Srimalinivijayottara Tantram Vijnana Bhairava Sri Svacchanda Tantram Sri Netra Tantram Siva Sutra

This book is an English translation with Sanskrit texts of selected chapters of important and founational books of Kashmir Saivism (Tryambakam), namely, Sri Malinivijayottara Tantra (Chapters 1, 2, 12 to 19; 21-23); Vijnana Bhairava; Sri Svacchanda Tantram (Chapter VII related to Prana); Sri Netra Tantram (Chapter VII and VIII dealing with Subtle Yoga and Meditation on the Transcendent) and Siva Sutra. This book is an asset for practitioners as it contains varieties of meditation methods whether be it on touch, taste, smell, sound, five tattvas, senses, etc. Whatever method one may employ, ultimately one reaches to one's reality, i.e. integral consciousness which is the Ultimate Reality called by various names in the timeline of Yoga such as Indra, Yama, Brahman, Siva etc.

Professor Satya Prakash Singh is a renowned Vedic scholar-alumni of the Banaras Hindu University; D.Jitt. of the Aligarh Muslim University; former Chairman of the Department of Sanskrit and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Aligarh Muslim University. Recipient off a number of prestigious awards-Ganganath Jha Award of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Rajaji Literary Award of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Swami Pranavananda Best Book of the Year Award in Psychology, Bhanabhatta Puraskara of Sanskrit Academy, Uttar Pradesh, President of India's Award of Scholar of Eminence; authored more than 29 books.

Swami Maheshvarananda is an accomplished yogin besides being deeply grounded in the study of yogic literature of a variety of shades including Vedic, Tantric, Saiva, Vaisnava and Buddhist. He was initiated in yoga practically by a reputed yogin while living in his company for quite some time in a sacred cave in Northern India.

We are pleased to present here English translation of important texts of Kashmir Saivism that are considered as the foundational works and on some ancient teachers if this school wrote commentaries.

These are: 1.Sri Malinivijayottara Tantra (Selected Chapters):

It is an important work of Kashmir Saivism and is a part of Siddhayogisvari Tantra. In the first Chapter Siva states as follows:

"Listen to me, O Lady, I am revealing to you the text of the Siddhayogisvari Tantra which has been revealed to anyone else until now as Malinivijayottara Tantra.(13)" The foundation of Abhinavagupta's Sri Tantraloka is Malinivijayottara Tantra. He clearly states this in Chapter 1:

"There is nothing here which is not there in the Malinivijayottara stated explicitly or indicated suggestively by the God of gods Himself.(17)"

"The empire of the Lord extending to ten states of Himself eighteen those of Rudra and eight of the Vasus are summed up in the Trika Sastra whose essence lies compressed in the Malinivijayottara Tantra.(18)

"Therefore, herewith we are going to reveal all those items which were left out by those wise scholars who had either opted out of the School or were unable to see, by the permission of our teacher. (19)"

Readers would find here translation of Chapters 1, 2, which deal with introduction and states of human consciousness, namely, waking, dreaming, sound sleep, turiya and turiatita while chapters 12 to 19 and 21-23 are translations of various meditation methods such as on taste, sound, smell, sun, moon, panca tattvas, etc.

2. Vijnana Bhairava

Vijnana Bhairava is also an important text of Kashmir Saivism and is a part of Rudrayamala Tantra. It contains meditation methods which are 113. Normally it was considered to contain 112 methods but scholars forgot to take into account the last verse of this text which refers to the meditation method on So 'ham.

3. Sri Svacchanda Tantra (Chapter 7):

This is the translation of Chapter 7, which deals with priina. Svacchanda Tantra is a colossal work.

4. Netra Tantra (Selected Chapters):

This is also another important of this system.

Chapters 7 and 8 have been translated that deal with Subtle Yoga and Meditation on the Transcendent. These chapters are interesting from the point of view of Yoga.

5. Siva Sutra

A text of Kashmir Saivism dealing with the nature of consciousness from the highest to the individual in three chapters. It is said that this text was revealed to Vasugupta in ninth century. This work is divided into three sections, first dealing with the universal consciousness, the second deals with the nature of matrkii, the third the universal consciousness in the form of limited consciousness, which in reality is nothing but universal consciousness.

Many ancient and modern scholars have interpreted this work and given their commentaries. We have translated this work taking into account the spirit of Yoga in such a way that it does not require commentary. This is a new translation.

We hope the translations of these important texts would be accepted and appreciated by students, scholars and researchers of this system and it would give them more insights.

Finally, we are grateful to Vishnu Chandra Arya and Praveen Saxena who served as the source of inspiration in. course of translating this work and suggesting topics to be included in the work to enrich it. We are grateful to Mrs. Nisha Saxena, Varunika Saxena, Aryan of Noida for assistance and Nancy Dean Mercury, Yoga Teacher and Artist, California, U.S.A. for her help in proof reading and copy-editing of the work. We are also grateful to Miss Shivangi Tripathi for typing out the Sanskrit verses with great efficiency and accuracy.

We are also thankful to the publisher Shri Dilip Jaiswal of Indica Books for bringing out this edition.

The graphics used in the book are not our own creation but they have been drawn from diverse sources to create the conceptual theme of the book. We acknowledge our indebtedness to all those agencies responsible for creation, production or reproduction, as the case may be, of these graphics.