Shiva’s Trident

Shiva’s Trident Mandala is integral to the nondual Kashmiri Shaivite practice of Anuttara Trika. In this pioneering exposition, Swami Khecaranatha elucidates the extraordinary spiritual tradition represented by this sacred image, offering modern practitioners a clear understanding of its enduring power, relevance, and ultimate purpose: the attainment of higher Consciousness and union with God.

Khecaranatha’s revelations in this book are focused around the following remarkable statement by Abhinavagupta, one of the greatest saints in the Shaivite tradition. Through these eloquent words, Abhinavagupta encapsulates centuries of esoteric knowledge embedded within the Trident:

The highest insight of Anuttara Trika is union with Shakti, the triad of energies of will, knowledge, and action. This is Shiva’s Trident, the three aspects of His absolute nature and freedom, which He possesses by virtue of His union with His own emission. In the practice of Anuttara Trika, the sadhaka penetrates the energy of emission, becoming one with Shiva, the source and holder of the powers of the universe. . . . This is done through the practice of Kundalini Yoga. There is no other Divine fire able to consume the whole of duality than kundalini.