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Ātmavyāpti and Śivavyāpti

To attain Liberation, you have to go through two 'penetrations' (two kinds of inherence, technically speaking) in this order:


  1. Ātmavyāpti (Inherence in the Self - Individual Experience).

  2. Śivavyāpti (Inherence in Śiva - Universal Experience).


The first penetration is achieved by 'viveka', that is, discerning and discarding all things that are not the true Self: "The void is not the Self, the intellect is not the Self, the body is not the Self, etc." Then, with the attainment of nimīlanasamādhi (trance with closed eyes) you fully attain an insight into the inner Self and fully realize that your true 'Self' is a Witness to all other things that constitute 'non-Self'.


But this attainment (Ātmavyāpti) is not real Liberation according to Trika Shaivism. Why? Because you are aware of your Self only when you are in a trance with your eyes closed, usually in a sitting posture. However, when you leave sitting meditation and open your eyes, you cannot retain this experience. Thus, your attainment is incomplete and is not real Liberation. In fact, after some time, it starts looking like another kind of bondage, for you are all the time confined to a trance with your eyes closed to be aware of your true essential nature.


After attaining Ātmavyāpti, you have to jump to the next and final level, Śivavyāpti. You do this by the point of view of 'Yoga', that is, by realizing that you are One with Everything. You feel that you are one with the void, with the intellect, with the body, with everything around you also, etc.


Finally, with the attainment of unmīlanasamādhi (open-eyed trance), You fully attain insight into the Cosmic Self (Śiva) and fully realize that You are truly the Self of the Universe.


Śivavyāpti marks the attainment of true Liberation, because even with your eyes open and functioning in this world, you can retain the experience of your Real Self.


To attain Ātmavyāpti you experience a kind of 'dualism with wisdom', in which you try to 'isolate' your true Self from the rest. After accomplishing this, you should jump into an experience of integration with everything. This is Śivavyāpti.


According to some philosophical systems, only Ātmavyāpti (inherence in the Self) is Liberation. When you are in Ātmavyāpti you fully realize that you are the inner Witness beyond emptiness, intellect and body. However, Trika accepts only Śivavyāpti as the real attainment of Liberation. In Śivavyāpti, you perceive not only that you are the inner Self, but that you are also the outer Self (the cosmic Self called Śiva), and that there is no difference between the two. Thus the experience of Śivavyāpti is Integral, since within and without are the same for you. This is the perception of You in All, within and without. This is real Liberation.


Ātmavyāpti is only a temporary phase that 'should lead' to Śivavyāpti. If it is not leading to Śivavyāpti and you are only satisfied with Ātmavyāpti, then your liberation is not real Liberation. You may call it 'incomplete liberation'.


Those who are pleased with the principle of Being, in short, with the attainment of Ātmavyāpti, attain that state of Being, namely, they attain that state whose nature is the pure state of Vijñānākala, but they do not attain real Liberation, since they do not give up duality.


Thus the goal in Trika Shaivism is always 'Śivavyāpti' (inherence in Śiva) or a complete realization of the non-duality of the Supreme Śiva. In other words, it is realizing that the entire universe is He and He alone. This is Śivavyāpti, this is real Liberation!



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