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Manikandan Ravi

Cross-cultural parallels between Abhinavagupta's interpretation of the relationship of jñāna and karma in Bhagavad Gītā

Hey all, I've been going through Ācārya's lecture series on the Gītā, and one of his statements on the relationship Abhinavagupta draws between jñāna and karma stuck out to me: "Abhinavagupta considers the fruit of right knowledge to be right action" (paraphrased). This statement touches upon an interesting distinction between his and Śaṅkara's commentaries, and between the two systems as a whole, which I will not dive into deeply here.


Here, I would simply like to draw a parallel between this and a statement by one of Confucius' disciples on the relationship between contemplation (jñāna) and action (karma), which appears identical.


1) The first paragraph relates to the need to perfect action, which then necessitates acquiring knowledge:

"... the ancient princes first of all applied themselves to governing their own [state] well. To govern their [state] well, they first restored proper order in their families. To establish proper order in…


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Émilie Paul
Émilie Paul
4 days ago

Thanks for sharing🧡

Nityeshwari

Enjoyment can be simple. Our very Bhairava nature. What a fine class.

I completed Chapter 2 - Verses 21 to 25 - Kashi Retreat!

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Marc Johnson
3 days ago

Thank you for this! I didn't see this course, but I'm reading Abhinavagupta's Para-trisika Vivarana right now. I'm almost done with it, but I will have to go back and go through it again with the help of the course.

Edited
Chandra Sekhar

Namaste.


I have a question regarding the different classifications used in Kashmir Shaivism.


I understand that there are:


  1. The seven Pramātṛs (Śiva, Mantramaheśvara, Mantreśvara, Mantra, Vijñānākala, Pralayākala, Sakala),

  2. The Aham–Idam formulations (Aham, Aham–Idam, Idam–Aham, etc.),

  3. The five Śuddha Tattvas (Śiva, Śakti, Sadāśiva, Īśvara, Śuddhavidyā).


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Oliver St. John
Oliver St. John
Jul 04

I believe these classifications are certainly related. I can recommend a concise text that does discuss these relations very clearly. Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism by B.N. Pandit. In particular, the chapter called Seven Levels of Being. ISBN 978-81-215-0729-5.

bheckel

New here

I just finished the course and applied for initiation, so glad to be here with all of you. I have decades of practice in Buddhism, mostly Theravada and insight meditation. I can't exactly recall the trigger but over the last several months I've been drawn magnetically to this path, it has such a sweetness to it.


I couldn't find the answer to this question in older posts so apologies if I missed it. The course mentioned taking the "next free sastra course with Acharyaji". Is it recorded or an upcoming event? I'm not clear how "free" works or how much money to budget.


And I did see in other posts that mantras are not a good idea until after initiation. Does that include "Om Namah Shivaya"? Or using"hrim" or "hamsa" along with the breath?


Thanks for any guidance!

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Ravi S. Kudesia
Ravi S. Kudesia
Jun 14

Welcome to Vimarsha! There is a sweetness of devotion and a delight of aesthetic experience found here that is hard to find elsewhere, you're already clearly sensitive to it, and will just find that attraction becoming stronger and stronger. We'll have a new live course this fall and, like all of our courses, they are absolute free with no-strings-attached to attend them live. So budget your time for study and reflection, not your money! It will be on one of the most important and esoteric elements of the tradition, so certainly stay tuned! There is a difference between nāma or "name" mantras (like Namaḥ Śivāya) and bīja mantras that have tantric seed syllables (like hrīṃ). As a general rule across all tantric lineages, the former type is fine for non-initiates, the latter aren't.


The chanting of haṃsa along with the breath is also certainly fine. For more details on this, you can see the commentaries on the Vijñāna Bhairava, which gives this practice in its first several dhāraṇas. Jaideva Singh or Mark Dyczkowski's translations are both excellent. The short of it though, is that you don't have to chant the syllables, they're actually recited by the breath itself, you rather just have to attune yourself to hear them in the sound of the breath coming and going. If you use some ujjāyī breath to start out with, you can hear it more clearly. The breath comes in from the outside into the body, and stopping at the heart center (its specific location is behind the sternum or, more precisely, xiphoid process), and then returns back out starting from that point.


Keep sticking around and asking questions or engaging on the forums with your questions and the fall course will be ready for us all in no time!

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