A Living Tantra reader asked about the role of bhakti and karma yoga in Kashmir Shaivism. According to Swami Sivananda, “Karma Yoga is performance of actions dwelling in union with the Divine, removing attachment, and remaining balanced ever in success and failure. Karma Yoga is selfless service unto humanity.”

Karma Yoga is often called the “yoga of action.”

Likewise, Swamiji defined bhakti as “intense devotion and supreme attachment to God. It is the spontaneous out-pouring of Prem towards the Beloved. There is not a bit of bargaining or expectation of anything here. All attraction and attachment which one has for objects of enjoyment are transferred to the only dearest object, God. This leads the devotee to an eternal union with his Beloved and culminates in oneness.”

Bhakti is often thought of as the path of emotionalism. But Swamiji calls it instead a disciplined path of intuitive realization of God.

Both karma yoga and bhakti yoga can be practiced from a dualistic perspective. As a karma yogi, I can maintain the View that I am serving humanity, rather than that Self is playing the role of serving Self. The object of devotion in bhakti yoga is usually a deity, or an avatar such as Krishna. In some traditions, a dualistic View is maintained. The devotee and the object of devotion do not merge.

However, it is not correct, in the View of Kashmir Shaivism, to glorify the loss of all awareness of individual experiencing in favor of oceanic “Oneness.” Primordial, wide-awake awareness hosts all possibilities.

Kashmir Shaivism is first and foremost a path of direct realization. This means to directly realize one’s essential nature, the fullness of Reality, in every moment without any devices or supports. At the same time, we do not reject any supports.

The great disciple of Swami Sivananda, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, once said that a yogi is a person who will use anything to Self-realize. This is the definition of a Tantrika. So, we use what we need and what is available.

However, whatever we use, whatever technique or path, is seen as a temporary measure.

In one of the key texts of the traditions, the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, Devi asks Shiva about the various descriptions of the Supreme Reality and methods of realization that are found in the Tantras.

Shiva answers that “these descriptions are only meant for the spiritual advancement of the unenlightened.” Then he goes on to say that “In this supreme reality, who can be the object of worship and who is there to be pleased?”

Now, this is a clever answer. Most of us are unenlightened. So although Shiva is saying that the Tantras and their descriptions are only applicable at one level, most of us are on this level! He is really saying that most of us do need some support such as explanations and practices, but that these are to be let go of at some point. We should recognize our real situation and work with that. But we should always understand this within a larger View so that we don’t get too attached to our explanations and practices.

The modern interpreter of Kashmir Shaivism, Swami Lakshman Joo, provided a useful commentary on the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. He says: “These processes are just a starting point . . .You begin and leave them aside.”

For both historical and practical reasons, it is not possible to say clearly that one practice is Tantrik and another isn’t. Tantrikas perform puja, develop relationships with tutelary deities, and offer acts of service or karma yoga. However, Kashmir Shaivism is more narrowly associated with practices of Guru yoga, meditation, mantra, yantra, and mandala.

Karma yoga is often the main form of practice for monastics living in ashrams, or for sannyasins in general. The Bhakti movement has many different expressions, and of course, devotion is a cosmic virtue. It is part of the wisdom fabric of the world, and so is not relegated to one tradition or another. No one can Self-realize without becoming an expression of devotion. But devotion can come in many different flavors, just like people.

What marks a practice as Tantrik is the View with which it is undertaken, not the specific activity. For Tantrikas, every aspect of life is practice and an opportunity to directly realize one’s essential nature. Nothing is excluded.

When we undertake certain sadhanas, such as puja or mantra, we always enter into them by first remembering our essential nature. Even if a practice has the external form of subject and object, or duality, we enter into the practice remembering continuity, or nondifferentiation. This is called “taking the fruit as the path.” It is this orientation that characterizes Tantrik nondual practice, or Kashmir Shaivism, or any direct realization tradition.

Eventually, we are in a state of constant remembering. Sadhana is complete. Now, we can still play with the beautiful forms bequeathed to us by our traditions, or not, as we like.

OM Shanti,
Shambhavi

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