Re: other Yoga paths?
hariḥ oṁ
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Namasté DavidC,
Perhaps you can look at the approaches in more of a macro view.
Let me off the following for your kind consideration. Below is an offering of approaches (upāya¹), methods if you will.
The upāya-s listed below align with the śiva sūtra knowledge. This is by design. We will also see this alignment within the Vijñāna Bhairava kārikā-s. This work (Vijñāna Bhairava) is of great import, as Abhinavagupta-ji has termed it śiva-vijñāna upaniṣad.
According to Kṣemarāja (the commentator of the śiva sūtra vimarśinī)and the main śiṣya of Abjinavagupata, the great Kasmir Saivaite saint of the 10 century, the 3 sections of the śiva sūtra-s align accordingly to unfolding/traveling from individual consciousness to Unity/Universal Consciousness.
Here are the 3. Within these 3 catagories one could then place various techniques or approaches i.e. different yoga approaches you mentioned in your post would fit t into a catagory listed . ( Hope this helps to expand the conversation a bit).
1. sāmbhavopāya (sāmbhava upāya)
This upāya The rise of Śiva consciousness by mere hints from the guru. It is via iccha śākti that the sādhu advances; the grace/will of the master. The sadhu gains entry into sāmaveśa ( posessed of the Divine), absorption of the individual consciousness in the Divine, without adapting any process. No dhyāna, mantra or any other aid is needed.
1a. sāmbhavopāya is also known as anupāya or 'without means or no upāya' - the way is without a way, as one person has said it. It does not really involve any process. Due to śaktipata or descent of grace in a very intense degree, everything needed for the realization, beginning from the liquidation of individual impurity down to the recognition of the state of Parameśvara may be achieved by the sādhu immediately and without going through any sādhana or discipline.
2. śākopāya (shakti-upāya )
the means of approach to the Divine through śakti, the ever-recurring contemplation of the pure thought of oneself being essentially Śiva or the Supreme ahaṁ.
3. āṇavopāya
āṇu अणु = fine , minute , atomic is known as 'atom' - which is another name for the individual jiva. This upāya is the means whereby the āṇu or the individual jiva uses his own kāraṇa-s or instruments i.e. senses, prana and manas for self-realization. It includes disciplines concerning the regulation of prana, japa, concentration, meditation, etc.
praṇām
words
यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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