Spanda-Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation [Hardcover]

Jaideva Singh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 8120808169 | ISBN-13: 978-8120808164 | Publication Date: January 2005

Dr. Jaideva Singh has re-edited the text and the commentary with the assistance of his guru Swami Laksmana Joo. He has provided and English translation of both the text and Ksemaraja's commentary. He has thrown, in his notes, new light on many subtle points of the text and the commentary and given lucid exposition of each verse.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jaideva Singh (1893-1986) was a great scholar in musicology, philosophy and Sanskrit. A former principal of Y.d. College. Lakhimpur-Kheri he served as Chief Producer in All India Radio and among other posts acted as Chairman of U.P. Sangit Natak Academi. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1974.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 209 pages
• Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8120808169
• ISBN-13: 978-8120808164
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential companion to the Siva Sutras., July 7, 2002

By 

JPH "JPH" (Crawley) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spanda-Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation (Paperback)

Like Shakti for Shiva, like Venus for Mars, the Spanda-Karikas are required reading for the person who has delved into Jaideva Singh's compilation of the Siva Sutras.

The Spanda-Karikas are Sri Vasugupta's commentary verses on the Siva Sutras he had received from Lord Shiva. 52 in all, here in this book they are wedded to Sri Ksemaraja's commentaries, plus a bonus 53rd verse from Sri Ksemaraja. Cool hey?!! 11 centuries before music companies started dishing our free bonus album CDs, or MacD's gave the world that extra decked Big Mac, the Kashmiri Saivites had known all about bonus goodies. :-)

The texts are all expertly translated by the incredibly meticulous and conscientious Jaideva Singh. Here, and in his Siva Sutras & Pratyabhijnahrdayam too, Singh (pupil of Lakshman Joo; the last doyen of the Kashmir Trika lineage) really took pains to clarify the teachings of the Trika sect; carefully differentiating the Trika teachings from the strawman fallacies made out of them by careless Western academics. You will be hard challenged to find a better preserver and defender of the Trika philosophy elsewhere.

While the Siva Sutras laid out the foundational doctrines of the Trika sect, describing Supreme Lord Shiva's relationship to the material world and sentient beings, the Spanda Karikas elucidate instead primarily on Lord Shiva's power or ParaShakti, his divine consort. Together, the Siva Sutras and Spand Karikas constitute the cornerstones of Trika philosophy.

This is all I can offer as an intro to the Karikas. You need to study them yourself to get the gist of the Spanda doctrines. They can't be easily summarized. Least of all in a short Amazon.Com review. :-)

Aum Parashaktiye Namaha!
Aum Namah Sivaya!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a reader, November 21, 2004

By 

C. Roesler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spanda-Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation (Hardcover)

Spanda Karikas is tied for the best book I ever read. The other is Divine Consciousness by the same author. These books are almost impossible to find, I suggest you get them.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good stuff, November 4, 2009

By 

a customer (earth) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spanda-Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation (Paperback)

this book is endlessly valuable if you're interested in kashmir shaivism's philosophy and practices

it's a bit crowded in a way and might be dry reading for some

however once you get into it and become familiar with it you'll find the quality of it

i find some of jaideva singh's translations a bit clunky but they work to get the point across

the subject matter is of course fairly obscure in many ways - however as one studies more of kashmir shaivism one begins to find in it a philosophy and system of practice that is remarkably clear and yet still profound.

at the center of all the talk is the incentive : go within , realize your own nature