Truth is Not a Thing. Participation *is* a Thing.

Notes from Trika Shaivism

Detail from a painting by Yuko Murakoshi

When I was barely 20 years old, my haircutter got involved with a spiritual community. He described their aim as “perfection.”

As he was clipping away, I asked him, “So what are you going to do once you achieve perfection?”

Bless his heart (for reals). He had no answer. I think he was even younger than I was.

Another time, I knew a couple of yogis who, when asked to describe their tradition, would answer: We are finding TRUTH!

As they spoke these words, you could practically hear the capital letters. A funny look would flit across their faces—a kind of “I dare you” gleam of pride in this supposedly ultimate and unassailable View.

No mission

Having a spiritual mission such as perfection or truth is exciting and lends a feeling of meaningfulness, and even profundity, to our mundane existence.

The practice of Trika Shaivism, however, offers us only destruction.

Perfection cannot be achieved because everything is already perfect. All we can do is destroy the limitations to our perception of that.

What does “perfect” mean? Magical. Jewel-like. Vastly intelligent. Blazingly alive. Full of knowledge, clarity, compassion, creativity, and devotion. Spontaneous. Unconditioned by concepts or linear time. Etcetera. . . 🤣

In all of existence, there is only that self-aware, creative and devotional livingness. It is neither true or false. But it is expressive.

Manifest life—all beings and worlds—are God’s art. Continually creating this infinity of experiences is what God does.

The point of human life is to perceive and embody more of natural wisdom-virtue and be able to participate more fully in the creative play of the world.

Participation

One of the most important teachings in the entire Kashmiri tradition is that we encounter God or reality right here, in the midst of life. You cannot know the nature of reality, the Self, outside of this. There is no outside.

This world, our ordinary world right now, is God appearing as a fantastical display of infinite variety.

Since everything is already God-wisdom-reality (whatever you want to call it!), we can practice with all of the aspects of our lives: waking, sleeping, dreaming, eating, moving, relating, working, and sitting. Everything is sadhana.

What a wonderful circumstance that we can practice with the elements of our everyday life and become more realized because all of the Lord’s creations are the Lord!

We are not trying to escape because there is nowhere to go.

Jivanmukti in the city

One way of describing our experience once we become more realized is jivanmukti. Jivanmukti means “liberated in life.”

We eventually discover our fuller, less-limited nature, and we participate here more creatively, spontaneously, and freely. We are not so bound by concepts and limited perceptions.

In the Tantrik traditions of India, especially the Bengali Shakta traditions, this manifest life is compared to a great city.

A city is where we go to be in a crowd, meet new people, and enjoy a variety of experiences. We go to a city to be surprised, amazed, and delighted. We work in cities, play in cities, and creative people often gravitate to cities. Cities are for participating.

Of course, the Tantrik city is the city of all life and all forms of life. Someone who is more realized is participating more fully wherever they are and whatever form their life takes—whether rural or urban or something else.

There is no specific form of life that is touted above all others. But when we are more immersed in natural livingness, our senses and mind are wide open, and we are engaged.

with infinite love,
Shambhavi

Not quite ready to fire up a paid subscription, but want to show your appreciation?

Please join Shambhavi and the Jaya Kula community for satsang & kirtan every Sunday at 3:00pm Pacific. Come in person to 1215 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR, or join Jaya Kula’s newsletter to get the Zoom link for satsang. You can also listen to my podcast—Satsang with Shambhavi—wherever podcasts are found.