An objection:
"If all the knowers endowed with an intellect are inherently Śiva, why do they seem to be different, spiritually speaking?"
The objector develops his doubt by specifying that they should look the same, i.e. all of them should be either liberated people or bound people, and NOT a mixture of:
1) liberated people, 2) liberated/bound people, and 3) bound people.
-The first category consists of jīvanmukta-s or sages who attained Liberation while living. In short, they retained their physical bodies even after attaining Final Liberation. There is another category which the objector has omitted here: the videhamukta-s or those who abandon their physical bodies when they get fully liberated from bondage. Of course, the task of finding a real jīvanmukta is more difficult than searching for a needle in a haystack. And this jīvanmukta who is so difficult to find could be a Guru or merely someone who is liberated but not a Guru (not all liberated people will be Guru-s).
Yes, as it is obvious, the presence of so many Guru-s on the planet shows the fact that most of them (99% being optimistic) are fake. Since the vast majority of aspirants are not qualified to distinguish a real Guru from a false one, they will very often be deluded by this mass of morons called "false Guru-s".
What did I mean by that? For instance, a simple situation: A false Guru tells an aspirant that he is a Sanskrit scholar well versed in the scriptures, but as the aspirant is generally ignorant about all that is related to Sanskrit, he cannot verify whether the Guru is telling the truth or lying. Oh well, this topic is long indeed.
Now, regarding the real Guru-s, according to Abhinavagupta, one should choose a Guru by following these guidelines in the order in which they are given:
A Guru who has both a direct experience of his own Self and a solid knowledge of the scriptures.
A Guru who has a solid knowledge of the scriptures.
A Guru who has a direct experience of his own Self.
The ideal Guru is one who is a Self-realized person blessed with scholarship; but if this kind of Master cannot be found by the aspirant, he should then go for a scholar, i.e. for a Guru who has a solid knowledge of the scriptures. And if this is not possible either, he should go for a person who is Self-realized but has no solid knowledge of the scriptures. That is the order to be followed according to Abhinavagupta, the greatest Trika Master.
The reasons for formulating things in that order are clear when one studies the two aspects of the primordial impurity (the well-known Āṇavamala). I have explained the topic called Āṇavamala in very simple terms for beginners and intermediate aspirants.
-The second category of people specified by the objector consists of spiritual aspirants who are on their way to Final Liberation, from mere beginners in spirituality up to very advanced disciples on the point of becoming fully liberated. There is an immense portion of aspirants in this category who merely follow false Guru-s, as this pest is worldwide. I must say that it is sad to see how so many people are deluded by those scoundrels, but no way, because this is the nature of the Play called 'I want to attain Final Liberation.'
In the process of attaining Final Liberation, there are just too many obstacles, and the aspirant must overcome them all if he wants to succeed. This is one of the reasons why the liberated people are frequently called Vīra-s or Heroes. Because they had to overcome all those obstacles (including the worldwide plague known as "false Guru-s") and, through His Grace, they finally got the reward for all their Herculean efforts.
-The third category is formed from ordinary people who are going nowhere from a spiritual viewpoint. To be precise, they are going "somewhere", but as they advance so slowly to the Supreme Goal, it is as if they were not advancing at all despite they are advancing. What did I mean? This: His Grace is present even in the case of the lowest creatures His Power invented. All of them advance to the Supreme Goal (Himself) but in general very slowly as to be easily perceptible. Anyway, there is progress always.
A lot of people think that His Grace is only present when a sincere aspirant finally finds his genuine Guru, but this is not really true. In the long circuit called "the spiritual path", the portion known as the "Guru/disciple relationship" is just the final straight. Yes, it might be the most interesting part of the circuit because the race is about to be over, but the circuit is very long anyway. Without His Grace, "nobody" (and by "nobody" I mean exactly that) could advance toward Him. So, His Compassion is with all the beings constantly, one way or another.
The main characteristic of the ordinary people is that they claim to have achieved the "glories" belonging to the liberated people despite they do not have attained those attributes yet. For example: Freedom, Truthfulness, free Will, real Knowledge, power of Action and so on. Of course, most of them will say: "I never claimed to have those attributes", if asked, but they behave like "free people" full of Truth, free Will, real Knowledge, power of Action and similar glories that are only the possessions of the blessed high-souled ones. The sad truth is that they have no real Freedom, no real Truthfulness, no real free Will, no real Knowledge, no real power of Action, etc. They are living in a constant lie and this is the reason for their also constant agitation and pain.
These illusions in which they live make it very difficult for such people to realize the real Goal of Life and the necessity of resorting to a true Guru in order to learn how to get themselves out of this nightmare called "their lives in total bondage". Someone could ask about the proofs that all those illusions are all the time residing in those ordinary people. The proofs arise in the way these ordinary people think and speak about so many things. All these notions are completely illusory but they do not notice that due to His power of tirodhāna or concealment of His essential nature:
Illusion of Freedom: "I am not affected by anything/anyone around", "I am in control of my life", "I am the architect of my destiny", "I decided to have the life I have", "I have always remained faithful to my principles", etc.
Illusion of Truthfulness: "I am saying these horrible things to that person, and destroying him/her in the process, because I am completely sincere", "As I know the truth, I can judge other people properly", "I am I", etc.
Illusion of Free Will: "If I have money I can do whatever I want", "I can get my own way all the time", "I had this great idea and it is only mine", etc.
Illusion of real Knowledge: "As I perfectly know what is happening here, I can act accordingly", "I can opine about this or that topic because I know it from beginning to end", "I know what is better to me", etc.
Illusion of Power of Action: "Everything will go exactly as I planned it", "If you have the time to explain this to me in detail, I will be able to understand it finally" (by "this", God is also included along with the complexities of Yoga, Trika, Sanskrit, nuclear physics, quantum mechanics, Einstein's relativity and the rest), "If I want I can", etc.
If you think I was exaggerating with the above examples, you do not know your own ignorance yet, i.e. you do not know the lie you live in. If you cannot tolerate to see those things in yourself, you can see them in others easily in order to learn how the things work in the real world: "People protest about the governments they themselves elected", "People think that if they were in the position of other people, they could have done better", "People are always defending their little ideas and opinions as if all that mass of ignorance was the Absolute Truth", "People resort even to the court if they feel that their honor and good name have been sullied by the words of someone else", "People do not notice that they are defending now what other people attacked some years ago", "People do not notice that they are attacking now what other people will defend in the future", etc. Such a mess of lies based on illusions produces constant unbalance and the respective pain in all the people belonging to the third category mentioned by the one raising the objection.
These illusions are so strong that very often even the presence of real catastrophes in the lives of the ordinary people cannot cope with the task of showing them that all those ideas about their Freedom, their real Knowledge, etc. are an illusion in their case till they do not have real accomplishment through His Grace after overcoming innumerable obstacles by constant efforts on the spiritual path.
In ordinary people there is also a little quantity of Anugraha or Grace generally appearing in the form of a Voice inside telling: "Something is wrong, something is lacking", etc. By those statements, the Voice is tacitly saying: "You are not really Free, you have no real Will, no real Knowledge, etc. Awake!". But His power of tirodhāna or concealment of His essential nature, being predominant in such people, overpowers the power of anugraha or Grace.
Anyway, this Grace cannot be annihilated ever, as it is obvious. So, as these people cannot get rid of the Voice saying all those things every day of their lives, they need to superimpose "noise" upon what that Voice is affirming inside. This noise is both external and internal. For example: Parties, fireworks and the like (outside) and a long series of thoughts about trifles (inside). This constant noise is also nourished by the consumption of intoxicating substances such as alcohol, drugs, etc. as well as by the constant search for sexual gratification.
In this way, through all that noise, ordinary people try to silence the inner Voice that tells them: "Wake up!" This is one of the reasons why ignorance is generally "noisy."
For example, wars, the most extreme manifestation of human ignorance, are also extremely noisy. When all the noise is gone, the persons can then hear the inner Voice clearly and, more often than not, this uses to be a very unpleasant experience to them. This is the core of their bondage.
From the point of view of these people then, their bondage is quite a tragedy, but still, from the point of view of the Blessed Lord, it is a game. Yes, the Lord is always in His state, fully happy even in the midst of suffering and terrifying ignorance. This is so because He is actually free. And fortunately, in the case of even such ordinary people, His power of Anugraha or Grace will ultimately overpower the power of tirodhāna, even though the process may take a thousand births, and they will be given a chance to become spiritual aspirants, that is, people in search of real freedom, real will, real knowledge and so on.
Accordingly, as I have just taught you, those in the second category (the aspirants seeking to advance in spirituality) are also ordinary people, but the difference is that they finally realized that they were living a "big lie," and are now seeking a way out of their bondage. This shows a strong presence of His Grace in them.
The first category (liberated people, saints and great sages) are full of His anugraha or Grace. The second category (the spiritual aspirants) contains a mixture of His anugraha and His tirodhāna (concealment of His essential nature) in more or less equal proportions. The third category contains much more tirodhāna than anugraha, which explains the constant suffering the ordinary people are subject to.
Summing it all up, the answer given by Abhinavagupta to the objection "if the Self and the intellect are present in everyone, why are not all of them either liberated or bound then?" was the present stanza.
According to Yogarāja, this answer could be summarized by simply saying that "the descent of Power" (Śaktipāta) coming from the Lord is always "unrestrained", i.e. it is free from all restrictions and given to everybody equally. But though Śaktipāta is like that, His Light is not always perfectly reflected in a perfect way in all the intellects due to the presence of impurities there. All this produces the different categories of “liberated,” “aspirant to final Liberation,” and “bound”.
By impurities in the mirror of the intellect, I did not mean, in the first note of explanation, "something morally impure" but rather "something producing limitation and contraction". In Trika, impurities are never related to good and bad actions and all that stew of merit and demerit, but they are related to the Will of the Supreme Self playing to be a limited individual. That is why Abhinavagupta is using a completely clear mirror to describe the things that happen in the intellect of an enlightened person. Anyway, the presence of impurities in the mirrors (the intellects) of people who have not achieved spiritual enlightenment causes distortion then, and the same luminous Lord is not reflected properly. This distortion produces all the categories that were extensively explained in the previous note of explanation.
Śaktipāta or descent of Power is the same as "Grace bestowal". It is a discharge of the rays of His Supreme Power, like the sun shining upon everyone despite they are good, bad, intelligent, foolish, etc. As the sun makes no distinction, even so the Supreme Self shows His Light to everybody. Nonetheless, this Light is perfectly reflected only in the intellects of those holy souls who are going through their last birth, viz. of the ones who have come to the end of Samsāra or transmigration from one body to another body since time immemorial.
Once the Self is revealed to oneself in the mirror of his extremely pure intellect, that is the end of the Play known as Transmigration full of bondage.
Here Yogarāja, the commentator, is making clear that all the impurities present in the intellects of people who have not still attained the state of final liberation from Saṁsāra or Transmigration, are due to the residual impressions of the impurities (mala-s) called Āṇava, Māyīya and Kārma (i.e. Āṇavamala, Māyīyamala and Kārmamala).
The first impurity (Āṇavamala) cannot be overcome by any effort at all that a limited individual can make. It is overcome only through His Grace then.
The remaining two impurities (Māyīyamala and Kārmamala) are also overcome through His Grace alone, but as this Grace generally appears as the efforts a limited individual makes to overcome them, there is the sensation that the limited individual could pull it off by his efforts only. Hence it is usually taught in Trika that the last two impurities can be overcome by effort. Yes, this effort arose because of His Grace too, but as this fact is indirect, the limited individuals rarely notice it and think that they were the real authors.
Āṇavamala has to do with "lack of Fullness". It cannot be overcome by any effort (e.g. to say all the time "I am Full", "I am Full" to counterattack the impurity). No, no, no, that will not work ever. One who assumed limitation and contraction by reducing His Fullness is the Only One who can remove such limitation and contraction then.
Māyīyamala is the impurity producing differences (duality). This impurity can be removed by efforts based on removal of all the differences (e.g. by considering all the thoughts as the rays emanating from one's own Self, however good or bad those thoughts may be). Yes, these efforts come from Grace too, but as this is indirect, it looks as if the limited individual is "doing something" on his own.
The final impurity, Kārmamala, is based on the notion that one is the doer of all the actions. This impurity can be overcome by effort too, but the method varies across the philosophical systems: For example, in Vedānta, the method is based on renouncing the fruits of the actions. Anyway, in Trika, the method is not that one but rather "constant remembrance of the Self while one is doing actions".
The beings who are in their last birth and that have overcome the three impurities by Grace and effort, live as liberated beings even in the middle of this Transmigration full of misery. They are endowed with superiority in all the respects because the Supreme Power is upon them.
You can call them as you wish - liberated ones, saints, sages, great beings, high-souled ones, etc. -, but their main characteristic is always the presence of His Absolute Freedom replete with the Delight of the Highest I-consciousness. When their bodies finally fall at the time of death, they become completely identified with the Supreme Lord forever (this subject is very complex and would require an entire volume to explain in detail).
In the case of other people who are not yet liberated, His Effulgence is not fully revealed due to His power of concealment (tirodhāna) appearing as multiple impurities on the mirrors of the intellects.
It is to be noted that Yogarāja is calling ordinary people (the third category explained above) as “animals” (paśu-s) here. They are so called because their intelligence is at the level of an animal in comparison to that of a fully enlightened person. In them there is predominance of tirodhāna or concealment, which binds them to constant misery and limitation. On the other hand, Yogarāja is mentioning that the spiritual aspirants, full of intense desires to advance in spirituality, are the result of a mixture of His powers of tirodhāna (concealment) and anugraha (Grace).
However, Śaktipāta is everywhere, i.e. in the case of all the beings, and not only in the case of Guru and disciple. I also mentioned that the Guru/disciple relationship was like the final straight in the long circuit of the many births in this wheel known as Saṁsāra or Transmigration.
Self-realization, which is also called Final Liberation or Spiritual Enlightenment, cannot be achieved by practices, which are actions, whether they are so pompous as the horse-sacrifice (an ancient Vedic sacrifice where a horse was killed for it to reach a better level of existence, if my memory serves me well) or so silent as the muttering of a mantra, the meditation, etc. All actions, being in the sphere of Māyā —the "finitizing" power—, are always under the sway of the niyatiśakti, the power that generates restriction. As the Supreme Self, in His being beyond Māyā, has no restriction at all, cannot consequently be realized by any actions whatsoever. It is only His Grace that is effective in producing His revelation to an aspirant then.
This topic about Grace being the Core of Self-realization has been explained by me at length in previous notes as well as on my website when I talk about "spiritual ignorance."
What is the purpose of performing spiritual practices then? The answer is very simple but shocking, specially to all those people who are convinced that they would attain the majestic Lord through their efforts or who have invested many years of their lives meditating, etc.: They are mere pastime, entertainment, while He decides what will He do next with you.
Yes, this is very good way to explain the things for the aspirants to understand. In the end, however high the state you could have attained by practices, these will fall short to reveal the Great Lord to you. This is not possible by efforts of any kind but it is something coming from His own Absolute Freedom, from His divine Dispensation as a gift for the great aspirant who managed to reach the Door of His Abode through, paradoxically, His own Grace too. This teaching is crucial in Trika. If one cannot get it, one will not understand how the things work in this philosophical system.
By this stanza the commentator exhibits the role played by the intellect in the process of Śaktipāta or descent of Power (Grace bestowal). The Master being referred to is, of course, Śiva. This Master does not "descend" because He is Sahajonnata or Naturally Elevated (He does not ascend to be so, like a limited individual who makes efforts to be a great personality in a certain field – e.g. sports, science, politics, etc. – but He is so, i.e. naturally Elevated, always). It is only His Power or Śakti who, although constantly in oneness with Him, is able to descend upon a limited individual and set him Free. As this is superhuman in all respects, no power other than His Śakti can accomplish this task (no god, no deity, no mantra, no action, etc.).
fter that, Yogarāja explains that the ordinary people, the ones who are below the categories of aspirants and enlightened beings, are constantly engaged in good and bad actions and participating in the experiences of pleasure, pain, etc., because there is absence of a display of their essential nature, i.e. they do not realize their own divine Self. As a result, they transmigrate and transmigrate, from one thought to another thought, from youth to old age, from one body to another body and so on. This Transmigration is called Samsāra in Sanskrit, and, while it is a Play in the case of the Great Lord, it amounts to extreme misery in the case of those individuals who have not realized the Great Lord yet.
All in all, it is these two powers (tirodhāna and anugraha, concealment and Grace) that are really responsible for the divisions known as "Liberation and bondage."
Grace is nothing but the revelation of one's own essential nature, one's own Self, and concealment means concealment of that very essential nature, of that Self. When tirodhāna predominates, one is called "an ordinary person"; when tirodhāna and anugraha are in a certain kind of equilibrium, one is called "a spiritual aspirant"; and when anugraha predominates, one is called "a liberated person."
This Play of His is always full of His Rasa or Sap across the three categories I have just mentioned.
OK, it is over!