Consciousness Is Everything Quotes

“Each tattva represents a more gross or slower vibration than the one before it. The whole universe is thus the same material, Chiti or Consciousness, vibrating at different frequencies.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“He begins talking to Himself inside of Himself, playing two parts as the student and the teacher or as Shiva and Shakti. ‘Hmm, why are things like this?’ ‘Well here’s why’. Becoming both, He has a dialogue within Himself. When we turn within we can still hear that rumbling, vibratory monologue. It is the fundamental vibration of the mind within. Whatever is in Shiva is in you, whatever divine powers are in God are in you. To truly get there you have to become unlimited. You have to let go of limitation, you have to let go of ego, you have to let go of ignorance. It is not a trivial process. The Mahartamanjari says: This is the way that the error of ordinary persons who think, ‘I am not the Lord’, is dissipated. This is an error with respect to the Self who shines always as the ‘I’. One repeats to them, ‘You are Shiva, gifted with the free power of Consciousness and activity: this world depends on you as a kingdom on its king. It is in you that the world shines, in you that it resides. It is you as Consciousness that the world has as its basis: from which it arises and into which it is reabsorbed. There is no world here without you. Only your awareness makes the world so for you. Contemplate this until conviction dawns. The Shiva Sutras say that such conviction is realisation of the Self. Shivo’ham. I am Shiva. All this arises and has its being in my awareness!”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Wherever you go, you are accompanied by your posse—your mind, emotion, senses and body and you are always at the centre of those entities. Shaivism tells us in Spanda Karikas, I.6–8, that the senses are inert in themselves, like the chess pieces, and only derive energy from the Self. This image of the Lord or the Self at the centre surrounded by an entourage of Shaktis is a compelling one. In a sense Shaivism’s goal is to make us be aware of this position: the Self as the source is always the centre of all experience. Shaivism tells us that when we don’t hold ourselves at the centre we lose energy or, in terms of this image, we lose control of our own shaktis. I call this the Shiva position or the Shiva asana (seat or posture). This Shiva asana is not different from Douglas Harding’s headless one nor from Somananda’s Shiva drishti. It is easily expressed by the Shaiva mandala (see opposite).”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Kshemaraja says: Let people of great intelligence closely understand the Goddess Consciousness who is simultaneously of the nature of both revelation (unmesha) and concealment (nimesha). The best attitude is to regard everything that happens in the group as the play of Chiti. Revelation is Shiva and confusion is also Shiva. However, there is always recourse to A-Statements, statements of present feeling. An A-Statement (I feel mad, sad, bad, scared or glad), is already at a higher level than a statement in which the A-Statement is not acknowledged or expressed. A person might be angry and not know it. That anger will colour all his opinions and attitudes and distort them. The simple statement, ‘I am angry’, is much closer to the truth and also much less destructive. Making A-Statements keeps thought closely tied to feeling. If thought wanders away from feeling, that is, if it is unconscious of the feeling underlying it, it can and does create universes of delusion. When thought is tied to feeling, it becomes much more trustworthy. If I were to look for a scriptural justification of the concept of the A-Statement, I would point to the remarkable verse (I.4) from Spanda Karikas: I am happy, I am miserable, I am attached—these and other cognitions have their being evidently in another in which the states of happiness, misery, etc., are strung together. Notice the A-Statements (I am happy, etc.). Of course, the point that Vasugupta is making has to do with the old debate with the Buddhists. He is saying that these cognitions or A-Statements must exist within an underlying context, the Self. The Buddhist logicians denied the existence of a continuous Self, saying that each mind moment was essentially unrelated to every other one. Leaving that debate aside, the verse suggests the close connection of the A-Statement with the Self. The participant in Shiva Process work makes an A-Statement, understanding that with it he comes to the doorway of the Self, which underlies it. I think of the A-Statement as a kind of Shaivite devotional ritual. The Shaiva yogi sacramentalises every movement and gesture of life and by making a perfect articulation of present feeling, he performs his sacrament to the presence of divinity in that moment. Once the A-Statements are found, expansion takes place via B-Statements, any statements that uplift, and G-Statements, those B-Statements that are scriptural or come from higher Consciousness. Without G-Statements the inquiry might be merely psychological, or rooted in the mundane. Without A-Statements we are building an edifice on shaky foundations. Balance is needed. Mandala of the Hierarchy of Statements. Self-inquiry leads to more subtle and profound understanding. A-Statements set the foundation of present feeling, B-Statements draw on inner wisdom and G-Statements lift the inquiry to higher Consciousness.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“When a person sets up his inner world so that he is aware only of his thought and ignores his feeling, he may become very strong. He may be able to live and even sacrifice himself for an ideal. On the other hand, a person who emphasises his feeling far beyond thought will shift and change like the sand in a desert windstorm. Thought should be strong and based in the strongest of all thought: the G-Statement, but even then it should stay in touch with feeling. Feeling grounds and humanises thought. Some spiritual paths stress the primacy of thought and the denigration of feeling. Even when their system of thought is noble, such paths tend to become dry, cold and somewhat ruthless. Practitioners of such paths often have to spend time reintegrating with their feeling side before attaining perfection. Gurdjieff says that mere knowledge is a function of only one centre, the intellectual centre, while real understanding is a function of three centres: the intellectual, the emotional and the moving, or vital centre. The Shiva Process work, therefore, always attempts to bring thought and feeling together and to move them towards action. A person’s understanding is expressed in action that flows from harmonised thought and feeling.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Baba Muktananda also gave a lot of importance to the concept of matrika, though in a less aesthetic and more practical way. He urged the yogi to become aware of the subtle play of matrika though careful Self-observation. Seeing how matrika works in his inner world to create his experience of life, the yogi slowly learns to control matrika and turn it in the right direction. He writes: Just as matrika helps us to contract, it also helps us to expand ourselves. The moment one understands the matrika shakti and its work, one is no longer a human being. When the matrika shakti expands within, in this very body one becomes Shiva. Sit quietly and watch the play of matrika shakti. Watch how the matrika gives rise to letters, how the letters compose words, how the meaning of the words create images in the mind; watch how you become involved in these images. The yogi pursues matrika shakti; he watches it and makes it steady. He brings it under his control, he manipulates it any way he likes. He turns evil thoughts into good thoughts. The matrika shakti works according to his will. Such a yogi is called a conqueror of the senses. Another aphorism in the Shiva Sutras, II.7, says: Matrika chakra sambodhah When the Guru is pleased he grants full knowledge of matrika.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“SHANTA RASA Shanta rasa is Abhinavagupta’s specific contribution. He believes that this rasa underlies all the others as the most basic and independent. When you experience any rasa at its highest level it turns into shanta rasa, the feeling of serenity. It is as though the different emotions are waves on the ocean and the ocean itself is peace. All the different rasas, then, are permutations of the one underlying rasa, shanta. A Shaivite author wrote: At the moment of shock, when we experience the terrible rasa or the odious rasa or the moment of joy in musical elevation, the mind becomes still. Then the light of our true nature, the Self, flashes forth and illumines our consciousness with its brilliance. According to Abhinavagupta, shanta rasa arouses a mental condition that brings transcendental bliss. He says that shanta rasa cannot be presented directly. You have to sneak up on it through laughter, heroism, fear or other intense emotion. He adds, the only way it can be presented directly is to portray a great yogi at the point of realisation.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“In normal terms, the opposite of a yogi is a bhogi, a pleasure seeker. It is Shaivism’s claim that it offers both yoga and bhoga, both spiritual freedom and enjoyment of the world. No wonder then, that the great Shaivite master Abhinavagupta is also the principle articulator of the rasa theory of art. It is a truly Shaivite approach to accept all emotions, both negative and positive, as part of the fabric of life and to enjoy their interplay, not seeking to eliminate any of them, while remaining anchored in higher Consciousness. If the yogi is Shiva seeking purity and control, the artist is Shakti, tolerant as a mother, cherishing even the apparently negative aspects of life.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“As the pre-eminent spokesman for Kashmir Shaivism, Abhinavagupta’s view opposes Shankara’s Vedanta. Where Shankara’s Vedanta says that this world is a trap and an illusion, Shaivism says it is the embodiment of the Divine.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“SHIVA IS EVERYWHERE: DHARANA 91 Dharana 91: Wherever the mind goes whether towards the exterior or towards the interior, everywhere there is the state of Shiva. Since Shiva is omnipresent, where can the mind go (to avoid Him)? No dharana is more useful to the meditator than this one. When confronted by a restless mind, negative thoughts or impenetrable blocks, reflecting that even these things are nothing but Shiva, is the most effective method.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“The whole universe is thus the same material, Chiti or Consciousness, vibrating at different frequencies.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“The kanchukas explain what happened to Shiva so that He became us. Since Shiva has five shaktis or powers—chit, ananda, iccha, jnana, kriya—it is reasonable to assume that the five kanchukas are limitations of each of the divine shaktis. It is easy to see that jnana shakti is limited by vidya kanchuka (divine knowledge/limited knowledge); iccha shakti is limited by raga kanchuka (completeness/desire); and kriya shakti is limited by kalā kanchuka (omnipotence/limited action). It is less obvious that Chit Shakti has to do with kāla or time, and ananda shakti has to do with space. However, Chit is pure, expanded Consciousness without thought-forms and time begins with thought-forms. And ananda, bliss, is the same as svatantrya, or freedom, and this is diminished by being closeted in a particular space.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“That which separates us from God is ignorance.”
― Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Self-realised yogi are confined to the periphery of his Consciousness and do not affect his inner being. (Shiva Sutras III.33) Tat pravrittau api anirasah samvetri-bhavat Even though he is engaged in activity he is totally unattached to it and remains unmoved because he is established in the awareness of the supreme Self. (Shiva Sutras III.32)”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Self-realised yogi are confined to the periphery of his Consciousness and do not affect his inner being. (Shiva Sutras III.33) Tat pravrittau api anirasah samvetri-bhavat Even though he is engaged in activity he is totally unattached to it and remains unmoved because he is established in the awareness of the supreme Self.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Abhinavagupta in his work on language mysticism, Paratrishika Vivarana, says that everything in the universe is of the form of the Trika, the three. It is Shiva, Shakti and nara (nara—the individual, and everything that is not Shiva and Shakti). This triad is reflected in the grammatical structure first person (I), second person (you) and third person (he, she or it). Abhinava says that the first person is always Shiva. When the first person has a counterpart and becomes dual, then the second person is always Shakti. When the two become many, the third person is always nara. The first person is of primary importance, the second next, and then the third.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“In the natural state of anupaya, even bondage and liberation are seen to be illusions of the mind. When grace descends through anupaya, this very universe is utterly transformed. Nothing happens to the universe, only to the viewer.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Another way to describe this inward movement is to note that the aspirant moves from his outer life in physical reality back through the bodies. He goes from the physical body to the subtle body. From there he goes to the causal body. His destination is the supracausal body, the abode of the Self. Rolling up the universe in this fashion, the yogi conquers time and space and consequently conquers death. He finds what is permanent at the core of all that decays. He achieves samavesha or absorption in Consciousness. Conquering the kanchukas he discovers to his amazement and delight, ‘I am immortal and all-pervasive. I am Shiva, indeed!”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“The third dream is the yogic dream of being present. It is not a dream at all, but an awakening. It marries the dream to what actually is. It sees Shiva in every moment and accepts with maturity the difficulties of life. This yogic vision sacramentalises life and can truly be achieved only by inner work. In meditation, as well as in life, whatever the situation, it is good to accept it as though you have chosen it. That way, you make the present moment your ally, not your enemy. Use every bit of your power to come into harmony with present time, or to search for the harmony that is hidden in present time.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Getting in touch with the present moment is indispensable in true meditation, because the present moment is the doorway to the infinite. Making an A-Statement, we enter that doorway.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“green. His route may be circuitous and difficult, but he can always get home. The one indispensable thing is that he must locate his ball. I started to surrender into each moment in meditation. I told myself ‘Be present, everything is Shiva’. My war-cry became, ‘Be with what is’. I felt that I had to transcend time by entering more fully into the present moment. To do this, I minutely observed my experience in the moment. I saw that while thought might lead me away from being present, feeling was a reliable indicator of presentness, since it could never be of the past or future. When I sat to meditate, I examined feeling within my body. I noticed that it tended to cluster in various chakras, like the navel, the heart and the third eye. From this inquiry the A-Statement developed as a technique for becoming present (I feel sad, I feel glad). Getting”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“I had a transforming insight. I realised I might not be able to have the meditation I want to have, but I can always have the meditation I am having. Instantly, my approach changed. With the lens of this insight, I saw how much I had been at war with myself and at war with reality. I saw that I had to surrender to what was so, respecting it all as Shiva. The insights of Shaivism had perhaps precipitated this moment. If every thought, every feeling, every sensation, every thing were Shiva, why would you reject something and seek something else? In doing so, you would be dishonouring Shiva, you would be killing Shiva to get to Shiva.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“In Shiva, knowledge is perfect, will is perfect, ability is perfect, feeling is perfect. In Shiva there is no time but only eternity. In Shiva too, there is no space as we know it, but only omnipresence. There is total freedom, svatantrya. There is no sequence of events, no steps, nothing outside of Shiva Himself. There is no cause and effect. Everything is known at once in its totality. In Shiva, past and future do not exist separately from the present. In Shiva, other places do not exist separately from this place. In Shiva there is no ‘there and then’, only ‘here and now’. The early Shaivite masters measured time with thought. They held that the smallest unit of time is the ‘moment’, which is the time it takes to have one thought. A meditator soon discovers that past and future are products of his mind alone. He sees that meditation is a struggle to become present. When the mind moves towards future possibilities or broods over past events there occurs a subtle but real diminution of energy. But when the mind stays present, energy is enhanced and uplifted. In every activity in life our enjoyment and our efficiency are increased the more present we are. Whether the activity is watching a movie, playing a sport or making love—the more present we are, the more vivid, full and enjoyable it is. Being present clearly has something to do with our interest in whatever we are doing, and that can affect our emotional engagement with it. Although the Self is ultimately the source of all love and interest, it takes a while to truly focus on it because we are beguiled by false possibilities and superficial goals.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Spanda Karikas II.1 says: Tadakramya balam mantrah sarvajnabalashalinah Pravartante ’dhikaraya karananiva dehinam Baba Muktananda’s colourful and informal translation of this aphorism was, ‘The mantra is the power of everything and everyone. The mantra is all-knowing and can do anything’. Jaideva Singh’s translation is, ‘Mantras derive their power from the spanda principle and finally dissolve in it’. For Baba, mantra was a method for tapping the deep source of inner energy and bringing its life to the surface of things. He considered the repetition of a mantra received from an awakened teacher to be a streamlined, easy and almost effortless path. There is tremendous emotional power in language. In fact, thought and feeling are two sides of the same coin. Thought or language is a container of feeling: words and ideas shape emotion and create upliftment or contraction. The wrong kind of language (or thought) pinches feeling and creates emotional pain, while the right kind of language is a fitting vehicle of feeling, and given such a vehicle, feeling becomes free to expand and soar. Language has the binding power of ignorance (Shiva Sutras I.2: Jnanam bandhah: Knowledge is bondage) and also the mysterious freeing power of the master of matrika. Mantra is a key method for liberating the practitioner from illusion. Do not underestimate it.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“In the state of separation, or jivahood, a human being wanders the world alone. He may have a wider identification with his family, nation, ethnic or religious group and these give him a relatively higher purpose. The Guru is one who is in integral relationship with the whole universe. He has attained Shiva samavesha and stands at the very centre of Consciousness. The connection with such a Guru gives a seeker a reliable reference point to Consciousness. An intelligent seeker will let the nuances of his relationship with the Guru show him when he is moving towards oneness, and when he is moving towards separation.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Shaivite meditative technique called layabhavana, gross tattvas are dissolved into their underlying, more subtle tattvas. Shaivite Self-inquiry is a kind of layabhavana meditation, a peeling of the onion of awareness so that surface appearances are continually stripped away, revealing a deeper resonance of truth underneath.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“Thought and feeling are the only two inhabitants of our inner world. The thought aspect gives strength and invulnerability, while the feeling aspect softens and humanises. Thought and feeling are two poles in the polarity of truth and kindness. Both truth without kindness and kindness without truth should be avoided.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“In Buddhist art, the portrayals of the Buddha are suffused with shanta rasa, a sense of transcendental peace, as are the Hindu depictions of Lord Shiva in meditation. One movie is brought to mind that strikes me as a yogic parable—The Truman Show. It seems to me reminiscent of the life of the Buddha, though told in a curious way. Truman’s entire life is a television show. Unknown to him, the community where he lives is actually a giant stage set and all the people in his life—including his wife and co-workers—are actors. People in the outside world avidly follow Truman’s every move, and everything is under the control of a Svengali-like director, of whom Truman is unaware. Truman’s controlled environment is like the Buddha’s. Both were shielded from the truth since birth. As cracks in the edifice of untruth start to appear they begin to wake up. They look around and inquire, ‘What’s going on?’ In a great leap both leave their lives and, risking everything, go through a doorway into the unknown. Of course, while the Buddha went through the door that led to enlightenment, Truman went through the door that led to the backlot of a movie studio. Both stories are parables of our soul’s journey of awakening. We discover that things are completely different from the way we thought, and we wake up to a new reality. But we can only follow Truman to the point where he makes that heroic choice. That is his enlightenment.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“HANDLING DESIRE—THREE STRATEGIES: DHARANAS 73, 74 AND 75 This set of three dharanas on desire is useful for sadhana and illustrates the Vijnanabhairava’s universal and eclectic approach. Dharana 73: Having observed a desire that has sprung up, the aspirant should put an end to it immediately. It will be absorbed in that very place from which it arose. Here, a desire, having arisen, is renounced by the aspirant. This is the yogic approach of cutting off unwanted vikalpas. It is effective if you have a strong mind or a weak desire. Dharana 74: When desire or knowledge (or activity) has not arisen in me, then what am I in that condition? In verity, I am (in that condition) that Reality Itself (i.e., Consciousness-bliss). (Therefore the aspirant should always contemplate ‘I am Consciousness-bliss’.) Thus, he will be absorbed in that Reality and will become identified with it. Here, the meditator observes his condition before desire, knowledge or activity has arisen. He identifies with the transcendental and not the personal reality. This is the Vedantic approach. Dharana 75: When a desire or knowledge (or activity) appears, the aspirant should, with the mind withdrawn from all objects (of desire, knowledge, etc.) fix his mind on it (desire, knowledge, etc.) as the very Self, then he will have the realisation of the essential Reality. Here is the Shaivite or Tantric approach. Instead of getting rid of the desire (as in 73) or focussing on the reality prior to desire (74), he focuses on the desire itself, seeing it as the Self, as Chiti. He turns his mind away from the thing that is desired to focus on the feeling of desire itself. Through contemplative awareness he will experience that desire as a wave or pulsation of Consciousness. In comparison, in the yogic approach, the desire is seen as a problem to be chopped off. In the Vedantic approach it is seen as an illusory superimposition on the underlying reality. In the Shaivite approach, the desire is fully entertained and honoured as Chiti Itself. While I am clearly enchanted by the Shaivite approach, all three of these weapons should be in the arsenal of a great meditator.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

“I often use the metaphor of the ‘doorway’: this path is a doorway to Consciousness; this practice is a doorway to Shiva; this attitude is a doorway to the Absolute; the Guru is the doorway to God. I realised that I unconsciously held this metaphoric vision of life. Shiva is close at hand just behind the veil, just behind the door. So the Shaivite, in his life as in his yoga, should act courageously, knowing that everything that he needs will come. At the same time, he must be sensitive and aware and accept the feedback that comes from the world, which is nothing but Chiti. Do the yoga that you understand at the level that you understand it and do it with full conviction.”
― Swami Shankarananda, Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism