The Shiva Sutras

7 versions

Los Shiva Sutras

Vasugupta

~800-850 A.D.

Version by

Swami Lakshmanjoo

Source #1 archive.org and #2 archive.org

On this page, terms in [brackets] were extracted from Swami Lakmanjoo's commentary.

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First Awakening

1. Supreme consciousness is the reality of everything.
2. Knowing differentiatedly is bondage and not-knowing undifferentiatedly is bondage.
3. Māyīyamala [differentiated knowledge] and kārmamala [when the doer is not properly recognized] are also bondage.
4. The Universal Mother commands this triple knowledge.
5. That effort, the flashing forth of active awareness that instantaneously makes universal consciousness shine, is Bhairava. [Supreme Being]
6. By establishing and meditating on the wheel of energies, the differentiated universe comes to an end.
7. Such a heroic yogi experiences the expansive state of turya [fourth state] in the differentiated states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
8. External organic knowledge constitutes the waking state.
9. Internal perceptions and thoughts comprise the dreaming state.
10. Forgetfulness and the negation of awareness is the dreamless state or māyā.
11. The one who enjoys the oneness of the three states, waking, dreaming and deep sleep in turya becomes the master of all organic energies.
12. The predominant sign of such a yogi is joy-filled amazement.
13. His will is the energy of Lord Śiva and it is called umā [independent energy of the supreme Lord, or svātantrya] and kumari [energy that is always given to play]. —or— For such a yogi his will is one with the energy of Lord Śiva, unobstructable, completely independent, always given to play.
14. This entire perceived world is his own self. —or— His own body is just like an object to him.
15. 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.
16. Or by aiming at the pure element of Śiva he possesses Śiva’s unlimited energy.
17. Any inference of such a yogi is knowledge of his own real self.
18. The joy of his mystical trance (samādhi) is bliss for the whole universe.
19. By infusing his energy of will, the embodiment of that which is willed occurs at once.
20. By the greatness of this achievement of the energy of will, the yogi can focus his awareness and heal the sick and suffering, separate elements from his body, and be free from the limitations of space and time.
21. (When this yogi does not desire limited powers and is eager to attain the knowledge of universal being then) ... pure knowledge rises and by that knowledge he becomes the master of the universal wheel.
22. By the attentive continuity of meditation on the great ocean of consciousness the power of supreme "I" is attained.

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Second Awakening

1. Mind is mantra.
2. (For such a yogi) pauseless effort brings about his attainment of God consciousness.
3. The secret essence of mantra is establishment in the body of the knowledge of oneness.
4. When a yogi's mind is satisfied with the expansive body of illusion, then he falls in the world of differentiated perceptions, and his knowledge of being is just like that of ordinary living beings.
5. The pure knowledge of God consciousness effortlessly rises and this state of Śiva is realized as one with the state of khecarī [supreme knowledge].
6. The master (guru) is the means.
7. (The disciple attains) the knowledge of the wheel of the hidden mother (Mātṛikācakra).
8. The establishment of I-consciousness on the body becomes an offering in the fire of God consciousness.
9. (For such a yogi) differentiated perception is his food. —or— Knowledge of his own nature is his food.
10. Although he is established in God consciousness in samadhi, yet not being able to maintain awareness, after a short time he enters into the dreaming state.

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Third Awakening

1. Individual being is the mind entangled in the wheel of repeated birth and death.
2. (For this limited individual), all knowledge is bondage.
3. Being unable to possess the undifferentiated knowledge of the 31 elements, you live in those elements, from kalā [time] to pṛithvī [earth], which are the expansion of the energy of illusion (māyā śakti).
4. You must make all the circles (kalās) in your body enter one into the other from gross to subtle.
5. The merging of the movements of breathing, controlling the gross elements, diverting attention from all objective senses and directing it towards the center of the movement of the breath, and removing (pratyāharaṇam) your consciousness from the grip of the elementary field ...
6. These powers are brought into existence when a yogi's consciousness is covered by the energy of illusion (māyā).
7. After conquering the field of illusion (māyā) by destroying its many impressions, one attains the victory of the pure knowledge of consciousness.
8. The waking state is another formation of his real nature of consciousness.
9. The dancer in this field of universal dance is his self of universal consciousness.
10. The player is the internal soul.
11. His own organs are spectators.
12. By means of a supreme intellect filled with the awareness of the self, this yogi experiences that he is actually acting.
13. The state of absolute independence (svatantrabhāvaḥ) is already achieved.
14. This (absolute independence) is the same in the external world as it was in samādhi.
15. Maintain breakless awareness on that supreme energy which is the seed (bīja) of the universe. [That (bīja) is the supreme energy of Śiva]
16. Seated in that real posture, he effortlessly dives in the ocean of nectar. [This real posture is the supreme energy of awareness.]
17. Experiencing that this objective world is the product of his subjective consciousness, he can create anything he desires.
18. When his knowledge of the Self is permanently established, then birth (and death) are gone forever.
19. In the world of letters, words and sentences, the eight energies of the Lord [the 5 senses, plus 3 of mind: manas, buddhi and ahaṁkāra], who are the mothers of beasts (take control and hold him). [Who is the beast? The ignorant human being.]
20. The fourth state (turya) must be expanded like oil so that it pervades the other three: waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
21. The yogi who is merged in his self must enter completely, with his mind filled with great awareness.
22. When his breath begins to slowly move out toward the external state, then he also experiences the pervasion [spreading] of God consciousness there.
23. He does not experience the state of God consciousness in the center of these three states.
24. When a yogi, in coming out from samādhi, also attempts to maintain awareness of God consciousness in the objective world, then, even though his real nature of self is destroyed by the inferior generation of self-consciousness, he again rises in that supreme nature of the self.
25. He becomes just like Śiva.
26. His virtuous behavior is the maintenance of his body.
27. Ordinary talk of life [for him] is the recitation (japaḥ) of mantra. [He is always merged in supreme I-consciousness of God.]
28. His only purpose for remaining in his body is to impart his knowledge to others.
29. The one who rules the wheel of energies becomes the cause of inserting knowledge in others.
30. For him, this universe is the embodiment of his collective energies.
31. This universe is the expansion of his energy in objective impressions and in the dissolution of those impressions.
32. Although he is determined in creating, protecting and destroying the universe, even then he is not separated from the real state of his subjectivity.
33. He experiences his joy and his sadness just like an object, with "this-consciousness" separate from his being. ["This is sadness," "this is joy," not "I am sad," "I am joyous."]
34. Separated from pleasure and pain, he is established in real seclusion.
35. The yogi whose God consciousness is destroyed by this state of illusion is dependent on his action (karmas).
36. He drives away the field of differentiated perceptions and enters into a new world of God consciousness.
37. The power of creation (karaṇaśakti) is the experience of every individual.
38. Emerging from the state of turya, insert the absolute bliss of that state into the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states and they will become one with that state of turya.
39. The awareness of God consciousness should not only be infused in that state where one's mind is established in one-pointedness, but it should also be infused in the establishment of his body, in his organic actions and in the external objective world.
40. Due to the insatiable and insistent desire to fill that gap (in his nature of being), his flow and movement are toward the objective world, not subjective consciousness, and so he is carried from one birth to another.
41. All desire vanishes in that fortunate person whose consciousness is established in his own real nature (tat). For him the state of being a limited individual (jīva) has ended.
42. For him, the five elements are only coverings. At that very moment, he is absolutely liberated, supreme and just like Śiva.
43. This connection with breathing in and breathing out is his nature. [Upon returning from the eternal state of God consciousness the connection with breathing in and breathing out occurs naturally.]
44. If his consciousness is established in the central vein in that force, which is the energy of life (prāṇan), then he remains always the same. For him there is no difference in traveling in prāṇa, apāna or suṣumnā [the three veins].
45. This yogi simultaneously and repeatedly experiences the revealing state and the concealing state of the objective world.

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