From Shiva to Jiva : Part 3

In the earlier part, we saw how the still, boundless awareness of Śiva expressed Itself through Śakti and gave rise to the pure, luminous principles known as the Śuddha Tattvas. In that realm there was no separation between the knower, knowledge, and the known — only the steady radiance of pure consciousness.

But as this radiance flows outward, a subtle veil appears. Awareness begins to perceive difference. The limitless Self takes on the sense of individuality, and creation enters a mixed region — neither entirely pure nor yet material. This is the domain of the Śuddhāśuddha Tattvas, also called the Vidyā Tattvas. It forms the bridge between spirit and matter, where consciousness still shines, though partly covered.

Here the infinite becomes finite. The universal “I” (what is called Consciousness or chit or चित्त) contracts into a personal “I”. This happens through five delicate veils called Kañchukas — Kāla, Niyati, Rāga, Vidyā, and Kalā. Through them, the soul’s infinite powers are gradually narrowed. Kāla introduces time, dividing the timeless into past, present, and future. Niyati establishes order, determining the place and conditions under which each event unfolds. Rāga, which means desire, brings the feeling of incompleteness and the urge to possess. Vidyā limits knowledge to fragments, and Kalā restricts the vast power of action to a small personal range.

Because of these coverings, the Super Consciousness that once acted everywhere through sheer will now acts through a single body and mind. The bound soul — paśu — becomes a limited knower and doer. Yet even in limitation, the light of awareness remains the same; only its field has contracted.

Among these veils, Niyati ensures that every action bears its result under lawful conditions. It is the principle that keeps the moral and cosmic order intact, guiding the operation of karma across time. Nothing occurs by chance; each experience unfolds precisely when and where it must.

Thus, in this middle realm, the soul stands between infinity and finitude — no longer completely free, not yet fully material. These tattvas prepare it for its descent into the next stage, the Aśuddha Tattvas or Prakṛti Tattvas, where consciousness unfolds as the full spectrum of experience — thought, life-energy, and matter. Here arise the principles that shape the mind, the breath and vitality that sustain the body, and the elements that form the physical world. Together they create the living field through which consciousness expresses itself as the totality of existence — from the subtlest movement of thought to the tangible form of the body and the universe around it.

The Śuddhāśuddha Tattvas remind us that our limitations are not final. They are the instruments through which consciousness explores its own depth. What appears as bondage is only a phase in the soul’s long journey—from unity, into multiplicity, and back again toward its original wholeness. This will form the topic for Part 4.