THE SPANDA KRIKS WITH COMMENTARY BY KHEMARJA

(week seven)
*translations by Christopher Tompkins 2011, www.shaivayoga.com

Spanda Yoga (part B): the liberating power of mantras (continued)

yasmt sarvamayo jva sarvabhva-samudbhavt |

tat-savedana-rpea tdtmya-pratipattita || SK 28 ||
tasmc-chabdrtha-cintsu na svasth na y iva |
bhoktaiva bhogyabhvena sad sarvatra sasthita || SK 29 ||
Since the soul is one with the [objective] universe out of which all things
come into existence, when it perceives that [objective world], it perceives a
projection of itself. Therefore there is no reality within thoughts, words, or in
their meanings that is not hiva. It is the enjoyer alone who always and
everywhere exists as the object of enjoyment.
KHEMARJA-[The term] soul, refers to the perceiving [inner] witness. It contains [within itself] the
[objective] universe. It is possessed of hiva, who embodies the universe. Because he is
the [source] cause [of everything], there is no reality which is not hiva, for he is
imbued within all words, that is to say within [anything] that can be expressed, in their
meanings, that is to say in their objective existence, and in thoughts, or in the [3]
phases of cognitive awareness that generate mental activity, beginning with the knower
(the soul).* hiva alone appears as everything that exists. That is the meaning here.
*Note. Here the knower is synonymous for the witnessing subject (pramt),
who generates both the act of knowing (prama) and the objective world that is
known (prameya), as presented in earlier stanzas and discussed in earlier classes
(refer to our week 2 handout).
KHEMARJA
Since this is the case, the perceiver (soul) is comprised of pure consciousness
alone. When interacting with the many expressions of objective reality, such as
reality levels (tattvas) and various worlds [of experience] constituted by
[objective] forms, such as the color blue and the physical body, [ones
consciousness] is not increased, nor is it lessened, for there is nothing which
separates the experience from what is experienced.

The venerable hr Vmana1 has taught

Since an object is sustained by consciousness, it has no independent existence. Therefore
consciousness contains everything that can be perceived within itself.
Werner Heisenberg, who discovered the Uncertainty Principle in 1927, which
proved that the objective world is not an independent reality but is dependent on
consciousness
In modern physics, atoms possess geometrical qualities in no higher degree
than color, taste, etc.only the experiment of an observer forces the atom to
indicate a position, a color and a quantity of heat. All the qualities of the atom of
modern physics are derived [from the observer]. It [the atom] has no immediate
and direct physical properties at all. Science no longer is in the position of
observer of nature, but rather recognizes itself as part of the interplay between
man and nature. The scientific method ... changes and transforms its object: the
procedure can no longer keep its distance from the object.
The chain of cause and effect could be quantitatively verified only if the whole
universe were considered as a single systembut then physics has vanished,
and only a mathematical scheme remains. The partition of the world into
observing and observed system prevents a sharp of the law of cause and effect.
NOTE. In other words, if there is an objective world that exists separate from
consciousness, than the phenomenon of cause-and-effect cannot be real. But of
course, this phenomenon is what defines the natural world.

iti v yasya savitti krtvenkhila jagat |

sa payan satata yukto jvanmukto na saaya || SK 30 ||
For the one who continually perceives the entire universe to be a play of
consciousness, he undoubtedly becomes liberated while living (jvanmukta).
KHEMARJA
JvanmuktaIs one [whose awareness] is immersed in that [state of continual
identification with Spanda]; he lives as a Great Yog, a master of his own pra,
whose bondage has been burned up by the fire of wisdom (vijngni).* When

From his Svabodhodayamajar, The Flowering Forth of Ones Own Enlightenment. Vmana,
a.k.a. Hraswantha, is the 3rd master of the Krama lineage of Kahmiri haivism, who flourished
in the early 10th century.

the [defiled body] has fallen, he becomes hiva alone. Thus, how can there be
bondage for a person who is alive but has been released from it?
[The term] undoubtedly [liberated] refers to those act which burns up
[bondage], namely the ritual of initiation and those which follow. Liberation
comes through faith in the guru, and from faith in oneself when cultivating
knowledge through engagement in [daily yoga] practice.
NOTE: the fire of wisdom (vijngni). This is a technical term for the culmination of
the daily yoga ritual of internal worship, performed after all five elemental mantras
have been raised into the crown lotus (ucchra), in KRAMA #5-6 (see Overview of
Tantrik Yoga Sdhana handout, from week 6). Also known as the fire of time (klgni),
the practice refers to the final immolation of the tainted subtle body (KRAMA #7), after
which the sonic nectar of immortality (amita) is drawn down from the crown lotus in
order to create a pure mantric body for the yog, within which his soul, now fused to
Lord hiva, is placed, upon a mantric throne (yogapha) within the heart lotus (see
KRAMA #8, same handout).

ayamevodayas tasya dhyeyasya dhyyi cetasi |

tadtmat-sampattir icchata sdhakasya y || SK 31 ||
yamevmtaprptir ayam evtmano graha |
iya nirvadk ca ivasadbhvadyin || SK 32 ||
According to the willpower of the practitioner, the surging forth of that
[playful reality of universal consciousness] as a focal point felt in ones
awareness leads an experience of Self-hood that is immersed in that [reality].
This alone is what it means to attain the nectar [of immortality], this alone
[is what it means] to grasp the Self, who consists of iva, as bestowed [upon
the initiate in the ritual of] liberating initiation (nirvadk).
NOTE. The pervasion of immoral nectar (amita).
As referred to here, to attain the nectar denotes the final step (KRAMA, #8) of the
internal worship ritual (antar-yga), or daily yoga sdhana (practie) required of all
tantric initiates (regardless of lineage). Please refer to the revised Overview of Tantrik
Yoga Sdhana handout, send in week 7, (KRAMA #8).

KHEMARJA
Here in this verse it is connoted that One who worships hiva becomes hiva.
Thereafter [the surge of hiva consciousness] is felt in ones awareness,

meaning in ones own tangible experience, as derived from the reflection that
there is no reality othernthan hiva.
The following affirmative statementhiva is a mass of blissful consciousness,
perceived as identical to the embodied universe! I can only be hiva! bestows the
reward [of liberation] upon that one who can [affirm this] without the arising of
residual mental pre-occupations [stemming from less than 100% belief in this
truth]. Ones focused attention [when this affirmation is made] is on the
mantra-deities. Truly, how could [hiva] not appear right before the one who
devotedly adheres to the gradually arising realization, that there is no duality
within He who contains all that there is?
As was proclaimed by my great-grand teacher (Utpaladeva)
O Lord! O Beloved One! You are clearly present as the entire field of this subtle
world (i.e. body)! Where in this sacred space will a mantra not bear fruit for
those who are devoted [to you]?
KEMARJA
So in approaching [the subject of] immortal nectar from the standard point of
view as it is presented in all of the tantras, the Svacchandatantra it says
Thus through contemplating that immortal nectar, one becomes victorious over
death, which is associated with time. Svacchanda Tantra 7.226a.

KHEMARJA
Now what it means to really acquire that [nectar] is conveyed in the next
statement [the second half of the Svacchanda verse]
That is to say, one who is established in the Supreme reality is not constricted by
any trajectory of time. Svacchanda Tantra 7.226b.

KHEMARJA
The central message [of the second half of the Svacchandatantra verse is that] one
should realize that hiva and hakti constitute the universe. Only one who
maintains this conviction is liberated while living (jvanmukta). Time can never
disturb one who constantly meditates on hiva [in this way]. The Yog actively
participates [in life] independent [of the delusion of time and its psychological
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effects] through applying the Yoga [practices] of the Svacchanda [Tantra].* He

then proceeds to the state of unity with Svacchanda[-bhairava, i.e. supreme
hiva], having immersed in the realm of Svacchanda [the Automous One, i.e.
hiva as Bhairava]. [That Yog] becomes Svacchanda[bhairava] alone...
independent of time and therefor death.

NOTE. The cult of Svacchanda Bhairava (Autonomous Bhairava).

The extensive Svacchanda Tantra was the most celebrated and honored Tantra in
Kashmir in Khemarjas time. Its appeal came from its philosophically neutral
stance, which made it attractive to all Tantrik lineages, combined with its
detailed prescriptions on yoga which drew from and expanded upon the tantras
of the more simplified and archaic haiva Siddhnta, the base lineage of Tantrik
haivism, particularly the Klottara Tantra (Beyond Time Tantra, ca. 6th-7th
centuries A.D.), from which the Svacchanda derives most of its time language
and yoga prescriptions such as we see in 7.266. Svacchanda-bhairava
(Autonomous Bhairava; see below), the chief deity of the Svacchanda cult, is the
fierce aspect of hiva, whose five heads are modeled after Sadiva (Universal
hiva) the chief deity of the haiva Siddhnta. The verse replicated here
(Svacchanda Tantra 7.266) is separated into two subjects by Khemarjahe
defines the first line of the verse as a mundane description of the flow of amita,
as found in all tantras (= KRAMA 8 of daily yoga practice; see revised handout
Overview of Tantrik Yoga), while he artificially renders the second line (7.266b)
to be a mystical practice of simply venerating the nectar of hiva everywhere,
apart from the yoga practice referred to in 7.266a. But Khemarja also composed
a massive commentary in the Svacchanda Tantra itself, evidently before
composing this commentary on the Spanda Kriks. In his commentary on the
Svacchanda, he makes no such distinction between the two lines of 7.266. For a
translation of this verse and Khemarjas comments, see the appendix to the
Overview of Daily Tantrik Sdhana handout from week 6).

Bhairava, with consort Aghorehwar2

BhairavaFearsome One
(pronounced bhay-ruh-vuh)

Aghorehwar --Goddess of Fearlessness

(pronounced uh-gor-esh-war-ee)

Drawn by Ekabhumi (ekabhumi@gmail.com)

III. The Pulsation of Divine Power (vibhtispanda): Living while

liberated (jvanmukti) in the state of hiva Consciousness
yathecchbhyarthito dht jgrato 'rthn hdi sthitn |
somasryodaya ktv sampdayati dehina || SK 33 ||
tath svapne'py-abhrthn praayasynatikramt |
nitya sphuatara madhye sthito'vaya prakayet || SK 34 ||
Having effected the rise of the [fused] moon and sun, the Sustainer, who is
summoned forth by Icch [-akti], bestows the rewards abiding in the heart
of the embodied one who is awake; that is to say the Sustainer inevitably
causes the manifestation, specifically during the [state of] dream, of the
objective sought by [a yog] who does not desist in his devotional request,
which is always clearly manifested in [his] central [channel].
KHEMARJA
[The term] Sustainer refers to the one who contains everything within himself,
namely hakara, meaning to say that [the term connotes] his very nature [as
Sustainer of the universe]. Accordingly, that [Sustainer] is recognized by the
embodied one who is awake, [meaning] he is the state of absolute freedom
which has manifested itself in [the yogs] waking consciousness. [The term]
Embodied [connotes] that the abode [of hiva is the] body, within which [hiva]
is summoned forth by the [power of] desire [Icch-akti] who fuses together
[the breaths] in the heart. [hiva] is worshipped [by the yog] for [the
acquirement of] goals held in the [devotees] heart, where [the yogs] awareness
[is placed]
First [the devotee] discerns [in his heart the fusion of] nda (inhalation) and
bindu (exhalation).* The manifestation of sought after rewards results [from the
yogic practice] that begins [with the yog] leading his [own] awareness to the
pathway [suhumn] wherein the awakened syllable is visually activated into a
vibrational state [within the heart].
How is this done? By effecting the rise of the [fused] sun and moon, that is to
say Kriy [-akti] and Jna [-akti], wherein Jnaakti is the power of
awareness (exhalation), and Kriyakti is the power that activates (inhalation).

[During this fusion,] the Supreme Lord, who has entered the body of the Yog,
manifests in the transitional opening (equinox) at the phase [in the breath cycle]
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as permeating rays of light between the left and right

heart], wherein the expansion of Kriy [-akti fused
experienced as a pulsation into which is applied the
embodies the light of awakening into which [the
awareness].

[breath] flows [in the

to] jna [-sakti] is
root [mantra], which
yog] immerses [his

NOTE: Nda, Bindu, and the internal flow of the Breath Goddesses.
When Kualin or Par (Supreme) hakti, the source power of hiva who
resides at the crown lotus (chakra), commences the act of creation, that is to say
when the life-giving subtle inhalation first descends from the crown of the
head, she morphs into Kriy-hakti, the power of activation, who descends as
Nda (inarticulate sound resonance). At the palate, she meets with inhaled air,
and descends further into coils into the heart, as the tangible inhalation. Once in
the heart, hakti coils up again into a seed point (Bindu) in preparation for the
exhalation. This is the visual counterpart of Kualin, who is the mother
(mtk) of all sounds and consciousness. She briefly coils in the heart before
springing upwards via the out-breath, governed by Jna-hakti (the power
that discerns an objective universe), out of the Bindu (seed point) when we utter
letters or words. The Bindu is the seed of Lord hiva, who sprouts in the fire
that is kindled in the heart by the fusion of the moon and sun breaths in that
location during breath retention (kumbhaka).
Par hakti.
In the culmination of the daily prescribed Tantrik yoga ritual of internal worship,
once the rising mantric power ascends into the crown lotus, the Goddess appears
in her supremely beautiful form, literally as Par (supreme) hakti, who
resembles the light of the moon, of immortal nectar. Par is also known as She
who is beyond peace (hntyatt) and the Pervasive One (Vyp); see notes
from the week 6 handout. This same highest power is Kualin, who uncoils
or emits the immortal nectar of hiva consciousness down into the body through
the suhumn (instead of the n) from the crown lotus in the final phase
(KRAMA) of yoga practice, as mentioned above (see Overview of Tantrik Yoga
handout, revised and sent this week). The following drawing was taken from
prescriptions given to the artist, Ekabhumi, from the Mlinvijayottara Tantra (ca.
7th century A.D.)3--

Ekabhumi (ekabhumi@gmail.com)

Par hakti.

The 5 vital breaths (pra-vyus) when engaged in Tantrik Yoga practice.

Pra-Vyu

hakti

Luminary

location

State of
consciousness

apna

Kriy-hakti

Moon

Jagrat

downward
inhalation

(Power of
activity)

(lunar breath
course)

(lunar channel)

(waking)

pra

Jna-hakti

Sun

pigal n

Svapna

reversing
exhalation

(Power of
discernment)

(solar breath
course)

(solar channel)

(dream)

Moon-sun
fusion (haha)

suhumn
n,

into a coil of
fire (kualin)

at heart

Fire
ascending

suhumn
n,

samna

Icch-hakti

centering of
the 2 breaths
(kumbhaka)

(Power of
volition) a.k.a.
kualin-hakti

udna

Icch-hakti

ascent (of the

utterance), i.e.
vocalization

(Power of
volition)
Rekhin-hakti4

vyna

Par-hakti

amita

descending
pervasion of
amita

(Pervasive
one), a.k.a.
Kualin-hakti

suhumn
n,

(immortal
lunar nectar)

crown of the
head into body

Suhupta
(dreamless
sleep)

Tury
(4th state)

heart to crown

Turytt

(beyond the 4th

state)

Rekhin means She who forms a straight line, that is to say the upward uncoiling via the
suhumn of her initially coiled form (kualin) when the yog releases the mantra vocally
through the udna vyu (ascending vocalic wind) powered by the coil of fused breaths (sunmoon).

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[NOTE: here I replicate SK 33-34 to avoid scrolling back up--]

Having effected the rise of the [fused] moon and sun, the Sustainer, who is summoned
forth by Icch [-akti], bestows the rewards abiding in the heart of the embodied one who
is awake; that is to say the Sustainer inevitably causes the manifestation, specifically
during the [state of] dream, of the objective sought by [a yog] who does not desist in his
devotional request. It is always clearly manifested in [his] central [channel].
KHEMARJA
[SK 33-34] follow what is taught [in the Vijna Bhairava]5
angaty nidry vinae bhyagocare |
svasth manas gamy par dev prakate || -VB 75.
When sleep has not [yet] come [but] the exterior world has disappeared, the mind is to be
focused on that place [where] the Supreme Goddess blossoms forth. Vijna Bhairava
75.
Comment by CT. As confirmed by Khemarja6 and Mahehwarnanda,7 this is a
replication of verse 55 (quoted below), wherein sleep refers to the yogic sleep (yoganidr) attained at that transitional place in between the in-breath and the out-breath, in
the heart lotus. There it is the mind itself that goes to sleep, as it gets absorbed into the
manifestation of the source hakti (Kualin).

pn ca durbal akti dhytv dvdaagocare |

praviya hdaye dhyyan svapnasvtantryam pnuyt || -VB 55.
One is to meditate on the full and attenuated [phases] of hakti within the range of 12.
The one who enters into the heart during this meditation attains the autonomous state of
[yogic] sleep. Vijna Bhairava 55.
Comment by CT. The Range of 12 here refers to the three sections of the subtle body
traversed by the arising subtle breath1). Heart to throat, 2). Throat to 3rd eye, and 3).
3rd eye to the crown. The sheer energetic density of the centralized coiled pra in the
heart (Kualin), suddenly releases, like a spring, up the suhumn. Khemarja
specifically glosses sleep in this verse to mean yogic-sleep (yoga-nidr), not ordinary
sleep (see prior comment).

KHEMARJA
5

Note that CTs 8 week tele-course on the Vijna Bhairava is now available for download at
www.shaivayoga.com/offerings.
6
He quotes VB 75 in his commentary to verses 3.1-2 of the Spanda Kriks.
7
He quotes VB 75 in his auto-commentary to his Mahrthamajar, verse 71.

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[back to comments on SK 32-33>>] Thus in accordance with this teaching [of the
Vijna Bhairava], the Sustainer (hiva) appears in the suhumn channel in the
center [of the body, i.e. the heart]. He manifests in a clearly discernable form,
arising out of the yogic sleep of the [yog] whose continual devotion doesnt
desist, meaning to say of the one whose focus toward the Lord does not waver
as his awareness is drawn towards the initial emergence [in the heart of that]
akti who embodies [pure] consciousness [Icch-akti, as she] emerges from the
fire stick (arai) when both the emitter (in-breath) and the devourer (out-breath)
are held together [in the heart, during internal kumbhaka].

Vedic fire stick (arai).

Vedic homa sacrifice (yaja).

Fire Stick (by CT).

Khemarja refers here to a common visual metaphor found in the Tantras, the
image of the kindling stick (arai) traditionally used to stoke the sacred fire in
the Vedic altar for the performance of homas (sacrificial offerings to the gods). In
the Tantrik subtle body, the arai has become the very act of internal breath
retention, which creates a friction between the retained inhalation and
exhalation, which are forcefully fused together (hahayoga). This kindles a fire,
born of the fusion of the light of the moon (inhalation) and the sun (exhalation)
in the heart, at the opening to the central suhumn channel.

12

The term emitter refers to the inbreath because it generates new life with the
oxygen that is taken in; the exhalation is called the devourer (grsa) because it
devours up the span of ones life. But taken yogically, the term devourer is
used positivelyfor example, Kl is called Klasakari, She who devours
time. So the point of Khemarjas allusion to the fire-stick is to show that the
subtle fire generated in the heart during the fusion of the moon and sun in
breath-retention creates therein a concentrated vibration of mantric power that
coils (kualin) all of the bodys vital energy (pra-vyus) to itself in the heart.
This forms the fire of hiva (Bhairava), of the Supreme Goddess (Par). When she
uncoils in an ascending trajectory, the Goddess, surging upward as a sacred
syllable, rises as a column of subtle fire, devouring all of the impurity (mala)
stuck in the granthis along the central channel that creates debilitating,
contracted, time-bound egoic awareness that obscures our own hiva
consciousness.

KHEMARJA
Appearing in the suhumn, in the dream state, [hiva] bestows the rewards
desired, to a yog whose mental mirror has been polished by the rasa of
immersion [into hiva, according to whether] it is a minute immersion (ava), an

13

empowered immersion (hkta), an a immersion in which one immediately

became hiva (mbhava), or the next one.
The Four Samvehas (immersions into hiva consciousness).
*The first three immersions into divine consciousness is a doctrine first presented in the
Mlinvijayottara Tantra (2.19b-23) the core text of the Kahmirian Trika lineage to which
Khemarja belongs. The goddess worship noted in #2, however, was imported from the
Krama lineage by his teacher, Abhinavagupta, who presented a sophisticated version of
four immersions in his magnum opus, the Light on the Tantras (Tantrloka 1.169 fwd.,
5.155 fwd.)

1. ava (minute) immersion = when the yog is naturally impelled to

perform the physical daily practice of Tantric Yoga as his means to
liberation.
2. kta (empowered) immersion = when the yog now performs the subtler
practice of worshipping the Goddesses as the phases of his own cognition,
in order to reach liberation.
3. mbhava (aiva) immersion = enlightenment is attained through a
sudden realization, especially from the glance of an awakened guru.
4. The other? Here Khemarja may be referring to his teachers 4th level,
called the non-method (anupya), in which realization comes from
nothing happening and with no effort.

anyath tu svatantr syt sis taddharmakatvata |

satata laukikasyeva jgratsvapnapadadvaye || SK 35 ||
Otherwise, [for the yog who does not regularly and devotedly attune to the
spanda point in the heart], the Goddess automatically will continually
present [to his awareness] all kinds of objects, in both the waking and dream
states, just as She does for ordinarily people.
KHEMARJA
If the yog does not devote himself regularly to [identifying with] the sustainer
of the universe, as just taught, then he does not continually remain in attunement
with his true essential being, the Supreme Goddess whose nature is to present
things, meaning objective targets [of perception] which leads to judgments
about [those] objects which may appear universally [to everyone] or particularly
[to oneself]; this occurs in both the waking and dream states for yogs (who get
slack), just as it does for ordinary people. The point is that the [ordinary
14

experience of the Goddess] places the common person as well as the yog into
that [painful] pit of sasra.
Note: Here sasra, transmigration, or circularity, refers to the average mental
state of most people, i.e. one that is governed by the constant, circulating chatter
of thoughts (citta-vitti) that comes from constantly judging the physical world
perceived by our senses, as well the subtle (but still objective) world of our
emotions and thoughts. It is thus citta-vitti which obscures ones highest, hivaSelf.
Contemplation: What happens to my mental experience of sasra when I am
engaged in a peak experience? What is a peak experience, and where is it coming
from?

yath hy artho 'sphuo da svadhne'pi cetasi |

bhya sphuataro bhti svabalodyogabhvita || SK 36 ||
tath yatparamrthena yena yatra yath sthitam |
tat tath balam kramya na cirt sampravartate || SK 37 ||
In the case of an ordinary person, when an object which has remained
visually obscure despite ones focused attention gradually appears clearly,
this is due to [the persons] concentrated effort that is guided by an inner
power. On the other hand, whenever [the yog] engages that [same inner]
power, he can quickly manifest into reality the highest expression of
whatever he desires, whenever he desires it.
KEMARJA
In the case of the yog, he actively practices engaging [that inner] power,
namely the Spanda principle, found to be the very ground of his inner perceiver
(witness) which projects his intellect and body. [The yog here means one] who
repeatedly kindles [that power] whenever he wants to install [the sacrificial fire
of Kualin] into his body, for whichever supreme object he wishes to have,
such as gold and so on, in whatever form he wishes to have it in.

15