspect of Prachanda Chandi of Chinnamasta destroys the last and most important enemy of spirituality – the ego.

From another perspective, Chinnamasta is identified with Indrani, the feminine counterpart of the great Vedic god Indra and the greatest and most important of all goddesses.

Indrani is also named Vairochani, “the very brilliant”, “the one who radiates powerfully”, just as Durga the terrible goddess who is described in the same manner.

Chinnamasta is particularly named Vajra Vairochani, meaning “the who that is brilliant and holds the thunder in her arm”.

As we already know, the thunder is Indra’s weapon and is the very reason for which Indra is considered the diamante god, personification of the instantaneous spiritual enlightening.

 

THE GREAT COSMIC WISDOM CHINNAMASTA – THE THUNDER OF THE INSTANTANEOUS SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT
As force or terrible power of the great god Indra, Chinnamasta represents the electrifying energy of our subconscious depths (Vidyut Shakti), energy that acts on all levels of the creation.

In the physical material world, the electric energy, electricity, represents only one of the forms of this colossal transforming power that is Chinnamasta.

On a mental level, she acts as energy determining the correct understanding of the essential reality, determining also the instantaneous spiritual enlightenment.

As we mentioned in our previous articles on this topic, Kali acts generally in the direction of the devotee’s spiritual transformation.

Chinnamasta represents the same force, which is nonetheless directed towards the immediate, “thundering” transformation of the yogi.

Consequently, Chinnamasta is in a way the bright lightning of the instantaneous spiritual intuition that destroys and casts away for good the veil of ignorance, opening up the path towards the supreme spiritual freedom.

This attribute that Chinnamasta manifests as a distinctive note of her terrible “divine personality” represents in fact the capacity of direct perception, pure vision that goes beyond any veil of ignorance and limited perception revealing the uniqueness of the infinite divine consciousness that is beyond name and form.

THE GREAT COSMIC WISDOM CHINNAMASTA GRANTS THE PURE VISION OF THE REALITY
Consequently, Chinnamasta is the colossal power of the spiritual inner vision, which sacrifices in the fire of the pure knowledge all objects belonging to the manifested world, including the body of the person performing this act of perfect knowledge.

Therefore, in the tradition of the Hindu spirituality, Chinnamasta represents Atma-yajna, meaning the self-sacrifice, manifested when someone offers one’s own being with great honesty to the Divine, through an act called “the sacrifice of the mind”, in order to life fully in the unity of the divine consciousness.

This fundamental characteristic of Chinnamasta represents also, through extrapolation, the very aspect of pralaya, the destruction or resorbtion of the world and the entire creation in the Holy Heart of the Absolute.

Metaphorically speaking, Chinnamasta is the head that chews on the entire body, being thus the power of destruction and transformation of the manifested reality into the non-manifested, original reality.

In the yogic spiritual tradition it is said that Chinnamasta achieves this remarkable “transformation of the state” through the piercing of the subtle blockage from the level of Ajna charka, allowing the yogi to transcend simultaneously his or her mind and body-awareness.

This characteristic action is at the same time a direct indication of the fact that Chinnamasta represents also the unobstructed flux of the subtle energy circulating through Sushumna Nadi, the central energetic channel of the human being.

Thus, Chinnamasta is associated with the awakening and ascension of the gigantic cosmic force, Kundalini Shakti through Sushumna Nadi, from the base of the spine, from Muladhara Chakra, up to Sahasrara Chakra representing in this hypostasis the Divine Path of the Vedic gods, or Vedayana.

This divine path refers practically at the movement and circulation of the subtle prana through Sushumna Nadi, towards the realm of “pure transcendence“, symbolized by the sun.

The yogic spiritual tradition asserts that in order to evolve spiritually and to avoid the karma-ic accumulation, it is imperative that the yogi focuses his or her energy on Sushumna Nadi, as this nadi is correlated with the the reality of the transcendent void, which is formless.

This condition cannot be achieved unless the yogi obtains the pure and correct vision of the fundamental reality of things.

 

 

At the time of death, the individual consciousness of the people who know all these things and who have practiced assiduously during their lifetime will come out of their body through Brahmarandra, the crown of the head, dissolving thus in the Supreme Source, which is God’s universal consciousness.

However, if this knowledge and ability to focus on Sushumna nadi was not gained until the moment of death, then the consciousness of this person will come out of the body through a different nadi, and it will be integrated in one of the countless worlds of the manifestation, according to the level of vibration and spiritual evolution.

Therefore, the yogis worship with great frenzy Chinnamasta as the sacred goddess of transformation, acting mainly on the level of the third eye, determining thus the transcendence of the hidden vision of the world.

THE EGOLESS IN LOVE YOGINI
Chinnamasta is also considered to be yoga shakti, meaning the terrible force of action of the yogic power, which made possible the association with Vajra Yogini and Para Dakini – the first and most important dakini – of the Tibetan tradition, the goddess that offers the sincere and devoted practitioner the greatest paranormal capacities.

At the level of the energetic structure, the Great Cosmic Wisdom Chinnamasta acts mainly on Ajna Chakra, opening the third eye and symbolizing the light that offers the essential direct perception of the surrounding reality, that casts away the ignorance inherent to duality.

Due to her association with the ascendant prana-ic flux of energy through sushumna Nadi, Chinnamasta is also correlated with udana vayu, the subtle energy causing the ascension of Kundalini Shakti and the deep transformation of the human being.

Nonetheless, Chinnamasta manifests at all levels when the yogi achieves an act of perception that goes beyond the normal condition.

From the point of view of the iconographical representations, Chinnamasta is represented as nude, and headless.

In her two hands she holds her own head and a sword. The decapitated head drinks from the blood coming out of her open throat. Traditionally, the head is held in the right hand, and the sword in the left.

Her body is that of a 16 years old girl. She wears a necklace made of human bones and a garland of human skulls.

Chinnamasta wears the sacred belt around her hips, and her breasts have the shape of lightning, being adorned with flowers and a single jewel attached to a snake in the area of the crown of the head. The goddess has three open eyes that radiate plenty of light.

On her sides there are two other goddesses, whose names are Dakini and Varini. Chinnamasta dances over the bodies of Kama, the god of love and his wife, Rati.

In some traditional representations, in their places are Krishna and Radha. This iconographical representation of Chinnamasta from the Hindu tradition is practically identical with thtat of the great goddess Vajra Dakini from the tradition of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhism.

There are in fact three streams of blood coming out from Chinnamasta’s throat: a central stream that she herself drinks, and two other placed on the left and on the right sides of this central stream, signifying the subtle energies from ida nadi and pingala nadi, and which are drunk by the two goddesses Dakini and Varini.

The couple of gods lying at her feet symbolizes the union of the masculine and the feminine energies of the human psychic.

Chinnamasta’s cut head represents the consciousness that was freed from the various limitations of the body and of the mind, while her lightning-shaped hair and radiant eyes are symbols of the direct perception of God’s Absolute Consciousness.

On the other hand, the sword she holds in her left hand signifies the discernment (viveka) and the goddess’s tongue symbolizes the colossal power of the divine logos, or of the mantra-s. as her representation is difficult to be rendered as a sculpture, Chinnamasta is most often represented as we described her in drawing or paintings.

Siddha Siddhanta

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Siddha Siddhanta, or the Gorakshanatha Shaivism was generally considered as belonging to the lineage of the first ascetic orders of India.

The sage Gorakshanatha was a disciple of Matsyendranatha, the holly protector of Nepal, claimed by both certain esoteric Buddhist schools and by Hindu as well. Apparently, Gorakshanatha lived in the X-th century and wrote in Hindi.

The historians connect Gorakshanatha lineage with that of Pashupata (already described in one of our previous articles. The Divine in the form of Shiva is considered here as the Shepherd of all creatures), late successors, as well as siddha yoga (the yoga of perfection) and the Agama-ic traditions.

The Gorakshanatha’s adepts themselves consider that Matsyendranatha has learned the secret Shivaic truths from Shiva himself, in the form of Adinatha, and then in his turn he transmitted them directly and identically to Gorakshanatha.

The school synthesized and developed the Hatha Yoga practice to a remarkable degree, so today we may say that this spiritual lineage has provided all the things we know about Hatha Yoga.

Gorakshanatha, prominent guru and author of the work Siddhanta Paddhati (“Considerations on the doctrine of the adepts”) was a man of a tremendous spiritual force, and remarkable discernment.

As a man who renounced the worldly life, his youth is not known to us, yet there are reasons to believe that he was born in the Hindu province Punjab.

After studying for 12 years in the school of his famous guru, Matsyendranatha, Gorakshanatha became a master in the Natha secret knowledge of the yoga, traveling throughout the northern India, from Assam to Cashmere, he worshiped Shiva in the temples, realizing Him in the most profound states of mystic ecstasy, samadhi, and awakening many of the paranormal capacities of a shivait adept.

Creating 12 monastic orders with complexes of temples and monasteries all over northern India, Gorakshanatha popularized his school and in the same time he isolated powerful Shaivism isles apart from the Muslim influence.

Matsyendranatha had already established this school in Nepal, country in which even to this day he is glorified as the holly protector of the country.

The modern researchers and scientists consider that Gorakshanatha’s yoga represents a development from the Pashupata early lineage and from the related ascetic orders, as there are many philosophical and practical similarities.

For the outer society, Gorakshanatha’s yogis were people of great renunciation, remarkable and troubling, dressed in saffron-robes, with their long black hair, and the foreheads whitened by the holy ashes, big, round earrings, rudrashkas, and a whistle around their neck, signifying the primordial vibration, AUM.

The Muslims named the Gorakshanatha adepts kauphati, meaning “the thorn ears” referring to the rite practiced by Goraksanatha’s adepts in order to insert in their earlobes big earrings, sometimes huge ones.

Some Muslims even associated themselves with these kauphati, and several leaders of Goraksanatha monasteries were known at that time as sacred parents of the Muslim tradition, designating the respect with which they were treated.

These Natha perceived their inner and outer universe as being Shiva’s cosmic body, (mahasakara pinda), as a continuous blossoming outside Him as Shakti (energy), in an infinity of individual souls, universes and forces. Earth and life, human weaknesses and human divinity, these are all manifestations of Shiva.

Thus, these people expressed their spiritual exultation in a humane and joyous devotion in worshiping in the temple and pilgrimages. Nonetheless, their inner focus is on the inner practice and kundalini yoga. They would perform inner Parasamvid, the supreme state of transcendence of Shiva.

Vira Shaivism, Part 1

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The Vira Shaivism is one of the most dynamic Shaivite Schools of the modern times. It was spread by the remarkable Brahmin Sri Basavanna(1105-1157). The practitioners of this tradition drew the roots of their belief beginning with the sages (risi) of the ancient times.

The Vira Shaivites (“heroic”) are also known as the lingayat, the bearers of the linga (phallus). According to the canons of this tradition, all the members should wear a small linga, symbol of the Supreme Shiva, locked in a pandant they have on a necklace around their necks.

A contemporary practitioner stated for us “worshiping the Vira Shaiva style is the best form of worship because the shivalinga is wore on our body and unites our soul with the Omnipresence. This way, we are in close contact with Shiva all the time, without even a second of pause.”

As in the case of the protestant rebellion in the XVI-th century against the Catholic authority, the lingayat movement won the cause of the rebellion against the brahmanic system that promoted social inequality through a hierarchic system of casts, system that condemned an entire social class as being impure.

Being against the current of “spirituality” of their times, the lingayats have rejected the Veda-ic authority, the casts hierarchy, the system of the four dwellings, the multiplicity of gods, the religious service, the animal sacrifice, the karma-ic bounds, the existence of the inner universes, the duality Brahman – Atman (God – individual Self), the worship in the temple and the ritualistic tradition of the type: purification – impurification.

The Vira Shaivism tradition says that Basavanna was a meditative young man, also a fighter, who rejected largely Vira Shaivism practiced during his days. He broke the sacred belt (yajnopavita) when he was only 16 and ran to Sangama, Karnataka.

He received here shelter and encouragement from Isanya Guru, a Shaivite Brahmin from the predominant kalamukha group and he studied here the teachings in the monastery complex and in the temple, for 12 years.

Here he developed a deep devotion for Shiva in His aspect of “Lord of the rivers confluence” – Kudalasangama. At the age of 28, Basavanna reached the conclusion that humankind is mostly based on the doctrine of a personal God, an individual God, in the form of istalinga – chosen exterior divine phallus.

This spiritual realization is the very core of the central belief Vira Shaiva, according with which the human body should be regarded as a living temple of God, which should be perpetually be kept in a state of purity and sublime.

When Basavanna was almost at the end of his studies, he had a bright dream, in which Shiva Kudalasangama gently touched his body, saying: “Basavanna, my son, your time to leave this place has come. Continue your work of building a just society.”

Receiving these inner signals, Basavanna traveled to Mangalavede, and joined the services of the king of those times, Bijjala. Concomitantly with a rapid climbing on the social stairs, (chief officer of the royal treasury, minister) in this Shaivite country tested by the Buddhist and Jainist intrusions, Basavanna promoted his revolutionary message about a new religious and visionary society.

Basavanna had two wives, underlying in his teachings the fact that all practitioners can lead a holy life, not only those who renounce to the pleasures of life.

He would have speeches every night, denouncing the hierarchy of the casts, the magic practices, astrology, building of temples and many other things, stimulating increased numbers of listeners to come and begin to think rationally and worshipping Shiva as the Divine within themselves.

Here, Basavanna lived and preached for 20 years, developing a powerful religious movement. This action of gathering the people together for spiritual speeches became known as Shivambhava Mandapa (“the house of the Siva-ic experience”).

At the age of 48, he moved together with the king Bijjala to Kalyana where his fame continued to grow during the next 14 years. The man who would succeed him in the development of this movement, Allam Prabhu, accompanied him.

Adepts of various paths have gathered from throughout India to meet Basavanna. However, along the years, the opposition to his egalitarian community grew stronger within the ordinary citizens.

The tensions reached a peak in 1167, when a Brahman and a sudra (woman from an inferior cast, considered impure), both lingayat (adepts of the phallic cult of Shiva), got married.

The citizens, disgusted, went to King Bijjala, who had to give order for the execution of the two people, in order to quiet the crowds. However, this proved to be a thoughtless gesture, which only made the situation worse.

The social situation, already unstable, worsened, and lead to the killing of Bijjala by a group of political opponents, or even by radical lingayat. Basavanna died also at the age of 62, in Sangama, in self-seclusion.

Despite the persecutions, the successful spiritual ruling left behind a cherished heritage, including a great number of holy women. If Basavanna was the social architect and the head of this belief, Allama Prabhu was the engine of mysticism and austerity.

The teachings of these two founders are contained in their lyrical prose, (vacana). The spiritual authority of Vira Shaiva derives from the lives and writings of these two remarkable people, as well as from the lives of other shivasarana (people who have abandoned themselves to Shiva).

Their writings have all a common note: they reject the Veda-s, the ritual, the legends about gods and goddesses, considering all formal religions as an “institution” in which spontaneity, dynamism, and the joy of living can never find a place.

As he often underlines, “doing rightfully” – promoted by most of the religions of the day is not a reason good-enough for reaching the ultimate freedom. Allama writes in this sense: “feed the sacred, tell the truth, dig wells for the thirsty and build reservoirs for the city. You can go to heaven after death, but you will never be next to the truth of our God.”

Vira Shaivism, Part 2

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PART 2
The Vacana-s are incandescent poems, full of humor, ridiculing the stupidity and vanity of people, and filled with the ardor of the search of Truth. Rising from all these, as an essence, is a monotheist path recommending the adepts to enter the terrible realm of personal, inner spirituality.

Here are a few examples: Ganacara wrote: “they say I was born, but I have no birth. O, Lord! They say I have died, but I have no death! O, Lord!”

Allama Prabhu, in his turn says: “when there was no beginning and no end, when there was no peace, no no-peace, when there was nothing, no no-nothing, when everything was un-created and un-ripen, You, Guheshvara (Shiva, as master of Mysteries), were alone, just with yourself, present on the same realm and in the same time not present.”

Ironically, during the centuries that followed, the Vira Shaivism absorbed many of the things that Basavanna rejected.

Thus, the worship in the temple reappeared, the rituals, the institutionalization of the crucial guru-disciple relationship, in an exterior way. There were great efforts to derive the Vira Shaiva technology from the Hindu traditional scriptures.

Until those times, the lingayats, rejecting the Veda-s, have placed themselves outside the main Hindu stream, but through the acceptance of several Shaiva Agama – Shaivite writings considered as having been revealed, they aligned themselves to other Shaivite groups.

The Vira Shaivits regard their belief as a distinct, independent religion. The original ideals remain however included in the lingayat scripture, which also contains the vacanas, the historic stories and the verse biographies.

Among the most important texts we may mention here the vacanas of Basavanna, “Mantragopya” by Allama Prabhu, “Karana Hasuge” by Cennabasavanna and the corpus of writings “Sunya sampadana”.

The monist teist doctrine of the Vira Shaivism is named Shaktivisistadvaita, and is a version of modified non-dualism, also accepting the difference and the non-difference between the individual Self and the Divine, through the comparaison with the beams of the sun.

In short, Shiva or the cosmic force are one, (Shiva is you, and so you must come back, you must return to Shiva, to yourself – as the lingayat writings indicate).

However, Shiva is also beyond His creation, which is real not illusory. God is the effective cause as well as the material cause. The individual Self, in its liberated state attains the undifferentiated union with Shiva.

The Vira Shaiva saint Ranukacariya said: “just the water put in water, and the fire in fire, the individual Self that becomes one with Brahman, is not seen as being distinct from Him.”

The true unity and identity between Shiva (Linga) and the individual Self (anga) is the goal of life described as sunya (the void), which is not an empty void, but a creative void, full of potentialities.

The adept becomes united with Shiva through satsthala, a progressive path, with six steps of devotion and abandon: bhakti (devotion), mahesa (disinterested service), prasada (honest search of Shivas grace), pranalinga (the experience of the Whole as being Shiva), sarana (refuge in Shiva) and aikya (uniqueness in Shiva).

Each phase brings the seeker closer and closer to the final goal, until the individual Self and God are unified into one final state of perpetual Shivaic consciousness, just as the rivers flow into the ocean.

The Vira Shaivism has the means to attain this purpose and these means depend on pancacara (five codes of conduit) si asavarana (eight shields to protect the body as the abode of the Divine).

The five codes of conduit are: lingacara (the daily worship of shivalinga), sadacara (the attention towards vacation and duty), shivacara (the knowledge and acceptance of Shiva as unique God and equality among adepts), bhrityacara (humbleness in front of all creatures), and ganacara (the defense of the community and of the faith).

The eight shields are: guru, linga, jangama (the identification with the wandering monk, one having no possessions), paduka (the water from the ritualic bath of the gurus linga or feet), prasada (the consecrated offering), vibhuti (the holly ashes), rudraksa (the holly seed) and mantra (Namah Shivaya).

Anyone can adopt the Vira Shaiva religion through a formal initiation, named linga diksa, a rite that replaces the traditional ceremony of the sacred belt, consenting in the same time to the daily wear and worship of a shivalinga.

The lingayat-s place a great deal of stress on this life, the equality of all the members, regardless of cast, education, sex, etc., on an intense social implication, and the service brought to the community. Their faith underlines the free will, asserts a determined world and confesses a pure monotheism.

Today, The Vira Shaivism is a vibrant belief, particularly powerful in its origin area, Karnataka, in Central and Southern India. Almost 40 million people live here, out of which approximately one fourth are lingayat-s.

One can hardly find a village in India without a jangama (lingayat monk) and a matha (monastery).
On the occasion of a birth taking place in a lingayat family, the child is brought to their religion this very day, by a jangama, who offers the child a sivalinga in a pandant, attached to a belt. This is the linga the child will wear throughout his or her entire life.

Shiva Advaita

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Shiva Advaita is the philosophy of the sage Shrikantha as it was exposed in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, a Shaivite comment on the work Brahma Sutra (500 – 200 B.C.).

Brahma Sutra contains 50 lapidary verses wrote by Badarayana, resuming the Upanishads. Brahma Sutra, Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads are the three central scriptures of the various interpretations of the Vedantic scriptures.

The sages Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva wrote commentaries on these books, deriving from here three philosophies almost different from one another: the non-dualism, the limited non-dualism, and the dualism, all based on the same texts.

Each pretended that theirs is the correct interpretation of the Veda-s and rejected vigorously the others. Shankara was a monist and granted a lower value to the worship of a personal God.

On the other hand, Ramanuja and Madhva, developed their philosophies in which the devotion towards God in His aspect of Vishnu was considered the highest path. At that time there was no Vedantic school established, at least there was no school that would bring the devotion to similar heights.

Yet, Srikantha filled in the gaps. The resulting philosophy was named Shiva Vishishtadvaita and as appearance it is not very different from Ramanujas limited non-dualism.

In his commentary, Shrikantha transferred the Shaiva philosophy in a Vedantic terminology. Shrikantha lived in the XI-th century, our era. We know almost nothing about his personal life, so this aspect will remain a mystery forever.

Moreover, the fact that he catalyzed or not a social movement that could have rivaled with the Vira Shaivism or with the Shaiva Siddhantha; still, from his writings one thing is clear: he was a brilliant orator and a master in debates, and maybe the most important, he was a devoted worshipper of Shiva.

His influence was greater due to another commentator of the texts, Appaya Dikshita, who wrote a detailed commentary on the work of Shrikantha in the XVI-th century, as part of a serious attempt to defend Shaivism from the proselyte intrusions of the Vishnuism from the Southern India.

According to Shrikanthas philosophy, Shiva created the world with no other purpose than a divine game. Shiva is the effective cause of creation, as His Shakti; He is also its material cause.

Shiva takes on the form of the universe, He transforms Himself into it (the universe) but not directly, but through His Shakti.

Thus, He is transcendent, glorious and unaffected by His creation. Shiva has a spiritual body and lives in a paradise that is more luminous than a thousand suns, paradise that can be attained only by the liberated souls.

Shrikantha, in his work Brahma Sutra Bhasya, said: “In the moment of the creation, preceded by the first vibrations of His energies, through a simple impulse of His will, independent from any material cause, and from His own substance, He creates all the conscious and unconscious creatures and things.”

The purification, devotion, and meditation on Shiva as the Self from the void of the spiritual heart (daharakasha) define the path. The meditation is directed towards the Supreme Self, Shiva, the only existence that has evolved through all the manifested forms.

The freedom appears only after a few preliminary realizations, including inner peace, unbending faith, and detachment. The bonds that keep the soul in chains can be broken in the torrent of the continual contemplation and identification with Shiva. The liberation depends on the grace, not on the facts.

 

According to the same philosophy, after death the liberated soul goes to Shiva the path of the gods, with no possible return to the terrestrial life.

The individual soul continues to exist in the spiritual level, enjoying the ecstasy of knowing God, enjoying all experiences and powers, except that of creating the universe.

Finally, the individual self does not become one with Brahman, or Shiva, but shares all His qualities and attributes.

The human being is responsible, free to act at ones own free will, and Shiva fulfills ones needs in accordance with ones karma.

Shrikantha wrote in Brahma Sutra Bhasya: “Shiva associates His three energies (iccha – will, jnana – knowledge, kriya – action), enter in the conglomerate of effects and comes out as Universe, comprising the triad of the deities (Brahma -creation, Vishnu – preservation, Rudra – resorbtion). Who can understand Shivas greatness, the Almighty, the All-knowing?”

Appaya Dikshita (1554-1626) remains one of the most unusual persons in the history of the Hindu philosophy. Appaya Dikshitas commentaries on the various philosophical schools were so deep and profound, that these schools claimed his commentaries, even if Appaya Dikshita never adhered to these philosophies.

Ardent devoted of Shiva, he compiled manuals of ritual worship (puja) that are still being used to this day by the Shivait priests.

Moreover, he was an excellent devotional poet. From a philosophical point of view, he adhered to the Advaita school of the sage Adi Shankara. In his debates to re-establish the worship of Shiva against the Vishnuism of those times, he had his life threatened on countless occasions.

The Shaivism had been constricted in the XVI-th century Southern India, due to the “generous” patronship of Ramaraja , king of the Vijayanagar, and continued after his death.

However, Appaya Dikshita managed to gain the grace of the vassal king, then independently Chinna Bomman from Velore, influencing thus the state doctrine.

Appaya Dikshita has perfected the composition of certain commentaries on the various philosophies of the time, including that of Shrikantha. The adepts of this spiritual line claim Appayas commentaries on the writings of the dualist Madhva to this very day.

Through his 104 books, Appaya Dikshita has created many harmonious relationships with the other systems of thinking, has promoted the Shaivism among other philosophical approaches and has contributed to the re-establishment of the norms of devotional worship of Shiva.

The leadership of the king Chinna Bomman of Velore ensured the wide spreading of Appayas ideas through conferences especially prepared to which took part up to 500 students, and great travels for Appaya and his followers, who served as Shaiva missionaries.

Appaya Dikshita wrote in one of his texts: “since the torrid heat of the malevolent critics against Shiva and His worship waits to destroy and burn the offsprings of Shiva-bhakti, (devotion for Shiva) that might appear in the minds of the devotes (for whom the existing seed is the merit accumulated during their previous births), this work, Shivakarnamrita, with its verse created as if from nectar, is written precisely to help the salvation of these offsprings.”

Appaya Dikshita concluded that Shrikantha’s philosophies, as well as those of other dualists, or monist-dualists were necessary steps in order to recognize the truth of monism, advaita.

He argued that Shrikantha’s accent on Saguna Brahman (God with qualities) more than on Nirguna Brahman (God beyond any quality) was meant to create for the time being the faith and devotion within the Shaivite adepts, because such devotion is a prior element to the knowledge of the Transcendent Absolute, ParamaShiva, Nirgua Brahman.

Appaya Dikshita said in his work Shivarkamanidipika: “Even if Advaita was the accepted religion, impressed on us by great teachers of the past, such as Shri Shankara (and in many other scriptures as well), the spiritual bend towards monism (Advaita) is produced only by Shiva’s grace.”

Shiva Advaita appears to have no community of adepts or any formal association these days. However, historically, it can be understood as a profound reconciliation between the Vedanta and Siddhanta. Its major importance lies in the promotion and revigoration of the Shaivism in the XVI-th century, century of great ideological turmoil.

Shaivism – Legends about the Future, Part 2

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PART 2
Thus, Visnu invented a stratagem to end the Assures’ virtuous existence and actions and He created a strange character, a pervert being named Arihat (=the destroyer of all pious beings).

Arihat was supposed to preach a puritan, lifeless religion, mainly based on materialism, in which there was no creator, the manifestation had no purpose, and the only thing that was responsible for any stage of life was hazard.

Through cunningness, Arihat and his new disciples managed to infiltrate to the king of the Assures and to persuade him of the superiority of the new religion.

Inspired by Vishnu, and betrayed by the perfidy sage Narada, the kind approved his initiation into the new religion and its preaching into all the three citadels. Thus, all Shiva‘s spiritual rituals and all the Assures’ power drawn from this cult decayed. (cf. Rudra Samhita, 5.5., 1-60.).

This was the reason for which Shiva approved the destruction of the Assures, but not before asking the new Arien gods to recognize His authority as shepherd (Pashupati) of the “flock” formed from all the beings of the world (celestial, human, animal and vegetal).

This is how part of the Assures’ wisdom related to the Shaivite cult could be transmitted across generations, in a secret tradition and despite the new Arien religions that developed in Kali Yuga. Shiva had to remain the supreme and mysterious God.

After the destruction of the three citadels, by Shiva himself, Arihat and his disciples were advised by Vishnu to retreat into the desert and wait for Kali Yuga there.

Then, they will be able to spread again their message among ignorant people, whose vanity made then easy to control and corrupt, leading them thus to decline and the final explosion that will end the human race. (cf. Rudra Samhita, 5.4., 19-21.)

The history of the three citadels represents the end of a great civilization, who reached a high technical level. Is it a story about a distant past, or a premonition of the future? Maybe a little bit of both.

What is really important is the message that clearly gets to us: a change for the worse in the Assures’ religious, social, and moral conceptions was able to cause the end of a civilization.

The cult of the shivaic phallus, symbol of the principle of life, the practice of Tantric yoga and the seeking of the understanding of the cosmological realities and natural laws were replaced by sentimental, puritan, egalitarian and negative notions.

The times we live in are bringing before our eye a worrying image: due to a strange sense of vanity, people seek to change the divine order, the natural order of things, replacing it with a human order, which opposes so-called moral virtues to the magic of the divine rites, and neglects the spiritual powers.

This attitude of ultimate denial of the universe’s divine order, can only lead humanity to disaster, as history taught us.

The Signs of Kali Yuga, Part 1

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The interval preceding the cataclysm that might destroy humanity is marked by disorders announcing its end. Just as in the case of the brave assures from the Puranas, Shiva can destroy only the societies that have gone astray from their purpose, who have broken the natural law.

According to the theory of the cycles that regulate the evolution of the universe, (niyati), we are approaching the end of Kali Yuga, the age of conflicts, wars, genocides, dirty businesses, aberrant social and philosophical systems, the malefic development of knowledge that gets into irresponsible hands.

Everything tends to become equal, and this equanimity in all the fields and areas is actually the prelude of death. At the end of Kali Yuga, this process is accelerated, and this very acceleration is one of the signs indicating the approaching catastrophe.

The ancient Shaivite writings (The Puranas) describe in detail the signs that characterize the last part of Kali Yuga.

Linga Purana says: “the people of Kali Yuga are stimulated by the lowest instincts. They chose false ideas and concepts over the authentic ones, they have no hesitation in persecuting the wise, the envy torments them, negligence, disease, hunger and fear will spread.

The water will be very rare. Certain areas of some countries will oppose to others. The sacred books will not be respected any longer. The people will have no morals, and they will have a tendency towards sectaries. In the Iron Age, the false and deceiving doctrines will spread more and more.

People will be scared because they no longer respect the rites and they no longer listen the words of the sages.

Many will perish. The number of prices and agricultures will gradually decrease. The working classes will want to accede to the royal power and to the knowledge, rest and beds of their neighbors. The great majority of the new leaders will be of working class origin and they will obstinately pursue the priests and those who gained the knowledge.

They will kill the unborn child and they will murder their heroes. The low class (sudra) will pretend they were Brahmins, and the priests are like workers.

The thieves will become kings, and the kings will be like thieves. The number of the women who are prostitutes will increase.

The stability and balance of the four classes of society and of the four ages of life will disappear. The land will be very fertile in some places, bare, and unproductive in others.

The ruling classes will confiscate all proprieties and will use it badly. They will cease to protect the people. Worthless people, who have obtained through doubtful means a certain degree of knowledge without the power to use it, will be called wise men.

People who are not born to be fighters will become kings. The scientists will serve mediocre people, full of vanity and hatred.

The priests will lower themselves, selling sacraments. There will be a lot of people moving around from country to country, and the number of men will decrease, while the number of women will increase.

The predators will become more and more violent. The number of cows will decrease. Well-intended people will quit in playing an active role.

Already prepared food will be sold. The sacred books will be sold at the corner of the street. The young girls will sell their virginity. The god of clouds will give the rains unevenly. The salesmen will do dirty business and they will be surrounded by pretentious philosophers.

There will be plenty of beggars and people without work. Everybody will use low and harsh words. Nobody can be trusted at this time. People will be jealous of each other and they will not be able to do any free, disinterested service to anyone.

The degradation of the virtues and the censorship of hypocrite puritans will mark the end of Kali Yuga. There will be no more kings. The wealth and crops will diminish. The cities and villages will be filled with groups of bandits. Water and fruits will be wanted. The people supposed to ensure the protection of the people will not protect them.

The rapes will be frequent. Many children will be born when the life-hope will not be over 16 years. The adventurers will appear as monks with their heads shaved wearing orange garments, and beads around their necks.

The wheat will be stolen. The thieves will rob other thieves. People will become inactive, lethargic, without purpose and motivation. Diseases and poisonous substances will torment all people. Consumed by fear, people will find refuge in subterranean places, named (kausika).

The cases of the people living for 100 years will be rare. Sacred writings will be altered, and the rites neglected. The vagabonds will be many. Unqualified individuals will pass for experts in morals and religion. Many will massacre women, children, and cows and then they will kill among themselves.” (Linga Purana, cap. 40)

The Signs of Kali Yuga, Part 2

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PART 2

On the other hand, as it is said in Vishnu Purana:

“In the Kali Yuga, only one quarter of each of the four feet of Dharma [penance, truthfulness, compassion and charity] remains. And that too goes on decreasing day by day while the ‘feet’ of Adharma [unrighteousness] increase greatly. So that in the end Dharma becomes extinct.

In that [Kali] age, people will be greedy. They will take to wicked behaviour. They will be merciless, indulge in hostilities without any cause, unfortunate, extremely covetous for wealth and women. High social status will be attained by Sudras, fishermen and such other classes…

When deceit, falsehood, lethargy, sleepiness, violence, despondency, grief, delusion, fear, and poverty prevail, that is the Kali Yuga…

… mortal beings will become dull-witted, unlucky, voracious, destitute of wealth yet voluptuous, and women, wanton and unchaste.

Countries will be laid waste by robbers and vagabonds; the Vedas will be condemned by heretics; kings will exploit their subjects, and twice-borns like Brahmanas will only think of the gratification of their sexual desires and other appetites.

Celibates [of the Brahmacarya ashrama] will cease to observe their vows of study, purity and celibacy; householders will take to begging [instead of giving alms]; hermits [of the vanaprastha ashrama] will resort to villages [leaving their retreats in the forests]; and Sannyasins will be extremely greedy for money. [In short, the whole system of the Varnashrama Dharma will have broken down.]

Petty-minded people will conduct business transactions and merchants will be dishonest.

In the Kali Yuga, men will abandon their parents, brothers, friends, and relatives. They will establish their friendships on a sexual basis.

People who are ignorant of religion will occupy high seats [and pulpits] and will [pretend to] preach religion.

People will have their minds weighed down with constant anxiety and fear. This will be due to devastating famines and heavy taxation. The land will not grow food-crops, and the people will always be in fear of impending droughts.”

ABOUT PRALAYA

Visnu Purana (1.3., 1-3) underlines: “The end of the world (Pralaya) can be of three kinds only: caused (naimittika), natural (prakrita) or immediate (atyantika). Caused destruction, which implies all living creatures of earth, occurs at the end of each kalpa (cycle of an era, yuga). This is accidental or caused (naimittika).

Natural destruction (prakrita) implies the whole universe. It occurs when the divine dream that is the creation ceases. Matter, space and time cease to exist. This destruction occurs at the end of time.

The third type of destruction, the immediate destruction (atyantika) refers to the individuals freedom (moksa), for whom the apparent world ceases to exist.

Consequently, the immediate action involves only the individual, while caused destruction involves all living creatures on earth and natural destruction implies the end of the universe.

The destruction [of the species], which we call accidental or caused occurs at the end of each Manvantara (Manus age), of one cycle of a yuga. It involves the human species only and it occurs only when the Creator no longer finds alternatives to put an end to the unpredicted and disastrous multiplication of living creatures.

This destruction will begin with a submarine explosion, named Vadava, which will take place in the southern ocean. It will be preceded by the 100-year drought during which all weak people will perish. Seven explosions of light will drain the waters.

All great rivers, springs and subterranean waters will drain. Twelve suns will un-drain the seas. Nurtured by this water, other seven suns will be formed, which will burn to ashes the three worlds. The earth will become hard as the turtle shell.

A fire from the mouth of a subterranean snake will burn the inferior worlds, then the surface of the earth, and then the atmosphere. This mass of fire will soon cover everything with tremendous noise.

Surrounded by circles of fire, all living creatures, moving or not, will be destroyed. The God of destruction will blow gigantic clouds, which will make a terrible noise. A mass of clouds charged with energy, self-destructive (sarvantaka) will appear on the sky like a hred of elephants.” (Visnu Purana, I, cap. 8, 18-31.)

“When the moon is in the Pusya constellation (the Aquarius), invisible coulds, named Puskara (clouds of death) and Avarta (clouds without water, nirjala) will surround the earth.” (Siva Purana 5.1., 48-50)

“Some of these clouds will be black, other will be white as the jasmine, others still will be brown, others yellow, others grey as the donkey, others red or blue as the lapis or the sapphire, others will be stained, or orange or violet. They will look like cities or mountains. They will cover the earth.

These gigantic clouds, making a terrible noise, will darken the sky and will flood the earth with a rain of dust that will put out the terrible fire (we already saw in the assures case the destruction of a world with terrific guns that destroy any form of life).

Then, through an endless flood, they will drown everything under the waters. This dilluvian rain will pour down on earth for 12 years and the humanity will be destroyed. The earth will sink into darkness. The flood will last for 7 years. The earth will look like a gigantic ocean.” (Visnu Purana, 1, cap.7, 24-40).

Kashmir Shaivism, Part 1

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Kashmir Shaivism, with its powerful accent on the recognition by the human being of an already existing unity with Shiva, is the most unitary and monist of the six Shaivite Schools that we tried to present in our series of articles.

Kashmir Shaivism appeared in the IX century in the northern India, which was at the time a conglomerate of small feudal kingdoms. In the painting of the time, the maharajahs were the patrons of the various religions.

The Buddhism was still very powerful and the Tantric Shaktism was blossoming in the northeastern part of India. Shaivism experienced a rebirth beginning with the VIth century, when Shiva was the most worshipped Hindu god.

The Kashmir Shaivism school originated and developed fully in the valley with the same name, among the beautiful surroundings of this country, as Kashmir is a tranquil and cold area, which gave birth to a calm, charming philosophical thinking.

It is said that people have created their own personal God, in accordance with their familiar images and in this case, we may even say that atemporal spirituality has crystallized happily in this region.

The wonderful spectacles of the natural phenomena in the valley seemed to be suffused with the feeling of the divine love that rules over all things in the universe.

This is why the Kashmir philosophers unlike the philosophers from most of the world, have given up all dogmatic disciplines, and “orthodox” ethics and have pleaded for several effective and pleasant practices in a system they named Shivayoga (the yoga of the union with Shiva) – a certain type of rajayoga, helped and assisted by the sentiment of a deep, intense love for God.

The life in the Kashmir valley taught the philosophers a simple, yet detailed path to reach the ultimate purpose of life. In the generous region of Kashmir, where a simple irrigation system ensured the necessities of life, the Shaivite philosophy was kept just as simple.

The Shaivite philosophy did not prescribe any “tortures” for the body or for the brain through painful mortification, and it did not prescribe exterior practices of self-imposed control of the mind, senses and breath, as it is said in other schools of Hindu philosophy.

On the other hand, the Kashmir Shaivism recommends a few precise methods of spontaneous meditation, free from any kind of repression and constraint of the mind or of the emotions.

These methods indicate how one can gradually sublimate the low, raw emotions and instincts through the practice of several meditation and concentration techniques.

The natural beauty of the Kashmirean valley has always inspired poetry and because of this, the influence of the majority of Kashmirean philosophers was also that of some remarkable poets.

The Kashmir Shaivism is the result of deep and profound experiences and meditations practiced by the aspirats who did not have to worry about physical or mental issues. Therefore, this line of practice usually had to be preceded by other stages of the yoga system.

According to the tradition of the Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva established 64 systems, of philosophies, some of them monist, others dualist and few of them monist-dualist. As some of these systems were lost, Shiva asked the sage Durvasa to revigorate the knowledge.

The sons of Durvasa, born through the force of the mind were thus designed to transmit the sysyems as follows: Tryambaka – the monist, Amardaka – the dualist and Shrikantha – the monist-dualist.

Thus, at a certain point, it is said that Tryambaka laid the foundations of the Kashmir Shaivism philosophy and practice. It is also said that Shiva himself felt the need to solve the conflictual interpretations of the sacred writings (agamas) and to cast away the dualist influence on the ancient monist doctrines.

In the years 800, it is said that the great sage Vasugupta was living on the mountain Mahadeva, near Shrinagar. The tradition goes that one night Shiva appeared in a dream and revealed to him the secret place of a great scripture carved on stone.

When he woke up, Vasgupta went to that place and found 77 lapidar verses carved on a rock, which he then named Shiva Sutra. Then Vasugupta revealed the verses to his disciples and gradually the philosophy spread.

The school of the Kashmir Shaivism or Northern Shaivism Pratyabhijna Darshana, (the doctrine of recognition), Trikasasana (The Trika system of trinity) appeared on this scriptural foundation.

Trika (threefold, triad) refers to the triple consideration of the divine: Shiva, (the masculine principle), Shakti (the feminine principle) and Anu (the individual soul), the possession of three sets of scriptures and of a number of other triads on which this system is based.