Yoga of Synthesis in Kashmir Shaivam

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

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any negative connotation. It is in the Absolute Void, the Pratyabhijñā Hridayam says, that "Shiva initially flashes forth as Light of Consciousness." Without this void, it is not possible for Shiva to manifest the universe and unfold the categories and create "multiplicity of perceptions”. Freed from dualising or fragmenting indivisible consciousness, the Centre or the heart of consciousness reflects the universe in its totality and not as fragmented.
The practice of Shāmbhavopāya or the Divine Way unfolds the first mystical moment of awareness when the yogi in a sudden vibration of will is carried by an irresistible pull towards Shiva. This initial vibration passes from the stage of will to that of activity through the stage of knowledge. Writes Dyczkowski quoting Tantrāloka:
"When practice at this level proceeds smoothly and without interruption, the three powers of will, knowledge and action fuse into the Trident (trishūla) of power, which is the subject free of all obscuration (nirañjana), at one with the power of action in its most powerful form."
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In Shambhava yoga, the yogi is immersed in Shiva-samāvesha or Shiva-consciousness at
will.
SHĀKTOPĀYA
The focus in Shămbhavopāya is to achieve a direct realization of the unity of one's essential nature with the Reality shining as the light of universal consciousness. This calls for a high degree of spiritual maturity for it is most difficult to outwit the "conceptual mind" in its own game of generating thought-constructs which tend to obscure the view of this Reality. To become thought-free is like trying to jump out of one's own skin, as Jaidev Singh puts it, for "vikalpa-making" is the very nature of the mind. So for those who are not so highly evolved spiritually, Kashmir Shaivism offers an alternative way to get rid of viklapa or conceptualization -- Shāktopāya or the Energic Means. It involves
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