The Triadic Heart of Siva

[jonesboy]

From the book The Triadic Heart of Siva.


The Heart of Siva

The Heart, says Abhinavagupta, is the very Self of Siva, of Bhairava,

and of the Devi, the Goddess who is inseparable from Siva. Indeed,

the Heart is the site of their union (yamala), of their embrace (samghatta).

This abode is pure consciousness (caitanya) as well as unlimited bliss

(ananda). As consciousness the Heart is the unbounded, infinite light

(prakasa) as well as the freedom (svatantrya) and spontaneity (vimarsa)

of that light to appear in a multitude and variety of forms. The Heart,

says Abhinavagupta, is the sacred fire-pit of Bhairava.1

The Heart is the Ultimate (anuttara) which is both utterly transcendent

to (visvottirna) and yet totally immanent in (visvamaya) all created things.

It is the ultimate essence (sara). Thus, the Heart embodies the paradoxical

nature of Siva and is therefore a place of astonishment (camatkara), sheer

wonder (vismaya), and ineffable mystery. The Heart is the fullness and

unboundedness of Siva (purnatva), the plenum of being that overflows

continuously into manifestation. At the same time, it is also an inconceivable

emptiness (sunyatisunya).2 The Heart is the unbounded and

universal Self (purnahanta).

The Heart of Siva is not a static or inert absolute, however. In fact,

the non-dual Kashmir Shaiva tradition considers it to be in a state of

perpetual movement, a state of vibration (spanda)3 in which it is continuously

contracting and expanding (samkoca-vikasa), opening and closing

(unmesa-nimesa), trembling (ullasita), quivering (sphurita), throbbing,

waving, and sparkling (ucchalata). The intensity and speed of this move

ment is such that paradoxically it is simultaneously a perfect dynamic

stillness.4

The tradition states that the Heart is the enormous ocean (ambunidhi),

the ocean of light, the ocean of consciousness. The waters of consciousness

that in man are broken by countless polarizing and divisive waves (urmi)

may be easily brought to a state of dynamic stillness by the process of

immersion or absorption (samdvesa) in the Heart.

[Bindu*]

WOW...Abhinivagupta have a tendency to nailing it !

The tradition states that the Heart is the enormous ocean (ambunidhi),
the ocean of light, the ocean of consciousness. The waters of consciousness
that in man are broken by countless polarizing and divisive waves (urmi)
may be easily brought to a state of dynamic stillness by the process of
immersion or absorption (samdvesa) in the Heart.

It reminds me of the vision of Ramakrishna (another spiritual giant):

Ramakrishna describes his first vision of Kali as follows—

I had a marvellous vision of the Mother, and fell down unconscious.…It was as if houses, doors, temples and everything else vanished altogether; as if there was nothing anywhere! And what I saw was an infinite shoreless sea of light; a sea that was consciousness. However far and in whatever direction I looked, I saw shining waves, one after another, coming towards me

Shiva and Shakti are ONE.....

[jonesboy]

Yes I have found Abhinivagupta to be an amazing writer.

This is a great book that can be found online.

I can add more post if anyone is up for a discussion.

[jonesboy]

THE HEART AS ULTIMATE REALITY pg 86-87

We have encountered Abhinavagupta's own comments as to the futility of any attempt at intellectually pinning down the nature of the Ultimate. Nevertheless, Abhinavagupta does emphasize certain ideas with respect to Siva. Perhaps his primary view is that Siva is the totality of consciousness that is the source of all manifest reality, at once totally transcendent and completely immanent.

Siva who is pervaded in this fashion by a subtle sounding (nada) is composed of consciousness. He who manifests himself at one and the same time as the

16 father and mother is the creator of the entire universe.
Further, he states:

Everything that exists resides within the blessed Lord Bhairava. Whatever

appears within our Heart or leaves the point of our tongue resides, I say, in

Paramesvara, who is not limited by time, is one with consciousness, and is

perpetually united with all the powers. He constitutes a unity which coexists

without contradiction with the hundreds of creations and dissolutions which

are manifested by his contraction and expansion, and it is by means of these

that he expresses his freedom. This reality of Siva, therefore has neither begin-

ning nor end and it is luminous with its own light. Its essence is a complete

freedom which consists in perfect independence determined by the fullness

of all things. Within itself it embraces all principles, which are in effect identical 17 with it.

Not content to let the matter rest there, Abhinavagupta forcefully confutes those who would think of Siva as completely inactive and only transcendent. In the following passage he seems to be directing an attack on those who would equate Siva with the Samkhya notion of the purusa:

The Siva which they imagine, completely pacified, differentiated from all other things, transcendent to all the other paths, similar therefore to something insentient or inert, like a glass, does not exist anywhere at all. Siva in effect is nothing more than this consciousness, which unfolds itself everywhere in the form of a great light. Its very condition as Siva indeed consists in the fact that all the varied forms of the universe appear. This process of manifestation into all the forms of the universe produces itself completely freely within him.

[Bindu*]

Originally Posted by jonesboy

The Siva which they imagine, completely pacified, differentiated from all other things, transcendent to all the other paths, similar therefore to something insentient or inert, like a glass, does not exist anywhere at all. Siva in effect is nothing more than this consciousness, which unfolds itself everywhere in the form of a great light. Its very condition as Siva indeed consists in the fact that all the varied forms of the universe appear. This process of manifestation into all the forms of the universe produces itself completely freely within him.

Gems from Abhinivagupta. And initself a complete key to Shaiva sadhana. Seeing Consiousness abiding everywhere as everything. As Light. And as centered in one owns heart as well.
A Guru said: " Meditate on yourself as being a part of Paramashiva, of supreme Consciousness"

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by Bindu*

Gems from Abhinivagupta. And initself a complete key to Shaiva sadhana. Seeing Consiousness abiding everywhere as everything. As Light. And as centered in one owns heart as well.
A Guru said: " Meditate on yourself as being a part of Paramashiva, of supreme Consciousness"

The Heart is consciousness in KS which is everything.

I will add some more from the book and things will get clearer.

[jonesboy]

Pg. 99

For just as in the body, which is made up of all the principles and depends

on various different parts, such as the skin, etc., that Heart is called the place

where there is a repose in the pure light and pure consciousness, which is not

different from the parts of the body; in the same way, the body of the Blessed

Lord Bhairava, which is composed of various principles, worlds, etc., which

has a universal form, has a self-referential consciousness as its essence, and is

composed of the fifty phonemes, so the Heart is the very essence of that, and

is a self-referential consciousness which is nondifferent from all the parts of

the body.57



In the same text, the Heart is termed sva-samvidrupa, an undifferentiated

self-referential consciousness. It is for this reason that the Heart plays

such a crucial soteriological role. Abhinavagupta says:



When the Heart is free of stains and a light occurs which illuminates the Supreme

plane, by immersion in this shining light, one obtains identity with the Supreme

Siva, that is, with consciousness.58



In this verse Abhinavagupta has compressed the essence of the Sambhavopaya,

the highest path for a return to Siva.

As a final reference we may look at a verse from a later Shaiva text,

the Mahartha-manjari. Mahesvarananda, the author of this twelfth century

text, states:

Only the light of the Heart truly exists; in creative activity it is the active agent,

and this activity, when it reposes in itself, is the self-referential capacity of

consciousness, whereas when it begins to spread outwards it causes the manifestation

of the universe.

[jonesboy]

pg. 100

As the Embodied Cosmos that emerges from Siva, the kula is the

grand and complex structure of lived reality.



If Siva is the absolute totality, kula is a term that can be applied to

any emergent manifestation from that totality. Kula seems to be applied

on a sliding scale from the largest unit of manifestation to the smallest.



Even as Siva creates the very real game of

breaking himself into parts which suffer transformation, division, extinction

and emptiness, he is nevertheless able to maintain himself free of the game

and intact as Siva, all the while taking on the roles required by the game.



In the inconceivable enormity of Siva's game, any self-contained

unit - for example, our universe - may be termed a kula. The unit is

self-sufficient precisely because it is a part that is structured out of wholeness.

Since the kula's essential reality is finally that wholeness which it

has bodied forth, every unit, or kula, resonates in identity with every

other structure composed of that wholeness. It is in this way that the

human body, as a kula, resonates in identity with the entire universe.


Wherever Siva is present, the

whole is present. If the body is a structure composed essentially of Siva,

then all that is manifested from Siva, including the entire array of universes,

may be found present in the body.

[jonesboy]

Some pretty powerful stuff.

Any thoughts from anyone about the following?

Even as Siva creates the very real game of
breaking himself into parts which suffer transformation, division, extinction
and emptiness, he is nevertheless able to maintain himself free of the game
and intact as Siva, all the while taking on the roles required by the game.

[running]

i dont know where you find this stuff. but your ability to do, patience to follow it, and ability to interpret and understand it is a blessing for the forum. thanks!