Shaiva Upanishads (A Critical Study)
by Arpita Chakraborty | 2013 | 33,902 words
This page relates ‘The source of sources’ of the study on the Shaiva Upanishads in English, comparing them with other texts dealing with the Shiva cult (besides the Agamas and Puranas). The Upaniṣads are ancient philosophical and theological treatises. Out of the 108 Upanishads mentioned in the Muktikopanishad, 15 are classified as Saiva-Upanisads.
1.17. The source of sources
That Supreme Divinity who created both Life and Matter, who is the source of all arts and sciences, who can be intuited by a pure and devoted mind -realizing Him, the blissful the incorporeal and the nameless, one is freed from further embodiment.
[...] Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad VI.1
Some deluded thinkers speak of Nature, and others of time, as the force that revolves this wheel of Brahman. But really all this is only the glory of God manifested in the world. It should be known that energy assumes various forms such as earth, water, light, air and ether at the command of Him who is the master of Guṇas and the maker of time, who is omniscient, who is Pure consciousness itself, and by whom all this is ever enveloped. After setting the creation in motion and withdrawing Himself from it, He unites the principle of Spirit with the principle of Matter -with one, with two, with three and with eight -through the mere instrumentality of time and their own inherent properties. He gives the start to the creation associated with the three Guṇas of Nature, and others all things. Again, in the absence of the Guṇas, He destroys all created objects, and after destruction, remains aloof in His essence. By previously meditating as seated in one’s own heart, on that Adorable Being who appears as the universe, and who is the true source of all creatures, He can be perceived even though He is the primeval cause of the union (of Spirit with Matter), as well as the partless entity transcending the three divisions of time. Knowing Him who is the origin and dissolution of the universe -the source of all virtue, the destroyer of all sins, the master of all good qualities, the immortal, and the abode of the universe -as seated in one’s own self, He is perceived as different from, and transcending, the tree of Saṃsāra as well as time and form.
[...] Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad VI.7
May we realize Him -the transcendent and adorable master of the universe -who is the supreme Lord over all the lords, the supreme God above all the gods, and the supreme ruler over all the rulers.[1]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ibid V.14, VI.1-7 [...]