Prefatory 0
ओं नमः सच्चिदानन्दात्मने ।अथ शिवसूत्रविमर्शिनी ।प्रथम उन्मेषः ।रुद्रक्षेत्रज्ञवर्गः समुदयति यतो यत्र विश्रान्तिमृच्छेद्यत्तत्त्वं यस्य विश्वं स्फुरितमयमियद्यन्मयं विश्वमेतत् ।स्वाच्छन्द्यानन्दवृन्दोच्छलदमृतमयानुत्तरस्पन्दतत्त्वंचैतन्यं शाङ्करं तज्जयति यदखिलं द्वैतभासाद्वयात्म ॥आसमञ्जस्यमालोच्य वृत्तीनामिह तत्त्वतः ।शिवसूत्रं व्याकरोमि गुर्वाम्नायविगानतः ॥इह कश्चित् शक्तिपातवशोन्मिषन्माहेश्वरभक्त्यतिशयात् अनङ्गीकृताधरदर्शनस्थ-नाग-बोध्यादि-सिद्धादेशनः शिवाराधनपरः पारमेश्वर-नानायोगिनी-सिद्धसत्संप्रदाय-पवित्रितहृदयः श्रीमहादेवगिरौ महामाहेश्वरः श्रीमान् वसुगुप्तनामा गुरुरभवत् ।कदाचिच्च असौ द्वैतदर्शनाधिवासितप्राये जीवलोके रहस्यसंप्रदायो मा विच्छेदि इत्याशयतः अनुजिघृक्षापरेण परमशिवेन स्वप्ने अनुगृह्य उन्मिषितप्रतिभः कृतः यथा अत्र महीभृति महति शिलातले रहस्यम् अस्ति तत् अधिगम्य अनुग्रहयोग्येषु प्रकाशय इति ।प्रबुद्धश्च असौ अन्विष्यन् तां महतीं शिलां करस्पर्शनमात्रपरिवर्तनतः संवादीकृतस्वप्नां प्रत्यक्षीकृत्य इमानि शिवोपनिषत्संग्रहरूपाणि शिवसूत्राणि ततः समाससाद ।एतानि च सम्यक् अधिगम्य भट्टश्रीकल्लटाद्येषु सच्छिष्येषु प्रकाशितवान् स्पन्दकारिकाभिश्च संगृहीतवान् ।तत्पारम्पर्य-प्राप्तानि स्पन्दसूत्राणि अस्माभिः स्पन्दनिर्णये सम्यक् निर्णीतानि ।शिवसूत्राणि तु निर्णीयन्ते ॥
In plain words
Oṃ. Homage to the one whose Self is being, consciousness and bliss. Now, the Śivasūtravimarśinī. The first unmeṣa. "Victorious is that consciousness which is Śaṅkara's: from which the host of Rudras and of knowers of the field arises, and in which it comes to rest; which is the very reality; whose flashing forth is the universe; of which this whole world, so vast, is made; whose reality is the unsurpassed spanda, made of the nectar that wells up from the fullness of bliss of its own freedom; which is everything, its self the non-duality within the appearance of duality." "Seeing that the commentaries on it here do not, in truth, hold together, because they are at odds with the teaching handed down by the gurus, I explain the Śivasūtra." There was here a certain teacher, glorious, named Vasugupta, a great devotee of the Great Lord, on the holy Mahādeva mountain. Because an overflowing devotion to the Great Lord had opened in him through the descent of power, he did not accept the instructions of perfected teachers such as Nāgabodhi who stood in lower views. He was devoted to the worship of Śiva, and his heart had been made pure by the true lineage of the Supreme Lord's many yoginīs and siddhas. Once, so that the secret lineage should not be broken in a world of living beings almost wholly steeped in the view of duality, Paramaśiva, intent on grace, favoured him in a dream and awakened his intuition, saying: "Here, on this mountain, on a great rock, there is a secret. Take hold of it and make it known to those who are fit for grace." On waking, he searched, and found that great rock, which turned over at the mere touch of his hand and so bore out his dream. Seeing it with his own eyes, he obtained from it these Śiva Sūtras, a gathering of the secret teaching of Śiva. When he had fully mastered them, he made them known to his true disciples, Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa and others, and gathered them up in the Spandakārikās. The Spanda sūtras that came down through that line we have fully settled in the Spandanirṇaya. The Śiva Sūtras, for their part, are now being settled.