Absolute Freedom: Shiva Sutra 3.13, Part One

Welcome to a new portion of your training, a meditative exploration of the Shiva Sutras!

The Shiva Sutras are a 1.000 year old text that form the foundation of the philosophical tradition known as Kashmir Shaivism. The first part of this name refers to the Northern portion of India where this tradition came into being and flourished, Kashmir. The second part, Shaivism, refers to the tradition’s use of Shiva as the focal point of their practice— a word used to represent the Inner Self of All, our True Nature.

The Shiva Sutras themself have a miraculous origin, although one need to ascribe to this theory in order to benefit from them. According to the story, they were inscribed on a stone in Kashmir by Shiva. Shiva then told a great sage, Vasagupta, where to find the stone in a dream. Vasagupta found the stone, and though it was many thousands of pounds, was able to turn it over with the slightest effort, revealing the Shiva Sutras. This rock, called Shankaropala, is still visited by devotees…Before we keep going here, it’s important to note that this story itself may be taken metaphorically, or literally, depending on how it can serve you and not distract you. For an individual who feels an affinity to magic, or super heroics, a story like this may inspire an open heart— for an individual who relates more to science and logic, a story like this may feel more like an obstacle than an impetus. Maybe it’s a little bit of both for you— In my opinion, the more important story is not how it came to be, but rather how it has inspired and supported so many practitioners on their path to growth for over a thousand years.

The Shiva Sutras have been used for practice, commented upon, and passed down by countless realized practitioners century after century. These particular individuals, such as the sage Ksemaraja whose comments are bound to the text itself from the year 1200 onwards, are not just philosophers, but practitioners who have literally experienced the light of their true nature first hand. This text was given to our tradition by Swami Muktananda, one of Sri ShambhavAnanda’s Gurus. When studying with Swami Muktananda, Sri ShambhavAnanda was told to read this text in order to help illuminate the experiences he had throughout his Sadhana (spiritual practice). Upon reading the text, Sri ShambhavAnanda said that it was as if he was literally reading a book about his own life in meditation, they rang so true for him. We may not have the same feeling as Sri ShambhavAnanda, as he is a realized practitioner, but we can trust that this text has been affirmed and confirmed by countless teachers and does not represent merely a singular perspective on the path of Yoga, but an objective guidebook to the top of a mountain, confirmed century after century by those who have been to the summit themselves.

The Shiva Sutras, and the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism which would grow from it, introduce the concept of Non-Dualism, which means that the Divinity that we seek in our practice is not separate from us, but literally is us. This is a shift away from the conception of ‘dualistic’ reality depicted by preceding philosophies, known as Vedic philosophy, which saw the divine as separate from the ‘messy reality’ we all find ourselves in. According to Non-dualism, though, nothing in reality is separate from the Divine— “There is nothing that exists that is not Shiva” is the aphorism used to describe this phenomenon, and though it’s easy to say, it takes a tremendous amount of practice to truly live and comprehend. In Non-dualism, our work is to surrender the obscurations (obstacles) that prevent us from seeing the divine in ourselves and in our reality. This is not a concept that can be understood by the mind, because the mind is literally a tool we use to separate objects in our reality in order to navigate that reality, ie. its good to be able to see the difference between a door and a wall when trying to enter a room (thanks mind!). Non-dualism, on the other hand, is less like a map, and more like a compass— a way of directing our energy towards our growth. Described by Iineage teacher Swami Rudrananda as a “state of being”.

As you can already see, the Shiva Sutras are a powerful and ancient text digging deeply into our work as a Yogis. For this reason, we work with this text in a group setting in our tradition. The conversation is led by Acharya Satyam, and a majority of those attending are individuals who have spent years committing to their practice in ShambhavAnanda Yoga. There are also many in attendance that are new to meditation, brand new or just weeks into their practice. Maybe that’s you, maybe not— no matter how much experience you have we hope that these classes help you go beyond the text and into the heart of your practice.

Though these classes are recorded, the class itself is presented in a Live-Online format every other Thursday. If you find these recordings beneficial, and would like to participate in the Live-Online format, feel free to reach out to us at Konalani for the Zoom Link ( or it can be found by clicking the Zoom Links button at the top of the blog).

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

Taking a look at the words of the Sutra itself, 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 beyond definitions. As this Sutra tells us, these rare individuals possess a ‘state of absolute independance’, written in the Sutra as Svatantrya Bhavah. You can understand Absolute independence as not being ‘dependent’ on external objects or experience for our happiness— something Babaji calls ‘being happy for no reason’. 

The Sutras tell us that this absolute 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 can not be ‘possessed’ by our small self, but only experienced by using our practice to Rise Up to merge with our True Shiva Nature. It might seem like a catch-22 to the small self, but according to the teachings of the Sutras, if you really want to get what you want in life, pour your energy into surrender. 

Prompt 1: Rising Up with AUM

To better understand and begin our work of rising up 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 up to become the tattvic map 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’, we 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 then, through our practice, rise up to merge with the greater experience of AUM. Repeat the AUM sound a few times now and feel how you rise up to merge up with something higher. This same experience applies to our daily practice off the cushion— how can you use your practice today to rise up to merge your individual experience or reality into something more expansive?

Sangha Reflections:

“I was practicing with AUM, coming into the present and surrendering while driving today, and I really noticed a big difference- instead of just focusing on getting to the next point I was really enjoying the drive in a peaceful way”-Marcella, North Carolina

“The single point of focus changed the whole game. Through this practice my son Nick, who was in ER with a heart condition, turned his condition around and I stayed centered and was not as afraid as I normally would have been.”-Sevananda, Chicago

“I set the inner goal of wanting to experience Shiva through what I’m doing: chopping vegetables to experience shiva, doing dishes to experience shiva. And it always comes when I’m not expecting it. It seems like the mind just gets in the way of understanding what universal consciousness actually is.” - Tashi, Shoshoni

Prompt 2: Owning Your Shiva Nature

The second perspective in the Sutra that helps to illuminate our path to realization is that of beginning to ‘own’ your Shiva Nature, the source of your Svatantrya Shakti. The Sutra writes, “This was said by the great yogī Śrī Nāthapāda: “You must own that energy of absolute independence which is really the energy of Bhairava.”

One of the foundations of our non-dual philosophy is that not only are we not separate from Shiva, we are Shiva, just in Shiva’s concealed form. And as we know, it is through our practice that we ’unveil’ and eventually ‘recognize’ our Shiva nature. ‘Owning this energy’ of Shiva is the practice of detaching from our limited view of reality and trying to ‘feel’ ourselves as Shiva experiencing the moment we’re in. This means that no matter what emotion you are experiencing, you have to rise above it and remind yourself that this is Shiva experiencing this emotion— you’ve got to own this power of surrender. It’s Shiva reading this essay, and Shiva eating dessert. It’s also Shiva feeling frustrated with someone at work, or Shiva disagreeing with the news. In every case we have a choice, to buy into our small self’s perspective, or own our Shiva perspective.

So today, try to see a few situations of your day through the lens of Shiva, and watch it carry you towards the independent state of awareness promised in this Sutra.

Sangha Reflections:

“Reflecting on myself as Shiva snaps me into the perspective shift that allows for gratitude, and the ability to notice everything around me as fuel for growth.” -Dharma, Chicago

“On a particularly challenging day I could go inside and melt into what I would describe as the void, and it helped me so much, the difficulties dissolved.”-Swami Devananda, Shoshoni

“Walking back form teaching yoga at Shoshoni, I saw the snow melting from the trees, becoming water that nourishes the earth, and felt these different forms as one Shiva.”-Ture, Shoshoni

“Watching the video podcast and seeing the sangha faces I realized that we’re all different aspects of Shiva, just experiencing reality from our different locations, in different bodies, eyes, and breath”-Mahadev, Kansas

“The reflection that I am shiva helps me shift away from judgment, accepting, and rejecting and be completely with ‘what is’, to be the ocean instead of the rain drop.”-Tara, Virgina

“When feeling frustrated on my day off I just stopped and asked myself ‘how is this moment an experience of the ‘true independence of shiva’. At first I didn’t know how I was going to make it through this heavy feeling, but I just got quiet and started breathing, and it was gone! It made me so grateful that our practice can make an unpleasurable experience into an expansive state of Shiva ”-Jatila, Eldorado Ashram