Kashmir Shaivism and Neuroscience

Kashmir Shaivism
and
Neuroscience
Vinod D Deshmukh

From Amritānubhava
by Sant Jñāneshwara.

A scene from the
Mogarwadi village,
near Pune.
Oil on canvas
painting by
Vinod D Deshmukh.
January 2016.

Pleasure and Joy of Living
In Vijnana-Bhairava, verses 69-74, various physical and mental
pleasures and joys are described including sexual pleasure, joy and
the memory of orgasm, joy of visual beauty, joy of listening to
melodious music, joy of savoring tasty food and drinks, enjoying
pleasant fragrances, and enjoying the company of family and friends.
When all such positive mental states are witnessed passionately as a
witness (sakshi), then any of them can lead one to the very source of
all joys, which is the spontaneous, self-transcendent bliss Brahma-
Ananda. Afterall, the feeling of one's essential blissful being or Atma-
bhava is Sat-Chit-Ananda, the blissful conscious being. With this
perspective, a husband and wife or two good friends may meditate
together with mutual joy and benefit.

Reflected sun, clouds and the
telephone pole in rainwater
puddle on our street.
Photograph by
Vinod D Deshmukh.

Pratyabhijna Hridayam
Pratyabhijna Hridayam is a short but very
meaningful text from the Advaita Shaivism tradition
from Kashmir. It has only 20 verses in Sanskrit.
Pratyabhijnaa means self-recognition; to come to
know or understand oneself. Hridaya means the heart;
the core or the essence of the subject matter.

Two Self Perspectives
1) Limited self-perspective or Sankochita Jiva or chitta with
narrow mindedness (self-centeredness); an individualistic
phenomenal stream of experiences and thoughts filled with
transient positive feelings like seeking, lust, caring, which are
processed in the ventral Periaqueductal Gray matter (PAG) in
midbrain and negative feelings like anxiety, fear, anger and
sadness, which are processed in the dorsal aspects of PAG.
2) Limitless, timeless, spontaneous, blissful, self-sentient and
transcendent being. It is our divine nature or Shiva-Swaroopa. It is
the divinity, the perfect deepest awareness and creativity for
surviving and thriving through all situations, in life.

From Kandel et al.
“Principles of Neural Science”
(2013)
Ambiguous figures

Sutra 1 and 2
•चिततिः स्वतन्त्रा ववश्वसिद्चिहेतिः ||1||
•स्वेच्छया स्वसित्तौ ववश्वं उन्त्मीसियतत ||2||

Sutra 3 and 4
तन्त्नाना अनरूप ग्राह्यग्राहकिेदात् ||3||
चिततिंकोिात्मा िेतनोऽवप िंकचितववश्वमयिः ||4||

Sutra 13
तत्परिज्ञाने चित्तमेव अन्त्तमुखीिावेन
िेतनपदाध्यािोहात् चिततिः ||13||

Sutra 16
• चिदानन्त्दिािे देहाददष िेत्यमानेष अवप चिद्दैकात््य
प्रततपवत्त दार्ढुयं जीवन्त्मक्तत: ||16||

Sutra 17
• मध्यववकािात् चिदानन्त्दिाििः ||17||

From Amritānubhava by Sant Jñāneshwara.

Sutra 19
िमाचिि्स्कािवतत व्यत्थाने िूयो िूयक्श्िदैतयाम्
अषाुक्न्त्नत्योददत िमाचििाििः ||19||

A scene from the
Mogarwadi village, near
Pune. Oil on canvas
painting by Vinod D
Deshmukh. February 2016.

A scene from the
Mogarwadi village,
near Pune.
Oil on canvas
painting by
Sunanda V
Deshmukh.
January 2016.

Vijñāna-Bhairava
अनाहते पारकर्णे अिग्नशब्दे िरिद् द्रते |
शब्दब्रह्मणर्ण तनष्र्णातिः पिं ब्रह्म अचिगच्छतत ||38||
One who is deeply versed and steeped in inner silence attains to
Brahman. This inner silence is Brahman in the form of sound
energy (Nada-Brahman). This is the spontaneously vibrating
sentient energy in all beings.
This can be heard only by the ear that is well trained and made
competent by Yoga. This energy goes on sounding
uninterruptedly and it rushes headlong like a rapidly flowing river.

Vijñāna-Bhairava
यदा ममेच्छा न उत्पन्त्ना ज्ञानं वा कस्तदाक्स्म वै |
तत्वतोऽहं तथािूति् तक्लिनि् तन्त्मना िवेत ् ||97||
When desire or thinking activity has not risen in me, then what
am I in that condition? In verity, I am that nondual Reality itself
(conscious blissful being).
Thus, he or she will be absorbed in that nondual Reality and
become identified with it.

Vijñāna-Bhairava
यदवेद्यं यदग्राह्यम ् यत्शून्त्यम् यदिावगमम ् |
तत्िवं िैिवंिाव्यंतदन्त्ते बोििंिविः ||127||

Vijñāna-Bhairava
ज्ञानप्रकाशकम ् िवं िवेर्णात्मा प्रकाशकिः |
एक
ं एकस्विावतात् ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं वविाव्यते ||137||
All things are revealed by self-awareness and the self is
revealed by all things.
By reason of their nature being the same, one should
contemplate on the knower and the known as one and the
same.

From Amritānubhava by Sant Jñāneshwara.
Atma-Prabha

Vijñāna-Bhairava
मानिं िेतना शक्ततिात्मा िेततितष्टयम् |
यदा वप्रये परिक्षीर्णं तदा तद् िैिवं वपिः ||138||
When the ideating mind (manas), the ascertaining
intellect (buddhi), the vital energy (prana-shakti), and
the limited empirical self or ego (ahamkara) – this set
of four (Antahkarana) resolves itself spontaneously,
then the nondual state of Bhairava dawns instantly.

Vijñāna-Bhairava
स्वतन्त्र आनन्त्द चिन्त्मार िाििः स्वात्मा दह िवुतिः |
आवेशनं तत्स्वरूपे स्वात्मानिः स्नानं इरितम् ||152||

Vijñāna-Bhairava
•िकािेर्ण बदहयाुतत हकािेर्ण ववशेत् पनिः |
•हंिहंिेतत अमं मन्त्रं जीवो जपतत तनत्यशिः ||156||
•The breath is exhaled with the sound sa and then
inhaled with the sound ha. The sound m is the middle
pause. (Thus) the individual always recites this
mantra “Hamsah” while breathing naturally.

Logie RH. In The Oxford Companion
to Consciousness, 2009: page 669
A Model of the Working
Memory and the
Wandering Mind.

Sub/Conscious Mental Rest-Activity Cycle

Mak et al. BRAIN CONNECTIVITY
Volume 7, Number 1, 2017.

Conscious Arousal, Awareness, Attention

From Guyton and Hall
“Textbook of Medical Physiology”
(2011)

From Donald Pfaff’s book
Brain Arousal and
Information Theory: Neural
and Genetic Mechanisms.
(2006)

Self-Consciousness
The self is sometimes understood as a unified being essentially
connected to foundational conscious awareness. Conscious means
being awake and aware of self and surroundings. Consciousness
can be cognitive and affective.
Cognitive consciousness is processed in the thalamocortical
networks and the affective consciousness is processed in the
subcortical brainstem midline networks. Consciousness can be with
or without cognitive contents. The contentless awareness is called
consciousness-itself or the nondual awareness, which is the feeling
of unity or advaita-bhava.

From Donald Pfaff’s book
Brain Arousal and Information
Theory: Neural and Genetic
Mechanisms.
(2006)

From Mark Solms book
“The Hidden Spring: A Journey
to the Source of
Consciousness”
(2021)

From Kandel et al.
“Principles of Neural
Science”
(2013)

From Guyton and Hall
“Textbook of Medical
Physiology”
(2011)

Maintenance
and
manipulation
of information
in working
memory

Working memory and
persistent
reverberatory network
activity
From Kandel et al.
“Principles of Neural
Science”
(2013)

“The Hidden Spring:
A Journey to the Source of
Consciousness”
(2021)

PET scans from wake to sleep (upper row) and from sleep to dream (lower row) states.
From Mark Solms book “The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness” (2021)

Modified from Mark Solms book
A Journey to the Source of
Consciousness”
(2021)
Midbrain Decision Triangle
Core-SELF
(Simple Ego-type Life Form)
Superior colliculus
(Holistic Perception),
Periaqueductal gray
(Holistic Affection),
Mesencephalic locomotor
center (Holistic Action).
Mesencephalic Locomotor Center

A Journey to the Source of Consciousness”
(2021)

Water marks created
by the passage of a
large manatee in the
St Johns River
near our dock.

Experiential and Existential Unity
There is a fundamental unity in Shiva-Shakti and the
whole of existential reality. We are in IT; We are IT! We need
to recognize this Truth. This is Pratyabhijnaa! All of us have
the potential for such self-recognition.
There is no need to mentally suffer in life and be lonely and
fearful. One can live whole-heartedly with joy and love for
oneself and all others. Life is good and beautiful.
Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram!

Kashmir Shaivism and Neuroscience

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