the Kashmiri Saiva Krama elevated the worship of Kali to a level beyond outer

ritual. Ritual came to be understood as an inner process of realisation through

which the initiate discovered his essential identity with Kali Who is the flow
(krama) of the power of consciousness through the polarities of subject, object
and means of knowledge in consonance with their arising and falling away in
each act of perception.

the soul is bound because he has forgotten his authentic identity and can only
achieve liberation, the ultimate goal of life, by recognising his true universal
nature. Realising that everything is a part of himself, extending his being in
wonderfully diverse forms, the fettered soul achieves this recognition and with it
the 18 THE DOCTRINE OF VIBRATION conviction that he is not a slave of creation
(pasu) but its master (pati). In this way he who thought himself weak discovers
his spiritual might. Failing to recognise his identity with Siva, the one reality Who
is the life and Being of every existing thing, the soul perceives only their
individual identity and thus severs them from one another and from himself. For
this reason, he is seemingly sullied by his actions and afflicted by the myriad
conditions that stand as obstacles to the realisation of his goals.65 Yearning for
liberation, he is like a young woman betrothed by arrangement to a handsome
man. Hearing of his many fine qualities she comes to love him even though she
has never seen him. One day they chance to meet but she remains indifferent to
him until she notices that he possesses the qualities of the man she is to marry
and so, to her great delight, she recognises him.66 Similarly, just as man and
wife become one in spirit, so the fettered soul becomes one with Siva by
recognising his identity with him, and is liberated.
The philosophy of the Pratyabhijna focuses on the liberating recognition of the
soul's authentic identity as Siva while the Introduction 21 I )octrine of Vibration
stresses instead the importance of experiencing Spanda, the vibration or pulse of
consciousness. The mainstay of the Doctrine of Vibration is the contemplative
experience the awakened yogi has of his true nature as the universal perceiving
and acting consciousness. Every activity in the universe, as well as every
perception, notion, sensation or emotion in the microcosm* ebbs and flows as
part of the universal rhythm of the one reality, which is Siva, the one God Who is
the pure conscious agent and perceiver. According to the Doctrine of Vibration,
man can realise his true nature to be Siva by experiencing Spanda, the dynamic,
recurrent and creative activity of the absolute.
Consciousness rather than Being is the most perfect representation of the
absolute. It is not just a consciousness which observes but one that actively
perceives itself as its object through, 24 THE DOCTRINE OF VIBRATION and as,
each act of perception. The fundamental concept of consciousness as a
universally active and absolute principle is common to both Spanda and
Pratyabhijna.

Spanda is the spontaneous and recurrent pulsation of the absolute objectively

manifest as the rhythm of the arising and subsidence of every detail of the
cosmic picture that appears within its infinite expanse. At the same time, Spanda
is the inner universal vibration of consciousness as its pure perceptivity

(upalabdhfta) which constitutes equally its cognizing subjectivity (jnatftvd) and

agency (kartrtva). Common to all these systems is this liberating insight into the
nature of the outer recurrence of reality through its manifest forms as an
expression of its inner freedom and inherent power. It is for this reason that it is
possible to move from the world of discourse of one system to that of another to
form a single universe of expression

The sun shines not there, neither moon nor stars. There these flashes of
lightning do not shine nor does fire. It is that by whose shining all things shine. It
is the light of That which illumines all this.