Bhoga Karika of Sadyojyoti

The Bhoga Karika is a collection of Sanskrit verses by the renowned Saivite teacher and writer, Sadyojyoti, of the eighth century A.D. This translation of the Bhoga Karika also includes a short commentary by the similarly renowned Aghora Siva, of the twelfth century. In a lively and engaging manner, the bhoga Karika defends the Agamic Saivite theology, epistemology and ontology of “bhoga” or “mundane/worldy experience” against the attacks of rival schools, notably the Naiyayikas, Samkhyas, Carvakas and Buddhists. Employing a Saiva-yogic doctrine to explains the nature of bhoga (i.e., as self-identity based solely on ego-identity), Sadyojyoti plays on the twofold sense of bhoga as “mundane-experience” and “enjoyment.” While bhoga is a limiting factor in human experience, it still e constitutes a measure of enjoyment, which explains its attraction. On the other hand, bhoga is also an opportunity for the cultivation of a more profound form of enjoyment-the bliss or “ananda” found in the consciousness and being of a transcendence designated by the name of Siva.