Trika Shaivism: Malas and Upayas

Namaste!

Today we will discuss few basic aspects of Trika Shaivism also known as Kashmir
Shaivism. First let us understand the meaning of the word Trika. The word comes
from the three energies of Lord Shiva. The first energy is called Para Shakti; the
second is Para-Apara Shakti and third is Apara Shakti. Para Shakti means the
subjective energy. Para-Apara Shakti means the cognitive energy and the Apara Shakti
means the objective energy. During the last talk on 30 States of Being we understood
that a common man who is in Jagrut avastha is lost into objectivity and becomes one
with the object and the subjective energy is just not there. That aspect represents
Apara Shakti. It is pure objectivity. Gyani who is in absolute state of consciousness,
fully aware represents Para Shakti, pure subjective energy and a seeker, a sadhak, on
the way, who is walking the path of spirituality, sometimes getting glimpses and
coming back to the world of objectivity, that is mixture of both Para-Apara Shakti and
that is cognitive energy. So, you must understand three levels of energy of Lord Shiva
- Para Shakti, Para-Apara Shakti and Apara Shakti, subjective energy, cognitive energy
and objective energy. The word Trika means these three energies and these three
energies are ONE only. It is Shiva only. That is the real meaning of the word Trika.

In Apara Shakti that is objective energy, there is sadness, agony, there are troubles,
there is experience of pleasure and pains, there is duality and the individual soul
called Jiva is caught into the wheel of birth and death and that is why all the troubles
are there at the level of Apara Shakti, objective energy. The root cause of this is
Mala the impurity. The impurity of avidya which comes from the Mayiya mala
makes the individual soul, Jivatma associated with sansara and it gets caught up in
the circle of birth and death. That is the fundamental and basic trouble of the world.
Lord Buddha said that there is Dukha in sansara, there is misery in life. The reason for
this is that the person is caught up in the objectivity. That is the root cause of Dukha,
the misery of the sansara.

In Kashmir Shaivism it is said that you have to use the cognitive energy, the Para-
Apara Shakti and move towards the Para Shakti, the subjective energy. If you reach
the subjective energy by taking help of the cognitive energy, you can drop out of the
wheel of birth and death, you can go beyond the Dukha, the misery of sansara and
you can become Jeevan Mukta. This is the meaning of the Fundamental word Trika
and the Trika system gives you the proper map of moving from the objective energy
to subjective energy by using cognitive energy. All the great Masters of the world are
in a way talking of the same thing but in different language that is why we do not
understand. Why I love Kashmir Shaivism is because everything is so very clearly
defined, its a proper shastra, a proper map where every individual is taken care of.
In certain Masters system only certain type of people are taken care of. In another
Masters system another type of people are taken care of, in Kashmir Shaivism
everybody is taken care of. You will understand at what level you are, what type of
person you are and what type of sadhana is required for you and accordingly you
move faster.

Your individual sadhana will depend on what your capacity is, at what level of
awareness you are and that will decide what type of sadhana you should do and the
beauty of our Indian Scriptures is that they start from the highest and then they come
down. If you dont understand then you come down. Patanjali also talks about
Samadhi right in the beginning and if you dont understand then you come down. If
you are a capable person and if you are at that height, you need not come down.

So in Kashmir Shaivism also, you start with Sambhavopaya. Sambhavopaya is for those
people who have the highest level of awareness. Those whose awareness is high, they
can go for Sambhavopaya, it is also known as Icchopaya because it is based on Iccha
Shakti and in this Sambhavopaya you attain to God consciousness without doing
anything. There are no efforts required. Only requirement is you should always
remain into that thoughtless awareness of I consciousness, the universal I
consciousness, in the I am- ness. If you remain into that the individual I
consciousness, ego dissolves and with the Grace of the Master you attain to liberation
or Jeevan Mukta State. Without you doing anything, it happens. Only requirement is
that you are able to sustain that thoughtlessness and you should be into that
awareness of I am ness, the universal consciousness and with the Grace of the Master,
instant Jeevan Mukta state is available.

In this upaya, Sambhavopaya, you really dont have to work. Master has to work a lot.
It is the Masters Grace that liberates you. The last step, liberation happens as a
Grace and that is true. In this body also the liberation happened because of the
Gurus Grace. That last thing you cant do on your own because if you are the doer,
the ego is there. The total annihilation of the ego happens only with the Masters
Grace. Guru kripa hi kevalam! If you dont like the word Guru Kripa say Ishwara Kripa,
say Grace of Lord Shiva, whatever you like, but it is Grace and not your individual
doing. So at the level of Sambhavopaya you dont work because whatever you can do
you have already done, your level of awareness is high. You have learnt to sustain the
thoughtlessness and you are aware of that thoughtlessness. First you are able to
maintain your nirvichar stithi, the state of thoughtless mind, you are consistently able
to maintain that and you are aware in that, for example in deep sleep state also you
are thoughtless but there your awareness is not there. Here the requirement is you
are able to maintain the thoughtlessness but you are also aware of that
thoughtlessness. If that is possible for you then that is very high level of your ability.
If you have that high degree of ability of maintaining that I consciousness then you are
fit for Sambhavopaya. You need not do anything, only requirement is that you are
there in the presence of the Master. In the presence of the Master Grace happens;
instant liberation happens. That is called Sambhavopaya, the first type of upaya for
the highest level of seeker.

The second level of upaya for the medium category people is called Shaktopaya. It is
based on Gyan Shakti that is why it is also known as Gyanopaya. Sambhavopaya is
based on Iccha Shakti and Shaktopaya is based on Gyan Shakti. This is for the medium
category people, those who are seekers, those who have done lot of sadhana and
those who have not reached to the level of maintaining thoughtless awareness
continuously but they are getting glimpses occasionally, those are the people at the
level of Shaktopaya. A Shaktopaya criterion is one-pointedness. At least you are able
to contemplate on thought given by Master and you are able to focus on to the gap
between the two thoughts. That is the minimum requirement. If you can see the Gap
between the two thoughts then you are at the level of Shaktopaya and that one
pointedness of seeing the gap between the two thoughts is the requirement for the
Shaktopaya. If you can do so, here your efforts are higher, Master cannot do because
you have to learn with your own practice and come to a point where you can sustain
your thoughtless state with awareness that is called thoughtless awareness. If you can
sustain the thoughtless awareness then you have come to the level of Sambhavopaya,
then Guru can work. Then Gurus Grace can liberate you instantly. But you have to
come to that. So, at the Shaktopaya level you have to learn to capture the gap
between the two thoughts. If you can do so you will get into the transcendental
consciousness or God consciousness with your practice of capturing the gap between
the two thoughts. As you go deeper the gap will widen, over a period of time you will
be able to sustain your thoughtless awareness. When you are able to sustain your
thoughtless awareness, just with the presence of the Master you will be able to catch
the flame and the liberation happens instantly. So Shaktopaya will lead you to
Sambhavopaya. Liberation will happen only with Sambhavopaya.

Those who are not able to get into that also then we have one more upaya called
Anavopaya. Anavopaya is for the people who have no capacity to capture the gap
between the two thoughts. They cannot see the thoughts. The aloof attention, sakshi
bhava is not yet developed, so they cannot recognize the gap between the two
thoughts. They cannot even see their thoughts because the separation has not
happened. Lot of work needs to be done. This is also known as kriyopaya because it is
based on kriya Shakti. Here lot of work needs to be done by the seeker because it is
based on Kriya Shakti and here the Karma mala is very high, so you have to do lot of
karmakshalan first. Then you will become little lighter and you will come to the level
of Sakshi Bhava, aloof attention and all the practices whether it is watching the
thoughts or watching the breath, inhalation and exhalation or mantra, or focusing
your attention on some part of the body, specially the chakras, pranayam, all these
practices are part of Anavopaya. It starts with Chakrodaya dhyana; you watch your
inhalation and exhalation, take help of breath to increase your awareness, at least
you come in the present moment as you do so and while doing as you grow into
awareness you will be able to catch the turning point of the breath. If you can catch
the turning point of the breath, sandhikal jagrukta, with lot of practice you will be
able to capture the gap between the two thoughts. If you can do so you have come to
the level of Shaktopaya. Then you have to get rooted into that gap and you have to
practice how to sustain that thoughtless awareness. If you can sustain that
thoughtless awareness you have come to the level of Sambhavopaya and in
Sambhavopaya you have to do nothing. You have to just sustain that thoughtless
awareness, in the presence of the Master, the flame jumps and instant Jeevan Mukti,
the final jump happens. That is the Grace of Lord Shiva.

These three upayas are there. Anavopaya is based on kriya Shakti, Shaktopaya is
based on Gyan Shakti; Sambhavopaya is based on Iccha Shakti. So there are three
Shakti levels and three upayas and depending upon what type of person you are; what
is your ability of maintaining that thoughtless awareness, you should choose one of
these upayas. If you are able to sustain thoughtless awareness you need not do any of
the practices, that is the fundamental of Kashmir Shaivism. It comes from top and it
goes to lower levels. So everybody need not work hard on doing Chakrodaya dhyana
and all. You are already able to maintain your thoughtless awareness so there is no
need to do Chakrodaya dhyana. You have crossed that level long back. If you are able
to maintain your aloof attention then the basic processes is not necessary, mantra is
not necessary. What will mantra do if you are already able to get into sandhikal
jagrukta? Then mantra is not for you. Then dont cling on to the mantra. Some people
they do that. You have already crossed that level. You dont need that.

So, depending on what type of person you are, you get the sadhana and every person
gets individual sadhana. That is why these three upayas are there and it comes from
the top. If you are at Sambhavopaya level you dont need, if you cant manage then
there is Shaktopaya level. If you have read the books of my Master Shri Dada Gavand,
entire philosophy of Shri Dada Gavand is that of Shaktopaya and he does not move
from there. He does not come down to Anavopaya at all. He simply talks of watching
the thoughts with aloof attention, recognize the gap, go on doing that, increase the
gap and it will happen. He does not come down to the level of breath also. There is
no Anavopaya in his philosophy. There is only Shaktopaya, Shaktopaya and
Shaktopaya. But that is for only one type of seeker and it is for this reason that most
of my friends are not able to understand him. You may try hard but you will not
understand his philosophy because he is operating only from Shaktopaya. Those who
are at the level of Sambhavopaya, they dont need to do that also. Just be in the
presence of the Master and it happens instantly. You just have to be grateful, share
the silence and say bye-bye. You may meet again or you may not meet again but the
job is done. But the whole world, most of the people exist at the level of Anavopaya.
That is why you have to start with watching the breath.

I wonder if the people are at the level of Anavopaya because many people cant even
watch the breath. When they watch the breath for the first time, they say Oh I am
breathing. Even breath awareness is a big thing for an ordinary person. Even with
your breath awareness immediately you will come to the present moment. Power of
Now, you will understand. You dont understand the Power of Now also because that
is breath awareness that is Anavopaya. All yogasan, pranayam, all that you are
learning
is Anavopaya only. Because you cant practice Anavopaya you have to do yogasan.
Yama, Niyama, asan, Pranayam is for those people who cannot practice Anavopaya.
Ashtang yoga prepares you for that and makes you a sadhak. To become a sadhak you
must do these basic practices of Yama, Niyama, asan, Pranayam, Pratyahar and then
you are fit for Anavopaya. Quite a long way to go, but it is not as difficult as you
understand.

If you are initiated and you do what you have been told to do, you can go through the
whole thing in 40 days. That is called Grace of Lord Shiva. If you practice what have
been given in initiations, everybody is given different initiation; it is like magic for
you. If you do that, even 40 days are enough. Otherwise even 40 births are not
enough. That is the power of initiations. That is why in Dwarahat Shibir only those
who are initiated are allowed. But what I am seeing right now is that those who are
initiated are also not practicing it properly because sometimes the time is not there,
or they have forgotten what they got in initiation because you are not supposed to
write, you are supposed to practice daily. So those who have doubts, they can meet
me today after the session and get it clarified but do it. Only then you will walk the
path. You have to be sincere about the sadhana.

There is one more upaya if you dont like these three, if you find them difficult, there
is one more way and I like it most because there you have to do nothing. Watching
your breath is difficult, when you are travelling in train and people are pushing, how
can you watch your breath? Watching the breath is difficult. Anavopaya is difficult
and lot of hard work is there.

So the fourth type of upaya is called Anupaya. Anupaya means no upaya. You dont
need any upaya, my dear friend, because you are already Shiva. Whether you know it
or not what difference does it make? Why do you want to do all these things? You do
it to realize your Shivattva, that you are Shiva. But you are anyway Shiva. If Shiva
wants to realize the Shivattva Shiva will realize. If Shiva does not want to realize
Shivattva, Shiva will not realize. Why should you bother? Be happy. It is called
Anandopaya and it is based on Anand Shakti of Lord Shiva. That is the higher level.
Lower level is Kriya Shakti; that is the fifth element from the top; that is Anavopaya.
Fourth element from top is Gyan Shakti; that is Shaktopaya. Third element from top is
Iccha Shakti. That is Sambhavopaya. The second element, that is Shakti, in fact that
is the bliss that is Anand Shakti. That is Shivas Shakti; that is Shiva only but that is in
the form of Shakti but both are one. That is called Anand Shakti. Based on that Anand
Shakti, it is Anandopaya.

You stay in the state of bliss because you are Shiva. You dont need to do anything.
You need not go through Anavopaya and all that. It is not for you. You are much
evolved beings. You have crossed the level of Iccha Shakti. Many of you dont have
Iccha of doing sadhana which means you have crossed that level. Shiva in you does not
have any Iccha of doing any sadhana which means you have gone beyond that level
also, thats a level of bliss that is the level of Ananda, and you need Anandopaya
which means doing nothing. Just enjoy your blissfulness, enjoy your beingness. In that
beingness, there is joy, there is Ananda, there is bliss and that bliss is called
Anandopaya. Swami Harish Madhukarji has said Sada anand me jeena that is the
ultimate sadhana. He is talking of Anupaya. People did not understand, with long face
they listened. Where is Ananda here? If you are living life with a long face, you cant
even enjoy your job. Where is the Ananda? There is Dukha here, what Buddha talks
about. Anand means enjoying all the time, there is no seriousness anywhere. There is
only the bliss. In a state of being there is bliss and the example that I normally give is
the example of Anupaya because I work a lot on Anupaya. The wave and the ocean
are the same. What wave needs to do to become the ocean? Nothing! Wave only has
to understand that the wave is the ocean. That is all. Have a cup of tea, enjoy,
dance, sing and be happy. You dont need to do anything really. Wave is the ocean.
With that understanding live happily, enjoy your life like a normal person but you are
rooted into turyatitta, you are a Gyani. You are at the level of turyatitta.
Sarvatobhadra everybody is Shiva. What do you need to do? Nothing! Recognize
Shivattva in everybody and be happy. There is only Shiva and nothing else. That
understanding keeps you in the bliss state and that is called Anandopaya. That is the
ultimate that is possible where nothing is to be done. These are the basic four upayas
in Trik Shaivism. We will do five minutes of meditation and allow this knowledge to
seep into your system and be very sure which upaya you need and be honest about it
so you start walking on the path.

------------------------------------ After five minutes of meditation ----------------------------
-------

Now we will go into the details of Malas. Mala means impurities. In Kashmir Shaivism
we talk about three different types of impurities - Gross type of impurity, subtle type
of impurity and the subtlest type of impurity, the Para type of impurity. The gross
type of impurity (Sthula Mala) is karma mala. It is the grossest of all because action is
involved. The subtle type of impurity is Maiya mala. It is only perception not the
action and the subtlest type of impurity, the Para aspect comes into the picture is
Anavamala. The individual jiva is anu, small. Shiva has come below the blanket of
Maya and is wearing five jackets or Kanchukas, limitations. Because of all these
limitations Shivas unlimitedness is lost and he has become small, jiva, anu. So the
Anavomala is there, that is the subtlest of all.

We need to understand the fundamentals of the malas, the impurities the essential
aspects of it. Listen carefully. It looks very simple but if you understand from the
higher level, you get the essence of it. The first five elements Shiva,
Shakti, Sadashiva Tattwa, Ishwara tattwa and Suddha-Vidya
tattwa, these are called the five purest energies. These five
purest energies could not create the world. The
manifestation could not happen so Shiva used his Swatantra
Shakti and with this Swatantra Shakti he created the magic
power in the form of Maya Shakti so that he can come under
the Maya and enjoy the diversity of being many different
beings. Because Shiva wanted to enjoy the diversity of
becoming Jiva, he had to play the trick, he has to use his
Swatantra Shakti, create Maya Shakti and then come down
under his own Maya Shakti to forget his infiniteness and
become the Jiva. So the universal energy which is owned by
the Universal being Shiva is called Swatantra Shakti and
universal energy owned by individual being, Jiva is called
Maya Shakti. Both are same only but that is the trick of Lord
Shiva. He used the Swatantra Shakti and he created the
magical power of Maya Shakti and then he came down under
that Maya Shakti to become the Jiva.

Now where are these Malas? The Malas are not there in the
Swatantra Shakti. The malas or the impurities are there only
in the Maya Shakti or elements below Maya Shakti. They are
not there in the Swatantra Shakti. How do we differentiate
between these two? The Swatantrya Shakti has got the
Swatantrya, the freedom of going down from the Shiva
element to Earth element and has got the freedom of going
up from the Earth element to Shiva element. So Swatantra
Shakti is free to be at any element and experience at all
levels. It can go up and go down and is free to do whatever it
wants to do. That is the power of Lord Shiva. Maya Shakti
because of its impurities has the binding effect on Jiva. That
binding effect on Jiva does not allow him to go up. So Jiva
always remains under the effect of Maya, it goes down but
not up. That is the magical power of Lord Shiva. And that is
why for a baddhatma, for a Jiva it is so very difficult to
breakthrough this Power of Maya because it does not allow
you to go up. It only allows you to go down from where you
are and that is how this Jiva is caught in this circle of birth
and death. Until the Grace of Lord Shiva happens he cannot
breakthrough the circle of birth and death on his own. It is
only the Grace of Lord Shiva. So, on its own there is no
possibility of getting the breakthrough.

You may wonder why Shiva played this trick. There is a reason
and that is the whole essence of the whole Kashmir Shaivism
philosophy. Shiva played this trick to become Jiva and forgot its
own essential nature, the Swatantra Shakti, his own universal
beingness because he wanted to experience this joy of re-
cognition of his own Swatantra Shakti. So, to experience that
joy of recognizing ones own Swatantra Shakti first he had to
forget and then he had to recognize, so he enjoys. Shiva is Shiva
only. Its only for that joy of Re-cognition, realizing, re-
knowing, its like knowing that you are Shiva; that was the joy
Shiva wanted. That is why the whole game of sansara. First
come down, forget, suffer as a Jiva, go into the circle of birth
and death, do a lot of sadhana and then re-cognize that I am
Shiva only. The game is over. It is leela, Shivas leela. Come
down, forget, be a badhatma, be like a fool and do sadhana and
re-cognize that you are Shiva and enjoy. Just for that re-
cognition of that Shivattva Shiva played this trick. But to play
this trick the element of Maya is wanted and the impurities
belong to Maya and not to Swatantra Shakti. These impurities
bind you and they do not allow you to go up, they allow you to
go down only.

So the grossest impurity is karma mala, the subtler impurity is Mayamala and the
subtlest of all is called Anavamala. So we have to start understanding from
Anavamala. Shiva used his Swatantra Shakti to create the trick and created Maya
Shakti. First he created the Mahamaya. It does not come into the 36 elements but
there is the element of Mahamaya. Mahamayas daughter is Maya that is the sixth
element from top. Only under Maya he could create the limitations so the panch
kanchukas come into the picture and under the effect of panch kanchukas comes
Purusha. That Purusha with the help of Prakriti created the grosser twenty four
elements or twenty three elements if you consider Prakriti as twenty fourth. This is
how the manifestation happened. Without these impurities, manifestation cannot
happen.

How to understand this? You cannot make ornaments with pure gold. For gold to
transform its form; to come to the form of ornament you need to inject some
impurity into the gold and then you can make ornaments. Like that pure energy,
Universal energy of Lord Shiva called Swatantra Shakti cannot manifest. Of course, it
is the same energy that is manifesting but impurity is wanted and that impurity is
injected at the level of Maya because it is the Maya Shakti that is able to come down.
You can come down only under the effect of Maya, otherwise it is not possible. So the
subtler aspect of Mala is Anavomala. How that anavomala has happened? It is because
of the panch kanchukas, the five jackets that Shiva wears. After coming down below
the blanket of Maya, Shiva puts on the five jackets. Those five jackets are limiting.

We will go into the details of these elements next Thursday. Today you just
understand the basics. So under one blanket (of Maya) there are five jackets. After
these five jackets he created Purusha. So Shiva is converting itself into Purusha and
that Purusha has all these limitations. Shiva has become small in the form of Purusha.
Purusha is not virat, Purusha is small, it is called anu and that is why this Anavomala.
Effect of Maya and the panch kanchukas is the mala. Now this mala is not real
because it is not really at the level of action. Action level is only the karma mala, real
mala, this is only the perception error. You believe that you are under the effect of
Maya so it is there. If you believe that you are Shiva, you understand that the wave
and ocean are one, immediately that is Shiva. It is only at the level of perception.
With understanding you are released. Even if you are released, at the physical level
you cannot have the infinite physical power, you cannot have infinite time, all those
infinite energies are not available and even if you experience turya you will not be
able to sustain turya because your capacity to sustain is lost as you have become anu,
you have become small. So this Anavomala is the root cause that does not allow you
to sustain that thoughtless awareness. The other day many of my friends were asking
me that we have understood conceptually, I can see the thoughts, I can see the gap,
the gap is there for sometime but suddenly we dont know what happens, it is not
sustained. You are talking about sustaining for 45 minutes here we cannot even
sustain for one minute. Suddenly something happens and it is lost. Why is it happening
and who is doing it? Dont worry. It is only Shiva who is playing the trick, playing the
trick under the effect of Maya through this Anavomala. Because you are anu, you find
it difficult to sustain yourself in thoughtless awareness. That is the perception error
that has come. It is the Anavomala that does not allow you to sustain your thoughtless
awareness for 45 minutes. If you can, you will become Shiva and you will be out of
the effect of Maya and that is the sadhana. That is the sadhana to come to the level
of sustaining thoughtless awareness for longer duration. That is the sadhana the Jiva
has to do to become Shiva. So this is the subtlest of all called Anavomala.

The subtler aspect, the middle aspect is called Mayamala. Under the effect of Maya
you cannot see the things the way they are. This is another perception error. It is
because of this Mayamala you see yourself as different, your brother as different,
your sister, your wife, your husband as different. You dont see them as they are
because all are Shiva, all are one. From where does that perception error come? That
duality enters because of Maya. That is called Mayamala. It is an impurity, a mala. It
is because of that impurity, that duality comes into picture, advaita is lost and dvaita
comes into picture. For Dvaita Maya is required. Only under the effect of Maya you
feel you are different and the other person is different and duality is there. Actually
it is not there. This is called perception error. So what is the way to come out of this
thing? Remove this perception error, see Shiva, God in everybody and you are out of
it. Thats all. That is why so much of importance is given to this understanding, and
then you really dont need to do anything. It is just a perception error. It is like there
is darkness and there is a rope. You think it is a snake and you fear. What do you need
to do to protect yourself from the serpent that is not there? It is just a rope. This is
called perception error. Under the effect of Maya you feel you are different and other
person is different. It is just a perception error. You really dont need to do anything.
Moment we put on the light, you see that it is a rope, the fear is gone instantly and
then you laugh at it saying like a fool I have been afraid of a rope. Actually it is a rope
and not a serpent. It was just a perception error. This also is perception error and it
has entered into our system because of what is known as Mayamala. It is the
Mayamala which creates this perception error and creates the duality.

Anavomala and Mayamala, Anavomala is the subtlest, Para and Mayamala is the
subtler aspect of it and both are perception error. The real trouble which is the
grosser aspect of Mala is Karma mala because action is involved. In the other two it is
only the perception. Perception error can be corrected in the presence of the Master
just by understanding. If you keep yourself awake and understand, then it is gone
instantly. You really dont need to work because it is not there. You just need the
light, just get rid of the darkness and serpent becomes the rope. It is rope only, it is
only the perception error, and you need the light to recognize that.

But karma mala is not like that. Karma mala is actually the grosser aspects of your
own doings. Once the Jiva comes under the effect of Maya, ego building happens and
that ego has its own power, however anu, however small, it has its own doership and
under that doership he does the karmas and karma mala is real at that level. It is
gross. If you have killed somebody you have to undergo the effect of being killed. If
you have hurt somebody you will have to necessarily undergo the effect of being hurt
by others. Law of karma is amazingly true under the effect of Maya because the
actions that you do are real. In Kashmir Shaivism we do not consider this sansara as
unreal. This sansara is real, your action is real. So action, karma mala is also real and
is at the grossest level that needs lot of cleansing. That is why karmakshalan is so very
important. Without karmakshalan, in reality, tangible changes do not happen.

Few years back, in 1996 I understood this without Kashmir Shaivism. Kashmir Shaivism
came to me only in 2007 but in 1996 this understanding happened to me with the
Grace of Lord Shiva and from then onwards I started creating the technology of
Karmakshalan. This was the insight I got in 1996 that unless you remove the effects of
karma mala the real growth of sadhaka cannot happen. That is why so many people
do so many practices and they do not get the results. There are so many sanyasis who
wear saffron robe and do their kriyas and prayers, why everybody does not get
breakthrough? Why only few people get breakthrough? The reason is unless you go
through karmakshalan, because it is a real impurity, gross level impurity, you have to
unburden yourself of it. That is why these three sciences become important, the
science of Seva, the science of Meditation and the science of Antahkarana.

Science of Seva is at the level of Karma mala, it is the grossest of all, so at the grosser
level you have to serve humanity unconditionally, that seva aspect, the unconditional
seva, you go out of the way and help. The person may even talk ill about you and still
unconditionally you serve humanity. That is the way you will delete your karma.
Karmakshalan kriyas are there, sadhanas are there, talking out, and many other ways
of karmakshalan are there. That is a must because it is actually there, it is real.
Unless it is deleted that perception error cannot go that easily because you are
actually caught up in grosser level of mala, the impurity; karma mala. That is the
reason, even if you listen for hundred times that wave is the ocean, you may give
lecture on wave is the ocean but still from inside it will not click. The perception
error will remain because it is not intellectual. Karma mala is real because it is at the
level of action. Of course from the ultimate view point it is not real, nothing is real
that is vedantic point of view. But in Kashmir Shaivism if Shiva is real then Shivas
creation which is sansara is also real and your karma is also real and your karma mala
is also real and that is the reason why you cannot recognize Shiva without deleting
your karma and this sounds more logical, more genuine, more closer to the truth as it
is experienced. That is why karmakshalan is so very important. Once the
karmakshalan happens and you are little out of this binding of karma, then be with
the Master your perception error can go and the growth can happen very fast on the
path of spiritual journey. Without karma delete exercise perception error cannot be
removed. So science of service comes into picture to delete your karmas.

Then science of meditation comes into picture. If you keep watching your thoughts,
your thoughts will subside and you will be able to capture the gap between the two
thoughts and when you get rooted into thoughtless awareness, that is the time you
are out of the bindings of Mayamala. That is why Shri Dada Gavands Philosophy of
Shaktopaya and that is the way to come out of Mayamala. And Anavomala, that anu,
smallness aspect is there as long as you are there in physical body. Even if you are
rooted in tattvatitta, even a Gyani has his own limitations because of the body. That
is gone only at the time of death of the Gyani. When the Gyani dies that last
limitation is gone, he becomes universal in the true sense but as long as the body is
there, the bodily limitations exists even with the Gyani. For example a Gyani person
like Shri Ramana Maharshi also will feel hungry. That hunger is felt by the body
because that is the need of the body. Gyani will also go for urination or toilet because
that is the function of the body and the body level limitations will remain but Gyani
will not have unnecessary fears, he will not have unnecessary worry, undue thoughts,
that aspect will not be there because the perception error is not there. But
nevertheless the body is the anu, the binding aspect is there and only at the time of
death it is gone, with this we complete the chapter of impurities - the Malas.

Next Thursday we will go into the details of 36 elements, at every level we will
understand from Earth element to Shiva element and from Shiva element to Earth
element. Swatantra Shakti says that you should be able to go up and you should be
able to come down and go to any level at your will. That is the beauty of Kashmir
Shaivism and that is meant for grihasthis. Kashmir Shaivism is the ideal Map for
grihasthis because anybody can practice. You dont need to take sanyas, you dont
need to drop out, practices are very simple and you dont need to give too much of
time. It is more of practices and lot of understanding. You dont have to slog and this
map has simpler aspects, the limitation of caste, creed, color, gender, sex is just not
there. It is universal and it is for everybody. Every human being can follow Kashmir
Shaivism. It is for all. It is kind of Universal understanding, Universal religion,
Universal practices. It is for all and absolutely for grihasthis because here sansara is
real. If you say brahma satya jagat mithya then you feel like going away from jagat,
going away from sansara and you take to saffron and become a Swami or sadhu or a
sanyasi. There is something wrong in that understanding and it becomes right and
correct understanding because of this very beautiful map of Kashmir Shaivism. Even
sanyasis can practice, everybody can practice, it is for all.

Kashmir Shaivism has four schools of thought even though all four are one only they
are all under Kashmir Shaivism but the approach is little different, they are focusing
on some particular aspect. The first school of thought is known as Pratyabhijna
system or school of thought. Pratyabhijna system says that the world, the sansara is
not unreal; it is not mithya even though Pratibimbavadah is there. There is a real
moon and then there is the reflection of the moon in the lake water. The reflection is
not the moon because the reflection is there it is indicative that the moon is also
there. This is called Pratibimbavadah, but the reflection of the moon is in the lake
water or you see your own reflection in the mirror, it is not in that sense. Here the
understanding is, the reflection of the energy of Shiva is within the consciousness of
Shiva only. The Sansara or the creation is not like the reflection of the moon in the
lake water, it is the reflection in the consciousness of Shiva only that is why it is true
and not mithya and they say that it is not the mirror; it is like the two cups reflecting,
so reflection is within oneself. So Shivas energy is reflected into the consciousness of
Shiva and this reflection is not untrue, the reflection is true. If Shiva is true, that
Chaitanya tattwa, the truth is there and this is also the truth because the creation of
Shiva cannot be untrue. So Brahma satya, jagat also satya. That is the major
difference between the vedantic understanding and Kashmir Shaivism understanding
because the reflection is in the cup form, it is called visarga (:), the two dots. The
upper dot is called Shiva and the lower dot is called Shakti and the Shakti creates the
sansara and the reflection happens in the consciousness of Shiva only. This system of
understanding is called Pratyabhijna School of thoughts.

The second aspect is called Krama school of thought. Krama means sequence, step by
step, one by one. There is time, there is space, and there is form. You have to use
time, space and form and you have to go systematically, kramawise, sequentially you
have to go and you have to do sadhana for going out of this krama which means going
beyond time, space and form. But this is a system because you are caught you have to
start from where you are and then you have to go beyond. You are normally caught
into time, space and form, you go beyond this the time becomes timeless, the space
becomes spaceless and the form becomes formless and you get absorbed into that
niraguna, nirakara, the ultimate God consciousness but you have to start from where
you are. That is the krama system, a new way of looking at it.

Then there is Kula system. Kula means individual family, there you have to recognize
your individual energy that is the Jiva part of it and then you have to recognize the
Universal energy that is the Shiva part of it. So you start from your Kula, your own
individual energy, do sadhana and see from the Shivas point of view, the Universal
energy, and you are absorbed into the God consciousness with that understanding.
That is the Kula system, the third one.

The fourth one is called the Spanda system. Ultimately you can come to the level of
Devi, Shiv-Shakti aeikyarupeni that is where the experience is. That experience is the
effervescent silence. That effervescent silence is not the dead void. That
effervescent silence has the vibratory aspect where the vibrations are not there. This
is little contradictory but it is so! If the vibrations are there it is not called spanda, it
is called Spandana, that na is negating the spanda, that Spandana is vibration. But
before the vibration becomes the vibration what was there? Whatever that is that is
called Spanda. Kinchit kalata is the first sutra of that school, about to vibrate. It has
not as yet vibrated, it is about to vibrate, potentially vibrating, started vibrating.
Where is your thought before it becomes the thought? So you have to go one step
further. Like that what was there before the void, the dead silence? Before the dead
silence there is effervescent silence, so you have to go deeper. That effervescent
silence is the Shakti, bliss, Anandopaya comes from there. Experience of that is the
experience of Spanda, Kinchit Kalata, about to vibrate, beautiful school of thought
that is called spanda.

These four schools of thought are there and all four focus on different aspects but
they are very much the part of Kashmir Shaiva darshan. Same philosophy is looked
from different angles by different Masters and that is the beauty. It is a very rich
system. So Kashmir Shaivism has got all these four systems. In 2007 also I talked on
Spandakarikas, this year we will cover up all. There are beautiful scriptures that are
available. In December when you have 8 days residential retreat we will elaborate
more on this, get little more glimpses from each school of thought and see overall
how beautifully the Kashmir Shaivism flower blooms in your consciousness. Shiva
recognizes Shiva and feels ecstatic! The whole game ends there. So if you want to end
your game Kashmir Shaivism is the beautiful way.

We stop here. Next Thursday we will discuss 36 elements. Thank you.