Philosophy & Meditation

Shiva Sutra 3.13: siddhaḥ svatantrabhāvaḥ // The state of absolute independence is already achieved.”

We know the word Siddha, as it is used to describe the teachers of our lineage. It means “realized practitioner” or “achieved practitioner”, but of course it refers to a state of being that is the result of profound spiritual work. These rare individuals possess a ‘state of absolute independance’, which is described as Svatantrya Shakti. Absolute independence can be interpreted also as the wish to not be ‘dependent’ on external objects or experience for our happiness— something we all seek. This independence, though is a quality that only Shiva can possess— According to Shiva Sutra 1.1, “From earth to Anāśrita Śiva all beings are dependent on the conscious being, Śiva…The singularly unique aspect of Lord Śiva is complete independence, Svātantrya. This complete independence is not found anywhere except in the state of Lord Śiva.” So one may ask themself, if Shiva is the only one who can possess this absolute independence, then how can I ever possess it too? This points to one of the key teachings of this Sutra— that the absolute independence we seek does not come from our possessing of an object or an experience, as the small self might believe, but is actually the result of surrendering objects and experiences in order to Rise Up to merge with our Shiva nature. It might seem like a catch-22 to the small self, but according to the teachings of the Sutras, and our lineage, Absolute independence is the result of Absolute Surrender. So if you really want to get what you want, pour your energy into surrendering it. 

Merging your individual AUM with Shiva’s AUM

To better understand and begin our work to merge with Shiva we can take a closer look at one of the key words in this sutra, “Svatantrya Shakti”. We saw this term in Sutra 2.7, when we were busy learning how the vibrations of the Sanskrit alphabet rise to become all of manifestation. There we learned that the first letter of the alphabet, ‘a’, represents our limited individual perception, and the last letter of the alphabet, ‘ha’, represents Shiva’s infinite experience of reality. The Sutra taught that if we combined these two letters with the single pointed focus of the sound ‘m’, that we could realize the power of Svatantrya Shakti, the vibratory power of the entire Sanskrit alphabet at once. 

We do this every time we repeat the AUM sound, which utilizes the same ‘m’ sound at the end. When we repeat the AUM sound, we begin with our individual sound and use our practice of surrender to merge with the greater experience of AUM. Repeat the AUM sound a few times now and feel yourself merge up with Shiva. This same experience applies to our daily practice off the cushion whenever we use our practice to merge our small individual level of reality to a more expansive experience of your awareness.