possession” (samavesa). In samavesa practitioners are suddenly infused and possessed with Shivahood, and feel themselves to be omniscient and omnipotent. This is not the kind of possession or haunting that occurs when the power that...

Kashmir Shaivism also developed an integrated and effective method of spiritual practice that includes intense devotion, the study of correct knowledge, and a special type of yoga unknown to other systems of practical philosophy. These...

According to the Trika system, yoga is that theological practice which helps in attaining the realization of absolute unity between the practitioner and Absolute Reality, that is, between the yogin and God. As it says in...

In his discussion of Trika Yoga Abhinavagupta begins with the most advanced approach, and then presents successively easier methods one by one in descending order. This is another example of his particular approach to yoga....

All of the blissful and beautiful aspects of the Absolute are present in each and every person and living thing, but they remain dormant because they are hidden behind the mask of maya. In other...

I” revolves around four aspects of our being: (1) deha, the gross physical body, (2) buddhi, the fine mental body, (3) prana, the subtler life force, and (4) sunya (the void of dreamless sleep), the...

this-ness”.— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 19.

The ancient sages of Kashmir Shaivism did not look for the truth only in logic and intellectual speculation. They relied much more on their experiences during deep yogic states to guide them in understanding and...

Abhinavagupta does not prescribe a hermit’s life for that Shiva yogin, who is free to live without restrictions, to remain in the household, and to participate in pleasures of the senses and the mind within...