An Introduction to the Advaita Saiva Philosophy of Kashmir

The Advaita Saiva philosophy of Kashmir, traditionally known by various names such as Trikasasana, Trikasastra, Sadardhasastra, Pratyabhijnasastra or Rahasya Sampradaya, popularly called Kashmir Shaivism, embodies the highest spiritual wisdom gleaned from the Saiva and the Saktagamas interpreted by the Advaita Saivacaryas to yield non-dualistic meaning. When I was studying some important texts in Sanskrit more than fifty years ago with the well known savant Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj at Varanasi for many years for writing my Ph.D. dissertation on ‘The Philosophy of Sadhana’, I heard him many times that this spiritual philosophy represents the acme in the development of Indian spiritual thought. Very often he used to cite many parallels from the spiritual thought of other religions of the world, e.g. Coptic Christianity, the Greek Orthodox Churchm, Catholic Christianity, Sufism, Judaism, etc. to show the universal character of the Advaita Saiva spiritual thought. A few years before he left his mortal remains at Varanasi, he asked me to continue studying Advaita Saiva philosophy and disseminate its sublime thought in the world through my writings. I am following my revered Guru’s command in letter and spirit all these years. The present book represents my humble contribution in that direction.