Indar Krishan Raina
indarkraina@gmail.com
The Bhagavad Gita occupies a unique place in India’s spiritual consciousness. Recited in homes, discussed in gatherings, and reflected upon by seekers across generations, it has been revered as a timeless guide through moral conflict and inner turmoil. Yet the Gita is often approached through limited doctrinal frames. The ancient spiritual tradition of Kashmir Shaivism offers a deeper and more inclusive vision-one in which Sri Krishna is understood as Shiva himself, speaking in a form suited to human understanding.
This interpretation is not born of sectarian preference. Kashmir Shaivism is fundamentally non-sectarian. It recognizes all authentic spiritual revelations as expressions of the same supreme consciousness-Paramasiva-revealing itself according to the readiness of the seeker. Early Vedic religion was centred on yajña, ritual action performed to maintain cosmic order and to secure prosperity and heavenly enjoyment. The Gita does not dismiss this world, but it questions its finality. Krishna cautions Arjuna against mistaking ritual promises for ultimate truth: (Geeta 2.42)
“The unwise delight in flowery words of the Vedas, declaring that there is nothing beyond them.”
Here, the Gita signals a turning inward. Heaven itself, Krishna explains elsewhere, is impermanent. When merit is exhausted, the soul must return. Liberation, not heaven, becomes the highest aim.
The Gita goes further by asking the seeker to transcend the very framework within which ritual religion operates:
(Geeta 2.45)
“The Vedas deal with the three gunas; rise above the three gunas, O Arjuna.”
This teaching marks a decisive philosophical shift. Spiritual freedom is no longer sought through managing cosmic forces, but through transcending them. Kashmir Shaivism recognizes this state as the condition of siva-consciousness-free, luminous, and unbound.
One of the Gita’s most transformative insights lies in its redefinition of karma. Action itself is not the cause of bondage; attachment is. Krishna declares:
(Geeta 6.1)
“One who performs action without attachment to its fruits is a true renunciate and a true yogi.”
This idea resonates deeply with Kashmir Shaivism, which teaches that liberation is possible within worldly life. The liberated individual acts freely, spontaneously, without egoic compulsion-expressing consciousness rather than being bound by action.
Perhaps the most profound teaching of the Gita is Krishna’s declaration that God is not merely an external power, but the inner Self of all beings:
(Geeta 10.20)
“I am the Self dwelling in the hearts of all beings.”
This is no longer ritual theology; it is direct metaphysics of consciousness. Kashmir Shaivism fully embraces this vision, declaring that the supreme reality is self-aware consciousness present as one’s own deepest identity.
The great Kashmiri philosopher Abhinavagupta offered a profound interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita in his Gitartha Sargraha. For him, Krishna is not merely a historical or sectarian figure, but Paramasiva himself, instructing the bound soul.
The battlefield of Kurukshetra is read symbolically-as the field of awareness where every seeker stands. Arjuna represents the confused individual self, paralyzed by attachment and fear. Krishna represents the voice of supreme consciousness guiding the seeker toward recognition.
The Gita is explicit in its assessment of heavenly rewards:
(Geeta 9.21)
“Having enjoyed heaven, they return again to the mortal world.”
From the Shaiva standpoint, this reinforces a central truth: freedom lies not in reward, but in recognition. True liberation is freedom from return itself.
When Krishna declares:
(Geeta 7.7)
“There is nothing higher than Me.”
Kashmir Shaivism hears not sectarian assertion, but the voice of absolute consciousness-that which is beyond all forms yet present in all.
Seen through this lens, the Bhagavad Gita stands as a bridge between worlds. The Vedas sanctify the cosmos through ritual. The Gita sanctifies consciousness through insight. Kashmir Shaivism completes this journey by affirming that the world itself is a free expression of Shiva’s awareness.
In an age marked by restlessness and conflict, the Gita’s message-understood through Kashmir Shaivism-offers a path of engaged freedom. One need not renounce life to realize truth. One need only see clearly.
When Krishna speaks in the Gita, Kashmir Shaivism hears the voice of Shiva-calling humanity inward, from action to awareness, from ritual to realization, from bondage to freedom.
(The author is a writer and researcher of Kashmir Shaivism)
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