Śiva’s Three Perfections
We shall now discuss the three perfections of our Supreme God Śiva: Paraśiva, Satchidānanda and Maheśvara. Isn’t it wonderful to know that two of God’s three perfections are inherent in the soul of man? What are those three perfections? The great God Śiva has form and is formless. He is the immanent Pure Consciousness or pure form; He is the Personal Lord manifesting Himself as innumerable forms; and He is the impersonal, transcendent Absolute beyond all form. We know Śiva in His three perfections, two of form and one formless. First, we worship His manifest form as Pure Love and Consciousness, called Satchidānanda in Sanskrit. Second, we worship Him as our Personal Lord, Maheśvara, the Primal Soul who tenderly loves and cares for His devotees—a Being whose resplendent body may be seen in mystic vision. In our daily lives we love, honor, worship and serve God in these manifest perfections. Ultimately, in perfectly simple, yet awesomely austere nirvikalpa samādhi, we realize Him as the formless Paraśiva, sought for and known only by yogīs and jñānīs. We cannot speak of His Absolute Reality which is beyond qualities and description, yet knowable to the fully matured soul who seeks God within through yoga under the guidance of a satguru.
For the sake of understanding the mysteries of the soul, we distinguish between the soul body and its essence. As a soul body, we are individual and unique, different from all others. Our soul is a self-effulgent body of light which evolves and matures through an evolutionary process. This soul body is of the nature of God Śiva, but is different from Him in that it is less resplendent than the Primal Soul and still evolving, while He is unevolutionary Perfection. We may liken the soul body to an acorn, which contains the mighty oak but is a small seed yet to develop. Even when God Realization is attained, the soul body continues to evolve in this and other worlds until it merges with the Primal Soul, as a drop of water merges with its source, the ocean. This is the destiny of all souls without exception.
At the core of the subtle soul body is Satchidānanda, or immanent Love, and at the core of that is Paraśiva, or transcendent Reality. At this depth of our being there exists no separate identity or difference—all are one. Thus, deep within our soul we are identical with God this very moment, for within us are the unmanifest Paraśiva and the manifest Satchidānanda. These are not aspects of the evolving soul, but the nucleus of the soul, which does not change or evolve. They are eternally perfect and one with God Śiva. From an absolute perspective, our soul is already in nondual union with God in His two perfections of Satchidānanda and Paraśiva, but to be realized to be known. Satchidānanda is the superconscious mind of the soul—the mind of God Śiva. Paraśiva is the inmost core of the soul. We are That. We do not become That. There exists no relation between Satchidānanda, which is pure form and consciousness, and Paraśiva, which is without form. Paramaguru Siva Yogaswami taught us, “You are Śiva. I am Śiva. All are Śiva. Even as Śiva is immortal, so too are we.”