The Indian state of Kashmir is home to one of the world’s profound spiritual traditions. A text central to the mystical philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism is the Spanda Karika, or Stanzas on Vibration. In a nutshell, the Spanda philosophy teaches that universal consciousness, that is, all that is, was and ever will be, is both immanent and transcendent. Transcendent Being is called Shiva, and possesses the quality of utter and complete “non-thingness.” Shiva, as the human that is Being, can be recognized and reflected upon, but not described. Nor can He be apprehended except through “anugraha” or His own divine grace. Only then can Shiva be realized as the transcendent universal Self that all manifest beings always already are. By our own divine grace we each recognize that universal Being, that native Humanity, the actual Self, that we each and all already are.
Shiva can only be recognized through his own grace by his immanent Self, Shakti. Shakti is Shiva manifest as spanda, the divine vibratory energy that is each and all of us and the universe we create for our Self. We can apprehend and recognize the dynamic, pulsing core of our humanity by recognizing that universal, manifold manifestation emerges as a single note, the SOHAM uttered from the throat of Shiva. The most auspicious realization that a person can experience is the recognition that the only human being that exists is the universal Being that each and all of us already are.
The divine Heart of Shiva/Shakti is that pulsing center of fabulously erotic bliss that cannot be contained and can only burst forth from the throat of the universal Human to manifest herself as the universe of beings. The mystical wisdom of Kashmir Shaivism invites us to discover that the grandest experience of enlightenment is also the simplest and most profound understanding of what it means to be human.
The Song Alone
I am the opera diva
in love with the
sensation of my own Voice,
the pulsing bliss of
a Sound belted from
the heated vibrato of
my divine Heart
bursting into song–
Absolute and complete
in myself–
never fearing fear
for death does not exist,
nor dwelling in doubt,
for when nothing is
eaten and all consumed,
only immortality remains
where lust yearned
and hunger failed.
So, surge forth
my fabulous Voice-
Free from constraint,
sated with light,
and summoned to sing
by the Song alone.
Mother Shakti, according to Trika yoga, is the author of all creation. She created the temples of our body/minds to make us the perfect beings for our world. There is nothing in our universe but what is, in one way or another, available for our experience–directly or sometimes indirectly. We belong to our world and our world belongs to us.
The first verse of the Shiva Sutras states,
“Universal consciousness is one’s own nature.”
The second verse continues,
“Knowing the individual consciousness as one’s own nature and not knowing the Universal Consciousness as one’s own nature, is bondage. (Or in other words, the origin and cause of suffering)
Verse fifteen of the Shiva Sutras goes on to say,
“By establishing one’s mind in the heart-the Universal Consciousness-the whole world of perception appears as one’s own nature.”
(From the Aphorisms of Lord Shiva, trans. by Swami Lakshmanjoo)
The Goddess Shakti, Mother of the immanent universe, commanded her handmaiden, the Goddess Kundalini, to move among human beings searching for the truth of their own eternal nature and to assist them in discovering their true identity.
Mother Shakti said, “teach those who will listen, who have the patience and passion, how to experience the world as their own body.”
Then the Goddess Shakti created a seat for Kundalini in the base of the spine of human beings. Shakti commanded her handmaiden, Kundalini, to teach humans to recognize the living sensation of their own universal personhood.
“Teach any with ears to hear and eyes to see,” the Universal Mother said, “to recognize that at the Heart of all things, no matter their size or variety, is the luminous, abiding bliss that is Shiva, the God whose Light animates all existence.”
The word, “kundalini” has come into popular use both in the Western world as well as in the East.
Allow me to suggest that wherever spiritual energy assists individuals in discovering truth, peace and compassion, the Goddess Kundalini, handmaiden of Mother Shakti, is at work. The power of spiritual energies to effect personal change and enlightenment exists beyond the artificial barriers that humans erect between this or that religion or tradition.
For Trika Yoga, however, the mission of Kundalini is very specific. She is the goddess who exists to take the aspirant by the hand and lead him or her to the Heart of one’s Universal Self.
In practical terms, this means that the mission of Kundalini is to teach the seeker how to recognize that everything she perceives, everything the senses apprehend, is his OWN NATURE.
She begins by asking us to believe, to have faith, that everything that we experience with our senses is real and divine, but if we learn to see beyond the surface, if we learn to surrender our conviction that what we see is all that can be perceived, then we can begin to journey into the Heart of all that is real and experience the One Energy that is the author of the universe of energy.
The Goddess Kundalini asks us to listen with our eyes, to see with our ears and to feel from the inside of our skin.
Mother Kundalini knows that when stress and tension is released, when the maelstrom of the mind is calmed, the seeker can begin to see, hear and feel anew. The aspirant is able to perceive more subtle qualities of his/her energetic existence. She can begin to feel the existence of the chakras that begin at the base of her spine and continue on up and beyond the crown of her head. He can begin to sense the subtle friction caused by the movement of the serpent Goddess Kundalini throughout his body, directing his attention here or there, helping him to know where he must concentrate and intensify the energy to unseat pockets of pain and knots of stress.
Steadily and certainly, the aspirant evolves. With the ascension of Kundalini, comes an ever greater capacity to perceive and experience the world on subtler levels. An existence ruled by the tyranny of an ego protecting itself by any and all means necessary ceases. As one embraces a life not ruled by emotions, or in fact, any kinds of thoughts at all, one experiences finer qualities of quiet joy and peace that owe their origin and existence to nothing more than the marvelous fact of being alive now, in this moment.
If we are willing, Kundalini will lead us to the recognition that our perceived, “individuality” is in fact, only possible because the Goddess Shakti, who indeed we all are, is the goddess of will, of knowledge and of action. We are creative beings because we are that Goddess whose existence is the creation, maintenance and eventual destruction of all things. We will recognize that we are in truth, not delimited by our bodies at all. Our body is but a loving expression of our Universal Self. The privilege to perceive, to recognize, to see, hear and feel–to exist at all–is possible because our eyes and ears and hearts beat with the Light that is the Source and Substance of One Being. We all are the universal nature that animates us each as the individuals for whom Life is that singular Stage upon which we all perform.
We look at the trees and see our own limbs. The crickets chirping are our own thoughts. Behind the eyes of another person exists the Light that we recognize as the one and only Light that animates all the infinite expressions of our Universal Personality.
All of this and more is possible by allowing the Goddess Kundalini to take us by the hand and lead us along the path of purification and wisdom.
And it all begins with the sensation of our own bodies.
THE PEOPLES ASHRAM 