The most important point about meditation is contained within this lecture. It explains very clearly how to meditate with one-pointedness. This excerpt is from Chapter 5 of the Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo).

This Saturday, May 9th, we celebrate Swami Lakshmanjoo's Birthday. You are invited to join us online via webstream. Please join us also for our annual four-day retreat, May 10-13th, held online for the first time. Read more and register here... 

 

View on YouTube

 

DVD 5.2 (32:04)

स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवोः  ।

प्राणापानौ समौ कृत्वा नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ  ॥२७॥

sparśānkṛtvā bahirbāhyāṁścakṣuścaivāntare bhruvoḥ /

prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantaracāriṇau //27//

[Lord Kṛṣṇa]: Sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁ. Bāhyāṁ sparśān bahi kṛtvā, those outside sensual objects, you should keep them outside. Cakṣu caivāntare bhruvoḥ, [your mind should be focused] in between the two eyebrows; you must feel the sensation inside, between two eyebrows. Prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā, nāsā abhyantara cāriṇau, you should breathe out and breathe in, in samatā. Samatā means . . .

No, this is very important.

For instance, you breathe in and you breathe out. Not like [you normally do]. You have not to breathe in and out like that. You have to breathe in your own nāsa (inner consciousness).

For instance, you have to breathe like this and this; only this much [Swamiji demonstrates by showing the tiny distance between his thumb and index finger]. You have not to breathe [heavily]–not like this. You have to breathe very slowly, very slowly. [So] slowly that [you do] not breathe at all. It takes only [a small] space to breathe. Only this much. This is the reality of one-pointedness.161

JONATHAN: But Swamiji, when you do that though, some-times in breathing, you don’t get enough breath; it feels like you’re not going to get enough . . .

SWAMIJI: [laughs] No, it is not suffocation. You will never become suffocated, because it is life; it is life-full at that time. You know when in my courses162 I was not breathing. I was breathing like this [Swamiji demonstrates]. When I was out [of my courses], then I would [breathe heavily].

JONATHAN: Yes, suddenly you would breathe.

SWAMIJI: Yes, that is outside. Inside is this [Swamiji demonstrates again], i.e., when you don’t breathe at all. You breathe only from here to here, bas! That is all. So there is no breath. It is only the glamour of madhya nāḍi, the central vein. You are residing in the central vein, suṣumnā nāḍi. It is in suṣumnā nāḍi. It goes in suṣumnā nāḍi and [breath] is finished.

JONATHAN: But from a practical point of view, you were demonstrating that to me one day when you went to Harvan, and you stopped on the side of the road and you said, “the breath must only go this much.” But if a normal person sits down and makes their breath go like that, then they are short of breath, isn’t it? Or does that feeling go?

SWAMIJI: No, shorter breath.

JONATHAN: But there is that feeling that you need more breath.

SWAMIJI: No, you don’t get urge for breathing. You don’t get urge for breathing. This is something different!

JOHN: My experience is though when you try to be one-pointed on watching your breath and so forth . . .

SWAMIJI: When it [meditation] is one-pointed, then you don’t breathe.

JOHN: Breathing slows down automatically.

SWAMIJI: Not in so much space.

JOHN: So it becomes less and less as you . . .

SWAMIJI: Huh?

JOHN: When you are breathing and you are becoming more one-pointed then your breathing becomes less and less.

SWAMIJI: Less and less, less and less. And in the end, it breathes only this much.

Are you experiencing a wide range of emotions during the COVID 19 pandemic; some of them uplifting while others create internal turmoil and struggle?

The Lakshmanjoo Academy’s GIVING TUESDAY campaign is focused on the battle between good and bad, positive and negative.

In fact, the Lakshmanjoo Academy is hosting a FREE webinar series on the Bhagavad Gita, which is part of the Mahabharata; one of the most famous battles in Indian literature. This battle is actually an internal battle within ourselves. It is between good thoughts and bad thoughts and between right and wrong. Every human being struggles on this battlefield.

Sample audio...

We would like to invite you to join us for this FREE weekly webinar series every Saturday morning at 8:00 am PST, 11:00 am EST (New York), 3:00 pm GMT (London), 8:30 pm (India) to attain tools and practices that are both uplifting and powerful.

Our GIVING TUESDAY request is for funds to continue publishing and disseminating the ancient knowledge and meditation practices of Kashmir Shaivism that Swami Lakshmanjoo asked us to make available to the world. This teaching points us in the right direction to experience and understand that we and the whole Universe are filled with God Consciousness.

Please help fund this work so that, as a global community, we can more widely share this knowledge to help all of us remain strong and positive in the face of great challenges.

Please Donate Today!

Testimonials:

“Thank you so very much for the session this morning. During this series, I heard so clearly that the battlefield is taking place within us. I have taken workshops on the Bhagavad Gita before and never really understood this point so clearly. It’s such a freeing revelation.” ~Participant of Weekly Sangha

“Not only has this webinar taught me more about the great stories within the Bhagavad Gita but I am learning yogic practices that I can apply within my everyday life.”  ~Jody R. Weiss

In this excerpt from the Essence of the Supreme Reality, Abhinavagupta's Paramarthasara Swami Lakshmanjoo explains why in order to attain Moksha (Liberation) the starting point of the journey is the ending point.

View on YouTube

PS DVD 3 (00:52:47)

मोक्षस्य नैव किंचिद्

धामास्ति, न चापिगमनमन्यत्र  ।

अज्ञानग्रन्थिभिदा

स्वशक्त्यभिव्यक्तता मोक्षः  ॥६०॥

mokṣasya naiva kiṁcid

dhāmāsti, na cāpi-gamanam-anyatra /

ajñāna-granthi-bhidā

sva-śakty-abhivyaktatā mokṣaḥ //60//

Actually, the liberation from repeated births and deaths and being centered in the Parabhairava state, that Parabhairava state is called “mokṣa”. And that mokṣa is not somewhere in the uppermost ākāśa (space), in śāntātīta kalā. Naiva kiṁcid dhāmāsti, it has not some particular place where one reaches and gets liberated from repeated births and deaths.

Na cāpi gamanamanyatra, for mokṣa, for attaining mokṣa, you have not to tread from the state where you are already existing in the field of māyā. You are existing in the field of māyā and you have to get elevated by and by, by and by, by abhyasa.140 But you have not to tread. There is no journey to be covered.

The starting point of the journey is the ending point of the journey!

https://www.lakshmanjooacademy.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/startingPoint.mp3

_____________

140 Contemplative practice.

(source: Essence of the Supreme Reality, Abhinavagupta's Paramarthasara

Revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo

Also available as video-on-demand.

All Content is subject to Copyright © John Hughes

What does it mean, "When you reside in your self, you will reside in this whole universe"? This and the background of the corresponding verse from the Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening - First Awakening is explained here by Swami Lakshmanjoo in this small but potent excerpt. 

The Shiva Sutras were "found" by sage Vasugupta under a rock at the foot of the Mahādeva Mountain as revealed to him in a dream by Lord Shiva. He read them thoroughly and exhaustively, concentrating and meditating upon each one, and gained the understanding and knowledge the sūtras contained. He then began to share the theory and secrets of these sūtras with his chief disciples, Bhaṭṭakallaṭa and others. Simultaneously, he revealed the sūtras in a book called Spanda Kārikā. Kṣemarāja further clarified these spanda verses in his work entitled Spanda Nirṇaya.

https://www.lakshmanjooacademy.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/ShivaSutras1.15.mp3

15. hṛidaye cittasaṁghaṭṭād

dṛiśyasvāpadarśanam //

When his thoughts are diverted to the center of God consciousness, then he feels the existence of God consciousness in oneness in the objective world and in the world of negation.

The literal reading is “When all one’s thoughts are diverted to the heart.” Here the word heart (hṛidaye) does not mean our own physical heart. Rather, here the word “heart” means the light of consciousness (cit prakāśa), which is the background, the basis, of the existence of the whole universe. On that basis, everything in this universe is moving, being born, dying, suffering, enjoying, smiling, laughing, marrying, etc. Everything has that center of God consciousness as its basis.

This yogī experiences the oneness of the existence of God consciousness in the objective world and in the world of negation. When does the experience of the negation of the objective world occur? The experience of the negation of the objective world takes place at the time of death and at the time of deep sleep. And, in these states also, the yogī effortlessly experiences the existence of God consciousness. How?

The yogī accomplishes this by collecting his mind and putting it on that point. Although the mind is always flickering and does not exist in one point, through the practice (sādhanā) of one-pointedness, it becomes easy for the yogī to maintain one point. He then discards the differentiation of objectivity and subjectivity and perceives the objective world, which consists not only of external objects but also of his body of wakefulness, his body of the dreaming state, and his body of the dreamless state (nīla-deha-prāṇa-buddhyātmanaḥ), and the negation of these, which is the void state (śūnya), in its real way as the limbs of his universal body. When you make your mind enter into the light of consciousness then your mind feels this whole universe as one with that universal being.

This is said in Vijñāna Bhairava:

O Pārvatī!, the one who, with one-pointedness, directs all his organs including his mind in the voidness of that heart, which is the light of consciousness, and remains in between the two lotuses of this-ness and I-ness, becomes glorified with God consciousness. (Vijñāna Bhairava 49)

By using the word “glory,” this verse indicates that he becomes the ruler of everything that exists. In Svacchanda Tantra, such a yogī is defined as follows:

Such a yogī, situated as one with this whole universe, pervades it. Because he pervades everything which exists, all classes of beings in elements, in the organic world, in animate and inanimate objects, his consciousness is not called God consciousness but rather his God consciousness is transformed into Universal consciousness. (Svacchanda Tantra 4.310)

In the Spanda Kārikā, it is concluded in this verse:

Do not try to dwell in each and every being. Reside in your own self.

Abhinavagupta tells us that there is a war going on between our senses. In senses there is joy, and joy fights with sadness, sadness fights with joy. In this excerpt we will learn what a yogi must do in this internal battle.

This video snippet is part one of the essence of the Bhagavad Gītā, as composed by the renowned 10th century CE philosopher/saint Abhinavagupta. There are eighteen saṅgraha ślokas, which are based on Abhinavagupta’s illuminating and original commentary, known as the Kashmiri version of the Bhagavad Gītā.

Kashmir Shaivism is a purely monistic philosophy. This means that only one being exists. It is not a duality where there is a separation between man and God. In Kashmir Shaivism Lord Shiva, Lord Kṛṣṇa and the limited human being (jīva) are one and the same Being.

Swami Lakṣmanjoo referred to these saṅgraha ślokas as “The Bhagavad Gītā in a Nutshell.”

https://www.lakshmanjooacademy.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/BGitaNutshellCh1.mp3

SWAMIJI:  In the first chapter, the conclusion of the first chapter is, from the viewpoint of Abhinavagupta, he explains that there is a war going on between your senses, in the organs of senses there is a war always going on. In senses there is joy, and joy fights with sadness, sadness fights with joy. In the same way, there is lust, lust fights with detachment, detachment fights with lust. It is all going on in one's own body, this war.

So this is the conclusion of the first chapter. You’ll find this saṅgraha śloka at the end of the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā.

विद्याविद्योभयाघातसंघट्टविवशीकृतः ।

युक्त्या द्वयमपि त्यक्ता निर्विवेको भवेन्मुनिः ॥१॥

vidyāvidyobhayāghātasaṁghaṭṭavivaśīkṛitaḥ /

yuktyā dvayamapi tyaktā nirviveko bhavenmuniḥ // 1 //

What a yogī has to do in this war, in this battlefield . . .

Which battlefield?

. . . of senses, i.e. good fighting with bad, right fighting with wrong, pride fighting with humility, humility fighting with pride; all the opposites are fighting every now and then. This fight does not persist only in waking state, this fight persists in dreaming state also. Everywhere you find this fight. You have to observe this fight going on in your own brain, in your own mind.

What you have to do there, what you must do, what a yogī must do there he says.

Vidyāvidyobhayāghāta saṁghaṭṭa vivaśīkṛitaḥ.

Should I do right or should I do wrong?

When this fight goes on with right and wrong you are in a fix what to do; should we do this or should we do that?

DENISE:  Especially if doing wrong is to your advantage . . . if doing wrong would give you something better than right. Temporarily.

SWAMIJI:  Something, yes.

Vidyāvidya ubhayāghāta saṁghaṭṭa vivaśīkṛitaḥ yuktā dvayamapi, if there is yukti, if there is a way, an avenue . . . the avenue is only dvayam api tyaktā don’t think of right, don’t think of wrong, be relaxed in your own nature, just enjoy, enjoy this fight.

JOACHIM:  Give up duality!

SWAMIJI:  Yes. You just witness it. You have to witness it only, don’t get entangled in right and wrong, [during] this war. Just witness this war, then you will get rid of this war and there will be neither right nor wrong.

This is the conclusion of the first chapter of Bhagavad Gītā.

Source: Bhagavad Gita in a Nutshell - Abhinavagupta’s concluding verses,

revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo (soon available as eBook).

Copyright © John Hughes

The following excerpt is a video interview with Swami Lakshmanjoo discussing the eight limbs of yoga from the point of view of Kashmir Shaivism (ahimsa-brahmacarya)

How to develop the eight limbs of yoga before entering into yoga. This is part 2 of a four-part video series and interview by Alice Christensen (Mother Alice) and Swami Lakshmanjoo discussing the divine discipline in yoga, also called "the limbs of yoga". Part 1 was about Niyamas (observance). This is part 2, Yamas (conduct).

 

 

Swamiji: And another fivefold collective limb of yoga is yama. That is:

Ahiṁsā (non-violence – in both speech and action)

Satya (truthfulness – in speech and thought)

Asteya (non-stealing – both mental and physical)

Brahmacarya (maintaining mental and physical character)

Aparigraha (non-hoarding)

These five yamas.

 

1. Ahiṁsā (non-violence – in both speech and action)

Swamiji: Ahimsa is just not to hurt anybody.

Alice: Non-violence

Swamiji: Non-violence. Non-violence bodily and in mind also. Your mind also must not be violent. You have to speak soft words.

Alice: This takes a long time, doesn’t it Swamiji?

Swamiji: But you have to develop them before you enter in the body of yoga.

Alice: Yes. What I meant was that some people think that simply because they open a book and read ahimsa and all these other things, truth, and this sort of thing . . .

Swamiji: It is not the question of reading only.

Alice: . . . that they can do it like that. It takes years of training.

Swamiji: You have to experience it, you have to go through it. You have to live in that!

Alice: It’s not a moment's work. It’s a lifetimes work.

Swamiji: So it is ahimsa – ahimsa [non-violence]. And this non-vegetarian diet will also come in ahimsa, and that is to be avoided also when there is ahimsa to be developed.

Now the power which comes from ahimsa.

ahiṁsāpratiṣṭhāyāṁ tatsannidhau vairatyāgaḥ – Yoga Sūtra 2.35

When you are living in ahimsa, non-violence, what comes, what fruit it bears? That is when there are two opposites vairīs1 i.e., vairīs means a tiger and a mouse. A tiger and a mouse won’t be violent before that person who is established [in ahimsa].

Alice: So natural enemies cannot have even any violence when the yogi is gazing on them. So the ‘lion then lays down with the lamb’. Is that what that means?

Swamiji: Yes, yes.

Alice:  If the yogi is present, then the lion lies down with the lamb, because of his non-violence.

Swamiji: Yes. This is the vibrating force that comes out from the yogi.

Alice: So there than can be no fight.

Swamiji: No violence.

Alice: It would be nice if the world practices a little more of that, huh Swamiji?

Swamiji: Yes. And it will be beneficial for everybody, ahimsa pratiṣṭhā [the observance of non-violence]. And another part of the Yamas is satya – truth.

2. Satya (truthfulness – in speech and thought)

Whatever you feel you must speak, but you must not speak in such a way that it hurts people. That truth you should avoid. You should function that truth which will not hurt others.

Alice: So you don’t say something to somebody that may be true and could destroy them.

Swamiji: Yes.

Alice: You make sure that it doesn’t destroy them.

Swamiji: Yes. That truth you should adopt. This is satya.

Alice: Swamiji, what happens when a person is established in the truth.

satyapratiṣṭhāyāṁ kriyāphalāśrayatvam2 (not recited)

Swamiji: It is said,

This is part 1 in a series of four videos about Divine Discipline in Yoga – Part 1 - Observances (Niyamas) – the 'Limbs of Yoga' from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras – Yamas and Niyamas.

In this video Alice Christensen (Mother Alice) and Swami Lakshmanjoo discuss the five Niyamas (observances) as interpreted in Kashmir Shaivism.

 

Alice: You know the discipline of yoga, it seems to be so complicated, but in Patañjali’s book, the Yamas and Niyamas, of how to practice yoga, a lot of Americans they are trying to read that and understand that. Let's talk a little bit about what those things are.

Swamiji: These are limbs of yoga. Limbs of the body of yoga. Just imagine yoga is a body and it has limbs, which are to be developed first, before entering into yoga.

And these limbs are eight limbs:

1. Yama (conduct)

2. Niyamā (observance)

3. Āsana (seat)

4. Prāṇāyāma (breath)

5. Pratyāhāra (withdrawal)

6. Dhāraṇā (concentration)

7. Dhyāna (meditation)

8. Samādhi (highest state)

These are eight limbs, and these eight limbs we have to grow. These we have not to grow one by one. This is just like a baby in the womb. When a woman conceives that baby, the limbs of that baby grow simultaneously. It is not like that, head will grow first, then one arm will grow, and another arm will grow, afterwards, leg will grow, one leg will grow, foot will grow. No. They grow simultaneously. In the same way, the limbs of yoga are to be developed simultaneously.

Do you understand?

Alice: Yes, I understand, yes.

Swamiji: And these limbs are Yamas, Niyamas…

Yamas are five. They are classified in five sections. There are five Yamas.

And Niyamas are also five.

Niyamas:

1. Śauca (cleanliness – purity of mind, body and speech)

2. Santoṣa (contentment – satisfaction with whatever you have)

3. Tapas (patience – self-control, not yielding to temptation)

4. Svādhyāya (Self-knowing – understanding your Self)

5. Īśvara praṇidhānā (love and devotion to God)

These are Niyamas.

Yamas:

1. Ahiṁsā (non-violence – in both speech and action)

2. Satya (truthfulness – in speech and thought)

3. Asteya (non-stealing – both mental and physical)

4. Brahmacarya (maintaining mental and physical character)

5. Aparigraha (non-hoarding)

These are five Yamas.

Śauca: Śauca is purity of your body and mind. This is first limb of yoga. You have to see that your body is pure and your mind is pure. This is Śauca.

And the power of Śauca, the siddhi, you know, siddhis?

Alice: Yes, the siddhis would be powers.

Swamiji: Powers that come from developing this Śauca, this is one of the five Niyamas... Śauca is... by developing Śauca...

शौचात्स्वाङ्गजुगुप्सा परैरसंसर्गः॥ २-४०॥

Śaucātsvāṅgajugupsā parairasaṁsargaḥ  || 2.40 ||

...this is the power that is developed by this śauca, purity in body and mind. That is svāṅga jugupsā, he feels that his body is always impure. Svāṅga jugupsā, he does not like the limbs of his body. And, paraira saṁsargaḥ, he does not want to contact another body with his body. This is the power that is achieved by this Śauca. It is said by Patañjali.

And next is Santoṣa. Santoṣa is contentment. This is also one limb of yoga. Contentment, whatever God has given us be content with that. That is Santoṣa.

सन्तोषादनुत्तमसुखलाभः॥२-४२॥

Santoṣādanuttamasukhalābhaḥ || 2-42 ||

This is the power that is attained by this Santoṣa. By that Santoṣa what does he achieve? He achieves, nuttama sukhalābhaḥ,

Swami Lakshmanjoo talks to Alice Christensen about the final goal in Kashmir Shaivism and what it is like to reach it.

Now with transcript. For Spanish translation scroll down...

This is part 3 of a series of four video interviews about the Yamas and Niyamas (10 commandments) in yoga. It contains a very rare glimpse into the perceptions of a true yogi, Swami Lakshmanjoo, as he reveals the real goal of Kashmir Shaivism and talks about kundalini.

 

Alice: Swamiji, and in the Shaivite philosophy you are the greatest living authority in Shaivism. The Yamas and Niyamas are an important part of this philosophy.

Swamiji: These are important parts.

Alice: In the Shaivite philosophy the final goal . . . could you tell me is it union? What is the final goal for Shaivites?

Swamiji: The final goal in Shaivite philosophy is when the individual unites with universal consciousness.

Alice: Universal consciousness. And that universal consciousness…

Swamiji: . . . is God.

Alice:  . . . is God. Is it in use all the time Swamiji or do you have to look for it?

Swamiji: No, universal consciousness you will find in each and every individual but it is in the background. It is in a subsided state at this time. When you practice and meditate on some point, explained by your master, then by and by this individuality vanishes in universality, and time comes when universal consciousness rises in one's own body, and he experiences this universal consciousness. And that is the state of God. But that experience, experiencing that universal consciousness is not direct experience.

Alice: How do you even know when you are even approaching something like that, Swamiji? What are your signposts on the road?

Swamiji: Memory comes in you. Memory comes in you, “Oh, I was in universal consciousness already, previously, and I didn’t know it.” This is the sign of that experience.

Alice: Oh, I see, memory of past things.

Swamiji: No, you feel at the time of rising of that universal consciousness in you, you feel there is memory.

Alice: Ah, as if you have been there before.

Swamiji: Yes.

Alice: Swamiji, this super-conscious state, that you kind of recognize when it hits you think, “oh, I felt this before” then what happens? Then what are the signs there for a man or a woman who is into yoga, like that? What do they watch for? Where do they go from there?

Swamiji: They don't watch! They feel that God consciousness as the flood and fountain of excessive of joy . . .

Alice: Happiness.

Swamiji: Happiness. It is super-sexual joy.

Alice: A sexual happiness.

Swamiji: It is not individual sexual joy. It is super-sexual joy. Say a hundred thousand million times more intense joy than that sexual joy.

Alice: And it continues a long time.

Swamiji: It continues a long time and it flows, flows in each and every vein of your body. You are intoxicated with that bliss but…

Alice: And you just feel over hours and hours or days?

Swamiji: No, it remains only for three or four seconds and for the rest of your life is . . .

Alice: The rest of your life is affected by that.

Swamiji: If it should remain, according to the theory of Abhinavagupta, remove you should remain for one hour then this body won’t exist.

Alice: You die.

Swamiji: Finished, yes. You can not tolerate that intensity of joy in this limited body. You have to throw this, shatter this body. You become one with that divine.

Alice: So this super sexual joy is just such a tremendous joyful state,

"Awareness" is the crucial point Swamiji is making in this gem from the conclusion of Chapter 4 from the Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo.

"Whatever action you do according to the way of your organs, that action will become divine only when there is awareness." ~Swami Lakshmanjoo

 

View on YouTube

DVD 4.3 (51:51)

विधत्ते कर्म यत्किञ्चिदक्षेच्छामात्रपूर्वकम्  ।

तेनैव शुभभाजः स्युस्तृप्ताः करणदेवताः  ॥४॥

vidhatte karma yatkiñcidakṣecchāmātrapūrvakaṁ /

tenaiva śubhabhājaḥ syustṛptāḥ karaṇadevatāḥ //4//

॥ Concluding śloka of 4th chapter ॥

 

Whatever a man does, whatever activity, whatever action a man does, any individual does, according to the ways of his own organs, according to the desires of his own organs, tenaiva śubhabhājaḥ syuḥ, by that, to fulfill the desire of his own organs, he will become seated in the state of supreme Parabhairava 137.

 

____________________

137 “Whatever action you do according to the way of your organs, that action will become divine only when there is awareness. Go on doing your actions according to the nature of your organs, go on doing that. Go to movies, go to any disgusting thing you can do, but [do it] with awareness. When you are watching your breath, everything will be divine. Tenaiva śubhabhājaḥ syustṛptāḥ karaṇa devatāḥ. Your organs will just carry you towards that center of God consciousness.” Bhagavad Gītā (1978).

 

(source: Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo)

All Content is subject to Copyright © John Hughes.

In this excerpt from the Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism Swami Lakshmanjoo elaborates on the question "What gives you liberation and what gives you enjoyment of the world".

 

 

DVD 3.1 (26:07)

सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः  ।

अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक्  ॥१०॥

sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ /

anena prasaviṣyadhvameṣa vo‘stviṣṭakāmadhuk //10//

Prajāpati means Brahmā. It is translated by all commentators of the Bhagavad Gītā [that] Prajāpati means Brahmā. They commentated upon Prajāpati as Brahmā, who is the creator of this whole universe–not protector, nor destroyer, nor concealer, nor revealer.

JONATHAN: Just creator.

SWAMIJI: Creator.

But he has translated this, Abhinavagupta has translated Prajāpati to mean paramātma, Parabhairava. Prajāpati means paramātma, Parabhairava.

Prajāḥ sahaiva karmabhiḥ sasarja [comm.]. He created this whole universe, right from pṛthvī (earth) to śāntātīta kalā.64 He created this whole universe–this is prajāḥ. Sahaiva karmabhiḥ sasarja, He created [this universe] with actions. Lord Śiva created all of this stuff [out] of His glamour, His outside glamour. This is His glamour, outside glamour . . .

What is outside glamour?

DENISE: His creation.

SWAMIJI: His creation, whatever He has created. It is His outside glamour, stuff. He created this stuff with actions. Only He made this discrimination with actions, uktaṁ ca tena, and then while creating this stuff, He told them, He instructed [the people whom He created]:

prajānāṁ karmabhya eva prasavaḥ santānaḥ, etānyeva ceṣṭaṁ saṁsāraṁ mokṣaṁ vā dāsyanti / [comm.]

All of these actions, whatever you do, will give you liberation and will give you enjoyment of the world.

Enjoyment of the world they will give you when you have attachment for whatever you do. And whatever you do, if you have no attachment, then your actions will liberate you and fix [i.e., establish] you in My nature, in the Parabhairava state. You will become Parabhairava then.

Do you understand?

 

JOHN: If you do action with attachment, then you get joy. If you do actions without attachment to its fruits, then you get the enlightened state.

SWAMIJI: Yes.

____________

64 “The fifth and last enclosure [of creation] is known as śāntātīta kalā. Here you will only find the existence of Śiva tattva.” Kashmir Shaivism–The Secret Supreme 2.12.

(source: Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo)

All Content is subject to Copyright © John Hughes.

[/column]