YOGA SPANDAKARIKA

("The union with the sacred tremor")

Written by the sage Vasugupta (860 - 925 ad) Translation by: Devatma Saraswati

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Tradition: Kashmiri Shaivism (9th century)

1. The venerated Shakti opens her eyes and the universe is reabsorbed in pure consciousness; she closes them and the universe in manifested within her. 2. The sacred tremor, throbbing at the very nucleus of creation and dissolution, is infinite and limitless because it's nature is without form. 3. Even within duality, the tantrik goes straight to the non dual source, because pure subjectivity always resides immersed within her own true nature. 4. All the relative concepts tied to the ego rediscover their peaceful origin deeply buried under the different layers of the mind. 5. In the absolute sense, enjoyment and suffering, object and subject, are nothing other than the space of profound consciousness. 6,7. To grasp this fundamental truth is to experience absolute freedom everywhere. Thus, the activity of the sense organs themselves dwell in this fundamental freedom, and flows forth from it. 8. Therefore, the one who rediscovers this ecsatic sacred tremor at the causal level of consciousness escapes the dim confusion of limited desire. 9. Liberated from the unending impulses of the ego, she is free to experience the supreme state of infinite bliss. 10. The Heart then realizes that the true innate nature is both the supreme collective consciousness and the subjectivity that perceives the individual world. 11. How can this wonder filled tantrik, who always returns to her own innate nature as the cause of all manifestation, be subject to samsara? 12. If nothingness could be an object of contemplation, where would the consciousness be that perceives it? 13. Consider contemplation on nothingness as an artifice like that of a profound absence from the world. 14, 15, 16. Actor and action are united, but when action is dissolved by abandoning the fruits of the action, this very dynamic will allow the ego to exhaust it self, and the tantrik who is absorbed in this profound

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contemplation discovers the sacred tremor liberated from any ties to the ego. The ultimate nature of action thus revealed, and he who has explored the internal movement of desire no longer knows dissolution. She cannot cease to exist because she has returned to the profound underlying origin. 17. That awakened tantrik realizes this continuous sacred tremor throughout all states of consciousness. 18. Shiva is then in a loving orgasmic union with Shakti in the form knowledge and object, whereas he is manifested as pure static consciousness everywhere else. 19. The full range and spectrum of various kinds of sacred tremors has the root within the universal sacred tremor of consciousness, and in this way reaches each person individually. How could being absorbed in such a sacred tremoring ever limit the tantrik? 20. And yet, this sacred tremor itself causes people who are subject to narrow views to become completely lost, with their intuition being dissociated from the profound source within, they throw themselves again and again into the whirlwind of samsara. 21. The person who with a fiery passion pursues the profoundly blissful sacred tremor reaches her true nature within every activity. 22. The profound and stable sacred tremor can be reached in the extreme states of intense joy, anger, mental wandering or the drive of survival. 23, 24. When that tantrik gives herself over to Shiva and Shakti, the sun and moon come up in the central pathway. 25. At that moment, while in the sky the sun and moon disappear, the awakened one remains lucid, while the ordinary man sinks into unconsciousness. 26, 27. When chanting mantras with the divine power of the sacred tremor, the awakened one will accomplish their function. The mantras become united within the mind of the tantrik, who penetrates the very nature of Shiva and Shakti. 28, 29. All things emerge from the individual essence of the tantrik who recognizes herself in Shiva and Shakti; everything in which she takes pleasure in is Shiva and Shakti. Thus, there is no state that can be named that is not Shiva and Shakti.

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30. Always aware of the reality that she perceives as the play of her own nature, such a tantrik is liberated at the very Heart of life. 31. Through the vast intensity of objectless desire, contemplation emerges in the heart of the tantrik united to the profound pulsations of the sacred tremor. 32. This is the attainment of the supreme nectar, the immortal ambrosia of samadhi, which to the tantrik her own essential nature. 33, 34. The ecstatic love of Shiva and Shakti which manifests the universe allows the tantrika to be fulfilled. Over the course of the dream, the sun and moon appear in her heart and all her wishes are granted. 35. Yet if she is not aware, the tantrik will be deluded by the play of maya, and she will experience the illusory state throughout waking and sleeping. 36, 37. Just as an object that escapes awareness is more clearly perceived when we make the effort to see it better from all angles, so the supreme tremor appears to the tantrik when she ardently pursues towards it. In this way, all things come into tune with her truest nature. 38. Even in states of extreme weakness, such a tantrik succeeds in this attainment. Even when starving, she finds her nourishment. 39. With her only support the recognition of the Heart, the tantrik is omniscient and in total harmony with the world. 40. If the body and mind are ravaged by the discouragement of ignorance, only the completely unlimited expansion of consciousness will relieve an affliction whose source will have disappeared. 41. The revelation of the Self arises in the person who is now only absolute desire. May each and every one of us have this experience! 42. Then, may light, sound, form and taste come impede only the one whom is still tied to the ego. 43. When the tantrik pervades everything with her absolute desire, what use are lectures? She has the ultimate experience all on her own. 44. May the tantrik remain ever present, her senses vigilantly sewn in awareness, and may she know stability.

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45. That one who is deprived of his power by the dark forces of limited activity becomes the plaything of the energy of sounds. 46. Trapped in the field of subtle energies and mental structures, the supreme immortal nectar is dissolved, and the person forgets his innate freedom. 47. The dualistic power of the word is always ready to conceal the profound nature of the Self, because no mental representation can free itself from the confinements of language. 48. The energy of the sacred tremor that flows through an unaware person enslaves him, whereas this very same energy liberates the one who is on the path. 49, 50. Even the subtle body itself is an obstacle that is intricately tied to limited intelligence and to the ego. The unaware person has experiences filtered by their beliefs and to the identification with the gross material body, and in this very way he perpetuates his bondage. 51. But when the tantrik becomes fully established in the sacred pulsation of consciousness, she liberates the flow of action and reaction, and in this way abides in infinite freedom, as a master of the wheel of energies. 52. I venerate the spontaneous, tremoring and wonderful words of my master who had me cross the Ocean of doubt. May this jewel of knowledge lead all beings to reach the true nature of reality, and may the keep this jewel in the deepest part of their heart.

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