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Chapter 19
The Schools of Kashmir Shaivism
Kashmir Shaivism is known as the Pure Trika System. The word trika
means “the threefold science of man and his world.” In
the idea of trika, there are three energies: para (supreme), apara
(lowest), and parapara (combination of the lowest and the highest).
These three primary energies represent the threefold activities
of the world. In the thought of the Trika, therefore, it is admitted
that this whole universe and every action in it, whether spiritual,
physical, or worldly, is existing in these three energies.
The Trika Philosophy is meant for any human being without restriction
of caste, creed, or color. Its purpose is to enable you to rise
from individuality to universality. The Trika System is comprised
of four sub-systems; the Pratyabhijna system, the Kula system, the
Krama system, and the Spanda system. These four systems, which form
the one thought of the Trika system, all accept and are based on
the same scriptures (agamas). These scriptures form the ninety-two
agamas of Shaivism. The monistic Bhairava Shastras are supreme (para)
and are sixty-four in number; the mono-dualistic Rudra Shastras
are medium (parapara) and are eighteen in number; and the dualistic
Shiva Shastras are inferior (apara) and are ten in number.
Pratyabhijna System
The word pratyabhijna means “to spontaneously once again recognize
and realize your Self.” Here you have only to realize, you
do not have to practice. There are no upayas (means) in the Pratyabhijna
system. You must simply recognize who you are. Wherever you are,
whether you are at the level of Supreme Being, at the level of yoga,
or at that level which is disgusting, you can recognize your own
Nature then and there without moving anywhere or doing anything.
For example, take the case of a bride and groom. The woman has
not seen her husband-to-be and craves to see him. Concerning him
she has only heard praise and glory but she has not actually met
him. Suppose this girl and her future husband happen by chance to
go separately on the same pilgrimage. When they arrive at the place
of pilgrimage, they meet. The girl, however, does not feel any importance
in this man because she does not know him to be her future husband.
Yet her future husband and this man are the same person. Later,
when a friend introduces her to him, telling her that this is the
man who is to be her husband, then she is filled with happiness,
pleasure, and ecstasy. She realizes that this is the same man she
had seen before.
In the same way, reality dawns in the Pratyabhijna system. In whichever
level you are situated, do not mind.
"The moment recognition dawns,
not only do you instantaneously become divine, but you also realize
that you were already divine."
At that moment, you realize that you were already the Lord but
did not know it because you had misunderstood yourself.
In the Pratyabhijna philosophy it is your master who tells you,
‘that you are the same person for whom you are longing’,
and he teaches you to reach the goal there and then without adopting
any means. This teaching, therefore, is situated chiefly in anupaya,
which is that means where there are no means at all. It is the recognition
that there was nothing to be done and nowhere to go. Here, there
is no practice, no concentration and no meditation. By the grace
of your master you realize it and you are there.
The Pratyabhijna system was flourishing in the beginning of kali-yuga.
As time passed, however, it became veiled due to misunderstanding.
It wasn’t until the end of the eighth century A.D. that the
great master Somananda reintroduced the Pratyabhijna system in Kashmir.
Somananda’s disciple was Utpaladeva, and his disciple was Lakshmanagupta,
and his disciple was the very great Abhinavagupta.
Kula System
The Kula system teaches you how you can live in caitanya (universal
Consciousness), the real nature of yourself, in the act of ascending
and descending. While you rise from the lowest to the highest you
realize your nature, and while you descend from the highest to the
lowest you also realize your nature.
"In the Kula system, there is no
break in the realization of your own nature either in the highest
or in the lowest cycle. This system, therefore, teaches you how
you can live in totality."
In fact, the word kula means “totality.”
In the practice of the Kula system, you have to realize the totality
of the universe in one particle. Take one particle of anything that
exists in this world; in that one particle is to be realized the
totality of the whole universe. The totality of energy is found
in one particle. Everything is full of one thing and one thing is
full of all things.
The difference between the Pratyabhijna system and the Kula system
is, that the Pratyabhijna system teaches you how to realize your
own nature in one place and exist there, reside there. While the
Kula system teaches you how you can rise from the lowest degree
to the highest degree, and all the while, experience the nature
of your Self on the same level and state. Shiva, which is realized
in prithvi tattva (earth element), is the same level, the same reality
of Shiva which is realized in Shiva tattva. Here, there is complete
realization in every act of the world.
The Kula system was introduced in Kashmir in the beginning of the
5th century A.D. by Shri Macchandanatha. Later, in the 9th century,
because its teachings had become distorted, it was reintroduced
by Sumatinatha. In the line of masters that followed from Sumatinatha,
Somanatha was his disciple. Shambhunatha was the disciple of Somanatha,
and the great Abhinavagupta was the disciple of Shambhunatha.
Krama System
The Krama system does not recognize the ways of either the Pratyabhijna
or the Kula system. In the Krama system, you must rise in succession,
step by step. This system teaches that step-by-step realization
makes your realization firm. As the Krama system is concerned with
successive realization, it is primarily concerned with space and
time, because where there is succession there you find the existence
of space and time. In both the Pratyabhijna and Kula systems you
are beyond space and time. In the Krama system, it is in the end,
not in its process, that you are beyond time and space because it
also carries you to that timeless and space-less state.
"The Krama system is primarily
attributed to shaktopaya and to the twelve Kalis."
The twelve Kalis are said to be the twelve movements of any one
cognition. For example, if you look at any object such as a pot,
the sensation travels from your thought to the place of the pot,
and then returns again from the place of the pot to your thought,
giving you the sensation whereby you realize this pot. You do not
realize this pot at the place of the pot, you realize this pot in
your mind. Your perception has moved from inside to the pot, and
then returned again from the pot to your thought. And these movements
are distributed in twelve ways as the twelve Kalis in the Krama
system.
The rise of prana kundalini is also described in the Krama system,
because in prana kundalini you rise from one cakra to another, from
one state to another state. As this is a successive process it is
found in the Krama system.
Although the Krama system existed in the beginning of kali-yuga,
having been introduced by the sage Durvasa, it was reintroduced
at the end of the 7th century A.D. in Kashmir by the sage Erakanatha,
who was also known as Shivanandanatha. Shivanandanatha had only
three chief disciples which he initiated into the Krama system.
Because in this system predominance is given only to shakti, all
three were females. Their names were Keyuravati, Madanika, and Kalyanika.
They were quite prominent and were completely informed in the Krama
system. Afterwards, these ladies also initiated disciples, which
were both male and female.
Spanda System
The fourth system, which comprises the Trika philosophy, is called
the Spanda system. The word spanda means “movement.”
"The Spanda school recognizes that
nothing can exist without movement. Where there is movement there
is life, and where there is no movement that is lifelessness."
They realize that there is movement in wakefulness, dreaming, deep
sleep, and turya. Though some thinkers argue that there is no movement
in deep sleep the philosophers of the Spanda system realize that
nothing can exist without movement.
The teachings of the Spanda system, which is an important practical
system, are found embodied in the “Vijnana Bhairava Tantra,”
the “Svacchanda Tantra,” and in the 6th chapter of the
“Tantraloka.”
The Spanda System was introduced in Kashmir by the great sage Vasuguptanatha
in the beginning of the 8th century A.D. Vasuguptanatha is the author
of both the “Shiva Sutras” and the “Spanda Karikas.”
The disciple of Vasuguptanatha was Kallata.
Some teachers think that the "Spanda Karikas" were not
composed by Vasaguptanatha but rather by his disciple Kallata. This
theory however, is ablolutely incorrect.
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Secret Supreme
contents
chapter 04
chapter 05
chapter 10
chapter 14
chapter 16
chapter 17
chapter 19
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