The Triadic Nexus of Knowing
The 12th century Kirana Tantra that tells us that knowledge of the Self arises through the relationship with a teacher, study of wisdom teachings, and direct recognition. Most, if not all nondual tantric practices and traditions contain the same message, which is understood as the triadic axis of knowing.
All spiritual growth happens because of grace. The Sanskrit term is anugraha — and although it means grace, it is often translated as the unfolding of awareness to reveal its innate nature. When the pure, innate Consciousness that is the Source of all life begins to reveal Itself to us, it causes us to long for the knowledge of that very Source. Through our sādhana, we discover that our lives are like that of a little stream that flows into an ocean, which, as in the image, seemingly has no boundary between itself and the sky.
This graphic shows the triadic relationship with a teacher on top, and study of wisdom and direct experience on the sides. But you can flip it any way you want since the three are interconnected, each leading to the others. They are all the forces of grace that liberate us from what we could call the casualty of consciousness, of not knowing our Self due to limited awareness.
The Importance of Scripture
I quote scripture because it is an expressed insight from someone’s direct experience that can point us to that same recognition in ourselves. The words in any scripture or teaching contain a resonance that functions like a tuning fork, aligning us with the truth. Scripture is a form of transmission by word.
The first statement of the Shiva Sutras, one of the seminal texts within the nondual tantric traditions says: Consciousness is everything. If that doesn’t rock your boat, you’re not awake! If hearing those words doesn’t give you pause to reconsider the depth of your own understanding, then it’s because you’re not listening or hearing that resonance.
In my own experience, hearing those words gave me pause to stop and think: Maybe there is a deeper place of understanding in myself. It made me want to find it. I believe that scripture causes us to doubt the very doubt in us that arises from the veil of resistance in which we cloak our misunderstanding. It reveals that the limited consciousness in us is not the place in which the truth of these extraordinarily powerful statements can be known.
Centuries ago, a great, simple, surrendered person closed their eyes, turned inside, and opened their heart — and had the insight that Consciousness is everything. Their direct experience can then be a GPS for us. We begin to inquire: Well, maybe that’s true. How do I find that realization in myself?
A Teacher Supports Our Transformation
Our relationship with a teacher and lineage is the energy that fuels our own direct experience of the Self. It is the encountering of the wisdom of knowing radiating from the teacher’s experience of the Self. In our practice, we’re transmitting śakti, knowledge, and experience. But that’s only possible because all of that is already present within each person. Transmission is never about placing something in somebody; It’s about ringing the bell.
Something that a teacher experienced and transmitted 1,000 years ago is now scripture — a statement that woke somebody up, that spurred the intent to have the same insight. This is the power of a relationship with a teacher. And so, the energy of the relationship with a teacher fuels the student’s experience, and the circle of knowledge is strengthened.
Our Direct Experience
We might at any time have a direct experience and then reread a scripture or remember something our teacher said to us. And we think: That’s what was meant! In that moment we may recognize that some part of us was unprepared or unwilling to hear the clear message at the time — or perhaps simply that a seed that was planted in us that took some time to germinate and grow. The energy that we received in our continued engagement with a teacher was the fertilizer that fueled and nourished that seed so it could break out of its hard shell and sprout. That sprouting happens in the central channel, ultimately revealing the very thing we were told fifty years ago, as our truth.
Early in my own sādhana, I read a statement from the 2nd century Chandogya Upanishad that sliced through me like a knife. It said: God is One without a second. If you dissect those six simple words, you realize it’s conveying the same timeless message, that everything is Consciousness. The direct recognition of that reality is the revelation of the Self. It can be fueled by a relationship with a teacher or by the reading or hearing of the spoken word. This direct experience of the Self is liberation. It’s freedom from doubt, freedom from ego, and freedom from limited understanding.
Each aspect of that spinning wheel of scripture, teacher, and direct experience has a singular intent. All of it is for the revelation that Consciousness and Śakti are One and that we are the individuated expressions of that union. This is anugraha, the unfolding of awareness to reveal its own innate nature.
The next time you get all caught up in the fight and the doubt and the grasping, remember that your life is the expression of grace. In fact, every life is the expression of grace, of the power of Consciousness to express Itself. And because grace has beckoned you home, creating the longing to know that for yourself, the only response should be gratitude, devotion, discipline, and surrender.