The three-fold Trika system

“Within the three-fold Trika system there are many words, many theories, which are rife with meaning. Profound and Universal, one such set of terms are the words para, parapara, and apara. Though a song cannot do this concept justice, we will nonetheless sing briefly of the sweeping importance of these words three.

Para is supreme or non-dual; parapara is the madhya or middle, being unity-in-duality; apara is inferior or dualistic. These three terms are used to refer both to individual existence as well as universal reality.

Firstly, on the individual level, the three-fold Trika tells us that para, parapara, and apara pertain to three yogas, three fundamental means of realizing Self nature:

3) Anava upaya–This means or way of yoga is the externalization of one’s practice, such as the use of mantra, yantra, puja, pranayama, or the mental focus on certain centers within the externalized body. This is apara or “inferior means”.

2) Shakta upaya–This means or way of yoga is the internalization of one’s practice, being limited to purely mental processes. By means of one pure thought as a focal point, the practitioner’s sadhana is internalized. This is the middle way, superior to the external way, it is called parapara.

3) Shambhava upaya–This means or way of yoga is not concerned with externalization of worship, nor is it concerned with mental, internalized worship. This way is purely the way of will. By mere hint of will one is established in Shambhu, the Shiva nature without any externalized or internalized mental processes. This way is the superior way, being non-dual and without dualistic mental processes. It is called para.

All of the various yogic processes such as karma yoga, bhakti yoga, and jnana yoga have apara, parapara, and para aspects. At the para level, karma, bhakti, and jnana yoga are not in any way different. For, to do any action requires devotion and knowledge; to be devoted requires action and knowledge; to possess knowledge requires action and devotion. These three yogas are, in the highest sense, non-different. As one’s understanding goes from apara, to parapara, to para, these yogas seem and look less and less like three different yogas and instead seem to look more and more like one supreme understanding.

This is true for every kind of yogic process one can conceive of.

We have sang of the individual use of para, para-para, and apara. Let us then sing of the supreme use of these same words three:

In non-dual Kashmir Shaivism Shiva-Shakti is para or transcendent. But Lord Shiva is not merely transcendent and powerless; Lord Shiva is full of Shakti, which is his very I-ness, his very Self-knowledge full of dynamic activity. As such, being full of transcendent knowledge AND creative activity, Lord Shiva’s Shakti is also parapara, for She is both the Self of transcendent Shiva and yet at the same time She is the divine creative principle, the visarga shakti that wills the entire manifestation. Within Her manifest creativity She is also apara, the power of Lord Shiva called the sleeping kundalini which resides as the principle of individual existence for all beings.

Devi or Shakti is, then, the madhya or center. She is at once all things:

•  The sleeping serpent that is individual existence or apara;
•  Lord Shiva’s creative force that manifests, called visarga shakti which is parapara;
•  She is the very I-ness of Lord Shiva that is para.

She is poised as the madhya or center (parapara), with one divine foot operating as the world process (apara), and the other divine foot operating as the I-ness of Lord Shiva (para).  She is Lord Shiva’s I-Consciousness full of supreme knowledge and supreme creative activity; transcendent and immanent, Creator and created, source and substance.

There is an old Tantric saying that goes like this: “Don’t ask Shiva to take you to Shiva, ask Shakti to take you to Shiva”.

This is not a literal admonition to have you ask the Devi to take you to Lord Shiva, as if there were somehow some difference between you, your energy, and your supreme nature.

It is a riddle that tells the wise this: Everything we do, say, think, and will is moving us ever closer to abidance in supreme Self-knowledge.” —Markandeya, Song 77.

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