365bet

Shaiva Upanishads (A Critical Study)

by Arpita Chakraborty | 2013 | 33,902 words

This page relates ‘Method of Meditation� of the study on the Shaiva Upanishads in English, comparing them with other texts dealing with the Shiva cult (besides the Agamas and Puranas). The 貹Ծṣas are ancient philosophical and theological treatises. Out of the 108 Upanishads mentioned in the Muktikopanishad, 15 are classified as Saiva-Upanisads.

Go directly to: Footnotes.

Sitting in a secluded place, in an easy posture, pure, with a neck, head, and body erect, living in the last of the orders of religious life, having controlled all the sense, saluting his own preceptor with reverence,[1] meditating within the lotus of the heart (on Brahman), untainted, pure, clear and griefless. (Who is) unthinkable, unmanifest, of endless forms, the good, the peaceful, Immortal, the origin of the worlds, without beginning, middle, and end, the only one, all-pervading, Consciousness, and Bliss, the formless and the wonderful.[2]

Meditating on the highest Lord, allied to Umā, powerful, three-eyed, blue-necked, and tranquil, the holy man reaches Him who is the source of all, the witness of all and is beyond darkness (i.e. ).[3]

[...] Kaivalya 貹Ծṣa verse 8

He is , He is Ś, He is Indra, He is the immutable, the Supreme, the Self-luminous, He alone is վṣṇ, He is ʰṇa, He is Time and Fire, He is the Moon.[4]

He alone is all that was, and all that will be, the Eternal; knowing Him, one transcends death; there is no other way to freedom.[5]

[...] Kālagnirudra 貹Ծṣa verse 11

Should such a consummation be not attained, then, making his own inner sense the lower ṇi (sacrificial chip of wood) and the ʰṇa the upper ṇi-chip, and practising the extraction through mathana, (churning) investigation aided by resourcefulness resulting from the study of ձԳٲ of the fire of realization (through the actual perception of the form of the Brahman, by remaining confirmed in the attitude, “I am the Brahman that is the substratum of all misconceptions superimposed on it�), the accomplished adept completely burns up and reduces to ashes his sin of the ignorance of the Āٳ.[6]

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

Kaivalya 貹Ծṣa verse 5

[2]:

Ibid verse 6. [...]

[3]:

Ibid verse 7.

[4]:

Ibid verse 8. [...]

[5]:

Ibid verse 9 -see com. of 貹Ծṣa Brahmayogin. [...]

[6]:

Ibid verse 11.

Let's grow together!

I humbly request your help to keep doing what I do best: provide the world with unbiased sources, definitions and images. Your donation direclty influences the quality and quantity of knowledge, wisdom and spiritual insight the world is exposed to.

Let's make the world a better place together!

Like what you read? Help to become even better: