The Grace of Siva that enables Maya

In सिद्धान्त-शैव metaphysics, the entirety of existence has माया as its material cause. Here, माया is NOT an illusion, mere appearance or “neither existent nor non-existent”.

माया is a positive reality, the basic raw material which evolves into our bodies, cognitive instruments, worlds & objects (तनु-करण-भुवन-भोग). Now, this existence made of माया has two paths:

The ‘pure’ path, शुद्धाध्वा, made up of शुद्धमाया or ‘बिन्दु’ and
The ‘impure’ path, अशुद्धाध्वा, made up of अशुद्धमाया. In the अशुद्धाध्वा, the ब्रह्माण्ड occupies the lowest part. Within this ब्रह्माण्ड, our earth occupies an infinitesimally tiny portion.

Our sentient souls, which are of the nature of pure consciousness (चित् / चिच्छक्ति), have been obscured since eternity by a primordial, insentient substance called मल (mala). This मल has infinite powers attaching itself to infinite souls.

In the case of ordinary humans like ourselves, the power of this मल is very unripened/immature (अपक्व) & has been so since eternity. This मल enables us souls to be bound to माया (अशुद्धमाया) through कर्मन् since eternity.

The कर्म we have saved up so far; we experience its fruits through our bodies, instruments, worlds & objects in these worlds, which are made up of माया. This माया we possess (bodies, instruments & objects) & live in (worlds) becomes a fertile ground for performing more कर्मन्.

But शिव’s grace is such that he enables the products of माया (तनु-करण-भुवन-भोग) to serve as conduits for the ripening of our कर्म – rituals enjoined for the bodies, sacred acts to engage the senses/instruments, temples & यज्ञशाल-s for the worlds & sacred objects to see, etc.

In the शुद्धाध्वा, शुद्धमाया does not bind the souls residing there. Instead, it is the raw material for the various transcendental enjoyments (भोग) & powers (अधिकार) enjoyed by the residents of the शुद्धाध्व, who approximate शिव in terms of their शिवत्वम् (“शिव”-ness).

Approximating शिव means that they are very close to recovering their identity as the unsullied consciousness that has always been innate to them. Their मल is extremely पक्व. Their powers of knowledge & action are extremely high in magnitude, though not infinite like शिव yet.

Now, this entirety of माया, all of existence, can be mapped onto six parallel paths (षडध्वा). Three of these paths are वाचक (the word, that which conveys) while the other three are वाच्य (the object/predicate, that which is being conveyed).

The six are:

कला (5 powers of शिव)
तत्त्व (36 fundamental constituents of existence)
भुवन (224 overarching worlds within which transcendental & mundane enjoyments take place)
वर्ण (51 phonemes)
पद (81 words of the व्योमव्यापी मन्त्र)
मन्त्र (11 मन्त्र-s)

Since शिव is all-pervasive, he eternally encompasses all of माया. So, though शिव is pure consciousness & has no connection with matter, he is visualized as having a body containing the 6 अध्वा-s.

There is an old, anonymous verse in tamizh which gives a meditation of शिव as अध्वमूर्ति, containing the 6 parallel paths in himself as his various body parts & layers, which I came across about 2-3 months ago.

At that time, I had asked शिव to point to a proper scriptural source & forgot about it. And yesterday, one thing led to another & he led me to the following beautiful ध्यान in the श्रीमदघोरशिवाचार्य-पद्धति (क्रियाक्रमद्योतिका of श्रीमद्-अघोरशिवाचार्य).

On a separate note, it’s a joy to be able to read granthalipi with only a little difficulty. I will transliterate & translate the above verse later if possible. Also, there is a small spelling slip in the first line. Should be mūrdha not mūrḍa.

नागरी-

शान्त्यातितकलामूर्धं-शान्तिवक्त्रसरोरुहम्
विद्याविततवक्षोङ्गं-प्रतिष्ठागुह्यमण्डलम्
निवृत्तिजानुजङ्घाङ्घ्रिं-भुवनाध्वतनूरुहम्
वर्णत्वङ्मन्त्ररुधिरं-पदमांससिराचितम्
तत्त्वास्थिमज्जाशुक्लादिधातुं-सद्भोगमोक्षदम्
शिवान्ततत्त्वगर्भाध्वव्यापिनं-सर्वदा-शिवम्

IAST

शान्त्यातितकलामूर्धं-शान्तिवक्त्रसरोरुहम्
He with the शान्त्यातितकला as his crown (मूर्ध), He with the शान्तिकला as his lotus-face.

विद्याविततवक्षोङ्गं-प्रतिष्ठागुह्यमण्डलम्
He with the विद्याकला as his broad chest/trunk; He with the प्रतिष्ठाकला as his secret region.

निवृत्तिजानुजङ्घाङ्घ्रिं-भुवनाध्वतनूरुहम्
He with the निवृत्तिकला as his knees, thighs & foot (basically, the whole leg); He with the [224] भुवन-s (worlds) as his bodily hair.

वर्णत्वङ्मन्त्ररुधिरं-पदमांससिराचितम्
He with the [51] Phonemes as skin (त्वक्) & the [11] mantras as his blood; He with the [81] words [of the व्योमव्यापी-मन्त्र] as his muscles & the veins.

तत्त्वास्थिमज्जाशुक्लादिधातुं-सद्भोगमोक्षदम्
He with the [36] fundamental essences (तत्त्व-s) as the धातु-s such as the bones (अस्थि), nerves (मज्जा) & semen (शुक्ल); He the bestower of good enjoyment & liberation.