Shiva Sutras

Page 68

What causes the illusion? The illusion is caused by certain elements of creation, which cover and conceal our true nature. These elements are described in detail in the commentary to sutra 3 of the first chapter.

The first element of concealment is Máya. Maya means illusion. Maya veils the unity of existence and causes us to experience separation. It works through the following five elements—

1.   Kalaa, which causes us to identify with the body and not with Universal Consciousness.

2.   Vidya (knowledge), which conceals our omniscience and makes up experience-limited knowledge.

3.   Raga ot attraction, which causes us to feel attraction towards other objects. Because we feel separate from other objects, attraction for some of them can arise. When there is no separation, there can be no attraction.

4.   Kaala (time), which causes us to experience time in the form of past, present, and future, instead of experiencing eternity.

5. 
   

5) Niyati, which causes restriction in space and form. Our true self is all-pervasive.

Niyati causes us to experience ourselves in a particular space and form.

All these elements create the illusion. Whén we are able to discern them and look past them, we begin to experience the Ulitmate Reality. One way of doing this is to believe we are all one, even when our sense organs are showing us the opposite. There is a beautiful meditation in the Vigyan Bhairava Tantra (verse 110) to this effect:

Just as waves arise from water, flames from fire, light from the sun—in the same way, the various forms of the universe have arisen from me, God.

Kashmir Shaivism is sometimes compared to Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy of the Upanishads.

Both these philosophies are non-dualistic, and teach that we are all One. There is only one God or Being, whom we are all a part of. The division and separation appearing in the world are not

Siva sutras by Ranjit Chaudhri