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Chapter 12 Expositions of the Stanzas

Stanza One

As usual in works of this sort, the first verse is dedicated to the praise of the deity. He is Siva Who is, as Mahesvarananda says:

that excellent subject whose essence is the throb of the exertive force of the consciousness of one's own authentic identity that expertly generates the astonishing expansion of the infinite and wonder-ful variety of the outer Wheel of Energies that constitute the cosmic arousal (of universal mani-festation). As the Sivasutra declares: 'the universe is the aggregate of His powers.'1 This takes place by the power of His intent (aunmukhya) that lays hold of the series of powers, namely, those of will, knowledge and the rest, each rising, step by step, to ever higher levels, encompassed in the pure essential unity (samarasya) of His powers of con-sciousness and bliss. All this is by virtue of His freedom, the inner principle, hard to attain, that is both the expansion (unmesa) and the contraction (nimesa) (of the vibration of consciousness).2

Spanda doctrine is essentially theistic. Like the other schools of Kashmiri Saivism, it is a theology of Siva, as divine consciousness and man's authentic liberated identity. The Supreme Principle is not only the absolute One but also a personal God, and for this to be so it must be active. An absolute that reposes in itself is no better than a lifeless stone, not at all the creative and powerful God, W h o is the object of the Spanda yogi's faith and devotion, in which he seeks to achieve absorption. And devotion of

the highest sort (parabhakti) is itself the unify-ing penetration (samavesa) into the Godhead.

Those who are thrilled by its wonder (camatkara) possess the devotion that is itself the direct realization of Siva. Those yogis have nothing to do; they need not even practice any means to realization (anupaya) because Siva, both formless and omniform, is constantly manifest to them.3 The Spanda yogi is instruct-ed accordingly to attend closely to the vibration of consciousness that gives life to the senses and mind, with the respect of profound faith and devotion.4 If he fails to maintain a constant state of prayer, he falls from the self-established con-sciousness of his own nature (svabhava), and becomes prey to the thoughts and fancies of waking and dreaming.5 He must therefore culti-vate an attitude of obedience and a sense of ser-vice (sevana) to the Supreme Principle. To be open to Siva's grace he must be ready to follow His divine command.6 In this way the individ-ual and universal will fuse in Spanda, the intent of consciousness (sankalpa) that directs all activity in both the micro and the macrocosm.

When Siva opens His eyes (unmesa), the uni-verse, His universal object, appears within the field of His vision and becomes manifest to all.

Conversely when He closes His eyes (nimesa), it dissolves away, receeding back into the unformed, unmanifest condition it was in prior to its appearance. In this way all things attain to their own individual existence and fall from it as

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The Stanzas on Vibration

part of the universal Act of Being. As phenome-na arise into the field of consciousness (udaya), they lay hold of their specific nature (atma-labha) and their own condition (svasthiti) as their manifest form, which is Siva Who is all things,7 and when they fall away from it, they again attain their own nature and fundamental state in Siva.

This quality of the Act of Being is analyzed by dividing its pulse into two halves - one out-pouring, expanding, extending, flowing, spreading out, emerging and unfolding, and the other its reverse. Although the Aphorisms of Siva makes no mention of this pair, terms for these movements figure throughout Kashmiri Saiva literature in many differing contexts. Ksemaraja in his commentaries makes use of practically all of them, and in this way integrates the major schools of Kashmiri Saivism into that of Spanda. Drawing from Krama terminology, Ksemaraja refers to the cycle of creation and destruction as a 'vomiting forth' or emission (vamana, udvamana) and 'devouring' (grasa) or withdrawal. The power of consciousness, the Goddess, W h o is both the cause and substance of this process, thus becomes 'lean' (krsa) and then 'full' (purna), as phenomena are external-ized (bahiskrta) and internalexternal-ized (antarlina, antahkrta). These phases alternate one after another at the finite temporal level, and so we experience the succession of time. Yet in the eternal simultaneity of infinite consciousness, they both manifest free of succession, in such a way that there is both succession and its absence without there being either.8 Ksemaraja writes:

Thus whenever extroverted being rests in one's own nature, all outer things are withdrawn and one is established in the state of inner tranquility.

This is the Fourth State (turiya) which is creation (persistence and destruction as well as their) union (melana) (within universal consciousness).9 It is the Goddess of Consciousness who vomits forth and withdraws every single thing in the moments of creation and the rest. She is always full (purna) and lean (krsa), both and (yet) neither, pulsingly radiantly (sphuranti) and free of succession.10

Another pair of terms used to denote the polarities of the pulse of consciousness are 'emergence' (unmajjana) and 'submergence'

(nimajjana). They not only refer to the way phe-nomena emerge and retire back into conscious-ness but also to the emergence and submer-gence of consciousness itself. Thus:

When the Supreme Lord Who is consciousness, out of His own free will submerges the pervasive (awareness) of unity and assumes the pervasive (awareness) of diversity, then the powers of His will, etc., although uncontracted, manifest as con-tracted. It is then that this transmigrating soul, obscured by impurity, comes into being.

The yogi rises to the more universal levels of subjectivity when they expand and emerge out of consciousness, and descends by submerging the expanded states of the higher levels to mani-fest the contracted states of the lower. In this way the yogi's bodily consciousness emerges when he rises from contemplation (samadhi) and is submerged when he returns back into it, and so is subject to the alternation between the higher and lower states until he achieves the goal of total and permanent consciousness expansion.11 The submersion of embodied con-sciousness marks the emergence of one's own authentic identity (svabhava), and the fettered soul makes the transition to the liberated condi-tion, that is, the expanded state as opposed to the contracted state of individualized con-sciousness.12 Abhinava explains:

Mindful of this fact, one should never cling to the limiting notion (that induces one to ask): 'if I am Siva, why docs this universe not follow my will?' Things would indeed follow my will if Siva, the Supreme Lord were to shine in the consciousness of myself (ahamvidi), but alas it is not He Who shines there but my body, a created thing."

T H E FIVE COSMIC FUNCTIONS AND T H E PULSE

OF CONSCIOUSNESS In his Essence of Vibration, Ksemaraja deals with an aspect of Spanda which none of the other commentators discuss, namely how Spanda encompasses the five cosmic func-tions of creation, persistence, destruction, grace and obscuration.14 It is a major topic for Kse-maraja in this work, where he deals with it more extensively than anywhere else, referring his readers in other works to this one.15 These five functions serve a cardinal role in the soteriology of Kashmiri Saivism, as he expounds it in his Heart of Recognition. Ksemaraja affirms that what

Expositions of the Stanzas distinguishes the Saiva view most specifically is

the notion that Siva is the author of the five cos-mic functions.16 All Saivites basically agree on this point, whatever their sectarian affiliations.17

But even though he adds that this concept is dis-tinctive of Saiva theistic monism (isvaradvayava-da),18 it was originally developed by the dualist Saivasiddhanta. Shivaraman writes:

The validation of the central reality of the Saiva Siddhanta, namely, Siva, is contained in the notion of cause applied to it. The defining charac-teristic of Siva as the Lord of all cosmic operations is a logical extension of the same idea...(Reality) considered in further relation to the exigence of the 'cosmic' functions of creation, maintenance and dissolution, together with the two 'microcos-mic' operations of self-concealment and self-reve-lation, is the Lord or the Sovereign (pati).19

Although monistic Kashmiri Saivites prior to Abhinavagupta, Ksemaraja's teacher, knew of the doctrine of Siva's five operations, they laid no stress on it.20 This fact possibly reflects its scanty treatment in the Agamic sources most valued by them. It is significant therefore that Ksemaraja should look to the Svacchandatantra as his authority on this point.21 The reason for this is: not only that Ksemaraja sought to find a place for the Svacchandatantra in his works, a Tantra which, prior to Abhinavagupta, was hardly quoted by Kashmiri Saivites. It seems more likely that, short of turning to the Sid-dhantagamas, he could not find clear references in the Saiva Tantras of other types in which Siva's nature is defined in this way.

The transition from the dualistic to the monistic view brought about some changes in the way these five functions are conceived. The Siddhantin agrees that these operations have their equivalents at the individual level, and that agency at this level is ultimately due to Siva's omnipotence, but this does not necessarily mean that Siva and the individual soul are the same. Siva, according to the Siddhanta, acts through His power in these five ways in order that the Karma and other impurities of the fet-tered soul may mature and so fall from him.22

Although Kashmiri Saivism in general does not consider Karma or the other impurities to be material substances, as does the Siddhanta,23

even so it is commonly agreed that Siva creates and destroys the universe in accord with the fixed principles of natural law and the Karma of those for whom it is meant. He can, moreover, do so independently of these self-imposed con-straints in the case of the greater cosmic cycles, or simply when He freely decides to do other-wise. In any case, He, as the agent of these oper-ations, is always free.

Abhinava considers this notion so important that he arranges his exposition of the cosmic order in his Tantraloka in such a way that the three operations of creation, persistence and destruction are dealt with generally in the first few chapters, which are followed by two sepa-rate ones24 for the operations of grace and obscuration.25 He is not concerned just with Siva's cosmic activity but, more especially, with how this can be ultimately realized to be one's own, the link being, as always, the oneness of consciousness from the highest most universal level down to the individual. Abhinava writes:

Thus Siva, the agent of the five operations of cre-ation, persistance, destruction, grace and obscura-tion is the conscious nature. Worship, the recita-tion of Mantra, initiarecita-tion and Yoga are eternally manifest for the yogi who has realized that he himself is, in the fullness of his freedom, the agent of the five operations.26

Again:

The teaching that we ourselves are, by virtue of our own inherent freedom, the agents of the (five operations) of creation and the rest, is the most important initiation, the bestower of Siva to the disciple.27

Although the fettered soul is obscured by the impurity of individuality (anavamala) brought about by the contracted condition of his pow-ers, he is nonetheless the agent of these five functions, at least in the limited sphere of his operation. Ignorant of this, he is deluded by his own powers; conversely when he realizes this, consciousness which had, through its own power of self-limitation, assumed the condition of the individual m i n d agitated by its own thought forms, turns in on itself and so rises to the level of pure awareness, to resume its origi-nal pristine condition.2 8 Ksemaraja's treatment

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The Stanzas on Vibration

of these five functions is inspired by the Pratya-bhijna, as it is expounded in Abhinava's com-mentaries.29 It is to this therefore that we turn first, before seeing what Ksemaraja has to say,

Abhinava deals with how these five functions operate in the context of the relationship between subjects interacting with a common object. He is concerned with the commerce of daily life (vyavahara), as exchange and inter-personal relationship established on the basis of a common object. Examples are the buying and selling of goods, litigation between two or more parties, the imparting of instruction by the teacher to his disciple, and the manner in which a number of people see the some object, as hap-pens, for example, when watching a show. In such cases the five operations are as follows:

1. Siva creates the necessary conditions for perception and response by penetrating into and animating the psycho-physical complex of a given individual by identifying Himself with him.

2. Persistence is the abiding of the perception of this subject as happens, for example, when he sees an object such as a jar for any length of time.

3. Withdrawal is the termination of Siva's identification with another subject, who is thus objectified in relation to the first subject in such a way that he can interact with him. In this way the object of one subject becomes the object of another.

4. Siva obscures in this way the unity of His nature as the universal consciousness common to all subjects as their essential nature.

5. Siva graces by making manifest the entire process as a unified all-embracing totality, in which every subject is at one with his object and other subjects in the fullness of consciousness.

In this way it is possible for every subject to establish a real contact with others and with his object.30

Although Abhinava deals extensively with the manner in which individual phenomena are made manifest as a process within conscious-ness, his treatment of the five operations does not concern this matter directly. Ksemaraja's exposition, on the other hand, centers on the way in which each manifestation of conscious-ness appears and disappears as an objectivized

perception in relation to the subject. This is his approach in the Essence of Vibration, as it is in the Heart of Recognition. In the latter work the five functions are described as follows:

1. Creation. An object, such as the color 'blue,' is made manifest according to its specific location in time and space when Siva, the con-scious nature, is extroverted to penetrate and identify Himself with the lower levels of subjec-tivity associated with the psycho-physical organism.

2. Persistence is the abiding of that manifest form in its spatio-temporal matrix.

3. Withdrawal is the cessation of its manifes-tation in some other point in space or moment in time.

4. Obscuration is the presentation of the manifest form of the object as severed from all others.

5. Grace is the manifestation of its essential unity with the light of consciousness.31

The presentation here of the five functions in rnicrocosmic terms is reminiscent of similar cycles outlined in Krama doctrine.32 They also center on the cyclic creativity of consciousness at the level of individual perception to then rise from this to the cosmic universal level. The doc-trine of Siva's five functions, on the other hand, derives from an originally dualist transcendental model, in which Siva acts in this way completely independently. It does not necessarily imply that this is the activity of consciousness which manifests itself through this cycle. Siva can just as well act externally on physical matter in this same way. Krama cycles, on the contrary, are representations of the recurrent phases in the act of perception. The teachings concerning these cycles are esoteric and can only be learned properly from a teacher. Accordingly, Ksemara-ja initially presents the common, well known exoteric view of the five functions to demon-strate that they are also expressions of individ-ual consciousness, formulated in universal terms. Then he goes on to present the esoteric Krama cycle of five functions as phases in the activity of sensory consciousness, which is the inner yogic experience of these five functions, as follows:33

1. Manifestation (abhasana): This takes place by the same process by which the powers of the

Expositions of the Stanzas senses unfold progressively in the act of

percep-tion, manifesting in this way each individual particular in the field of consciousness.

2, Attachment (rakti): This is the phase in which the emitted manifestation persists for some time without folding back into conscious-ness. In this phase the object impresses itself on consciousness, which is now outwardly directed to the field of cognition and carries with it the powers of the senses that, thus projected out-wards, are colored by their object. In this phase the extroverted subject manifests as the means of knowledge and so is affected by objectivity. In this way objectivity becomes clearly manifest through the intensification of the means of knowledge.34

3.. Reflection (vimarsana); In the next phase, which is that of withdrawal, the subject turns back in on himself, having apprehended his object, to repose within himself and thus experi-ences the aesthetic delight (camatkara) of his reflective awareness of his own nature.

4. The Sowing of the Seed (bijavasthapana):

In the case of the perfected yogi, this process ends in the previous phase and is contained in the consciousness of Siva's self-revelation in the state of grace. The yogi, full of the power of devotion, contemplates the multiplicity of par-ticulars, and then withdraws completely into the unity of consciousness. In most cases, how-ever, a residue remains even when the subject has withdrawn from the object into himself.

This residue functions as the seed for future states of conditioned consciousness. So, on the one hand the subject is absorbed in the delight of his own undivided nature while, on the other, the residue instigates further emission and with-drawal. This residue is in the form of a doubt or uncertainty about the nature and consequence of future activity. This inner doubt assumes spontaneously the form of the thought con-structs that veil consciousness and leave the individual soul perplexed and deluded, thus obstructing his absorption in his own authentic nature (svasvarupanupravesa).35

5. Cessation (vilapana): This, Siva's fifth operation, namely, grace, marks the cessation of the limitations (upadhi) that the cycle of cre-ation and destruction impose upon the fettered soul. This comes about by a process of digestion

5. Cessation (vilapana): This, Siva's fifth operation, namely, grace, marks the cessation of the limitations (upadhi) that the cycle of cre-ation and destruction impose upon the fettered soul. This comes about by a process of digestion