नानाविधवर्णानां रूपं धत्ते यथामलः स्फटिकः । सुरमानुषपशुपादपरूपत्वं तद्वदीशोऽपि ॥६॥
Nānā-vidha-varṇānāṃ rūpaṃ dhatte yathāmalaḥ sphaṭikaḥ Sura-mānuṣa-paśu-pādapa-rūpatvaṃ tadvadiśo’pi.
Just as a pure and colourless crystal takes up the appearance of different types of hues reflected in it, so does the Lord also take up the forms of gods, human beings, animals and plants (in the manner of reflection). (6)
God, appearing as different types of beings, does not at all undergo any change. The basic creation conducted directly by God Himself does not at all involve Him or His divine power into pariṇāma or transformation. He reflects His divine powers outwardly and such reflections of His powers appear as all phenomena and their creation etc. Doing so, he does not require any external substances to cast their reflections into divine prakāśa, the psychic luminosity of His pure consciousness. The basic cause of all such phenomenal manifestations is only His playful nature, by virtue of which such reflectionary creation of all phenomena happens. Creation is not thus due either to any external entity like Māyā or Avidyā or to any internal entity like Vāsanā as propounded by the Vedāntins and Buddhists respectively. It is due only to the divinely playful nature of the Absolute.
आदर्श मलरहिते यद्वद् वदनं विभाति तद्वदयम् । शिवशक्तिपातविमले धीतत्त्वे भाति भारूपः ॥९॥
Ādarśe mala-rahite yadvad vadanaṃ vibhāti tadvadayam Śiva-śaktipāta-vimale dhī-tattve blāti bhārūpaḥ.
Just as one’s face appears clearly in a clean mirror, so does this Ātman shine as pure consciousness in a mind purified by the bestowal of the divine grace of Lord Śiva. (9)
God’s bestowal of His grace is known as Śaktipāta. It is the primary factor that directs a being towards the study of divine scriptures, inspires in him a keen desire to know the truth, gives rise to devotion for the Lord in his heart, creates contact between him and a right preceptor and makes him active in the practice of Śaiva yoga. All that purifies his inner soul and illumins in him the correct and real divine nature of his pure consciousness.
परमं यत् स्वातन्त्र्यं दुर्घटसम्पादनं महेशस्य । देवी मायाशक्तिः स्वात्मावरणं शिवस्यैतत् ॥१५॥
Paramaṃ yat svātantryaṃ durghaṭa-sampādanaṃ maheśasya Devī māyā-śaktiḥ svātmāvaraṇaṃ Śivasyaitat.
That supreme self-dependence of Paramaśiva, through which He brings about even that which is not possible, is known as the deity named Māyā-śakti. It serves Paramaśiva as a veil to hide Himself. (15)
Māyā, the divine power of the Lord, reflected by Him externally, appears as Māyā-tattva, the sixth one in the process of phenomenal evolution. The Lord, covering Himself with it, conceals His nature of absolute purity and divinity. Making a show of His involve ment in it, He sees everything through a viewpoint of diversity and forgets the divinity of His I-consciousness. Besides, Māyā-tattva serves as the inanimate objective substance out of which all other insentient elements evolve. It is thus the substantive cause of numerous universes floating in it like bubbles in an ocean. Māyā-tattva is also a creation of the Absolute God. It is His impure creation. Further creation out of Māyā is conducted by Lord Anantanātha, one of the agents of God.
रसफाणितशर्करिकागुडखण्डाद्या यथेक्षुरस एव । तद्वदवस्थाभेदाः सर्वे परमात्मनः शम्भोः ॥२६॥
Rasa-phāṇita-śarkarikā-guḍa-khaṇḍādyā yathekṣu-rasa eva Tad-vadavasthā-bhedāḥ sarve paramātmanaḥ Śambhoḥ.
Just as thin juice, thick juice, still thicker molasses (राब), coars sugar and refined sugar etc. are all only the juice of sugarcane (appearing in different forms), so are all phenomena just some different states of Lord Śiva in His universal aspect. (26)
God shines in His two aspects, the noumenal one and the phenomenal one. In the former one He is infinite and pure l-consciousness and that alone. But within such transcendental consciousness lies that infinite divine power of Godhead through which all phenomena shine in Him as reflections in a crystal. He appears thus as the whole mental and physical existence and that is His phenomenal aspect.
स्व-ज्ञान-विभव-भासन-योगेनोद्वेष्टयेन्निजात्मानम् । इति बन्ध-मोक्ष-चित्रां क्रीडां प्रतनोति परमशिवः ॥३३॥
Sva-jñāna-vibhava-bhāsana-yogenodveṣṭayennijātmānam, Iti bandha-mokṣa-citrāṃ krīḍāṃ pratanoti Paramaśivaḥ.
Sometimes the Lord may Himself unbound and reveal His real nature by means of yoga that illumins the infinite luxury of one’s self-knowledge. Paramaśiva, the Absolute God, plays thus His wonderful game of bondage and liberation. (33)
Bondage is not basically due to any foreign element like Avidyā, but is due to the very divine nature of the absolute reality itself. God, shorn of such playful nature, would be reduced to the position of insentient pure space. It is such playfulness which is His natural Godhead. Neither bondage nor liberation can basically be due to anything other than such divine nature of God.
जलधर-धूम-रजोभिर्मलिनीक्रियते यथा न गगनतलम् । तद्वन्मायाविकृतिभिरपरामृष्टः परः पुरुषः ॥३६॥
Jaladhara-dbūma-rajobhir malinīkriyate yathā na gagana-talam Tadvan-māyā-vikṛtibhiraparāmṛṣṭaḥ paraḥ puruṣaḥ.
Just as clouds, smoke and dust do not at all pollute the sky, so remains the transcendental self unaffected by the evolutes of Māyā. (36)
Five kañcukas are the direct evolutes of Māyā. They narrow down to the utmost the scope of the powers of a finite being. But since these five elements, along with Māyā itself, appear only like reflections inside the psychic luminosity of the supreme self, and do so only by virtue of the playful and divine power of the self, these cannot affect it at all. That is to say that the Lord does not undergo any change in His basic character and continues to be pure, infinite and divine consciousness even while appearing as all phenomena. That is the strange pantheism of the Saiva philosophy of Kashmir. It is pantheism combined with absolutism.
Kañcuka-tattvas : Five limiting tattvas of a finite being; viz., kalā, impure-vidyā, rāga, niyati and kāla. All the five are extensions. of Māyā which is the sixth kañcuka.
एकस्मिन् घटगगने रजसा व्याप्ते भवन्ति नान्यानि । मलिनानि तद्ववेते जीवाः सुखदुःखमेदजुषः ॥३७॥
Ekasmin ghaṭa-gagane rajasā vyāpte bhavanti nānyāni Malināni tadvadete jīvāḥ sukha-duḥkha-bheda-juṣaḥ.
When the space inside one pitcher becomes completely dusty, it does not happen like that with respect to the space in other pitchers. In the same way are these finite beings mutually different in the matters of pleasure, pain etc. (37)
मोक्षस्य नैव किञ्चिद् धामास्ति न चापि गमनमन्यत्र । अज्ञानग्रन्थिभिदा स्वशक्त्यभिव्यक्तता मोक्षः ॥६०॥
Mokṣasya naiva kiñcid dhāmāsti na cāpi gamanamanyatra Ajñāna-granthi-bhidā sva-śaktya- bhivyaktatā mokṣaḥ.
The state of liberation is not confined to any special abode (like Vaikuṇṭha), nor does it necessitate any ascension (towards any celestial abode). Liberation is the illumining of one’s divine potency attainable by means of resolving the knots of ignorance. (60)
Fully liberated beings have not to ascend to any divine abode like Brahmaloka or Vaikuṇṭha. Ignorance regarding one’s real nature, consisting of supreme and divine potency, is bondage and as soon as such ignorance is annihilated, one’s really natural purity and divinity shine through the spiritual lustre of his own pure consciousness and that is liberation. Such a being is liberated even while living in a physical form.
अश्नन् यद्वा तद्वा संवीतो येन केनचिच्छान्तः । यत्र क्वचन निवासी विमुच्यते सर्वभूतात्मा ॥६९॥
Aśnan yadvā tadvā samvīto yena-kenacicchāntaḥ Yatra-kvacana nivāsī vimucyate sarvabhūtātmā.
Clad in what so ever clothing, eating what so ever eatables, and residing at what so ever places, the tranquil jñānin, feeling himself to be the inner soul of each and every being and thing, becomes automatically liberated. (69)
The person, who realizes his real divine nature, does not afterwards remain bound by any laws of religious discipline in food, shelter, clothing etc. He sees his own self in every being and everything and feels himself to be liberated from all bondages and restrictions. He may, very often, still observe some previously practised discipline either on account of his habit or for the sake of setting an example for the common man, but he is not at all bound to do so.
मद-हर्षप्रभृतिरयं वर्गः प्रभवति विभेदसम्मोहात् । अद्वतात्मविबोधस्तेन कथं स्पृश्यतां नाम ॥७२॥
Mada-harṣa-prabhṛtirayaṃ vargaḥ prabhavati vibheda-sammohāt Advaitātma-vibodhas tena kathaṃ spṛśyatāṃ nāma.
The group of emotions like intoxication, joy etc. rises out of delusion caused by the viewpoint of diversity. How can it touch a person having the revelation of the monistic self? (72)
A yogin, who sees only his self in each and every phenomenon, does not come under the effects of emotions like pleasure, pain etc. Even if such emotions appear in him, these can not touch his inner self shining beyond all diverstiy of mental and physical existence.