Śivasaṃhitā 3.39

The formula pravakṣyāmi («I will declare») marks a transition in the text: from the prohibitive catalogue to positive prescriptions. The promise of kṣipra siddhi (quick success) reveals the underlying mentality: medieval tantric yoga did not conceive of realization as a necessarily slow and diffuse process. With correct means and preserved secrecy, results could arrive in months, not entire lifetimes.

Upāya (means, resource, skillful expedient) is a central term in both Mahāyāna Buddhism and Kashmir Śaivism. In the Vijñānabhairava Tantra, upāyas are classified into āṇavopāya, śāktopāya, and śāmbhavopāya according to their degree of subtlety. Here the term is used in its most direct technical sense: the collection of practices and attitudes that accelerate progress on the prāṇāyāma path.

The promise of kṣipra siddhi had a specific rhetorical and motivational function in tantric pedagogy: keeping the disciple in practice during arid periods where results are invisible. Medieval masters understood that kumbhaka is arduous and its progress initially imperceptible. The promise of rapidity psychologically compensated for the real difficulty of the path.