---
type: Concept
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.0"
id: iccha-jnana-kriya-shakti
title: "Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā Śakti — इच्छा-ज्ञान-क्रिया शक्ति"
iast: "Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā Śakti"
devanagari: "इच्छा-ज्ञान-क्रिया शक्ति"
description: "The triad of Śiva's (or Brahman's) three primary Śaktis: Icchā-Śakti (will-power / the impulse to create), Jñāna-Śakti (knowledge-power / the omniscient awareness that knows what to create and how), and Kriyā-Śakti (action-power / the executive force that actualizes creation); together they constitute the complete internal cosmological mechanism by which the absolute moves from unmanifest potential to manifest cosmos; the triad is treated in full in Kashmir Shaivism and Śaiva Siddhānta but is recognizable across Vaiṣṇava and Vedāntic frameworks as well."
darshana:
  - Kashmir Shaivism
  - Śaiva Siddhānta
  - Śākta
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Most systematically in Kashmir Shaivism (Abhinavagupta's Tantrāloka; Utpaladeva's Īśvara-Pratyabhijñā-Kārikā); in Śaiva Siddhānta as three aspects of Śiva's pañcakṛtya (five cosmic acts); in Śrī Vidyā / Śākta as three aspects of the Goddess (Vāmā / Jyeṣṭhā / Raudrī); in Vedāntic terms, recognizable as Brahman's Icchā (creative will), Jñāna (omniscience), and Kriyā (creative omnipotence)"
text_source: "Tantrāloka of Abhinavagupta 1.5-9; Śiva Sūtras 1.5 (Udyamo Bhairava); Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra; BhP 1.2.23 (as aspects of Bhagavān's Śakti)"
tags: [cosmology, shakti, iccha, jnana, kriya, kashmir-shaivism, shaiva, tantra, srishti, panchakritya]
not:
  - term: "three separate powers (as if will, knowledge, and action are independent faculties)"
    why: "In Kashmir Shaivism, Icchā, Jñāna, and Kriyā Śakti are not three separate powers that exist independently and happen to work together. They are three aspects of one Śakti, inseparable in the same way that fire's heat, light, and capacity to transform are not three separate things but one fire-nature seen in three dimensions. In the absolute (Parāśakti), all three are in undifferentiated unity. Their apparent distinction is a feature of manifestation, not of the absolute level."
  - term: "the same as human will, knowledge, and action"
    why: "At the cosmic level, Icchā-Śakti is not 'wanting something' in the ordinary sense (which implies a lack). Cosmic Icchā is the spontaneous creative impulse that arises from Brahman's own ānanda nature -- the Kāma of the Nāsadīya Sūkta (RV 10.129). Jñāna-Śakti is not 'learning something' but infinite omniscience that requires no object of knowledge outside itself. Kriyā-Śakti is not 'doing work by exertion' but the effortless expression of infinite omnipotence. The human will-knowledge-action triad is the micro-cosmic shadow of the cosmic triad, not its model."
  - term: "exclusively a Śaiva or Tāntric concept with no Vaiṣṇava or Vedāntic parallel"
    why: "While the explicit terminology (Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā Śakti as a named triad) is most developed in Kashmir Shaivism and Śaiva Siddhānta, the underlying structure is recognizable across all traditions: Vaiṣṇava theology speaks of Bhagavān's Sandhini-Samvit-Hlādinī Śaktis (existence-consciousness-bliss powers); Advaita Vedānta's Brahman as sat-cit-ānanda maps structurally (sat=Kriyā's stable expression; cit=Jñāna; ānanda=Icchā's root); even the Brahma Sūtras' treatment of Brahman as omniscient and omnipotent (sarvajña, sarvashakti) entails the Jñāna and Kriyā dimensions."
related:
  - /concepts/shakti-cosmological.md
  - /concepts/srishti.md
  - /concepts/maya-cosmological.md
  - /concepts/lila-cosmological.md
  - /concepts/ishvara-cosmological.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā Śakti -- इच्छा-ज्ञान-क्रिया शक्ति

**Not:** three separate independent powers, equivalent to human will/knowledge/action, exclusively Śaiva/Tāntric

## The Three-Fold Structure of Cosmological Śakti

The Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā triad describes the complete internal mechanism of the absolute's cosmological self-expression. Every act of creation -- at the cosmic level and at every micro-cosmic level -- follows this triadic structure:

| Śakti | Meaning | Cosmological Function | Phase |
|-------|---------|----------------------|-------|
| Icchā-Śakti | Will-power, creative impulse | The spontaneous arising of the creative impulse in Brahman/Śiva; the first stir from equilibrium (Avyakta) toward manifestation | Before Sṛṣṭi (the trigger) |
| Jñāna-Śakti | Knowledge-power, omniscient awareness | The omniscient knowledge of what to create, how to create, and the entire plan of manifestation; the blueprint | During Sṛṣṭi (the design) |
| Kriyā-Śakti | Action-power, executive force | The actual actualization of the creation plan into the manifest cosmos; the bringing-forth | During and as Sṛṣṭi (the execution) |

Together: Icchā initiates, Jñāna blueprints, Kriyā actualizes. Every Sṛṣṭi -- from the macro-cosmic emergence of the 14 Lokas to the micro-cosmic generation of a single thought -- follows this triadic sequence.

## Kashmir Shaivism: The Deepest Analysis

Abhinavagupta's Tantrāloka (1.5-9) gives the most philosophically precise treatment. In the state of Parā-Śakti (supreme Śakti, undifferentiated), all three are in perfect unity with Śiva-consciousness. The distinction of three only appears as Śakti differentiates for the purpose of Sṛṣṭi:

**Parā level** (supreme): Icchā, Jñāna, Kriyā are one -- pure I-awareness (Aham) of Śiva
**Parāparā level** (mixed): the three begin to differentiate; Jñāna predominates -- the "this" begins to appear within "I"
**Aparā level** (lower): Kriyā predominates -- the "this" fully manifests as objective world

In this analysis, the entire cosmos is the Kriyā-Śakti's expression under the guidance of Jñāna-Śakti under the impulse of Icchā-Śakti -- all three being Śiva's own nature.

## The Śaiva Siddhānta Mapping: Pañcakṛtya

In Śaiva Siddhānta, Śiva's five cosmic acts (pañcakṛtya: Sṛṣṭi, Sthiti, Saṃhāra, Tirodhāna, Anugraha) are expressions of the Śakti triad. The five acts require all three Śaktis in every act, but different Śaktis predominate at different acts:

- Sṛṣṭi (creation): Icchā and Kriyā prominent
- Sthiti (maintenance): Jñāna prominent (knowing what sustains each thing)
- Saṃhāra (withdrawal): Kriyā prominent
- Tirodhāna (veiling/concealment): a special function of Māyā-Śakti that veils Śiva from the jīva
- Anugraha (grace/revelation): Icchā and Jñāna prominent (Śiva's will to reveal and knowledge of the path)

The Naṭarāja iconography (see samhara.md) encodes all five pañcakṛtya, which in turn encode the full Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā structure.

## The Cosmological Icchā: Kāma in the Nāsadīya Sūkta

The Ṛg Veda's Nāsadīya Sūkta (10.129.4) identifies the "first seed of the mind" as Kāma -- the primordial creative desire or will. This Vedic Kāma is the earliest scriptural reference to what Kashmir Shaivism will systematize as Icchā-Śakti. The connection is explicit in the tradition:

RV 10.129.4 (Kāma as the first seed) → Brahma Sūtra 2.1.33 (creation as Līlā, rooted in Brahman's nature) → Kashmir Shaivism (Icchā-Śakti as the cosmological will-power) = one continuous tradition unpacking the same insight: the cosmos arises from the spontaneous creative impulse (not deficiency, not compulsion) of the absolute.

## The Vaiṣṇava Parallel: Sandhini-Samvit-Hlādinī

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (10.87.14) and the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition identify Bhagavān's three primary Śaktis as:
- **Sandhini** (existence-power) -- corresponding structurally to Kriyā-Śakti's sustaining function
- **Samvit** (consciousness/knowledge-power) -- corresponding to Jñāna-Śakti
- **Hlādinī** (bliss-power) -- corresponding to Icchā-Śakti in its ānanda-rooted form

The terminologies differ; the triadic structure is consistent: every full expression of divine power (Śakti) contains an existence-dimension, a consciousness-dimension, and a bliss/will-dimension.

## Audience Metaphor

A master architect begins with a vision (Icchā) -- the spontaneous arising of "I want to build something beautiful" from the fullness of her creative nature, not from any lack. From the vision arises a complete blueprint (Jñāna) -- she knows the structure in its entirety before the first stone is laid. Then the building is built (Kriyā) -- the physical actualization of what was already complete in the vision and the plan. The building is real; its plans are real; but both presuppose the creative impulse that was first. Remove any one element: no impulse, no building; no knowledge, a chaotic heap; no action, a beautiful dream unrealized. The cosmos is Brahman's architecture: Icchā as the first stirring of creative ānanda, Jñāna as the infinite omniscient plan, Kriyā as the actual manifest world you inhabit.

## Citations

1. Tantrāloka 1.5-9 (Abhinavagupta) -- the most systematic philosophical treatment of Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā Śakti in Kashmir Shaivism; the Parā / Parāparā / Aparā Śakti levels
2. Śiva Sūtras 1.5 (*Udyamo Bhairavah* -- "the upsurge is Bhairava") -- Icchā-Śakti as the primary creative upsurge of Śiva-consciousness; Kashmir Shaivism's root text
3. Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra -- the practical and cosmological implications of Śakti in its Icchā-Jñāna-Kriyā dimensions; 112 dhāraṇās as Kriyā-Śakti's applications
4. Ṛg Veda 10.129.4 (Nāsadīya Sūkta) -- Kāma as the first seed: the earliest scriptural anticipation of Icchā-Śakti as the cosmological creative impulse; see references/rigveda-nasadiya.md
