✦ Shiva Sutra
The 77 Shiva Sutras
The Shiva Sutras of Kashmir Shaivism — 77 aphorisms across Shambhavopaya, Shaktopaya, and Anavopaya.
Consciousness is the Self
Consciousness alone is the true Self (Atman).
Sutra 1.2Limited Knowledge as Bondage
Objectified, dualistic knowing constitutes the fetter of the limited being.
Sutra 1.3The Body of Limitation
The mass of causes rooted in Maya, culminating in the kalas, constitutes the embodied, limited self.
Sutra 1.4Matrika as the Ground of Ordinary Knowledge
The power of the alphabet, the mother of words, is the substratum on which all limited, word-bound knowledge rests.
Sutra 1.5The Upsurge of Bhairava
The sudden, spontaneous upsurge of the Supreme I-consciousness is itself Bhairava.
Sutra 1.6Dissolution Through the Wheel of Energies
When the yogi unites his awareness with the wheel of his own energies, the entire universe of appearance is reabsorbed into the Self.
Sutra 1.7The Bliss of the Fourth State
The delight of the transcendental Fourth state can suffuse and pervade the three ordinary states without being broken by their difference.
Sutra 1.8Waking as Ordinary Knowledge
The waking state consists of knowledge derived from the external senses, common to all experiencers.
Sutra 1.9Dream as Mental Construction
The dream state is composed purely of the mind's own thought-constructs (vikalpas), unconfirmed by the external senses.
Sutra 1.10Deep Sleep as Veiled Non-Discrimination
Deep sleep is a condition of undifferentiated unawareness, a veiling produced by Maya's power of concealment.
Sutra 1.11The Lord of the Heroic Senses
One who tastes the same unbroken I-consciousness through waking, dream, and sleep becomes vireśa, master of the senses.
Sutra 1.12Wonder as the Mark of Yogic Ascent
Each stage of the yogi's inner unfolding is marked by fresh astonishment at the ever-new splendor of the Self.
Sutra 1.13Uma, the Power of Will
Icchā-shakti, Shiva's Will, is personified as Uma the maiden — pure, spontaneous, uncontaminated potential.
Sutra 1.14The Cosmos as Divine Body
For the realized yogi, everything perceivable — from body to cosmos — is recognized as the very body of consciousness.
Sutra 1.15Beholding the World as Dream from the Heart
When the mind is completely absorbed into the heart-center of consciousness, the objective world is seen as insubstantial as a dream.
Sutra 1.16Freedom Through Union with the Pure Principle
Alternatively, by uniting the mind with the pure Shiva-tattva, the yogi is freed from the condition of the bound, animal-like (paśu) individual.
Sutra 1.17Right Reasoning as Self-Knowledge
Sustained, correct discernment culminating in unwavering conviction of one's identity with Shiva constitutes true Self-knowledge.
Sutra 1.18Ordinary Delight as Samadhi's Bliss
For the realized yogi, even mundane worldly experience is suffused with, and recognized as, the bliss of absorption.
Sutra 1.19Producing a Body Through Union with Shakti
By uniting with the divine Will-power, the yogi gains the capacity to project or produce bodies at will.
Sutra 1.20Mastery Over the Elements and the Universe
The accomplished yogi gains mastery to unite, separate, and reconfigure the elements and events of the universe.
Sutra 1.21Sovereignty Through the Dawning of Pure Knowledge
When Shuddhavidya arises, the yogi becomes cakreśvara, sovereign lord over the wheel of his own powers.
Sutra 1.22The Potency of Mantra Through Absorption in the Great Lake
By continuous immersion in the vast lake of Para-shakti, the yogi tastes the living power (virya) at the heart of every mantra.
Sutra 2.1The Mind as Mantra
When the mind broods unceasingly on the Supreme I-consciousness, the mind itself becomes mantra.
Sutra 2.2Effort as the Accomplisher
Zealous, sustained effort (prayatna) toward union with the deity of the mantra is what brings realization.
Sutra 2.3The Secret of Mantra
The being of the body of knowledge (i.e. the multitude of words) is the secret of mantra — the luminous being underlying the mass of words, Supreme I-consciousness, is the hidden secret of every mantra.
Sutra 2.4The Embryonic Dream of Knowledge
Unfoldment of mind still in embryo is a dream of undifferentiated knowledge — before full maturation, the expansion of awareness resembles a dream-like, unspecialized state of common knowledge.
Sutra 2.5Khecari — The State of Shiva
On the spontaneous arising of true knowledge, khecari (moving in the Void) is the state of Shiva — when true knowledge dawns of its own accord, the yogi attains khecari mudra, the state of moving freely in the space of consciousness, Shiva's own state.
Sutra 2.6The Guru as the Means
The Guru is the means — the Guru, whether embodied or as inner grace, is the means by which the potency of mantra and mudra is bestowed.
Sutra 2.7Awakening to the Wheel of Matrika
Awakening to the wheel of Mātṛkā — full realization dawns when one recognizes that the wheel of letter-energies (matrika) itself springs from, and dissolves into, one's own I-consciousness.
Sutra 2.8The Body as Oblation
The body is the oblation — all bodies, gross and subtle, once mistaken for the self, are now offered as oblation into the fire of true I-consciousness.
Sutra 2.9Knowledge as Food
Knowledge is food — Self-knowledge becomes the yogi's sustaining food, satisfying him utterly and consuming all lesser, limited knowing.
Sutra 2.10The Dissolution of Ordinary Knowledge
On the dissolution of ordinary knowledge, its residue is seen only as in a dream — when common, dualistic knowledge dissolves upon Self-realization, its former apprehensions linger only as insubstantial dream-memories.
Sutra 3.-31The Self as Mind
In the ordinary, unrealized individual, the citta (conditioned mind of buddhi, ahamkara, manas) itself functions as the sense of self.
Sutra 3.-30Knowledge as Bondage
The knowledge confined to the modes of the psychic apparatus and bound up with sensory desire keeps the individual wandering in transmigration.
Sutra 3.-29Non-Discrimination as Maya
Maya is the failure to distinguish the true Self from the pseudo-self constituted by the limiting sheaths (kanchukas) such as kala, vidya, and raga.
Sutra 3.-28Dissolution of the Kalas in the Body
The seeker meditates on the successive dissolution of the gross body into the subtle, and the subtle into the causal, up to Shiva.
Sutra 3.-27Fivefold Dissolution
Through pranayama and dharana one gains the power to merge prana-apana in sushumna, master the elements, and withdraw the mind from them.
Sutra 3.-26Siddhi Through the Veil of Delusion
These supernormal powers, however impressive, are born of and reinforce moha, veiling the aspirant from the Highest Reality.
Sutra 3.-25Mastery of Innate Knowledge
When delusion is fully conquered, spontaneous Sahaja Vidya arises, granting complete identification with Shiva.
Sutra 3.-24Waking as the Second Actor
For the one established in unmana, even the waking state appears merely as a secondary ray of his own inner light.
Sutra 3.-23The Self as Dancer
The essential Self plays upon the stage of the world exactly as an actor plays many roles, remaining ever untouched by them.
Sutra 3.-22The Inner Self as Stage
The subtle body (antaratma) is the stage upon which the drama of worldly experience is performed for the Self.
Sutra 3.-21The Senses as Spectators
Turned inward, the yogi's senses become spectators beholding the drama that the inmost Self delights in exhibiting.
Sutra 3.-20Establishment of Being Through Intellect
Just as an actor needs talent to portray an inner state, the yogi manifests the sattva of pure awareness only through refined spiritual intelligence.
Sutra 3.-19The Freedom of the Adept
Such a perfected yogi gains total freedom (svatantrya) to know, create, and govern within his own experience.
Sutra 3.-18As There, So Elsewhere
The freedom the yogi manifests within his own body he can equally manifest in any other place or object.
Sutra 3.-17Attention to the Seed
The yogi should constantly direct attention to Para-shakti, the seed-source of the entire universe.
Sutra 3.-16Immersion in the Lake of Bliss
Firmly established in this attentiveness, the yogi easily and joyfully immerses in the lake of the Highest Bliss without further strenuous practice.
Sutra 3.-15Creation Through One's Own Measure
Established in Shuddhavidya, the yogi creates forms precisely according to the measure of his own realized creative power.
Sutra 3.-14Loss of Birth Through Loss of Ignorance
So long as Shuddhavidya remains unbroken and ever-present, there is no further compulsion toward rebirth for the yogi.
Sutra 3.-13The Mother Energies in the Letters
The presiding deities of the letter-groups can delude even an advanced yogi if he is not vigilant, binding him again like an ordinary being.
Sutra 3.-12The Fourth to Be Sprinkled Like Oil
The bliss of turiya should be made to permeate waking, dream, and deep sleep completely and continuously, as oil suffuses whatever it is poured into.
Sutra 3.-11Absorption and Entry Through One's Own Mind
Rejecting identification with body and thought, the yogi should plunge, without any mental construct, directly into the transcendental state.
Sutra 3.-10Equal Vision in the Movement of Prana
As the yogi's life-breath, united with turiya, moves outward toward objects, he perceives everything as identical with the bliss of Shiva-consciousness.
Sutra 3.-9Inferior Production in the Middle
Between the initial and final moments of experiencing turiya, lesser states of mind can intrude, so the yogi must remain vigilant throughout.
Sutra 3.-8Reawakening Through Union of the Measures
When the yogi joins his true I-awareness to all objects of perception, the obscured transcendental consciousness is again revived.
Sutra 3.-7Becoming Equal to Shiva
Through continuous practice of turiya culminating in turyatita, the yogi becomes identical in nature with Shiva.
Sutra 3.-6Bodily Function as Vow
Remaining embodied only until prarabdha karma is exhausted, without further striving, is the sole vrata such a yogi keeps.
Sutra 3.-5Discourse as Recitation
Since his awareness of I-ness is itself the pure spiritual I, every word the yogi speaks becomes a japa of the Divine.
Sutra 3.-4Charity as Self-Knowledge
Such a yogi's true act of giving (dana) is the disseminating of Self-knowledge to all around him.
Sutra 3.-3The Knower and the Cause of Knowledge
Only the yogi established as master of the wheel of energies governing limited beings is competent to awaken true knowledge in others.
Sutra 3.-2The Universe as Expansion of One's Own Power
Because this yogi is identical with Shiva, the universe he perceives is simply the unfoldment of his own consciousness-power, as it is of Shiva's Shakti.
Sutra 3.-1Stability and Dissolution
The sustaining and reabsorbing of the universe are equally an unfoldment of the realized yogi's consciousness-power.
Sutra 3.0Non-Rejection Even in Activity
Even as change and activity proceed in the objective field, the subject of experience never suffers interruption, for change itself requires an experient.
Sutra 3.1External Reflection on Pleasure and Pain
Such a yogi views pleasure and pain as external objects, like a blue jar, rather than as modifications of his own I-consciousness.
Sutra 3.2The Isolated One is Freed
One untouched by any trace of pleasure or pain is known as kevali, the knower who abides as pure consciousness alone.
Sutra 3.3The Bound Self as Doer of Karma
When under the sway of primal ignorance and unaware of the real Self, the individual becomes an agent of karma, bound to samsara.
Sutra 3.4Creation of a New World Through Concealment of Difference
When the yogi discards all sense of difference rooted in identification with body and prana, he gains the power to create another order of existence at will.
Sutra 3.5The Power of the Organs from Self-Experience
The yogi's power of creativity is confirmed simply by his own experience of imaginative creation, as occurs even in ordinary dreaming.
Sutra 3.6Vitalization by the Three States and Beyond
In waking, dream, and deep sleep alike, one should vivify oneself from the very start with the creative bliss of the transcendental Fourth.
Sutra 3.7Like the State of Mind, So the External Organs and Body
Just as inner mental states are to be vitalized by the bliss of turiya, so too should the body, the senses, and all external objects be permeated by that same bliss.
Sutra 3.8Outward Movement of the Bound Self Through Speech
The ordinary individual identified with the subtle and gross body, driven by desire (abhilasha) born of anavamala, is carried outward from birth to birth.
Sutra 3.9Dissolution of the Individual Through Exhaustion of That Knowledge
For the yogi firmly established in turiya, all egoistic desire disappears, and thereby his condition as a limited empirical individual comes to an end.
Sutra 3.10The Supreme Beyond, Freed of the Veils, Equal to the Lord
Even while retaining the gross body as a mere outer covering, he is fully liberated and identified with Shiva, the Supreme Lord.
Sutra 3.11The Natural Connection with Prana
Even after Self-realization, the yogi retains the body because the natural bond of prana — arising from Svatantrya-shakti — persists as long as it lasts.
Sutra 3.12Concentration in the Central Nostril: What of the Left and Right Channels
By constant mindfulness on the innermost, central awareness pervading the flow of breath, the distinctions of ida, pingala, and sushumna become superfluous.
Sutra 3.13Closing Again of the Eyes
The soul that had forgotten its essential nature must ever again recognize and re-merge in Shiva, letting all sense of difference dissolve into the one I-consciousness.
77 entries
✦ ENROLL
Study the Sacred Sciences as part of your Bachelor of Shaiva Sciences at Shiva University.
$99/month.
FREE international hotel certificate delivered within 24 hours of enrollment.
The first 100 students lock in $99/month for life.
15 Sacred Destinations
Varanasi, India (Shiva's holy city) | Bali, Indonesia | Kyoto, Japan | Rishikesh, India | Sedona, Arizona | Paris, France | Tulum, Mexico | Cancun, Mexico | Oaxaca, Mexico | Phuket, Thailand | Machu Picchu, Peru | Nairobi, Kenya | Lagos, Nigeria | Ubud, Bali | Istanbul, Turkey
Graduation bonus: FREE 7-night Bali retreat upon completion of the Bachelor of Shaiva Sciences (Month 24).