Swami Shankarananda - Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism

The original texts of Kashmir Shaivism were written in the beautiful and powerful language of Sanskrit. Some of these ancient words, such as chakra, karma and maya, have long found their way into standard English dictionaries. For ease of reading in the main text, I have anglicised the spelling of Sanskrit words such as prakasha (light) and vimarsha (awareness) and have included a glossary. Likewise I have anglicised book titles which appear in their original Sanskrit form in the bibliography.

The appendices list many key sutras of Kashmir Shaivism in English and in transliterated Sanskrit with diacritical marks for pronunciation. The words are generally pronounced as in English except for a few guidelines:

This book is the result of the work of a team of people, a shakti chakra in Shaivite terms, whose many talents and specialised skills made it possible.

I am grateful to my editor, Nancy Jackson, for nursing the book through with clarity, calm and sensitivity.

Next I want to acknowledge Kali Nolle for her graphic design, including diagrams and the beautiful cover.

I want to express my gratitude to Jackie Bos, who came to the rescue at a critical time, and Kaymolly Morrelle. Their impeccable copy editing was indispensable.

I am grateful to Dr Isobel Crombie who did the early work, collecting and transcribing some of the talks that became part of the book, and also to Jo Hughson for her help with the Sanskrit transliterations.

I have to acknowledge Dylan Frusher for his charming sketch of the Headless One on page 83.

Finally, I am very grateful to Teri Giannetti without whose selfless dedication and one-pointedness it would simply not have been possible to complete the book on time or nearly as well.

I owe thanks to Ma Devi and the many members of the Shiva Ashram community, whose names cannot fit here, but fit easily in my heart, for helping to create a heaven on earth and an atmosphere in which Shaivite ideas and practices flow naturally.

Beyond all these, I would be remiss not to mention the international scholars on whose work I have drawn. Among them I should especially acknowledge Jaideva Singh, Mark Dyczkowski, Kamalakar Mishra, B.N. Pandit and Paul Muller-Ortega (especially for the long translation on pp. 233234). A special mention to my friends Dr Gary Witus for his feedback and suggestions and to Reverend Dr John Dupuche.

I want to acknowledge the great sages of Kashmir Shaivism at whose feet I sit, especially Abhinavagupta, Utpaladeva, Kshemaraja, Swami Lakshmanjoo and my Guru, Swami Muktananda.

Finally to Lord Shiva: all this is Your Grace, Your Shining, Your Gift to a dark age.

aya aktidaridra sasr ucyate
svaaktivikse tu iva eva

He is a bound soul who has poverty of Shakti.
With the unfoldment of his Shakti, however,
he becomes Shiva Himself.

Kshemaraja, Pratyabhijnahridayam