Yoga of Synthesis in Kashmir Shaivam

Author(s): S S Toshkhani
Publisher: S S Toshkhani

Page 24

transcendental disposition. This is because of its sole occupation with the immersion in or the rise of plenary awareness, which is nothing but the synthesis of knowledge and action." xlv
ANUPAYA
With this we now turn our attention again to the four upāyas or Means to Liberation, which are the building blocks of the yoga of Kashmir Shaivism, and look at their salient features in more detail. It sounds like a paradox that anupāya which literally means 'nomeans' is placed at the top in the hierarchy of means to achieve liberation. But the paradox is resolved when we see that it is, in a way, liberation itself, a state of enlightenment which comes spontaneously without any exertion or personal effort. From this perspective anupāya is direct experience or awareness of the true nature of reality independent of human action, making all practice redundant. In fact all means ultimately culminate in this non-practice. Abhinavagupta writes that it is as futile to discover this reality by practice as trying to see the sun by the light of a firefly.xlvi Not even innumerable means, he says, can reveal Shiva. Xlvi At this level, therefore, anupāya is anākyha or something that can not be described or approached. It belongs to the realm of anuttara or the Transcendent, which is already pūrna or full in itself and nothing can be added to or taken away from it. In this realm there is nothing for one to do or not to do. The Self cannot be attained for it is eternally present; it cannot be revealed as it is ever revealed, shinning in its pristine glory everywhere as the light of consciousness. There is no discovering it or covering it for it cannot be covered by anything whatsoever. There is no entering into it, for there is nobody separate from it that would enter into it. At this level, which is beyond anything and about which nothing can be said or done, all practice becomes redundant. Abhinava writes:
“Here there is no going anywhere, no applying of any technique, no contemplating, no meditating, no reciting (of mantra), no practicing anything, no making effort, nothing. Then what is the real thing to do? The real thing to do