The Tattvas

In the cosmology of nondual Shaivism, reality is understood as a spectrum of thirty-six tattvas ('Principles' or 'thatnesses') ranging from the purest level of undifferentiated Consciousness (Shiva-tattva) down to the densest level of physical matter (earth). The Tantrasara references the tattvas throughout: initiation is described as the 'purification of the tattvas and unification of the soul with Shiva,' and the phonemic matrix of Day Three describes how the creative power vibrates through the vowels and consonants to manifest the tattvas as external principles. The thirty-six tattvas include five 'pure' principles (Shiva through Shuddha-vidya), the principle of Maya and its five coverings (which create the sense of limited individuality), and twenty-five 'impure' principles that constitute the manifest world (from the mind and senses down to the five elements). Understanding this map helps the seeker recognize that every level of experience, from the subtlest insight to the grossest physical sensation, is a real expression of the one Consciousness.