Destiny the Choice is Ours

Mary Magdalene has asked us to spend these past two months, exploring the inner realms of the Self, and contemplate Kashmir Shaivism. I have not posted anything for sometime – as this process has been very deep and inward. Much continues to be cleared away, reappear and clear away again. As the conditions of the self shift, crumble and dissolve, and new conditions arise – not unlike the lap, lap of the waves upon the shore, and the experience of new possibilities arise. Recently, I opened one of my great books on Kashmir Shaivism, and was reminded of the “contractions” of being, and the expression of these in my life, and the role they play – so as we complete this 60 day cycle that we embarked on with Mary – I felt it important to post these revelations for our review. Enjoy!!



"Cidvat tac chakti-samkocat malavrtah samsari"

That Which is full of Consciousness, due to contraction of its powers, becomes a transmigratory soul, covered by impurities.


As we delve deep into the very depth of our being through our contemplations, meditations through this worldly pathway – we truly experience the magnificence of the Self – we ask: How is it possible to say that it’s covered with impurities, hampered by restricted authorship and other limitations – a soul that moves from one life to another. Of all the themes in Shaivism, the chain of our actions and their effects – which is what leads us to transmigration – is most pertinent to our lives and most controversial. This is most often known as destiny, fate or often, karma – which literally means action. Years ago, a swami, well versed in Indian philosophical tradition was asked: “Considering that God created everything, why do we have to suffer so? Why doesn’t God suffer for what he has himself created?” Instantly the swami responded: “And who do you think you are?” In a moment, the inquisitor’s mind stopped. A recognition: I am God emerged.

I am the one who creates my world. The question of how I as Shiva experience my world as painful or otherwise is something we grow into. An great sage of Kashmir Shaivism said:

“When the highest Lord, whos very essence is Consciousness, conceals by his free will the pervasion of nonduality and assumes duality all round, then his will and other powers, though essentially unlimited, assume limitation. Then only does this sould become a transmigratory being, covered with malas”


The sutra begins cidvat tat “that which if full of Consciousness”, an image that evokes the plenitude, purnatva, of the supreme Power, Shakti is always full. She doesn’t need anything in order to feel her love, her complete satisfaction. Then comes samkocat, “due to contraction”, which implies that Shakti chooses to condense her essence. The result is malavrtah - “with limitation”. This process of constriction produces concealment through the three states of imperfection, malas. The question: why does she do that? To be come a samsari, and individual who operates in the material world – this third dimensional reality. Samsari comes from the word samsara which is defined as transmigration and means literally “to wander, to drift, to pass through successive states”. A samsari is a soul that transmigrates from one body to another in a succession of lives like someone walking across a vast expanse of land, residing first in one world and then in another. The worlds may be pleasant or painful, delightful or fearsome. Another great sage says:

“A soul who lives within a body may be bound for heaven or hell, and when separated from one body is joined to another according to its (the soul’s) own proclivities” (or attractions)

Behind these proclivities, are the three malas.
The three impurities – we take on as we descend into this third dimensional reality and take on the physical body:

I am Separate

Anava-mala – the initial root constraint by which the utter freedom of the divine will (iccha-sakti) contracts and becomes our experience of being imperfect, incomplete, unsatisfied and incapable. Anava-mala is what divides and separates us from the experience of our infinite expansiveness – and gives rise to the understanding: I am separate – the first of the covers – a discrete existence that limits our possiblities.

I am Different

Maiya-mala, the veil of differentiation, defining the effect that living in a body as an individual. What is implied in having a body: we are carrying maya, with her five coverings; purusa and prakrti, along with the threefold psychic instrument, the five senses of perception and the five senses of action; as well as the five subtle element and the five dense ones – a total of thrity-one binding forces! Mayiya-mala contracts the supreme power of knowledge so that a person experiences differences through these layers of limitation, which are often compared to veils – imagine trying to see through five veils!!! The soul sees itself as different from other individuals and also perceives distinctions between one person or object and another – a universe of varied and disparate forms.

I Am the Doer

Karma-mala contracts into the third limitation, after the stage is set with maiya-mala – the veil of doership. It is now the capacity to do, to perform deeds and have thoughts under the sense of possession that is the province of the ego. This is how we think and speak, how we lend veracity to the idea that we, as individuals are performers in the drama of our lives. Karma-mala keeps us ignorant of the one source of all action, and at the same time it enables the soul to fulfill its desire for experiences – to fulfill its intention.



 Once these malas have covered you up, all you experience is the destiny created by each of them. Because of the first mala, you experience the destiny of imperfection. Because of the second, you experience the destiny of differentiation. Because of the third, you experience the destiny of your actions. In this way, you become more and more bound.


Through our own power of will, we have chosen to experience what has been made perceptible in our lives. An individual is responsible for creating her own universe, in this way.

We can explore Karma and Intention in another post.

The Sadhana of the Heart

In the Pratyabhijna  scriptures -- they refer to the pratyabhijna-hrdaya  -- "hrdaya is the "core" -- the fundamental aspect of our being -- the Supreme Self.  The word "sadhana" refers to the journey.   In the Kashmir tachings.... it is that recognition (pratyabhijna) of our core (our Heart)  -- the recognition of divinity within ourselves and the experience of that dvinity in all creation.  The unfolding of the sadhana of the Heart takes place within this hman body, we both contemplate within through introspection -- unfurling our inner potential, and the extroverted action and enhancing our relationship with the surrounding world.  To hear more on the Heart -- please referr to my blog:  http://www.thearomaticquest.blogspot.com/  -- its very cool to see the distinction of both our physical heart and our spititual heart -- and how we conect through concious awareness.  more later

Citi, Shakti and liveration

O Celestial One, grant that I may overcome


The enemies along your path,

The sense-thieves

Who conceal the highest reality.

The sensual world consists of Citi, divine consciousness as the body of Shakti; the sense and the physical body that confines one to bondage also constitute the vehicle for liberation. Thus the well-known tantric adage: “The very poison that kills becomes the elixir of life when used by the wise”

It is for this reason that not only are the sense acknowledged, but they are to be strengthened:

Nourished by the nectar

Of pure devotion rippling within,

Let my body become fit for your worship.

It is for two reasons that the senses are to be strengthened: first so that they be a strong vehicle for the descent of the power of Siva, which constitutes not just a feeling of emotional wellbeing, but a true force of the power of nature; shaktipata is the descent of shakti, or power of Siva in the form of the natural world. This shakti is akin to lightning, electricity, and ultimately the atomic energy that Shiva “dances up” in the dissolution of the universe. Second, by becoming a vessel for divine power, the practitioner is also emulating nature itself, just a step away from the body of Shiva, made of pure consciousness. Embodied by Shakti, nature is also then a vessel; Utpala refers to Devi as the “treasury of all powers”

Conciousness, in her freedom, brings about the attainment of the universe

Citih svatantra visva siddhi hetuh:  -  the first sutra of Kashmir Saivism breaks down like this:

citih:  consciouness
svatantra:   free, independent, self-relieant
visva:  the universe
siddhi:  accomplishment, attainment
hetuh:  cause

This beginnning Sutra discusses the creative force of the univers.  From a devotional view, it addresses the heart's longing to know the nature of God.  This surta offers an explanation of Reality -- the nature of Reality and its relation to the world and to us and human being.

In the Pratyabhijna-hydayam, the highest reality is know by the term:  Citi (pronounced chiti) -- or the great light of conciousness -- one of the feminine forms which implies to perceive, to observe, to appear, to understand and to know.  That is, it is that which  give the power to know which makes things appear.  Citi "makes" things appear in the sense than an object can only appear, or exist, in our experience, when it is held in the field of our awareness.  Like a caring mother, Citi lovingly nurtures and supports the universe -- the supreme Consciousness.

This philosophy of Kasmir Saivism - the Pratyabhijna, states that if you want to understand the highest Reality, you must first understand yourself, that you, yourself is your doorway to Reality.  We do this by simply turning our attention inward -- by becoming aware of ourself.  You can ask the question:  "Have you noticed that you're alive"?  Then allow yourself to go beyond the mind -- asking  Who is asking the question?  Who is experiencing the mind? Whi is it that knew the mind was quiet or noisey?  This can take us to the deeper sense of "I", which has never changed, which was with you in your childhood and has remeined unaltered in every instance since, it is pure Consciouness, It is citi.

We go on to contemplate Light and the Awareness of Light -- you will find in the blog:  The Aromatic Quest.blogspot.com.  A very cool contemplation of Prakasha and Vimarsha.

Kashmir Lineage Teaching -- The Splendor of Recognition

This Lineage comes from the ancient vedic knowledge based in the ancient language of Sanskrit. This lineage was passed down orally for thousands of years – was written just a couple of thousands of years, and now is beginning to disappear. In Kashmir, the foremost school of philosophy is known as Pratyabhijna (Prat- ya- bin- ya)– which means the path of recognition – the ancient science of the Soul. I’ve choosen two sources of information for us to look at: Shaiva Devotional Songs of Kashmir, and The Splendor of Recognition.




We will find references in Sanskrit – which I will explain, as needed. Two basic teachings are: Shaiva or Shiva or Siva – refers to the all encompassing God of all. The luminous principle is Paramasiva, or Supreme Siva means the supreme the auspicious one. The supreme Siva is the one who bestows grace on humanity and is then, the highest source of benevolence.



In Sashmir Sivism, the awareness of the divinity of our own nature, of our heart, is called pratyabhijna. This recognition implies recalling, remembering. Far more than purely mental operation, the act as spoken by the Saiva sages, means coming to the awareness of our own divine consciousness and, in that awareness, understanding that this sensibility has always been with you. This is not a thought, but an immediate certainty, a sense of familiarity or rightness – a new experience may actually feel like you feel like you had always been in that state – you recognize the experience of God as one’s own innermost being. The sages knew that the Self is a fact of everybody’s direct experience. Pratyabhijna arises where the two experiences, the knowledge of the Lord as supreme power and the awareness of one’s own Self, are unified in one’s experience. That experience is gloriously luminous and brimming with ecstasy – and it is not just an exercise of the intellect. If we say “I am God, I am God, I am Shiva”, we recall we have said that before – it is not the same as pratyabhijna.



As we start our study/experience of this great lineage, it is the tradition to begin by reciting mantras to invoke the highest power and ask for knowledge to be revealed, otherwise known as a benediction at the outset of the journey. I will give you two verses, that I invite you to entreat: a – praising Lord Siva who performs the five acts in the eternal play of Consciousness: the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe, and the concealment and graceful revelation of Truth:



Salutations always to Siva,

Who performs the five acts,

Makes the Highest Reality shine forth,

And illuminates the Supreme Goal;

One’s own Self, a mass of bliss and Conciousness.

Om. Peace, peace, peace!







Sanskrit:

Om namo mangalamurtaye

Atha pratyabhijna-hrdayam



Namah sivaya satatam

Panca-krtya-vidhayine

cid-ananda-ghana svatmah

paramarthavabhasine.

Om, santih, santih, santih.



And secondly:



We praise the one who is filled with devotion,

Who meditates not nor recites by the rule,

And yet without any effort at all

Attains the splendor of Siva





I invite you to just sit with these and contemplate the phrases, called sutras. Allow them to enter your being, breathe them, they will open themselves to you.



Thank you all – we will be reviewing various topics with the sutras: The Creative Power of the Universe, The Mirror of Consciousness and its Countless Reflections, The World of Our Experience, Perception and the Human Condition, The Principles of Manifestation Exist in Our Bodies, The Many Faces of the One Reality, Destiny: The Choice is Ours, Paths of the Inward-facing Contemplation, Within Us, the Entire Universe.



Not bad for 60 days of contemplation!!!