The Triadic Heart of Siva
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. |
WOW...Abhinivagupta have a tendency to nailing it !
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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. |
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. |
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A Guru said: " Meditate on yourself as being a part of Paramashiva, of supreme Consciousness" |
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I will add some more from the book and things will get clearer. |
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. |
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. |
Some pretty powerful stuff.
Any thoughts from anyone about the following? Quote:
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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!
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