Home › Glossary › Letter K

Kashmir Shaivism

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A non-dual tantric tradition from Kashmir emphasizing the divine nature of consciousness, where all reality is a pulsation of Shiva’s creative energy.

Detailed Definition
Kashmir Shaivism in poetry is the world as divine dance—the wind, the wave, the thought, all Shiva’s laughter made manifest. Poets use its non-dual vision to dissolve the line between sacred and profane: the marketplace is temple, the lover’s sigh is mantra. It turns verse into ecstatic affirmation: not escape from the world, but seeing it as the body of God.
Example
Example in poetry:
A tantric poem: "Kashmir Shaivism—world / isn’t illusion, but / Shiva’s joyful dance"; A modern verse: "Lover’s kiss—Kashmir Shaivism: / divine play in / human skin"; A haiku: "Rain on lotus— / Kashmir Shaivism: matter / as consciousness"; Another: "Kashmir Shaivism says: / ‘Don’t escape the world—/ embrace it as God’"; A devotional lyric: "Every cell vibrates—/ Kashmir Shaivism’s truth: / you are Shiva"; A minimalist verse: "World as divine. Body as temple. / Kashmir Shaivism: non-dual / celebration."
Additional Notes
Kashmir Shaivism’s non-dual tantrism sees the world as Shiva’s dance; in poetry, every sensation is divine manifestation—this makes sensory imagery sacred, not illusory, essential for interpreting verse where the body, not the mind, is the path to God.
Also Known As
Trika Pratyabhijna Non-Dual Shaivism
Skip to main content