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Thousands and thousands of scriptures have been written on this planet, each by a different master and each one addressed to different types of disciples, for different purposes, at different times, in different countries, and for different conditions. Why have spiritual scriptures been written? What is the purpose of these spiritual scriptures? What is the point of all this spirituality?

The purpose and need for spiritual scripture is to liberate you from your conditioning. It is to give you a glimpse of your original nature. The real purpose is to give you the experience of who you really are.

There is a big problem in this field, in this field of spirituality. Nobody entering this area knows the end result. Nobody knows the method, and nobody knows even where to start! There is no clear logical system or no logical scale by which to measure the spiritual system. In the field of mathematics, it does not matter whether you are in Germany, Australia, or China. Two plus two is always equal to four. In the field of chemistry, we know that if you add element A to element B in the right conditions, you will get element C. Things are very clear. The method to reach the conclusion is written out in a straightforward way, and the answer is easily reproducible.

In the area of spirituality, things are totally different. Neither is the goal clear, nor the path from which you start. Nothing is clear. Each individual who has experienced spirituality simply expresses, proclaims, and shares the way in which they experienced. Each expression is unique. Therefore each scripture is unique. Each scripture is different.

This can be very confusing. It is confusing.

There is a beautiful saying in India that says if two masters say the same thing, be sure that one of them is lying. A master can only be a master if he has experienced the truth. When one experiences the truth, the expression is always unique. So, if two people express something in exactly the same way, one of them has not truly experienced. One of them is copying the other.

That is why all the scriptures are so different. For the layperson, navigating this ocean becomes so difficult.

People come and ask me, again and again, 'Master, there is so much confusion in the spiritual world, where do we start?'" This is a problem, especially for Hindus. There are not just one or two Hindu gods. Some scriptures say there are 3,300 gods. Some even say there are 33,000,000 gods. There are so many different gods, so many different methods. There is the concept of the Ishtadevata, or personally preferred god. Each individual picks a god of his personal choice. This has caused so much confusion.

People ask me, 'What is this, master, how do we know which God to follow? What should we do? This is the biggest weakness of Hinduism.'

I tell them, ‘No, it’s a great advantage. It is the biggest plus point of Hinduism. It is a wonderful level of freedom.’ Of course, whenever you have freedom you tend to create variety.

Vivekananda says, ‘Freedom is the basic condition for growth, any growth.’ In the East, there is spiritual freedom. In the West, there is social freedom. Because there is spiritual freedom, East created so many gods, so many techniques, and so many methods to move on the spiritual path. It has become very difficult, though, to enter into the system for this very same reason. Because of the tremendous amount of variety and choice, it is very difficult to analyze the system! There is no scale by which to measure one aspect against another. Actually, you cannot say that this thing is right or that thing is wrong. In spirituality, there is in fact no good or bad. There is no judgment. The vast magnitude of the spiritual field defies measurement.

Within all of this variety, all of these scriptures, one finds oneself without a map with no understanding of the destination. People ask me again and again, in many places: ‘Master, exactly what do you want to express? Please tell us.’

To tell you honestly, whatever I want to express is already expressed in the Shiva Sutras. If you look at all the scriptures and all the books written in the spiritual realm, you can classify them in three major categories.

The first category is books written for people who are head-oriented, for people who are intellectual. These are people who are constantly thinking, thinking, and thinking. Thinking about how to develop their life, how to develop their body, how to develop their mind. These intellectuals are constantly thinking about developing their external self. They understand about goals, about paths, about action. We call these sastras.

The second category is the scriptures written by people who express themselves more from their hearts, from their emotions. These writings are more like songs, music, stotras (religious chants), reciting the glory of the divine.

The third category is about techniques. These are practical techniques to allow one to experience the path, to directly experience the goal. In Sanskrit, these are called sutras.

In the first level – that is sastras, the scriptures are more like teachings. You receive words and more words. It appeals to the intellect. At the next level are the stotras, in which you only hear of the experiences of others. It is as though somebody had a taste of nectar and then sings about the nectar. That is not really going to help you.

If someone states, or writes a scripture explaining that nectar is life, this would become a teaching. This is sastra. This is the first category of scripture. If another person, after tasting the nectar, expresses his joy, that expression would be stotra, the second category. Neither of them, sastras nor stotras, is going to help you directly.

It is only at the third level, which we call the sutras, or techniques, where real help is given.

Actually, sastras have done more damage to human consciousness than stotras have. At least stotras do not hurt anybody. When you express your love of the divine, when you let your heart flow with this expression, at least you do not become egoistic. But in sastras, you start to claim that what you say is the ultimate truth. The ego behind the idea that this is the only truth starts penetrating the sastras, which are simply intellectual knowledge, or teachings.

According to me, these spiritual teachings create the biggest problem. I can say that if somebody has not read the scriptures or sastras, that person is actually saved by God. There are simply too many words and too many messages. To tell you honestly, almost all the teachings, almost all the scriptures either make you fell inferior, or create a deep guilt in you, nothing else.

People spread the message of spiritual scriptures to get customers for confession, so that their businesses can run. This is the basis of spiritual scriptures. Honestly, most scriptures are only political or social. The do not directly aim at spiritual growth. They do not liberate you. In the name of liberation, they play with words. With the teachings, you continue to struggle.

A small story,

A lady was driving a car and drove into a motorcyclist. A police officer came and asked ‘How could you do this in broad daylight with no traffic? How did this happen?’ She replied, ‘I couldn’t see through my windshield because there are so many ‘Safety First’ stickers on it.

See the irony? Too many stickers about safety made her less safe. In the same way, too many words and too much teaching completely corrupt your consciousness. You become too loaded with words.

Just yesterday I was telling one of my devotees that morality makes your bones weak. The idea of morality makes your bones weak. We are constantly just using blanket statements, like ‘be good, be truthful, be this, or be that’, but what do we do with these statements? You are not able to turn the statements into reality, but at the same time, you cannot forget the statements either. These statements are inserted into your consciousness very logically.

When something is put into your mind very logically, you start struggling with it. I tell you, almost all teachings are given to create deep guilt in human beings, so that they can be ruled, so that they can be exploited. Teachings, as such, are nothing but methods to exploit human beings.

For all these teachings, I can give you two or three methods that will make you a great teacher or a great philosopher. First, just start teaching or writing things that are impossible. Secondly, start writing or teaching that which cannot be done. Third, never speak or write in a simple way. Create as many complications as possible. Finally, maybe the most important thing, never give any solutions. These are a few tips on how to become a so-called great philosopher or teacher. This applies to almost all teachings.

Whosoever is giving only words, be very clear, they are not giving any solutions or guidance. People who can hide their personal lives, people who can keep their privacy, they go on intruding into other peoples’ privacy in the name of teaching. If you enter deeply into your consciousness, you will understand just how much your consciousness is disturbed by these teachings. You will see just how much your inner space is stolen by these so-called teachings. You have lost your inner space because of these rough, dull, dead words. They have conditioned you and have become part of your samskaras. They have embedded themselves in your unconscious as your value system and beliefs without any understanding.

People who do not have concern for you give you only words. They do not create the condition within you to let the words transform you. They simply throw teachings at you. People who do not care for you only throw words at you whether or not you can catch them, or want to catch them. Such preachers and teachers have no concept of what they are actually doing to other human beings, because they themselves are not clear about what they are teaching. They express words that they themselves have not imbibed, words that have not become a part of their experience or being. A man who has experienced his being will never give you teachings, never. If he starts speaking, a man who has experienced his being will only express his message as techniques. Teachings are words that come from a man who has not experienced. Techniques are words that come from a man who has experienced.

Teachings create deep guilt in you. People who do not practice or who cannot practice go on giving you teachings, and you go on receiving more and more words. You are so filled with these words that you start overflowing with them. When you start overflowing with words and when you are not able to practice, you start catching other people and start to teach them. It’s really a nice way of escaping from guilt. By making others feel guilty you reduce your guilt. Teachings are just words given to you to make you feel guilty so that you can be exploited easily. The moment a human being starts feeling guilty about something, he can be exploited. Now he starts fighting with himself. When you fight with yourself, it becomes much easier to exploit you. It becomes easy to cheat you. It becomes easy to control and enslave you.

Techniques, on the other hand, are entirely different from teachings. Teachings are just words and more words that create more and more conflicts. Actually, a kind of violence is present in teachings. They are violent because they do not care whether you are able to follow them or not. They do not care if you are able to practice it or not. The words are simply flung at you. From the start these words are given to you as commandments, orders.

Today I am introducing you to a book, which is not a set of commandments or orders. It is a beautiful expression of love and energy. One thing I can say about the great Shiva Sutras is that in these verses there is no argument. This is probably the only scripture where there is no argument. It is one of the only books where there is not a question and answer format. There is only one question and the rest of the book is the answer, that's all. There is no second question. Actually, the first question is really not even a question, it as a doubt. The word 'question' itself is too violent, because there is arrogance in the act of questioning.

Let me be very clear, I receive thousands of questions, but almost 99% of the questions are just expressing violence. What do I mean by this? The question is only arrogance or an expression of arrogance. Usually, we cannot accept or digest somebody sitting on a stage. You will ask yourself, why should he sit on the stage and not me? If he sits on the stage and he claims to be somebody 'superior', then let me check, poke, prod, and test him. Let me see whether or not he is really qualified. This subtle arrogance is what expresses itself in the form of a question. You see, if all that you were really seeking to know was the answer to your question, then that is one thing. The problem, though, is that you are trying to test something else using your question as a vehicle for this other test.

Somebody came to me and asked, 'Master, please tell me how to become enlightened. Tell me how to see God'. I started talking about something else. I started asking him about himself, where he came from, what kind of job he had, etc. He answered my questions. After that, he was with me for three hours and he did not raise his original question again. He no longer wanted to know how to become enlightened and how to see God. Now we can see the lack of intensity in the question itself. It was pure, simple curiosity. The question had no depth, no energy behind it. It was only a question, not a quest. If he really wanted to know the answer to his question, he would have persisted to find out. Some mere questions I posed to him about his life should not have distracted him so easily. He did not really want to know the answer. He just wanted to ask for the sake of asking, or he wanted to show that he is a seeker, or he just wanted to rate my response.

You do not want to know the actual truth, you only want to know whether the master knows it or not. This is why arguments happen. They happen because a real answer is not sought out. There is some other intention, arrogance, or purpose behind the question. Be very clear, when the master is speaking and the disciple asks questions, only teaching is happening. Techniques are not shared.

Here, in this book, the Shiva Sutras, there is no teaching. This book is filled completely with techniques. Another name for this book is the Vignana Bhairava Tantra. This book gives Shiva's techniques for reaching His consciousness. It is an expression of His consciousness. There are no teachings, no questions and no arguments.

You will find that the Shiva Sutras are completely beyond any country, religion, conditioning, or philosophy. If you want to enter into the world of Shiva, you have to completely drop all conditionings. He will not support any of them. He isn't the least bit bothered about creating another religion, establishment, or country. He is completely disinterested in developing a creed. He isn't bothered about anything. He is purely, simply, expressing what he feels. He is expressing what he experiences as the Ultimate Truth.

Somebody once asked me 'Master, why does Sanatana Dharma not have any organization?' Sanatana Dharma is the name by which the Vedic culture was known, and many religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism arose from this culture.

I answered that Sanatana Dharma, which is a culture and a philosophy, is just too vast to be covered by an organizational structure. The greatness or the beauty of our dharma is not that it is against organization, but that it is beyond it. It is beyond organizations. Of course, we do have small organizations where the scriptures are preserved and the techniques are kept alive, but these organizations do not represent Sanatana Dharma. They have no right to be representatives. They are only a small part of this whole ocean. The Sanatana Dharma is so vast that you cannot bring it within one umbrella or organization because it is not based on teachings. It is based on techniques. It is not based on violence. It is based on love.

Almost all teachings are directly or indirectly violent because the people spreading them are not experienced. Anything they teach will be only words, with no spirit, no experience behind it. It is like a knife in a child's hand. The same knife can perform a healing surgery by a surgeon, but in the wrong hands it can be dangerous and can maim or kill. Words without the spirit and experience of truth create violence. They create violence against others and violence against your own self. Words without knowledge or experience have no meaning.

If any help is to be given to humanity it can only be given through techniques that are based on the truth of experience. Techniques are the technology to experience the consciousness. Only those who have experienced the truth must give these techniques. If people who have not experienced the truth express techniques, they will become mere rituals. They too will be another teaching that is dead and dull. On the other hand, even teachings, if expressed by one who has experienced the Truth, will become techniques, or sutra.

The underlying difference between teachings and techniques is that teachings are answers to the question 'Why?', whereas techniques are answers to the question 'How?' If you ask the questions, why there is suffering? or 'why death happens to innocent children?', or 'why life is full of pain and suffering?, there are no answers. Even if you create some answer it will not be a solution. Again, you have created more and more words, and now you may create more pain and suffering.

People ask me, ‘Why should I go through these problems, Master? Why should I have this suffering?’ I tell them clearly not to ask me the question ‘why?’, but to ask me the question ‘how can I come out of it?’ Only then I can then help them come out of the problem situation.

After all, what good is it to know why you are suffering if you cannot get out of it. What use is the question when you are no longer suffering? We think suffering will reduce if we know the reason for it. Actually, by knowing the reason for suffering, more and more complexities are created. The situation becomes more and more complicated. You start to think that you can now solve this suffering by doing this or by doing that. By doing this and doing that, you create greater difficulties and greater problems. If the ‘why’ is answered, it becomes teaching. If the ‘how’ is answered, it becomes technique.

All of the Shiva Sutras are the answer given by Shiva to the question of how not why. It is an intense and intimate expression of energy. Usually, whenever energy is intense or powerful, intimacy is lost. Whenever intimacy is high or the energy is soft, intensity is lost. In the Shiva Sutras, though, Shiva’s expression is both intense and intimate. By his very nature, Shiva is intense energy. Shiva is expressing himself to the intimate energy of Devi, who is his consort.

This combination of intensity and complete intimacy is why the Shiva Sutras is perhaps the purest spiritual scripture without politics, without any mixture of social conditioning. It is completely removed from social conditioning, and in that state it is a pure spiritual scripture. The one and only pure spiritual scripture on this planet is the Shiva Sutras. All other scriptures are influenced by the political setup or the social setup or need of the moment.

For example, Sankaracharya had a vested interest to convince the Buddhists, the dwaitis (dualists), and all other sects, that advaita (non-dualism) is the ultimate philosophy. He wrote the commentary to the Brahma Sutras for that reason, to convince everybody that advaita is the ultimate. The same thing happens with Ramanuja. He writes Sribhasya, his commentary on the Brahma Sutras, to convince people that his philosophy is the ultimate.

Even Krishna, he gives us the Gita to convince Arjuna to fight. There is a vested interest, there is some ulterior purpose. The moment something is written with vested interest, be very clear, the purity is lost. It is simply lost and is no longer a pure spiritual text.

Here, in the Shiva Sutras, Shiva has no vested interest to convince Devi. She has already disappeared into him. She is not even a seeker. Be very clear, even if you are speaking to your ordinary disciple, you have a vested interest. You want him to be under your control throughout his life. When Shiva speaks to Devi, there is no vested interest. She is far more than a disciple; she is his partner.

Shiva has no ulterior motive. He is just expressing himself. It is a pure expression of love. He has just opened himself, his whole being. When you have a very intimate moment with someone, the truth flows between both of you in a very pure and sincere way. There is no room for vested interests.

The Shiva Sutras are therefore not teachings, they are techniques shared intimately. In this intimacy, Shiva is not going to argue, and neither am I. There is going to be no effort to convince. I am simply opening up to what he says. I am just repeating what he says. I am not adding, making commentary, or trying to convince you through these discourses.

The way the Shiva Sutras start is a very beautiful setup. There is a beautiful ambience where the whole thing is expressed. Devi sits in the lap of Shiva, and Shiva expresses himself. You need to understand every word in this sentence and understand what it means. Devi is not somewhere else, she is not a disciple; she is the beloved. She is sitting in his lap in deep intimacy, where you do not need to tell a lie or convince the other person. There is no greed or fear, there is nothing to gain or lose. He has no need to convince Devi about his greatness, and no need to convince her that she needs to practice something. With teachings, they are given for a reason: either to express that I am great or that you are not yet at my level.

In this situation, neither of these reasons is present. Shiva has no need to say that he is great, and there is no need to convince Devi because she has already completely surrendered unto him. She is not even going to use these techniques as she is beyond them. She is completely in tune with Shiva. She has disappeared into him. Why is he even speaking? Why does he even express these techniques? The only reason for his expression is so that other people can experience this same Devi or Shiva consciousness. If you feel like arguing, or if you feel like questioning, you should study the Brahma Sutras or the Gita. If you are tired of reading and your sincere interest is to experience your Being, the Shiva Sutras is the book for you.

Someone once went to Ramana Maharishi and asked him ‘Bhagavan, how does one practise the technique of self-inquiry?’ Self-inquiry, in Sanskrit it is called atma-vichara, was Ramana Maharishi’s cardinal technique of experiencing your being. In this technique one questions oneself with the question ‘Who am I?’ This inquiry into the nature of who you are leads to an understanding of your being, and experience of your being.

The man continued his question to Ramana, ‘I cannot believe that just by asking myself the question, Who am I, I will become enlightened. Can I chant some mantras, can I do some stotras?’

Bhagavan Ramana said ‘OK, please do it’. After two years the man came back and complained to Ramana. He said ‘Bhagavan, I am tired. I have chanted all the mantras and done all the stotras that I can do. Still, I find no result. I find that there is no result at all.’

Bhagavan replied, ‘No, never think what you have done is a waste. When you found out that there was no result, that itself is the result. Getting the knowledge that you will achieve nothing from these mantras was the greatest result. That is the result you were supposed to achieve! Now you are ready for higher level practice. Now it is time to enter into your inner space through self-inquiry.’

If you aren’t yet tired of arguments, and if you still aren’t tired of reading, of teachings, then the Shiva Sutras are not for you. Let me be very clear, this book is not for you. If you have read enough words, if your mind has had enough of them, this book is for you. If you are tired of speaking, then this book is for you. If you have fed your brain enough food, this book is for you. The Shiva Sutras is for you only if you are tired of simply swallowing words and tired of being bombarded with philosophy. That is the beauty of this book. There is no philosophy. At no point in this book does Shiva speak about Atman, Hiranyagarbha, Brahman, Non duality etc. He only gives you pure techniques. Straightaway, he gives you the technique.

The other day I was telling a devotee that I experienced Brahman (cosmic consciousness) before I knew the word Brahman. See, before I had read or heard of this word, Brahman, I was fortunate enough to actually experience the state. In this way, God actually saved me. If this had not happened, the experience would have been postponed.

The very idea of the words, before experiencing them, creates ideas that are not based in reality. They are simply fantasies. They simply make you know more and more words. Learning about more and more philosophy simply postpones the experience. You can never settle in the present moment when your mind is being pushed by these words. The Shiva Sutras are for people who are just tired of words. Once you say ‘enough!’ you have arrived at the time to experience the Truth. Instead of more words to describe the truth, Shiva gives you the pure technique.

The Shiva Sutras is not a book to analyze or argue about. The basic need for the student is trust. I am always telling people not to simply believe what I am saying. I encourage people to doubt and question what I say. With this book though, you need a deep trust because neither your doubts nor your questions are going to help you. If you are still in an inquisitive mood, please read the other books I have written and watch the other DVDs I have produced. These may be more satisfying. But if you really feel that you can enter into the zone of experience, read on.

I have no inclination to waste time on question and answers, and I do not want to spend any time convincing you. I am simply tired of convincing people. In this book, I decided to directly express what Shiva expressed. So, whoever can relax and listen with deep trust can experience what Shiva expressed through his Shiva Sutras. In the past three years I have answered more than three thousand questions giving answers to all the possible questions in the spiritual field. I will be coming out with a huge twelve-volume book filled with these questions and answers. I even threw in some questions I created and gave answers to them. All your questions will be answered in these twelve volumes. So, if you are still in a questioning mood, please play with these three thousand questions and answers. Play with them as long as you want.

Enter into the Shiva Sutras only if you are totally tired of playing with words and arguments and intellectual games. Here, I am not going to give you any brain candy to chew on. I am directly going to open up what Shiva expressed without convincing or teaching.

Everyday we shall have a meditation technique flowering from what Shiva expresses in each Sutra. He has given 112 meditation techniques in 112 sutras. Each day we will practice one technique and I will give more importance to technique rather than teaching. As I said before, teachings are trying to convince you whereas techniques are given for you to have the experience. With a teaching, at most you will think the teacher is a great person with some great knowledge. With teaching, my business will flourish, but yours will not. With technique, your life will flourish. Your experience will happen. If you are still interested in teachings, there are many volumes available. Go ahead and play with all these volumes, spend some time with them. If, however, the technique is what you are really interested in, you are at the right place.

Today, we will practice a technique of entering into the Devi consciousness. Unless you become like Devi, Shiva cannot land on you. He cannot descend upon you. Unless you completely drop the masculine energy in you, you cannot experience Shiva. Let me be very clear, I am not saying that a man cannot become a disciple of Shiva or that he cannot become a devotee of Shiva. However, if you flaunt your masculine energy, arrogance, violence, questioning, and argumentative mood, then you can never relate to Shiva. Maybe you will be able to relate to the Gita or Brahma Sutras, but not to the Shiva Sutras.

The Shiva Sutras are the solution for people who are ready to connect right away. It is the answer to people who are ready to feel intuitively connected and really want to experience. So, I am neither going to argue nor try to convince you. I am simply going to open up to what Shiva says. I will simply open my being for whoever wants to experience the breeze. So, just open the door and let the breeze in. May you open yourself so that you can experience Shiva consciousness, the eternal consciousness, so that you may enter into pure energy.