Śivādvaita

Śivādvaita, simply known as Shivadvaita, Sanskrit: शिवाद्वैत, Telugu: శివాద్వైతం, Hindi: शिवाद्वैत.

Śivādvaita means “non-duality as taught by the Śaivas”, the devotees of Bhagavān Śiva. It teaches three things. Śiva is the one and only reality. The jīva (the individual soul) is, at its core, the same as Śiva. And the feeling of being bound and of living among many separate things comes from māyā (the power that veils the truth). Śiva himself spreads out this māyā, and he himself removes it through anugraha (grace).

In the Purāṇas, the fullest account of Śivādvaita is in the Kailāsa Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa. There Kumārasvāmi (Skanda) teaches it to Vāmadeva Maharshi at Kumāraśikhara on Mount Meru. Its central insight is carried by the great mantra Śivo’ham, “I am Śiva”, and by the natural breath-mantra Sohaṃ or Haṃsa, which every living being says without effort with each breath.

The Central Insight: The Jīva Is Śiva

The whole teaching of the Kailāsa Saṃhitā leads to one statement: jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ, “the jīva is nothing other than Brahman (Śiva).” The difference we seem to see between the jīva and the Supreme is not a final difference. It comes from māyā, Śiva’s own mysterious power of hiding himself.

Kumārasvāmi teaches:

“The jīva and Śiva are not two separate principles. Śiva alone projects the world through his māyā, enters it as the individual jīva, forgets his own nature through tirodhāna, and then through his own anugraha causes that jīva to realize ‘I am Śiva.’ The entire process, from projection to liberation, is Śiva’s own play.”

Tirodhāna means concealment, Śiva’s act of hiding his own nature. This is the Śaiva way of bringing together our everyday experience as individuals with the highest truth.

The Haṃsa-Sohaṃ Mahāmantra

The Kailāsa Saṃhitā says that the Haṃsa or Sohaṃ mantra is the natural mantra that every living being breathes on its own:

  • On the in-breath (pūraka), the sound is So (Saḥ, “He”, meaning Śiva)
  • On the out-breath (recaka), the sound is Haṃ (Aham, “I”)

Joined together, So’ham or Sohaṃ means “He am I”, that is, “I am Śiva”. Turned around, it becomes Haṃsa, the swan, a sign of the wisdom that can tell the real from the unreal.

So every living being, knowingly or not, is already repeating this supreme mantra 21,600 times a day, the number of breaths in a day. The yati (renunciate) who becomes aware of this natural japa (repetition) and meditates on it with understanding is doing the highest upāsanā (spiritual practice). No separate ritual is needed. One only has to recognise what is already happening.

The 36 Tattvas

Before stating the Śivādvaita teaching, the Kailāsa Saṃhitā lists the tattvas, the basic principles that make up the world we experience. It follows the Śaiva tradition of 36 tattvas.

The Lower 24 Tattvas (drawn from Sāṅkhya)

  • The five mahābhūtas (great elements): Pṛthvī (earth), Jala (water), Agni (fire), Vāyu (air) and Ākāśa (space)
  • The five tanmātras (subtle elements): Gandha (smell), Rasa (taste), Rūpa (form), Sparśa (touch) and Śabda (sound)
  • The five jñānendriyas (sense organs), the five karmendriyas (organs of action), Manas (mind), Buddhi (intellect), Ahaṅkāra (ego) and Mahat (the great principle)

The Higher 12 Tattvas (special to the Śaiva tradition)

  • The six kañcukas, the sheaths that limit the jīva: Māyā, Niyati, Kāla, Rāga, Vidyā and Kalā
  • The six pure tattvas: Purusha (the limited individual), Śuddhavidyā, Sadāśiva, Maheśvara, Śakti and Śiva

Śivādvaita holds that all 36 tattvas are Śiva’s own display through his māyā-śakti. The jīva who sees only the lower 24 is in bondage. The jīva who knows the highest tattva, Śiva, as their own nature is free.

Śiva-Jñāna: The Three Levels of the Ātman

The Kailāsa Saṃhitā describes three levels of the ātman (self) that the yati must pass through in meditation:

  1. Ātmā: the individual soul in the body, the jīvātmā, felt as the sense of “I” (ahaṅkāra)
  2. Antarātmā: the inner self, the witness-awareness (sākshī) that sees every state of mind without being touched by it
  3. Paramātmā: the supreme self, whose nature is pure Saccidānanda (being, awareness and bliss), not different from Śiva

The sannyāsī’s (renunciate’s) meditation moves inward through these three levels until the Paramātmā is known to be the same as Śiva. The outer rites, such as maṇḍala-pūjā and the antima-saṃskāra (last rites), treat these three as the receivers of piṇḍadāna, with a separate offering made to each level of the ātman.

The Mahāvākya Śivo’ham

The highest mahāvākya (great saying) of Śivādvaita is Śivo’ham, “I am Śiva”. The Kailāsa Saṃhitā places it at the top of the eight mahāvākyas and declares:

“The yati who meditates on Śivo’ham, recognizes the jīva-Śiva identity, and performs the practice of Sohaṃ-japa in the heart-lotus, such a yati, like rivers flowing into the ocean, will reach Śiva and become Śiva. He is freed from the dualistic world beginning with Brahmā.”

The last verse of the Kailāsa Saṃhitā confirms this:

“The yati who travels this path of Śivādvaita, meditating on Śivo’ham, will reach Śiva as rivers reach the ocean, and will become Śiva.”

Sources

  • Śiva Purāṇa, Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapters 16, 17, 19, 22 and 23