The Shiva Sutras

 

The Shiva Sutras are a collection of aphorisms that form a foundation of the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, though the Spandashastra  is more detailed. The are also know as Shiva Upanishad Samgraha or Shivarahasyagama Samgraha.

The sutras are attributed to the sage Vasugupta of the 9th century C.E.. Vasugupta is said to have lived near Mahadeva Mountain in the valley of the Harvan stream behind what are now the Shalimar Gardens near Srinagar.


Translation by Subhas Kak (see bottom)

 

* 1 - śāmbhavopāya - Universal consciousness

caitanyamātmā
1-1 Consciousness is the self.

jñānam bandhah
1-2 (Ordinary) knowledge consists of associations.

yonivarga kalāśarīram
1-3 Sets of axioms generate structures.

jñānādhisthāna mātrikā
1-4 The ground of knowledge is matrka
[matrka : Mother of all creation - Maheshvari (Sanskrit: Māheśvarī) is the power of shiva in his aspect as  Maheshvara]

udyamo bhairavah
1-5 The upsurge (of consciousness) is Bhairava.

śakticakrasandhāne viśvasamhārah
1-6 By union with the energy centers one withdraws from the universe.

jāgratsvapnasusuptabhede turyābhogasambhavah
1-7 Even during waking, sleep, and deep sleep one can experience the fourth state (transcending consciousness)

jñānam jāgrat
1-8 (Sensory) knowledge is obtained in the waking state.

svapno vikalpāh
1-9 Dreaming is free ranging of thoughts.

aviveko māyāsausuptam
1-10 Deep sleep is maya, the irrational.

tritayabhoktā vīreśah
1-11 The experiencer of the three states is the lord of the senses.

vismayo yogabhūmikāh
1-12 The domain of the union is an astonishment.

icchā śaktirumā kumārī
1-13 The power of the will is the playful Uma.

drśyam śarīram
1-14 The observed has a structure.

hrdaye cittasamghattād drśyasvāpnadarśanam
1-15 By fixing the mind on its core one can comprehend perceivable and emptiness.

śuddhatattvasandhānād vā apaśuśaktih
1-16 Or by contemplating the pure principle one is free of the power that binds (to associations).

vitarka ātmajñānam
1-17 Right discernment is the knowledge of the self.

lokānandah samādhisukham
1-18 The bliss of the sight is the joy of samadhi.

śaktisandhāne śarīrotpattih
1-19 The body emerges when the energies unite.

bhūtasandhāna bhūtaprthaktva viśvasamghattāh
1-20 Elements unite, elements separate, and the universe is gathered.

śuddhavidyodayāccakreśatva siddhih
1-21 Pure knowledge leads to a mastery of the wheel (of energies).

mahāhradānusandhānānmantravīryānubhavah
1-22 The great lake (of space-time) is experienced through the power of mantra.

* 2- śāktopāya - The emergence of innate knowledge 

cittah mantrah
2-1 The mind is mantra.

prayatnah sādhakah
2-2 Effort leads to attainment.

vidyāśarīrasattā mantrarahasyam
2-3 The secret of mantra is the being of the body of knowledge.

garbhe cittavikāso'viśista vidyāsvapnah
2-4 The emergence of the mind in the womb is the forgetting of common knowledge.

vidyāsamutthāne svābhāvike khecarī śivāvasthā
2-5 When the knowledge of one's self arises one moves in the sky of consciousness---the Shiva's state.

gururupāyah
2-6 The guru is the means.

mātrkācakrasambodhah
2-7 The awakening of the wheel of matrka (the elemental energies).

śarīram havih
2-8 The body is the oblation.

jñānam annam
2-9 The food is knowledge.

vidyāsamhāre taduttha svapna darśanam
2-10 With the extinction of knowledge emerges the vision of emptiness

* 3 ānavopāya - The transformations of the individual - Die Transformationen des Individuums

ātmā cittam
3-1 The mind is the self.

jñānam bandhah
3-2 (Material) knowledge is bondage (association).

kalādīnām tattvānām aviveko māyā
3-3 Maya is the lack of discernment of the principles of transformation.

śarīre samhārah kalānām
3-4 The transformation is stopped in the body.

nādī samhāra bhūtajaya bhūtakaivalya bhūtappthaktvāni
3-5 The quieting of the vital channels, the mastery of the elements, the withdrawal from the elements, and the separation of Elemente

mohāvaranāt siddhih
3-6 Perfection is through the veil of delusion.

mohajayād anantābhogāt sahajavidyājayah
3-7 Overcoming delusion and by boundless extension innate knowledge is achieved.

jāgrad dvitīyakarah
3-8 Waking is the second ray (of consciousness).

nartaka ātmā
3-9 The self is the actor.

ango'ntarātmā
3-10 The inner self is the stage.

prekśakānīndriyāni
3-11 The senses are the spectators.

dhīvaśāt sattvasiddhih
3-12 The pure state is achieved by the power of the intellect.

siddhah svatantrabhāvah
3-13 Freedom (creativity) is achieved.

yathā tatra tathānyatra
3-14 As here so elsewhere.

visargasvābhāvyād abahih sthitestatsthitih
3-15 Emission (of consciousness) is the way of nature and so what is not external is seen as external.

bījāvadhānam
3-16 Attention to the seed.

āsanasthah sukham hrade nimajjati
3-17 Seated one sinks effortlessly into the lake (of consciousness).

svamātrā nirmānam āpādayati
3-18 The measure of consciousness fashions the world.

vidyā avināśe janma vināśah
3-19 As (limited) knowledge is transcended, birth is transcended.

kavargādisu māheśvaryādyāh paśumātarah
3-20 Maheshvari and other mothers (sources) of beings reside in the sound elements.

trisu caturtham tailavadāsecyam
3-21 The fourth (state of consciousness) should be used to oil the (other) three (states of consciousness).

magnah svacittena praviśet
3-22 Absorbed (in his nature), one must penetrate (the phonemes) with one's mind.

prāna samācāre samadarśanam
3-23 The lower plane arises in the center (of the phoneme).

madhye'vara prasavah
3-24 A balanced breathing leads to a balanced vision.

mātrāsvapratyaya sandhāne nastasya punarutthānam
3-25 What was destroyed rises again by the joining of perceptions with the objects of experience.

śivatulyo jāyate
3-26 He becomes like Shiva.

śarīravrttirvratam
3-27 The activity of the body is the vow.

kathā japah
3-28 The recitation of the mantras is the discourse.

dānam ātmajñānam
3-29 Self-knowledge is the boon.

yo'vipastho jñāhetuśca
3-30 He who is established is the means and knowledge.

svaśakti pracayo'sya viśvam
3-31 The universe is the aggregate of his powers.

stithilayau
3-32 Persistence and absorption.

tat pravrttāvapyanirāsah samvettrbhāvāt
3-33 Even when this (maintenance and dissolution) there is no break (in awareness) due to the perceiving subjectivity.

sukha duhkhayorbahirmananam
3-34 The feeling of pleasure and pain is external.

tadvimuktastu kevalī
3-35 The one who is free of that is alone (with consciousness).

mohapratisamhatastu karmātmā
3-36 A mass of delusion the mind is subject to activity.

bheda tiraskāre sargāntara karmatvam
3-37 When separateness is gone, action can lead to creation.

karanaśaktih svato'nubhavāt
3-38 The power to create is based on one's own experience.

tripadādyanuprānanam
3-39 That which precedes the three (states of consciousness) vitalizes them.

cittasthitivat śarīra karana bāhyesu
3-40 The same stability of mind (should permeate) the body, senses and external world.

abhilāsādbahirgatih samvāhyasya
3-41 Craving leads to the extroversion of the inner process.

tadārūdhapramitestatkśayājjīvasamkśayah
3-42 When established in pure awareness, (the craving) is destroyed and the (empirical) individual ceases to exist.

bhūtakañcukī tadā vimukto bhūyah patisamah parah
3-43 Although cloaked in the elements one is not free, but, like the lord, one is supreme.

naisargikah prānasambandhah
3-44 The link with the vital breath is natural.

nāsikāntarmadhya samyamāt kimatra savyāpasavya sausumnesu
3-45 Concentrating on the center within the nose, what use are the left and the right channels or susumna?

bhūyah syāt pratimīlanam
3-46 May (the individual) merge (in the lord) once again.
 

Literature

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