The following is an excerpt from the Pārameśvara Āgama. The Pārameśvara Āgama is one of the twenty-eight Siddhānta Āgamas falling under the Rudra-bheda Āgama subcatagory. This Āgama largely deals with Virasaivism, related sacraments, and theology. As with most Āgamas and Tantras, this particular Āgama is in the form of a dialog between Śiva and Śakti. The following excerpt from chapter 23 describes Śiva as the all-pervasive Divine Being.
Nature of Śiva
[Śiva continues:]
He is the Sustainer, Controller and the Cause of all causes. He exists prior to the beginning, sustenance and the end of all creation.
Remaining formless, He is adorned with all forms, unknowable, smaller than the smallest, and bigger than the biggest. He is nameless but the source of all words.
He is uncaused, non-dual, unmanifested but the basis of all manifestations, beyond everything, inherent in all beings, luminous, of the nature of Truth and consciousness, and all-pervasive.
Paramaśiva is of the nature of luminosity, consciousness and existence, beyond the beginning, middle and end. Śambhu is devoid of six kinds of evil propensities and six types of perversions.
He is adorned with six kinds of glorious virtues which makes ineffective the accomplishments (siddhis) like aņimā, etc. He transcends all means of knowledge, is immovable, beyond all causes and examples.
He is self-luminous, unique, locus of everything, non-dual, formless like space, unaffected by pain and disease.
He is indicated by the supreme statements like tat-tvam-asi (That thou art), etc. (He is) One, Eternal, Self-Consistent, Unblemished, Unthinkable, and devoid of the three qualities (guņas).
He is beyond the three states (waking, dreaming and deep sleep), though non-attached by related to all, being the inner self of all beings, He is the enjoyer, the enjoyed and the enjoyment.
God has the form, but is not subject of vision. Nobody can see Him with his eyes. The wise who try to know Him by contemplating on Him with their minds, attain immortality.
He moves though without hands and feet, He perceives everything though Himself remains invisible. He hears everything without ears, nothing is equal to Him, yet He is similar to everything.
Though He is the enjoyer, He is inexhaustible, pure, without alternative, imperishable, non-attached, supreme bliss, and devoid of pleasure or pain.
He is ever in bondage and also in the state of liberation. He is unperturbed, immutable, but the origin of everything, but Himself uncaused, sinless, all-pervasive, indivisible.
O Devī, by knowing this nature of Mine, the Lord of the Universe, as stated above, the devotee certainly achieves the firmness of mind, which is termed as knowledge by the learned.Being Self-luminous, Unborn, Unknowable, the Supreme Insight inherent in all experiences, the One, Non-dual, Unknowable by speech, and the highest Principle is Me alone. This is the universal inspiration of all beings.
O Śīve (Devī), I reside in the hearts of beings as well as remain inherent in all elements. I am the Lord of All, omniscient, all-pervasive and eternal.
Śiva is All
I myself am Śiva, the God, Rudra, Sadaśiva, Hari (Vişņu), Vidhi (Brahmā), Kāla (Time), Jīva (embodied soul), unmanifested guņas (sattva, rajas, tamas), buddhi (cosmic intelligence, the first evolute), cosmic ego, mind, citta, space, air, fire, water, earth, smell, sound, taste, touch and form – all these are My manifestations.
I am the three savanas and the three kālas (dawn, noon and dusk). I am also the oblation, the sacrifice as well as the sacrificial rites. I am all the Deities such as Indra.
O Graceful One, I am the rakşasas, the yakşas, the spirits, humans beings, animals, birds, worms, crawling insects and flying insects.
O Śive (Devī), I am the luminaries like the sun, I am the twenty-seven asterisms like krittikā, I am the divisions of time, I am the constellations like meşa (Aries) – all these are My manifestations.
O Devī, I am moonlight, I am light and darkness, I am the origination, preservation and dissolution, I am all the spheres (of existence). The immovables and movables are also Me.
I am the Vedic scriptures, the histories (itihāsas), mythology (purāņas), books of ethical codes (smritis), and revealed texts (āgamas). I am the four stages of life (aśramas), and the four varņas (classes). I am the Supreme Śiva (Paraśiva).
O Devī, Dharma and adharma, pleasure and pain, good endeavors and their results are all Me. Past, present and future are also My forms.
O Śive (Devī), the world, worldly lives, and their mutations are all Me only. The devotee who knows that the enjoyer, the enjoyed and the inspirer are all manifestations of Me only, becomes liberated.
Source:
Pārameśvara Āgama
Chapter 23 – Nature of Jñāna Yoga
Verses 19-43
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