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by J. N. Bhan
The land of Kashyap Rishi standing aloft the northern
periphery of the Punyabhumi, called Bharat, has
been described as the jewel in the crown of the
Indian subcontinent. It is not for nothing,
therefore, that Nature has endowed this enchanting
land with towering snowpeaks, swinging forests,
singing streams, flowery dales and golden meadows
- a land of super scenic charms - a heaven on
earth. No wonder then that this land of absorbing
beauty has, of yore, been the home of gods and
goddesses and saints and seers.
As
recorded in various works of these seers,
Sangamaditya, a "Siddha descended from Sri
Kanthanatha, the incarnation of Lord Shiva, in the
course of his wanderings reached Kashmir and,
bewitched by the sheer harmony of its nature,
settled in this land. In the lineage appeared
Siddha Somanand, the author of "Shiva Drishti"
- the invaluable and pioneering treatise on "Advait
Shaiva Darshan". Somananda is said to have
been the disciple of Siddha Vasugupta who founded
and exponded afresh the "Shaiva Sutras"
as revealed to him by the Lord Himself in a dream.
Somananda's disciple, Siddha Utpaladeva,
elucidated the Advait Darshan in his famous
Ishwarapratyabhijnya.
Utpaladeva
wrote many other treatises on philosophy and also
some devotional poetry of the highest order. After
Shri Lakshmanaguptacharya, the illustrious son of
Utpala, Shri Abhinavaguptacharya dominated the
horizon of philosophical thought. Great Abhinava
interpreted and elaborated the basic tenets of the
'Advait Darshan' in his extensive and lucid
commentaries on earlier works of his Gurus, and
himself wrote original works of the highest order.
Hardly anything escaped his masterly pen.
Then
came the illustrious disciples of the great seer
Abhinava-Shri Khemrajacharya and Shri Yogacharya-who
also nourished the vast monistic philosophy with
their commentaries as also with their independent
works.
This
more or less covers the period upto 12th century
A.D. in the latter half of which Jayaratha wrote
his commentary on Abhinavagupta's great and
scholarly work "Trantraloka".
Thereafter, due to great political upheavals in
Kashmir, nothing is known about the stream of
great teachers and seers excepting, of course, the
saints like Shivopadhyaya and Siddhas like
Lalleshwari, Sheikh Noor-ud-Din-Noorani, Pir
Pandit Padshah Mishah, Krishna Kar or Parmanand.
Maybe, the historical mist will lift some day to
reveal some more luminaries in the line. The link
is resumed with the advent of the eighteenth
century with Sahib Kaul, Shankar Razdan. Jeewan
Saib and others, recorded and unrecorded in the
following
pages.
Since
his advent in this world, man has tried to
understand the why and wherefore of existence.
From rudimentary fears and fantasies, he has
reached the heights of philosophical thought
represented in Shaivism and Vedanta. Without the
support of religion or spiritualism, it looks, man
would lose his moorings. True religion is in
selfrealisation and in the basic truth of oneness
of man and the Maker.
Over
the last few centuries man has been more and more
attracted towards materialism. The trend emanated
from the West because of the Western religious
thought being unable to answer appropriately the
queries about the purpose of existence which arose
in people who had acquired a scientific bent of
mind. This materialistic trend has engulfed the
entire world with disastrous results for the
mental health and the physical wellbeing of
mankind. Thoughtful among the scientifically
minded people have turned to the Oriental
philosophy, particularly Hinduism, for the
solution of these spiritual problems and for the
treatment of the mind, and adopted such practices
as Yoga and transcendental meditation in various
universities and other institutions on a large
scale.
In
the event, orthodox Western philosophy is by and
by dropping its pretense and has come to accept
ignorance about certain fundamental experiences.
There is increasing interest in the potency of
Kundalini and Tantric practices and ancient
concepts. There are fascinating possibilities of
discovering new dimensions of the psyche which
could bring about a revolution in human values. If
the nature of the higher consciousness is
understood and widely experienced, it could bring
about a social transformation of enormous
dimensions.
It
is an irony that what is being adopted by the
Western countries is being abandoned by people in
this land. It, of course, is the result of foreign
domination more mental than physical which has
prevented us from the study and knowledge of our
heritage. We have had spiritual leaders who
through their Sadhana not only acquired control
over themselves but even the elements and their
environment. Very few among us know very little
about them and their achievements. There is a
genuine fear that whatever knowledge there may
still be may become extinct sooner than expected
if steps are not taken to record the spiritual
attainments of our forefathers. There are rare
manuscripts which need to see the light of the day
and be researched upon, otherwise they will get
lost to posterity.
Source:
Koshur
Samachar
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