Kashmiri Shaivism

[ken knight]

--- Shrinivas Gadkari <sgadkari2001 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>On the other hand, a typical
> follower of the Shaiva
> darshana tends to celebrate the world of duality -
> although it
> is an illusion !

Namaste Shrinivas,

Without having a full enough study of Kashmiri
Saivism..this is being gradually corrected at the
moment...I find mysself in full agreement with you at
the moment.
I have posted, at different times in the past, my own
thoughts on this but no one has come back to tell me
off or correct my error so I am left thinking, 'Am I
just being very silly suggesting such a thing.'

My view is this: 'Neti, Neti' must go on ad infinitum.
 The veils of adhyasa and avidya just get thinner and
thinner. As Vedanta says and Shankara confirms, 'Words
and mind fall away from the Self.'
It seems to me that there comes a point where the the
'na' of 'na iti' drops away and we affirm 'iti,iti'.
This is affirming the lila as the full and glorious
manifestation (purnamidam etc.)
This moment is instantaneous and transcends time so
the affirmation is not contrary to the negation, they
co-exist.  As with Shiva and Shakti, they are One.

In the Western tradition these two ways of negation
and affirmation are known as the 'apophatic and
katophatic' and seen as contrary. I do not think that
they have to be and I believe I have read some verses
in Upadesa Sahasri that would teach this.  I will try
to find them again as this is a very important point
in our understanding.

I hope that Jaldhar will point out my errors so that
the understanding can be refined,

Happy study,

Ken Knight


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