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Tantric Aphorisms
Tantric Aphorisms
APHORISMS
Sayings from the Great Sages
of Kashmir Shaivism
Awareness IS the Self.
Awareness, Shiva, is the soul of the world.
The Shiva Sutras
For the Yogi who has attained the state of
Bhairava [simultaneous awareness of their outer
and inner experiencing] the entire world [outer as
well as inner] is experienced as their body.
Vijnanabhairava Tantra
Whether outside or inside SHIVA [pure awareness] is
omnipresent.
The yogi should contemplate the entirety of open space
(or sky) as the essence of Bhairava [Shiva].
Vijnanabhairava Tantra
One should, setting aside identification with
one’s own body, contemplate that the same
awareness is present in other bodies than one’s
own.
Somananda
Just like the beloved, who after much insistence,
stands in the presence of the maid in love, but
though he is there before her does not give her
any pleasure until she recognises who he is – as
he seems just like other men at that moment –
so for humanity the Self, who is yet the Lord of
the World, cannot manifest its own glory until its
qualities have been brought to light.
Utpaladeva
The wishing tree of Self-Awareness, with its mighty
branches, standing full-grown in the region of the
Heart, has the loveliness of Experience for its
flowers, and the festive splendour of unimpaired
Bliss for its fruits.
Utpaladeva
How wonderful it is that although only one
sound, that is, SHIVA’s name, is always on
the tips of their tongues, yet [His]
devotees can taste the ineffable relish of
all the objects of the senses.
Utpaladeva
Having made itself manifest, awareness
abides as both the inner and the outer.
The visible world is the body.
Utpaladeva
With one’s intent inside while looking outside,
eyes neither opening or closing – this is
Bhaivara’s [Shiva’s] Mudra kept secret in all the
Tantras.
In the two conditions, the inner and the outer…he
whose ultimate intent is internal and whose vision
is directed outward attains the highest
realisation.
Kshemaraja
Immersing himself in the supreme reality,
clearly aware that awareness is in all things,
[the Yogi’s] awareness vibrates. This
throbbing pulsation [Spanda] is the Great
Pervasion [Mahavyapti].
Kshemaraja
Every appearance owes its existence
to the light of awareness.
Nothing can have its own being
without the light of awareness.
Kshemaraja
… the being of all things that are recognised
in awareness in turn depends on awareness.
Abhinavagupta
… the power of space is inherent in the soul
as true subjectivity, which is at once empty of
objects and which also provides a place in
which objects may be known.
Abhinavagupta
The Shastras [teachings] and Agamas
[scriptures] proclaim with reasoned
argument that it [awareness] is free of
thought-constructs and precedes all mental
representation of any objects.
Abhinavagupta
Just as a man who has been ill for a long time
forgets his past pain completely when he
regains his health, absorbed as he is in the
ease of his present condition, so too are
those who are grounded in pure awareness
free of thought-constructs no longer
conscious of their previous [fettered] state.
Abhinavagupta
The [fettered soul] is like a dancing
girl who although wishing to leave
the dancehall is collared by the
doorkeeper of thought and thrown
back onto the stage of Maya.
Abhinavagupta
Just as an object appears directly to one
whose eyes are open without the
intervention of mental cogitation, so for
some, does SHIVA’s nature.
Abhinavagupta
Not grounded in anything, this
[awareness] is not Energy, the Great
Goddess; nor is it God, the power-holder,
because it is not the foundation of
anything. It is not an object of
meditation because… there is none who
meditates … nothing to meditate on.
Abhinavagupta
The yogi should abide firmly fixed in his own
nature by the power of expanding awareness …
relishing the objects of sense that
spontaneously appear before him.
Abhinavagupta
Bhairava [Shiva] is he whose light shines in
the minds of those yogis who are intent on
assimilating time into the eternal present of
awareness.
Abhinavagupta
The Power that resides in the
Heart of Awareness is Freedom itself.
Abhinavagupta
A Yogi can enter another person’s body
without leaving his own.
The Guru’s consciousness is activated
in the disciple’s consciousness … thus
initiation that bestows liberation is
given.
So gracious is he that, by transferring
his own nature to those whose
awareness is pure, they become one
with him at his gaze.
Abhinavagupta
There are dull-witted people who are
confused themselves and throw the
multitude of creatures into confusion.
Having thus seen creatures who are simply
carriers of the burden of Gurus and their
blind followers, I have prepared a trident of
wisdom in order to cut asunder their
bondage.
Abhinavagupta
Since this doctrine is a deep secret,
I am not delineating it clearly.
Abhinavagupta
Some may be able to speak, but if their
awareness is obscured, they are unable to rise,
unaware as they are, to the level of the
experiencing subject who understands what has
been said. They only grasp the outer successive
[sounds] of what the other person says and thus
can only repeat it parrot-fashion … An
understanding of meaning presupposes that
they have caught hold of their own power of
awareness, - by attaining the autonomy of
Absolute [Divine] Subjectivity.
Abhinavagupta
Victory to the ancient Gurus…who are
faultless pilots through the turbulence of
the waves of the sea of sacred texts.
Abhinavagupta
In You, the Supreme, who transcends the
abyss, You without beginning, the unique
one who has penetrated the secret depths,
You who rest in everything, You who are
found in everything … in You,
SHAMBU [Shiva], I take refuge.
Abhinavagupta
Listen: neither accepting nor rejecting
anything but just sharing joyfully in
everything, being as you are.
Abhinavagupta
He, whose hands, feet, mind, learning,
religious austerity and conduct are well
balanced (restrained), enjoys the fruits
of pilgrimage (even without going
there).
Abhinavagupta
That person is ‘Abhinavagupta’ who remains aware
in the course of everyday activities, who is present
in the objective domain as well as in the
subjective, and dwells there without limitation. He
sings the praises [of divinity] without ceasing to
concentrate on the powers of knowledge and
activity. He is protected by this praise even though
he lives under the pressure of temporal affairs.
Jayaratha
I bow to Lord Shiva, Vasugupta,
Somananda, and Utpalacharaya,
Lakshmana (Gupta), Abhinavagupta and
Kshemaraja.