The teachings of poverty consciousness and poverty of energy in Kashmir Śaivism and Śāktism and key practices for inner strength
In these reflections, the teachings of poverty (dainya) consciousness (saṃvid) and poverty (dāridrya) of power (śakti) in Kashmir Śaivism and Śāktism (the tradition) are briefly explored. Human suffering is the persistent state of poverty consciousness and poverty of energy. This perspective on suffering is practical and evocative. By regularly contemplating it, we can integrate with a renewed intensity and frequency our own fragmented awareness and energy leaks (agitations, disruptions, disturbances, restlessness). This is how we can find, realize, and repose in our own essential nature (svasvabhāva) as oneness with the universal Self.
My book, Sacred Repose, Abiding in Bliss and Freedom, describes another definition of suffering. Abhinavagupta portrays suffering as restlessness. The causes of restlessness are poverty consciousness and poverty of energy. Both poverties are related to the veils of duality. The veils are the contraction of the supreme agitator, Śiva, to make the impossible possible: the fragmentation of oneness. What is agitated into existence is you and I, and all other beings, seemingly limited in both power and freedom of consciousness. The numberless agitated beings perform countless ever-new agitations. It is this never-ending movement that obscures the truth. This is the play of consciousness – consciousness obscuring itself from itself through its agents – us.
In this cosmic play of hide-and-seek, few realize that it is our birthright to reclaim our inner strength (bala). We can do this by contacting our own inner strength (svabala) and identifying with it as opposed to our tendency to identity with the body, mind, etc. We tune into and access the part of ourselves that is unexpressed infinite energy as potentiality (the second innermost central channel), the source of both inner strength and all creativity. And/or we tune into and access that part of ourselves which is pure consciousness (the innermost central channel).
It is important to realize that while the concept of poverty is mentioned only a few times in the tradition, inner strength (bala) and related terms such as vitality (vīrya), vigor (ojas), and power (śakti) are discussed very frequently. The difference in mentions between poverty and strength is exponential in the favor of strength. Clearly, this is an elevating and empowering view on the inner potential of humans. Let us truly embrace this potential.
It is also said in the Discernment of the Six Attributes (Ṣadgunyaviveka): When reality is realized by means of the consciousness (jñāna) that abides at the beginning and end (of the production of) the qualities, (the yogi discovers) that mastery (īśitā), (inner) strength (bala), vitality (vīrya), vigor (ojas) and power (śakti) are the inherent attributes of (his own fundamental) state of being.
Also, in the Hymn to the Divine Power (Kakṣyāstotra): … (This consciousness) belongs to the strength (bala) (of one’s own true nature) because it is grounded in perfect contentment (tṛpti), having nothing for it to bear.
Spandakārikā, verse 16 commentary by Bhagavadutpala, translated by Mark Dyczkowski in The Stanzas on Vibration
In our own inner consciousness work we must develop subtlety of discrimination, something that my teacher Swami Khecaranatha emphasizes a lot. This capacity is enabled through devotional surrender and devotional stillness. Swami Lakshmanjoo underscores that the practitioner must develop active awareness and strength of awareness. We cannot be passive in our inner work; we have to elevate our own awareness from passivity to active presence. We must insert freshness of presence of awareness in the here and the now as often as we can. Otherwise, we are caught in a lower dualistic egoic resonance whose attention is projected into something external – we are unconsciously lost in a thought, a story, a daydream, an emotion, one of the senses, in the body, etc.
In our own inner energy work we must focus on two energetic approaches which re-inforce each other. It is like burning the candle from both ends. First, we train ourselves to manage our agitations and mix all our diverse energies into one energy. We humans are amazingly complex in that we have many layers with each layer having its own nuances – bodies, senses, thoughts, intellect, and emotions. Much of our inner work is to integrate our seemingly diverse energies into one energy. Second, we discover, access, and abide in our own inner intrinsic power, which is well-hidden by our own agitations. Using both approaches, over time our limited consciousness begins to blossom into oneness. This happens because we burn all differentiating energetic tendencies. It is these tendencies which reinforce the seeming fragmentation of our own consciousness. The more tendencies we burn, the more we free our consciousness from duality, from subject-object relationship. And, as my book discusses, we ultimately realize that there is only one knower, reposing in consciousness, bliss, and freedom.
This journey is our own disciplined inner voyage. As we will see, through the strength (bala) of our own inner practice, we can develop the capacity to match and overcome the strength (bala) of the veils and coverings of duality, thus accessing and revealing our own inner strength (bala). In each case, scripture uses the same word for strength. If our practice is weak and inconsistent, overcoming let us say the covering of time, is impossible. It is hopeless.
I might get pushback on the following statement, but it is important to make it to at least trigger some self-reflection. We won’t find and get established in our inner power at the next cacao gathering, ayahuasca ceremony, or the 26th weekend retreat each year. For most people, in my view and experience, these and other external “spiritual” events, usually result in the unconscious giving away of one’s power. So much of reclaiming our inner power is to first stop giving it away to someone or something external. My recommendation is to only go to spiritual events that truly empower your inner self. Take the teaching from a weekend retreat hosted by an authentic teacher and truly spend the next 3-6 months imbibing and living those teachings and politely pass on your friend’s invitation for a smoke-filled room “spiritual” jamboree.
Consciously reclaiming our inner power ultimately can only come through deep inner self-discovery on our own. There is a reason that even the highest deity in the tradition is described as a solitary hero (ekavīra). This is a metaphor for us – we are that solitary hero.
May these reflections and effective practices, which weave in the teachings of sacred repose, be in service to all beings who endeavor to break through the veils. I bow to the indivisible, all-powerful, and infinitely free, one reality.
Understanding the interplay of consciousness and its intrinsic energetic power
The core teaching of the tradition is that we are one free unbounded self-luminous consciousness (Śiva) which endlessly and joyously expresses itself through its own inherent energy (Śakti).
This is not the experience of most humans. The tradition describes in great detail why that is the case. It discusses the three veils of duality, the 36 levels of reality, karma, and other teachings in great detail to describe the nature of the human condition. Sacred Repose, Abiding in Bliss and Freedom describes this and many other important teachings.
Out of its inherent freedom, consciousness embarks on a grand journey – the play of consciousness – creating the universe as we know it. Life is the great adventure of the one universal consciousness choosing to break itself down as billions of humans (and many other beings). We are like little pawns in an unfathomably complex cosmic chessboard. Clearly, describing life as a game of chess does not make sense from universal perspective, but it can feel that way on this human inhabited Earth where we tend to live in a win-lose state of mind. The goal of this chessboard game is seemingly not clear. We duke it out with ourselves, other humans, and life, trying to figure out the meaning of life.
When one feels like a little pawn in an immense universe, this inevitably creates existential angst. We get worn out and feel weak from the constant fight and flight drama of life. Moreover, we feel like that we are being played, as if we are playthings of some higher force, and that we are not really players to begin with. Life can be both confusing and hard.
Welcome to the human game! Can one graduate from being a plaything and become a player? When does the game of chess end from an individual’s perspective? What is the checkmate? Who checkmates who? Clearly, physical death is a guaranteed checkmate for the individual. But before that guaranteed physical life outcome, can we at least become better chess players? Might as well give it a try.
From this brief discussion, we already have an important clue to becoming a player. If the one consciousness breaks itself down in countless pieces and we are one of those pieces, how can a piece unbreak itself and abide in the one universal consciousness? How do we move from a highly fragmented view and experience of reality into one of oneness? How do we reconstitute ourselves from fragmentation into oneness? This is the journey from being a plaything and becoming a player.
We can describe the state of fragmentation as poverty consciousness. This poverty consciousness is specific to each of us. We can only free ourselves from it with our own efforts. I cannot free you. You have to free yourself. I, or another teacher, can assist you on the journey of breaking free from poverty consciousness, but only you can do the work. It is your own journey, not someone else’s.
Let us investigate a bit more the cosmic chessboard. In its essence, the core tenet of the tradition is rediscovering and abiding in the fullness of consciousness. Consciousness has two aspects: light of consciousness (prakāśa) illuminating all of creation and self-reflective capacity (vimarśa). Therefore, light and self-awareness are intrinsic to all sentient beings.
Consciousness accomplishes fragmentation through its inherent power, its energy (śakti), which is inseparable from consciousness. As the play of consciousness unfolds, one energy harmoniously becomes a plethora of creative energies. Before the one energy becomes a multitude of energies, she first manifests as three energies: transcendent, intermediate, and lower. The lower energy is the power of differentiation.
On our spiritual journey, from the perspective of repose, which is discussed at length in my book, we penetrate through the lower power by reposing in it. This reveals the intermediate power which in turn reveals the transcendent power. This is also possible through repose. By reposing, we begin to master the dynamic layers of the game.
In this system, the highest divinity has as its essence all-inclusive expanded awareness, and its power is this very inclusive wholeness (pūrṇatā), denoted by utterances in the scriptures such as: the totality (kula), potency (sāmarthya), the wave (ūrmi), the heart (hṛdaya), the essence (sāra), pulsation (spanda), pervasive power (vibhūti), the Goddess of the three (Trīśikā), the Black one (Kālī), She who devours time (Kālī Sankarshinī), the Fierce one (Caṇḍī), the word (vāṇī), experience (bhoga), perception (dṛk), and the constant one (nityā).
Each name denotes an activity of divine consciousness related to its meaning, such that she may be meditated upon in one or another of these aspects and so become seated in the heart of each meditator.
This all-inclusive expanded awareness manifests through clearly seeing the fact that all powers [belong to it and cohere in it]. And its powers are innumerable. Enough to say – its powers constitute the whole of reality. How could all these powers be taught?
Like this: the whole of reality is encompassed by three primary powers. She by whose power the highest divinity manifests, perceives, and supports all this, from Śiva to earth, as pure undifferentiated awareness is its sacred transcendent power, parāśakti.
She by whose power it manifests, perceives, and supports all this as diversity within unity – like elephants and other creatures appearing in a single mirror – is its sacred intermediate power, parāparāśakti.
She by whose power it manifests, perceives, and supports all this as pure differentiation, characterized by mutual separation [of subjects and objects], is its sacred lower power, aparāśakti.
Tantrāsara, verses from Chapter 4, translated by Christopher Wallis, https://hareesh.org/blog/2019/7/31/the-aspects-of-the-goddess-tantrasaara-chapter-four-part-4
These beautiful verses transmit the important teaching that all powers repose in all-inclusive awareness and that consciousness possesses countless dynamic energies. When we regularly view these energies collectively in our heart center as one energy consisting of the totality of all energies, over time the fullness of consciousness becomes apparent.
PRACTICE 1: MELTING DIVERSE ENERGIES INTO ONE ENERGY IN THE HEART. § Pause now for 20 or more minutes. Breathe slowly and naturally for 2 minutes while tuning into the center of the chest, the yogic heart center. Then, for 5 minutes, imagine or visualize all your energies (bodily/somatic, sensory, intellectual, mental, emotional) merging in the heart center. Feel the heart center drawing them all in and mixing them into one energy. Then, for 5 minutes, with your awareness, drop into the one energy. Finally, for 8 minutes, lean in, let go into the one energy even deeper, and repose in the one energy in stillness. §
The heart center as the activator of inner strength is discussed in the commentary of the very first verse of the Tantrāloka. We must develop the inner capacity to tune into and abide in our own heart center.
… the ‘Heart’ is the reality which is the activation of (the innate) strength (bala) of one’s own (inner essential consciousness).
Tantrālokaviveka, commentary on verse 1, translated by Mark Dyczkowski in Tantrāloka, The Light On and Of the Tantras, Volume 1
Understanding the cause and the nature of the human condition
All energies (śaktis) emanate from vimarśaśakti, the energy of self-reflective capacity. As the energies play, they obscure their innate nature as the fullness of consciousness. In non-dual Śaivism there are 3 main veils (malas) that separate the individual from their innate nature as pure unbounded luminous consciousness.
The primal veil is that of separation (āṇavamala), which is the perception of incompletion and lack, stirring the desire for completion. It further descends into the mistaken belief that one is different from everything else. This is the veil of differentiation (māyīyamala). Finally, because of separation and differentiation, one believes that they are the doer, creating impressions of pain, pleasure, and karma. This is the veil of doership (kārmamala).
And here it is – the nature of the human condition as separation, difference, and doership – well veiled from the supreme reality of oneness.
We can simplify the incredibly wide range of physical, sensual (as pertaining to the senses, mental, emotional) fluctuations as the instruments of the three veils of duality – doership, differentiation, and separation. We can contemplate the three veils as the source of all agitations. Separation is the primal agitator feeding the agitations of differentiation and doership.
The tradition also describes 6 coverings – separation and its powers of time, space, limited will, limited knowledge, and limited action. It is the latter five coverings that feed the veils of differentiation and doership. The same word for strength (bala) is used both for inner strength and to describe the power of the coverings. This is a very important point. The lesson is that achieving freedom is not a walk in the park.
‘(The individual soul) is bound because it is under the sway of the power of time (kāla bala), (its) limited capacity to act (kalā), and the necessity (of having to bear the consequences of karma) (niyati), (as well as) attachment and the limited capacity to know (vidyā). (The result is perceptions of the sort,) “just now I know something, and I know just this very thing only incompletely.”
Tantrālokaviveka, commentary on verse 1.40 quoting from the Paramārthasāra, translated by Mark Dyczkowski in Tantrāloka, The Light On and Of the Tantras, Volume 1
Strength (bala) is also used to describe our practice. We must put in the inner work, referred to in Tantrālokaviveka1.171 encouragingly as “by the strength of practice” (abhyāsabalāt). Tantrāloka 16.295 describes the yogi accomplishing anything by the strength of mantra, knowledge, and yoga (mantrajñanayogabalāt). With deep inner work we develop the capacity to re-channel the inherent power of the veils and coverings into our heart or the central channels where we can mix the obscuring powers into one undifferentiated energy.
To summarize, through the strength (bala) of our own inner practice, we can develop the capacity to match and overcome the strength (bala) of the coverings, thus accessing and revealing our own inner strength (bala). This is the first energetic approach that we discussed earlier.
Again, note that the same word bala is used in these three contexts. And therein is the secret: it is the same energy that both obscures and reveals. We just have to use our will to channel that one energy for the purpose of revelation.
Poverty of energy
Another perspective through which we can understand this teaching is through the prism of divine dynamism. As the dynamic divine power, out of its innate creativity, begins to get oriented towards individuality, a subtle contraction manifests within pure consciousness before manifestation. This contraction is consciousness itself internally projecting individuality before manifestation, culminating into a corresponding sphere of experience of separate objective realities with manifestation.
Inasmuch as the object aspect of knowledge is emerging, when it becomes "activated" (kṣobha) due to possessing innate creative power, then contraction manifests in that pure consciousness.
Tantrāloka, verse 3.75, translated by Ben Williams
The word kṣobha (dynamic throb) takes a different meaning at the level of the individual, as an agitation or disruption of individuation/ego.
An individual who, (though) desirous of doing various things, (but) incapable of doing them due to his innate impurity, (experiences) the supreme state (parama padam) when the disruption (kṣobha) (of his false ego) ceases.
Commentary by Kallabhaṭṭa: (The individual soul) pervaded by this innate impurity, may desire to act, but even so does not make contact with his inherent power. However, if the disturbance of his conceived notion of his own identity as “I” (aham iti pratyayabhāvarūpa) were to cease, he would be established in the supreme state.
Commentary by Rājānaka Rāma: True enough, (God and the individual soul) are one in the state (that arises when the latter makes contact with his own innate power). Even so, he (is subject) to the ‘impurity’ of attachment, etc., rooted in the notion that the Self is the body, etc. (This impurity) is ‘innate,’ in the sense that it is born along with him (sahaja) (when consciousness contracts down from the universal level). It is due to this impurity that (he is full of) desire, greedy for (a few) short moments of fleeting happiness, and is thus rendered helpless in the action he takes to gain those objects that are the means to it. He is, in other words, poor in power (śaktidaridra) for, although he may wish it, he cannot achieve his goal.
Such a person’s ‘supreme state,’ namely, the absolute (niruttara) (beyond which there is nothing higher), would manifest according to its true nature the moment ‘the disruption’ of the negative effects of māyā [separation], that is, the egoity (ahaṃpratyaya) that takes its support from the conditioned body, etc., ‘ceases’ and is destroyed. It melts away like a heap of snow by coming in contact with the light of the sun of the authentic ego (svābhavikāhaṃpratyaya) that transcends all fictitious supports. Thus, at that level, the unity between what is called the (universal) Self (ātman) and the individual self (puruṣa) becomes manifestly apparent as the supreme (para) and inferior (apara) (sates of absolute) consciousness. This stanza declares this (state) to be established in one’s own [essential] nature (svasvabhāva).
Commentary by Bhagavadutpala: The ‘innate’ (sahaja), beginningless ‘impurity’ is ignorance rooted in non-discrimination. In the form of impure attachment to worldly pleasure, it afflicts the soul who, poor in power (śaktidāridryam), cannot do (what he pleases). Thus, he who is attached to (his) actions, precisely because he is attached, cannot achieve (any of his) goal although he may dearly wish to do so.
Spandakārikā, verse 9 and commentary, translated by Mark Dyczkowski in The Stanzas on Vibration
This teaching implies that the individual’s desire to act prevents the individual from accessing their innate power. However, if the agitation of the false notion of “I” (aham iti) ceases (pratyayabhāvarūpo 'sya pralīyeta), the individual is established in the supreme state (tadāsya bhavati parame pade pratiṣṭhānam). Rājānaka Rāma’s more detailed explanation of the same verse further emphasizes this important message. When one wrongly believes that they are the body, mind, etc., due to the contraction of consciousness, the individual is driven by desire, grasping for momentary happiness. This diminishes the energy of the individual – the individual becomes poor in power (śaktidaridra).
It is the poverty of energy (śakti) keeping one bound because the energy of the individual is projected into the world of objectivity. In other words, we unconsciously allow much of our inner power to linger in the world of objects. This enslaves us lifetime after lifetime. Instead, we need to re-direct our power inside for the purpose of liberation. As we pull back from objectivity, we begin to perceive the craftiness of our ego. While we are stuck in objectivity, it is harder to see through the ego and its limitations.
The desire of Śiva to create the universe is the arousal, the creative impulse. In the Tantrāloka, the relationship between the agitator and the agitated (kṣobhyakṣobhakabhāva) is described this way: the agitator (kṣobhaka) is consciousness itself; the arousal (kṣobha) is the state of objectivity within consciousness; the act of agitating is the projection of objectivity (kṣobhana); and the agitated (kṣobhya) is the object.
Śiva’s primal desire to create the universe is fulfilled when the universe as the ground of arousal (kṣobhādhāra) is unified with Śiva. In other words, at the level of the individual, we must absorb all our energies and identity into consciousness to fulfill Śiva’s desire. This fulfillment is achieved by reposing in consciousness, where all agitation between knower, knowing, and known is resolved.
The creative arousal is woven at the core of creation. It intrinsically creates the agitation between the knower and the known, only to be resolved in their union. We must understand and experience that all agitation ultimately stems from divine agitation creating the illusion of separation. This agitation only subsides in stillness/repose, because in stillness all distinctions melt away. We must regularly seek stillness both in our sitting meditations and during daily life.
Play of Consciousness Chart - click
PRACTICE 2: MELTING DIVERSE ENERGIES INTO ONE ENERGY IN STILLNESS CONSCIOUSNESS. § Pause for 20 minutes. Feel/watch with every fiber of your being how all agitations (thoughts, emotions, etc.) and all separation dissolves in stillness after they arise and maintain themselves for some time. As you find the stillness, repose in it. I have found this process helpful: 1) Seek the stillness. 2) Find it. 3) Establish yourself in it. 4) Function from stillness in all activity. §
Welcome to the divine City of Appeasement, population: 1 (Śiva), mayor: Śiva, city council: Śiva. As the ancient masters often remark, “What more is there to say?” Yet, we have a little more to say.
Freedom from agitation
The individual can free themselves from agitation by ceasing the association with the levels of limited individualization and associating with the supreme state. Swami Lakshmanjoo describes that the agitation is accomplished by putting I-consciousness onto three bodies: gross body (waking state), subtle body (dreaming state), and the subtlest body (deep sleep). The agitation ends when I-consciousness is disconnected from these threefold bodies and infused into God consciousness (see the Shiva Sutras, The Supreme Awakening, by Swami Lakshmanjoo, pp. 114-115).
The word kṣobha (dynamic throb), taking the meaning of an agitation or disruption at the level of the individual, is reminiscent of restlessness (aviśrānti). This seems to be a point of convergence between the teachings of sacred repose and dynamic stillness. The reverse is also true – it is repose (viśrānti), the stopping of agitation, that leads to freedom and the discovery of our true nature.
To re-iterate, there are levels of agitation related to attachment (desire) and aversion (anger etc.) driven by duality – physical, sensual (as coming from the senses), mental, emotional, and intellectual. We can simplify the incredibly wide range of fluctuations as the instruments of the three veils of duality – doership, differentiation, and separation. We can contemplate the three veils as the source of all agitations. Separation is the primal agitator feeding the agitations of differentiation and doership.
Utpaladeva defines the veil of separation (āṇavamala) as the loss of freedom of awareness or the lack of awareness of freedom. The basic training of developing consciousness moment-by-moment cannot be emphasized enough. Whether we use breath awareness or another technique to over time build a continuity of awareness, it is important to commit to a practice that we can perform in all mundane daily activities.
svātantryahānir bodhasya svātantryasyāpy abodhatā |
dvidhāṇavaṃ malam idaṃ svasvarūpāpahānitaḥ ||
The contraction of individuality is two-fold: the loss of freedom of awareness and the lack of awareness of freedom. This results from being disconnected from one’s own innate nature.
Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā, verse 3.2.4, translated by Ben Williams
There are intermediate spaces where desire is less individualistic, and agitation is more like the creative stirring of consciousness post-separation (māyā) but pre-individuality. Rāga-tattva, limited attachment (see tattva 9 in the tattva chart in my book), is a priori the psycho-somatic individual (puruṣa) at tattva 12. Therefore, while the individual is above the veils of doership and differentiation, it is subject to consciousness’ self-imposed limited desire pre-individuality.
PRACTICE 3: ACCESSING AND MELTING THE VEIL OF SEPARATION. § Pause for 20 minutes and make these four insights into a four-step meditation that resonates for you. Make these four insights your own – let your inner spiritual hero shine. 1) All agitations derive from the illusion of separation (hint: contemplate where within you is the energy of separation?). 2) It is this primal agitation that we must ultimately quiet down in our inner work so that a direct recognition of our true nature becomes possible. 3) Instead of fighting with and trying to overcome physical, sensual (as coming from the senses), mental, emotional, and intellectual agitations during our meditations, we should as quicky as possible go beyond them and seek to still the primal agitation – the veil of separation. 4) As we begin to feel or imagine a deeply felt sense of oneness, all agitations automatically dissolve into oneness. Repose in this inner knowing. §
Reclaiming our own inner strength
It is in the midst of this play that it is our birthright to reclaim our inner strength (bala) by making contact with it and identifying with it. We must discover that this power is already within us. It is not something external to be acquired and reclaimed from someone else. It is like reclaiming a long-lost treasure that we forgot that we hid within ourselves.
Instead of trying to beat life into submission to fulfill our desires, we may want to try a different approach as advised below. Only by dwelling in our own essential nature (svasvarūpa), we can bring about the results we desire, whether internal or external. It is from this inner strength that we acquire the knowledge and actions to fulfill our desires. We function from and desire from the strength of our own inner spirit as opposed to ego.
Indeed, the individual soul (puruṣa) does not activate the impulse of the will (which directs the body’s activity) by himself alone, but through his contact with (his) own (inner) strength (bala) made in such a way that he identifies with it (thus acquitting its power).
Commentary by Kallabhaṭṭa: (The individual soul), does not (independently) activate the senses by the quickening impulse of (his) will. Rather the truth is that only by dwelling in his own essential nature (svasvarūpa) can he bring about the results he desires, whether internal or external. Thus, the power operates everywhere, and not only through the senses.
Commentary by Rājānaka Rāma: ‘Indeed’ it is certainly not true that ‘the impulse of the will’ (directed by) ‘the individual soul’ subject to transmigration impels the senses. It is not, like an elephant goad or the like, (his) instrument by which he impels the senses. The inner individual does not stimulate the lifeless senses towards their objects according to (his) will as Devadatta, for instance, might impel an inner elephant goad (as he chooses) with his hand. The truth of the matter is that (the individual soul can do this), because he is ‘in contact with (his) own (inner) strength’ (ātmabalasparśāt). The Self is the supreme (perceiving subject); he is the universal agent who is (both) one’s own (innate) nature and the Lord Himself. The ‘strength’ (of one’s own inner nature) is its capacity or power to accomplish everything independently of all other causes. (Moreover), ‘through his contact’ with that (strength, the individual) ‘identifies with it’ and becomes equal to the supreme agent who is termed the Self.
Spandakārikā, verse 8 and commentary, translated by Mark Dyczkowski in The Stanzas on Vibration
In my experience, when I repose in the second innermost central channel of energy as potentiality, I feel at least temporarily all-powerful and complete, with no desire whatsoever for external fulfillment. Yet, as physically embodied beings, it is OK to have lower vibrational desires as we partake in the play of consciousness. However, we fulfill them from a place of fullness instead of lacking. And we begin to attract what we need or are shown the ways we are asked to serve from a place of strength.
PRACTICE 4: REPOSING IN THE ENERGY OF UNEXPRESSED POTENTIALITY. § Pause for 20 minutes. Peel all the layers of your being until you only repose in your sense of self beyond body, mind, etc. Tune into the intrinsic power that is within the self. Imagine it in the beginning if you have to. In my experience, this inner power is the strength of active and present awareness as energy in potentiality. Can you find a part within yourself that resonates as potential unexpressed energy? (Hint: you may discover it as one of the central channels) Know that your essence is that potential unexpressed energy. It is one of the first “bodies” that that universe gave us. Repose in this inner strength so that it becomes more familiar and evident. Bask in the inner field of unlimited energetic potentiality, the supreme wish-fulfilling sacred cow. §
Poverty consciousness
In the Anuttarāṣṭikā, Eight Verses on the Unsurpassable, Abhinavagupta uses the term poverty consciousness. He does this in the context of attachment and aversion, joy, and suffering, coming forth or dissolving, and ego, i.e, in the context of agitations. He goes a step further though by making the stunning statement that these agitations “are not essentially different from the elegant form of the universe.” Let us reflect on this. He is basically saying that the agitations themselves are a pathway to the universe. How do we do this?
As if this insight was not enough, he gives us the answer right away: “As you witness the particularity of one of these [states] manifest, having immediately grasped it as one with consciousness, [and staying] deeply absorbed in that creative contemplation, how can you not enjoy it?”
Let us carefully study and meditate on these wonderful verses.
Here there is no transmission nor imaginative meditation, rational debate nor measured reflection, visualization nor concentration, nor great pains to repeat the mantra. Tell me precisely: what is the supreme truth? Listen – do not renounce or cling to anything. Exactly as you are, experience everything with delight.
In reality there is no such thing as saṃsāra, so what bondage could exist for an embodied being? To bestow liberation on someone who is already free, who has no limitation whatsoever, is truly an exercise in futility. This is like the illusion of a snake in a rope or a ghost in a shadow, produced only from misperception. Do not abandon or grasp anything at all. Abiding in your natural state, exactly as you are, enjoy this play.
In light of the unsurpassable, what is this talk of a path in which worship, the worshipper, and the object of worship are distinct realities? Transmission is given to whom? By what means? How can there be gradations of immersion [into That]? Māyā cannot be separated from the unity of consciousness in the form of an “other.” Alas! Everything is pure by nature in your direct experience (svānubhava), [so] don’t senselessly worry!
Here bliss is nothing like [the enjoyment] of wealth, wine, intoxication, or even sexual intimacy. The dawning of the light [of consciousness] is totally different than the scattering rays produced from a lamp, the sun, or the moon. The rapture that naturally arises from the release of maintaining duality is like setting down a great weight. The dawning of that light is like rediscovering a forgotten treasure: all-encompassing non-duality.
Those states which shine forth – such as attachment and aversion, joy, and suffering, coming forth or dissolving, ego and poverty (dainya) consciousness (saṃvid) – are not essentially different from the elegant form of the universe. As you witness the particularity of one of these [states] manifest, having immediately grasped it as one with consciousness, [and staying] deeply absorbed in that creative contemplation, how can you not enjoy it?
Indeed, always in this world states suddenly appear issuing forth from the absence that precedes them. How are those [states], mixed with the modifications of the intermediate state, real? Go beyond the limitation of faulty reasoning due to doubt and fear and awaken to the assemblage of phenomena as unreal, fleeting, whirling like a dream, and artificially produced.
It is not an innate being that is the origin of these various states. Only when you manifest them, can they shine forth. Although insubstantial, through misconception in one’s experience, these states momentarily become real. This is the majestic power of the universe born of your intention. It is not from some other source. Thus, you shine as the glory of manifest worlds. Although one, you are many.
What is real and unreal, tiny, or massive, eternal, or impermanent, marked by duality or pure as the Self – all of this shines forth in the mirror of consciousness. Having known everything as light from the dawning of self-aware consciousness, in the resplendence of your direct experience share in the universal power of the Lord.
Anuttarāṣṭikā, Eight Verses on the Unsurpassable, by Abhinavagupta, translated by Ben Williams
PRACTICE 5: FOLDING ALL PHENOMENA BACK INTO UNITY CONSCIOUSNESS. § Pause for 20 minutes and let us together make this insight into a five-step meditation. Feel free to tweak these suggestions to a process that speaks to you. “As you witness the particularity of one of these [states] manifest, having immediately grasped it as one with consciousness, [and staying] deeply absorbed in that creative contemplation, how can you not enjoy it?” First, we establish ourselves in a state of awareness using the breath. On the inhale, we contact the eyebrow center, and on the exhale with the heart center. Second, after a few minutes, we feel the space between the heart and eyebrow centers as a field of awareness. Third, we rest in this field with a sense that we know only one thing: I am aware that I am aware. Four, after establishing ourselves in this state of self-reference, we watch the arising of any phenomena including from the senses, bodily sensations, thoughts, emotions, attachments, aversions, and any other egoic tendencies. As they arise, we IMMEDIATELY grasp (imagine/visualize/feel) the arising as one with consciousness and not different from it. We do this over and over. Fifth, we repose in the unity of consciousness. §
May these reflections and practices be in service to all beings who attempt to peek through the veils. I bow to the indivisible, all-powerful, and infinitely free, one reality.