The ultimate aim of both Samkhya-yoga & Vedanta is mukti (liberation). By mukti, both means Kaivalya, perfect isolation or Soleness. Samkhya-yoga aims at isolation from Prakriti whileVedanta aims at isolation from Maya. According to samkhya-yoga, Self is sacchit (existance-consciousness) & there is nothing higher then Purusha. According to Vedanta, self or Aatma is Sacchidananda (existence- consciousness- bliss) & is identical with Brahman.
The ultmate aim of Shaivagama is not simply mukti or self-realisation but 'Shaivatva-yogya, aquiring the status of Shiv. In Vedanta, self is merely Gyan, devoid of any activity. In Shaivagama, self is characterised by both Gyan & kriya. Here Aatma-vyapti is a lower goal, the highst goal is Shiva-vyapti, which is nothing but Shiv- Shakti- samarasya, fusion & union of Shiv-Shakti. Here the Universe appears as a magnificent expression of Shiv's- one's own- Shakti.
Shaktopaya, Anavopaya.
Sati: Does mind allow the jeeva to evolve as The Shiv?
Shiv: The mind whose main characteristic is Vikalpa (thought- construct) acts as a barrier & does not allow the jeeva to have a view of reality, shining within himself. Only with dissolution of vikalpa, the screen that hides the essential reality, the essential divine self from the jeeva is removed. That reality is not to be achieved but uncovered. There is a vikalpa here, neither accept, nor reject, it will retire on itself & the jeeva will find what he is. This is an Artless Art. It is most difficult making this as a habbit, while attempting it, the mind begins to make all kinds of vikalpa, Very few mortals can be vikalpa free. For them there is another Upaya.
Sati : Is this Upaya easy to follw?
Shiv: The 2nd Upaya is Shaktopaya. Here the jeeva has to resort to Maha-shakti mentally to experience the potency of Mantra, that will prove to be his saviour. Here the jeeva has to resort to his Chit-Shakti ( the Divine I-consciousness) for realization. That's why it is called Shaktopaya., also known as Shaktayoga, Mantropaya. It says catch hold of one Shuddha vikalpa.
Sati: What is Shuddha & Ashddha vikalpa?
Shiv: In Ashddha vikalpa, jeeva considers himself bound in wrong conception about himself. These are the ideas & beliefs based on which his Phycho-physical organism,he considers his mind-body complex to be the Self.
The shuddha vikalpa (correct mental attitude & belief) is the unlimited consciousness, transcending all limited expressions of reality from Earth upto Shiv. The practice of this shuddha vikalpa is Shaktopaya.
Sati: Can the highest reality or Param-Shiv be brought within the range of vikalpas?
Shiv: The highest reality is everywhere in every way self-luminous. Vikalpa can neither help or hinder it. In fact the highest reality can not be brought under any practice or discipline. Nothing can anything be added or removed from the highest reality or Shiv.
Sati: Then what is the utility of shuddha vikalpa?
Shiv: The utility of shuddha vikalpa is in removing the sense of duality which is the ignorance of jeeva's essential nature. This sense of duality is annulled by shuddha vikalpa. It works by the Mantra-shakti.Mantra means to reflect, to be aware of, which saves. Shakti signifys the expansion of the potency of the mantra..
Mantra is that mental awareness by which jeeva can identify with the highest reality thus saving himself from the sense of seperateness & different characteristics of the world. In Shaktopaya, consciousness as Shakti or the power is the guiding principle. Shakti assumes the form of mantra. The mind of the jeeva is so intensly identified with the deity of the mantra that he becomes that mantra itself. Therefore the nature of the mantra is to be examined first. The mantra leads the jeeva to that divine I-consciousness, which is the creative Shakti of the Supreme. Since that I-consciousness is the Shakti of Shiv, pondering over that Shakti is Shaktopaya, which leads to the absorption of the Jeeva into the divine self of Shiv.
To aquire mantra-shakti, the jeeva has to approach a Guru, or spiritual director who imparts the mantra with his grace & instills chaitanya shakti or power of consciousness in it & teaches him the mystry of the mantra.
The total life of the jeeva who had received full enlightenment about the mantra-shakti, changes, he is God oriented, his whole life becomes Yoga. His formal rituals are changed into spiritual practice. Instead of pouring oblation of ghee, barley etc into fire, he pours his thought of the gross & subtle bodies as the self in to the fire of chitta(Universal consciousness)by means ob Bhavana. All objects actually abide in God- with this purifying thought such jeeva offeres everything to God by bhavana. This
is his Yoga or sacrifice.
Sati: What is Anavopaya?
Shiv: In Shaktopaya, Gyana is predominant, in Anavoyaya Kriya (activity) is predominant. The meditation technique used here is kriya (manasi kriya) in a grosser form. e.g. repeatation of a mantra, worship of a chosen deity, an idol etc. Therefore this is called Kriyopaya.
Anavopaya has to lead to Shaktopaya & finally to Shambhavopaya, which is the final goal. One upaya passes into other. Even when something different from the self is worshipped as an aspect or en expression of the divine, it finally terminates into Shaktopaya.
Dhyana is important in anavopaya. Here The jeeva meditates on an object, fire of the deeper inner consciousness lits up.Then grasping all external objects through the collective power-Shaktis moving out through his sense organs, he should by bhavana pour them into the fire of inner consciousness that is already lit up. Then the difference between the inner & outer, inbetween consciousness & it's objects will disappear resulting in unity-consciousness. Or he can think that Kaalagni Rudra is arising from the toe of the right foot & burning the whole body, this is known as dahabhavna, a kind of Shakta technique.
By these means, the chitta (mind) of the jeeva is absorbed into divine-consciousness.
The ultimate goal of the jeeva is the attainment of Shiv-consciousness, which includes the world as it's aspect, which is the Dynamic Union of Shiv-Shakti.
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