Śiva Sūtra-s are the aphorisms of philosophy of Śiva āgama. Āgama means acquisition of knowledge or traditional doctrine or percept. There are four sources through which knowledge can be acquired. They are pratyakṣa (perception), anumāna (inference), upamāna (comparison) and anupalabdhi (non-apprehension). Advaita philosophy advocates non-dualism, in the sense that the Brahman and soul are not different entities. Soul, in fact is the mirror image of the Brahman Himself. But the Kashmir śaivism, though typically follows the advaita philosophy, has a peculiar system of its own called trika. Trika śāstra means three fold fundamental systems of Reality. Typically śāstrā means order, command, percept rule, etc. Compendium of rules of life is also known as śāstra. Trika śāstra is again divided into three categories, āgama śastrā, spanda śastra and pratyabhijṇāña śastra. Śiva sūtra-s come under āgama śastra. Spanda means throbbing or pulsation. It is the pulsation of Śiva causing a spiritual exaltation in the indispensable nature of the divine causing His svātantrya śakti, known as the Supreme Śakti or the Divine Mother, whose gross and subtle attributes are dealt with exhaustively in Lalitā Sahasranāma. The third one pratyabhijṇāña śastra contains arguments and reasoning of identifying soul with Śiva.

The present edition explains Śiva sūtra-s in a simple and easily understandable language. As far as possible, complicated Sanskrit terms have been avoided without sacrificing the intended meaning of those words.