There are three levels of spiritual practices.
- Anva Upaya
- Shakta Upaya
- Shambava Upaya
All practices in the world can be classified into these three.
Anva is the lowest, means the very beginning. All the japa, mantras, yogasanas, breath control - everything comes under Anva Upaya. They are called Upayas, which means remedies.
Above Anva is Shakta. Shakta is only mental, i.e., inside. There thing, no mantras in it. It is the effect of the meditative state, that is Shakta Uppaya.
When you sing, meditate, do pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya (Kriya begins with Anva Upaya but then), it leads to Shakta Upaya, when you are just energy. Here there is no effort, there is no doing, just a little bit of effortless effort.
The comes the Shambava or Shiv Upaya which is just pure awareness, state of awareness.
Shambava Upaya means that there is no means (way) to do it, it is just happening, it will just happen. Even then it is still called an Upaya.
