uddiyana pitha

Ramblings on Krama School

Animesh Nagar Tantra , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Krama is oldest Kashmirian philosophical School.
  • It predates spanda and pratyAbhij~nA schools of Kashmir Shaivism.
  • devInaya,kAlInaya,atinaya, mahAnaya,mahArtha,ShaDardha are synonyms of Krama.
  • The word mahArtha overshadowed the usage of word Krama in later literature.
  • There were two main subschools of Krama system in Kashmir 1) mahAsAhasa School 2) ChummAmudrA School
  • Based on geographical location as well as philosophical differences there were two major schools of Krama system . 1) North Indian chatuShTayArtha School 2) South Indian pa~nchArtha School
  • It belongs to uttarAmnAya the northern current of transmissions from vAmadeva face of Shiva .
  • Krama is cream of uttarAmnAya.
  • uDDiyAnapITha of ma~Ngalapura state was main centre of Krama School.vajrayAna form of Buddhism orignated here.Guru Padmasambhava belongs to this place.
  • shrImakAradevI directly initiated j~nAnanetranAtha in this system . He is also know as AvatArakanAth.
  • Supreme reality according to Krama School is Goddess kRRishA or kAlasa~NkarShiNI with mahAmanthAnabhairava.

  • It is Shakti oriented approch towards supreme reality.
  • Krama practices fall under umbrella of shAktopAya.
  • Krama School regards dvaita and advaita as irrelevant,since such a concept of reality can’t be anything but relative.
  • Krama School is critical of bandha versus mokSha concept.
  • Followers of Krama School regards bhagavatagItA as a kramAgama.
  • According to Kramakeli of AbhinavaguptAchArya GitA is an attempt on part of KrShna to expound to Arjun the philosophy of Krama .
  • Besides the famous opening of the fourth chapter of GitA , according to him records the original history of Krama system. While initiating Arjun into Krama ,He had to enter supremestate of kAlasa~NkarShiNI
  • Krama School preferred local languages over Brahmanical Sanskrit.
  • mahArthama~njarI is composed in mahArAShTrI by maheshvarAnandanAtha.
  • shitikaNThAchArya wrote mahAnAyaprakAsha in prAkRRita.
  • taNtrasAra preserves some prAkRRita verses by abhinavaguptAchArya.
  • 4th Ahnika of tantrAloka deals with Krama system . abhinavaguptAchArya received Krama teachings from shrI bhUtirAja who was an extraordinary expert of kAlInaya.
  • mahAnayaprakAsha of shrIkaNTha, mahAnayaprakAsha of shitikaNTha, mahArthama~njarI of maheshvarAnanda , chidgaganachandrikA of shrIvatsa, vAtulanAthasUtrANi with commentry by anantashaktipAda are currently available Krama scriptures .kramakelI, siddhanAtha’s kramastava, kramasUtra, kramasiddhi, kAlIkrama, mahAnayapaddhati, mahArthasUtra, kramAgama etc are extint scriptures .
  • Krama System rejects Brahmanical caste system based on selective discrimination,any one who is qualified can get initiation in this system.
  • Krama System rejects authority of Vedas and Smritis .
  • Followers of Krama System don’t believe in external ritualism, for them all rituals are purely internal.
  • kAlIstotra of shivAnandanAtha , siddhanAtha’s kramastotra and khachakrapa~nchakastotra of arNasiMha are main stotras of this school.
ह्रीँ श्रीँ क्रमनाथ सहित क्रमाम्बा पादुकां पुजायमि ॥