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Shiva Sutras Of Vasugupta
Shiva Sutras are a collection of seventy seven aphorisms that form the foundation of the tradition of spiritual mysticism known as Kashmir Shaivism. They are attributed to the sage Vasugupta of the 9th century C.E. Vasugupta is said to have lived near Mahadeva Mountain in the valley of the Harvan stream behind what are now the Shalimar Gardens near Srinagar. One myth is that he received the aphorisms in a dream visitation of a Siddha or semi-divine being. Another is that Lord Shiva came to him in a dream and instructed him to go to a certain rock on which he would find the teachings inscribed. This rock called Shankaropala is still visited by devotees. The other theory is that Lord Shiva taught the Siva-Sutras to Vasugupta in a dream. Whatever the truth is these myths point to the traditional belief that the Shiva sutras are of Philosophical origin or revelation and are surely a very great product of Sanatana Dharma. Historically the Shiva Sutras and the ensuing school of Kas ...
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Aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tradition from generation to generation. The concept is generally distinct from those of an adage, brocard, chiasmus, epigram, maxim (legal or philosophical), principle, proverb, and saying; although some of these concepts may be construed as types of aphorism. Often, aphorisms are distinguished from other short sayings by the need for interpretation to make sense of them. In ''A Theory of the Aphorism'', Andrew Hui defined an aphorism as "a short saying that requires interpretation." History The word was first used in the '' Aphorisms'' of Hippocrates, a long series of propositions concerning the symptoms and diagnosis of disease and the art of healing and medicine. The often cited first sentence of this work is: "" - "life is shor ...
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Kshemaraja
Rajanaka Kṣemarāja (क्षेमराज) (late 10th to early 11th century) was a philosopher and brilliant disciple of Abhinavagupta, who was a peerless master of tantra, yoga, poetics, and dramaturgy. Not much is known of Kṣemarāja's life or parentage. His chief disciple was a sage known as Yogāraja. The Pratyabhijnahridayam, a work in which Kṣemarāja brings the main tenets of the Pratyabhijna system into a succinct set of sutras for those who may not have studied in-depth metaphysics, occupies the same place in Kashmir Shaivite or Trika literature as Vedanta Sara does in Vedanta. Other works of his: Spandasandoha, Spandanirnaya, Svacchandodyota, Netrodyota, Vijnanabhairavodyota, Shivasutravimarsini, Stavacintamanitika, Parapraveshika, Tattvasandoha.''"Man bound in all the phases of waking, dream and dreamless sleep by the body,'' ''prana, pleasure, etc. does not recognize his own consciousness which is of the'' ''nature of the great power and full of perfect bl ...
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9th-century Books
The 9th century was a period from 801 ( DCCCI) through 900 ( CM) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Viking raids occurred within this period. In the Middle East, the House of Wisdom was founded in Abbasid Baghdad, attracting many scholars to the city. The field of algebra was founded by the Muslim polymath al-Khwarizmi. The most famous Islamic Scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal was tortured and imprisoned by Abbasid official Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim and caliph al-Wathiq. In Southeast Asia, the height of the Mataram Kingdom happened in this century, while Burma would see the establishment of the major kingdom of Pagan. Tang China started the century with the effective rule under Emperor Xianzong and ended the century with the Huang Chao rebellions. While the Maya experienced widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities, and a northward ...
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Shaiva Texts
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions ranging from devotional dualistic theism such as Shaiva Siddhanta to yoga-orientated monistic non-theism such as Kashmiri Shaivism.Ganesh Tagare (2002), The Pratyabhijñā Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 16–19 It considers both the Vedas and the Agama texts as important sources of theology.Mariasusai Dhavamony (1999), Hindu Spirituality, Gregorian University and Biblical Press, , pages 31–34 with footnotesMark Dyczkowski (1989), The Canon of the Śaivāgama, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 43–44 Shaivism developed as an amalgam of pre-Vedic religions and traditions derived from the southern Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta traditions and philosophies, which were assimilated in the non-Vedic Shiva-tradition. In the process of Sanskritisation ...
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Shiva Sutras
The Śiva·sūtras, technically akṣara·samāmnāya, variously called ', ''pratyāhāra·sūtrāṇi'', ''varṇa·samāmnāya'', etc., refer to a set of fourteen aphorisms devised as an arrangement of the sounds of Sanskrit for the purposes of grammatical exposition as carried out by the grammarian Pāṇini in the Aṣṭādhyāyī.Böhtlingk, p. 1.Vasu, pp. 1-2. Pāṇini himself uses the term ''akṣara·samāmnāya'' whereas the colloquial term "Shiva sutra" is a later development, as per claims by Nandikeśvara in his Kāśikā, that the god Śiva sounded his drum fourteen times to reveal these sounds to Pāṇini. They were either composed by Pāṇini to accompany his ' or predate him. Text and notation # a i u Ṇ # ṛ ḷ K # e o Ṅ # ai au C # ha ya va ra Ṭ # la Ṇ # ña ma ṅa ṇa na M # jha bha Ñ # gha ḍha dha Ṣ # ja ba ga ḍa da Ś # kha pha cha ṭha tha ca ṭa ta V # ka pa Y # śa ṣa sa R # ha L Each verse consists of a group of basic Sansk ...
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Yogi
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 The feminine form, sometimes used in English, is yogini. Yogi has since the 12th century CE also denoted members of the Nath siddha tradition of Hinduism, and in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, a practitioner of tantra.Rita Gross (1993), ''Buddhism After Patriarchy'', SUNY Press, , pages 85–88 In Hindu mythology, the god Shiva and the goddess Parvati are depicted as an emblematic yogi–yogini pair. Etymology In Classical Sanskrit, the word ''yogi'' (Sanskrit: masc ', योगी; fem ') is derived from ''yogin'', which refers to a practitioner of yoga. ''Yogi'' is technically male, and ''yoginī'' is the term used for female practitioners. The two terms are still used with those meanings today, but the word ''yogi'' is also used ge ...
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Kriya Yoga School
The Kriya Yoga school (Sanskrit: क्रिया योग) is a modern yoga school, described by its practitioners as an ancient yoga system revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, who claimed to be initiated by a non-physical guru, Mahavatar Babaji, at circa 1861. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda's book ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the west from 1920. The Kriya yoga system consists of a number of levels of pranayama, mantra, and mudra, intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. Etymology In ''Kriya Yoga pranayama'', ''kriya'' refers to revolving the life energy "upward and downward, around the six spinal centers."Paramahansa Yogananda, ''Autobiography of a Yogi''The Science of Kriya Yoga According to Yogannda, "Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his great guru, Babaji, ...
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Bhaskara (Kashmiri)
Bhaskara was a notable writer on the Kashmir Shaivism sect of Hinduism. He wrote an important commentary on the Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta.Vasugupta and Bhāskarabhaṭṭa (n.d./1992) The aphorisms of Śiva: the ŚivaSūtra with Bhāskara's commentary, the Vārttika' (Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, trans.). SUNY Press. , According to Dyczkowski, "We know nothing about him except that he was the son of one Divakarabhatta and was, therefore, like the other Kashmiri Saiva authors, a Brahmin by caste, as Bhatta was a title bestowed to learned Brahmins in Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ... at that time" (p. 2). References Indian Hindus Year of birth missing {{Hindu-bio-stub ...
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Swami Lakshman Joo
Swami Lakshman Joo (9 May 1907 – 27 September 1991) was a mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism. He was known as Lal Sahib ("Friend of God") by followers. Biography Lakshman Joo was born in a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin family in the city of Srinagar in Kashmir. He was the fifth child in a household of four boys and five girls. His father, Narayandas ("Nav Narayan") Raina, was the first person to have introduced houseboats in the Kashmir Valley. His mother's name was Arnyamali Raina. At the age of five he was introduced to the path of spirituality by his elder brother Maheshvaranath. Up to the age of eight his spiritual progress in the lineage of Kashmiri Shaivam was monitored by his family priest, Pandit Swami Ram Joo (1854-1915), and later by his chief disciple Swami Mehatab Kak (1870?-1942). At the age of 19, it is said, he experienced a clear taste of Self-realisation. Shortly afterwards he left home, as he wrote, "in search of the Supreme" and moved to the famous ...
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Jaideva Singh
Jaideva Singh (19 September 1893 in Shoratgarh, Uttar Pradesh – 27 May 1986 in Banaras) was an Indian musicologist and philosopher. He played a key role in the development of All India Radio where he was chief producer. He was influenced by the Indian musicologist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. Singh was a scholar in the Kashmir Saivism school of Indian philosophy, a subject he studied for many years with Swami Lakshman Joo in Kashmir. He prepared and published first-ever English and Hindi translations of a number of Shaivite scriptures. Singh was appointed as the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1973. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for his contribution to music. Selected works *''Introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy'', Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, Varanasi, 1968. *''Pratyabhijnahrdayam: The Secret of Self-Recognition'', by Kṣemarāja, translation, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1977. *''Vijnanabhairava or Divine Consciousness: A Treasury of 11 ...
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Vedic Period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of the influential Brahmanical ideology, which developed in the Kuru Kingdom, a tribal union of several Indo-Aryan tribes. The Vedas contain details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Indo-Aryan and Vedic culture to be traced and inferred. The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision by speakers of an Old Indo-Aryan language who had migrate ...
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Mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences. The term "mysticism" has Ancient Greek origins with various historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek word μύω ''múō'', meaning "to close" or "to conceal", mysticism referred to the biblical, liturgical, spiritual, and contemplative dimensions of early and medieval Christianity. During the early modern period, the definition of mysticism grew to include a broad range of beliefs and ideologies related to "extraordinary experiences and states of mind." In modern times, "mysticism" has acquired a limited definition, with broad applications, as meaning the aim at the "union with the Absolute, the Infinite, or God". This li ...
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