Kashmir Shaivism: Encyclopedia II - Kashmir Shaivism - Shaivism in relation to other religions or spiritual paths

Kashmir Shaivism - Shaivism in relation to other religions or spiritual paths

The schools of Shaivism have an attitude that most of the time do not conform to the accepted Brahmanic tradition. Shaivism is not exclusively based upon the Veda-s, therefore it cannot be said that Shaivism is a prolongation of the Veda-s. Shaivism has discovered a new path toward God that is even more profound than the one outlined in the Veda-s. The main differences between these two systems come from the introduction of the concept of Sakti, The Power or The Energy of God. This concept does not appear in the Veda-s with the same clarity. Compared to the Veda-s, Shaivism is a new spiritual path that is more direct and that can offer the highest realisation here and now, in this lifetime.

The Kashmir Shaivism is considered by some to be the most pure, elevated and direct spiritual path. It is extremely interesting to note that this path is very close to the esoteric Christianity. In Kashmir Shaivism, just as in Christianity, the main emphasis is placed on the Divine Grace and on the awakening of the Heart. There are many accounts about the fact that Jesus actually travelled, during the ’missing 18 years’, through India and Tibet and that he stayed for a long time in Kashmir, according to some Tibetan documents. Even though there is a gap of many centuries from the time of Jesus since the first works on the Kashmir Shaivism were put on paper, there are nevertheless striking similarities between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Kashmir Shaivism.

Kashmir Shaivism also has a very strong tantric influence. Moreover, it can be rightly said that the tradition of the Kashmir Shaivism is the most pure and elevated form of tantrism. In Kashmir Shaivism, just as in tantrism, the main idea is that everything is intimately related to everything else, like in a holographic model of the universe. In this way, every aspect of Creation, even the most insignificant, is closely and directly related to any other aspect. In this vision, the whole Universe is in fact a gigantic web of virtual resonant fields that occur between each anu (’atom’) of the Universe and all the other anu-s. In both tantric and modern quantum physics vision, both space and time have a holographic structure, and this means that every particle of space virtually contains, due to specific resonances, all the other particles. Thus, the part is reflected in the whole and the whole is reflected in the part. In the same way, each particle of time (each ’moment’) contains in it all eternity. By deeply knowing one single moment, we can know the whole eternity, and by knowing deeply one single atom we can know the whole universe. This is possible because of resonance, a concept permeating the Kashmir Shaivism under the name of spanda, mantra or sakti, in general. It is deeply significant that nowadays resonance becomes more and more important in modern science.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Shaivism in relation to other religions or spiritual paths", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki