In this excerpt, Swami Lakshmanjoo reveals “Why Lord Shiva has created this universe, which is Shakti, His supreme energy?”
This lecture is from the Bodhapañcadaśikā [15 verses of wisdom], verse 5.
Bodhapañcadaśikā [15 verses of wisdom]
तस्यैवैषा परा देवी स्वरूपामर्शनोत्सुका ।
पूर्णत्वं सर्वभावेषु यस्या नाल्पं नचाधिकम् ॥५
tasyaivaiṣā parā devī svarūp-āmarśanotsukā /
pūrṇatvaṁ sarva-bhāveṣu yasya nālpaṁ na cādhikam // 5 //
Tasyaiva parā devī, this collective state of the universe, which is reflected in the mirror of God consciousness; this whole universe which is reflected in the mirror of God consciousness, is His supreme energy.
And why he has created this supreme energy in his own nature?
Just to recognize his own nature.
This whole universe is just the means to recognize Lord Shiva. You can recognize Lord Shiva through the universe. You cannot recognize Lord Shiva by abandoning the universe.
So you have to observe and experience God consciousness in the very activity of the world. If you remain cut off from the universe and try to realize God consciousness it will take centuries. If you remain in universal activity and be attentive to realize God consciousness it will be very easy for you to understand. So this outside universe is created just for the sake of realizing his own nature.
That is why it is called Shakti. This whole universal state is called Shakti, this is the means to realize one’s own nature.18
BRUCE P: Why should he want to recognize?
SWAMIJI: It is svātantrya. Because if he does not recognize it, what is the fun of the universe? The universe is created just to recognize him.
JOHN: Just for fun.
SWAMIJI: Just for fun, yes . . . it is svātantrya.
This is why in Śaivism this is svātantrya vāda [theory of svātantrya] everywhere.
If he were only Shiva . . . he was there, he was in his full splendor of God consciousness . . .
ERNIE: There is no lack there?
SWAMIJI: No, it is full, it is already full.
ERNIE: Yes.
SWAMIJI: When fullness is overflowed . . . you know what happens afterward?
He wants to remain incomplete, he wants to appear as incomplete, just to achieve completion. So this is the svātantrya. This svātantrya has created this whole universe. So in the universe, there is ignorance, and for ignorance, you want to get rid of that ignorance. And there is a way, there is a way, that in the activity of world you will meditate and bas, reach the state of God consciousness.
So this is the fun of svātantrya.
SWAMIJI: You leave it. You leave it when it is overjoyed [overflowing].
nijaśaktyā vaibhavabharāt aṇḍacatuṣṭya (paramarthasāra)19
When it is overflowed, when it overflows then you want to disconnect it.
ERNIE: So that’s his position?
SWAMIJI: That is his position . . . disconnected because of too much of it (joy). You want to get disconnected from that state and then connect yourself, (then) it gives pleasure, that is svātantrya. This is why this whole universe is created. Otherwise, there was no reason to create this universe, when God was there already in his own knowledge, completely.
To enjoy his own fullness of God consciousness. Fullness of God consciousness he has enjoyed already, he was enjoying already.
It was too much. So he wanted to disconnect it . . , for the time being, and realize it again. So it is unmeṣa and nimeṣa. Unmeṣa is flourishing of that God consciousness and nimeṣa is winding that God consciousness, extract and contract. Expansion and (contraction) i.e. unmeṣa and nimeṣa.20
This is svātantrya. So this is the way, how this universe is created. Otherwise, there was no room for this universe to be created.
What for . . . if God consciousness was already full?
But it was over, over . . .
GANJOO: Overflowing.
SWAMIJI: . . . overflowing, and then he wanted to do something else.
ERNIE: When it was overflowing, Shakti was still . . . ?
SWAMIJI: Shakti was in his own nature at that time. When it overflowed too much then he had to separate Shakti from his nature. And then in Shakti also Shiva is existing; and that Shiva was ignorant, and he wanted to have this fullness of his knowledge, as before.
This is the way.
JOHN: So he contains both of those in himself at the same moment, though. There is not a point where he is separated from the universe and then . . .
SWAMIJI: No, at the moment he realizes his nature from ignorance to knowledge, he experiences at that very moment that it was already there. This is the proof, this is the proof of his being already filled with knowledge, in ignorance also. In ignorance also, when this ignorance vanishes from that individual, he experiences and this memory comes in his mind, “that it was already there, it was already there.” (This memory comes) at the time of knowledge at the time of existence of God consciousness.
ERNIE: So there was never really any separation at all?
SWAMIJI: No, (that) separation seems to be by svātantrya.
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18 “O dear Pārvatī, just like by the light of your torch or candle, or by the rays of sun, all the differentiated points of deśa, or ‘space’ are known, are understood; in the same way Shiva is being understood by Shakti, by his energy. Energy is the means by which you can understand and enter in the state of Lord Shiva.” Swami Lakshmanjoo, Vijñāna Bhairava, Verse 21.
In Kashmir Shaivism ‘the showering of grace’ is called ‘Śaktipāta’. There is no such thing as Śivapāta, because for Shiva there is nowhere to go and nothing to realize. Shiva is the realizer! [Editor’s note]
19 “When the glamour of His own energies, cit śakti, ānanda śakti, icchā śakti, jñāna śakti and kṛiyā śakti are overflowing with glamour, he creates this universe. This is the creation because he was overflowing in his way, in his being.” Paramārthasāra, verse 4.
Cit śakti, ānanda śakti, icchā śakti, jñāna śakti and kṛiyā śakti, are Shiva’s energies of consciousness, bliss, will, knowledge and action, respectively. These are the five universal energies existing in the state of God consciousness. [Editor’s note]
20 “By whose unmeṣa and nimeṣa, by whose twinkling of eye – unmeṣa is opening of eye, nimeṣa is closing His eyes – you find jagataḥ pralayodayau, the rise and dissolution of one hundred and eighteen worlds. One hundred and eighteen worlds rise when He opens His eyes, and one hundred and eighteen worlds are destroyed when He closes His eyes.” Swami Lakshmanjoo, Spanda Kārika, verse 1.
Source:Source: Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami LakshmanjooKashmir Shaivism and the Transformation of Life - Six-part online series featuring Swami Lakshmanjoo’s revelation of “Fifteen Verses of Wisdom” the Bodhapancadashika. Coming soon!
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