Today we read from the ninth chapter of the Ishvara Gita entitled the Nishkala (aspectless) Form of Shiva. In the Kurma Purana, of which Ishvara Gita is a part, it is said that the Ishvara Gita was spoken in an earlier aeon (Satya Yuga) long before the Bhagavad Gita was spoken. In a future aeon (Dvapara Yuga), the Bhagavad Gita reveals the same knowledge yet again.
Notice the subtle philosophy in this text in the usage of the terms Brahman, the highest Lord, and Maya. Maya is termed Shakti, the cause of the universe, and the supreme Brahman termed the ground of that cause. What is termed the Lord is the one pointed intersection between the unmanifest and the manifest, who is immanent in all beings, and the goal or doorway for escape from the cycles of samsara and means for bliss eternal. One sees in this chapter a continuation of the old philosophy present in seed form in the Nandikeshvara Kashika. Indeed, this is the core of all forms of Shaivite theology even today.
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The Sages said :
1 . O Mahadeva, the Supreme God is unsullied, pure, eternal and devoid of activities. Hence, explain to us how you become identical with universe in form.
Ishvara replied :
2. O brahmanas, I am not the Universe (in reality). Nor does the universe exist without Me. In this respect Maya is the cause and She is supported by Me in my [own] Atman.
3. Maya is the Shakti (potency) which has neither beginning nor destruction. It is supported in the Avyakta (the Unmanifest). This world is caused by it and is indeed born of the Avyakta.
4. They (the sages) say that the Avyakta which is bliss luminous and imperishable is the cause. I am that supreme Brahman [viz the Avyakta] and nothing else exists apart from Me.
6. I am that greatest Brahman, the eternal supreme Atman. As I am said to be the non-cause, no fault can be attributed to Atman.
7. All divine powers are infinite, unmanifest, permanent and established by Maya. The absolute Avyakta which is abiding in the region beyond shines eternally.
8. The unmanifest eternal Brahman which is without any beginning or end and which is permanent is united with Maya and thereby is called diverse and divided though it is an undivided whole.
9. Just as the manifestation of the Purusha’s one power is not concealed or obscured by another, He functions through the power of knowledge without beginning, middle and the end.
10. That is the supreme unmanifest, embellished with a halo of lustre. That is the imperishable light. That is the supreme abode of Vishnu.
11. Therein the entire universe is woven as if in the warp and woof of cloth. That alone is the entire universe. Having realised this, one is liberated.
12. Brahman is that entity from which words along with mind recede due to their inability to reach it. He who has realized the joy of the Brahman entertains no fear from anywhere at any time. [Taittiriya Up. II. 9.]
13. I know this supreme Purusha with the refulgence of the sun in front of me (beyond the darkness of ignorance). Having realized Him as such, the knower is liberated (from samsara). Becoming identical with the Brahman, he enjoys perpetual bliss. [Svetasvatara Up. III.8; III.21]
14. Realizing that is his self from which there is nothing that is greater, and that is the supreme light of the luminaries stationed in the heaven, the knower becomes identical with the Brahman and attains perpetual bliss.
15. Knowers of the Brahman (aka brahmanas) who are established in the Brahman, proclaim that I am however impenetrable, subtle-bodied, joy of the Brahman, and the immortal abode of the universe, and after attaining whom one never reverts to samsara.
16. The lustre that appears to shine in heaven is the principle of the highest firmament of golden colour. The sages visualize it in their own supreme knowledge as the resplendent, pure (spotless) abode of heaven.
17. Thereafter, the bold (self-possessed) men observe it, after experiencing the (cosmic) Atman directly in their individual Atman. Paramesthin, the Lord Himself, is the greatest one. The Lord has the bliss of Brahman.
18. That one Lord is lying hidden in all living beings. He is omnipresent, the immanent soul of all living beings. The self-possessed men who see him as one (without a second) enjoy permanent bliss and not the others.
19. He has heads and necks on all sides. He is the ultimate goal of all. He abides in the cavity of the heart of all living beings. That Lord is omnipresent. There is nothing other than He.
20. O leading sages, thus the knowledge pertaining to Ishvara has been related to you. It should be particularly guarded, as it is very difficult even for Yogis to attain.
Ishvara Gita IX.1-20 (Kurma Purana, Book II, IX.1-20).
Aum Namah Shivaya.
See also: Vibhuti Yoga of Shiva (from Chapter VII of the Ishvara Gita)
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