ईदृशसाधकसाध्यस्य मन्त्रस्य पूर्वोपक्षिप्तं वीर्यं लक्षयति -विद्याशरीरसत्ता मन्त्ररहस्यम् ॥ ३ ॥विद्या पराद्वयप्रथा शरीरं स्वरूपं यस्य स विद्याशरीरो भगवान् शब्दराशिः तस्य या सत्ता अशेषविश्वाभेदमयपूर्णाहंविमर्शनात्मा स्फुरत्ता सा मन्त्राणां रहस्यम् उपनिषत् ।यदुक्तं श्रीतन्त्रसद्भावेसर्वे वर्णात्मका मन्त्रास्ते च शक्त्यात्मकाः प्रिये ।शक्तिस्तु मातृका ज्ञेया सा च ज्ञेया शिवात्मिका ॥इति ।तत्रैव च अयमर्थः अतिरहस्योऽपि वितत्य स्फुटीकृतः ।तथा चन जानन्ति गुरुं देवं शास्त्रोक्तान्समयांस्तथा ।दम्भकौटिल्यनिरता लौल्यार्थाः क्रिययोज्झिताः ॥अस्मात्तु कारणाद्देवि मया वीर्यं प्रगोपितम् ।तेन गुप्तेन ते गुप्ताः शेषा वर्णास्तु केवलाः ॥इति-पीठिकाबन्धं कृत्वाया सा तु मातृका देवि परतेजःसमन्विता ।तया व्याप्तमिदं विश्वं सब्रह्मभुवनान्तकम् ॥तत्रस्थं च यदा देवि व्यापितं च सुरार्चिते ।अवर्णस्थो यथा वर्णः स्थितः सर्वगतः प्रिये ॥तथाहं कथयिष्यामि निर्णयार्थं स्फुटं तव ।इत्युपक्रम्यया सा शक्तिः परा सूक्ष्मा निराचारेति कीर्तिता ।हृद्बिन्दुं वेष्टयित्वान्तः सुषुप्तभुजगाकृतिः ।तत्र सुप्ता महाभागे न किञ्चिन्मन्यते उमे ॥चन्द्राग्निरविनक्षत्रैर्भुवनानि चतुर्दश ।क्षिप्त्वोदरे तु या देवी विषमूढेव सा गता ॥प्रबुद्धा सा निनादेन परेण ज्ञानरूपिणा ।मथिता चोदरस्थेन बिन्दुना वरवर्णिनि ॥तावद्वै भ्रमवेगेन मथनं शक्तिविग्रहे ।भेदात्तु प्रथमोत्पन्ना विन्दवस्तेऽतिवर्चसः ॥उत्थिता तु यदा तेन कला सूक्ष्मा तु कुण्डली ।चतुष्कलमयो विन्दुः शक्तेरुदरगः प्रभुः ॥मथ्यमन्थनयोगेन ऋजुत्वं जायते प्रिये ।ज्येष्ठाशक्तिः स्मृता सा तु विन्दुद्वयसुमध्यगा ॥विन्दुना क्षोभमायाता रेखैवामृतकुण्डली ।रेखिणी नाम सा ज्ञेया उभौ विन्दू यदन्तगौ ॥त्रिपथा सा समाख्याता रौद्री नाम्ना तु गीयते ।रोधिनी सा समुद्दिष्टा मोक्षमार्गनिरोधनात् ॥शशाङ्कशकलाकारा अम्बिका चार्धचन्द्रिका ।एकैवेत्थं परा शक्तिस्त्रिधा सा तु प्रजायते ॥आभ्यो युक्तवियुक्ताभ्यः संजातो नववर्गकः ।नवधा च स्मृता सा तु नववर्गोपलक्षिता ॥पञ्चमन्त्रगता देवि सद्य-आदिरनुक्रमात् ।तेन पञ्चविधा प्रोक्ता ज्ञातव्या सुरनायिके ॥स्वरद्वादशगा देवि द्वादशस्था उदाहृता ।अकारादिक्षकारान्ता स्थिता पञ्चाशता भिदा ॥हृत्स्था एकाणवा प्रोक्ता कण्ठे प्रोक्ता द्वितीयका ।त्रिराणवा तु ज्ञातव्या जिह्वामूले सदा स्थिता ॥जिह्वाग्रे वर्णनिष्पत्तिर्भवत्यत्र न संशयः ।एवं शब्दस्य निष्पत्तिः शब्दव्याप्तं चराचरम् ॥इत्यादिना ग्रन्थेन परभैरवीयपरावाक्शक्त्यात्मकमातृका अत एव ज्येष्ठा-रौद्री-अम्बाख्यशक्तिप्रसरसंभेदवैचित्र्येण सर्ववर्णोदयस्य उक्तत्वात् वर्णसंघट्टनाशरीराणां मन्त्राणां सैव भगवती व्याख्यातरूपा विद्याशरीरसत्ता रहस्यम् - इति प्रदर्शितम् ।प्रत्यागमं च मातृकामालिनीप्रस्तारपूर्वकं मन्त्रोद्धारकथनस्य अयमेव आशयः ।रहस्यागमसारसंग्रहरूपत्वात् शिवसूत्राणाम् आगमसंवादे भरः अस्माभिः कृत इति नास्मभ्यम् असूयितव्यम् ।एवमपि संवादिते आगमे यदि रहस्यार्थो न बुद्ध्यते तस्मात् सद्गुरुसपर्या कार्या ।एष च सूत्रार्थःतदाक्रम्य बलं मन्त्राः … ।इत्यनेन कारिकाद्वयेन स्पन्दे दर्शितः ॥ ३ ॥
In plain words
The being of the body of vidyā is the secret of mantra. He defines the potency, hinted at before, of the mantra that such a practitioner brings to fulfilment. Vidyā is the spreading forth of supreme non-duality. The one whose body, whose own form, is vidyā is the Lord, the mass of sounds. Its being, its pulsing radiance, whose nature is the full reflective awareness "I", made of the non-difference of the whole universe: that is the secret, the upaniṣad, of the mantras. As the Tantrasadbhāva says: "All mantras are made of letters, and they are made of power, beloved; power is to be known as mātṛkā, and she is to be known as made of Śiva." And there this meaning, though most secret, is laid open at length. Thus, having made an introduction with: "They do not know the guru or the god, nor the observances taught in the scriptures; given to deceit and crookedness, bent on greed, without practice. For this reason, O Devī, I have hidden the potency; with that hidden, they are hidden; the remaining letters are bare letters." it begins: "That mātṛkā, O Devī, endowed with supreme radiance, by her this universe is pervaded, up to the world of Brahmā. And when it stands in her, O Devī, and is pervaded, you whom the gods worship, as a letter stands in the letter a, so it stands, present in all, beloved. So I shall tell you clearly, so that you may be certain." and continues: "That supreme subtle power which is called free of all practice, coiled within around the bindu of the heart, in the form of a sleeping serpent, sleeping there, O fortunate one, knows nothing, Umā. Having cast the moon, fire, sun and stars and the fourteen worlds into her belly, that goddess has become as one stupefied by poison. She is awakened by the supreme sound, whose form is knowledge, and churned by the bindu that lies in her belly, O fair one. With the force of that whirling there is churning in the body of power, and from the division the first-born bindus arise, of great splendour. When by it the subtle kalā, Kuṇḍalī, is roused, the bindu made of four kalās, the lord, lies in the belly of power. By the joining of what is churned and what churns, straightness arises, beloved; she is called the power Jyeṣṭhā, lying well between the two bindus. Stirred by the bindu, the very line, Amṛtakuṇḍalī, is to be known as Rekhiṇī, the one at whose two ends are the two bindus. She is called Tripathā, and is sung by the name of Raudrī; she is declared Rodhinī, because she blocks the path of liberation. In the shape of a digit of the moon, Ambikā, the half moon: so the one supreme power comes to be threefold. From these, joined and unjoined, the group of nine is born; and she is held to be ninefold, marked by the nine groups. Abiding in the five mantras, O Devī, Sadya and the rest in order, she is therefore called fivefold, O queen of the gods, as is to be known. Abiding in the twelve vowels, O Devī, she is declared to abide in twelve; from a to kṣa she stands in fifty divisions. In the heart she is called Ekāṇavā; in the throat the second; Trirāṇavā is to be known as abiding always at the root of the tongue. At the tip of the tongue the letters are produced; of this there is no doubt. So sound is produced; the moving and the unmoving are pervaded by sound." By this passage it is shown that, since it has described the rising of all the letters from mātṛkā, whose nature is the power of the supreme speech of the supreme Bhairava, and so through the variety of the spreading and mingling of the powers called Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī and Ambā, that same Lady, of the form explained, the being of the body of vidyā, is the secret of the mantras, whose bodies are combinations of letters. And this is the intent wherever an āgama teaches the drawing forth of mantras after first setting out the arrangement of mātṛkā and Mālinī. Because the Śiva Sūtras are a gathering of the essence of the secret āgamas, we have laid weight on agreement with the āgamas; let no one find fault with us for that. If, even with the āgamas brought into agreement in this way, the secret meaning is not understood, then let one serve a true guru. This meaning of the sūtra is shown in the Spanda in two verses beginning: "Seizing on that power, the mantras …"