In this excerpt from the Shiva Sutras  – The Supreme Awakening, third awakening, Verse 4) Swami Lakshmanjoo explains how “You must do this kind of practice for subsiding the power of ignorance, the power of illusion.”

ataśca etatpraśamāya

So etat praśamāya, for subsiding this limitation of life, limitation of being . . .

śarīre saṁhāraḥ kalānām  // 4 //

You must make all the circles (kalās) in your body enter one into the other from gross to subtle.

. . . you have to do that in your own body; in your own body of wakefulness, in your own body of dreaming state, in your own body of dreamless state–jāgrat, svapna and suṣupti–in all these three bodies you have to do kalānāṁ saṁhāraḥ, you have to make all these kalās enter in each other. Think that the grossest kalā has entered in its nearest subtle kalā, and that kalā has entered in its nearest subtle kalā.

Because there are five kalās, you already know that–

1. nivṛtti kalā,
2. pratiṣṭhā kalā,
3. vidya kalā,
4. śāntā kalā and 
5. śāntātītā kalā.

Nivṛtti kalā is situated in the field of pṛthvī, the grossest element of the world (the grossest element of the world is earth); there you find the kingdom of nivṛtti kalā.

In the next kalā, next circle of the universe the second kalā is situated. That kalā is nominated as pratiṣṭhā kalā. Pratiṣṭhā kalā possesses from jala [water] to prakṛti, all these elements. (I don’t know if they are twenty-three or twenty-four.) These twenty-four elements are possessed by the second kalā, the second circle of the world.

The third circle is called vidyā kalā. Vidyā kalā possesses six elements, six elements of covering including māyā, including the illusive śakti of God. Māyā, kalā, vidyā, rāga, kāla and niyati–all these six coverings are found there in that third kalā.

And the fourth kalā you find in that Supreme Being, from śuddhavidyā up to śiva [sadaśiva]–that is śāntā kalā–from śuddhavidyā to sadāśiva is śāntā kalā.

And śāntātītā kalā the fifth kalā is found in Śiva, in the first subtlest element, Śiva.

So what you have to do here to subside this state of being entangled in limitation all-round; just imagine, this is only the way of imagination; just meditate that this gross state of kalā has entered in . . . the nivṛtti kalā has entered in pratiṣṭhā kalā; and then pratiṣṭhā kalā has entered in vidyā kalā; vidyā kalā has entered in śāntā kalā, and śāntā kalā finally has entered in śāntātītā kalā. And when śāntātītā kalā is there you are situated in the state of Śiva. You must do this kind of practice, just to subside this  differentiated-ness and the grip of this māyā,  differentiated-ness.

mahābhūtātmakaṁ, puryaṣṭakarūpaṁ samanāntaṁ yat sthūlaṁ, sūkṣmaṁ paraṁ śarīraṁ,

Let it be gross body, let it be subtle body, let it be the subtlest body. This body is either puryaṣṭaka [subtlest], sūkṣma śarīra-[subtle], or mahābhūta [gross], made of these five gross elements. In wakefulness jāgrat śarīra is made by these five gross elements also.

In brief words, it is up to the circle of thought of consciousness, samanāntaṁ, this sthūla, sūkṣma or para. Sthūla [gross] body you have to make enter in its [sūkṣma] subtle body, and make that subtle body enter in the [para] subtlest body.

Think that this gross world is only the imagination of your mind. Be situated in your own mind, then you are situated in the state of dreaming state. (Although you are situated in wakefulness, you are in a dreaming state.) And let that dreaming state also take entry, get entry, in that dreamless state. (In that dreamless state you are thoughtless, you are one-pointed; you become one-pointed and you are very near to samādhi at that time.) You must do this kind of practice for subsiding the power of ignorance, the power of illusion.

tatra yāḥ pṛthivyādiśivānta tattvarūpāḥ kalāḥ bhāgāḥ,

There are five classes beginning from pṛthvī, śivānta tattva rūpāḥ and ending in Śiva. From pṛthvī [earth] begins the possession of nivṛtti kalā and Śiva is possessed by śāntātītā kalā, the fifth kalā. Tāsāṁ saṁhāraḥ, you have to make it enter in each other from gross to subtle way.

And the way he explains:

svakāraṇe layabhāvanayā dāhādicintanayuktayā vā dhyāttvyaḥ, iti śeṣaḥ.

You must put that effect in its cause, and that cause also in its cause, that cause also in its cause; and in the end you will find only Śiva residing all-round. When Śiva is there you are one with Śiva. You can’t be an observer of Śiva, the observed and the observer become one there.

Or there is another way.

Dāhādi cintana yuktyā, let your gross body be burnt by your imagination of thought; that is another way of meditation.

yaduktaṁ śrīvijñānabhairava–

In Vijñānabhairava it is said: all these two ways of meditation. One way is to make it enter in each other, from gross to subtle, from subtle to subtler, from subtler to subtlest. And then another way is, just to imagine that your body is burnt to ashes. From kālāgnirudra . . . first, meditate that this whole universe beginning from kālāgnirudra and ending with śāntātītā kalā (kālāgnirudra is the grossest point of the world and śāntātītā kalā is the subtlest point of the world).

So, see that this body pervades in this whole universe first, and then you put your mind on the left toe of your feet and see that kālāgnirudra rises with fire, producing its fire absolutely vigorously, and then this whole body should be burnt by imagination. This is the imaginary way of meditation.

And this meditation also becomes successful in the end.

These two ways, he has explained in these two ślokas.

bhuvanādhvādirūpeṇa cintayetkramaśo’khilam /

sthūlasūkṣmaparasthityā yāvadante manolayaḥ  //

(Vijñānabhairava 56)

First comes the grossest recension of orbit, (adhvan means orbit).

He means orbit . . . you know orbit?

Orbit means the circle of adhvas: one is bhuvanādhva, another is kalādhva and another is tattvādhva. The grossest is bhuvanādhva, subtle is tattvādhva and the subtlest is kalādhva. Grossest is bhuvanādhva because it is defined in one hundred and eighteen worlds; subtle is tattvādhva because it is explained in thirty-six elements; subtlest in kalādhva because it is explained in five orbits.

The grossest recension of orbit is pṛthvī bhuvana, bhuvanādhva. Then is subtle recension of orbit, that is tattvādhva. Then is the subtlest recension of orbit, that is kalādhva. You have to imagine, you have to meditate that the grossest recension of orbit has entered in its subtle recension of orbit of the world. And that subtle recension of orbit has entered in its subtlest recension of orbit. Sthūla has entered in sūkṣma, and sūkṣma has entered in para. This is the way of meditation, it is called laya cintana, laya bhāvanā. Just take it in, and take that in another entry and get it entered in another way, in three ways. This is the three movements of entries. Yāvadante manolayaḥ, and in the end what you feel, mind becomes unminded.

When unmindedness pervades your mind you are one with God, there is no difference between God and your being.

The next way of meditation is imaginary. That (the previous one) is also imaginary.

kālāgninā kālapadādutthitena svakaṁ puraṁ /

pluṣṭaṁ vicintayedante śāntābhāsaḥ prajāyate  //

(Vijñānabhairava 52)

When kālāgninā; kālāgninā is the state of kālāgnirudra . . .

The place of kālāgnirudra is the left toe of your foot; left toe, left foot.

JOHN:  Left foot.

SWAMIJI:  Toe of your left foot.

JOHN:  Big toe?

SWAMIJI:  Big toe.

That is the state of kālāgni, kālāgni resides there.

. . . from kālāgni you have to produce–it is imagination–produce fire from that kālāgni and get your body burnt with that fire so nothing remains, no substance of body remains left un-burnt. Svakaṁ puraṁ pluṣṭaṁ vicintayet, you must imagine that this whole body of yours has become ashes. Ante śāntābhāsaḥ prajāyate, and you will find what peace; the highest peace of God consciousness will shine in your consciousness, in your knowledge.

evamādi ca sarvāgameṣvasti / ata eva

These ways of meditations are found, not only in this tantra, [but], in each and every Tantra of Śaivism.

uccārakaraṇadhyānavarṇasthānaprakalpanaiḥ /

yo bhavetsa samāveśaḥ samyagāṇava ucyate  //

iti śrīpūrvaśāstra– (not recited)

It is why in Mālinīvijaya tantra meditation and imagination . . . the ways of meditation and ways of imaginations are found in āṇavopāya, are described in the world of āṇavopāya. They are not described; they are not explained in the world of śāktopāya, nor in the world of śāmbhavopāya. These ways of imagination and meditations are described in the world of āṇavopāya, the inferior upāya.

dhyānādi [ca] eva āṇavatvena uktaṁ / etacca sthūlatvāt śāktopāyaprakāśātmani spandaśāstre na saṁgṛhītam /

This is not narrated in Spanda śāstra because Spanda śāstra functions only in śāktopāya and śāmbhavopāya. Spanda śāstra is meant for explaining śāktopāya and śāmbhavopāya, it does not explain to you āṇavopāya, the inferior way of meditation.

So these things are not narrated in Spanda śāstra.

yattu atra paryavasāna bhaṅgyā śāktādi asti,

But in this chapter of āṇavopāya, this inferior upāya, on various points of terminations . . .

You know termination?

When the termination of bus routes begins from Harvan, that is termination, when it ends, when all this activity ends, that is termination.

. . . and when explaining āṇavopāya you get the point of, you reach to the point of termination, and at the point of termination you find the touch of śāktopaya there. And when you explain śāktopāya in a beautiful way, and in the end you find the termination of śāmbhavopāya. There are terminations of śāktopāya.

DEVOTEE:  Beginning and ending.

SWAMIJI:  Beginning and ending. Termination begins in Srinagar also and ends in Harvan, and it begins from Harvan and ends in Srinagar.

JOHN:  Like sleeping and waking?

SWAMIJI:  Sleep and waking, yes.

When termination of that point is found, there you find śāktopāya in āṇavopāya also; and there, Spanda śāstra will be quoted because Spanda śāstra explains to you śāktopāya and śāmbhavopāya only.

Yattu atra paryavasāna bhaṅgyā (paryavasāna means termination–paryavasāna ending, ending point, or beginning point; termination is not only ending point, termination means beginning point too), and there you find śāktādi . . .

tat asmābhiḥ atrāpi spandagranthāt saṁvāditaṁ; saṁvādiṣyate ca kiṁcit

. . . that will be narrated in Spanda śāstra also, and it will be shown. Saṁvādayiṣyate ca kiñcit, it will be shown in the future also.

Bas, we will end this.

|| End of text for sutra 4 ||

Source: Shiva Sutras  – The Supreme Awakening, third awakening, Verse 4, revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo
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