The Shiva Sutras

The Shiva Sutras is one of Kashmir Shaivism’s most important and revered texts. It instructs us in the glorious journey of the Supreme Awakening; to absolute oneness with God/The Universe as the body of God.

This particular summary was adapted from the translations of Swami Lakshmanjoo. You can acquire the full text of the Sutra, with the original Sanskrit, and his detailed commentaries, in his book: Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening.

1.1 One Supreme Consciousness is the reality of everything.

1.2    Knowing differentiation is bondage.

1.6 By meditating on the wheel of energies the differentiated universe comes to an end.

1.7 Such a person experiences the expansive state of Universal Consciousness even in the differentiated states of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep.

1.12 The predominant sign of such a person is joy filled amazement.

1.13 His will is merged with the unobstructable energy of Shiva/God.

1.14 His self is perceived as the entire world and his body is just an object to him.

1.18 The joy of this mystical trance is bliss for the whole universe.

1.20 Such a person can focus his awareness to heal the sick, comfort the suffering, separate elements, and be free from the limitations of space-time.

3.1 Individual being is the mind entangled in the wheel of birth and death.

3.3 Being unable to see oneness is the 31 elements, you live in those elements, which expand the energy of illusion.

3.5 Merge the movements of your breathing, control the gross elements, divert attention from all objective senses, and direct it towards the center of the movement of breath, removing your consciousness from the grip of the elementary field…

3.7 After conquering the field of illusion by destroying its many impressions, one attains the pure knowledge of Universal Consciousness.

3.9 The dancer in this universal field of dancing is his real self, Universal Consciousness.

3.15 Maintain breakless awareness on That supreme energy which is the seed of the universe.

3.17. Experiencing that this world is the product of his consciousness, he can create anything he desires.

3.30 For such a person, this universe is the embodiment of his collective energies.

3.33 He experiences his joy and sadness like passing objects, separate from his eternal being.

3.36 He drives away the field of differentiated perceptions and enters into God Consciousness.

3.39 This God Consciousness should not just be infused in one-pointed meditation, it should also be infused in the physical body and in the ‘external’ world.

3.41 All desire vanishes in that fortunate person whose consciousness is established in his own real nature, Universal Consciousness. For him the state of being a limited individual has ended.

3.42 For him, the five elements are only illusory coverings. He is absolutely liberated, and just like Shiva/God.

3.45 He simultaneously and repeatedly experiences the revealing and concealing of the objective world.