Kashmir Shaivism - The Doctrine of Vibration

Kashmir Shaivism is a philosophical/spiritual/ontological system to which I have found myself gravitate. The tradition, coming from the Kashmir region, has been tucked away and somewhat hidden from the rest of the world for hundreds of years. I would happen to see references to it every now and again in different articles and forums and decided to try and learn more by reading a few books on it.

Kashmir Shaivism is also called the “Spanda” system – which is Sanskrit for subtle vibration or pulse. This has given the system the moniker “Doctrine of Vibration” as well.

Rather than seeing the world or universe around as something to be pinned down (empirically studied, chopped up and labeled), feared as “other” (as in a dualistic system) or as simply unreal (the “rope in the snake”), Spanda recognizes the universe as the outpouring of the playful nature of Supreme consciousness through waves, vibrations, or pulses. Supreme consciousness, beginningless and ever blissful, vibrates within itself and, in a way, plays a cosmic game of hide and seek. It is playful and creative and desires to forget its own nature – it projects ‘downward’ from the subtlest pulse to the lowest vibration in dense “matter”, infusing everything in between with its own consciousness. It pretends that there is a knower and the known when it assumes an individual perspective, whereas on the true level of being, nothing exists outside of this Consciousness. Everything is the play of this Supreme consciousness, which some have called God and the Kashmir Shaivites call Shiva (also Bhairava). From a perspective of individualized, limited understanding (that is the result of Its ability to cover Itself with a kind of ignorance or unknowing), the pairs of opposites such as good and evil are seen, whereas on the side of the tapestry woven by the Absolute, apparent opposites are simply part of the play.

One’s individual life can be seen as the outpouring of this playful consciousness, a gem within the universal kaleidoscope, able to reflect itself and reflect on itself. The Supreme puts upon itself the ultimate limitation, forgetting its limitless nature, wanting to feel limited, even lost and alone, only to remember again Its own nature and shed the veil that was only really part of the play.

Kashmir Shaivism goes beyond philosophical understandings and actually provides systematic explanations of how the universe of the material elements came to be projected out from the original pulse of Consciousness. This is explained in detail by Swami Lakshmanjoo in the book, “The Secret Supreme”. The system helps to integrate beliefs from various faiths, and also helps one to understand one’s situation by delving more deeply into the Self.

http://www.koausa.org/shaivism/articles/ksd1.html

Concisely, The Kashmir Shaivism philosophy is :

That in the beginning all is Shiva-shakti (Pure Consciousness and Limitless Energy).

A primal urge arises in Shiva (Supreme Consciousness) to roll out a whole universe.

His Shakti enables him to do exactly that. We honor her as jag janani, mother nature (in Sanskrit also known as matrika).

All creation forget their pristine beginning, by a spiritual concussion, the primal forgetting. Once the divine beginning is forgotten, other limitations are quick to creep in, omniscience becomes worldly conditioned knowledge, omnipotence becomes limited, specific ability, and omnipresence is reduced to a body/collective bodies.

All creatures accumulate experiences in their worldly sojourn. This is almost always in pairs, joy sadness, hot cold, dark light and so on. We understand that all is transient. We begin to look for permanence. The journey back to pristinity begins.

Modern physic's Holographic Principle describing the nature of the universe has some striking parallels with the theory of the manifestation of the universe put forward by the ancient Eastern psychospiritual tradition (yogic science) of Kashmir Shaivism:

http://www.spanda.org/origin.html

Origin of the Name Spanda

Spanda is the original, primordial subtle vibration that arises from the dynamic interplay of the passive and the creative polarizations of the Absolute, and that by unfolding itself into the energetic process of differentiation bringing forth the whole of creation.

Spanda is a Sanskrit term – derived from the root spadi: “to move a little” (kimcit calana) – for the subtle creative pulse of the universe as it manifests into the dynamism of living form. The term is a key concept of the Kashmir Śaivism monistic philosophy (ninth century) according to which the entire universe is nothing but conscious energy, and that everything in the universe is that consciousness expressed in different forms. Spanda can be translated as throb or pulse or to mean vibration, movement, or motion, referring to waves of activity issuing forth from an unseen source of spontaneous expression, emanating not only from the centre outward, but from everywhere at once. It might be described as the essence of a wave in the ocean of consciousness. An impulse or desire to create and enjoy, likened to an eternal spring, joyfully overflowing its inner essence into manifestation and inspiration, yet ever full, complete and unchanging.

On the transcendental plane, spanda is the pulsating radiance flashing forth of the Absolute consciousness who appears as the universal source and essential form of the Absolute's own energetic self-expression. On a more personal plane, spanda is the primordial energy whose manifestation reveals itself in our every experience, and it refers to consciousness as it orients through thought and intention to organize into authentic action. It is a continuous movement on an infinite spectrum of frequencies flashing forth of consciousness. It is the first stage of consciousness before it crystallizes into the reasoning process.

Thus, spanda is defined as the dynamics of consciousness, being not a physical movement, not a psychological activity (like pleasure) and not even a movement of energy (prāna), such as hunger and thirst, but being the subtle vibration which is the source and foundation of all these. "Spanda is the pulsation of the ecstasy of the divine consciousness", as Abinahavagupta (975-1025 c.e.) defines it. When we sense this pulsation inside us, we are sensing our own personal spark of that huge, primordial life force. It is the energy behind the breath, the heartbeat, and the movement of our thoughts and feelings. It is also the source of all our inner experiences. When we get deep into ourselves, we realize that this throb, this subtle pulsation, is actually ‘meditating’ us.

The Kashmir Śaiva school holds that the ultimate Reality itself ‘quivers,’ that is, is inherently creative. The unobjectified impulse of the Absolute to manifest itself – born of its inherent nature as a deliberation of its own volition – creates a stir, a throb (spanda) which vibrates as the primordial sound (nāda). This ur-sound concentrates itself into a point (bindu), a nucleus of condensed energy, the seed of the ultimate sound, containing within itself both the dynamic and static aspects, the two polarities as one closely knit unit (bearing in mind that these two polarities are merely a linguistic convention for the convenience of philosophical thinking and as a way of clarifying the two aspects of the one Absolute Reality: transcendental unity and universal diversity). This point encloses in itself all the possibilities of becoming, all that have to be created. Then, the point swells and, retaining simultaneously the original latent and potent status embodying the polarities, assumes a radius: the polarization takes place: the dynamic and static energies interact and, from the ensuing unfoldment, two more points emerge to form a triad of points: the primary triangle, the beginning of creation. Moving as a resonance, the pulsation of spanda exists continuously; and in all the different states of consciousness there is spanda: it is the residual, foundational substratum of the manifested world.