Spandakārikās are a sort of commentary on the Śiva-sūtras. The word kārikā means a collection of verses on grammatical, philosophical or scientific subjects. The word spanda literally means a “throb.’ It connotes dynamism or the dynamic aspect of the Divine, the Divine creative pulsation.
The Self, according to Spandakārikās, is not simply a witnessing consciousness, but is characterized by both cognition and activity. He who is in communion with this active Self can alone rise to the status of his highest being.
Excerpt from Commentary of Kṣemarāja
यस्योन्मेषनिमेषाभ्यां जगतः प्रलयोदयौ। तं शक्तिचक्रविभवप्रभवं शङ्करं स्तुमः॥१॥
Yasyonmeṣanimeṣābhyaṃ jagataḥ pralayodayau Taṃ Śakticakravibhavaprabhavaṃ Śaṅkaraṃ stumaḥ (1)
TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT
We laud that Śaṅkara by whose mere opening and shutting of the eye-lids there is the appearance and dissolution of the world and who is the source of the glorious powers of the collective whole of the śaktis (the divine energy in various forms).
[ Therefore the Svātantrya Sakti (the Power of Absolute Freedom) of the Lord is called spanda. This power though non-distinct from the Lord goes on presenting the entire cycle of manifestation and withdrawal on its own background like the reflection of a city in a mirror.
As the traditional scripture puts it. “The goddess (i.e., the creative power) is always engaged in exercising her energy in manifestation (lit., in enjoying the taste of manifestation), and yet always appears as replete (i.e. her energy is never depleted). She is the wave of the ocean of consciousness, the volitional power of the LORD.” ]
जाग्रदादिविभेदेऽपि तदभिन्ने प्रसर्पति । निवर्तते निजान्नैव स्वभावादुपलब्धृतः॥३॥
Jāgradādivibhede’pi tadabhinne prasarpati Nivartate nijānnaiva svabhāvādupalabdhṛtaḥ
Even though differing states like waking etc. occur in which, however, that Spanda principle remains identically the same, that Spanda principle never departs from its own nature as the identical Experient (in all the differing states).
[ The word jāgrat is synonym of jāgarā, for it has been used as such by the cultured ones. Though differences in the states of waking, dream, and deep sleep well-known among common people or in the corresponding states of dhāraṇā (concentration) dhyāna (meditation) and intense absorption (samādhi), well known among the yogins continue as different from one another, yet as a matter of fact, that spanda principle never departs from its own invariable nature as the Self of all and as the Experient of every state. If that principle were to depart, the states of waking etc. being devoid of its light would not appear at all. Its nature as Experient in the state of waking and dream, is proved from Self-experience in the case of every one. Though in the case of deep sleep, its nature as Experient is not similarly known directly, yet it is proved from subsequent memory of it (the deep sleep) which could not otherwise justifiably occur unless there was a previous experience of that deep sleep. It (the Spanda principle) never departs or deviates from its nature as the Experient. Its objects of experience, such as state of deep sleep etc. may through its greatness, deviate with pleasure. ]
न दुःखं न सुखं यत्र न ग्राह्यं ग्राहकं न च । न चास्ति मूढभावोऽपि तदस्ति परमार्थतः ॥५॥
Na duḥkhaṃ na sukhaṃ yatra na grāhyaṃ grāhakaṃ na ca Na cāsti mūḍhabhāvo’ pi tadasti paramārthataḥ (5)
TRANSLATION
Wherein neither pain, nor pleasure, nor object, nor subject, exists, nor wherein does even insentiency exist — that, in the highest sense, is that Spanda principle.
Commentary
It can be said that here whatever inner object there is like pain, pleasure, etc., or whatever external object there is like blue or yellow and whatever subject there is like the puryṣṭaka, body and senses have evidently no existence like the stage of deep sleep as long as they are not experienced. When they are experienced, then being experienced, they are of the nature of consciousness. They are simply consciousness, this is what it comes to. As has been said in Iśvarapratyabhijñā by my great grand teacher, revered Utpaladeva who knew the essence of the secret doctrine. “The object that is made manifest is of the nature of the light of consciousness. What is not light cannot be said to exist.” (I.pr.1,5,3). In this book also, it will be said “Because of being of the form of His cognition, and owing to the acquisition of identity with Him.” (II,3). Thus that is the real principle of the compact mass of light in which there is neither an object like pain, pleasure, blue etc. nor their experient.
Kallaṭa, in his vṛtti, expresses the nature of the Highest Reality in the following words:
“तस्य चायं स्वभावो-यत्र सुखदुःखग्राह्यग्राहकमूढतादिभावैरस्पृष्टः स एव परमार्थतोऽस्ति नित्यत्वात् सुखादयः पुनः सङ्कल्पोत्था: क्षणभंगुरा आत्मबाह्याः शब्दादिविषयतुल्याः” ।
This is the nature of Śiva (or the Spanda principle) that He is untouched, unaffected by the experiences of pleasure, pain, etc; for Śiva or the Essential Self is the eternal experient.
Pleasure, pain cannot be His nature, for two reasons.
Firstly, they are passing phases of experience, perishing in an instant (kṣaṇabhaṅgurā). The Self is eternal. Therefore, they are external to the nature of the Self like sound, form and other objects (ātmasvarūpābāhyāḥ śabdādiviṣayatulyāḥ).
Secondly, they arise from thought constructs (saṅkalpotthāḥ), whereas the Self is nirvikalpa i.e. it transcends the sphere of thought-constructs. For this reason also, pleasure, pain etc. cannot constitute the nature of Self.
Mentioned in ….. Verse 5, Exposition
Why are pleasure, pain etc. rejected as not forming a part of the nature of the Self?
Rāmakaṇṭha answers the question in the following words in his vivṛti.
“By the rejection of pleasure, etc, it is the objectivity of Self that is rejected”. The Self can never be reduced to an object, it is the eternal Subject.
Utpala Bhatta in his Spanda-pradipikā quotes a beautiful verse:
अदृश्यं नेत्रवद् ब्रह्म द्रष्टुत्वं चास्ति नेत्रवत् । स्वात्मन्येवोपलम्भोऽस्य दर्शनं घटवन्न तु ॥
“Like the eye, Brahma is not the seen, like the eye, it is only the seer. Its ascertainment is only within one’s own Self; it is not an object of sight like a jar.”
Mentioned in …. Verse 7, Exposition
If man is really divine, why is he so imperfect and stands in need of the power of the inner Self? The divine plan of evolution contains two movements. There is first of all gradual descent of the Self in inconscient matter. Two things happen in this process of descent. The empirical being forgets his essential divine nature. This is āṇava mala. Secondly, he gets confined to subtle and gross bodies. This is māyiya mala. As he is engaged in all sorts of good and bad acts, these leave behind their impressions in his mind which act as a strong force dragging him down to material existence of further experiences. This is Kārma mala. These limiting conditions are called aśuddhi (impurity, limitation) in the verse. It is only at the human level that ascent to the divine status can start. The main obstacle in his ascent is his pseudo-self that arrogates to itself the status of the main actor in the drama. This pseudo-self has been called ksobha in the verse, for it is this that is responsible for all the fret and fever of life. When this is dissolved, then Self-forgetfulness is replaced by Self-recollection and man’s evolution is complete.
Mentioned in …. Verse 9, Exposition
Rāmakaṇṭha says: “वस्तुत एकैव ईश्वरस्य स्वभावप्रत्यवमर्शरूपा शक्तिः, सा संवेदनरूपत्वाज् ज्ञानशब्देन उच्यते, तावन्मात्रसंरम्भरूपत्वात् क्रियाशब्देन च उद्घोष्यते”। “Really speaking there is one śakti of the Divine, viz. the consciousness of his essential nature as I. The same Śakti in the form of perceiving or feeling, is known as jñāna or knowledge; in the form of its volitional activity, it is known as kriyā or activity.”
Mentioned in … Verse 10, Exposition
Verses 14, 15, 16 अवस्थायुगलं चात्र कार्यकर्तृत्वशब्दितम्। कार्यता क्षयिणी तत्र कर्तृत्वं पुनरक्षयम् ॥ १४ ॥
कार्योन्मुखः प्रयत्नो यः केवलं सोऽत्र लुप्यते । तस्मिल्लुप्ते विलुप्तोऽस्मीत्यबुधः प्रतिपद्यते ॥ १५ ॥
न तु योऽन्तर्मुखो भावः सर्वज्ञत्वगुणास्पदम् । तस्य लोपः कदाचित्स्यादन्यस्यानुपलम्भनात् ॥ १६ ॥
Avasthāyugalaṃ cātra kāryakartṛtva-śabditam/ Kāryatā kṣayiṇi tatra kartṛtvam punarakṣayaṃ//14
Kāryonmukhaḥ prayatno yaḥ kevalaṃ so’tra lupyate! Tasmin lupte vilupto’smityabudhaḥ pratipadyate//15
Na tu yo’antarmukho bhāvaḥ sarvajñatva-guṇāspadam/ Tasya lopaḥ kadācitsyād anyasyānupalambhanāt//16
TRANSLATION Of this Spanda principle, two states are spoken about, viz., of the doer or the subject and the deed or the object. Of these two, the deed or the object is subject to decay but the doer or the subject is imperishable. 14
In the samadhi of void, only the effort which is directed towards objectivity disappears. It is only a fool who, on the disappearance of that effort, think ‘I have ceased to be’. 15
There can never be the disappearance of that inner nature which is the abode of the attribute of omniscience in the event of the non-perception of anything objective. 16
Commentary
All that which He manifests is perishable as regards its external form. Its perishableness is, however, nothing else than its submergence of thisness (i.e. objectivity) and abiding as the I. Therefore, it is only the objective aspect of the subject such as the body, etc. which is manifested and withdrawn by the Lord, not the Subjective aspect which is identical with the light of the Supreme I, for even though the subject (the individual Self) has entered the body, it is identical with the Lord. Hence of the two, viz. of the objective and the subjective, the objective is perishable, the doer or the Subject who is identical with the Freedom of Consciousness is, however, imperishable, for even at the manifestation and withdrawal of the world, he does not deviate from his nature of the imperishable Subject and Creator. If he were to do so, even the manifestation and withdrawal of the world would not be perceptible. Hence, even in the state of insentiency; the Spanda principle is only Sentiency with the essence of uninterrupted bliss.
EXPOSITION Two main arguments have been brought out in these three verses. Firstly, the Spanda-principle or the Divine appears in two aspects, viz. the subject and the object. The object is subject to decay and change; the subject is never subject to these. The Mādhyamika avers that it is not only the object that in the ultimate analysis disappears but the subject also. It is maintained by the author that the subject can never be absent, for by nature he is not subject to decay or change.
Secondly, in the meditation on the void, it is anly the effort towards external objectivity th ceased be and therefore, it is only the object that has ceased to be. That does not prove that the subject also has ceased to be.
Rāmakaṇṭha clarifies the antarmukha-bhāva or the inner nature of the self in the following words : “आत्मनो ज्ञानक्रियाभेदेन द्विविधा या शक्ति : सा सौषुप्ताद्यवस्थायाम् अन्तः- करणबहिष्करणव्यापारोपरमे सति, केवलस्वात्ममात्राभिमुख-ज्ञशक्तिमात्रत्वे- नावशिष्यते; तेन अन्तर्मुखो भाव इत्युक्तम् । “The Self has two main powers, viz. of knowledge and activity. When during deep sleep, etc., the activity of the inner and outer ceases, only the knowledge aspect which is turned senses towards the Self is prominent.
Mentioned in verse 16, Notes
Utpalabhaṭṭa adds that the discernment should be practised in the following way: अहं शुद्धबोधकरूपो जगच्चेदं मत्स्फार एव । “I am only pure Consciousness: this world is only a glorious manifestation of myself”.
Verse 21, Exposition
“As the great banyan tree lies only in the form of potency in the seed, even so the entire universe with all the mobile and immobile beings lies as a potency in the heart-seed of the Supreme” (P. Tri 24) and according to the reasoning aforementioned in “Because it already exists in the Lord’s Self.” (I.P.I. 5,10), this world already rests in Him, gleaming as identical with Him. Therefore, it is perfectly valid to say that the Lord whose nature is consciousness brings about the emergence of the world in the form of congealment of His essence (i.e., He materializes His essence in the form of the world).
Nimilana samādhi is the inward meditative condition with closed eyes, in which the individual consciousness gets absorbed into the Universal Consciousness.
Unmilana samādhi is that state of the mind in which, even when the eyes are open, the external world appears as Universal Consciousness or Śiva.
निमीलनोन्मीलनसमाधिद्वयेऽपि योगिना स्वस्वभावसमावेशपरेणैव भवितव्यम् ।
Both in introverted and extroverted state of meditation the yogi should be intent on entering his essential nature which is Śiva.
One recognises one’s essential nature as Śiva by submerging his Puryṣṭaka state which is full of experiences like pleasure, etc..in the inner essential Self and also by dissolving along with it the external aspect consisting of the body, jar, etc. Thus one should always make an earnest effort for allaying the Puryṣṭaka.
Man falsely imagines that he moves his senses to perform their respective functions by the power of his will or desire. His so-called desire has no power of its own. It derives its power of both knowing and doing from Śiva or Spanda-principle whose very nature is knowledge and activity. One has, therefore, to acquire the power of Spanda which is our own essential Self, neither by weaving intellectual cobwebs, nor by maiming desire, but by surrendering all desires, the entire personal will to the Divine.
On account of the non-attainment of all his desired objects, he is distracted by his desires and is unable to find rest in his essential nature even for a moment.
Though the state of entry into Reality is remembered on account of the impression of prāṇa, etc., when one comes back to normal consciousness after meditation, the Spanda-principle is not similarly remembered. It is rather the highest Experient, the quintessence of uninterrupted light and bliss involved in all experiences.
There are three categories of experients in the world:
(1) The common empirical individual of the world who is completely ignorant of spiritual Reality, referred to as aprabuddha, the unawakened. He has absolutely no interest in yoga and is not yet qualified to appreciate its teaching.
(2) The partially enlightened yogi who has some experience of the essential Self or Spanda tattva. He has an awareness of it in the beginning and end of waking, dreaming and profound sleep but not in the middle of any of these states; the experience of Spanda or the divine state is not perpetually present in his case. He isbcalled prabuddha or partially enlightened. In comparison tobSuprabuddha, he is also referred to as aprabuddha. He is the fit candidate for yoga, and the teachings are given for his improvement.
(3) Suprabuddha, sometimes referred to simply as prabuddha is the experient who has an integral awareness of spanda i.e. he has an uninterrupted awareness of it in all the three states viz., waking, dreaming, and profound sleep. He needs no teaching of yoga. He has, in the evolutionary scheme, already attained the highest experience that is open to man.
In tense emotional experience, whether of anger, joy, fear or acute mental impasse, all the extroverted mental activities come to a dead stop. We are unable to grasp the inner Reality because of the whirligig of imagination and thought. It is only when this whirligig stops, when the mind is stilled that we are in a fit condition to have an experience of Reality or the 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢 principle, if we are properly oriented towards it. 𝘠𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴, mystics practise meditation in order to put a stop to all restless mental activities, but intense emotional experiences, of themselves, bring the squirrel-like activities of the mind to a dead halt. That is the psychological moment for catching the vibration of the inner Reality, the Divine 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢, if one is properly introverted to be blessed with its vision. This opportunity is not open to all; it is open only to those who are eagerly waiting for its reception.
One should worship Ś𝘪𝘷𝘢 by becoming Ś𝘪𝘷𝘢.