trika - points of interest
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté
I thought there may be some interest in this subject, so I have prepared a few posts on the matter.
From where does this trika view arise ? What are some of the salient points found in this school of thought ? Are their other subordinate views of thinking ? It is for a few people or for all that are interested ?
I hope to offer a few notions that may address some of these items for the interested reader. I do not offer it for debate as that (for me) takes the joy out of the pursuit; but present it to those with interest and perhaps questions on its significance and relevance to one's practice and study.
The audit trail on trika's lineage
Trika (tṛka) deals with 3 views of Reality – parā, parāpara and aparā as it is called out. These 3 levels or conditions are quite flexible as they reflect the quality or principle of sarvaṁ sarātmakam, which means everything is ( or is related) to everything else. It is a very pliable view of Reality.
One asks from where does this knowledge come ? Most notably the 1st stop brings us to the seer (ṛṣi) durvāsā¹ (some spell durvāsās). Yet the overall wisdom goes back to the origins of sat-yuga but I will hold off going back that far. I only mention this knowledge resided within the Supreme’s speech ( non-different then parāvāk) which suggests it’s an āgama ( from āgam – coming down, coming from) of the Supreme.
It is said durvāsā ṛiṣi received knowledge of the bhairava tantra from śrikaṇṭhanathā (śiva) Himself. Accordingly durvāsā ṛiṣi was instructed by śrikaṇṭhanathā to expand the thought of bhairava tantra in all the universe with no restriction to varna or jāti, male or female i.e. no restriction to birth, group/clan or class of people.
The first to receive his dīkṣā was tryambakanātha, his son. What is of special note this sisya (śiṣya) was a mind-born son. He also created two more mind born sons and a mind born daughter for the upliftment of the family of man. Her name was ardhatryambakā.
Why did durvāsā ṛiṣi pursue this venue? He was a brahhmacārī and therefore ūrdhvaretaḥ or one preserving ones sexual energy i.e. no displacement of śukra.
From father to mind-born-son and daughter, some of the children also created mind born śiṣya-s. It's said that 15 siddhas were created in this manner. It was this 15th siddha that was unsuccessful in creating mind born śiṣyas.
For this he searched for a female with all sattvic qualities to produce his children and śiṣyas. Up to this point it was always father-to-son initiation.
Starting with somānandanātha muni the dīkṣā began from master to disciple. It is from this lineage that abhinavagupta-ji came to be initiated into this great knowledge of kaśmir śaivism that I oft talk of, and from here svāmī lakmanjoo and his guru, svāmī mahatābakak and his guru svāmī rāmaḥ. Of which all can be traced back to durvāsā ṛiṣi.
It's interesting to note there are a few views on how durvāsā ṛiṣi divided up the teaching of Śaivāgama (Śiva-āgama-s). One view is the triad of advaita ( non-dual), dvaita (dual) and dvaitādvaita ( non-dual +dual). From this view ( offered by svāmī lakmanjoo):
- tryambakanātha received advaita ( non-dual) from durvāsā ṛiṣi
- amardaka received dvaita (dual) from durvāsā ṛiṣi
- Srinatha received dvaitādvaita ( non-dual +dual) ) from durvāsā ṛiṣi
The other view is the same recipients shown above , yet tryambakanātha's daughter founded a 4th school , some call this the third-and-one-half way and is identified with the kaula tradition, called kula-pratkriyā.
I mention this because abninavagupta-ji suggests there are 2 teachers well-qualified to teach Śaivism, that of Lajuliśa and Śrīkaṇṭha ( another name for Śiva). It is my understanding that Lajuliśa was the founder of the Paśupata-s; Śrīkaṇṭha, as mentioned in the quote above, gave the knowledge to durvāsā ṛiṣi , who then passed it on to the mind born śiṣya-s as mentioned.
What more can be said about this system ? I hope to point out some additional items in the next few posts.
iti śivaṁ
1. durvāsā - you will find this same seer called out in the mahābhārata, rāmāyaṇa and various purāṇa-s; He was the son of the great seer atri ( atri-ji is one of the original 7 seers). His name (durvāsas) interestingly enough means naked. Yet there is more; according to what you read he too was of an irascible nature based upon his name as durvasa - meaning difficult to stay with.
If one reads the origin of how durvāsā-ji came to be you will understand the meaning. No matter , he was a revered by all. He was the self-same seer that gave kuntī ( the mother of the pāṇḍava-s i.e. yudhiṣṭhira , bhīma , arjuna , nakula and sahadeva) the mantra-s to beget children from the devā-s for herself and mādrī, the other wife of pāṇḍu.
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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