The Tantra of Svayaṃbhū Vidyapāda

SVAYAMBHUVASUTRASAMGRAḤA

THE TANTRA OF SVAYAṂBHŪ 
Vidyapāda
(KMS No. 13)

With the commentary of Sadyojyoti

 Edited and Translated by  PIERRE-SYLVAIN FILLIOZAT

1994, xxxviii+144pp., indexs, ISBN: 91-208-1125-9, Rs 200 (HB)

Complementary and co-eval with other fundamental texts has been the tradition of the Āgamas and some portions of the Purāṇas.as which deal not so much with construction of temples and the making of the images but with the worshipping of deities and the methodologies of enlivening, giving prāṇa (breath) to inert matter. In the Āgamas, there are the major streams of the Śaiva, the Vaisnava and the Śākta traditions. Among these the Śaiva literature is extensively known by its familiar division of Kashmir Śaivism and Śaiva Siddhānta.

The Svāyambhuva-Sūtra-Saṁgraha belongs to the Śaiva Siddhānta stream and is a portion of the thirteenth Mūla Āgma dealing with Vidyāpāda. The chapters deal with four principal concerns of the Śaiva Siddhānta, namely the nature of the bound soul (Paśu); the bondage (Paśu); God’s power of grace ( anugraha Śakti); and the path of liberation ( adhvan). From these goals the text moves on to describe the methodologies of attaining the final goal through the elaborate rite of dīkṣā.

Sadyojyoti, the ancient-most acarya of this tradition, has commented upon this rite in detail. The text assumes importance for the concurrent levels of philosophic discourse and process of worship.