Shiva Sutras — The Revelation of Vasugupta
The Shiva Sutras are the foundational text of Kashmir Shaivism, revealed to Vasugupta on a rock, containing 77 aphorisms in three sections revealing the nature of consciousness, mantra, and liberation.
The Shiva Sutras are said to have been revealed to the sage Vasugupta (c. 9th century CE) through a vision in which Shiva directed him to a specific rock on Mahadeva mountain where the sutras were inscribed. The text contains 77 sutras in three sections: Shambhavopaya (the way of Shiva — pure awareness), Shaktopaya (the way of Shakti — mantra and discernment), and Anavopaya (the way of the individual — breathing, contemplation of objects). The first sutra — 'Chaitanyam atma' ('Consciousness is the Self') — encapsulates the entire teaching. The Shiva Sutras insist that the individual is not a limited being who must attain consciousness, but is consciousness itself that has temporarily identified with limitation. Commentaries by Kshemaraja and Bhaskara have made these texts accessible to modern scholars.
Chaitanyam atma — Consciousness is the Self.
Philosopher John Searle's insistence that consciousness is an irreducible biological phenomenon that cannot be explained in purely computational terms echoes the Kashmir Shaivism claim that consciousness is not a product of matter but its ground and source.
Shiva Sutras