Abhinavagupta’s Paramārthasāra is a kind of encyclopedia of Trika shaivism. It is like a practical handbook for spiritual aspirants desirous to attain Final Liberation. Together with the commentary, written by the sage Yogarāja, it serves as an extremely complete scripture teaching the main tenets of Trika, shedding light on important spiritual topics like: – Universal […]
Parabhairavayoga: Awakening – Karma, Cakra, Kuṇḍalinī-śakti
How does the Karma work, and what is the goal of it? What are actually the Cakra-s and what to do with them? And what is that Kuṇḍalinī Power? You can get real answers to fundamental questions about your existence in the seminar of the Parabhairavayoga Foundation. *** Schedule *** 7-8th of December Topics: 3 […]
Satsaṅga + Initiation: Śaktipāta, The Awakening of Kuṇḍalinī
What is the goal of spiritual path? You can get real answers to fundamental questions about your existence in the seminar of the Parabhairavayoga Foundation. *** Schedule *** 30th November Satsaṅga – Spiritual aspirants can ask questions to the Guru Chanting (practice) Śaktipāta – Grace of the Guru – Awakening of Kuṇḍalinī by the Guru […]
A new Page has been published: Practices in Parabhairavayoga – Part 1 (Introduction)
I started my long explanation of practices in Parabhairavayoga. This is the first part serving like an introduction to the complex topic I will teach next: https://www.parabhairavayoga.org/practices-in-parabhairavayoga-part-1/ (You can also check Special Pages section on the left sidebar) In the second part I will talk about the three levels of practice in Parabhairavayoga, and after […]
Non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir – Origin
Q: What is the story behind the origin of Non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir? A: You perfectly know that all these ‘nice tales’ in space-time make me yawn because Śiva is right here and right now and not in some remote past, etc. The notion of space and time is an invention of Śakti. As most people […]
Four schools of Trika
Q: Is Trika (Non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir) only one school or is it composed of several schools? A: What everybody calls “Trika” now, i.e. Non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir, is the result of the formidable task accomplished by the greatest Master of Trika of all time: Abhinavagupta. Abhinavagupta is said to have lived for 50 years […]
Confusion between Vedānta and Trika
Over the years I have noticed that most aspirants speak about Trika but in a Vedantic way. While scholars have no doubt about the obvious differences between both systems, the non-scholar aspirants, of course, spend all their precious time by mixing concepts and speaking foolishness. This confusion is apparently insignificant but it brings ominous consequences […]
Dealing with some ideas
Now a set of ideas most aspirants are very likely to stumble upon sooner or later. Ideas are like fuel to the intellect. According to the quality of the fuel, the intellect will perform very well or very poorly. Most ideas about the Highest Reality and the universe, unfortunately, are wrong but sometimes people lift […]
Learning to reason adequately
For the attainment of Final Liberation while one is alive, the importance of having an adequate intellect is vital, as I have previously explained. When one’s intellect is not up to the task of reasoning properly about the Highest Reality or even about the teachings and practices supposedly leading to that Highest Reality, there will […]
FAQ – Part 10
This will be an extra long post, full of teachings that are crucial for the process of realizing one’s own Self: Q: Could you expand your explanation of the two types of spiritual ignorance? A: Yes. In former posts, I established that spiritual ignorance is double: Lack of direct Self-experience. Ignorance regarding the scriptures. The first type […]
FAQ – Part 9
Another set of questions and their respective answers now: Q: Could you speak more about the three phases of a limited individual? A: Yes. The first phase is called vijñānākala, because the limited individual knows that he is the Self but he is absolutely powerless. I call this phase the “phase of mummification” because this […]
FAQ – Part 8
More and more questions, as always: Q: You will think that my question is silly, but how can one achieve true Happiness all the time? A: It is not silly in itself, but yes, it is completely silly in this context since I have been speaking for one gazillion hours here about the Self and […]
FAQ – Part 7
More and more questions coming: Q: Perhaps my question is too personal, but I am curious whether you have attained Self-realization. A: I have been asked that question several times in the past. If I answer “No”, the person might think: “If that is true, how is it possible for him to be teaching a method to […]
FAQ – Part 6
The quantity of questions is never-ending: Q: Can you describe the general stages in the spiritual path? A: Yes. I did so already in my Svātantryasūtravṛtti I.9 (yes, Sanskrit there is intimidating, but the translation is in clear English), nonetheless I can expand my explanation. Let us analyze the three categories of aspirants again: Beginner or […]
FAQ – Part 5
More questions, more answers: Q: Could you continue to speak about the Self in His Grace mode? A: Yes. When He does want to reveal Himself to someone, He does so. This is His Grace. And when He does not want to reveal Himself to someone, He will not do so. This is His concealment. […]
FAQ – Part 4
Another set of questions and their respective answers: Q: What is the use of spiritual practices as far as Self-realization is concerned? A: I will explain this in a double manner so aspirants will be able to understand my answer: From the Self’s viewpoint, there is never “someone” in bondage that needs to get Final […]
FAQ – Part 3
I compiled more questions and their respective answers here: Q: Is a liberated one necessarily celibate? A: No. Just as he can continue living his usual life prior to Final Liberation or become a guru, he can do whatever he wants regarding his sexual life, become celibate or keep a family life, etc. Anyway, all […]
FAQ – Part 2
More frequently asked questions: Q: Are there different categories of genuine guru-s? A: Yes. I classify them like this: guru-s who teach spirituality (in all its forms) guru-s who save guru-s who teach and save The first category is the most common and the least interesting. These are low caliber guru-s because they describe the […]
FAQ – Part 1
I regularly receive many questions about spirituality. I decided to answer them through this FAQ section in simple terms: Q: Is the physical guru or human teacher more important than the scriptures? A: No, because the physical guru, even one of the highest quality, is farther from you. The closest one to you is your own […]
The 36 categories of universal manifestation
Here you have the list of the thirty-six levels of universal manifestation according to Trika. In order not to write their names in Sanskrit, I will use descriptive names for some of them: Self Power of the Self Supreme Will Supreme Knowledge Supreme Action Ignorance Limited activity Limited knowledge Limited will Notion of time Notion […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 7)
New doubts cleared: How can one help the world? Before helping the world one must understand what the world is. One cannot help if he does not know the nature of the world. The world is a residual manifestation of the Power of the Self. In the case of a limited person, the world appears as […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 6)
Some more common doubts: When one achieves spiritual enlightenment, does one receive a certification? Hahahaha, NO. The Self does not issue any certificates to enlightened people. Spiritual ignorance is so hilarious sometimes. The “certification” thing is about “spirituality + business”. Real spirituality is never certified. It would be like the Sun needing certification to prove that it is […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 5)
There are still more doubts to be cleared: Why does the word “love” rarely appear in your teachings? Because that word has been so misused that it has practically lost its real meaning. It has almost as many meanings as there are people in this world. Diversity of opinions is never conducive to Final Liberation […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 4)
More doubts, more answers: You said that Haṭhayoga, except for the sitting postures, is unnecessary in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Could you explain more? Yes, I said exactly that. The word Yoga means “union”. It also has a pile of other meanings but they are not relevant in this context. In turn, as so […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 3)
More doubts? Here you have my answers: What is your opinion on the practice of mantra-s? I will share not only my opinion but also my experience as I was informally initiated with the mantra “Om̐ namaḥ śivāya”. Next, I was formally initiated with the mantra “Haṁsa”. Besides, I chanted hymns in Sanskrit for so many […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 2)
More doubts cleared: Is spiritual enlightenment warranted? NO. Even if you find the most awesome Master in the entire history of humankind, spiritual enlightenment is never warranted. It is just about probabilities. If you find a genuine spiritual teacher, the odds are in your favor, but by no means that amounts to warranting you spiritual […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 1)
When one starts his spiritual path, he is a rookie filled with elementary doubts about everything related to spirituality. What is Reality? Reality is what is immutable: the Self and His Power. All that changes is not Reality but a “manifestation” of Reality. Most people mistake reality for existence and unreality for nonexistence. This is wrong. Therefore, […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 5)
Now, I will speak about the two fundamental qualities of a genuine spiritual teacher: Direct experience of the Self Solid knowledge of the scriptures dealing with the Self If he does not have those two qualities, he is not ready for teaching people yet. If he has direct experience of the Self but lacks knowledge about […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 4)
For you to easily understand how the things work in spirituality, I will give a simple example: When you use your computer, there are, broadly speaking, three factors involved: CPU – operating system – you (the user) CPU is the Central Processing Unit, i.e. it is the chip that controls everything in your machine. The […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 3)
Certainly, there are several categories of disciple (beginner, middle, advanced), but now I will describe the most common mistakes made by disciples in general. Obviously, very advanced ones are not included. Western culture strongly encourages individuality. There is another word that it is frequently mentioned in the West: “freedom”. By freedom most people refer to bodily […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 2)
So, the spiritual aspirant has finally found a genuine spiritual teacher. What is next? He has to ask the spiritual teacher’s permission to be his disciple. This is generally bypassed in the West. People frequently access Yoga through Haṭhayoga (the most insignificant type of Yoga). They call Haṭhayoga “Yoga” out of sheer ignorance. It is […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 1)
In the vast majority of cases, a “spiritual teacher – disciple” relationship will have to take place for the Self to reveal Himself. Very, very few disciples are able to realize Him on their own (with no teacher). They realize Him without a teacher because they are very advanced spiritually from their very birth. As […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 4)
According to popular belief, the law of Karma (cause and effect) applies to all the creatures in the universe. But there is a problem with this belief. I will explain it to you in detail now. The law of Karma is extremely intricate, but it finally comes down to the fact that if you do […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 3)
Is the soul the same thing as the Self? Yes and No. In higher levels of consciousness the answers to the questions are always in the form of “Yes and no… and why not, something else too”. This cannot be understood by a lower intellect that always wants “Yes” or “No” as an answer. When […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 2)
Confusion reigns supreme among ordinary people and many spiritual aspirants. The power of ideas and concepts is beyond understanding. A stupid but powerful idea could shake the world to its very roots. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of foolish ideas and concepts all the time around. Even spiritual aspirants fall very often prey to ridiculous […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 1)
In the case of those who attained spiritual enlightenment, they can understand each other perfectly. They have no problem with understanding the Self and His Power because all of them do realize Him. Problems arise when one of those people has to explain the truth about the Self and His Power to a person who […]
Adapting the ancient teachings to the modern times (Part 3)
In this article I will explain some apparent mysteries which bewilder most of people in this world. A usual characteristic of the limited individuals is that they are confounded by any nonsense created in the mind of other people. Then, limited individuals argue with each other. They are addicted to disagreeing with the rest of […]
Adapting the ancient teachings to the modern times (Part 2)
The Self is the most important thing in everybody’s life. Without Him and His Power, the limited individuals and the rest of the universe would not have come to exist ever. If one is not properly conscious of the Self, he will be always in trouble despite the circumstances, time, place and such. Limited individuals […]
Adapting the ancient teachings to the modern times (Part 1)
Before undertaking a discourse about this subject, let me explain to you what a liberated or enlightened person is. There are two types of final liberation: Getting final liberation and retaining the physical body. Getting final liberation and discarding the physical body. This difference is only exists from the viewpoint of someone watching the liberated […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 5)
Until the Self is not realized or apprehended as He is essentially, one is always in trouble and not perfectly happy. In my last post I stated that the limited individual is the Self “gone crazy”. What did I mean by “gone crazy”? I did not merely mean to say that the limited individual is the Self gone crazy […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 4)
Summing up the teachings now: The Self is inconceivable and beyond the reach of all limited beings. He dwells perpetually devoid of space, time, form and so on. The Power of the Self is also inconceivable like the Self. The first act of the Power of the Self is giving the Self the perception that […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 3)
In my last post I started speaking about merit. This point is generally overlooked by a lot of people due to the veil drawn by spiritual ignorance. For example: They think that they can understand “anything” about spiritual matters “provided” a teacher explains it to them in detail. They think that their intellects are strong […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 2)
I told you in my previous posts that I would dissolve your ignorance about the scriptures little by little by giving you their essence. In order to define what a limited individual is, I will quote aphorism III, 1 of Śivasūtra-s (a very important scripture): “The individual Self (is) the mind||1||” “Limited individual”, “limited being”, “conditioned […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 1)
The Self is inconceivable. The Self cannot be described in any way. The Self is without any name. One has to use words or expressions such as “Self”, “Highest Reality”, “God”, “Lord”, “That”, etc. in order to deal with Him. And since the Self can be masculine, feminine, neuter or even something else, you can […]
Spiritual ignorance – Part 4
I said that there are three ways to get right knowledge: direct experience, deduction and testimony. A person who has dissolved his ignorance about the scriptures but lacks direct experience of the Self is a theoretician. Why? Because he has all the time to resort to the processes of deduction and testimony in order to […]
Spiritual ignorance – Part 3
I will speak about the second aspect of spiritual ignorance now: Lack of direct experience There are three ways to get right knowledge: direct experience, deduction and testimony. When someone has no direct experience of a particular subject, he can resort to deduction (reasoning with his intellect) or testimony (scriptures, others’ teachings, etc.). If one […]
Spiritual ignorance – Part 2
In my previous post I said that spiritual ignorance is related to the Self, i.e. to what you really are. As you don’t know your true nature, you are always in trouble whether you are a beggar or the king of the world. This spiritual ignorance is very powerful and will NOT be removed just like […]
Spiritual ignorance – Part 1
Spiritual ignorance is the source of all your problems. You may blame other people for your problems, you may blame weather for your problems, you may blame the movements of planets for your problems, you may blame destiny for your problems, you may even go to the extent of believing that some dogs barking all night […]