Philosophy and Religion / J. C. Chatterji: Kashmir Shaivism

Jagadish Chandra Chatterji

Kashmir Shaivism

Part II. The Main Doctrines of the System.

Having thus glanced at its history and literature, let us now consider briefly the main doctrines of the Trika or Advaita Shaiva Philosophy of Kashmir. I propose to state these clearly but briefly, without entering into an exposition of the reasonings¹ which are, or can be, adduced in their support; for such a task would obviously be impossible in what is intended to be but a short introduction to the study of the subject. We may perhaps begin by enunciating the view the Trika holds of the true and ultimate nature of an experiencing being. It may be stated as follows²:—

The Atman

The Atman, that is the true and innermost Self in every being, is a changeless reality of the nature of a purely experiencing principle,³ as distinguished from whatever may assume the form⁴ of either the experienced or of the means' of experience.

It is called Chaitanya⁵ and also Para Samvit, the Supreme Experience; Parameshvara, the Supreme Lord; Shiva, the Benign One; or Parama Shiva,⁶ the Supreme Shiva. These two last names are what I shall chiefly use here, and shall therefore refer to this principle in the masculine as He, even though in reality it is neither He, She nor It, and may be equally referred to by any or all of these terms.

It is impossible to render Chaitanya or Chit in English by any single word which would adequately convey all that is implied by this technical term. We must therefore retain it untranslated.

This Chaitanya or Parama Shiva is the Reality which underlies, as its innermost and true self, not only every experiencing being but also every thing else in the universe, both separately, i.e., individually, as well as a totality, i.e., as the entire universe as a whole.

As the underlying reality in every thing and being in the universe, Parama Shiva is one and the same in them all—undivided and unlimited by any of them, however much they maybe separated either in time or in space. In other words, Parama Shiva is beyond the limits of time, space and form; and as such is Eternal and Infinite.

Again, as the underlying reality in everything, He is all-pervading; and at the same time He is also all transcending. That is to say, His nature has primarily a two-fold aspect—an immanent aspect in which He pervades the universe, and a transcendental aspect in which He is beyond all Universal Manifestations.

Indeed, the Universe with all its infinite variety of objects, and means, of experience is nothing but a manifestation of the immanent aspect of Parama Shiva himself. It has no other basis or ingredient in it.⁷

This aspect of His is called Shakti ( Power which, being only an aspect, is not in any way different from, or independent of, Parama Shiva, but is one and the same with Him.⁸ If anything, it is His creative Power, and is spoken of as His feminine aspect, as will be done here also.

Shakti again has several, indeed an infinite number of, aspects or modes, of which five are the most fundamental and primary ones.⁹ These are:
i. The Power of Self-Revelation whereby Shiva—as Parama Shiva in reference to this aspect of Shakti is called—shines as it were by himself, even when there is nothing objective to reveal or shine upon, like the sun in the material world as it would be if it could be conceived as shining all by itself, even when there was no object which it might light up or of which it might reveal the existence. It is the Chit-Shakti of the Supreme Lord (lit. the Power of Intelligence or the pure Light of Intelligence by itself).¹⁰

ii. The Power of realising absolute Bliss and Joy, which is ever satisfied in itself without there ever being any need for an object or means, and without ever going or moving out of itself for its satisfaction, and which is therefore ever independent and free and is ever at rest, as an ever undisturbed peace.

This is the Ananda Shakti of Parama Shiva (lit. the Power of Joying).¹¹

iii. The Power of feeling oneself as supremely able and of an absolutely irresistible Will —the Power also of what may be called the feeling of 'divine wonder' and of forming a divine Resolve as to what to do or create.

This is the Ichchha Shakti of Parama Shiva (lit. the Will Power.)¹²

iv. The Power of bringing and holding all objects in conscious relations with oneself and also with one another.

This is the Jnana Shakti (lit. the Power of Knowledge or Knowing, of Consciousness pure and simple without any reference to emotional Feeling or Will).¹³

v. The Power of assuming any and every form i. e., Creating, which, as will be seen, has no other meaning. This is the Kriya Shakti of the Supreme Shiva.¹⁴

With these five principal aspects of his Shakti, of which there are in reality, as said above, an infinite number of modes, Parama Shiva manifests. himself—or which is the same thing he manifests his Shakti—as the Universe. And he does this of his own free and independent will (svechchhaya) without the use of any other material save his own Power, and in Himself as the basis of the Universe. (svabhittau).¹⁵

Thus, in reality, the Universe is only an "expansion" of the Power of Parama Shiva Himself; or—to put it perhaps more correctly—of Parama Shiva in his aspect as Shakti,¹⁶ by which aspect he both becomes and pervades the Universe thus produced, while yet remains the ever transcendent-Chaitanya without in any way whatsoever being affected by the manifestation of a Universe.¹⁷

When Shakti expands or opens herself out (unmishati), the Universe comes to be, and when She gathers or closes herself up (nimishati)¹⁸ the Universe disappears as a manifestation, i.e. as 'predicable' in terms of discursive thought and speech (vachya).¹⁹

But it is not once only that She thus opens herself out, or that She will gather herself up; nor is the present Universe the first and only one which has come into manifestation. On the contrary, there have been countless Universes before and there will be an equally countless number of them in the endless futurity of time —the Universes, thus produced, following one another and forming a series in which they are linked together by the relation of causal necessity; that is to say, each successive Universe coming into existence as an inevitable consequence of certain causes (to be explained later) generated in the one preceding it.

Thus it happens, that, instead of the Divine Shakti opening herself out and gathering herself up only once, She has gone on repeating the process eternally, there being to it neither an absolute beginning nor a final ending. In other words, She alternates herself eternally between a phase of manifestation or explication and a phase of potentiality, bringing a universe into existence when She assumes the manifesting phase, and reducing it to what may be called a seminal state or form, when she passes into the potential phase.

Such a phase of manifestation or actuality of the Shakti is called an Udaya, Unmesha, Abhasana (lit. an appearance, a shining forth ) or Shrishti while a potential phase is termed a Pralaya (dissolution); and a complete cycle consisting of a Shrishti and a Pralaya (a creation and a dissolution ) is technically named a Kalpa (lit. an 'imagining' 'assuming' or ' ideating,' namely, of a creation and a dissolution).²⁰

Now, even though of an infinite variety, the things and beings, of which the Universe, thus produced by the 'opening out' of Shakti, consists, are built up really of only a few fundamental and general factors technically called the Tattvas, (lit. the thatness or whatness²¹, namely, of everything that exists). What these really are will be made clear as we go on. In the meantime they may be just enumerated here for the purpose of convenient reference.

Counting from what is, as it were, farthest removed from the ultimate Reality, that is to say, in which the nature of the Reality is the most veiled, the Tattvas may be enumerated as follows²²:

I. Five Factors constituting what may be termed the materiality of the sensible universe viz.:

1. The principle of Solidity or Stability, technically called the Prithivi or Dhara-Tattva; lit. Earth.
2. The principle of Liquidity—technically Ap; lit. Water.
3, The principle of what may be called Formativity i.e. the Formative or Form building principle— technically Agni; lit. Fire.
4. The principle of Aeriality—technically Vayu; lit. Air or the aerial atmosphere.
5. The principle of Vacuity (Avakasha) —technically Akasha; Lit. the Sky, the bright shining Firmament.

The above five form a group and are collectively termed the five Bhutas—lit. things that have been, not are. We may call them the physical or the sensible group.

Il. Five Principles constituting what become the powers of the motor-nervous system when they appear in the body, viz:

6. The Power or Capacity of enjoying passively and resting with satisfaction in what is, or is felt as, one's own or even oneself, without going or moving out power or capacity of recreation; technically the Upastha, lit. the recreative or generative organ.
7. The Power or Capacity of rejecting or discarding what is not needed or liked in an organic system—technically the Payu; lit. the voiding or discarding organ.
8. The Power of Locomotion—technically the Pada; lit. the feet.
9. The Power of Handling—technically the Hasta, lit. the hand.
1(). The Power of Expression or voicing—technically the Vach or the vocal organ.

These five forming a group, are collectively called the Karmendriyas i.e. the Indriyas, Powers or Capacities of action or activity.

Ill. Five General Elements of sense-perception, Viz:

11. The sense object of Odour-as-such, the Gandha-tanmatra.
12. do do of Flavour-as-such, the Rasa-tanmatra.
13. do do of Colour-as-such, the Rupa-tamatra.
14. do do of Feel-as-such, the Sparsha-tanmutra.
15. do do of Sound-as-such, the Shabda-tanmatra.

These five forming the quintad of the general objects of the special senses are collectively called the Tanmatras.

IV. Five Powers of sense perception, viz.

16. The Power, Capacity or Sense of Smell (Ghranendriya).
17. do do of Taste (Rasanendriya).
18. do do of Sight ( Darshanendriya)
19. do do of Feeling-by-Touch (Sparshendriya)
20. do do of Hearing (Shravanendriya)

The above five are collectively called the five Jnanendriyas or Buddhindriyas i.e. Indriyas or Powers of sense-perception, or, as they may be called, with reference to their operation in the physical body, the senses.

V. Three Capacities of mental operation, viz:

21. The Capacity of concretion and imagination—the Manas, the ever moving or the ever flowing one.
22. The Capacity of 'self-arrogation' and appropriation —the Ahankara, that which builds up the personal Ego, the 'I' of every-day life of one as Rama pr Shyuma, as John or Jones.
23. The Capacity of Judgment—the Buddhi.

The above three are collectively called the Antahkarana, lit. the 'Inner Organ.'

VI. Two principles of the limited individual subject-object, viz:

24. The Root of all Feeling, that is, Affection in the widest sense of the term; the Principle of the Affective in general, affecting the experiencer either as (i) the movementless, i.e. actionless, and even blissful, Feeling of the merest presentation or of pure consciousness or awareness as distinguished from any the slightest moving passion; as (ii) moving Passion in any form or degree; or as (iii) Stupefaction or Dullness in any form or degree;—technically the Prakriti, Affecting, or the Affective (lit. the doing forth, She that worketh forth.)
25. That which experiences these in or as a limited individual being—technically the Purusha, the Individual.

So far the Tattvas or principles are, as will be seen, the same as those recognised by the Sankhya System of Philosophy, with the only difference that, while the Purusha and the Prakriti are the final realities from the Sankhya point of view, they are but derivatives according to the Trika, which, therefore, carrying the analysis further, recognises the following additional Tattvas:—

VIl. Six Principles of subjective Limitation, viz:

26. (a) Limitation in regard to Duration of presence and simultaneity of experience – leading to the necessity of having experiences for limited periods and in succession.—Technically Kāla or Time. (The determinant of ‘when').
27. (b) Limitation in regard to presence, as in space, i.e., access, following directly from or, more correctly perhaps, resulting simultaneously with, the limitation of presence in regard to Duration, and leading to the necessity of being confined to a restricted area and therefore of being subject to cause and condition so as to be compelled to operate, or have experiences, under restricting conditions of cause, sequence, occasion and so on—such conditions never existing where there is no limitation of presence as regards either duration or extension. Technically it is called Niyati; lit. Restriction, or Regulation. (The determinant of 'where').
28. (c) Limitation in regard to Interest, leading to the necessity of attending to one or a few things at a time and thus of being attached to some, and letting go the others i.e. to the necessity of selection; technically Raga; lit. Attachment or Interest.
29. (d) Limitation as regards simple Awareness, without reference to interest, feeling and so on, so as to be aware of only a few things i.e. to have only a limited sphere of cognition; technically Vidya i.e. Knowledge (but limited knowledge).²³
30. (e) Limitation as regards Authorship or power to accomplish, leading to the necessity of limited activity, so as not to be able to do, i.e. create, modify or destroy anything or everything at will; technically Kalā, lit. Art i.e. the power of limited creation.

The above are collectively called the five Kanchukas i.e. sheaths or cloaks of the Purusha.²⁴

31. The generally limiting, self—forgetting and differentiating Power—technically Maya.

This also is sometimes included in the Kanchukas which then are counted as six.

VIll. Five Principles of the Universal subject-object, viz:

32. The Principle of Correlation in the universal experience, i.e. in feeling and consciousness, between the experiencer and the experienced—technically the Sad-Vidya or Shuddha-Vidya i.e. True or pure Knowledge.
33. Principle of Identification in the universal experience between what are thus correlated—technically the Aishvara or the Ishvara Tattva; lit. the 'Lordliness' or Might.
34. The Principle of Being—technically the Sidakhya, (or the Sada Shiva Tattva) lit. that from which or in which the experience of Being begins.²⁵
35. The Principle of Negation and Potentialisation, namely, of the Universal experience, i.e. the experience of and as the Universe the Shakti Tattva, i.e. the Power-Principle.²⁶
36. The Principle of the pure Experiencer by itself, with all experience of objects and means of experiencing them entirely negatived and suppressed, i.e. the principle of pure 'I', without the experience of even an 'am' as formulated in the experience 'I am';—technically the Shiva Tattva; lit. the Benign Principle.²⁷

What these Tattvas really are will, as said above, soon be made clear. For the present it is enough for our purpose to know that the manifested Universe consists, from the Trika point of view, of the above general factors or Tattvas; and that the Universe constituted of these factors is only a manifestation of the Power or Shakti of Parama Shiva, or, more correctly perhaps, of Parama Shiva himself in his aspect as Shakti.

Footnotes

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