Saiva Yoga is revealed by Lord Shiva , who, perenially mindful of spirituality,is ever eager to share his penchant with Devi,his beloved consort,and transfer illumination

SHIVA YOGA

Saiva Yoga is revealed by Lord Shiva , who, perenially mindful of spirituality,is ever eager to share his penchant with Devi,his beloved consort,and transfer illumination .His poetic agamas (replies) to the Devi in response to her nigamas(querries),are recorded in the tantras, puranas,samhitas and siva sutras for the benefit of sincere seekers.They are called the Shaivagamas.

Shiva’s yoga is the supreme spiritual essence that illuminates both the esoteric and exoteric aspects of life to their fullest.It encompasses both monism and pluralism, covers theism and deism,clarifies dualism and non duality; this is its beauty, Shiva is the fountainhead in whom all opposites are reconciled.

Of six well known schools of shaivism, the kashmir shaiv is highly advanced, and speaks of the trika sastra, the triad of Siva ,Sakti and nara .The highest, the identity in difference, and the unenlightened and therefore bound soul, which thinks it is the difference.

Saiva yoga deals more with fullness,purna rather than sunya,emptiness, Tat astu ,affirmation, rather than neti neti, negation. It talks of the world as a snare of delusion rather than it being a total illusion.
Concisely, Shiva’s philosophy is :

That in the beginning all is Shivashakti.
A primal urge, pratham spanda ,arises in Shiva to roll out a whole universe.
His Shakti enables him to do exactly that.We honour her as jag janani, mother nature.
All creation forget their pristine beginning, by a spiritual concussion,called anava mala,the primal forgetting. Once the divine beginning is forgotten, other limitations are quick to creep in, omniscience becomes worldly conditioned knowledge,omnipotence becomes limited, specific ability, and omnipresence is reduced to a body/collective bodies.
All creatures accumulate experiences in their worldly sojourn. This is almost always in pairs,joy sadness,hot cold, dark light and so on.We understand that all is transient.
We begin to look for permanence.The journey back to pristinity begins.And finally,
We do arrive.
The Vijnanbhairava, is a text which is accepted as divine revelation. Shiva ,in answer to parvati’s spiritual querry,expounds 112 ways to re connect with divine consciousness.
Shiva yoga is also beautifully expounded by the sage vasugupta ,in the “Shiva sutras”,a text also accorded status of ancient revelation by Shiva for the guidance of those who wish to make this sojourn on earth a happy travel!
Alternatively deemed the shiva Upanishad,this teaches of three possible systems of Shiva’s mystic way,graded to suit the seeker’s present level of attainment. Interestingly,unlike other esoteric plans,
Shiva exhorts his co wayfarers to try the higher grade first, and only on failure,should they tune in to a lower, albeit longer path!
The four upayas(plans) are:

Anupaya or Ananda upaya. It is a stage in which Self realization is achieved with little or no means,or any specified yoga.It cannot be taught,it happens ;to those rare beings who are already siddhas of siddhas(adept of adepts) in a past life, and therefore by birth in the current one,they recap spontaneously,maybe at a suggestion,maybe a sight or special circumstance.

Sambhava upaya or iccha upaya. Also called abheda upaya, it involves meditating on the non difference between Shiva and oneself.A nirvikalpa yoga, it is about stilling the mind into pristine state.
Saktopaya or jnana yoga. For those who cannot still the mind,they must then reach shivahood by persistent suggestion,by mantras, by positive thought and so on.

Anav upaya.Also called kriya upaya. It is the bheda upaya, for those with inherent conviction,

“I am different from He who I seek”.Begins with devotion,stabilizes into focus and culminates into higher upayas till the final fusion.