Fifteen Verses of Wisdom

Who here hath not heard of Abhinavagupta? About the greatest of Shivacharyas, we need not say anything for no words can describe the grandeur, the depth, the genius of his being. Unto the feet of this Jagadguru, we pay obeisance. 

In the Bodhapanchadashika (Fifteen Verses on Wisdom), the great Acharya very succinctly summarizes the entirety of Shivadvaya, the non-dualist philosophy associated with what we now term Kashmir Shaivism. Although written about a thousand years ago, the powerful words still resound in our consciousness as we read these beautiful verses. Because this short work was created by the Acharya for his disciples of little understanding, it is easy for us to understand without any explanation. Presumably, he wrote these fifteen verses after finishing his magnum opera. 

As we know, 118 worlds (bhuvanas; 256 in some Agamas) make up the entire universe at various levels, within various tattvas. Lord Bhairava is Himself the nature of all these 118 bhuvanas; all this His experience of His own infinite Being. All this diversity exists within Him. It is by His grace alone that we realize the true nature of reality, the true nature of our own being, which is but Lord Bhairava. Indeed time, one of the kanchukas of maya, and our (mis)understanding of its march results in worldly existence (samsara). The perception of the existence of time is a result of His independence, His means to realize His own nature (see: Time Divine; Doctrine of Time). The fullness of this realization is achieved by those who have been liberated within this life (jivan-muktas; see: Sivagnanabodham). 

These verses have been especially created for those of us with little understanding so we may be instantaneously elevated! Let us, then, as disciples, learn from the Bodhapanchadashika. 

oṃ sauḥ parāyai namaḥ

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बोधपञ्चदशिका [Bodhapanchadashika]

1. The brilliance of the One Being's light does not vanish in external light or in darkness because all light and darkness resides in the supreme light of God Consciousness.

2. This Being is called Lord Shiva. He is the nature and existence of all beings. The external objective world is the expansion of His Energy and it is filled with the glamour of the glory of God Consciousness.

3. Shiva and Shakti are not aware that they are separate. They are interconnected just as fire is one with heat.

4. He is the God Bhairava. He creates, protects, destroys, conceals, and reveals His nature through the cycle of this world. This whole universe is created by God in His own nature, just as one finds the reflection of the world in a mirror.

5. The collective state of the universe is His supreme Energy (Shakti), which He created in order to recognize His own nature. This (Shakti), who is the embodiment of the collective state of the universe, loves possessing the state of God Consciousness. She is in the state of ignorance, remaining perfectly complete and full in each and every object.

6. The supreme Lord Shiva, who is all-pervasive and fond of playing and falling, together with the Energy of His own nature simultaneously brings about the varieties of creation and destruction.

7. This supreme action cannot be accomplished by any other power in this universe except Lord Shiva, who is completely independent, perfectly glorious and intelligent.

8. The limited state of consciousness is insentient and cannot simultaneously expand itself to become the various forms of the universe. The possessor of independence is absolutely different from that insentient state of consciousness. You cannot, therefore, recognize Him in only one way. The moment you recognize Him in one way you will also recognize Him in the other way.

9. This Lord Shiva, who is completely independent (svatantra), has the diversity of creation and destruction existing in His own nature. And, at the same time, this diversity is found existing in its own way as the field of ignorance.

10. In this world you will find varieties of creation and destruction, some of which are created in the upper cycle, some of which are created below, and some of which are even created sideways. Attached to these worlds smaller portions of worlds are created. Pain, pleasure, and intellectual power are created according to the status of being. This is the world.

11. If you do not understand that there is actually no span of time, this misunderstanding is also the independence (svatantrya) of Lord Shiva. This misunderstanding results in worldly existence (samsara). And those who are ignorant are terrified by worldly existence.

12-13. When, because the grace of Lord Shiva is showered upon you, or due to the teachings or vibrating force of your Master, or through understanding the scriptures concerned with Supreme Shiva, you attain the real knowledge of reality, that is the existent state of Lord Shiva, and that is final liberation. This fullness is achieved by elevated souls and is called liberation in this life (jivan-mukti).

14. These two cycles, bondage and liberation, are the play of Lord Shiva and nothing else. They are not separate from Lord Shiva because differentiated states have not risen at all. In reality, nothing has happened to Lord Shiva.

15. In this way the Lord, Bhairava, the essence of all being, has held in His own way in His own nature, the three great energies: the energy of will (iccha-shakti), the energy of action (kriya-shakti), and the energy of knowledge (jnana-shakti). These three energies are just like that trident which is the three-fold lotus. And seated on this lotus is Lord Bhairava, who is the nature of the whole universe of 118 worlds.

16. I, Abhinavagupta, have written and revealed these verses for some of my dear disciples who have very little intellectual understanding. For those disciples, who are deeply devoted to me, I have composed these fifteen verses just to elevate them instantaneously.

Hughes, John. Self Realization in Kashmir Shaivism. State University of New York Press, 1994.