Spanda Karikas - for Jonesboy

[sky]

Originally Posted by Bindu*

Yeah it is mysterious, and not until we get enlightended can we be probable be sure about it I guess.

In the meantime we have to rely on the words of the austronauts of spirituality.
The saints and sages who have been established in the wisdom consciousness of enlightenment and see it as a reality and report to us...

Also the scriptures are helpful.



"All this is Brahman. (Sarvam khalvidam brahma)"
Chandogya Upanishad

This is one of the most important Mahavakyas (great sayings).
From the ancient upanshads..

A contemplation from swami.com

Love the contemplation, advise me on some more please but nothing to heavy, I like simplicity....

[Bindu*]

I'm in guidance myself, and is not really fit to guide others I think.

Most teachers and sages I am inspired by, is all saying similar things though:

Go within yourself (meditate). There is a treasure there. The Divine..awareness...Consciousness...Atman..that is the same as Brahman....
Shiva/Shakti..that is of the nature of bliss and love. whatever names used, this seems to be the essence of what the teachers say.

Identifying with the small ego (Jiva) and mindstream is limiting oneself. Let go of that and feel what you are in reality...a much vider Consciousness.



Maybe read the classic words of the masters and contemplating it.

Letting the Soul guide you into a nice pathway for you to get free....

Namaste

[sky]

Originally Posted by Bindu*

I'm in guidance myself, and is not really fit to guide others I think.

Most teachers and sages I am inspired by, is all saying similar things though:

Go within yourself (meditate). There is a treasure there. The Divine..awareness...Consciousness...Atman..that is the same as Brahman....
Shiva/Shakti..that is of the nature of bliss and love. whatever names used, this seems to be the essence of what the teachers say.

Identifying with the small ego (Jiva) and mindstream is limiting oneself. Let go of that and feel what you are in reality...a much vider Consciousness.



Maybe read the classic words of the masters and contemplating it.

Letting the Soul guide you into a nice pathway for you to get free....

Namaste

Yes ' great minds think alike ' I am not looking to get free I am free as I believe we are where we are surposed to be, reading is just a hobby to me, one I enjoy. I wasn't asking for guidance btw, but thanks anyway.

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by django

I'm curious Jonesboy, which part of sky's quote...

"Spanda is often called sphuratta, the ‘scintillating pulse’ of the Supreme Light*which continuously trembles within its own incandescence. This very vibration*makes up the totality of all beings. Thus the Universal Spanda blissfully vibrates*as all aspects of the Self. Even ‘negative’ feelings and thoughts are part of Spanda;*when it contracts into the form of negative thoughts and feelings, these*are used as a spring-board to move into an expanded state, thus*completing the dance of life."

...did you feel wasn't an accepted view?

Hi django,

One of the things i love about Abhinavagupta is he takes one from the local mind view where one experiences "negative feelings" to that of the absolute view. How absolute consciousness even comes into being and then how that consciousness is the creation of all "things".

Spanda as described in the very beginning of Spanda Karikas under the heading What is Spanda pg xvi.

What is Spanda ?

Spanda is a very technical word of this system. Literally, it is some sort of movement or throb. But as applied to the Divine, it cannot mean movement.

"Spandana means some sort of movement. If there is movement from the essential nature of the Divine towards another object, it is definite movement, not some sort, otherwise, movement itself would be nothing. Therefore, Spanda is only a throb, a heaving of spiritual rapture in the essential nature of the Divine which excludes all succession. This is the significance of the word Kincit in kincit calanam which is to be interpreted as "movement as it were."

Movement or motion occurs only in a spatio-temporal framework. The Supreme transcends all notions of space and time. Spanda, therefore, in the case of the Supreme is neither physical motion, nor psychological activity like pain and pleasure, nor pranic activity like hunger or thirst. It is the throb of the ecstasy of the Divine I-consciousness (vimarsa). The Divine I-consciousness is spiritual dynamism. It is the Divine creative pulsation. It is the throb of Siva's svatantrya or absolute Freedom.

If Spanda is not any kind of movement, how can the
application of this word be justified to the activity of the Supreme, for the word Spanda means 'a somewhat of motion ?' This is the explanation offered by Abhinavagupta.

"Spandana means a somewhat of movement. The characteristic of 'somewhat' consists in the fact that even the immovable appears 'as if moving,' because though the light of consciousness does not change in the least, yet it appears to be changing as it were. The immovable appears as if having a variety of manifestation."

Spanda is, therefore, spiritual dynamism without any movement in itself but serving as the causa sine qua non of all movements.

The Infinite Perfect Divine Consciousness always has vimaria or Self-awareness. This Self-awareness is a ' subtle activity which is spiritual dynamism, not any physical, psychological or pranic activity. As Utpaladeva puts it in ISvarapratyabhijna :

The Divine is termed the great Lord (MaheSvara) because of His ever-present, immutable Self-awareness (vimaria). That Self awareness in its absolute Freedom constitutes Divine (suddha— pure) knowledge and activity." Spanda is only another name of Self-awareness or Vimarsa. As Ksemaraja puts it, Spanda also connotes the svatantrya or absolute Freedom of the Divine (.Bhagavatah svatantrya-saktih). Vimarsa, parasakti, svatantrya, aisvarya, kartrtva, sphuratta, sara, hrdaya, and spanda are
synonymous in Saivagama.

If we continue to page xx of this same book he really breaks it down.

9. It is on account of anava, maylya and karma mala that the empirical individual is unable to realize the spanda principle.

10. When the limited ego or anava mala of the individual is dissolved, he acquires the true characteristic of the spanda principle, viz., innate knowledge and activity.

11. When the yogi realizes the spanda principle, he knows that this is his essential Self, and not his empirical self.

12 & 13. The experience of void does not prove that there is
no Experient, for without the Experient, even the experience of void would not be possible. This Experient is the spanda principle.

14, 15 & 16. Spanda or the Divine principle appears in two aspects, subject and object. It is only the object that changes and disapp<*Qrs, never the Subject. Spanda constitutes the eternal subject.

17. The fully awakened yogi or suprabuddha has an integral experience of the Spanda principle in all the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep, but the partially awakened individual has an experience of it only in the beginning and end of waking, dream, and deep sleep, not in the middle of these states.

..20. The particular forms of spanda appear as entirely different from consciousness to all those who are not awakened to their divine source. So they are doomed to a life of worldly existence.

21. One should, therefore, have constant awareness of the spanda principle even in the common work-a-day world.

22. In intense emotional state or a state of mental impasse, all the mental activities come to a dead stop. That is the time when one can have an experience of the spanda principle if one is properly oriented towards it.

23. 24, 25. When the yogi lays his grip firmly on the spanda principle, his prarta and apana get merged in the su$umna\ they mount up to Brahmarandhra and finally get dissolved in the ether of consciousness beyond it.

Thus by means of twenty five verses the essential nature of spanda together with the means for attaining it has been des- cribed from various points of view.

This is a very long way of showing that spanda and the realization of spanda is beyond such things as "negative feelings" and is talking about something much deeper. More so it directly states that one who still experiences things like negative feelings has not realized spanda. So while it may be his truth to say it is spanda within the KS tradition and teachings that is not true as spanda is not the expansion of good feelings and the contraction to negative feelings.

[sky]

If Spanda is the vibration of the universe that pervades both energies in our bodies (positive and negative) or ( yin/yang ) then we should see the absolute in everything, including negativity.

The quiver that you can sometimes feel is our own spark of life force.
Thats how I see/feel it anyway, mybe it's not an accepted view but it's mine, for now

[jonesboy]

Spanda isn’t a vibration. Reread the beginning of my last post or even read the pdf offered by the op.

[sky]

Spanda can be translated as throb or pulse or to mean vibration, movement, or motion.

The vibration of divine consciouness.

Spanda in Sanskrit is a word that describes the inherent creative vibration of the absolute.

Many more descriptions availabe according to the perciever, but vibration is used over and over again.

Hope this helps...

[jonesboy]

I know it is hard but read this again. It clearly states it isn’t a movement.

What is Spanda ?

Spanda is a very technical word of this system. Literally, it is some sort of movement or throb. But as applied to the Divine, it cannot mean movement.

"Spandana means some sort of movement. If there is movement from the essential nature of the Divine towards another object, it is definite movement, not some sort, otherwise, movement itself would be nothing. Therefore, Spanda is only a throb, a heaving of spiritual rapture in the essential nature of the Divine which excludes all succession. This is the significance of the word Kincit in kincit calanam which is to be interpreted as "movement as it were."

Movement or motion occurs only in a spatio-temporal framework. The Supreme transcends all notions of space and time. Spanda, therefore, in the case of the Supreme is neither physical motion, nor psychological activity like pain and pleasure, nor pranic activity like hunger or thirst. It is the throb of the ecstasy of the Divine I-consciousness (vimarsa). The Divine I-consciousness is spiritual dynamism. It is the Divine creative pulsation. It is the throb of Siva's svatantrya or absolute Freedom.

If Spanda is not any kind of movement, how can the
application of this word be justified to the activity of the Supreme, for the word Spanda means 'a somewhat of motion ?' This is the explanation offered by Abhinavagupta.

"Spandana means a somewhat of movement. The characteristic of 'somewhat' consists in the fact that even the immovable appears 'as if moving,' because though the light of consciousness does not change in the least, yet it appears to be changing as it were. The immovable appears as if having a variety of manifestation."

Spanda is, therefore, spiritual dynamism without any movement in itself but serving as the causa sine qua non of all movements.

[jonesboy]

Would it also be too much to ask of you to post from the document itself about about spanda instead of finding Internet definitions

[sky]

Spanda
is the original, primordial
subtle vibration that arises from
the dynamic interplay of the passive
and the creative polarizations of the
Absolute, and that by unfolding
itself into the energetic
process of differentiation
bringing forth the whole
of creation.
www.spanda.org.