36 Shiva Tattva

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Tantric Sound: The Nondual Śaivism of Kashmir’s Manifestation and Liberation

In Sanskrit Words, Deities, Tattvas, and Ćakras
A Senior Honors Thesis
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for graduation

with research distinction in Comparative Studies: Concentration in Religious Studies in
the undergraduate colleges of The Ohio State University
by
Kate Wilson
The Ohio State University

November 2008
Project Advisor: Professor Hugh Urban Department of Comparative Studies

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“Kashmir Śaivism is the culmination of Indian thought and spirituality”

-Jaideva Singh, Śaiva philosopher, on the day before hospital admittance where he later passed, age 931
Introduction
The Hindu Tantric sect the nondual Śaivism of Kashmir, originating in the Kashmir region of South
Asia around the late 8th century, perceives sound as all-pervasive throughout manifested reality, as a symbol of
the universe’s cosmic structure, and as a means to a soul’s liberation. Sound, created in the process of speech,
and formed through reciting Sanskrit words, is vital in all religious aspects within Kashmir Śaivism- in prayer,
ritual and meditation. Even more specifically, the characters that make up the religious texts themselves are
derived from sacred representations of deities and also represent different vibrational energies in the body, and
therefore when correctly recited, are vehicles to instantaneous liberation. According to Kashmir Śaivite
philosophy, the “Divine Consciousness is identical with the Supreme Word (para vak), and hence every letter or
word is derived from and ultimately inseparable from this Consciousness”. 2 The “divine consciousness” within
Kashmir Śaivism’s cosmological framework is the absolute form of god, which is immanently monistic.
Therefore, “the analysis of language is inseparable from that of [the analysis of] consciousness”. 3
In addition to the view of sound as consciousness, sound is also a symbol and tool of universal
liberation. Liberation is recognizing the true nature of one’s own self, which is identical with the true nature of
all reality and god. Within Kashmir Śaivism this liberation through sound occurs on every level of
manifestation; that is, in the realms of gods, human bodies, and written texts: therefore connecting all reality
through a universal experience of divine freedom. I will explore how sacred sound pervades the universe on
each of these levels and how it is used for the awakening of the soul.
Sound is the link between the three main levels of reality in Kashmir Śaivism; the causal (absolute
God), subtle (energetic) and gross (physical) realms of the universe. Each layer of the manifest world is ordered
based on the consciousness or quality of energy characterized by it.
1. As said to Bettina Baumer, p.xi. Singh, Jaideva. Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1988
2. Singh, Jaideva. Abhinavagupta Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
Private Limited, 1988 p. xv
3. Ibid. p. xv
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The creation of these layers, or tattvas, begins with the most absolute form of god, ParamaŚiva, and
successively de-volutes step-by-step, all the way down to the most gross or concrete layer, the earth. The
interplay between these layers, as I will explore, is through the process of sound and speech.
Before I explain the detailed structure of Kashmir Śaivism’s universal layers of existence, or tattvas, I would
first like to highlight that within this Tantric sect4 every process is a representation of the larger cosmic
structure, called Trika. Due to its monistic beliefs, Kashmir Śaivism identifies everything as god; thus
everything as interconnected, and every system is either a microcosm or macrocosm of the largest most
comprehensive Trika structure. One of these particular everythings I will explore is the process of sound as
representation of the universal Trika structure. To explain the monistic interconnectedness of Kashmir
Śaivism’s world, Andre Padoux explains,
the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm, to the correlations- which are
actually identifications- that Tantrism establishes between man and the cosmos, gods and
rites…all is interconnected, where there is an interplay between the different levels in
each field, where energy is both cosmic and human, and therefore where microcosm,
reenacting macrocosm… is able to influence it.5
Logic follows that if all is interconnected, and if the macrocosm can influence the microcosm through
replication, then there must be a universal weaving in and out of the multi-leveled interconnected web of the
universe. Regardless of which level (or tattva) an event takes place, this weave must be ever present- since the
whole universe is monistic it must be able to operate beyond time and space-at any tattva at any moment,
stitching together our cosmic reality.
This universal weave is sound, or Śabda. Śabda as speech, mantras, vibration, and Sanskrit words
themselves traverse all tattvas of existence. I will structure my thesis based on the Trika process of sound as
represented in the basic tattvas and how sound relates to a soul’s liberation. I will first begin with a historical
referenc of Kashmir Śaivism, and then explain the Trika structure containing ParamaŚiva, Śiva and Śakti.
4. Defining Kashmir Śaivism as a Tantric sect needs to be defined: Tantra is a messy term, David Gordon White’s definition
helps clarify, “Tantra is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle the divine energy of the
godhead that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human
microcosm, in creative and emanipatory ways” (Tantra in Practice. NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. p. 9)
5. Padoux, Andre. Vać: The Concept of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras. NY: SUNY, 1990. p. 37
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With this structure in place I will then explore sound as the Trika in 1) deities, 2) speech, 3) male and
female bodies, 4) within the individual body’s ćakras, and 5) in the written script of Devanagari, or the Sanskrit
letters, themselves. The sections of this paper begin from the most abstract large-scale macrocosm of reality to
the most specific, minute microcosm of the physical earth. I include a section on speech spliced after the section
on Deities but before the section on the body because in the relative world speech is the connection between the
Divine realm and the gross realm of the human body.
Finally, we will see the ultimate importance of sound interweaving between all these manifestations of
reality: sound is a necessary and imperative tool towards liberation. I will explore how sound and speech can
awaken one of the larger cosmos and help the practitioner embody the universal structure. Lastly, I will explore
what this ancient Eastern view of sound means to a modern Western audience and today’s relevance of
embodied speech in the journey to liberation.
Methodology
I will explore sound and speech within Kashmir Śaivism’s in a dialectical manner: I recognize I cannot
study Kashmir Śaivism completely devoid of cultural or historical influences, therefore, while embracing my
background I will engage in a mutually enriching dialogue with the Kashmir Śaivite texts. I will not allow this
study to be one sided either way- instead I will see how the Kashmir Śaivite texts themselves speak to me,
absent of critical discourse from either party. Although I cannot (yet) research and translate primary sources of
Kashmir Śaivite texts in their original Sanskrit language, I cite many scholars who have read, translated and
commented on these texts. Andre Padoux, Sir John Woodroffe, Paul Muller-Ortega, Gavin Flood and Jaideva
Singh are a few prominent scholars that I frequently cite. Drawing from sources that examine Kashmir Śaivite
texts as whole discourses in themselves, I cite scholars that explore sound in Kashmir Śaivism as actual
practitioners would- avoiding outside comparisons or applicable theoretical framework (to the best of their, and
my, ability). This will allow me to view and discuss Kashmir Śaivism’s own beliefs on sound according to its
own discourse in a creative dialogue. It will also allow me to stitch together the weave of Tantric sound
throughout its reality.

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In order to tease out the nature of the relative dual world of sound, body and liberation as separate
entities, although in Kashmir Śaivism reality is fundamentally nondual, I have to categorize, label and make
generalizations. Recognizing I am subject to these claims, I myself am trying to not make any revolutionary or
controversial arguments on the nature of sound within Kashmir Śaivism. I propose in this paper to explore
sound as the medium pervading all layers of existence within Kashmir Śaivism’s structure of the cosmos, and
that we can recognize a Trika system within each layer, and upon that recognition liberation occurs.
Kashmir Śaivism Historical Background:
Kashmir Śaivism arose during 8th and 9th centuries in South Asia as a social and historical response to,
and expansion of, the existing forms of Hinduism6. Transcending and including previous Brahmanical traditions
and “rather than denying the import of the Veda, Tantrism contrasted itself from it, rejecting some of its
elements while preserving, developing, and above all reinterpreting others” while “preserving and reviving that
which was most alive in Vedism”.7 Kashmir Śaivism flourished for a brief period of time until end of 11th
century when the Mughal Muslim invasion eventually forced its revolutionary theology to diminish: “with the
subjugation of Kashmir by the Muslims in the eleventh century, Kashmir Śaivism all but died out, leaving only
an echo of tradition in the modern times”.8 Before this demise, however, Kashmir Śaivism developed and
flourished under the philosopher and poet Abhinavagupta. Abhinavagupta was a 10th century sage who wrote
the Tantrāloka and Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa texts. He was a Brahmanic elite who “began to transform extreme
tantric ideology into a more respectable religion of the higher castes”.9 Abhinavagupta was also aware of non-
Indian traditions, and valuing them as well, incorporated the ideas into his integrative discourse.
Briefly mentioned earlier, Kashmir Śaivism is a monistic sect that believes in a Trika structure of the
universe- incorporating creation, manifestation and destruction into their cosmological story. Its nondual beliefs
6. Kashmir Śaivism is categorized as a Hindu religion, as messy as a term Hinduism may be. Hinduism, although applied
centuries after the practices and beliefs were established, is a complex system of practices that share common ideologies originating in
South Asia. It should be noted that this term is still widely and vaguely defined, and I use it in the most general sense.
37
8. Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996. p. 168
9. Ibid. p.161
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were challenged and reinforced as they were simultaneously held beside another Tantric sect that promoted
dualism. This dualistic sect was called Śaiva Siddhanta, and was the dominant school of Śaiva liturgy. Kashmir
Śaivism differed in that it was widely applicable to all castes. According to Flood, “Kashmir Śaivism refers to
the development of the Eastern Kaula transmission known as the Trika (‘Threefold’) into a householder religion
akin to the Śaiva Siddhanta”. 10
Kashmir Śaivism is different from the Śaiva Siddhanta tradition because it is completely monistic,
however the Śaivite Siddhanta theologians wrote commentaries on Tantric texts as well.11 These two schools of
Tantra lived side-by side, and eventually the dual Śaiva Siddhanta school spread faster and further than the non-
dual Kashmir Śaivite sect after the pressure of Islam and other social factors.
However, before the nondual Śaivism of Kashmir’s downfall Vasugupta (of the same tradition) was first
able to transmit the oral tradition of Advaita (nondual) Śaivism into written texts. This literature is generally
divided into three parts: the Āgama Sastra, Spanda Sastra, and Pratyabhijna Sastra. 12
Historically, the Śaiva theory of sound is derived from the linguistic monism of Bhartŗhari. Bhartŗhari’s
philosophical development of ancient understandings of Indian language incorporates the Vedas throughout the
Tantras. He “metaphysically interpreted the sacred language of revelation as the monistic word Absolute
(Śabdabrahman)” .13
Bhartŗhari considers the word to be an individual-meaning-unit and “bases this concept on the Vedic
theory that speech (vak) is a manifestation of the primordial reality. The word-sphota is thus contrasted from the
word-sound. Meaning is obtained at a deep level based on the sequence of sounds”.14 Dating as far back as the
ŖgVeda we see the importance and sacredness of sound. The sequence of sounds and the discovery of a “very
large number of phonetic symmetries in the first hymn of the ŖgVeda” could not have been humanly conceived
10. Ibid. p.166

11. Flood, Gavin An Introduction to Hinduism. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996. p.162
12. Singh, Jaideva. “Kśemaraja: The Doctrine of Recognition”. NY: State University of New York
Press, 1990. p. 17
13. Lawrence, David Peter. Rediscovering God . Within Transcendental Argument. NY: SUNY press,
2001. p. 88.
14. Kak,Subhash and T.R.N. Rao. “On the Science of Consciousness In Ancient India”. 1998,
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/i_es/i_es_kak-s_sci_con_frameset.htm/.
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or deliberately introduced, which then “gives support to the thesis that language captures only some of the
symmetries that nature’s intelligence can express”.15 Language in ancient Hindu texts reveals itself as a work of
the divine: it is elegantly and naturalistically simple yet yields deeper meaning.
First originating as one vibration, Bhartŗhari’s theory explains that this one thought or one vibration then
became two- the masculine and feminine counterparts or origination and manifestation- as a dualistic universe,
reality then became a multiplicity of gods and form.
Although Bhartrari’s theory of Vedic sound is legitimately sacred and historically important,
Somānanda , a later Tantric philosopher, “encompasses” Bhartŗhari’s thought “by identifying Supreme Speech
with Śiva’s creative Śakti”, adding Śakti to the Divine equation and making the theory on language more
sexually complete, wholly monistic, and thus more Tantric.16
Trika structure: ParamaŚiva, Śiva, Śakti
The Trika structure of Kashmir Śaivism is possibly the most important ideology of the Tantric sect. This
threefold structure appears in all manifestation in the gross, subtle and causal realms. The very first and purest
essence of god is referred to as ParamaŚiva. ParamaŚiva, or “ultimate reality”, is sometimes referenced as an
“idea” (such as the “idea” of ultimate reality), however, in Kśemaraja: The Doctrine of Recognition Jaideva
Singh states that, “Ultimate Reality is not a mere ‘idea,’ whatever that may mean, but the Self underlying all
reality; the Changeless Principle of all manifestation”.17 ParamaŚiva, by nature, does not have any applicable
external characteristics because of its pure unmanifested nature. It is simply in-comprehendible to human
cognition. When scholars do try, though, ParamaŚiva is explained as pure consciousness, completely pure and
still, all-pervasive and the source of all being.
15. Kak,Subhash and T.R.N. Rao. “On the Science of Consciousness In Ancient India”. 1998,
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/i_es/i_es_kak-s_sci_con_frameset.htm/.
16. Lawrence, David Peter. Rediscovering God . Within Transcendental Argument. NY: SUNY press,
2001. p. 88-89
17. Singh, Jaideva. Kśemaraja: The Doctrine of Recognition. NY: State University of New York Press,
1990. p.7
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Kerry Martin Skora explains the cosmic beginning when ParamaŚiva, all alone as its pure self, made the
decision to manifest into creation,
tired of being alone and wanting to transcend himself, or get out of himself, he becomes
many, first becoming the male and female in embrace that he resembles and then
procreating. The story crosses consciousness and sexuality; the narrative is at once about
creation through copulation and about consciousness wanting to know itself and turning
back on itself 18
Skora continues exploring Abhinavagupta’s description of the beginning of the universe, “when using Śiva-
Śakti terminology, the primordial beginning of the cosmos becomes the masculine polar aspect Śiva in
perpetual sexual union with the feminine polar aspect Śakti. In other words, the emission, ejaculation even, of
the universe begins with a “big bang” or “banging together’”.19 Cosmic creation begins from ParamaŚiva
through manifested Śiva and Śakti in union. The abstract nature of the Śiva, the first to manifest from
ParamaŚiva, is defined;
the term Śiva is additionally used to name the absolute consciousness, a reality of superb
unboundedness and of incomparable freedom…it is the foundation of being and of all
becoming, the intrinsic and eternal truth behind the façade of the ever-changing display of
life…it is finally Śiva who is the living and percipient consciousness concealed in and as all
living beings.20
Śiva is the nature or consciousness behind and contained within Śakti, the feminine energy of all manifestation.
Śiva cannot be separated from Śakti because Śiva is the very “material” Śakti is made of. To clarify this
relationship, Siddha Yoga, the contemporary religion of Kashmir Śaivism, explains, “but simultaneously, in the
nondual Śiva and in the later Sakta traditions, the power, or Śakti, of the absolute consciousness is thought of as
an intrinsic and inseparable power that is nondifferent from Śiva himself”.21
In this respect, ParamaŚiva is beyond creation whereas Śiva and Śakti are creation in symbolic union of
the universe. Śiva is the first to come into evolutionary existence and Śakti follows in an expansive growth of
reality. Feuerstein explains in Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, “from this perspective of evolution, the Shiva
principle (shivatattva) is the first emergent within the ultimate Reality [ParamaŚiva]. It contains potentially
18. Skora, Kerry Martin. “Abhinavagupta’s Erotic Mysticism: The Reconciliation of Spirit and Flesh”. International Journal
of Hindu Studies. Springer Publisher Netherlands, 2007. p.67
19. Ibid. p. 67
20. Ed. Brooks, Douglas. Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage .
NY: Āgama Press, 1997. p.425
21. Ibid. p.426
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all other subsequent principles or categories of existence, but manifests only the aspect of Consciousness
without an object”.22 Thus, although Śiva is the masculine energy, it is below ParamaŚiva and therefore is
limited to the manifest world. Śakti, however, is not subsequently described as below or under Śiva but as in
blissful union with Śiva, always nondual, and always in complete union. Śakti and Śiva in this sense are never
seen as separate or not unified as one.23 In this symbolic light, Śiva and Śakti are equal parts of the cosmic union
of reality, of ParamaŚiva. ParamaŚiva, Śiva and Śakti, and their respective roles constitute the Trika structure of
the universe according to Kashmir Śaivism.
Another Tantric interpretation of the Trika structure is the “Supreme Goddess who transcends and is
identical with the Trinity (Trika)” as described by Abhinavagupta himself in the Para-trisika-Vivarana.24 (The
three Śaktis referred to in this triad are knowledge (jňana), action (kriya) and will (iccha) also referred to a
para, parapara, and apara. Different interpretations of the Trika simply support the multidimensional and
interconnectedness ideologies of Tantric monism-each represent the same although different manifestations.
I will specifically look at how sound represents the Trika structure of ParamaŚiva, Śiva and Śakti in the
basic levels of the tattvas, or layers of manifestation. So, what is the essence of sound on the very first level of
creation? Śiva, in his act of expansion by means of Śakti, “speaks” the universe into existence. According to
Abhinavagupta’s student Kśemaraja, in the Bhartŗhari grammarian school of philosophy, “when Śiva opens his
eyes the cosmos is manifested as an appearance of him, and furthermore this manifestation is identified with
levels of sound or speech (vać). The cosmos is divine speech and the entire circle of powers that comprises the
cosmos can be understood to be Śiva’s voice”.25
Kśemaraja then describes Śakti’s role with respect to speech in the “graduated hierarchy” of pure to
impure cosmos. He states the Goddess Supreme is speech itself as well as complete subjectivity and is
represented in the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet; “the Goddess gives birth, as it were, to the cosmos as the
22. Feuerstrin Georg. Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy. Boston and London: Shambhala, 1998. p. 77
23. Ibid. p.77
24. Singh, Jaideva. Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers Private Limited, 1988. p. xiii
25. Flood, Gavin. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. NY: I.B. Tauris, 2006. p.
151
26. Ibid. p. 152
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circle of powers, which is envisaged as the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet”.26 He then goes on to describe her
hierarchical nature; “she is pregnant with complete circle of powers (Śaktićakra) arose form (comprises the
letters) from a to ksa. She therefore manifests the levels of (limited) subjectivity through the gradual stages of
(sound, namely)”.27 Each sound in the order of the Sanskrit alphabet is a graduated level of existence of Śakti.
The first letter “a” is the most pure and the last “ksa” is the least pure, however it is still represents Śakti. Sound
is carried first from the Absolute through Śiva’s voice, remaining pure and causal, and then into manifestation
as Śakti, represented by subtle sound and following by gross speech itself.
The process of sound moving through the natural cosmic forces (ParamaŚiva, Śiva and Śakti) is the
universe’s expansion and retraction. We have explored the initial expansion of the universe, but how does sound
work and complement the process by reflection or re-absorption back into the absolute? The opening of (or
expansion) and closing (or contracting) of universal sound, with the right awareness, will aid in one’s liberation.
First, attaining absolute awareness is identifying with Śiva as pure consciousness (called I-ness) in addition to
secondly realizing the body and everything else in subjective awareness as Śakti, including sound. Reality
therefore is an expansion of one’s own consciousness.28 Because in Kashmir Śaivism language is a
manifestation of the divine, one can use language to understand the divine. Realization is already contained
within sound. This is different than other traditions who claim that any explanation or discourse on the divine
cannot be sufficient or a means to the divine. Once the identifications take place and language is utilized, one
can mold their reality to mimic the Trika structure, and return to a nondual awareness of ParamaŚiva, or in
layman’s terms, become liberated.
At this point I would like to take a moment to lighten up my analysis of the Trika structure. The very
absolute, mysterious and causal nature of ParamaŚiva can never be fully articulated, and thus one needs to
recognize the “play” of creation when trying to produce discourse. Some aspects of the Trika structure are
sometimes almost completely paradoxical. Certain concepts are opposites as well as exact reflections of
27. Flood, Gavin. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. NY: I.B. Tauris, 2006.. p. 152
28. Ibid.
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themselves at the same time (thanks to the non-dual nature of reality). For example, since the universe is
monistic, ignorance itself and becoming aware of ignorance (or wisdom) are both illusionary: “Lord Śiva
enjoys the seeming limited aspect of ignorance because He knows that ignorance is not, in the real sense,
ignorance at all. He enjoys that. So you cannot recognize Him in only one way. At the very moment you
recognize Him in one way you will recognize Him in the other way as well”.29 Therefore because of the
reflective and seemingly polar nature of Śiva, true recognition is more difficult that perceived, but once
mastered, “one is able to recognize everything at will”, an experience of nonduality.30 According to Hughes in
his introduction of Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami Lakshmanjoo the very
essence of manifestation is just “for the fun of it”. He states, “it [the cosmic universe] is a world created by the
Lord in play, for the fun of it. In creating this world God loses Himself in the world just for the joy and
excitement of finding Himself. In actuality we are that Lord” and the path is, therefore “a journey of rediscovery
filled with joy and excitement”.31 How does one tease apart the paradoxical nature of Śiva? In one sense Śiva,
the Lord, has no desire or will due to its infinite and pure awareness. On the other hand, Śiva does have a “will”
to generate into manifestation, and “wants” and “enjoys” his play. These two underlying metaphysical issues
seem to both be found at the heart of Kashmir Śaivite philosophy. Possibly there is no resolution to the deeper
generative origins of the universe- it is inevitable and necessary for one to start with the beginnings of illusion
and manifestation to then be able to transcend. The Kashmir Śaivite belief of Śiva is intentionally paradoxical,
maybe to ultimately invoke causal awareness after all.
In fact, to reiterate the playfulness of the Kashmir Śaivite attitude toward the Trika process- of
recognizing the union of Śiva and Śakti within as ParamaŚiva- is an experience of bliss and love. Gavin Flood
explains this union: “the essential cosmic body beyond manifestation is the union of Śiva and Śakti, of light and
29. Hughes, John. Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami Lakshmanjoo.
NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. p. 27
30. Rastogi, Navjivan. “The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir” Vol. 1. Delhi: Motilal Nanarsidass
Publishers. p. 126
NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. p.20
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awareness, from the bliss of whose union the manifest cosmic body is produced”.32 The essential “cosmic body”
Flood refers to is a six-fold model of unoriginated sound (anāhata) of ParamaŚiva as a manifested body of the
universe who’s form is sound (adhvanirupa), Śiva and Śakti. This body is the culmination of the group of
sounds (Śabdabrama) as- 1) the supreme (para), 2) the subtle (suksma) and 3) the gross (sthula). By referring to
the cosmic body “we are thereby speaking of the six-fold way; a homology between the microcosm of the
human body, felt as bliss, and the macrocosm of the universe”.33 I will later explore the blissful state of the body
as a microcosm of this Trika structure.
Tattvas
The “cosmic body” of sound manifests on all levels of reality, and one interpretation or division of these
levels are the Kashmir Śaivite tattvas. Each level, or tattva, corresponds to a sound expression called a mantra.
Kashmir Śaivism’s cosmos “comprises mantra and tattva which are the signifier and signified, in so far as
mantra is the sound expression of a level of the cosmos comprising tattvas…These tattvas, which are deities and
levels of the cosmos, correspond to mantras…a rich equation can therefore be made between tattva, mantra and
devata”.34 Therefore each mantra represents the sound of each level of existence as well as a corresponding
deity.
It is no secret that Hinduism has a pantheon of deities- sometimes referred to as monistic polytheism- of
which Kashmir Śaivism is no exception: each of its deities is simultaneously divine, individual but however
remains as just one of many manifested representations of the absolute. This interconnection of multiple aspects
of every deity and tattva is held together by the sound of a mantra, or prayer- “the mantra is the body of the
deity and also a level of the cosmos equated with tattva”.35
These tattvas within Kashmir Śaivism are divided into thrity-six levels of existence originating with
ParamaŚiva and ending with the earth element. The Śaiva school of Kashmir added 11 tattvas to the preexisting
32. Flood, Gavin D. Body and Cosmology in Kashmir Śaivism. CA: Mellen Research University Press,
1993. p. 87
33. Ibid. p.107
34. Ibid. p. 109
1993. p.110
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25 of the Samkhya tradition, making their version the self-proclaimed complete unfolding and collapsing of the
universe.36 Each tattva is a necessary part of the larger whole of creation, correspoding with a particualr
vibration, mantra, and purpose. The 36 tattvas (highlighted are those associated with sound):
Tattva/ Characteristic/ Sanskrit term /Categories

36 Śiva cit (36-35 beyond rest)
35 Śakti ānanda (35-32 sphere of Śakti)
34 SadaŚiva iccha (will) (34-32 rest)
33 Isvara jňana
32 Suddhavidya kriya (action)
31 Illusion māyā: (31-25 illusion)
supreme
subtle
gross
30 force kala (30-25 kala, force)
29 knowledge
28 attachment raga
27 necessity niyati
26 time kala
25 individual purusa
24 matter Prakŗti (24-2 sphere of Prakŗti, foundation)
23 intelligence buddhi (23-21 interior faculties, antah-karana)
22 ego ahamkara
21 mind manas
20 hearing srotra (20-16 faculties of knowledge)
19 touching tvać
18 seeing caksus
17 tasting rasana
16 smelling ghrana
15 speaking vać (15-11 faculties of action)
14 grasping pani
13 excreting payu
12 procreating upastha
11 walking pada
10 sound Śabda (10-6 subtle elements)
9 touch sparsa
8 form rupa
7 taste rasa
6 smell gandha
5 space akasa (5-1 gross elements)
4 air vayu
3 fire tejas
2 water jala
1 earth prthivi (kala of nivrtti, inaction)
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True recognition of the tattvas means seeing them as freedom and restricton: “by revealing all levels of
existence, one can become liberated, however only by recognizing that the tattvas are bondages of action”, and
only when this recognition occurs can the practitioner realize and embody the liberating structure of the
unfolding universe. Thus, the tattvas are “the cause of both bondage and liberation in one sense, although the
ultimate cause is Śiva’s grace” meaning that the core of the tattvas are Śiva, although they then become impure
forms of contraction, and once realizing those impure levels are actually pure within, freedom from them is
attained.37 Moving from ParamaŚiva down to the gross earth is a process of concealment and bondage- Śiva has
essentially bound himself to unpure forms of manifestation. On the ascent back up, traversing from the earth up
to ParamaŚiva, is the process of evolution or liberation. Śakti revealing herself as Śiva (and ultimately
ParamaŚiva) is the path to liberation of the Self. The all-pervasive nature of the tattvas, once recognized,
inhibits self awareness of embodied reality. Somanada in the Krama Tantrism of Kashmir “was of the opinion
that the entire stretch of the category kingdom encompassing the thirty-six categories is, in essence, an
unfoldment of the Śakti suggesting that the godly freedom remains inevitably inherent even in the world of
logical constructions”.38
It is said that the recognition of the self through the tattvas with ParamaŚiva, also called I-consciousness,
is aided by divine sound. Recognition of self with ParamaŚiva is the full experience of the thirty-six tattvas at
once called nonduality, where “complete I-Consciousness (purnahanta) is filled with sounds, all words, all
sentences. Everything exists in that complete I-Consciousness. Hence, ParamaŚiva is “expanded in the cycle of
thirty-six tattvas, elements”. Kśemaraja explains that sound as mantra in nonduality “digests these thirty-six
elements in its body (sauh)”.39 This is the supreme mantra, sometimes called the heart mantra, as opposed to the
other creative or destructive mantras.
1993. p.110
37. Ibid. p. 127, my italics
38. Rastogi, Navjivan. The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir Vol. 1. Delhi: Motilal Nanarsidass Publishers
p. 126).
NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. p. 59
Wilson 15
Another Diagram of the 36 Tattvas
The supreme mantra, or Śabda-Brahman, shows how to “wind up, [and] how to discard, these thirty-six
elements and, in the end, rest in the element of Śiva” .40 Using the supreme mantra, one can attain one-ness out
of the multitude of layered existence. The unity of all the tattvas is ParamaŚiva, which is the foundation to all
creation’s multiplicity. To understand the core of the tattvas one must experience ultimate sound, Śabda-
Brahman.
Wilson 16
This is done by reciting mantras: a common Kashmir Śaivism mantra that represents the Trika is “sauh”:
“ in the realm of the supreme mantra sauh, if you go into the depth of the thirty-one elements from prithivi
(earth) to māyā you will find that existence (sat) is the reality of these elements. All these elements are existing
eternally”.41 Mantras such as “sauh” can embody all layers of God, and I will explore mantras such as “sauh”
later in the section on speech.
I will now explore within the various levels of the tattvas in relation to sound, starting with the more
subtle and working my way down to the most gross, exploring sound firstly as deities, then as speech, as the
human body, and finally as textual script and Devanagari letters. From Śiva each level progresses as more
impure forms build from the previous- sound remains as the interconnecting tool filtering through all.
Deities: Śakti, Kālī, Mātŗikā Goddesses
The deities within Tantra as representations of sound are symbolic intermediaries between the causal
absolute and manifest speech in the physical world. Each realm is both a sound and a reality, corresponding to
the deities (devata), and illustrated by the tattvas. Mantras are said to be the body of the deities; Kśemaraja
states, “the consciousness of the devotee truly is the mantra which is not merely a combination of manifest
letters” but is metaphysically a union with both the mantra and the deity.42 Mantra is considered where the
subtle body of the deity resides: “the combination of Shiva, Shakti and the soul is the Mantra”.43
In addition, “mantra is identical with its deity, and through concentrating on its form at the level of
gross speech, one can merge with this deity at a higher level”. 42 Mantras allow a practitioner to embody sound
to unite with the worshipped deity. When this happens, the manifest body of the practitioner is said to merge
with the essential cosmic body of the absolute. The action of the essential cosmic body emanating the manifest
cosmic body is 1) “another expression of the function performed by the tattvas” and 2) “represented by
41. Ibid. p.67 Hughes reports thirty-one tattvas, whereas other Kashmir Śaivism scholars report thrity
six, but in breaking up the layers slight fluctuation is common among different schools. As we will
see later on, the exact number of characters in the Devanagari script fluctuates as well.
1993. p.42
43. Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980. p.9-10
Wilson 17
the wheel of the eight mothers (Mātŗikā ćakra)”.43 Within Tantra deities are almost always female, and the
Matraćakra or Mātŗikās are the female goddesses that represent divine sound. The term Mātŗikā refers to one of
the earliest forms of the supreme creator who was called the mother (Mātrī). The ‘ka’ denotes a pictorial version
of her, a common grammarian rule in Sanskrit texts.44
SaptaMātŗikā Goddesses “Shiva (leftmost) with the Mātŗikās: (from left) Brahmani, Maheshvari,
Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, Chamunda. British Museum, Room 33: Asia. From central India, 10th
century AD.”
It is said that roughly 4000 B.C. both Āgamic (Tantric) and Nigamic (Vedic) thought flourished which
promoted the SaptaMātŗikās (another name for the Mātŗikās) as Goddesses to be worshipped from the evolution
of the alphabet. Their number is determined by the structure of the alphabet: the seven groups are the phoetic
sounds (vowels) applied to the (Ka), (Cha), (Ta-retroflex), (ta), (Pa), (Ya) and (Ksa) groups .45 In the graphic
below we can see the arranged letters, however the last two lines (of “Sa” and “Ha”) are combined into the
“Ksa” when referring to the SaptaMātŗikās.
44. Flood, Gavin D. “Body and Cosmology in Kashmir Śaivism”. CA: Mellen Research University
Press, 1993. p.216
45. Ibid. p.171
Wilson 18
Devanagri Letters In Arranged Order
Another popular female deity in Hinduism is Kālī. Although Kālī has many different interpretations
throughout India, in Kashmir Śaivism she, like Śakti, is inseparable from Śiva, and acts as the destroyer. Kālī is
described as residing in the cremation ground because her wordly objects are reduced to ashes. She “is black in
colour which means that all contradictions like black and white, cold and heat, possible and impossible, birth
and death, merge at her feet, and all distinctions disappear” .46 She exists in all inanimate objects, represented
by her standing on a corpse. In addition, “she wears a necklace of letters which are no other than the Mātŗikā
Śaktis, which constitute the universe and give it shape”.47 Incorporating earlier goddesses of sound, this
description of Kālī depicts her garland of “letters” around her neck as the Mātŗikā goddesses.
46. Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980.
47. See Devanagari alphabet. Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha
Prakashan, 1980.p 9
Wilson 19
Goddess Kālī
Kālī’s action is to “destroy” sound, or re-absorb the gross realm of sound back into the subtle and causal
absolute. The universal sound of Kālī’s destruction in the universe is Śabda-Brahman, or supreme sound.
Sound on the tattva of the Deities manifests as Śabda-Brahman, which pervades all manifestation: Avalon
(Woodroffe) describes Kālī’s action as the representation of the permanent connection between vać (speech)
and Śakti:
The universe is said to be composed of letters...the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet which
are denoted by the garland of severed human heads which the naked Mother, Kālī, dark like a
threatening rain cloud, wears as she stands amidst bones and carrion beasts and birds in the
burning-ground on the white corpse-like body of Śiva. For it is She who ‘slaughters’-that is,
withdraws all speech and its objects into Herself at the time of the dissolution of all things50
48. Kumar, Pushperndra. Śakti and Her Episodes. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1981. p.4
49 .Ibid. p. 4
50. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). The Serpent Power. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919. p.100
Wilson 20
Kālī is the secondary process of creation and re-absorption of cosmic sound. Firstly, in the Trika process
of sound, the Mātŗikā , or the feminine Śakti which represents the deified version of sound, originates from the
subtle realm of kuņdalinī energy. Then connecting to the gross realm of speech, sound is manifested in reality.
According to Avalon (Woodroffe) a Mātŗikā is first manifested by Śakti though knowledge (jňana) and is called
madhyama-vak. Śakti’s first action produces subtle letters of Mātŗikā , and her second action then produces
actual audible words. Thirdly, as Śakti, Kālī returns the sound from gross into subtle and causal forms again.
Therefore, Kālī, the Mother, is the symbol of complete cycle of sound: “these letters are the Garland of the
Mother issuing from Her in Her form as Kuņdalinī -Śakti (potential energy), and absorbed by Her in the
Kuņdalinī -yoga”.51
Kālī completes the Trika cycle of absolute nonduality, creation, and re-absorption. Is it a coincidence
that a feminine deity completes the cycle from 1) ParamaŚiva leaping into 2) Śiva consciousness then
manifesting as 3) Śakti through the tattvas, then 4) back up to Śiva and finally 5) as ParamaŚiva again?52 The
descent down is guided by and originates from a masculine Śiva force, and the re-absorption of reality is guided
by the feminine counterpart, Kālī, or the Mātŗikās (as Śakti). Kashmir Śaivism always accounts for and values
both the masculine and feminine principles in the universe- as we have seen both are given responsibility to
embody and transform divine sound.
Speech, Vać, Mantras, Śabda, Pada
Speech, as the transcending link from non-duality down into the subtle and gross realities, is called
Śabda-Brahman and takes four identities, as we will explore. The earliest historical Tantric roots of sound trace
back to the Brahamanical ŖgVeda and speak of the divine nature of speech: ŖgVeda (1.164.45) describes that
speech and its cognition is of four kinds.
51. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). The Serpent Power. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919. p.102
52. Kumar, Pushperndra. Śakti and Her Episodes. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1981.
Wilson 21
The names of these kinds of speech are described by Bhartŗhari to be,
vaikharī, madhyama, paśyanti, and para. Vaikharī represents gross sound; madhyama is the level of
mental images; paśyanti represents that gestalt or undifferentiated whole that sounds emerge from in the
process of speaking and into which they merge in the process of hearing; para is the unmanifest sound
that resides in one’s self or universal consciousness.53
Later Tantra added a fifth nature of speech, making the fivefold nature of speech para, suksma, paśyanti,
madhyama, vaikharī; each corresponding to the five basic levels of awareness to help reveal the nature of
reality, and each “represent a gradual descent (or ascent) from the undifferentiated, transcendental level to the
differentiated, gross level”.54 The most causal sound is Para, the sound representing nonduality. Rastogi in his
Krama Tantrism of Kashmir demonstrates that Para is the “fundamental fulcrum” of the other successions of
speech by referencing Somānanda : “hence, while dealing with the various stages of speech he [Somānanda ]
proclaimed that there was no such form of speech as was not present in Śiva, a name of the Mother, marking the
Para, or transcendental stage”. 55 Speech as Para pervades all existence, and is at the core Śiva. Para, or Śabda,
by itself, as we have seen, is a causal state called Śabda-Brahman. Śabda-Brahman “(unmanifest sound) is the
principle of sound as such (Nada-matra), that is undifferentiated sound, not specialized in the form of letters, but
which is, through creative activity, the cause of manifested Śabda and Artha”. 56 Śabda Brahman is the “kinetic
ideating aspect” of supreme consciousness. Avalon (Woodroffe) explains this aspect of sound as stated in the
Hatha-yoga-pradīpikā, “whatever is heard in the form of sound is Śakti. The absorbed state (Laya) of the
Tattvas (evolutes of Prakŗti) is that in which no form exists…the soundless is called Para-brahman”.57
53. Kak,Subhash and T.R.N. Rao. On the Science of Consciousness In Ancient India. 1998.
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/i_es/i_es_kak-s_sci_con_frameset.htm)
Bhairarti, (c 450 AD) in his Vākyapadiya
54. Singh, Jaideva. Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers Private Limited, 1988 p. xv
55. Rastogi, Navjivan. “The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir” Vol. 1. Delhi: Motilal Nanarsidass
Publishers. Rastogi p.125, Somānanda ’s commentary of the Tattvagarbha
56. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). The Serpent Power. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919. p. 99
57. Ibid. p. 99-100
Wilson 22
Now that we have defined sound as casual Śiva, what step would Śabda-Brahman then take through the
path of manifestation? From the state of Śabda-Brahman the Trika structure of sound creation continues: we see
this next step of manifestation as Śakti follow the descent of the tattvas, grounded by the ever-present Śabda-
Brahman, and move forward with two forces: śabda (subject) and artha (object).
Śabda along with mental vibrations of cognition move through one’s vocal cords and produce sound.
artha, then, is the objective world, including the mental processes of the mind. Sound moves from subject to
object in its formation of speech- mimicking the process of the whole of creation. Avalon (Woodroffe)
reiterates that both of these processes work as “conscious activity” and thus both are identical to vać (word or
speech) in the gross realm.58 They are the last two layers of creation of speech, which have to filter through
individual consciousness to form. This brings the processes of the macrocosmic universe right to the
individual’s body and consciousness, allowing for some aspect of control and responsibility.
On an individual scale recognition of this divine transcendence of Śabda-Brahama, as we have
previously explored, invokes liberation. Widely pervasive sound flows freely through form as God. But how
does one “recognize” sound as this powerful force? The importance of mantras in Kashmir Śaivism (and
Hinduism in general) is the “fundamental component of any spiritual or textual adventure as it stands for the
indeterminate Mātrī of the world known as para vak. The same is also identified with the principle of supreme
agency consisting in the I-consciousness or self-experience that enlivens the mantra”.59 Consciousness infused
in a spoken mantra is but one essential aspect of Tantra as explained by Mahesvarānanda . The first of these
essentials is the idea of worldly multiplicity (the tattvas) in addition to sensuous objects, such as speech. All of
these notions were once thought to be “binding, [however it] turns out to be the unfailing means of self-
realization”.60 Yes, tattvas, senses and speech become binding forces as ParamaŚiva de-volutes, however it is
these very binds that force one to recognize the true nature of creation, and therefore once identified they can be
58. Ibid. He references Yogainihrdaya-Tantra, Samketa I. and Svarupa-vyakhya of the “Hymn to Kālī”
(Karpuradi-Stotra).
59. Rastogi, Navjivan. The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir Vol. 1. Delhi: Motilal Nanarsidass Publishers.
p. 40
60. Ibid. p.39. In Gathas 2, 69.He specifically writes about Mahartha-manjari (Mahartha Tantra).
Wilson 23
transcended to liberation.
Male Female Body
The next unfolding of manifestation into the gross realm I will explore is the duality of male and female
bodies. The body in general plays a vital role in creating sound and liberation, which I will explore later by
focusing on the individual body (of both sexes) as a vessel of kuņdalinī energy and divine vibration. Although
both sexes can experience kuņdalinī rising and the vibrational power of sound, Kashmir Śaivism does
distinguish between male and female roles with respect to speech. Women are the gross realm representations
of Śakti, and men are symbols of Śiva.61 For example, a common belief, according to Flood, is that “the [male]
guru, a vertical symbolic form of the essential cosmic body, transmits power to the [female] yogini or duti, and
through copulation with her this power is transmitted to men. Women are therefore regarded as the channels of
esoteric power and knowledge”.62 Women’s wombs, or yonis, are Śakti “in the form of yoni (female
organ)…[which] indicates the wholeness (purnata) of the nara-bhava or phenomenal reality which includes
within itself…(divinities like) Mantra, mantramahesvara down to immobile beings”.63 Within Tantra the female
body as female Śakti energy is seen as all created manifestations, Mantras not excluded.
Channeling this power of Śakti and identifying with the Transcendent has a characteristic of sexual
polarity: “the female pole being that of energy-and acting through the expansion of energy, man and the
universe being equally pervaded by this energy which gives them life and sustenance” is what creates the sexual
opposite, yet inseparable, universal energies.64 The purpose of combining these two forces is that “the union of
61. The debate within Tantra regarding women as tools to be used for Śakti by men or as equal counterparts in the journey to
liberation remains debated. Most, if not all, of the discourse recorded and traskated was written by men, for literate men.
Therefore, my whole paper is weighted toward male texts and the patriarcical tradition of Kashmir Śaivism. Women’s
discourse would possibly be art, poetry, etc, in which I knowingly do not give enough attention to in this paper, but may
explore and address in furture KS studies.
1993. p.291
63. Singh, Jaideva. Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticsm. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers Private Unlimited, 1988.p. 205
Wilson 24
the male principle and the female principle is the very core which has been thought as the object of worship” in
Tantra, and the union, when embodied, one feels “inherent and who is full of the mass of bliss”.65
Female bodies are seen as representations of Śakti, or of the same energy that which forms sound, and
the male bodies are representations of Śiva, that which is the core of all sound and manifestation. Although
these ideas are present in other Indian philosophies, enacting them in physical ritual is unique to the left hand
path of Tantrism, and its symbolic union is characteristic of the right hand path.
Individual Body, Ćakras, Kuņdalinī
Manifestation of sacred sound in Kashmir Śaivism interestingly and inevitably works through the human
body. In The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion Flood states, “the body is the meeting point
or mediation between the universal and the particular, in that it enacts the particularity of revelation, of text, and
at the same time enacts the proclaimed universality of the cosmic structure revealed in the texts”.66 Flood
touches on several key points: the body is 1) the meeting place of the universal and particular, and 2) is the
vehicle that enacts the universal structure as well as 3) enacts the particular revelation. Universal beliefs are
those like the Trika structure mentioned earlier, and particular beliefs are the subjective textual revelation within
Kashmir Śaivism. The body as an enactor of the Trika structure, says Kśemaraja, “contains all the tattvas and so
is maximally differentiated, yet is also inclusive of the original reality of ParamaŚiva. The body therefore
contains the potential for transformation because of this diffusion and inclusion”.67 Transformation is possible
and is necessary in the body because the body contains and resembles the structure of the cosmos; “the body is
therefore made to correspond to the cosmic bodies…the structure of the body recapitulates the structure of the
manifest cosmic body”.68 The cosmic body allows for transformation (of the particular body) due to polarity of
the structural “hierarchy”, thus, “these contexts [ontological, cosmological and personal] are united in the idea
Press, 1993.p. 131
67. Ibid. p.82
68. Ibid. p.189
Wilson 25
of the body, for the polarity exists within and between bodies, within the body of supreme consciousness”. He
then adds that polarity of differentiation is within the human body as well as universal bodies, thus reiterating
the macro/microcosmic nature of Kashmir Śaivism: “the universe and within the worlds of the cosmological
hierarchy are also bodies”.69
Creation and identification of the divine body as this “hierarchical cosmos” within a body is best
performed through the process of speaking mantras. In speaking mantras in ritual, such as the liturgy of the
Tabtraprakriya, “the adept infuses his body with the mantras of the deities who are expressions of himself as
ParamaŚiva, and whom he will worship in the transcendent mandala which is internalized through visualization
and identified with the thirty six tattvas”.70 This visualization projects the Trika structure of the thirty six
tattvas, which run along the axis of the body, corresponding to the ćakras and representing three goddesses of
the para (supreme), parapara (supreme-non-supreme), and apara (non-supreme) and the fourth power of the
supreme consciousness. This division and identification of the goddesses within is just another way the Trika
structure is visualized in the body.
The powerful force of energy that drives transformation and represents tattvas in the body is kuņdalinī
energy. Kuņdalinī energy within the body resides as “Śiva at crown of head and Śakti at the feet, [which is the]
the coiled power of the Kuņdalinī ”; integrating both the masculine and the feminine along the spine. Kuņdalinī
energy manifests in the body beginning with the first ćakra, or energy center, located at the base of the spine,
and moves upward. It is said that the first time this energy (as feminine “She”) “sees”, she is Parama-Kala, the
mother-form, through supreme speech (paravak) .71 Kuņdalinī energy, as the bodily manifestation of paravak,
or para, represented in each ćakra as a seed, is feminine in nature, and corresponds with a sound, or letter in the
69. Ibid. p.82-83

Press, 1993. p. 275-6
71. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). “The Serpent Power”. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919 p.81
Wilson 26
Sanskrit language. Avalon (Woodroffe) describes this cross-representation of Śabda-Brahman, or sound:
in the sexual symbolism of the Sakta-Tantras…which seed, ripening in the womb of

Prakŗti [feminine energy], issued as Kuņdalinī in the form of the letters (Aksara).
Kuņdalinī as MahaMātŗikā -sundari has fifty-one coils, which are the Mātŗikās or subtle
forms of the gross letters or Varna which is the Vaikharī form of the Śabda at the centers.72
The Mātŗikās, as we have explored as goddesses of letters, in this sense are the subtle and causal forms of the
letters contained within the ćakras. Also in this form, the letters are first Śabda-Brahman, and then once passed
through the throat ćakra as speech they become their gross form. Therefore, Consciousness itself is soundless
and is an undifferentiated movement, and then conversely becomes differentiated movement through speech.73
The seven ćakras, starting at the base, are mūlādhāra, svādhishthāna, manipuraka, ananatam (or
anāhata), viśuddhi, ajňa and sahasrāra. Each ćakra is represented by a lotus leaf, but the number of petals varies
between each ćakra. The numbers are 4, 6, 10, 12, 16 and 2, respectively, which equal 50 when added, and each
lotus leaf is assigned a Devanagari character. It is said that the letters exist only in the ćakras as subtle entities,
not gross agents that are physically present.74
The particular order of the letters is due to the viśuddha ćakra being the first in the order of creation, and
correspondingly it is the first vowels of the alphabet. Following is the sequence of the alphabet with respect to
the order the elements manifested: Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Ether was first, and is assigned to the
viśuddha, the throat ćakra. “Ha” and “Ksa” are saved for the Ajňa , the very first of manifestation
(Brahmabijas), which is the crown ćakra.75 When the letters of each group are articulated the right way, each
ćakra is emphasized and vibrates though the process of speech. Aryan explains the sonar awakening of
kuņdalinī , “just as the melody issues from the flute when the appropriate chords are struck, similarly the
Supreme Mother symbolized by the Kuņdalinī awakens with a burst of harmony when the cords of the letters
(Varnas) are stuck in order. This way, once the Kuņdalinī Shakti is roused, it is easy to attain Siddhi
72. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). “The Serpent Power”. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. p.100-101
73. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). “The Serpent Power”. NY: Dover Publications, Inc p. 95
75. Ibid. p.24
Wilson 27
(spiritual achievement)”.76 Kuņdalinī as Śabda-Brahman in the human body is composed of the fifty letters of
Devanagari (which we will explore later) “or sound-powers” of evolving consciousness, like that of the seven
states of cosmic development: Śakti, dhvani, nada, nirodhika, ardhenu, and bindu.74 Each of these stages of
transformation or development in the body corresponds with a particular sound and ćakra.
The viśuddha throat ćakra is the main center in the body that corresponds with sound, the fifth of seven
ćakras in the body, and lies where the neck meets the breast bone. The organ associated with the throat ćakra is
the tongue, which is one of five sense organs in Kashmir Śaivism. The throat ćakra in the body produces two
phenomena- one of perception (taste) and one of action (speech).75 In the action of speech there are two
“piercing” sounds associated with Śabda-Brahman within the human body. The first piercing is mantra-vedha,
which is done for the benefit of oneself, and is
that piercing where the yogi hears the sound of a mantra…in this case, when prāņa-
kuņdalinī rises, it takes the form of mantra, and the yogi hears a mantra such as om,
Śiva, aham, or so’ham…his breath becomes full of bliss, ecstasy, and joy. By the power
of complete I-Consciousness, this blissful breath penetrates all the ćakras from mūlādhāra
[the first] to bhru-madhya or sahasrardha [the last].76
The second kind of piercing nada-vedha. This is when the yogi is doing something solely for the benefit
of mankind: “here, when the blissful force of breath touches mūlādhāra ćakra, this breath is transformed into
nada [sound]” and then moves outward into the world.77
Simply speaking a mantra is not enough to inhibit the awakening of one’s kuņdalinī energy. Just like the
practice of Tantra is meditation (imagination) and action, a mantra only really takes effect when the mere sound
from the lips is accompanied by an idea through knowledge. This gives the mantra meaning. Embodiment and
knowledge are not fruitless on their own, but are much less effective. Knowledge and concentration on the
varnas (letters) as Śiva and Śakti unites the varna “with the Devata, which is one with the Mantra”.78 After this
76. Ibid. p. 24
77. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). “The Serpent Power”. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 168
78. Hughes, John. “Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami
Lakshmanjoo”. NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. p.65
Wilson 28
Sounds Corresponding to Ćakras and Lotus Petals Viśuddha Throat Ćakra
Seven Ćakras
Wilson 29
knowledge is infused into mantra Aryan explains, “through the power of the rising Shakti, identified with each
of the Centres, Tattvas, and Mātŗikā Shaktis, they cease to bind, until passing through all he attains Samādhi”.79
Once the attainment of siddhi though rousing the kuņdalinī (in the order of the varnas and ćakras), and
knowledge and mantra inhibit Samādhi, a yogi must go forth into action in the world. The connection of these
experiences with the world is still through the body, and after attainment the body then becomes a pure vessel
constantly enacting the Trika structure. The practitioner goes forth, sometimes with little effort, reenacting
ParamaŚiva, Śiva and Śakti, or absolute awareness, creation and destruction: “the yogi who…has realized his
identity with Śiva, constantly worships him by that very awareness…[he] performs his religious observance
(vrata) through just acting in the body. This itself is the supreme worship (parapuja) which is identical with the
eternal awareness (vimarśa)”.80 Therefore the yogi who has realized his true essence acts in supreme worship,
and represents purification and destruction demonstrates “the purification of the body which is to say the
realization that it is co-extensive with the essential and manifest cosmic bodies…this is also the destruction the
body in so far as all limitation and individuality has been eradicated”.81
As we have seen, kuņdalinī energy is the means of awakening each ćakra in the body; each ćakra is
identified as a tattva in the Trika structure, as a deity, as a unique sound and as a set of lotus leafs of varnas, or
letters of the Devanagari alphabet- of which this whole process is driven and guided by divine sound.
Devanagari alphabet
We will now see how kuņdalinī , manifested in the body as Śabda-Brahman, is the life-force of mantras-
making them and the characters that compose them divine in themselves. Mantras are ancient spoken words or
phrases in Sanskrit that invoke the gods due to their divine nature. We will explore how the individual
characters that make up the words of the mantras are divine, how a practitioner can embody them, and how they
provoke liberation.
79. Ibid. p. 111

81. Ibid. p. 24
Wilson 30
Kuņdalinī as Śabda-Brahman pervades mantras: mantras therefore are “supposed to be the
manifestations of kula kuņdalinī , which is a name for the Śabda Brahman or Saguna Brahman in individual
bodies… the substance of all Mantras, being manifestation of Kuņdalinī , is consciousness (cit), manifesting as
letters and words”.82 However, for consciousness to manifest all the way down as gross letters, it first needs to
move through the subtle energy centers in the body; the ćakras being the intermediary link.83 Through the
ćakras the ascending movement of kuņdalinī energy then, “uttered by the mouth appears as Vaikharī in the
form of spoken letters which are the gross aspect of the sound in the Ćakras themselves”.84 Therefore mantras
are gross representations of the ćakras.
The mantra’s letters (as subtle energies) are within the ćakras, and when one manifests those letters as
gross speech, the corresponding subtle energies are thus awakened. Because the letters are originally Śiva, this
then can promote action and manifestation as gods are invoked.85 The letters that make up the Devanagari
alphabet which combine to make mantras are fundamentally cit, or Śiva meaning “the essence of all mantras
consists of letters or sounds, (and) the essence of all letters or sound is Śiva” .86 Śiva is constrained as he
manifests down and the identification with the Self becomes less and less clear as “the deluded man helplessly
considers the limited body, prāņas, etc. as the Self”. These delusions or restraining manifestations are
represented by the consonants of Devanagari and are “presided over by Brahma and other deities”- the other
deities include Vać, the “goddess of speech”. 87 In her, the “ goddess of speech, it is word that has
significance…every one of its vowels and consonants has a particular and inalienable force which exists by the
nature of things…these are the fundamental sounds which lay the basis of the Tantric bijamantras [seed
mantras] and constitute the efficacy of the mantra itself”.88
82. Kumar, Pushperndra. Śakti and Her Episodes. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1981.p.11-12
Press, 1990.
84. Avalon, Arthur. The Serpent Power. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919. p.165
85. Ibid. p. 96
86. Singh, Jaideva. Kśemaraja: The Doctrine of Recognition. NY: State University of New York Press,
1990. p. 69
87. Ibid. p.70
88. Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980.p. 17
Wilson 31
These “seed mantras” are the core of all sound, which can be seen as Śiva, the masculine principle. The
necessary feminine counterpart is the Śakti, or yoni aspect. The “vowels are called bija (seed) and are identified
with Śiva, while the consonants are yoni (womb) and are identified with Śakti. Therefore this “implies the
inseparability of Śiva and Śakti, of vowels and consonants in language”.89 In the Devanagari script the sexual
union of sound expressed as the “vowels and consonants of the physical alphabet polarity, is reflected in the
idea that the vowels are seeds (bija) and the consonants wombs (yoni), while manifestation arises from their
union”.90 According to a “Tantric interpretation, the 16 vowels denote Śiva” and since sound as a whole is
consciousness constrained within time, the vowels of Devanagari are actually “manifesting in pure time”.91
Of the Śiva vowels, there “are two kinds: the ‘masculine’ unagitated (aksubdha) and the ‘feminine’
agitated (ksubda). The short vowels ‘a’, ‘i’ and ‘u’ comprise the former, while the long vowels ‘a’, ‘i,’ and ‘u’
comprise the latter”.92 In Sanskrit there are short vowels and long vowels, such as the “u” in the English words
“mute” and “food”, respectively. Since Śakti descends from Śiva, the agitated vowels (long) are generated from
the unagitated (short). Each letter is a “level of the cosmos and therefore a level of consciousness”. ‘A’, the first
sound of the alphabet, represents Śiva, and this sound is, on one hand, “immanent in all manifestation which
pervades the whole alphabet, yet, on the other [hand], it is regarded as transcendent”.93 Corresponding to the
Śiva tattva the first level of manifestation, the vowel ‘a’, is the only one that also contains the Śakti . Proceeding
after ‘a’ in the sequence of the alphabet are the vowels alternating in agitation (female, spanda, vibration) and
unagitation (masculine, etc.). The remaining vowels, representing levels of the cosmos, “are generated from
various combinations of these initial vowels”, from which the rest of manifestation emanates.94
89. Singh, Jaideva. Abhinavagupta Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1988 p. xvi
1993. p. 76
1993. p.78
93. Ibid. p.78
94. Ibid. p. 80
Wilson 32
Now that we have explored the symbolic nature of Devanagari vowels, which correspondingly are the
first to manifest as sound, we can explore the consonants of the script. The Devanagari alphabet, called
“Varnamala” meaning “garland of letters”, as represented by Kālī’s necklace of severed human heads, also
mimic the tattvas. 95
Pada meaning word, or place, part or division, or as a level of the cosmos, represents each category of
existence and conversely each pada has a sense or sense organ associated. The “‘ka’ group is suggestive of the
five elements (Panchabhuta), the ‘cha’ group of five senses, ‘Ta’ group of five limbs, ‘ta’ group of mental
faculties, ‘Pa’ group of mind, ego, intellect, nature and Purusha, ‘Ya’ group of air, sciences, arts and illusion,
‘Sha’ group of Shakti, Shiva and Sadashiva”.96. Since we know that the letters are represented in each
corresponding Ćakra,
the letters in the six ćakras are fifty in number-namely, the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet
less Ksa, according to the Kamakala-malini-Tantra…the letters there mentioned as being
coloured. Each object of perception whether gross or subtle, has an aspect which corresponds
to each of the senses. It is this reason that the Tantra correlates sound, form and color.97
Devanagari Corresponding to the Basic Grouping of Tattvas
95. Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980.p.12
96. Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe). “The Serpent Power”. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919. p
165-165
Wilson 33
The most powerful letter sequences of the divine are those that are systematically organized (versus
unorganized) and unfold as; mantras forming letters (varna) then syllables (pada) then words (Śabda) then
sentences (vākya), which form meaning (artha).98 The sequence of Devanagari characters within the alphabet
matters as well: from “a” to “ha” (the first and last letters of the alphabet) the order replicates the expansion of
the universe (Śakti). Only after these two letters are combined forming “ksa” is the end of the expansion
process. The combination of “a” (creation) and “ha” (manifestation) represents vibration being absorbed by
“ksa” (re-absorption back to ParamaŚiva) and then finally rests in the highest reality. We can see that the letter
sequence of the Devanagari alphabet is a complete cycle of the Trika structure and when a practitioner
experiences these letters as speech, “ this natural vimarśa or inward experience is of the nature of the
congregation of words”.99 This inward experience as the Trika of kuņdalinī is the absolute, will and expansion.
According to Dyczkowski in The Stanzas on Vibration, all letters follow from this triad and the terms Mātŗikā
(Supreme Speech) is dynamic consciousness and malini is consciousness withdrawing into itself (Kālī’s
action).100
With the Trika structure represented in the Devanagari characters, and thus legitimizing the script as
microcosmically and universally divine, let’s look at the historical development of the ancient script. It is
claimed that the letters, or varna, originated in the city of the gods, which in Sanskrit is called Devanam
Nagaram, the name of the script, which is Devanagari.101
Historically the “Devanagari alphabets it seems were elaborated out of the hieroglyphics representing
the seeds (bija) which are the same as denote gods”.102 Eventually, Hindu worshippers assigned a sound to each
of the hieroglyphics (which represented Brahma), and the fifty one names of Śakti developed; Arita, Akarsini,
Indrani, Isani, Uma, Urdhvadhatnika, etc. which noticeably the first letters of each of the goddesses’ names
correspond to the sequence of the alphabet.
Press, 1990. p.92
99. Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Stanzas on Vibration. NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.
100. Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980. p.18
101. Ibid. p. 20
102. Ibid. p. 2
Wilson 34
In worship, the letters represent the body parts of the goddess, and the varnas (letters) are thus called
Mātŗikās. In Tantric worship the entire body as a sound vehicle is incorporated in the ritual. Tantric texts such
as Tantraraja-Tantra discuss the worship of Mātŗikās as Śaktis or letters of the alphabet. Nyasa meditation,
translating as “installation of the Mothers”, is a Tantric worship practice that identifies one’s body parts with the
varnas. The ritual involves installation of powers of Mātŗikās as letters of the alphabet in one’s body, by
visualizing and feeling the deity venerated in different parts of the body such as head, face, and legs all while
reciting mantras. This ritual process represents the body as a microcosm of the macro “Lord of Speech” or Vać
Devata benefiting the practitioner in that one can touch different parts of the body to arouse inherent energies to
use toward transformation.
Using speech as a tool for liberation in the Tantric context is “spiritually effective”, according to
Abhinavagupta, because the fifty letters of the Devanagari alphabet “which in the Tantras is understood to exist
as fifty energies or aspects of the universal potency of the supreme level of Speech” is then connected with
“Mantras [which] are spiritually effective”.103 It is only when the energies of the letters come out of the mouth
as gross speech that the mantras begin to take effect. The effect of Mātŗikā as subtle sound energies in the
Tantric tradition is the “source of the higher liberating knowledge of non-duality” and therefore “makes inner
and outer manifestation one with Her own nature in the all-embracing experience of liberated consciousness”.104
In ritual acts of mantras, because the letters represent the cosmic unfolding of the universe, the fist letter
as ParamaŚiva and the last is earth, all letters in-between are useless without the first and the last. Therefore
within the alphabet is the risk of one getting lost in the illusion of samsāra. Without knowledge of the circular
process of manifestation down and re-absorption up of the Trika process, all other letters, or tattvas, seem
permanent and “fruitless”.105
103. Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Stanzas on Vibration. NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.
p. 45
104. Ibid. p. 45
105. Ibid. Abhinavagupta explains in the third chapter of Tantrāloka the idea of Mātŗikā ćakra.
Wilson 35
Seeing the world as an illusion, one then recognizes their own self (or consciousness, cit) as the only
permanent existence. Self in relation to sound reflects itself to itself: “he [the Self] made the entire world-
consisting of indicator or word (vaćaka) and indicated or object (vaćya)-his own by reflection (lit. seizing
mentally) on the entire assembling of non-mayiya words from ‘a’ to ‘ksa’”.106 Assigning sounds and terms to
perceived reality allows the self to 1) project outward the senses and 2) return back inward the understanding of
these objects perceived. All reality is a reflection of the self that created in the first place.
Furthermore, another linguistic symbol within Sanskrit is the junction of two words called sandhi. On
many levels it represents the junction of waking/dreaming/deep sleep consciousness, of each day with night,
and of the breath with no breath. Firstly, during Tantric practice it is advised: “do not worship the Lord during
the day. Do not worship the Lord during the night. The Lord must be worshipped at the point of the meeting of
the day and night (quoted in the Tantrāloka 6)” .107 It is at these junctions that, to Tantric worshippers, the divine
is most easily accessible and venerated.
Within Kashmir Śaivism sandhi also symbolically represents meditation. Sandhi translated in Sanskrit
sometimes means “meditation, and therefore it is said that meditating on the junction between the inhale and
exhale is when concentration is optimal and ideal. On a more macrocosmic level, Sandhi represents turyia- not
waking, dreaming or deep sleep- but the consciousness in-between all. The junction between ending
wakefulness and the beginning of sleep, and vice versa, is very important; “it is the entrance into the state of
turiya, which has opened as a result of settling into your asana and undergoing prāņayama”.108
Sandhi most commonly means the junction between two words in Sanskrit. The combination of Sanskrit
characters to make larger compound words, because specific letters symbolize certain sacred processes, can
become powerful microcosmic forces through just the structural composition alone.
Press, 1990. p. 92
107. Hughes, John. “Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami
Lakshmanjoo”. NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. p.30
108. Ibid. p.45
Wilson 36
Mantras each have different vibrational frequencies, corresponding to levels of reality, and “their
transformative power is constrained by the level from which they derive.109 We will look at the mantras AHAM,
OM and SAUH and their deconstruction as miniature Trika structures. Abhinavagupta’s commentaries on
Paratrisika speak in-depth about AHAM as the creative aspect of the ‘I’ consciousness. AHAM is the sequence
of expansion where as the reverse order, MAHAA, is withdrawal, completing the Trika cycle of the absolute,
creation and destruction. ‘A’ represents the ’I’ or the Self and is the first letter of the alphabet. ’Ha’,the last
letter of the alphabet, which is expansion as kuņdalinī Śakti, and lastly ’M’ is actually pictorially drawn above
the word, meaning a nasal ‘m’ sound. It is objective phenomena, will, knowledge, and action- all processes to
return one back to the self.110 Reciting AHAM and MAHAA is an important link in creating a physical entity of
sound while embodying the complete Trika structure.
Another powerful mantra is SAUH. Its components are ‘SA’; the Sanskrit root ‘to be’ or ‘existence’,
represented as the tattvas, ‘AU’; superior to ‘SA’, contains the elements suddhavudya, isvara, sadaŚiva
(elements of knowledge and action, embodiment of Śakti) and is also acceptance of the oneness of God, and
finally ‘H’ is the visarga (depicted as a colon “:”) which is symbolically greater than ‘SA’ and ‘AU’. The dots
of the visarga (colon) represent a twofold creative energy: the higher and lower creative energies of Śakti. In
addition, the meaning of the mantra SAUH is threefold: 1) ‘SA’, the cycle of nara (man) 2) ‘AU’, cycle of
Śakti, and 3) ‘H’ or ‘:’, combines both creative energies and the cycle of Śiva. Thus, the Trika system of
Kashmir Śaivism can also be the combination of nara, Śakti and Śiva.111 The mantra culminates when one
understands, embodies and realizes its meaning:
thus, whoever perceives sauh, the essence of all mantras, in the reality of Samādhi, gains
entry in that sa. He is, in the real sense, initiated. It does not matter if he lives and breathes
like an ordinary being, if he gets hungary and attends to his bodily functions, he is actually
divine, and at the time of leaving his physical form he becomes on with Śiva.112
109. Flood, Gavin D. Body and Cosmology in Kashmir Śaivism. CA: Mellen Research University
Press, 1993. p.218
110. Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Stanzas on Vibration. NY: SUNY Press, 1992.
NY: State University of New York Press, 1994p.68-69
Wilson 37
The force of Śabda-Brahman in the mantra SAUH has powerful and permanent transformational effects.
Lastly we will look at possibly the most famous mantra OM, or AUM. The characters of AUM are ‘A’=
Brahma the creator, ‘U’= Vishnu the preserver and ‘M’= Śiva the destroyer. This threefold structure of the
universe is also one of the most widespread and pervasive beliefs of Hinduism as a whole, not just in
Tantrism.113.The triadic nature of the mantra AUM also contains a fourth state called turiya tita, which
encompasses the previous three. Andre Padoux in Vać explores, “but why do we have such a fourfold division
of om (which indeed is not an actual division into four, since in fact there are only three distinct elements,
which the fourth one encapsulates and transcends)? Precisely because of the fourfold division of Brahman”.114
Padoux expands on the mainstream Hindu idea of the threefold nature of AUM to a fourth Tantric state, turiya-
tita, which transcends and includes the other three, in a state of nonduality, or complete liberation.
Internalization of turyia-tita, of liberation, occurs through the reciting of AUM. The character AUM and its use
are ancient tools and have remained popular iconographic figures of Hinduism.
Overall, I have shown how speech is identical with Śiva, manifested as Śakti in the ćakras, moves
outward through mantras, and with recognition induces liberation. Speech, or vakŚakti, “is identical with the
light of consciousness (Śiva), who is of the form of the great mantra that is eternally sounded, who consists of
the consciousness of the perfect “I”, who contains within herself (who is pregnant with) the whole assemblage
of Śaktis formed by the sound beginning with ‘a’ and ending with ‘ksa’”, is the complete process of creation
through stages.115 The various alphabet and cosmological levels are regarded as levels or layers of sound, the
lower layers being grosser or more impure expressions than the higher. The yogi’s ascent through the worlds of
the cosmos is therefore also an ascent through layers of sound which correspond to worlds” .116
114. Padoux, Andre. Vać: The Concept of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras. NY: SUNY, 1990. p.21
Press, 1990. P.70
Press, 1993. p.39-40
Wilson 38
To reiterate, the process of sound creation is the Trika structure of the cosmos, of spoken mantras, which
is “regarded as a manifestation of sound…these levels of sound being identified with the letters of the Sanskrit
alphabet (varna) emerging out from VakŚakti”117 who is identified with supreme consciousness.
Liberation
We briefly mentioned earlier the experience of liberation when one recognizes mantras as divine. But
what is this experience really like? And why is it the ultimate goal?
Nonduality is the experience as well as the reality of liberation. This experience is called nondual or
advaita because there is no distinction between self and other, self and God, or self and Brahman. Thus during
this process, “in the higher layers of the cosmos, the body of the perceiver tends to merge with the body of the
perceived in a series of stages, until that the highest level of the cosmos subject (aham) and object (idam) are
non-distinct”.118 The layers of the universe are withdrawn into the essential cosmic body into nonduality and
“when the bodies of sound cease to exist, beings are then pure…liberation is going beyond, or a dissolving of,
shared realities into the essential cosmic body” .119 Just as we have seen Kālī re-absorb sound into the absolute,
nonduality occurs when reality, through sound, withdraws into Brahman.
The true nature of sound is represented in all levels of the cosmos and in order for one to embody and
thus transcend, without the proper understanding of sound, a practitioner can become bound in an illusion of
obstacles. First originating with Śiva, the process of concealment of the layers then manifests down and “out of
the supreme Energy [of Śabda] flow forth countless subordinate hierarchisized energies, which are aspects of
this original Power”. Although they are all aspects of the original power, one can become attached or caught in
the ‘real-ness” of any one reality, and the layers therefore become “one of the means (or obstacles) to his
spiritual progress and his mastery over the universe” .120
One way to combat getting caught in illusion of māyā is to recite sacred mantras. Sound, specifically as
a mantra, is the key to going beyond the levels of reality: “expressed in spoken language mantra is a symbolic
117 Ibid p.111

118. Ibid.
119. Ibid. p.139 Referencing Spanda Karikas of Vasugupta or Kallata
Wilson 39
form of its higher reality, giving access to that reality and is a means if transcending the limited experience of
bound person, body and world, to wider more inclusive levels of the cosmos”.121 Mantras allow one to embody
all levels of the cosmos. Once this initial recognition through sound is obtained, and because speech and the
words are a direct reflection of the para (The Mother, as Śiva), “the force of rectitude of the reflective
awareness [is] that one is able to realize everything at will”.122
Instantaneously one can become liberated and move forward to then live a nondual life of moment-to-
moment manifestation as the Trika structure. Contrary to some widespread beliefs, the enlightened one does not
just stop living or disappears, but rather “[the liberated Tantric] stays in the world and controls it. He becomes
one with the Transcendental. But the Transcendental is the primary creative and destructive principle, holding
within itself the paradigm of the cosmos and pervading it”.123
Contemporary Relevance
Although I only dove into a brief and narrow exploration of sound within Kashmir Śaivism, there are
many paths one could take from this introductory stance. Below I propose a few venues one could further
explore, but are not limited to; the monism of Kashmir Śaivism and quantum theory, Buddhist traditions’ use of
mantras such as Shingon Buddhism, modern practices of breath-work (prāņayama) found in organizations like
the Art of Living, and contemporary forms of Kashmir Śaivism such as Siddha Yoga as well as Western
philosophical theories of pantheism such as Panpsychism. I will explore the many movements centered around
sound, monism (or pantheism), and liberation in a Divine universe. These examples not only show the
importance and relevance of the ancient beliefs of Kashmir Śaivism but they make us (as Western scholars and
students) re-examine the way we think about language, our Self and consciousness, and the attitudes and
purposes we place on the human body.
1993. p.216
122. Rastogi, Navjivan. The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir. Vol. 1. Delhi: Motilal Nanarsidass
Publishers. p.126
123. Although only “He” is referened as to obtaining liberation, there is current debate on both sides that women too, can
participate in this journey toward liberation. Padoux, Andre. Vać: The Concept of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras.
NY: SUNY, 1990. p. 38
Wilson 40
Quantum Theory
Some scholars today, such as Paul Muller Ortega, make a connection between the monistic view of the
nondual Śaivism of Kashmir with contemporary Quantum Physics done by scientists like David Bohm.124
Ortega shows a dialogical “interpretive Mātrīx” connecting the two schools of thought. In Ritual and
Speculation in Early Tantrism: Studies in Honor of Andre Padoux Bohm’s theory supports and explains a
“continuous cosmogony” that “makes some of the most abstruse and rarefied meditational ideas of the Tantra
understandable”.125 His work, although using scientific terminology, as Ortega argues, alludes to the concept of
Śiva, which he calls Undivided Wholeness in Flowing Movement: “flow is, in some sense, prior to that of
‘things’ that can be seen to form and dissolve in this flow…in this flow, mind and matter are not separate
substances. Rather they are different aspects of one whole and unbroken movement”.126 Ortega claims that the
connectedness of the mind and body as well as the self and God interestingly relate to this Quantum theory of
an essentially nondual universe.
These connective claims today reinforce the idea of an undeniable relationship between language and
reality. In addition to Ortega and Bohm, Bhartŗhari, the 6th-7th century Sanskrit grammarian, proposed a theory
(which we have previously explored in the historical development of sound in Tantra) that “speaks of a reality
richer than the expressive power of language. Like the observables of quantum theory, language picks only
processes associated with its expressions”.127 The interesting argument put forth by Ortega shows that Quantum
Theory relates to the underlying connection between language, its processes (creations) and the interplay
between the two. Language alone is not simply an expression of reality, it is reality.
124 It should be noted that David Bohm is not considered to be a part of mainstream Quantum Physics
125. Muller-Ortega, Paul. “Tantric Meditation: Vcalic Beginnings”. Ritual and Speculation in Early
Tantrism: Studies in Honor of Andre Padoux. Ed. Teun Gourdriaan. NY: SUNY Series in Tantric
Studies, 1992. p.230
126. Ibid. p.228
127. Kak,Subhash and T.R.N. Rao. On the Science of Consciousness In Ancient India. 1998.
ttp://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/i_es/i_es_kak-s_sci_con_frameset.htm/
Wilson 41
Shingon Buddhism
Why is it that we see a full embodiment of the cosmos within the human body more generally in Eastern
traditions? In the case of Kashmir Śaivism its influential philosopher Abhinavagupta expounds on its embodied
monistic theology, narrated entirely in terms of consciousness and nonduality, is a cosmogony of “usual
notions of the person, of time, of language, of sexuality- in fact all aspects of reality- are reversed”.128 A
reversal in normal duality or perceived reality “contributes directly to the transgressive posture taken by the
realized individual toward the Embodied Cosmos (kula)”.129
Other Eastern nondual sects that view the body as means to liberation include the Shingon Buddhism of
Japan. In “Reality as Embodiment: An Analysis of Kukais Sokushinjobutsu and Hosshin Seppo”, we see a
parallel with Japanese Shingon Buddhist emphasis of mantras and the connection of these mantras with the
body and with the gross realm, including the elements (as seen in the tattvas). According to the founder Kukai
(744-835), the Dainichi Sutra states:
Without abandoning this body,

One attains supernatural power over the objective world,
Wanders freely in the state of the great void.
If you want to enter Perfection (Siddhi) in this life…
After receiving your Mantra (of your Buddha) personally from your revered teacher,
Meditate on it until you have become united with it. Then you will attain perfection130
Similarities in the philosophy of Shinto Buddhism and the Hindu Tantrism of Kashmir toward the perfect union
of body and mantra may have broader Eastern roots. To the East, the body is a vessel to house the great
connectedness of the mind, being identical with the mind; the Eastern “’body’ (shin) is not equivalent to our
Western sense of the body as separate or distinguished from the mind”.131 Kukai, the author of the passage
above, conceptualizes the body as including the traditional Eastern belief of five elements, but he then adds
consciousness as the sixth element making the list more complete. More specifically, this expansion of the “list
128. Muller-Ortega, Paul. “Tantric Meditation: Vocalic Beginnings”. Ritual and Speculation in Early
Tantrism. Ed. Teun Gourdriaan. NY: SUNY Series in Tantric Studies, 1992. p. 230
129. Kasulis, Thomas P. “Reality as Embodiment: An Analysis of Kukais Sokushinjobutsu and Hosshin
Seppo”. Religious Reflections on the Human Body. Ed. Jane Marie Law. Indiana: Bloomington
Indiana University Press, 1995.174
130. Ibid. p. 179
131. Ibid. p. 173-174
Wilson 42
of elements also led him to extend the list of seed mantras, since each mantra is correlated with a single
element. He added the mantra HUM”.132
We can also see parallels in Buddhism with the vibrations of the mantras in the body, “Of the mantras
and darani (phrases), Shingon (mantra) ritual singles out six ‘seed mantras’: A, Va, Ra, Ha, Kha, and Hum” and
“when reciting these mantras in the correct posture and mental framework, one becomes attuned to the basic
vibrations or resonances (kyo) constituting the cosmos”.133 Only by combining the mantras with a “proper
ritualistic context” can the practitioner realize the power of the sound. And thus, the devotee “becomes sensitive
to the ‘truth words’ (shingon) inaudible to ordinary hearing”.134 These “inaudible” words mimic the nature of
Śabda-Brahman, the undifferentiated pre-manifested cosmic sound. In addition to the parallel beliefs of causal
sound, Shingon Buddhism and Kashmir Śaivism also share a belief of “reality as vibration or resonance”, called
Spanda in Kashmir Śaivism and promoted by Kukai in Japanese Buddhism.135 Influenced from ancient Indian
thought, Shingon Buddhism comprises aspects of Indian Tantric Buddhism as well as Chinese cultural aspects
in its journey to Japan. Shingon Buddhism downplays and dismisses most of the sexual symbolism from Tantra
distinguish between “esoteric” and “exoteric” teachings and practices.
Shingon Buddhism presents the body as a means to experience reality on a microcosmic level through
sound. Eastern thought may make us (contemporary Westerners) reexamine the purpose of our bodies and
sound, and the goals associated. Any exploration of the view of the body in religious rituals opens up questions
of the limits and potential of the human body, and the implications of the limits on consciousness.
Siddha Yoga
Siddha Yoga is a modern religious movement that attributes its beliefs to Kashmir Śaivism. Brought to
the West by Swami Muktānanda in the 1970s, Siddha Yoga is a living and thriving religious sect that puts the
Kashmir Śaivism (right hand) ritual acts into practice. Siddha means perfected one, and most devotees, as
132. Kasulis, Thomas P. “Reality as Embodiment: An Analysis of Kukais Sokushinjobutsu and Hosshin
Seppo”. Religious Reflections on the Human Body. Ed. Jane Marie Law. Indiana: Bloomington
Indiana University Press, 1995.Ch. 17 p.232
133. Ibid. p.233
134. Ibid. p.233
135. Ibid. p.234
Wilson 43
modern practitioners of their ancient predecessors, believe in Śaktipat transmissions of kuņdalinī Śakti
from the guru to the disciple, and therefore “are content with the central experience of siddha yoga, which can
be described in general terms as an experience of the divine power perceived to flow through the guru”.136 After
a Śaktipat blessing a Siddha Yogi can continue the practices and beliefs of Kashmir Śaivism through
visualizing, during meditation, the fivefold nature of Śiva.
The Śaiva traditions, including Kashmir Śaivism and Siddha Yoga, categorize the movement of reality,
of Śiva, into three models. Firstly the most simple model is 1) the dyadic pattern of the visarga (:), which is a
twofold movement of manifestation and dissolution of male and female, stillness and vibration, secondly 2) a
triadic pattern of “the three initial vowels, A, I, U, representing to the will, knowledge, and action powers of
Śiva”, and which we have explored expensively in this paper the Trika structure, and the third model of reality
is 3) a pentadic classification that stands for the five divine action of Śiva: “his capacity to manifest (srsti),
maintain (sthiti), and reabsorb (samhara), linked to his capacity to conceal (vilaya) and gracefully reveal
(anugraha)”.137 This final classification reduplicates the previous two.
In the Living Siddha Yoga Wisdom Learning Lesson #16 a guided meditation is given on the fivefold
action of Śiva as ionized in the Śiva Nataraj: “this form of the Lord doing his ānanda tandava (ecstatic dance)
vividly illustrates the pancha-krtya (five-fold-act) of Consciousness”.138 According to Siddha Yoga, in the far
right hand of Lord Śiva the double-headed drum (damaru) represents the “vibratory source of all creation, OM”,
which is also the pulse of spanda and the emanation of Mātŗikā Śakti.
136. Muller-Ortega, Paul. “Tantric Meditation: Vocalic Beginnings Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism: Studies in
Honor of Andre Padoux. Ed. Teun Gourdriaan. NY: SUNY Series in Tantric Studies, 1992 p. 238-239
137. Living Siddha Yoga Wisdom Learning Lesson #16. SYDA Foundation, 2004.
138. Ibid.
Wilson 44
The near-right hand of Śiva is raised in abhaya mudra, meaning the fearlessness hand gesture. This says
“fear not, I am sustaining you”. Śiva’s far-left hand is holding fire, which represent the destruction and re-
absorption of phenomena back into consciousness. This hand also is touching the outer ring of fire because his
acts of his hands, creation, sustenance and destruction, all create and occur within the realm of space and time,
which is depicted by the outer ring. In addition, “time ultimately consumes all phenomena, hence the ring’s
flames”. 139
The vertical axis of the Śiva Nataraj represents the sadhana process, or how we experience ourselves and
life. The two actions of consciousness are concealment and grace-Śiva’s near-left arm crosses over his heart
which conceals his heart from awareness, but “the hand of this arm points the way out of the state of living as
the small self. The hand points to the raised, free foot, which represents grace”.140
According to the Pratyabhijnakrika Spandasandoha, the act of concealment and appearance is in all
manifestation and, like we have seen, with recognition provokes liberation; if the
139. Living Siddha Yoga Wisdom Learning Lesson #16. SYDA Foundation, 2004.
140. Ibid.
Wilson 45
the fivefold act, which occurs within one’s own personal experience, is pursued steadily with
firm understanding, it reveals the Lord’s greatness to the devotee. Those who always ponder
over this (fivefold act of the Lord), knowing the universe as an enfoldment of the essential
nature (of consciousness), become liberated in this very life.141
Conversely, those who see objects as different and not as a universal light of consciousness are
essentially bound. The fivefold act of Śiva has helped the devotee recognize the liberating nature of the cosmos
from ancient times and still remains today through new religious movements like Siddha Yoga. Siddha Yoga
has ashrams and devotees worldwide that promote this philosophy.
Art of Living
Similarly, another modern movement called the Art of Living, although a non-profit secular
organization, emphasizes meditation, mantras and embodied liberation. Founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar over
20 years ago the Art of Living’s practices are influenced by Sri Sri’s personal background in Transcendental
Meditation from his Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Reciting and embodying mantras within the Art of Living is also just as important for spiritual growth as
it is within Kashmir Śaivism. The Sri Sarasvatī Mantra is a popular recited Hindu mantra and according to
Vedic Mantras for Peace and Healing, Sri Sarasvatī mantra is not only the “the mother of each and every
sound contained in the holy Vedas” but also vibration throughout the universe, supreme bliss from the heart and
all-pervading in living beings. It is obvious that this description resonates with Kashmir Śaivism’s description
of sound, consciousness, Śiva and Śakti. Most similar to Śakti, Sri Sarasvatī Mantra is the “supreme energy that
pervades, sustains and protects the entire cosmos” but like Śiva “she is beyond the cosmos” .142 Also like
Kashmir Śaivism, the divine mother has “three primary Śaktis, or powers: jňana Śakti, kriya Śakti and iccha
Śakti” .143 According to the beliefs, after meditating on her mantra “for so long that its vibrations have
permeated our entire cosmos, we will merge in the Supreme light”.144 Meditation and embodying the mantra to
the Art of Living practitioners also invokes liberation.
141.. Singh, Jaideva. “Kśemaraja: The Doctrine of Recognition”. NY: State University of New York
Press, 1990. p. 67
142. Sri Sri Sri Vijaeswari Devi. Vedic Mantras for Peace and Healing. UK: Karunamayi Viswashanthi
Foundation, 2007 p. 8
143. Ibid. p.12
144. Ibid. p. 9-10
Wilson 46
Sanskrit, as a powerful tool to transform and transmit the divine, is recognized in almost all Hindu
traditions, not excluding the Art of Living. According to Vedic Mantras for Peace and Healing, Akshara means
eternal or indestructible and is also the word for any letter in the Sanskrit alphabet. The meaning of the word
therefore reveals that the letters cannot be destroyed. Bijakshara is the word for sounds formed from seed
letters, or those sounds derived from OM. The metaphor of seed mantras to actual seeds helps the practitioner
understand its powerful potential: seeds grow in fertile soil, so seed mantras, with sincerity, faith and devotion,
will “take root in our consciousness and will grow into a beautiful stately tree of divine consciousness”.145
The Art of Living is also known for its prāņayama (breathing techniques) called Sudarshan Kriya. Both
sound and the breath are recognized as essential embodied factors in one’s spiritual path to freedom.
Psychotheism
It is clear that Kashmir Śaivism’s nondual view of sound can be seen in other Eastern sects and new
religious movements or organizations, but what about thought originating in the West? We find that there are
many systems of philosophical beliefs that similarly contribute to discussions on alternatives to epistemologies
of dualism, such as those in Christianity. A Western movement called Spiritual Pantheism or Psychotheism is
one philosophy that attempts to overcome mainstream dualism. The philosophical concepts of Psychotheism
allow an interesting exploration of reality: monism, pantheism, and panentheism could further explore the
notion of Kashmir Śaivism’s consciousness as reality, “Spiritual Pantheism affirms the existence of Spirit, and
sometimes, either expressly or by implication, denies the existence of Matter. This makes all Spirit God;
always the same but every unfolding into new forms” .146 One could argue that “Unfolding into new forms of
God” seems to be Western language for the unfolding of Śiva as Śakti in the constant cycle of manifestation and
re-absorption. A comparative analysis of Psychothesim would be an interesting study of Eastern and Western
philosophy. To Psychotheists, recognizing God is through seeing it/he/she as “self-conscious in men” and is
“being and being seen”. God can only be truly recognized by human thought once manifested, as opposed to its
145. Sri Sri Sri Vijaeswari Devi. Vedic Mantras for Peace and Healing. UK: Karunamayi Viswashanthi
Foundation, 2007. p. 10-11
136. Parker,Theodore and Frances Power Cobbe The Collected Works of Theodore Parker. Published by
Trübner, 1876.p.57
Wilson 47
pure unmanifested unimaginable form (such as the nature of ParamaŚiva). 147
One of the most prominent figures in the Psychotheism movement is Alfred Whitehead, a 19th-20th
century British philosopher who was a “panpsychist who identifies reality with felt experience, and that all
such expertise comes in momentary wholes which he calls actual occasions”.148 These “wholes” are the
complete experience as God in the first person. Each individual is God themselves; a mystical notion that, in
Kashmir Śaivism is recognized through sound, action, knowledge and will, and in Western philosophy is
achieved through “perception or feelings, albeit these rise to a conscious level only in such high-grade existents
as human minds”.149 So, in Panpsychism, through human sense-experiences, one can experience the
interconnectedness of God.
This philosophical thinking appears “more or less in the writings of John the Evangelist, in Dionysius
the Areopagite…[and] it tinges in some measure the spiritual philosophy of the present day”.150 Spiritual
Psychotheism and spiritual pantheism does in fact mirror many contemporary beliefs of not just these
philosophers, scholars (Muller-Ortega and Quantum Physics) and modern organizations (such as the Art of
Living or Siddha Yoga) but also of contemporary people and their personal thoughts on spirituality.
“Spiritual But Not Religious”
If Tantra fundamentally states that the universe is monistic (i.e. dualities such as self and other or good
and evil are illusory), and everything is interconnected, then could this aspect of the Divinely monistic reality be
related to what my generation in the West considers “spiritual but not religious”? To a Westerner, and
specifically to young university students, this “connectedness” is often found outside of traditional religious
settings and more surprisingly can be experienced through nature, deep conversations, and aesthetics. The
Kashmir Śaivite nondual (right hand path) seems to address and expound on what contemporary students may
be feeling. If there is an esoteric mystical meaning behind everything, that is, that this notion of the Trika
Trübner, 1876. 1876 p. 57
148. Sprigge, Timothy L. The God of Metaphysics. UK: Oxford University Press, 2006. p.435
149. Alston, William P. Perceiving God. NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. p. 130
Trübner, 1876 p. 58
Wilson 48
structure really is at the core of all existence, then it would logically be at the center of all experiences, East or
West. A USA Today/Gallup Poll in 2002 showed that almost “half of American adults appear to be alienated
from organized religion”. The results conclude: “About 33% consider themselves “spiritual but not religious”,
up from 30% the previous year.151 With a growing number of Americans searching for something more out
there, these alternative belief systems, ancient or contemporary, seem to be able to capture the inquisitive
Western mind. As I have shown the importance of sound and speech toward instantaneous universal liberation,
maybe after all, what we as Westerns are searching for is right under our noses.
Conclusion
The macrocosm of Kashmir Śaivism’s Trika structure, as I have shown, manifests itself as microcosmic
phenomena in the layers of existence (tattvas), deities (Mātŗikā goddesses, Kālī, Śakti), in the union of male
and female bodies, within each individual body as kuņdalinī energy in the ćakras, in speech and mantras and
finally in the words and letters of the Devanagari script. The permeability of sound as God (Śabda-Brahman)
allows the practitioner, through reciting mantras, to recognize his/her true nature as God, and become liberated.
The universality of Kashmir Savism’s speech extends far beyond its specific regional and time limits: “modern
philosophy of language could learn a lot from Abhinavagupta’s subtle speculation on the Word, vak (logos),
which extends from its mystical dimension to the intricacies of Sanskrit grammar and linguistic speculation,
from psychological subtleties to philosophical reasoning” .152 Abhinavagupta integrated the existing Hindu
Tantric traditions, as well as other religious traditions, in the 10th and 11th centuries to create a fully universal
and comprehensive religion, existing within and beyond his proclaimed gross, subtle and causal realms.
In addition, language as a sacred entity is not unique to just Kashmir Śaivism- we see emphasis on
language as divine in Jewish Kaballah Hebrew and Islamic Sufi Arabic among other traditions.
Kashmir Śaivism’s all pervading Śiva creates the world around us as a multitude of manifestations as
Śakti. This multiplicity of Śakti-of sounds formed into mantras- much like the global multiplicity of religions
and religious interpretations, represents the uniquely individualized nature of Śakti as well her indifference to
value, that is, everything is Śiva at the core, no matter what form or representation. Sound is just another
Wilson 49
microcosm of the macro of Divine multiplicity- “each mantra is the ‘sound-body’ of a particular form of God,
all of whom merge into the Divine” .153 Even though there are 36 tattvas, 51 characters in the Devanagari script,
33,000 gods in the Hindu pantheon, thousands of worldwide religious sects, millions of expressions of God, and
even more words and sounds attempting to describe God, ultimately, everything will return, unite, and “merge
with the Divine” as one with God.
151. Religious Tolerance.org, http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm citing Cathy Grossman,

"Charting the unchurched in America," USA Today, 2002-MAR-7,
http://www.usatoday.com/life/dcovthu.htm
152. Singh, Jaideva. Abhinavagupta Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1988 p. xv
153. (Sri Sri Sri Vijaeswari Devi. Vedic Mantras for Peace and Healing. UK: Karunamayi Viswashanthi
Foundation, 2007. p.11).
Wilson 50
Bibliography:
1). Alston, William P. Perceiving God. NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. p. 130
2). Aryan, K.C., The Little Goddesses (Mātŗikās), New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980.
3). Avalon, Arthur. The Serpent Power. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1919.
4). Ed. Brooks, Douglas. Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage . NY:
Āgama Press, 1997.
Dupuche, John R. Abhinavagupta’s The Kula Ritual. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2003.
5). Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Stanzas on Vibration. NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.
6). Feuerstein Georg. Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy. Boston and London: Shambhala, 1998.
7). Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
8). Flood, Gavin D. Body and Cosmology in Kashmir Śaivism. CA: Mellen Research University Press, 1993.
9). Flood, Gavin. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. NY: I.B. Tauris, 2006.
10). Hughes, John. Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism: The Oral Teachings of Swami Lakshmanjoo. NY:
State University of New York Press, 1994.
11).Kak,Subhash and T.R.N. Rao. “On the Science of Consciousness In Ancient India”. 1998.
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/i_es/i_es_kak-s_sci_con_frameset.htm
12). Kasulis, Thomas P. “Reality as Embodiment: An Analysis of Kukais Sokushinjobutsu and Hosshin Seppo”.
Religious Reflections on the Human Body. Ed. Jane Marie Law. Indiana: Bloomington Indiana University Press,
1995.
13). Kumar, Pushperndra. Śakti and Her Episodes. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1981.
14). Lakshmanjoo, Swami. Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme. US: Universal Shaiva Fellowship, 2003.
15.) Living Siddha Yoga Wisdom Learning Lesson #16. SYDA Foundation, 2004.
16). Muller-Ortega, Paul. “Tantric Meditation: Vocalic Beginnings”. Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism:
Studies in Honor of Andre Padoux. Ed. Teun Gourdriaan. NY: SUNY Series in Tantric Studies, 1992.
17). Padoux, Andre. Vać: The Concept of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras. NY: SUNY, 1990.
18). Parker,Theodore and Frances Power Cobbe The Collected Works of Theodore Parker. Published by
Trübner, 1876
19.) Rastogi, Navjivan. The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir. Vol. 1. Delhi: Motilal Nanarsidass Publishers.
Wilson 51
20.) Religious Tolerance.org, http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm citing Cathy Grossman,

"Charting the unchurched in America," USA Today, 2002-MAR-7, http://www.usatoday.com/life/dcovthu.htm
21.) Singh, Jaideva. Parātrīśika-Vivaraņa: The Secret of Tantric Mysticism. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers Private Unlimited, 1988.
22). Singh, Jaideva. Kśemaraja: The Doctrine of Recognition. NY: State University of New York Press, 1990.
23.) Skora, Kerry Martin.“Abhinavagupta’s Erotic Mysticism: The Reconciliation of Spirit and Flesh”.
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25.) Sri Sri Sri Vijaeswari Devi. Vedic Mantras for Peace and Healing. UK: Karunamayi Viswashanthi
Foundation, 2007.

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Wilson 1

Tantric Sound: The Nondual Śaivism of Kashmir’s Manifestation and Liberation

A Senior Honors Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for graduation

The Ohio State University

Project Advisor: Professor Hugh Urban Department of Comparative Studies

“Kashmir Śaivism is the culmination of Indian thought and spirituality”

based on the consciousness or quality of energy characterized by it.

Śaivism’s world, Andre Padoux explains,

stitching together our cosmic reality.

Divine realm and the gross realm of the human body.

embodied speech in the journey to liberation.

throughout its reality.

Kashmir Śaivism Historical Background:

akin to the Śaiva Siddhanta”. 10

10. Ibid. p.166

reality then became a multiplicity of gods and form.

sexually complete, wholly monistic, and thus more Tantric.16

Trika structure: ParamaŚiva, Śiva, Śakti

essence of god is referred to as ParamaŚiva. ParamaŚiva, or “ultimate reality”, is sometimes referenced as an

still, all-pervasive and the source of all being.

decision to manifest into creation,

an intrinsic and inseparable power that is nondifferent from Śiva himself”.21

the universe according to Kashmir Śaivism.

cosmos can be understood to be Śiva’s voice”.25

as Śakti, represented by subtle sound and following by gross speech itself.

therefore is an expansion of one’s own consciousness.28 Because in Kashmir Śaivism language is a

layman’s terms, become liberated.

maybe to ultimately invoke causal awareness after all.

as a microcosm of this Trika structure.

deity and also a level of the cosmos equated with tattva”.35

Tattva/ Characteristic/ Sanskrit term /Categories

other creative or destructive mantras.

Another Diagram of the 36 Tattvas

later in the section on speech.

Deities: Śakti, Kālī, Mātŗikā Goddesses

of her, a common grammarian rule in Sanskrit texts.44

“Ksa” when referring to the SaptaMātŗikās.

Devanagri Letters In Arranged Order

embody and transform divine sound.

Speech, Vać, Mantras, Śabda, Pada

speech and its cognition is of four kinds.

The names of these kinds of speech are described by Bhartŗhari to be,

that resides in one’s self or universal consciousness.53

On an individual scale recognition of this divine transcendence of Śabda-Brahama, as we have

Male Female Body

Individual Body, Ćakras, Kuņdalinī

hierarchy are also bodies”.69

structure is visualized in the body.

69. Ibid. p.82-83

Sanskrit language. Avalon (Woodroffe) describes this cross-representation of Śabda-Brahman, or sound:

in the sexual symbolism of the Sakta-Tantras…which seed, ripening in the womb of

not gross agents that are physically present.74

which is done for the benefit of oneself, and is

nada [sound]” and then moves outward into the world.77

Sounds Corresponding to Ćakras and Lotus Petals Viśuddha Throat Ćakra

body in so far as all limitation and individuality has been eradicated”.81

79. Ibid. p. 111

Kuņdalinī as Śabda-Brahman pervades mantras: mantras therefore are “supposed to be the

are gross representations of the ćakras.