Svatantrya

Svātantrya (from the Sanskrit sva meaning self and tantram meaning dependence – 'self-dependency', or 'free will') is the Kashmiri Shaivite concept of divine sovereignty. Svātantrya is described as an energy that emanates from the Supreme (Paramaśiva), a wave of motion inside consciousness (spanda) that acts as the fundament of the world, or in another view, the original word (logos, pārāvak). It does not use any external instrument as it itself is the first stage of creation.

In antithesis with the Vedantic concept of Brahman, which is a mere conscious witness without effective power, being inflicted with the illusion (or maya) of the world by an external force, in the Kashmiri Shaivite viewpoint creation is actively willed into existence by the supreme consciousness (Śiva) by the means of his irresistible will-force (Svātantrya). This is an important aspect of the Pratyabhijna school of Kashmir Shaivism.

Svātantrya is a concept that goes to the root of many spiritual matters in Kashmir Shaivism, like, the divine sovereignty of Śiva (God), consciousness (caitanya), creative power (vimarśa), mantric efficiency and Kundalini.

In its acception of divine sovereignty, svātantrya is described as an absolute power of action, or, absolute power of freedom. This power arises from the mirror-like ability of the supreme consciousness (caitanya) to contain images (vimarśa) – the whole universe being a mere image shining inside this unique god-consciousness.

Svātantrya has a number of traditional attributes such as: perfect fullness (of the energy of will), self-sufficiency, autodetermination, the power of doing and undoing – essence of the subject, supreme creativity, sovereignty, source of knowledge (jñāna) and action (kriyā) and being beyond contradictions: it exists beyond laws of any kind and is the source of all laws in the universe.

The Kashmir Shaivism theory of creation affirms that the world was willed into existence by the sovereign force of Śiva. Thus, the world has no external causes outside Śiva's Svātantrya. This power creates multiplicity (māyā) from the original unity of the absolute, and as such, it exists inside and beyond māyā. It is the seed of the universe, the matrix (mātrkā) of generative phonemes, the ultimate creative force.

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