Conversations With Reality - A Summary Of “The Dialogical Manifestation of Reality in Āgamas”

Introduction -

Have you noticed a peculiar structure that the Indian scriptures tend to follow? From the most famous texts like the Bhagavad Gītā to some of the most esoteric ones like a dialogue between Shiva & Shakti in the Tantras, although being instructional texts, follow a dialogical format. Explanation of philosophy can very well be formatted in an instructional monologue. What then is the need to create a setting and characters to have a conversation? Looking past the traditional nature of the relationship between the perceptor and the seeker, which these texts undoubtedly tend to imitate, does it serve any other purpose? Is there a deeper basis to choose this format? Does it reflect the nature of revelation? Does it reflect the nature of reality itself? Ācārya Dr. Sthaneshwar Timalsina sets out to explore exactly this using the Tantric Agamas in his paper - Dialogical Manifestation of Reality in Agamas for Oxford Journals - Journal of Hindu Studies. [1]

Doubting Is Preferred To Blind Faith - 

It is hard for many to believe that a religion can be non-dogmatic enough to allow people to question its God, especially when it is the oldest living religion on the planet. However, the Hindu way of seeking Divinity by rationality is not only stressed upon but also embodied by its scriptures. It is shown time and again in texts like the Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna accuses Krishna of being ambiguous (BG 3:2) [2] and in Yoga Vasiṣṭha where it is said that “a child’s statement is acceptable if it aligns with reason and the creator’s is rejectable if it does not” (YV 2:18) [3]. However, as we will see further in this blog, the approach of being dialogical is not to be appealing to people but to show that dialogue itself reflects the nature of reality - understanding which is the goal of humanity according to Hindus, and that doubt itself is an integral part of this understanding.

Essentials: Shruti and Prakāśa-Vimarśa

To address the deeper meanings of “dialogue” and “reality,” let’s first clarify a few concepts that are used frequently by the authors this paper addresses, as done thoroughly by Acharya Dr. Timalsina in his article mentioned above. The two of the most important concepts are Śrutī, literally translated as hearing - the understanding of which helps us with a better grasp at the levels of speech; and the concept of Prakāśa and Vimarśa, and their interaction - which helps us with a better grasp at reality.

Shruti: The Levels of Speech

Hearing is when a pattern of syllables is processed by the instruments of hearing like ear, brain, etc. and a meaning is derived from it. For Abhinavagupta, a great Śaiva Master, passive hearing where syllables fall on the subject's ear but produce no meaning cannot be defined as hearing. He takes it further to say that even speech in the mind is "heard" because some of the instruments of hearing are used and a coherent meaning is formed. However realization, or intuition, e.g., realizing that you were wearing the glasses you have been looking for, is also a form of speech but which requires no hearing in the sense of the term used externally. It is self-aware in the sense that it transforms the mental condition and has no distinction in itself and the transformation. This is a deeper sense of hearing where there is no concrete distinction between what is heard, the one who hears it, and the effects of hearing. In Dr. Timalsina’s own words - “As the common use of ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’ does not apply at this stage of being self-aware, this needs to be understood as metaphoric.” 

In other words, hearing cannot be separated from understanding, and in its absence, there is no hearing. Understanding, however, can occur without there being an external hearing. External hearing is therefore like a reflection to aid internal hearing, i.e., understanding. External speech and hearing requires a distinct cognizer, acts of cognition, and the cognized object. However, a deeper understanding or revelation is looked at as the deepest form of speech without a concrete distinction between the cognizer, the act of cognition, and the cognized itself. 

Prakasha and Vimarsha: The Nature of Reality

Following the Trika Shaiva teachings, the nature of the Supreme Being at the frontier of its own externalization can be expressed in the terms of Prakāśa and Vimarśa. Prakāśa being its illuminating character and Vimarśa being the awareness of its own being. Like our own being and the awareness of it are not separated from each other, so are Prakāśa and Vimarśa inseparably united. The metaphor used here is Śiva and His consort Śaktī. 

They are identical in nature and their relationship is that of the recognition of this self confirming identity. This happens at the state of deepest internal speech that we mentioned earlier known as Paśyantī, literally - self-seeing, where there is no concrete distinction of the triad of hearing. It is the Supreme Being revealing His own nature to Himself or “the absolute experiencing itself, its own glory”. This is the same power which also further externalizes as the world. This is where the Āgamas are born – or, more accurately, revealed to – the externalized beings when they have sufficiently internalized their gaze. 

It is the same power of revealing which can reveal the external world and the true inner nature. In Dr. Timalsina’s words, “Śiva  externalizes his powers that are intrinsic to him and engages in dialogue, which simultaneously materializes the world and reveals the Agamas.” These are the real Agamas, which are then documented in the form of the externalized speech as dialogue between Shiva and the Goddess. These when heard by fully externalized beings can help in understanding and revealing the same within their own self.

“By assuming the states of preceptor and disciple, the Lord Sadashiva himself [revealed] Tantras according to different strata [of receivers] in sentences of question and answer.” - ST 8.31cd–32ab [4].

This confirms the above mentioned ideas while also hinting at the multiplicity of subjects with their own capabilities of understanding as the Lord Himself in the externalized form.

Why Is It Eternal?

Now a question arises: how can the same state be responsible for both externalizing the Supreme Being’s powers and internalizing His awareness at the same time? The answer to that is also the reason why this dialogue is not one instance recorded in history, but an eternal process. Due to being at the frontier of externalization, the powers that reveal the world, which include space, time, etc. are not yet completely externalized, which is to say that this state exists above space and time and in fact is a prerequisite for the same. Therefore, the same state of self-revealing can act as the power of Grace for the enlightened and the power of Creation for the bound. 

Conclusion - 

Kṣemaraja further clarifies that this state of Self Revealing Speech (Paśyantī) is of the form of the Power of Grace (Anugraha Shakti) and is not separate from the Supreme Being Himself, which is externalized in the form of external Agamas. Therefore the nature of reality is dialogical. However, from the most inner state to the most externalized forms, it is Shiva, being revealed to Shiva, with the means as Shiva, solidifying the non-dual paradigm. There are further implications of this from which an understanding of Mantra, etc. is made clear but that falls out of the scope of this blog.  

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Writer’s Note - 

This blog is as much of an effort to simplify revelations of the great masters as much as it is an effort to aid the writer’s own understanding of these ideas. The credit for all ideas presented here belong to the writer of the original paper Acharya Dr. Sthaneshwar Timalsina and the Masters he addresses in the same. This basic summary of the article may not reflect the article perfectly.

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1. This blog is inspired by the paper but is by no means a representation of it. The writer recommends reading the mentioned paper for any further clarification.

2. व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे |

   तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोऽहमाप्नुयाम् || 2||

   My intellect is bewildered by Your ambiguous advice. Please tell me decisively the one path by which I may attain the highest good.

3.  युक्तियुक्तमुपादेयं वचनं बालकादपि ।

   अन्यत्तृणमिव त्याज्यमप्युक्तं पद्मजन्मना ॥ ३ ॥

   Words conformable with reason are to be received even if spoken by boys; otherwise they are to be rejected as straws though pronounced by the lotus-born.

4.   "गुरूशिष्यपदे स्थित्वा स्वयं देवः सदाशिवः | पूर्वोत्तरपदैः वाक्यैस्तन्त्रं आधारभेदतः ||" - Svacchanda Tantra

   “By assuming the states of preceptor and disciple, the Lord Sadashiva himself [revealed] Tantras according to different strata [of receivers] in sentences of question and answer.”