Shunya

Shunya

Shunya (Sanskrit शून्य, śūnya), Shunyata (Sanskrit शून्यता, shūnyatā) – emptiness, space, nothing. The highest intangible transcendent space.

Shunya is one of 5 qualities (panchakas) described in the philosophy of Gorakshanath where all forms of manifestation of consciousness is its own reflection. Shunya is one of the manifestations of Parapinda arising from the fivefold sequence of the Shakti-chakra.

In "Siddha-siddhanta paddhati" (I.21) the following qualities of shunya are given:

"Absorption, fullness, superconsciousness, variability, freedom from the mind – such is the five-quality void."

Its properties, according to Gorakshanath, are:

• Linata (absorption) – the quality of the void, penetrating and able to absorb all forms.
• Purnata (fullness) – fullness of self-expression. The void is filled with an abundance of various realities that embody the greatness of the void itself.
• Unmani (superconsciousness) – a state in which any kind of consciousness dissolves as in its original source and root cause.
• Lolata (variability) – means that the void, despite the fact it covers all the forms that fill it, does not have a limited fixation on any form.
• Murcchata (freedom from the mind) – the absence of a fixed evaluative mind means the absence of vikalpas (thought forms and concepts) that attach to a limited form of consciousness.

The Higher reality is often represented by Natha yogis as being beyond the such concepts as "shunya" (emptiness), "purnata" (fullness), "dvaita" (duality) or "advaita" (nonduality).

"Hatha Yoga Pradipika" states:

śūnyāśūnya vilakṣaṇaṁ sphurati tattattvaṁ padaṁ śāṁbhavam |
The ultimate truth realized in the highest samadhi through the practice of shambhavi-mudra shines incomparably with shunya and ashunya. (HYP IV.37)

The following refers to the bliss of the nature of consciousness-bliss – dissolving of mind in shunya, – "bhavet citta-layānandaḥ śūnye cit-sukha-rūpiṇi." The words shunya and Brahma are often used synonymously.