"You are such"

Dear reader,

welcome to SARVAṂ SARVĀTMAKAM, a blog dedicated to pondering over selected excerpts from the texts of non-dual Kasmir Śaivism as well as academic studies on the topic. I am a graduate student of philosophy at the University of Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia). For someone studying philosophy in Ljubljana, I have chosen quite an unusual research topic - the philosophy of non-dual Kashmir Śaivism (specifically, I am interested in the correspondences between ontology and aesthetics). I am immensely grateful to my mentor (herself a specialist in Asian philosophies, especially Chinese and Japanese) for her invaluable support as well as to other members of the Department of Philosophy for their open-mindedness. However, studying Kashmir Śaivism in Slovenia, a tiny country of no more than 2 million inhabitants, can be a lonesome enterprise at times. Through this blog, I would like to reach out to others also interested in Kashmir Śaivism. Any response on your behalf will be greatly appreciated!

To begin with, I have chosen a short passage from Abhinavagupta’s Īśvara-pratyabhijñā-vimarśinī  (ĪPV) (for English translation, see Iyer, Pandey and Dwivedi, 1986; probably the quickest and easiest way to access the original text is via Muktabodha on-line digital library), one of those classical works anybody interested in the philosophy of non-dual Kashmir Śaivism would stumble upon rather sooner than later. It is itself a commentary of another classical text, Utpaladeva’s Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā (ĪPK) (see Torella, 2002), a text in which many key-features of what is commonly perceived as the philosophy of non-dual Kashmir Śaivism are established. One of those - if not THE one - for which non-dual Kashmir Śaivism is most famous, is the notion of the Self as Śiva. (An interesting further reading on the topic of Self in non-dual Kashmir Śaivism, especially with reference to Utpaladeva’s contribution, is Dyczkowski, 1990.)

The age-old question to which Indian traditions are trying to find an answer is, of course, “Who am I?” Who or what is “the Self”? Who is this mysterious “I” that can never become an object of thought, this pure subjectivity that seems to enliven everything else? The body, the vital energy, the mind, can all become an object of thought - we sure do identify with them in every-day life, but we can as well dis-identify from them, as the practitioners of meditation have testified time and again. If I am not the body, if I am not the mind, if I am not the senses or prāṇa - who, then, am I? Tat tvam asi, “You are that”, aham brahmāsmi, “I am Brahman”, famously proclaim the Upaniṣads. But what exactly is this “that”, tat, what is the nature of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, and how does the eternal divine principle relate to the small individual self that seems to be so frustrated, so tormented in worldly bondage?

The philosophy of non-dual Kashmir Śaivism is a  series of stunning, profound, complex and amazingly beautiful answers to those questions - to truly understand it is a goal to which ancient as well as contemporary giants of spirit have dedicated their whole lives. I can in no way claim to be fit for this task. What follows is therefore only a very limited simplification.

The Ultimate Reality, the Masters say, is Śiva - the Absolute. It is absolute consciousness (cit), constantly aware of itself - this self-awarensess (vimarśa) of the absolute consciousness is absolute bliss (ānanda). It is a bliss that is inherently dynamic, a subtle inner vibration (spanda) of the Absolute. The blissful absolute consciousness is immensely potent and creative - it is sheer essence of life, pure divine power (Śakti), and by its own will, it manifests itself as the Cosmos. In the Cosmos, Śiva is both immanent and transcendent - there is nothing in Cosmos that is not Śiva, but there is much in Śiva that is beyond cosmic manifestation.  Due to certain mechanisms in its own divine play (krīḍā), the absolute consciousness willingly limits itself through a sort of self-forgetfulness, by which it forgets about two of its key characteristics - omnipotence and omniscience. But what was fogotten can be remebered again - the Self, though seemingly limited, can be led to recognition (pratyabhijñā) of its own true nature. And this is exactly what is the task of scriptures - and of philosophy, as well. It is a bold bet of the pratyabhijñā school of non-dual Kashmir Śaivism that the Self can be made to recognise itself with a little help of argumentation. Thus Abhinavagupta writes:       

“[...] the wrong notion, "I am not the Lord" which is due to ignorance in the worldly people, in regard to the Self, that is always shining as "I", is removed by the  Śāstra as follows: -

(1) He, who is possessed of power of freedom in respect of knowledge and action, is " Īśvara", as is the onewhom we know through Purāṇas and  Āgamas. You are such.” 

(Iyer, Pandey, Dwivedi, 1986: 164)

… to be continued …

References

Dyczkowski, M. S. G. (1990). Self Awareness, Own Being and Egoity. Varanasi: Ratna Printing Works.

Iyer, K. A., Pandey, K. C., & Dwivedi, R. C. (1986). Īśvara-pratyabhijñā-vimarśinī of Abhinavagupta: Doctrine of divine recognition. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Torella, R. (2002). The Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā of Utpaladeva with the author's vṛtti: Critical edition and annotated translation. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.