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Notes on Kashmir Shaivism
1) The Background1.1 I run the risk of making a cartoon of Kashmir Shaivism herebecause of brevity, but hopefully I can bring out the salient issues,relevant to the account of creation in ‘Stalking the Strange Serpent’.Kashmir Shaivism was really a loose amalgamation of doctrines fromdifferent but allied ‘schools’ – the Kula and Krama lineages thataccepted the Shaiva Agamas as source texts, and the later schools of Pratybhijna and Spanda. There was a great synthesis known as Trikain which a sage called Abhinavagupta was the main inspiration.‘Trika’ means ‘three’ and is a reference to the triadic relationships thatoccur all over the place in the philosophical expositions. Nowterminology can be a nightmare as the philosophers of ancientKashmir (and India generally) loved to make up more and more termsto cover yet subtler ‘aspects’ of reality. In the parallel ‘schools’ a lot of these became regarded as equivalent, but not without controversy. Atthe risk of huge over-simplification, we can outline three ‘Shastras’ (teachings):Agama Shastra – main text = Shiva Sutras,main concept = Consciousness as Energy, Shiva-ShaktiPratybhijna Shastramain text = Pratybhjina –Sutras (the Pratyabhijnahrdayam is a digest)main concept = Consciousness as Self- Recognition, Prakasha-VimarshaSpanda Shastramain text = Spanda-Karikasmain concept = Consciousness as Vibration, Spanda1.2 Now the foundational principle in each of these strands wasusually referred to as ‘Shiva’ – hence Shaivism. But since eachShastra had slightly different connotations for ‘Shiva’, when it came tothe Trika synthesis the term ‘Paramashiva’ was needed to overcomethe sectarian differences between each strand. Within the core textsthemselves the term ‘Paramashiva’ is hardly, if ever, used. I have infront of me all three of the texts listed above, and I cannot find evenone use of ‘Paramashiva’ in the sutras. Nonetheless, in the Trikasynthesis the term came to stand for the root foundational principleso as to be able to incorporate the other strands.1.3 Now the root foundational principle, howsoever termed in theShastras, was always conceived as a primary Unity that nonethelesscontained an integral two-ness or duality. Like the two inseparablesides of one coin. So the discussion always had a ‘triadic’ feel as ittalked of the Unity and its two ‘aspects’. Now there are very good
 
reasons as to why
any 
monistic metaphysical system
must 
display this‘triadic’ quality: If all is only One then we get no manifestation, for thisrequires some kind of 
interplay.
We need no more than two players (abinary code) to generate manifestation. So the foundation is a One-containing-two.2) Consciousness/Awareness2.1 The foundational principle, Paramashiva, needs to display thisOne-containing-two-ness. When explaining the nature of Paramashiva, it is described variously as ‘Cit’ or ‘Caitanya’ or‘Parasamvit’, which are translated as Consciousness or Awareness.Now these two English terms are excellent candidates forParamashiva, as they seem to contain just the right quality:Consciousness or Awareness seems to be ‘one’ and yet it contains apolarisation, a relational ‘conscious of…’or ‘aware of…’.Because of this common polarisation, the terms ‘Consciousness’ and‘Awareness’ can often be confused or used interchangeably.Inextricably bound up with this issue is the self-reflective aspect of Consciousness/Awareness which gives rise to an ‘I’ sense - a feeling ‘Iam’. There is no ‘right’ use of these terms here; we just have to specifytheir use.2.2 Now Consciousness/Awareness, in general, can exhibit an ‘I’ sense or not. A lot of experimentation has been done by animalpsychologists to determine the level of self-awareness in many species.Most species of animal, while clearly conscious, do not seem displayany self-awareness. One of the criteria used was whether the animalsdisplayed signs of 
recognising 
themselves in a mirror – apparently onlychimpanzees and dolphins pass this test. Recognition is a crucialaspect of Consciousness/Awareness when it comes to the ‘I’ sense.2.3 Now in the ‘Strange Serpent’ I use the term ‘Awareness’ as theprimary term, the quality that all sentient creatures display; and‘Consciousness’ as the self-reflective aspect which gives rise to the ‘I’-sense. I use them that way for no other reason than that is how theyare used in a lot of the Advaita discussions, particularly inNisargadatta’s famous dialogues - “I am That”. I know, though, thatelsewhere they are used the other way round. The majority of Englishcommentaries on Shaivism do in fact have it the other way. A betteruse than either of these, really, which gels nicely with the Trikasynthesis, would be as follows:
 
Let ‘Consciousness’ refer to the whole – Paramashiva – One-containing-two.Let Awareness be that aspect of Consciousness which illumines that which it is aware of.Let Self-Awareness be that reflective aspect of Consciousness thatturns back on itself to create the ‘I’ sense – ‘I AM’ 3) Synthesis of Agama and Pratybhijna Shastras3.1 Now, using the above terminology, the Pratybhijna school has thefollowing triad:It refers to Awareness - the illuminating aspect of Consciousness as‘Prakasha’.It refers to the ability of Consciousness to Recognise itself i.e. theaspect of Self-Awareness, as ‘Vimarsha’ – the ‘I’ sense of Consciousness. The whole, Consciousness, contains both aspects and is referred to as‘Prakashavimarshamaya’ 3.2 The Agama Shastra has a triad based around Consciousness asenergy: The ‘potential’ aspect of the energy of Consciousness is ‘Shiva’. The ‘kinetic’ aspect of the same is ‘Shakti’. The whole, Consciousness, is ‘Paramashiva’ who is ‘Shiva-Shakti’.3.3 So the synthesis lines up the triads:Paramashiva = Prakashavimarshamaya = ConsciousnessShiva = Prakasha = AwarenessShakti = Vimarsha = ‘I’ sense of Consciousness4) Synthesis of Spanda Shastra This, to me, is a profound part of the synthesis. The foundationalprinciple here is Spanda which is Consciousness as Vibration.Now a vibration vibrates or oscillates between two poles. So the triadhere is Spanda and its two poles of oscillation. The synthesis here isobvious: Paramashiva is Spanda and Shiva-Shakti are the poles of itsoscillation. This has a tremendously alive feel..
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