Spanda Karikas: Section II - Sahaja Vidyodaya
स्पन्दकारिकाः - द्वितीयो निःष्यन्दः (सहजविद्योदयः)
The second section of the Spanda Karikas, Sahaja Vidyodaya ("the rise of innate knowledge"), 7 verses. Where Section I emphasized atma-vyapti, realizing the Self as Siva through introversive (nimilana) meditation, this section emphasizes Siva-vyapti - realizing the whole universe as Siva through extroversive (unmilana) meditation - and closes by declaring this realization itself to be the true ambrosia, the true Self-recognition and the true initiation into liberation.
Sanskrit
तदाक्रम्य बलं मन्त्राः सर्वज्ञबलशालिनः । प्रवर्तन्तेऽधिकाराय करणानीव देहिनाम् ॥१॥
Transliteration
tadākramya balaṃ mantrāḥ sarvajñabalaśālinaḥ / pravartante'dhikārāya karaṇānīva dehinām ||1||
Translation
Resorting to that power (of Spanda-tattva), the divinities, Mantra etc. together with the sacred formulae which serve as their indicators, being endowed with the power of omniscience proceed to carry out their assigned functions towards the embodied ones just as the senses of the embodied ones by resorting to the power of Spanda proceed to carry out their (specific) functions.
Deep Meaning
Opens Section II by turning to the universe's "pure" aspect: the deities Mantra, Mantresvara and Mantramahesvara, and the sacred formulae themselves, derive their omniscient power entirely from the Spanda principle - exactly as Section I (verses 6-7) showed the senses deriving their power from the same source, not possessing it independently.
Sanskrit
तत्रैव संप्रलीयन्ते शान्तरूपा निरञ्जनाः । सहाराधकचित्तेन तेनैते शिवधर्मिणः ॥२॥
Transliteration
tatraiva sampralīyante śāntarūpā nirañjanāḥ / sahārādhakacittena tenaite śivadharmiṇaḥ ||2||
Translation
Freed of all limitations of office after having performed their assigned duties, (niranjanah), their denotation as particular deities having ceased (santarupah) they get dissolved together with the mind of their devotees in that very Spanda principle. Hence they are of the nature of Siva.
Deep Meaning
Completes verse 1: once these mantra-deities have carried out their function, their particular identity as distinct deities ceases and they dissolve - along with the devotee's own mind - back into the generic Spanda principle. Having arisen from Spanda, functioned by Spanda's power, and dissolved into Spanda, they can only ever have been of the nature of Siva.
Sanskrit
यस्मात्सर्वमयो जीवः सर्वभावसमुद्भवात् । तत्संवेदनरूपेण तादात्म्यप्रतिपत्तितः ॥३॥
Transliteration
yasmātsarvamayo jīvaḥ sarvabhāvasamudbhavāt / tatsaṃvedanarūpeṇa tādātmyapratipattitaḥ ||3||
Translation
Since the limited individual Self is identical with the whole universe, inasmuch as all entities arise from him, and because of the knowledge of all subjects, he has the feeling of identity with them all.
Deep Meaning
Turns from the "pure" universe of mantra-deities to the individual jiva directly: since all entities only ever arise through the jiva's own knowledge of them, the jiva himself is the source from which the universe arises, and so is identical with the universe entire - becoming, in Kshemaraja's phrase, visvasakti, "universal power".
Sanskrit
तस्माच्छब्दार्थचिन्तासु न सावस्था न या शिवः । भोक्तैव भोग्यभावेन सदा सर्वत्र संस्थितः ॥४॥
Transliteration
tasmācchabdārthacintāsu na sāvasthā na yā śivaḥ / bhoktaiva bhogyabhāvena sadā sarvatra saṃsthitaḥ ||4||
Translation
Hence whether in the word, object or thought, there is no state which is not Siva. It is the experient himself who, always and everywhere, abides in the form of the experienced.
Deep Meaning
The most-cited single line of this section, completing verse 3's reasoning: because the experient and the entire field of experience are identical, there is no state anywhere - no word, no object, no thought - that is not Siva. It is the Divine himself who is both the eternal Experient and the universe he experiences; the difference between them disappears.
Sanskrit
इति वा यस्य संवित्तिः क्रीडात्वेनाखिलं जगत् । स पश्यन्सततं युक्तो जीवन्मुक्तो न संशयः ॥५॥
Transliteration
iti vā yasya saṃvittiḥ krīḍātvenākhilaṃ jagat / sa paśyansatataṃ yukto jīvanmukto na saṃśayaḥ ||5||
Translation
Or he, who has this realization (viz. identity of his Self with the whole universe), being constantly united with the Divine, views the entire world as the play (of the Self identical with Siva), and is liberated while alive. There is no doubt about this.
Deep Meaning
States the practical fruit of verses 3-4's realization directly: one who constantly sees the entire world as nothing but the Divine's own play achieves jivanmukti, liberation while still alive - Kshemaraja adds this comes through one's own direct experience, distinct from the liberation that comes through faith in a guru's initiation.
Sanskrit
अयमेवोदयस्तस्य ध्येयस्य ध्यायिचेतसि । तदात्मतासमापत्तिरिच्छतः साधकस्य या ॥६॥
Transliteration
ayamevodayastasya dhyeyasya dhyāyicetasi / tadātmatāsamāpattiricchataḥ sādhakasya yā ||6||
Translation
This only is the manifestation of the object of meditation in the meditator's mind that the aspirant with resolute will has the realization of his identity with that (object of meditation).
Deep Meaning
A direct challenge to ordinary deity-visualization practice: the true manifestation of a meditated deity is not some separately-perceived divine form, but the aspirant's own realized identity with that deity - reached not through mere mental determination but through icchā, a will that has become one with the wish to be Siva, the Self of all.
Sanskrit
इयमेवामृतप्राप्तिरयमेवात्मनो ग्रहः । इयं निर्वाणदीक्षा च शिवसद्भावदायिनी ॥७॥
Transliteration
iyamevāmṛtaprāptirayamevātmano grahaḥ / iyaṃ nirvāṇadīkṣā ca śivasadbhāvadāyinī ||7||
Translation
This alone is the acquisition of ambrosia leading to immortality; this alone is the realization of Self: this alone is the initiation of liberation leading to identity with Siva.
Deep Meaning
Section II's closing verse redefines three major religious aspirations as one and the same realization: the true ambrosia of immortality (not any substance, since even the body eventually falls), the true recognition of Self (not the Vedantist's abstract Purusa, but Siva himself, omniscient and free), and the true initiation into liberation. Kshemaraja is careful to note he has deliberately not written "only" before "initiation" here, so as not to devalue ordinary sacerdotal initiation for those who still need it.