Siva Sutras: The Yoga of Supreme Identity

Description

The Saiva philosophy of Kashmir is generally called Trika Sastra, because it is the philosophy of the triad (1) Siva (2) Sakti (3) Nara _ the bound soul or (1) para- the highest (2) parapara- identity in difference and (3) apara difference.

The literature on the Trika system of Kashmir falls into three categories:

(1) the Agama Sastra

(2) the Spanda Sastra

(3) the Pratyabhijna Sastra.

Agama Sastra is considered to be a revelation by Siva. It lays down both the principles and practices of the system. The most important Agama of the Trika system was known as the Siva Sutras.

Siva Sutras are considered to be a revealed book of Yoga: the supreme identity of the individual self with the Divine. Here an English translation of the Siva Sutras has been provided, together with an abstract of each sutra, throwing a flood of light on the entire system of Saiva Yoga. A glossary of technical terms and an index are appended for the convenience of the reader.

Four commentaries on Siva Sutras are available at present, the Vimarsini commentary of Ksemaraja in prose, the Siva-sutra-vrtti by some anonymous author in prose, and the Siva-sutra-varttikam by Varadaraja in verse.

The Siva-Sutra-vrtti is so close to Vimarsini that it appears to be either a preliminary draft or a later abstract of the Vimarsini. There is a strong presumption that the author of the Vrtti was Ksemaraja himself.

Dr. Jaideva Singh has studied the book with the help of his guru Swami Laksmana Joo, the sole surviving exponent of this system in Kashmir and has provided an English translation of the Sutras together with the commentary of Ksemaraja.

The subject matter is arranged as under:
Each Sutra is given in Devanagari as well as in Roman Script. Then the meaning of every word of the Sutra is given in English, followed by a translation of the whole Sutra. This is followed by the Vimarsini Commentary in Sanskrit and its English translation, copious notes on important and technical words and a running exposition of the main ideas of the Sutra.

A long introduction, together with an abstract of each Sutra, throws a flood of light on the entire system of Saiva Yoga. A glossary of technical terms and an index are appended for the convenience of the reader.