ESSENCE OF THE EXACT REALITY OR

PARAMÄRTHASÄRA OF ABHINAVAGUPTA
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 Essence o f the Exact Reality
or
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

with English translation and notes by

Dr. B N. Pandit

friunshiram M an oh arlal
P u b lish ers P v t. L td •
 ISBN 81-215-0523-0
First published 1991

® 1991, Pandit, Baljita Nath

Published by Muoshiram M anoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Post Box 5715

54 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi-110055 and printed at Upasna Printers
Shahdara, Delhi-110032.
 Contents

Preface vii
Introduction 1
mplets Contents Pages
I Salutation to deity 20
2-3 Introductory statement 20-21
4 Four spheres (anqias) 21
5 The enjoyer 22
6-7 One appearing as many 23
8 Manifestation of consciousness 24
9 Manifestation of Divinity 24
10-11 Paramaiiva the Absolute 25
12-13 Reflectionary manifestation of diversity 26
14 Pure creation 27
15 Impure creation 29
16-17 Creation of Kaficukas 30-31
18 Removal of Kaficukas 32
19-20 Creation of senses and organs 33-34
21-22 Subtle and gross elements 34-35
23-24 Three coverings of consciousness 35
25 View based on ignorance 36
26 One appearing as many 36
27 Diversity an apparent phenomenon 37
28-31 Delusion and its two types 37-39
32 Four coverings of Atman 39
33 Removal of coverings 40
34 Consciousness as the unhidden reality 40
35 States of animation 41
36 The ever-pure Absolute 41
37 Psychic differences between beings 42
38 God appearing diversely 42
39-40 Dissolution of delusion 42-43
41-42 Dissolution of diversity 43-44
43 Definition of Brahman 44
vi Contents

44 Brahman the base of everything 45

45 Interior creation 45
46 Exterior creation 46
47-50 Self-realization 47-48
51-52 Dissolution of delusion and misery 49
53-54 Karman the cause of rebirth 49-50
55-56 Dissolution and ineffectiveness of
karman 50-51
57-59 No rebirth and misery for the purified 51-52
60 Definition of liberation 53
61 Liberation in mortal life 53
62 Ineffectiveness of karman 53
63 Vâsanâ as the cause of rebirth 54
64-66' Liberation on the dissolution of Vâsanâ 54
67 Deeds without fructification 55
68 Freedom from conceptual cognition 56
69 No religious discipline 56
70 Non-pollution by sin or piety 57
71-73 Character of the liberated 57-58
74-80 The Pâsupata vow of a jftânin 58-61
81-82 Satisfaction in perfect unity 61-62
83-84 No place as pure or impure 62-63
85-86 Liberated even while living 63
87-88 Freedom from upâdhis 63-64
89-91 Situation at the end of life 64-65
92-93 Rebirth and liberation 65 66
94-95 Psycho-physical behaviour of a jftânin 66
96 Quick liberation 67
97 Liberation by stages 68
98-102 Delayed liberation of a Yoga-bhra?la 68-70
103 Merits of the knowledge of îeality 70
104-105 Conclusion 70-71
Glossary o f Sanskrit Words 73
Index 81
 Preface

Kashmir Saivism is a highly perfect school of Indian philosophy,

but has remained more or less confined to the valley of Kashmir.
Scholars in Indian plains and the South developed interest in it as
late as the present century. The subject is now gaining popularity
at some universities in north India as well as in the West. But the
main difficulty in the spread of the study of its important works is
the non-availability of an easy textbook that could pave the path
to explore its finer and sophisticated principles and doctrines
discussed in some very important works like Sivadfsti, livara-
pratyabhijiid, Tantraloka etc.
It appears that Abhinavagupta, the final authority on Kashmir
Saivism, must have felt such lacuna in the academic development
of the subject. Why should he have otherwise taken so much
interest in recasting and re-editing the Vai$navite Paramarthasara
of Patanjali for the purpose of expressing through it most of the
main principles of the theistic and monistic absolutism of Kashmir
Saivism, by the means of an easy and simple method, not over
burdened by terse logical arguments and discussions? That
Paramarthasara by Abhinavagupta has been serving students of
Kashmir Saivism as an easy textbook of a comprehensive character
for centuries in the past. Students of Saivism in Kashmir have all
along been using such work as a textbook at the initial step of
their study in the subject.
Paramarthasara of Abhinavagupta, being available only in
Sanskrit language, could not at present serve the purpose of
common man interested in the study of Kashmir Saivism. It
required to be brought out in English and Hindi with explanatory
notes for such purpose. The author of the work in hand prepared
such two editions of the text some years back. But both the
manuscripts remained unpublished for all these years for want of
a publisher prepared to invest a good amount for the purpose.
Thank God, the director, Munshirara Manoharlal Publishers
viii Preface

Pvt. Ltd. has now taken up the publication of the English edition
of Paramarthasara under the title Essence o f the Exact Reality. It
is hoped that the Hindi edition of the work shall also be published
by the same publisher in the near future.
These two editions of Paramarthasara of Abhinavagupta can
serve as useful textbooks at the level of M.A. in Sanskrit and
Philosophy at the universities in India and abroad.

B.N. Pandit
Jammu Tawi
1 January 1991
 Introduction

There are two works on Indian philosophy which are known under
the name Paramarthasara. The earlier one among them is an
ancient work by AdiSesa. Patafijali is generally known by such
name because it is believed that he was an incarnation of Sesanaga,
the famous thousand headed serpent god. Such belief can have
risen out of the fact of his having been the master writer who did
multifarious and extensive academic work as if he had one
thousand heads to think and mouths to speak; or it is just possible
that he may have originally belonged to some Naga-worshippers*
sect and may have consequently been called a Naga.
Yogaraja the commentator of the later Paramarthasara of Abhi-
navagupta committed a mistake in taking the Paramarthasara of
Sesa as a work belonging to Sarpkhya system. Writers have since
then been following that view and not even any research scholars
of the present age have bothered to correct the mistake. There is
no doubt in the fact that some elements of Samkhya philosophy
are present in the work of Sesa, but the elements of Vaisnavite
theism shine more brilliantly in it. Besides, some elements of
Samkhya principles can be found in many other schools of indian
philosophy which are definitely different from the Samkhya school.
In fact the Paramarthasara of Se§a is a work of that ancient age
in which the ancient theistic Samkhya of sage Kapila, the ancient
Vaisnavism of Mahabharata and the theistic Vedanta philosophy
of Upani§ads were studied as one and single integrated school of
thought with all such elements supporting one another. Such
elements of philosophy had yet to bifurcate and to evolve as some
distinctly separate schools of thought. But, in spite of their such
integration, the Vaisnavite character of the work* is distinctly
predominant. The Vaisnavism of Patanjali, unlike the philosophy
of later Vaispavas, is of monistic view and has absolutism as its
metaphysical and ontological character. The later Vaisnavism
leans towards Vaisnavite mythology but the Vaisnavism of Patan­
jali maintains its philosophic character. Vallabha advocates a
2 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

monistic view but even he comes closer to mythology and pushes

to background the absolutist character of the monistic reality.
Therefore his Vttuddhadvaita is different from the advaita of Patan-
jali which comes closer to the Upani§adic Vedanta. Patanjali’s
views are highly theistic in character and therefore fall apart from
the Vivariavada of the philosophers in Sankara’s line. Paramartha-
sara of Patanjali is thus the most ancient philosophic treatise on
the theistic absolutism of Vaisnavitc character.
Abhinavagupta, being attracted very much by the style, the
method and the technique of Adisesa, adopted it, made sufficient
changes, additions and alterations in the text of the work and
presented it as a very good textbook of Kashmir Saivism, useful
for beginners. The language of the work of Abhinavagupta is very
simple and its style is sufficiently lucid and clear. It avoids discus­
sions on many controversial topics of philosophy and does not
touch the views of any antagonists, but presents, in stead, the
mainprinciplesofK ashm ir Saivism alone.lt does not resort to
the method of dry logic, but states the principles and doctrines
jn a simple style. Higher philosophic works like Ifvarapratyabhijnd
and Sivadrsli adopt a method of subtle logic, but Paramdrtliasdra
avoids logical discussions. It throws light on all the important and
basic principles of the philosophy of Kashmir Saivism and is thus
the best available textbook to start its study. It is highly helpful
in understanding the works of higher standard like Uvarapratya-
bhijtla of Utpaladeva.
The basic principles of Kashmir Saivism, dealt with in Paratpdr-
thasara of Abhinavagupta, include those listed below:
Metaphysical reality, ontology of Saivism, the theory of the bas\c
causation, the source of the objective creation, the wonderful
nature of the phenomenon, its manifestation in the manner of u.
reflection, the process of the evolution of the thirty-six tattvas,
the universe as it runs, bondage and its causes, liberation and its
means, varieties in liberation, practical paths that lead to it, the
position of an imperfect practitioner, his delayed spiritual evolu­
tion and so on. It deals thus quite comprehensively with the sub­
ject and that is its important merit as a textbook.
K§emaraja was a disciple of Abhinavagupta. His disciple was
Yogaraja, who wrote a detailed commentary on Paramdrthasdra.
That commentary explains fully the couplets of Abhinavagupta
and discusses in detail many subtle principles of Kashmir Saivis m.
Introduction 3

It enhances thus the academic value of the original work as

revised and reconstructed by Abhinavagupta. Such revised, impro­
ved and explained Paramarthasara of the Saiva author became so
much popular with later academicians that most of them forgot
the more ancient Paramarthasara of AdiSesa. Some grammarians
like NageSa BhaUa do quote the work of Patanjali, but most of
th e later writers on philosophy know only the Paramarthasara of
Abhinavagupta MaheSvarananda, the author of Mahartha-mafijarU
pariniala, refers to it as Param arthasara-samgraha. The same has
been done by Amj-tananda in his Yoginihfdayadipikd.
An English translation of Paramarthasara of Abhinavagupta by
L.D. Barnett appeared in the Journal o f the Royal Asiatic Society
in 1910. It was a mere translation without any explanatoiy notes.
It did not appear separately as a book and did never become avail­
able like that.
The Sanskrit text of Paramarthasara, along with the detailed
commentary by Yogaraja, was published for the first time in AD
1916 at Srinagar under the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies.
Its second edition, along with an additional commentary by Shri
D.N. Shastri, was published by Ranviia Kendriya Sanskrit
Vidyapeetha, Jammu in 1981. Shri Prabhadevi, a disciple of
Swami Laksmana Joo of Isvara-ashrama, Srinagar, published
another edition of the text along with a Hindi commentary on the
Gita Press style in 1977.
Another Hindi edition with detailed explanatory notes, pseful
for M.A. level Indian students, was prepared by the writer of the
present English translation a few years back. It also will be pub­
lished as early as possible.
The present edition with English translation and notes is in
your hands. The translation is meant to express the sense and the
purport o f the couplets and therefore it is not everywhere a
strict literal translation.
Both these Hindi and English editions of Paramarthasara of
Abhinavagupta are meant for scholars who want an entrance into
the philosophy of Kashmir Saivism and also into the texts of
higher standard like livarapratyabhijna and Sivadrjti. Both these
editions can serve as good textbooks at the M.A. Sanskrit and
M.A. Philosophy levels at Indian universities because Paramartha-
sdra is the best textbook on Kashmir Saivism for beginners. It can
advantageously replace Pratyabhijnahrdaya of Ksemaraja which
4 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

has been occupying such position simply because of its being

available with Hindi and English commentaries and also because
of the non-availability of any good and suitable textbook with
translation and notes in any of these two languages.
Patanjali. mentioning himself as Gonardiya, belonged to the
Gonda district in U.P. Since he and his associates were a group
of touring scholars, as is evident from Caraka-samhita, they were
called Carakas or ever travelling scholars. They travelled far
and wide from place to place with their leader Punarvasu Atreya
from institute to institute and belonged thus to the whole of India.
Atrigupta, the ancient ancestor of Abhinavagupta, was an
inhabitant of the land between Ganga and Yamuna. He was
invited to Kashmir by king Lalitaditya who provided a land grant
and a suitable residential house to him at Pravarasenapura, the
modern city of Siinagar, near the §itam£umauli temple on the
bank of Vitasta (Jehlum). The location of that temple is yet to be
ascertained. It may become possible to ascertain it if and when
certain Persian works, dealing with the history of Kashmir during
the period of its quick Muslimization under the rule of Sikandar
Butshikan in the fifteenth century, comes to light.
Some old Pandits of Srinagar, who were alive upto the past
decade, believed that Abhinavagupta lived at his ancestral home
at Gotapora (Guptapura) in the northern outskirts of the old city
near the new colony named Lai Bazar. Places like Guptaganga
and Gopitlrtha (Guptatlrtha) on the eastern bank of the Dal lake
can have had some close connection with Abhinavagupta. Amrta-
vagbhava, a great modern scholar, a successful practitioner o f
the Sambhaxa-yoga of the Trika system and the originator of a
kind of Neo Saivism in this age, came across a Kashmiri Brah­
min under the surname ‘Gopya’ at Srinagar in the late twenties
of this century. Besides, he felt the existence of some yogins
belonging to the line of Abhinavagupta, living at present in divine
forms and moving about on the tracts of land near Bahrar on the
north western side of Nagin lake towards the north of Harl-
parbat hill.
Atrigupta settled at Srinagar in the eighth century A D and
Abhinavagupta lived in his human form in the later part of the
tenth and the earlier part of the eleventh century. He has recorded
the time of composition in three of his works, namely—Kramas-
4otra, Bhairavastotra and JixaraprQtyabhijila-xhTti-ximarsinT and the
Introduction 5

years concerned correspond with AD 990, 992 and 1014 respecti­

vely.
Abhinavagupta was not a ‘Baniva* (VaiSya), as the surname
Gupta would suggest in accordance with the present-day usage.
His ancestor, Atrigupta was a prdgryajanma, that is, a Brahmin
of a very high rank. Probably some ancestor of Atrigupta took up
the job of an administrator of one hundied villages and was on
that account designated as a gopta (from Vgoptr) meaning a p ro ­
tector. Such was the usage in ancient ages—1ftan i
(gopta gramasatadhyaksab). He must have worked on the post
so nicely that his family was called by people as Gopta. The
word in its corrupted form changed afterwards into the word
Gupta. The great Canakya, known also as Visnugupta and the
great mathematician Brahmagupta also were such Brahmin
Goptas whose such name came later to be pronounced as Gupta.
Vasugupta and Lak§managupta can have risen in the family of
Atrigupta.
As described by the Kerala saint Madhuraja in his Gurunatha-
pardmaria, Abhinavagupta lived like a prince and not like a beg­
ging monk. As said by Abhinavagupta himself, he did not have
any wife or children—whf* srqjw rj i (ajanma dara-suta-
bandhu-kathamanaptab). But even then he appears to have lived
in his ancestral house with his kith and kin. His five cousins were
his disciples. His younger brother; Manorathagupta, was one of
his pet disciples. Tantraloka was written by him in the house of
another pet disciple named Mandra whose name has been men­
tioned by him along with another such disciple Karna in more
than one works. All of them were his close relatives with whom
he lived and worked.
In fact Abhinavagupta and such prominent authors of §aivism
who preceded him did not prescribe the path of wandering monks
as did the Buddhists, Jains, PaSupatas and Vedantins. Most of
them lived the lives of pious house holders, followed the Brahma-
nic ways of life as laid down in dharma-iastras and as come down
to them through tradition. They performed all Brahmanic rites but
did not advocate any sort of puritanism. Unlike the Buddhists and
Jains, they did neither disown nor disturb the traditional Brahmanic
religion. They recommended it and in addition prescribed some
Tantric methods of sddhand for the sake of quick attainment of
^the liberation of the highest type from all bondages. The liberation
6 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

attainable through other paths like those of Buddhists, Jains, Vai$-

flavas and Vedantins was taken by them as a thinner bondage of
various types. Most of such states of animation were recognized
by them as different sub-states of life in its sleeping state called
sufupti. The path of such Saiva teachers is the path of Siddhas or
perfect saints. The methods of sddhana advocated by them are
Tantric in character. Such methods are very often quick and
unfailing in results and yield absolute unity, tasteful through the
blissfulness of the absolute, infinite and ever playful divine poten­
cy realized as one’s own basic nature. The goal of the life prescri­
bed by these Saivas is the recognition and direct realization of
absolute Godhead as one’s own basic nature. It is called Pratya-
bhijftd and can be attained even while one is yet living in a mortal
form. These 3aiva philosophers did not prescribe any hard austeri­
ties for the purification of the self, nor did they advocate any
torturing practices in Hathayoga. The suppression of emotions
and instincts, forcible control of mind and starvation of senses and
organs have been taken by them as harmful. They advocate some
such easy and spontaneous practices in Tantric yoga through which
a practitioner realizes intuitively his pure and divine nature and
recognizes finally himself as none other than the Almighty God
having playfully taken up the role of a bonded soul. Besides, they
taught a monistic philosophy establishing theistic absolutism.
Their view has always been pantheistic in character but they
advocate absolutism as well and thus their philosophy is different
from the pantheism of the West which does not see God as an*
absolute reality, lying beyond all phenomena. Their practical path
of theology brought about a compromise between the household
religion and spiritual sddhana, so that both went on harmoniously.
Their sddhana was a beautiful combination of jndna (knowledge)
yoga and bhakti. Unlike Vaiwavas, their bhakti did not aim only
at a union between God and soul, but also such a perfect unity
where God is felt as one’s real self by a devotee and where He is
seen by him as all phenomena. That is the difference between
union and unity. Union is a lower state of spiritual progress andr<
perfect unity is its final state.
The ¿aivas of Kashmir did not form any special religious sect,
as did the Vtraiaivas of Karnataka. They did not at all disturb
the traditional religion taught By Sm ftis. They advised to follow
one’s religion and to practise ¿aivayoga, side by side. They did
Introduction 7

not impose any restrictions based on caste, creed, sex etc. Any
one having devotion for Lord Siva could be initiated in Saivism.
Therefore it can be adopted by any one who likes it. His adoption
of Saiva practice shall not disturb his traditional religious prac­
tices. Importance of devotion makes it very sweet and interesting.
It teaches an integral path of a spiritual training of both head
and heart through logical knowledge and devotionol theology.
Besides, it does not ignore or curb the Vdsands for objective
enjoyments. A disciple, having such Vdsands, is imparted a special
initiation called yojanikd which carries him after death to some
superior existence where he can taste superior objective enjoy­
ments. From there he is lead to quick or gradual spiritual eleva­
tion in accordance with his psychic situation. Kashmir Saivism
does not thus ignore human psychology. Its method is both
logical and phsycholog»cal. Such philosophy of iSaivism of
Kashmir was carried to its climax on both of its sides of theory
and practice by Abhinavagupta, the author of the Saiva Para-
mdrthasdra.
Yogaraja, the commentator of Paramdrthasdra was an inhabi­
tant of a village named Vitastapurl, the modern Vethavottur or
Vitastavatara. It is a hamlet situated in the foot of Banihal moun­
tain below Lower Munda. Vitasta or Jehlum, rising from the
spring of Verinag, used to flow by the side of that village and
proceed to the downward plane on the back of modern Qazi-
gund. That course of the stream was the downward course of
Vitasta and was consequently called Vitastavatara. The hamlet
by its side, where Vitasta was worshipped, got also such name.
The waters of the Verinag spring have now been diverted since
long to the light side slope but the name Vethavottur is still borne
by the stream flowing beneath Qazigund.
Yogaraja was a disciple of Ksemaraja who lived or only wrote
at Bejbehara (Vijayesvara). Ksemaraja was a disciple of Abhinava­
gupta and lived in the earlier part of the eleventh century. Yoga­
raja belonged to the later part of the same century. Ksemaraja is
the only disciple of the great master preceptor who took interest
in academic activities. He wrote several commentaries on ancient
works and a few independent works on ¿aivism. But it is a wonder
that he did not take up any important work of Abhinavagupta for
writing a good commentary. Mdlinivijaya-vdrtika is still without
a commentary and so is Tantrasdra. The duty of writing a detailed
8 Paramdrthasara o f Abhinavagupta

commentaiy on Tantraloka of Abhinavagupta fell on Jayaratha in

the twelfth century. It appears from the writings of K$emaraja
that he was over-conscious about his superior intelligence and
scholarship and was very keen to make a show of it by finding out
new meanings and by expressing things in a complex way. In his
commentaries on some important works like Sivasutra he takes
greater interest in quoting passages from various texts and
tries less to explain the sense and the words of the ancient texts.
So far as his philosophic works like Pratyablujnahrdaya are con­
cerned, he tried to confuse the doctrines of Kashmir Saivism by
presenting them in a complex form and by combining together
the theoretical principles and practical doctrines in order to make
his scholarship and intelligence felt. Besides, he did not try his
pen on works containing minute philosophic thought and chose
Stotras and Agamas instead. This tendency did not permit
him to make things clear and to work on the important works of
Abhinavagupta. In addition, he expresses disregard towards
very great ancient preceptors like Bhatta Kallata for whom
Abhinavagupta had immense respect and reverence. It is perhaps
on such account that the great teacher did not mention his name in
any of his available works in which he describes the worth of some
of his worthy disciples and simply mentions many of them by name.
But it is a great merit in Yogaraja that he does not inherit any
confusing tendency from Ksemaraja. Modem scholars have so far
been studying Abhinavagupta and other great teachers through
the writings of Ksemaraja. But now they can start their study of
¡Saivism through the Paramarthasdra of Abhinavagupta and that
will make a marked difference in their understanding.
Kashmir Saivism as a distinct school of monistic Saiva philoso­
phy and its sadhana of the Trika system were introduced to the
Valley by Sangamaditya in the eight century A D . He was the six­
teenth teacher in the line of Tryambakaditya I who, having learnt
it from sage Durvasas at the Kaila^a mountain, gave a new start to
its teaching in two lines of disciples, one through his son and the
other through his daughter. Sangamaditya appeared in the former
line named Tryambaka-mathikd. The other tradition of its teaching
was known as Ardha-tryambaka-malhikd. It flourished later at the
Jalandhara-pitha at the modem town of Kangara. The divine scrip­
tures of the Tryambaka-maihika were revealed to its teachers in
the Valley of Kashmir between Ad 7Q0 and 800. These included
Introduction 9

Siddha, Malini and Vdmaka (Ndmaka) Tantras which constitute the

trinity of the main Trika scriptures. This Trinity of scriptures gave
the name Trika to the mostly popular practical system of Kashmir
Saivism of the school of Tr/ambaka. The other important scrip­
tures of the school are Svacchanda, Netra and the well known
Rudraydmala Tantras, Sivasutra, a special type of scriptural work,
was revealed to Vasugupta sometime in the beginning of the 9th
century A D . His chief disciple, Bhalta Kallafa flourished during
the reign of king Avantivarman in the later part of the ninth cen­
tury. He is the only author of Saivism who has been praised by
Kalhana in his Rajatarangini as a siddha descended to earth for
the spiritual uplift of people. (See R T , V-66). The other Saiva
author who has been mentioned by him by name is Somananda.
He had built a Siva temple named Someivara where king Har§a-
deva took refuge for a day before his death when he was chased
by his enemies. Somananda* s name has been mentioned in connec­
tion with such event in political history. But it appears that spiri­
tual attainments of Bhatta Kallata had made him so famous and
popular as to attract the attention and interest of the writer of that
political history of Kashmir. His religio philosophical and acade­
mic activities made the school of Tryamkala sufficiently popular
in the valley. He wrote several works, most of which are known
now only through references and quotations. His Spandakarika
and Spandavfttiy both known together as Spandasarvasva, are still
available. In Tantraioka there is such a quotation from one of his
works which describes the importance of “duti” and proves thus
his mastery over the Kula system of Tantrism as well. Some of his
works like Sxasxabhaxa-sambodhana and Tattvavicara are known
from quotations alone. One of his highly important works was
Tattvdrthacintdmani which has been referred to and quoted by
several authors. He wrote a commentary named Madhuvdhini on
Sivasutra, but that work has also been lost. His works must have
been highly mystic in style and character and may have remained
out of the scope of ordinary readers and therefore may not have
earned the interest of copyists and got consequently lost in obli­
vion. Influence of Kjemaraja, who was prejudiced against him,
may also have been a cause of disregard for them in the institu­
tion in later centuries.
Spandakarika was wrongly ascribed by K§emaraja to Vasugupta
and most of the scholars of the present age have been wrongly
10 Parcmarthasara o f Abhinaragttpta

following his opinion in such respect. It appears that some mutual

rivalry grew between the teachers in the lines of Vasugupta and
Somananda in the time of Ksemaraja. The last couplet no. 53 of
Spandakarika was added to it by the teachers of these two lines
in two different versions, one ascribing vaguely the authorship
of Spandakarika to Vasugupta and the other ascribing it clearly
to Bhatta Kallata. That 53rd couplet does not exist in the texts
explained by the ancient commentators, that is, Bhatta Kallata
himself and Ramakantha, one of his younger contemporaries.
Kscmaraja emphasized the former view and also tried to criticise
Bhatta Kallata. But Ramakantha, having lived during the reign of
Avantivarman, must have been a younger contemporary of Bhatta
Kallata. He must have known him and his works very well. His
opinion carries thus a far greater weight than that of Ksemaraja
who appeared in the eleventh century and who was prejudiced
against Bhatta Kallata. Ramakantha says in clear terms that the
fiftysecond couplet, .. (Agadha-sam§ayambodhi. . .)
etc., is meant to pay homage to Vasugupta, the preceptor of the
author of the work in hand, that is, Spandakarika. Thus he does
not mention Vasugupta as the author of Spandakarika but as the
teacher of its author. The text of his work consists of only fifty-
two couplets. The fiftythird couplet is therefore definitely a later
interpolation.
Many great teachers and authors of Saiva monism appeared in
Kashmir during the reign of king Avantivarman and composed
many works of great importance. Bhatta Pradyumna, a cousin o f
Bhatta Kallata, composed Tattvagarbha-stotra, a lyric, throw­
ing light on the principles of Saivism and w'ritten in the manner
befitting ¿aktism. Somananda, the presiding teacher of the school
of Tryambaka, wrote Sivadfsti, the first philosophical treatise on
3aiva monism. His commentary on ParHtrimSaka is known only
through references and quotations. His chief disciple, Utpaladeva,
w'rote many important works and commentaries, some of which
arc available but some have been lost. His livara-pratyabhijna is
the most important work on the theoretical side of Saiva monism*
His three smaller works, known jointly as Siddhitrayi, form
supplements to his Iivara-pratyabhijila. His commentaries on all
these four works and also on $ivadr$(i are available in fragments.
Some such quotations from his pen arc available, which do not
exist in any of his known works, and that points towards the
Introduction 11

fact of his having written some mote important work or works.

He was not only a philosopher but a poet of high merit as well.
His Sivastotravali, containing religio-philosophic poetry of high
merit, is still sung popularly in the Valley. Ramakantha, a disciple
of Utpaladeva and a younger brother of Muktakana, the court
poet of King Avantivarman, wrote Spandavivrtti, a detailed com­
mentary on the Karikd of Bhatta Kallaja and a Saivite commen­
tary on BltagavadgTta, following the Kashmirian version of the
text. His other works are not available even by name. BhaUa
Narayana, the author of Stavacintdmani, a philosophic lyric in
praise of Siva, also belonged to the same period.
Bhatta Bhaskara, the seventh teacher in the line of Vasugupta,
explained the teachings contained in Sivasutra through his Vdrtika
on them. His explanation of the Sutras of Siva is the most authen­
tic one, because firstly it expresses the knowledge received through
an unbroken direct line of disciples from Vasugupta, the preceptor
of Bhatta Kallata. Most of the teachers in the line were them­
selves practical philosophers having direct realization of the prin­
ciples of Saiva monism and its Trika system of practice. Secondly
he does not over burden his Vdrtika with any discussions on any
controversial topics and quotations from other works on spiritual
philosophy, but explains the doctrines learnt through tradition and
expressed in the Sutras. His Vdrtika carries thus a greater weight
than the scholarly commentary written later by Ksemaraja. He be­
longed to the period before that of Abhinavagupta. Probably he is
the same Bhaskara who has been mentioned by Abhinavagupta as
one of his teachers. He cannot be identified with Bhatta Divakara-
vatsa, though he mentions himself as Daivakari. To the same period
belongs Utpala Vai§nava who, though a follower of the Pancaratra
system, composed a scholarly commentary on Spandakarikd. His
work named Spandapradipikd is of great importance as it provides
many clues to some unknown important facts regarding the
history of Kashmir Saivism. He quotes profusely from the Pancord-
tra texts and tries to elevate that system to the same level o f
importance as was enjoyed by Saiva mon»sm and its Trika system
of practice. Some works of Bhatta Kallata are known through
quotations available only in his Spandapradipikd, A couplet from
the pen of Siddhanatha is also found in it. Both he and Bhaskara
accept Bhatta Kallata as the author of Spandakarikd. Abhinava­
gupta appeared on the scene in the middle of the tenth century^
12 Paramtirthasdra o f Abhinavagupta

He carried the Kashmirian Saiva monism to its climax in both of

its aspects of philosophic theory and practical sadhana. He wrote
detailed commentaries on all the philosophic works of Utpaladeva
and Somananda. Two among them are still available. One of
them is his Vimarsini on the couplets of Isvara-pratyabltijrid of
Utpaladeva and the other one consists of detailed notes on the
works picked up from Utpaladeva’s own Jlkd on those couplets.
Since the Jlka of Utpaladeva is not at all available, the latter one
docs not become so useful to students as it could have become
had the text of the said T*kd become available. This work is
named as Iwarapratyabhijnd-vivrti-vimarSinL The former one,
named Uvarapratyabhijild-vimartim, has ever since enjoyed the
position of the best and the highest work on the philosophical
side of Kashmir Saivism. His commentaries on Sivadrtfi and
Siddhitrayi have unfortunately been lost.
Abhinavagupta collected, compiled, arranged in order and inter­
preted the main doctrines of the Trika system of 3aiva yoga and
that of the religio philosophic rituals of that system and expressed
them in philosophic style in his voluminous work named Tantra-
Joka, which is the best and unique treatise among all the works on
the practical side of spiritual philosophy in the whole world. Abhi-
navagupta’s Tantrasdra is a gist of his Tantrdloka and is written
in simple prose. His Vivarana on Paratrirfifaka, a scriptural work
on Trika system of yoga, is very profound in character and con­
tains highly minute ideas regarding the esoteric principles and
doctrines of the Trika system of 3aiva yoga in its highest aspect.
O ne of his very important works on the philosophic principles
and the doctrines of practice of Kashmir Saivism is Mdlintvijaya-
rartika which is a voluminous work written in simple Sanskrit
verse. Such an important and wonderful work on the monistic
spiritual philosophy does not bear any commentary, though it
requires explanatory notes very badly. Reference to and quotations
from many of his other works on the practice of Saivism are avail­
able, but such works could not be actually found so far. One of
the most important works among them is his Kramakcli, a
commentary on the Kramastotra of Siddhanatha dealing with the
Kali worship in the Sakta yoga of the Trika system. Like Utpala­
deva he also was a good poet as well and some of his philosophic
lyrics are still available though some have been lost. Several of
them have been published as appendices to his book on Abltinava-
Introduction 13

gupta by Dr. K.C. Pandey. His Bhairavastotra is still sung by

people in Siva temples and homes in Kashmir. In addition, he
wrote certain easy text books for students and the most important
one among them is his Paramdrthasara, the work in hand. Another
such brief work from his pen is Bodhapancadattkd. Abhinava-
gupta represents the highest peak in the evolution of Kashmir
Saivism. He was followed by authors of secondary importance
who either wrote easy works or explained the works of the above
mentioned great authors. Abhinavagupta is the final authority on
both the sides of theory and practice of the iSaiva monism of
Kashmir.
Ksemaraja, a disciple of Abhinavagupta, wrote Pratyabhijnd-
hfdaya, and Pardprdvesikd for beginners. Besides, he wrote some
detailed commentaries on ancient works. His SivasutravimartinT
has become well known in the present age. His Spandanirnaya also
has been published and translated. Both the works are scholarly in
character. While writing the previous one, he appears to be very
keen to show his all round scholarship and tries to over-awe his
readers by it. He tries to explain the Sutras but succeeds in shoe­
ing his knowledge of many Sastras and many systems with which
he confuses the Trika system. His interpretation of the Sutras
becomes clear only with the help of Sivasutravartika by his dis­
ciple Varadaraja. His view on the interpretation of the Sutras is
not so convincing as that of Bhatta Bhaskara mentioned above.
His Spanda-sandoha is an explanation of the Spanda principle of
Kashmir Saivism. He wrote commentaries on Stavacintamani
of Bhatta Narayana and Sivastotrdvali of Utpaladeva. Besides,
he wrote short commentaries on some Tantric works like Svac-
chanda Tantra and Netra Tatttra. His commentary on Vijndna-
bhairava has been lost. The most important one among such post
Abhinavagupta writers is Jayaratha of the twelfth century. He
appears to be a disciple of Kalhana, the great historian of Kash­
mir and did a highly valuable service to Kashmir Saivism by
writing a voluminous commentary on Tantraloka of Abhinava­
gupta. That commentary alone explains the couplets of Tantra-
¡oka. Besides, it is a treasury of quotations from many non-available
Tantric texts and a storehouse of multifarious historical informa­
tion regarding the evolution of Kashmir Saivism. Many things
would have remained unknown but for the valuable work of Jaya­
ratha on Tantraloka. The seventeenth century produced Sivopa-
14 Paramdrthasdra o f Ahhinavagupta

dhjaya, the last one among the ancient writers on Kashmir Saiv-
ism. His commentary on Vijnana-bhairava is a scholarly work of a
practical yogin.
Many Saiva practitioners and authors adopted the ¿akta view
as expressed by Bhat{a Pradyumna in his Tattvagarbhastotra.
The most prominent of such teachers are Punyananda and Anrffta-
nanda who give clues to many other such teachers. There is
another tradition of Saktism started by some Sivanandanatha
some time about the eighth century AD. It is a special type of
highly sophisticated practice in jfianayoga and is popularly known
as Kalinaya. It teaches the worship of Kali, the absolute divine
power of the Absolute God, in its twelve aspects and such wor­
ship is conducted only through mental contemplation of unity
with such power. Modern research scholars count it as a different
and independent system of Tantric practice, but the great Abhi-
navagupta took it as a special type of Saktopaya and included it
in the yoga of the Trika system, ¿ivananda imparted its practical
knowledge to three female disciples named Keyuravati; Madanika
and Kalyanika. It appears that the Apabhramsa passages in verse
and prose, quoted by Abhinavagupta in Tantrasara and in his
Vivarana on Pardtrimiaka, belong to Madanika whose teachings
on Kalinaya were received by him through a line of several teach­
ers starting from Ujjata and Udbhata. Three chief disciples of
these three famous female teachers were—(1) Govindaraja, (2)
Bhanukacarya and (3) and Erakanatha. The lines of the disciples of
the first two of them spread well in Kashmir. Govindaraja initiat­
ed Somananda. His teachings reached Jayaratha through a long
line of teachers. As said above, Abhinavagupta got its knowledge
from the teachers in the line of Bhanuka. Kalinaya became so
popular in Kashmir by the twelfth century that it was accepted^ by
its adhcrants as a separate system of Tantric sddhand and conse­
quently Jayaratha refers to it as Kramadariana. Such recognition
by Jayaratha made the scholars of the present age think in such
line and some of them have vowcn many things around such view of
Jayaratha. But, doing so, they are not perhaps taking into consi­
deration the views of Abhinavagupta, the highest authority, on
the theory and the practice of Kashmir ¿aivism. In the far South
there appeared a saint scholar named MahcSvarananda, alias
Goraksanatha, who lived in the Cola country. He was a Kauta
in his practical siidhand and his philosophic view point was Saktic
Introduction 15

In character. He appears to have been impressed by the style of

Abhinavagupta as he has adopted it in writing his commentary
named Primala on his own philosophic work named tifahartha-
matljari. That commentary also is a store house of information
about the history of Kashmir Saivism. Punyananda wrote Kama-
kald-vilasa and Anirtananda explained it. In addition he wrote
Cidvildsa; a detailed commentary on Yoginihrdaya, a Tantric text,
and many other works known only through references and quota­
tions. Sitikarqha, a Kashmirian teacher of Kaulism, wrote Malta-
nayapraka§a in old Kashmiri language in about the thirteenth
century. Another Kashmirian author of Kaulism was Sahib-Kaula,
alias Anandanath who flourished, in the scventceth century and
wrote many wonderful works on Saktic Saivism. His Devinama-
vilasa has been published. His Sivajlvadalaka appeared in a
college magazine and many other works from his pen are lying
unpublished.
Saiva and Sakta philosophies of monism are not any two diffe­
rent schools of thought. The Ultimate Truth is both, Siva and Sakti,
that is, God and His Godhead. It is one but is understood and
taught in such two aspects. God is that absolute and pure 1-cons­
ciousness which transcends all material and mental phenomena
and shines through the psychic lustre of that consciousness. He
is always aware of His Godhead and such awareness makes Him
active towards its outward manifestation which results in the
show of all His divine activities. He is Siva when thought about in
His transcendental aspect of pure I-consciousncss. He is Sakti
when contemplated upon in the aspect of His divine activities of
creation, preservations and absorption of all phenomena and
oblivion and revelation of His nature of purity and divinity.
iSaktism and Saiyism arc just two aspects of one and the same
philosophy, the former aspect giving more importance to the
practical sddhand and the latter one to the philosophic theory.
When God inspires playfully the correct and real knowledge in
any beings they recogQize and realise themselves as none other
than the Almighty God Himself, shining in His above mentioned
two aspects of Sivahood and Saktihood. That is the pratyabhijnd
or the recognition of the self as established in Kashmir Saivism.
The same pratyabhijild of the real nature and character of the
self is the final aim of all practices in Saktism which accepts the
philosophical principles of Saivism. All Saiva authors and teachers
 16 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

adopt Sakta methods of sadhana for the sake of a quick self-

recognition. Saivism and Saktism are thus simply two aspects o f
one and the same philosophy, the former one giving greater
importance to the theoretical knowledge of the Truth and the
latter one to that practical sadhand which yields as its final result
the actual self-experience of the Truth. Philosophers like BhaUa
Kallata, Somananda and Abhinavagupta can be taken as both
¿aivas and Saktas. BhaUa Pradyumna, the Sakta philosopher, has
been mentioned by Utpaladeva as a £aiva and a Svayuthya, that
is, a philosopher belonging to his own rank, the rank of Saivas.
Such £aiva/§akta authors were all these philosophers from §iva-
nandanatha and Mahe^varananda to Sahib Kaula. The sur­
name Natha was generally adopted by such Sakta/Saiva practi­
tioners. LalleSvarT, who was a master o f religio philosophic lyric
poetry composed in Kashmiri language, was a follower of Saivism.
She gave start to an order of saints following the sadband of both
Saivism and Sufism. Members of such order are still roaming
about in Kashmir. The tradition of writing commentaries and
minor works on Saivism continues still in the Valley and an
example of it is the Svatantryadarpana by the writer of these pages.
It is a new textbook of Kashmir Saivism written in Karikd style.
The basic philosophy of Abhinavagupta is theistic absolutism.
He accepts the monistic and absolute pure consciousness as the
only eternal reality and establishes Godhead as the very essential
nature of such monistic reality. It is in fact beyond the reach
of mind, intellect and speech and is thus the absolute truth.
But the manifestation of all phenomena is due to its divine
power which is its basic nature and therefore it is the Almighty
God. It is the only infinite, eternal and perfect I-consciousness
which is not to be taken as ego, but as pure self-awareness. Being
eternal and infinite, it is not conditioned by time and space. Being
absolutely self dependent, it is not bound by any rules of causa­
tion and does not requiie anything other than it for the sake o f
the conduct of the activities of Godhead. Such activities arc
creation, preservation, dissolution, obscuration and revelation. The
first three run the whole universe, the fourth one pushes souls
towards self oblivion and the fifth one inspires in them the true
knowledge of the whole phenomenon. Conducting such divine
activities it is accepted as God.
The aspect of the pure and perfect I-consciousness of the Abso­
Introduction 17

lute is His static aspect in which He is known as Siva or God and

the aspect of His phenomenal manifestation through the five
divine activities is His dynamic aspect in which He is known as
Sakti or Godhead. Siva is thus the basic eternal reality and Sakti
is the divine nature of such absolute reality. The phenomenal
divine activities are basically neither due to any external element
likcM dya nor to anything internal like Vdsana, the flow of
mental impressions. The appearance of the phenomenon is not
basically due to ignorance but to the Godhead of the eternal truth.
Maya, VdsanH etc. work in it at some intermediary stages of its
evolution and are themselves due to the outward manifestation of
the Godhead of the absolute reality. The phenomenon is not to
be taken as false but as the absolute reality itself, appearing
through its divine power.s in such form. It is not to be rejected as
something non-existent. Such an outlook may amount to deceiv­
ing one’s own self. It is to be taken as correct and true at the
mundane phenomenal level. At the level of correct knowledge jt'
is to be seen as God and He alone. That is the view of Kashmir
Saivism with respect to the phenomenon and that is one of ifs
main differences from the Vedantic and the Buddhist absolutism.
The absolute consciousness is blissful by its basic nature anil
such nature makes it constantly playful. Its divine playfulness
urges it to be active in outward manifestation of its divine powers.
Such manifestation does not involve it into any change or trans­
formation. It takes place in the manner of a reflection. The divine
powers of God become reflected inside the psychic light of His
pure self-consciousness and such reflections of these powers shine
as the creation etc., of the whole phenomenal existence. Tne
Absolute God appears thus as all the pure and impure beings as
well as the whole mental and material existence. AH this happens
on account of the theistic nature of God. Such playful activity
does not imply any want in Him. It is His essential nature to play
like that. God, shorn of such nature, would cease to be God and
would get reduced to the position of pure space or even to that
of absolute nihility and nothing other than such nihility would
have ever come to being in that case. Bondage and liberation are
just two stages of the divine dramatic play of God. Pushing His
divine and pure nature into oblivion, He appears as a bonded
soul, undergoing all misery in the cycles of births and deaths. That
is the first stage of His divine play as an individual being. At its
18 Paramarthasora o f Abliinavagupta

second and final stage a being studies divine scriptures and works
on philosophy, comes into contact with a right preceptor, receives
initiation in Saiva path from him, practises yoga, develops correct
understanding about the real truth of everything and finally realizes
such truth through intuitional seir-experience. Thus he realizes his
real nature and recognizes himself as none other than God Him­
self. Such self-realization is the aim of Kashmir Saivism.
As shown above, the monistic absolutism of Abhinavagupta is
quite different from such principle of Advaita Vedanta because
that philosophy takes theism as based on M iya, an external ele­
ment that comes into contact with Brahman and consequently
presents it as God, soul and the objective existence- Besides, the
Advaita Vedanta takes Brahman to be pure and tranquil conscious­
ness, devoid of all activity. Kashmir ¿aivism finds a divine and
subtle stir within such tranquillity of the Absolute. It is the stir of
divine power shining as the infinite blissfulness and such stir is
the Godhead of the Absolute. Such stir of blissfulness of the pure
consciousness is its kriya without which it can not become aware
of even itself. Such activity of awareness has been taken in
Saivism as the essence of all consciousness, but the quest of
Vedantins does not generally go so deep into the secrets o f pure
consciousness. The Buddhist absolutism does not at all touch even
the outer level of such theistic consciousness. Their search stops
at the dreamless slate of animation and does not penetrate-into
the fourth state, the state of intuitive self revelation called the
Turya state. The theism of Vaisnava philosophers does not go
beyond the mythological conception of God and cousequently-
does not penetrate into the realm of absolutism. The pantheists
in the West see everything as God but do not see Him beyond
evefy thing. Like the Indian Vaispavas, they avoid absolutism.
&aivism teaches to see everything as God and also to see Him as
pure and divinely potent consciousness, shining as transcendental
reality beyond the whole phenomenon. The theism of Nyaya-
VaUesika sees God as a divine authority dependent on many
things other than Him. He has to work in accordance with the
law of nature and the law of karman and has to depend on atoms
etc. Such divine authorities are simply some supergods in ¿aivism
and the Absolute God is perfectly self dependent. Besides, Nyaya-
Vaiiesika is a pluralistic and non-absolutist philosophy. Many
schools of Indian philosophy maintain that Sakti, the divine power
Introduction 19

of God, undergoes transformation, while appearing as the pheno­

menon. But ¿aivism sees God and His Sakti as simply two
names of one and the same reality seen in its two aspects. There­
fore it does not see any transformation of either God or His
divine power 3akti. The theory of material transformation works,
according to Saivism, at a lower level of phenomenal evolution,
while the basic creation is something like a kind of transmutation
brought about by the supreme spontaneous unrestrictible, divine
and playful will of thetheistic Absolute without any change in its
basic character.
 Essence o f the Exact Reality or
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

arfa re 'rew
-o ca: qr*n«mTT:

*T^rR?nfqq qqj fa fo s s qgtJT |

tfqfaq *TPfT
o ¥TTq STO II ?» ir
1. Param parastham gahanadanadim
Ekam nivis{am bahudha guhasu
Sarvalayaip sarvacaracarastham
Tvameva ¿ambhum iaranam prapadye.
O Lord Sambhu, thou art great God in the highest position
lying beyond the mysterious sphere of Maya. Thou art one and
hast yet penetrated in multifarious ways into the hearts of all
beings having thee as their abode. Thou art present in all static
and dynamic phenomena. I take only thee as my shelter.
Sambhu is the transcendental reality, but at the same time
He manifests Himself as all phenomena which have Him as their
only basic source. He has thus a pantheistic character and is yet
the absolute reality that transcends all phenomena. His position
lies beyond the pluralistic and impure sphere of M aya. He is the
monistic absolute of Saivism and Godhead is His essential nature.
The fundamental philosophic principle of Saivism is thus a theis-
tic absolutism of monistic character.
’Hpi (gahana)=mysterious Maya, (guha)=cavern-like cavity
o f the heart of a living being.

snare f*Twr: qsreg q w q q n r ii

2. Garbhadhivasapurvaka-
maranantaka-dubkha-cakra-vibhrantah
Adharam bhagavantam
Si?yah papraccha paramartham.
Paramârthasâra o f Abhinaragupta 21

A disciple, having moved about in the cycles of the miseries

beginning with confinement in a mother’s womb and ending in
■death, approached Lord ¡§e?a and asked him about the real truth
-of the whole existence.
trimr: (¿<//ii7ra)=Patanjali who is believed to be an incarnation
of Se?anaga, the serpent god who, according to Hindu mythology,
supports the earth from beneath, w r i (paramartha)—\hc real
truth about every thing.
a n in T w faiT firc e i O c uN
ra r e *\ i
» ¡M UctlPtHqnm: II 3 II
3. Adhara-karikabhistam gurur-
abhibha$atesma tatsaram
Kathayatyabhinavaguptah
§iva$asana-df$ti-yogena.
The pieceptor (Patafijali) discussed the topic with him through
the work named Adhdrakarikd (the Paramdrthasdra of Patafijali),
the essence of which is being expressed by Abhinavagupta through
the view point of Saivism.
The name of the original work of Patafijali was Adhdrakarikd.
Abhinavagupta adopted its style, drew its essence and presented
it as a work on Saiva monism under the title Paramdrthasdra.
Such new name was afterwards given to the original work of
Patafijali as well. That work has a Vai§navite character.

Jlfaw faT STffa: SWfacT S W T II VII

4. NijaSakti-vaibhava-bharad-
anda-catusiayamidam vibhagena
Saktirmaya prakrtih pfthvi ceti
prabhavitam prabhupa
The Almighty Lord brought into existence these four spheres of
Sakti, Maya, Prakrti and PrthvI by means of the abundance of
tuxuriousness of His divine powers.
An apda is a sphere that contains in it a series of phenomenal
elements and serves as a sheath that covers and hides the divine
nature of the Absolute. Four such sphere are:
(i) Sakti, the divine power of God projecting itself externally
and covering the Absolute with the pure creation. Manifes­
ting diversity within unity, it hides the basic absoluteness
22 Paramarthasara o f Abhinaragupta

and the perfect unity of the Absolute God and contains in

it the four pure tattvas from Sakti to pure Vidya.
(ii) The sphere of Maya pushes into oblivion the natural purity
and divine potency of the Absolute, covers it with five
sheaths or limiting elements called kancttkas and presents
the Absolute as a finite being called Purusa, It contains in
it seven tattvasfr om Maya to Purusa.
(iii) The sphere of Prakrti covers Purusa with all psychic ele­
ments, senses, organs, subtle objective elements called tan-
mdtras, three gunas and four gross elements upto water. It
contains twenty-three tattvas from Prakrit to water.
(iv) PfthvI as an anda or sphere covers the Absolute with the
solid gross existence. It contains prthvi-tattva alone and
consists of the whole solid existence in the universe.
(v) Siva-tattva lies beyond all these four antfas.
The above mentioned four spheres contain thirty-five tattvas
and cover the pure and divinely potent absolute consciousness
with fine, subtle, gross and solid creation. The Absolute God
creates them playfully in the process of the manifestation of His
Godhead. He creates them out of His own self in the manner of
reflections and covers His real self with them. Such creation is
something like a kind of transmutation which is different from
transformation. Neither God nor His divine power under goes any
change or transformation while appearing in the form of all these
created tattvas which shine in His psychic light as the reflections
of His own divine powers.

vftrfiT ^ fen* ^ II H. U
5. Tatrantarvisvamidam
vicitra-tanukarana-bhuvana-santanam
Bhokta ca tatra dehl
Siva eva grhlta-pa§u-bhavah.
Within such four spheres lies the whole phenomenon along
with its wonderfully diverse types of bodies, senses, organs and
series of worlds. The individual finite being is there the experi-
encer of pleasure and pain. In reality he is none other than
Lord Siva Himself, having taken up such form of the bounded
being.
It is the basic nature of Siva to appear playfully as the finite:
Paramarthasára o f Abhinavagupta 23

being and to revolve in the cycles of transmigratory existence.

Pašu is the finite being who is fastened like an animal with the
ropes of karman and the limiting elements called kahcukas.

n\ n
6. Náná-vidha-varnánárn
rupam dhatte yathamalab sphatikah
Sura-manu§a-pa$u-padapa-
rupatvam tadvadHo’pi.
Just as a pure and colourless crystal takes up the appearance of
different types of hues reflected in it, so does the Lord also take
up the forms of gods, humanbeings, animals and plants (in the
manner of reflection).
God, appearing as different types of beings, does not at all
undergo any change. The basic creation conducted directly by
God Himself does not at all involve Him or His divine power into
parindma or transformation. He reflects His divine powers out­
wardly and such reflections of His powers appear as all pheno­
mena and their creation etc. Doing so, he does not require any
external substances to cast their reflections into divine prakáša, the
psychic luminosity of His pure consciousness. The basic cause Of
all such phenomenal manifestations is only His playful nature,
by virtue of which such reflectionary creation of all phenomena
happens. Creation is not thus due either to any external entity
like Maya or Avidyd or to any internal entity like Vdsand as
propounded by the Vedántins and Buddhists respectively. It is due
only to the divinely playful nature of the Absolute.
«TBSfa <150fd fa n * f p r f h mfčT I
č n m m rč m ii vsi i
7. Gacchati gacchati jala iva
himakara-bimbam sthite sthitim yati
Tanu-karana-bhuvana-varge
tatháyamátmá mahešánah.
Just as the disk of moon appears to be moving when reflected in
flowing waters and just as it looks to be static in still waters, so
does this great master Xtman appear in multifarious variety in
the different categories of bodies, senses, organs and worlds.
Here the difference between the moon and the Atman is this
24 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

that the former requires some entity other than it to catch its
reflections, but the latter reflects His own powers in His own
psychic light and appears Himself as His reflections. Atman is
thus divinely independent and appears in multifarious forms
through His own divine powers of Godhead. It is, besides, not a
chance, but the very essential nature of the Atman to appear
playfully like that.

q frid U m q m w T faT O rq w r tf N f t l i e n
8. RahuradfSyo’pi yatha
sasi-bimbasthah prakasate tadvat
Sarva-gato’pyayamatma
visayaSrayanena dhimukure.
Just as Rahu does shine and appear in the disk of moon, though
it is otherwise invisible, so does this Atman shine only in the
mirror of psychic apparatus while witnessing objective reflection,
though it is present everywhere.
Raltu is the shadow of earth. It moves always in the sky, but
Becomes visible only when it becomes focussed on the disk of
moon. Atman , being infinite in nature, is omnipresent, but
appears as “ I” only in the psychic organs of living beings while
having mundane mental experiences. There it forms conceptions
like “ I have seen such and such object” and, doing so, appears
as “ I” . It does not appear like that in any inanimate substances.
arretf ^ i
fiq^TfwncTfqq^r i i ^ ii
9. AdarSe mala-rahite
yadvad vadanam vibhati tadvadayam
Siva-Saktipata-vimale
dhi-tattve bhati bharOpah.
Just as one’s face appears clearly in a clean miiror, so does this
Atman shine as pure consciousness in a mind purified by the
bestowal of the divine grace of Lord Siva.
God’s bestowal of His grace is known as Saktipata. It is the
primary factor that directs a being towards the study of divine
scriptures, inspires in him a keen desire to know the truth, gives
rise to devotion for the Lord in his heart, creates contact between
him and a right preceptor and makes him active in the piactice
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta 25

o f Saiva yoga. All that purifies his inner soul and illumins in him
the correct and real divine nature of his pure consciousness.
*TT¥<T qfT^T f^TTfcTrTt I
3 5 0 W f a i W I I *o II

*TW
N afop?N fqqTfrT qH\’f^RTcq 5fq?TNII U H
10. Bharuparp paripiirnam
svatmani visrantito mahanandam
Iccha-samvit-karanair
nirbharitamananta-iakti-paripQrnam.
11. Sarva-vikalpa-vihlnam
Suddham ¿antam layodaya-vihlnam
yat paratattvam tasmin vibhati
§altrim4adatma jagat.
The whole phenomenon, consisting of thirty-six tattvas, appears
and shines in that transcendental reality which shines as the light
of pure consciousness, is perfect in all respects, is infinite bliss by
■virtue ol its complete self-dependence and perfect relaxation on
its self, is compact with the functions of willing, knowing and
doing, is full of infinite divine powers, is free from all conceplive
ideation, is pure and tranquil and has neither any dissolution nor
any emergence.
Bhah (m:) is the psychic luminosity of pure-consciousness and
that is the basic form of the Absolute. Everything that ever
appears, lies internally in the Absolute in the form of pure cons­
ciousness and the Absolute is thus compactly full of all pheno­
mena. It does not require anything other than its divine power
on which to relax or to depend and that is the source of its
infinite blissiulness. The Absolute wills to manifest, illumines the
manifestable and manifests it objectively. These are its three
pi'mary powers through which it conducts all divine activities of
Godhead. The Absolute shines through such a psychic luminosity
which is free from ideation. It is an intuitive revelation through
which the Absolute is realized. The real form of the Absolute is
pure, tranquil, infinite, eternal and divinely potent 1-conscious­
ness. It is the transcendental reality having Godhead as its essen­
tial nature, and manifesting such nature through its divine acti­
vities of creation etc. Thus it assumes the form of the whole
26 Paramdrihasara o f Abhinaragupta-

universe in the manner of a reflection. Godhead is thus the essen­

tial nature of the Absolute. Such theistic absolutism of Kashmir
Saivism does not require the concept of any element other than
the Absolute. Avidya of the post Sankara Advaita Vedanta or
vnsand of the Buddhist philosophy is not needed here for the
sake of the explanation of the phenomenal manifestation. Even
Gau(Japada and Sankara have admitted such theistic nature o f
the Brahman in their Tantric works and religio-philosophic lyrics.
But such works of these teachers are being very often ignored by
the Vedantins. The powers named icchd, jndna and kriyd are
meant by the compound word icchd-samvit-karanaih. Vikalpa is
mental ideation.

*nftT f^FTFT^ TTFR * II ^ II

* cTcftsfa * f i w a w i m f h u ^ u
12. Darparpa-bimbe yadvan
nagara-gramadi citramavibhagi
Bhati vibhagenaiva ca
parasparam darpapadapi ca.
13. Vimalatama-parama-bhairava-
bodhat tadvad vibhaga-Stinyamapi
Anyonyam ca tato’pi ca
vibhaktamabhati jagadetat.
Just as the reflections of some multifarious types of objects like
a town, a village, a forest and so on, shining inside a mirror, are not
separate from it, but even then appear as different and separate
from it and also from one another, so do all phenomena appear as
mutually different and also as different from the absolutely pure
and divinely perfect infinite consciousness known as the supreme
Bhairava, the Almighty God, though in fact these are not at all
different from Him.
Reflections shining in a mirror are not in fact any phenomena
that exist outside it, because these shine inside it. But even then
these do not appear as one with it, but as entities other than it.
Likewise, all phenomena, shining inside the psychic luminosity o f
I-consciousness, are in fact one with it. It is the I-consciousness
which shines itself as such phenomena. But even then these appear
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta 27

as different from the subjective I-consciousness. The whole pheno­

menon, along with all its functions, appears thus within the lumi­
nosity of consciousness in the manner of a reflection shining in a
mirror. The main differences between consciousness and mirror
are only two. Firstly, a mirror, being a dependent entity, requires
outward articles to cast their reflections into it, but the pure cons­
ciousness, being divinely potent, perfect, and self dependent,
manifests the reflections of its own divine powers of Godhead
inside its own psychic lustre of consciousness and does not requite
any external element, what so ever, for such purpose. It requires
neither the avidya of Vedanta nor the vctsand of Buddhism for the
purpose. Such self-dependence is the cream of its Godhead. An­
other great difference between the two is this that a mirror is
never aware of either itself or of the reflections shining in it,
while I-consciousness is aware of both. Such is the theory of
reflectional manifestation of the phenomenon propounded in
¿aivism of Kashmir. It saves that philosophy from a hypothetical
supposition, like that of Avidyd, reacting on the Absolute. Besides»
it keeps away the apprehension of tiansformation (parinama) with
regard to Brahman. The phenomenal manifestation in Saivism is
thus something like a wonderful type of transmutation. Theis-
tic absolutism is thus the fundamental and the basic principle o f
that philosophy.

TOKTtat MSSIWi II II
14. Siva-Sakti-sadaSivatam
iSvara-vidya-maylm ca tattva-dasam
Saktlnam pancanam
vibhakta-bhavena bhasayati.
The Absolute God manifests the states of five pure tattvas
named—Siva, Sakti9 SadaSiva, livara and pure Vidyd by projecting
outwordly His five primary divine powers (named—C/7, Ananda,
Iocha, Jhana, and Kriya).
The five primary powers of God are (i) consciousness, (ii) bliss­
fulness, (iii) divine and unrestrictible will, (iv) power to illumine
phenomena, and (v) power to manifest them as entities different
from Him. All such powers of God are interdependently mixed
together through mutual cooperation and integration and yet each
28 Paramarthasdra o f Abhinaxagapta

of them predominates only one of the tattvas mentioned above.

C/7, the pure consciousness shines predominantly in Paramašiva,
the Absolute, but projects out itself as Šiva-tattva in which the
power of blissfulness attains predominance. Blissfulness projects
itselCout and shines as Šakti-tattva with the predominance of the
power of will. The divine will of the Absolute emerges out as
Sadášiva-tattxa with the predominance of jňána šakti, the power to
illumine. That power gives rise to Išvara-tativa in which the active
power or kriyá-šakti of the Lord predominates. Kriyd emerges
out as the pure Vidyd and the power of Vidyd, the correct know­
ledge, attains prominence in it.
Each of these five primary powers of the Absolute is thus closely
xelated to two tattxas, one being the immediate source of its eman­
ation and the other being its field of predominance. In the basic
works on Šaiva philosophy these five tattxas are correlated with
these five primary divine powers in accordance with the principle
of their predominance. Thus Šixadffti and Uvarapratyabhijňd
correlate them with tattvas from Paramašiva to livara. But a
different view is taken in the works on theology. Thus in Tantrd-
loka and Tantrasara the five primary powers have been correlated
with the five tattvas from Šiva to pure Vidya, the tattxas emanated
as the outward manifestations of these five primary powers. That
has been done for the purpose of the upward spiritual progress of
a practitioner who, while contemplating on a particular tattva,
has to see in it the higher power which is the immediate source
of its emanation. Yogaraja follows that very latter view while ex­
plaining the above two couplets of the woik.
Paramašiva, the Absolute is the infinite pure consciousness
endowed with all divine potency. Šiva-tattva is the name given to
the same pure consciousness when thought over with the predomi­
nance of its noumenal aspect. Šakti-tattva also is the same infinite
and pure consciousness but such name is used for it when it is medi­
tated upon in the predominance of its phenomenal aspect. The
Absolute reality is thought over as God and as His Godhead with
the help of these two terms, Šiva and Šakti. Siva is the original
source of all emanation and Šakti is the urge of the Absolute to­
w ards such emanation of the phenomenon. Šiva is the name given
to the inward aspect of the divine and blissful spiritual stir of the
pure consciousness and its outward stir is represented by Šakti.
T he objective existence does not at all appear in its objective
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagnpta 29

aspect in these two tattvas where consciousness shines as the in­

finite and perfect “ I” and that alone, without even the faintest
manifestation of this-ness. That is the state of absolute unity
thought over in its two aspects imagined by philosophers for the
sake of perfect and complete understanding. The Lord is suppos­
ed to govern these two tattvas as Siva and Sakti respectively.
Beings who attain the position of such unity are termed as
Akala beings. They enjoy constantly the blissful existence o r
their infinite and pure I-consciousness endowed with infinite
divine potency.
Sadasiva and Uvara-tattvas belong to the plane of unity in diver*
sity and are governed by Lord Sadaiiva and Lord Isvara respect i-
vcly. The Absolute God, descended to such plane of unity-cum-
diversity, is known by these two names. Beings residing at the
planes of these two tattvas are respectively called Mantra-mahe-
Sxaras and MantreSvaras. The) enjoy the awareness of their blissful
unity with the undiversified objective existence appearing as
simple “ this” and feel respectively as “ I am this” and “ This is
myself.” The awareness of the element of 1-ness predominates
in the former type of these beings and the element of this-ness
does so in the latter. The viewpoint of unity-cum-diveisity, be­
longing to both of these types of beings, serves them as their
instrumental tattva and is termed as Suddhavidyd or Sadvidya, the
pure and correct knowledge. Sadvidya at its lower type is termed
as Mahdmdyd, Beings residing in its plane are known either as
Mantras or as Vidyeivaras. They see themselves as divinely potent,
pure and infinite consciousness and enjoy its blissfulness but, a| the
same time, they take the objective existence as different from them.
Lord Iivara, descended to that level is known as Lord Anantandtba
who rules over Mantra beings and conducts further creation by
means of the divine powers delegated to him by the Lord. Crea­
tion up to the level of Mahdmdyd is conducted directly by the
Almighty Absolute God Himself, without entrusting it to any of
His Avatdras who conduct creation at lower levels. Such creation
is known as the pure creation. It is termed as Suddha-adhvan, the
pure path of objective meditation, as taught in the Trika system
of practical Saivism.
30 ParamSrthasSra o f Abhinavagupta

1S. Paramam yat svatantryam

durghata-sampadanam roaheiasya
Devi m iya- ¿aktib
svatmavaraoarp Sivasyaitat.
That supreme self-dependence of ParamaSiva, through which He
brings about even that which is not possible, is known as the deity
named Maya-Sakti. It serves ParamaSiva as a veil to hide Himself.
M ays, the divine power of the Lord, reflected by Him externally,
appears as Maya-tattva, the sixth one in the process of phenomenal
evolution. The Lord, covering Himself with it, conceals His nature
of absolute purity and divinity. Making a show of His involve­
ment in it, He sees everything through a viewpoint of diversity
and forgets the divinity of His 1-consciousness. Besides, Maya-
tattva serves as the inanimate objective substance out of which
all other insentient elements evolve. It is thus the substantive
cause of numerous universes floating in it like bubbles in an
ocean. Mays-tattva is also a creation of the Absolute God. It is
His impure creation. Further creation out of Maya is conducted
by Lord Anantanatha, one of the agents of God.

HfHH: tTSgtfqftf I
» k H w U F w ftw iH T HIlf t q iq ^ R II \ \ II

16. Maya-parigraha-va§3d
bodho m alinah puman paiur bhavati
Kala-kala-niyati-vaiad
rSgavidya-vaSena sambaddhah.
The pure consciousness, having adopted M dyd as a part and
parcel of its self, becomes impure and appears as the finite subject
known as Puru?a who is bound like a beast with (the chains of
bondage consisting) of kdla, the sense of time, kald% the limited
capacity to do just a little, niyati%the law of natural causation,
raga> the limited interest in a particular something and Avldyd,
the limited capacity to know just a little.
Purusa is the finite subject who takes a finite individual I-cons-
ciousness, having limited powers to know and to do, as his self.
Having lost his infiniteness, he is known as 'anu' a finite being.
He sees everything and everyone as different from him. Such
viewpoint of diversity and such finitude are the main impurities
of such individual JUconsciousncss which, being fastened by the
Paramárthasára o f Abhinavagupta 31

chains of ignorance and finitudc, is known as a pašu, a bonded

being.
Carrying further the phenomenal evolution, Lord Anantanátha
shakes up Mdyd-tattxa and expands it into five kancukas or
sheaths that cover and hide the divine nature of the átman and
present it in the form of a bonded being called pašu. Depriving it
of its omnipotence and limiting its powers to do, it appears in it
as kald, a limited capacity to do just a little. Contracting the
omniscience of the átman, it appears there as the impure Vidyd, a
finite capacity to know just a little. Limiting further scope of the
kalů and Vidyd of the átman, M áyi appears as niyati, the law of
phenomenal causation, and restricts the kalá, Vldyá and rága of
the finite being at each and every step. Contracting the very person
of such a being, Mdyá appears as kála, the sense of time, on
account of which he does neither do nor know anything without
conditioning these activities by the sense of time appearing as
past or present or future. Such sense of time becomes so deeply
impressed on his person that he does not even think of his very
existence except within the terms of past, present or future.
Time, according to Saivism, is an imagined sense of succession
with regard to events and actions. Such sense of time is based on
the imagination of the finite being living at the plane of Mdyá,
Such successions are either regular as those of the apparent move­
ments of sun and moon, change of seasons, blossoming of flowers,
ripening of fruits and grains and so on: or these are irregular as
those of the routine actions of individual beings. We very often
measure all the irregular series of successions with some regular
successions mentioned above and say that such and such person
lived a life of one hundred years; such and such book was read by
me in one month; today you slept for eight hours, and so on.
Time in Šaivism is thus a mere conception and not any substance.
It is a special type of relativity which is itself a substanceless con­
ception based on human imagination. The finite I-consciousness,
shrouded by Máyá and these five tattvas of limitation, is termed
as puruja, a bonded finite being known as pašu or «pm or jiva and
so on.
 32 ParamarthasarQ o f Abhinavagupta

17. Adhunaiva kincidevedameva

sarvatmanaiva janami
Maya-sahitam kaftcuka-
satkamanorantarahgamidamuktam.
“ I know only now and know just a little and just this much of
it quite completely” ; such is the group of six sheaths including
Maya. These have been taken as the six interior limitations of a
finite being.
The omnipotence of Siva is reduced to the position of kala in a
finite being. His omniscience becomes here the impure Vidyd. The
perfectness of Siva is reduced here to rdga tattva. His eternity is
brought down to the position of k&la-tattva and niyati-tattva occu­
pies the place of His complete independence.
The five pure elements, discussed previously, and these six im­
pure elements raise the number of the tattvas in the process of
phenomenal evolution to eleven and purufa is the twelfth such
tattva. The six kalcukas, being the part and parcel of the person
of a finite being, are his interior limitations while the subtle
mental body and the gross material body are his exterior limita­
tions, because he wears them like clothes, changes the gross ones
and sheds them off, but the interior limitations of katlcukas have
become the essential nature of his person. A puru^a is a purufa
because of these kancukas; otherwise he should have been a pure
being residing in the plane of either pure Vidyd or Sakti.

18.Kambukamiva tan^ulakana-
vinivis|am bhinnamapyabhida
Bhajate tattu viiuddhim
S iva- ma rgaun mukhy a-y ogena.
Though the group of five kaitcukas is, in fact, different from
purusa, yet it is set in him in such a way as to appear to be non-
different from him, just like the thin yellowish covering of the
grains of rice. It can however be washed off by means of (a keenly
attentive and self contemplative) practice in &aiva yoga.
Rice grains have two coverings. One is the outer chaff which
is removed by simple husking. But inside it there is a thin and
yellowish white covering which appears as the part and parcel
of the edible rice itself. It is often rubbed off only with the help
 Param Srthasara o f Abhinavagupta 33

of a polisher fitted in a husking machine. Rice shines in snow

white colour only after the removal of such inner covering known
in Kashmiri language as komb, Sanskrit kambuka. Likewise, the
s^x kaflcukas appear as part and parcel of the finite subject whose
real nature can shine brilliantly only after washing away such
covet ings of kadcukas by means of ¿aiva yoga.

otto ii u
19. Sukha-duhkha-moha-matram
niscaya-sankalpanabhimanacca
Prakrtirathantafikaranam
buddhimano’hankrti kramaSah.
Prakfti is the even amalgamation of simple pleasure, pain and
delusion (or ignorance) and the three interior instrumental ele­
ments are (i) buddhi, the understanding sense that forms definite
conceptions, (ii) manas, or mind, the organ of such thinking as
gives rise to indefinite ideations (about phenomena) and (¡ii)
ahankara, the egoist sense that connects such psychic activities
with the finite subject.
Prakfti is the initial objective element that becomes the focus of
the activities of the finite subject who feels it afterwards either as
pleasure or pain or simple ignorance. Such three feelings are
known respectively as Sattva, Rajas and Tamas> the three guy as.
Prakrti is that state of the complete amalgamation of three gunas
in which these do not at all appear in their separate individual
character. It is their absolute equilibrium. Both Purufa and Prakfti
are the creations of Lord Anantanatha. Lord l$vara> desended to
the plane of threee gunas is known as Srlkanthanatha. Umapati-
natha is another divine form of Srlkanthanatha. He is the Siva of
epics and purdnas. SrikaOthanatha shakes up Prakfti, disturbs the
equilibrium of the gunas and creates the instrumental and objec­
tive elements out of it through a process of transformation. The
first result of such transformation is the creation of interior senses
including ego and the last one is that of gross physical elements
known as bhutas. Samkhya system maintains that Prakrti under­
goes transformation into instrumental and objective elements by
virtue of its own essential nature, without any help from any
quarters. But Saivism declares that Lord Srikanthanatha directs it,
disturbs its equilibrium and transforms it into the twenty-three
34 Paramarthasdra o f Abhinavagt/pfd

tattvas from mahattattva (buddhi) to earth, because, being insen­

tient in character, it cannot undergo any change by itself and
requires guidance for such purpose from some sentient person
and such person is Lord Srlkarqhanatha.
sfH gslfonifrr i
qwqTtqqreqTqqFq qraffomfa gq: n Ro ii
20. Srotram tvagak$i-rasana-ghranam
buddhlndriyani sabdadau
Vak-pani-pada-payupastham
karmendriyaui punah.
The exterior senses, helpful in grasping objects like sound,
touch etc., are: srotra, the auditory sense, tvac> the sense to feel
some touch, akfi, the sense to see, rasana, the sense to taste and
ghrdna, the sense to smell. The exterior organs helpful in outward
actions are: vdc, the organ to speak, pani, the organ to grasp,
pdda, the organ to move about, pdyu, the organ to discharge and
upastltOy the organ to enjoy sexual bliss.
Each sense has its fixed place in the gross body while an organ
works through more than one limbs. One can catch hold of some­
thing with the help of his mouth also, can discharge through
several outlets in the body, can enjoy sexual bliss through kisses
an d ’embraces as well. All these senses and organs arc produced
through a process of the transfbrmation of ego in its different
aspects.
UTfft faqq: U: *OTcT I
qfqTqqsqql flcf sqqf U U
2 ... E§am grahyo vi§ayah suksmab
pravibhaga-varjito yab syat
Tanmatra-paftcakam tat
sabdab sparSo maho raso gandhah.
The finer undiversified objects to be caught by the five senses
aret.sound, touch, light, taste and smell respectively. These are
known as five tanmatras.
Tanmatra means “ that much” . For instance, iabda tanmdtra
means simple sound alone, without any particulars. These are the
finer objects of the senses and are produced out of a particular
aspect of ego through the process of transformation, because all
of them shine as egoistic feeling; and ideas and not as any indc-
Paramdrthasara o f Abhinavagupta 35

pendent entities. It is the ego which takes them up as its parti­

culars and shines itself in these five forms.
tTemtfimtTCTTiT FPTvtt f e q q tfl I
3T^fcT »PR: q w q ^ J f : HfvTvf ^ < T ^ ^ II ^ II
22. Etat-samsarga-vaSat
sthulo vi$ayastu bhuta-paficakatam
Abhyeti nabhah pavanas-tejah
salilam ca ppthvl ca.
The gross objective existence, evolved through the mixing up
o f these five subtle objects, appears as the five gtoss physical ele­
ments called panca-bhutas which are: ether, air, fire, water and
earth.
Five subtle objects of senses, when mixed together and disturbed*
get evolved into five gross elements of physical existence. These
have the subtle objects as their special attributes called \iSe$a-
guyas. The creation of gross objective elements is something like
the coagulation of the subtle ones.

qsqfaqicitsq II II
23. Tu§a iva tan<Jula-kanikamavrnute
prakrti-purvakah sargah
Pfthvl-paryanto’yam
caitanyam dehabhavena.
Just as husk covers a grain of rice, so do all these created
elements, right from prakrti to earth, become the subtle and gross
bodies of the finite 1-consciousness and cover and conceal it
completely.
Both subtle and gross bodies of a being are evolved out of an
admixture of elements from prakrti to earth. Such bodies form the
outer covering of I-consciousness, which takes them as its self.
B ut karicukas, constituting the very finitude of the finite conscious­
ness, shine as its essential part and parcel and are therefore its
interior covering.
S3 g s q m m f ? PTHH I
qTjzr' 11 3* 11
24. Paramavaranam mala iha
suksmam mayadi-kancukam sthulam
36 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

Bahyam vigraha-iupam
kosa-lraya-ve$Jito hyatma.
Mala, the basic impurity, is the finer covering of pure conscious­
ness. Six cloaks from Maya to Niyati are its subtle coverings and
the external physical body is its gross covering. The Atman is^
thus covered with these sheaths.
God, hiding His purity, divinity etc., appears as a finite being,
who forgets his real nature and becomes ignorant about it. Such-
basic ignorance of a being regarding his purity, divinity, omni­
science, omnipotence etc. is his finer covering. It conceals tho
very nature of his inner being and appears as his part and parcel.
It is termed in ¿aivism as mala or impurity. Maya, along with its
five evolutes called kaHcukas, limiting the scope of the powers o f
a being* is his interior and subtle covering. His external gross
covering is his individual body, both mental and physical. The
real nature of the Atman remains thus hidden under such three
sheaths, the last one among which can be analysed further
into two, the thinner one and the grosser one, that is, the mental
one and the physical one.

25. Ajnana-timira-yogad-ekamapi
svam svabhavamatmanam
Grahya-grahaka-nana-
vaicitrycnavabuddhyeta.
The finite being, suffering from the eye-disease of ignorance,
sees his own self as a multifarious diversity of subjects and objects,
while in reality he is only the monistic consciousness.
The moon is one, but a person suiTcring from an eyedisease
sees it as two. So does an ignorant being see his monistic divine
nature as a complex diversity with the result he goes on commit­
ting good and bad deeds and reaping the results of them in end­
less cycles of births, deaths, rebirths etc.
O O »

26. Rasa-phanita-Sarkarika-
guija-kharxjadya yathek§u-rara eva
Tad-vadavastha-bhedah sarve
paramatmanah Sambhol?.
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta 37

Just as thin juice, thick juice, still thicker molasses (^re), coarse
sugar and refined sugar etc. are all only the juice of sugarcane
(appearing in different forms), so are all phenomena just some
different states of Lord ¿iva in His universal aspect.
God shines in His two aspects, the noumenal one and the pheno­
menal one. In the former one He is infinite and pure I-conscious-
ness and that alone. But within such transcendental consciousness
lies that infinite divine power of Godhead through which all
phenomena shine in Him as reflections in a crystal. He appears
thus as the whole mental and physical existence and that is His
phenomenal aspect.

5 q q q i f a 11 ^ 11
27. Vijflanantaryami-prana-vira<j-
deha-jati-pin^antah
Vyavahara-matrametat
paramarthena tu na santyeva.
The flow of momentary consciousness, the single self working
in all minds, the power of animation, the universal soul shining
as the whole phenomenon, the gross and subtle forms, the generali­
ties or species and lastly the individual being, all these consist of
mere dialectical conception and do not at all exist in reality.
The Buddhist thinkers maintain that the constant flow of
momentary consciousness is the only reality. The Vedic thinkers
say that the single self, penetrating inside, pervading, directing
and governing all the minds, is the ultimate reality. Some Upani-
^adic thinkers take the power of animation as the ultimate truth,
while other such thinkers say that one universal Atman, shining
as all phenomena, is the only reality. Some other thinkers take
-either the psycho-physical organism or the generalities or lastly
the individual as the ultimate truth. But all such theories are
merely some dialectical speculations useful in discussions and
•debates. None among such entities has a real existence, as all
these are mere suppositions and imaginary concepts of thinkers.
qiftcT q ffiqqfrcW I
?rfq?R fqifaq q j q II II
28. Rajjvam nasti bhujangas-trasam
kurute ca mrtyu-paryantam
38 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

Bhranter mahati saktima vivektum

£akyate nama.
No serpent exists in a rope, but (even then) it causes dread
even upto that of death. Such immense power of delusion cannot-
be explained or discussed fully.
A hanging rope, moving this way and that way in a gentle
breeze, causes immense dread when it is mistaken for a serpent
in its zigzag gait.

u ^ 5. u
29. Tadvad dharmadharma-svar-
nirayotpatti-marana-sukha-duhkham
Varnasramadi catmanyasadapi
vibhtama-balad bhavati.
In the same way the matters like piety and sin, heaven and
hell, birth and death, pleasure and pain, social castes and stages
of life, and so on, do never exist in reality, but appear in the self
on account of the effect of delusion.
No diversity is the real truth. Its existence is simply apparent.
It shines in the Atman as reflections shine in a mirror. All this
appears to a bonded being on account of the delusion caused by
Maya. Saivism, taking in this way the phenomenon as a mere
apparent entity, comes very close to the Advaita Vedanta. But M ayor
the basic cause of such reflectional appearance of the pheno­
menon, has been taken in Saiyism as the divine power of the
Atman, while it is being accepted in the Advaita Vedanta as a
foreign entity coming into contract with the Atman and manifes­
ting it falsely as God, soul and insentient substances. Saivispa
propounds thus a highly theistic absolutism, while the fundamen­
tal principle of the Advaita Vedanta is sufficiently nihilistic ip
character.

30. Etat tadandhakaram yad bhave$u

prakasamanataya
Atmanatirikte$vapi bhavatya-
natmabhimano’yarn.
The darkness of delusion is this that all existent phenomenal
Paramarthasara o f Abltinavagupia 39

arc taken as different from the self, though these are non-different
from it because of their becoming apparent only inside its psychic
light of consciousness.
Only such a thing can appear as an existent entity which shines
Within prakasa, the psychic luminosity of consciousness. In fact
it is such prakafo itself which, taking up the forms of such entities,
shines like that. How can then any such entity be different from
prakaia known as Atm itfl But still all this is taken as non-self
and that is the darkness of ignorance.
fcTfarfa? i

31. Timiradapi timiramidam

gancjasyopari mahanayam sphofah
yadanatmanyapi deha-pranadS-
vatma-manitvam.
The egoistic conception of self-hood with regard to non-self
like the physical body, functions of animation etc. is a darkness
over a darkness. It is a big boil on a tumour.
One type of ignorance is the forgetfulness about one’s pure and
infinite universal nature. It gives rise to another type of ignorance
on account of which a being develops the conception of self-hood
with respect to limited and insentient objects like the physical
body etc., all of which are, in reality, non-self. Such double
faced delusion is a disease over a disease and a darkness over a
darkness.

3TTc*TR II 33 II
32. Deha-prSna-vimarSana-dhIjnana- f
nabhah-prapanca-yogena
Atmanam vestayate citram
jalena jala-kara iva.
How strange ! Just as a silk-worm confines its own self inside
the cacoon woven by it, so does a finite being conceal his real self
under the immense amplifications of—(a) his egoistic feeling with
regard to his physical body and animation, (b) his conceptual
cognitions and (c) the feelings of nihility beyond his mental
organism.
The conception and feeling of I-ness with respect to physical
40 Paramarthas&ra o f Abhinavagupta

body and pure animation is the gross covering that hides the real
nature of the self. The subtle covering is the multitude of multi­
farious conceptual cognitions being always formed by his under­
standing capacity. The finer covering is his feeling of I-ness with
regard to pure but finite individual consciousness, freed from all
subjective and objective ideas. It can be compared to the nihility
of the void. These are the amplifications with which the natural
infinity, purity, eternity, divinity etc. of the potent and pure cons­
ciousness of a being become concealed and remain hidden. Since
God appears as all beings, it is He who conceals wonderfully His
real nature in this way.

ffcT g U T -q ta -fa q f q f e t STrR'tfa II 3311

33. Sva-jnana-vibhava-bhasana-
yogenodve§tayennijatmanam,
Iti bandha-moksa-citram
krhjam pratanoti ParamaSivah.
Sometimes the Lord may Himself unbound and reveal His real
nature by means of yoga that illumins the infinite luxury of one’s
self-knowledge. Paramafiva, the Absolute God, plays thus His
vronderful game of bondage and liberation.
Bondage is not basically due to any foriegn element like Axidya,
but is due to the very divine nature of the absolute reality itself.
God, shorn of such playful nature, would be reduced to the posi­
tion of insentient pure space. It is such playfulness which is His
natural Godhead. Neither bondage nor liberation can basically be
due to anything other than such divine nature of God.

snf?rT errcfa ?nnfq aqfaci wfer n v* 11

34. Sr§ti-sthiti-samhara
jagrat-svapnau su§uptamiti tasmin
Bhanti turlye dhamani tathapi
tair navftam bhati.
All creation, preservation and absorption, as well as the states
o f waking, dreaming and sleeping shine inside the (divine) light of
the fourth state of animation which does not even then appear
to be hidden by such phenomena.
Tutya, the fourth state of animation, is the state of such intui­
Paramdrtltasara o f Abhinavagupta 41

tive revelation as illumines the pure and divinely potent nature of

the self. It is the pure consciousness which keeps on shining in all
the states of animation as the witnessing reality. It can neither be
hidden by the waking state, nor by the dreaming one, nor by the
sleeping one, all of which depend on it, because it is the basic
light of consciousness pervading every function of a being. It alone
illumines all the functions of animation in all these states.
s m if g r e i
5TT5T: 5rRSRRR cTcT: <TT II 3 * II
35. Jagrad visvam bhedat
svapnas tejalj prakaSa-mahatmyat
Piajflab supt&vastha jn§na-ghanatvat
tatah param turyara.
The waking state, being full of diversity, is known as visva, the
phenomenon. The dreaming state is called tejas (light) because
of its power to manifest. The sleeping state, (being aware of only
the self,) is named prajHa, the possessor of knowledge of the finite
self. The state of T u r y a is the compact self-knowledge lying above
and beyond it.
Generally the beings in such states are given such four names,
but such states and the beings in them have together been men­
tioned here through such four terms.

36. Jaladhara-dhuma-rajobhir malini-

kriyate yatha na gagana-talam
Tadvan-maya-vikrtibhirapara-
mr§tab parah puru§ah.
Just as clouds, smoke and dust do not at all pollute the sky, so
remains the transcendental self unaffected by the evolutes of Maya.
Five kancukas are the direct evolutes of Maya. They narrow
down to the utmost the scope of the powers of a finite being. But
since these five elements, along with M aya itself, appear only
like reflections inside the psychic luminosity of the supreme self,
and do so only by virtue of the playful and divine power of the
self, these cannot affect it at all. That is to say that the Lord does
not undergo any change in His basic character and continues to
be pure, infinite and divine consciousness even while appearing as
42 Paramarthasira o f Abhinavagupta

all phenomena. That is the strange pantheism of the áaiva philo­

sophy of Kashmir. It is pantheism combined with absolutism.
q qifcm r rn m rft' i
sftm: g t 3 r g : t a 5 r ? 5 i q : II II
37. Ekasmin ghata-gagane rajasá
vyápte bhavanti nanyani
Malináni tadvadete jíváfct
sukha-duhkha-bheda-jusah.
When the space inside one pitcher becomes completely dusty,
it does not happen like that with respect to the space in other
pitchers. In the same way ate these finite beings mutually different
in the matters of pleasure, pain etc.
*TPrT 5*TR TO: I
c i r ^ m s f a i r n r r * gsf: q r m m r : s a m n h

38. Sánte sánta ivayam hf§te

hr§t° vimoha-vati müdhah
Tattva-gane sati bhagaván na punah
paramárthatah sa tathá.
God, while pervading tranquil, happy and deluded complexes
of psychic elements, appears as if He also were like that; but in
reality he is not like that.
God is changeless. Tranquillity, delusion etc. are different psychic
states involving change in the character of the entities to which
these belong and are caused by three gwjas. God, being the abso­
lute reality that transcends gwjas, does not at all undergo any
change in His character. But, while acting as a finite being, He
looks as if He were undergoing such changes and having pleasure,
pain, delusion etc. as his character.

3 n ? m iR T cw n s n fm fa s c r o fa q w im u h ii

39..Yadanátmanyapi tadrüpavabhásanarn
tat pura nirakftya
Átmanyanátma-rüpám bhrántim
vidalayati paramátmá.
The great God, having first eradicated the delusion of taking
the non-self and insentient substances as self, shatters afterwards
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta 43

the other delusive conception of taking the (all inclusive) self as

non-self.
The self of a peison is, in fact, divinely potent, pure and trans­
cendental consciousness alone; but a person in delusion takes some
insentient substances like the physical body, animation, mental
apparatus etc. as his self. That is one type of his delusion. The
whole phenomenon, being the manifestation of the divine powers
of the real self, is in fact nothing other than one’s self, but is taken
as non-self. That is another type of delusion. The great God,
playing the gracious game of self-revelation, makes a person
realize his real nature and to recognize himself as none other
than God. Such recognitive self-realization liquidates both the-
above mentioned types of delusion, one after another. Such a
man of realization feels firstly that he is pure, infinite, eternal,
independent and perfect consciousness having infinite divine
potency as his nature. Afterwards he sees the whole phenomenon
as his own self.

jt sng it yo ii
40. Ittham vibhrama-yugalaka-smOla-
vicchedane kftarthasya
Kartavyantara-kalana na jatu
parayogino bhavati.
A superior yogin, having become thus fully satisfied by rooting
out and exterminating the delusion of both the types, does never
see any thing else to be accomplished by him.
c c s

41. Prthvi prakftir maya tritayamidam

vedya-rupata-patitam
Advaita-bhavana-balad bhavati hi
sanmatra-pariSesam.
The trinity of the objective existence, consisting of (the spheres
of) earth, cosmic substance, and Moya, is reduced to the position
of the simple and pure basic existence by means of practice in the
contemplation of non-duality.
Bhdvand is a contemplative practice in thinking constantly
about the exactly pure and real nature of an entity, self or non­
44 Paramartliasara o f Abhinavagupta

self. Such contemplative practice in thinking constantly about the

monistic, pure and divine character of everything raises the whole
phenomenal existence to the position of the basic existence which
is pure consciousness endowed with divine potency.

era? 11x 3 u

42. RaSana-kundala-katakam bheda-

tyagena drsyate yatha hema
Tadvad bheda-tyage sanmatram
sarvamabhati.
Just as gold ornaments like girdle, earring, bangle etc., shedding
off their differential character, appear as simple gold, so do all
phenomena, shedding off their mutually different character, shine
as simple basic existence.

cT? ^ 't t 1

43. Tad brahma param iuddham

Santamabhedatmakam samani sakalam
Amrtam satyam Saktau
vteamyati bhasvarupayam.
That Brahman, the transcendental, pure and tranquil ieality,
"being of monistic nature, is evenly everything. Being immortal
and real, it relaxes on its (own) Sakti which has consciousness as
its form.
Brahman is never involved in the disturbance of anything like
M aya, karman etc. and that amounts to its tranquillity. Since Brah­
man alone is everything, everything is as much Brahman as Brahman
itself. It is immortal and true and, being self dependent, it relaxes
on its own divine power of Godhead which has infinitely potent
consciousness, or rather awareness, as its essential form. It has
not to relax or to rely on anything other than its divine power.
It does not therefore require the assistance of either Avidya or
vasana in its universal play which is played by it through its own
divine pov/er which is playful in its essential nature and that is
the absolute Godhead of Brahman as maintained in Kashmir
Paramarthasara o f Ablrinavagupta 45

Siam s f a ^ flo ra s * V T T fc^q I

JT^f'T § W S r g ^ tT R rr ? T I I W I I
44. I§yata iti vedyata iti sampadyata
iti ca bhasvaiupcna
Aparamr§{am yadapi tu
nabhah-prasunatvamabhyeti.
All that is ever willed or cognized or created gets reduced to
the position of a sky-flower if it is not illumined by consciousness.
It is only consciousness which illumines an entity. Only that
thing is accepted as an existent or non-existent entity which shines
like that within the psychic light of the consciousness of a being.
A thing which does never shine there is reduced to total nothing­
ness. Therefore it is in fact the divine consciousness alone which
shines itself as any phenomenon that is ever willed or observed
or created. That proves the supreme theistic monism worked out
in Paramarthasara.

iin n
45. Sakti-triSula-parigama-yogena
samastamapi paramese
Sivanamani paramarthe
visrjyate devadevena.
Initially the Lord of the lords creates the whole phenomenon
within His own divine, potent and eternally existent aspe:t named
Siva, by handling the trident of His divine powers.
The conative, cognitive and creative powers of God are His
three primary powers known as iccha-sakti, jnana-sakti and kriya-
iakti. The symbolic trident of Siva is suggestive of these thiee
divine powers which constitute His essential nature. Siva, coming
face to. face to such powers through His awareness, that is, be­
coming fully aware of His natural divine powers, becomes prone
or inclined towards creation. Such a situation is described as hold­
ing in His hand the trident of three divine powers. His conative
power is His iccha-iakti, which is depicted in Upanisadic passages
like “ Tadaiksata, bahu syam, prajaycya iti” . (^snr,
(ch. 6-2-3). The basic reality visualizes, “ Let me become many,
let me be born (in many forms)” and so on. Before creating the
phenomenon externally as an objective existence, God creates it
46 Pafamarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

within His own self known as Siva. His will to create a particular
type of phenomenon presupposes its existence inside His aware­
ness, because nothing particular could have otherwise become the
object of His conation, or creation. The phenomenon appears
initially in Him and that is due to His cognitive power. It shines
clearly in Him as the object to be created and is thus created
there actually through His creative power. Its outward creation is
due to the phenomenal growth of His kriya-Sdkti.
A worldly creator also follows such process. He creates only
that thing outwardly which is initially created by him in his own
self. A painter creates initially a wonderful form in his own will
and then he illuminates it thoroughly while forming a clear idea
about it in his mind and afterwards he starts to paint it actually
on a board. So does the Lord create the phenomenon in His own
subjective self before manifesting it outwardly and objectively.
That is the interior creation which the couplet in hand is meant
to express.
g?rcfq ^ i
3T035W f a f a s i qsi II II
46. Punarapi ca panca-sakti-prasarana-
kramena bahirapi tat
Anda-trayam vicitram srstam
bahiratma-labhena.
At the next step the Lord created outwardly the complexly
wonderful three spheres (of M aya, Prakrti and Prthvi) by manifes­
ting and finding Himself outwardly as well through the process of
outward manifestation of His five divine powers.
The five divine powers of the Lord are: cit or pure consciousness,
ananda or blissfulness, icchd or conative power, jhana or cognitive
power and kriyd or creative porwer. These powers shine in Him as
His own self. Their outward manifestation reflects them as the
creation of the objective existence consisting of three spheres of
M aya, the causal creation, Prakrti, the subtle creation and Prthvi,
the gross creation. The whole of such creation is complexly
wonderful. It is the outward or objective manifestation of the
essential nature of God. Here He finds out His own self in an
objective aspect and that is His ‘bahiratma-labha\
Paramdrathasara o f Abhinavagupta 47

sptem V N ^ar: i
a r^ im gs^q: i u ^ ii

47. Iti sakti-cakra-yantram.kriqla-

yogena vaha>an devah
Ahameva suddha-rupah sakti-maha-
cakra-nayaka-padasthah.
Patting thus playfully the machine of the circle of divine powers
in motion, I am myself the Lord, with purity as my nature,
working at the highest post as the master hero of the infinite wheel
of Saktis or divine powers.
Concluding the discussions noted above, an aspirant realizes that
he is not a finite being but the great Lord who is the only hero
having the multitudes of divine powers as His heroins. He feels
actually that he is himself activating playfully the whole circle
of such powers, the primary one among which are five: (1) c/7, (2)
ananda, (3) iccha, (4) jftana, and (5) kriyd. Their amalgamated
unity appears in twelve forms in the process of all psychic
activities of all beings and are known as Sakti-cakra or the group
of twelve Kalis. Such Kalis absorb in them the psychic activities of
all subjects, the functions of their psychic apparatus and the
objective elements that become foci of such activities. A successful
practitioner of Saivism realizes and visualizes such fact through
his personal experience.
m f a fas* 5* i
*TrT: srerefa II * 5 II
48. Mayyeva bh5ti*viivam darpana iva
nirmale ghaladlni
Mattah prasarati sarvam svapna-
vicitratvamiva suptat.
Having a direct realization of his dynamic Godhead, an adept
practitioner of Kashmir Saivism feels like this:
“ The whole universe appears in me, just as objects like a
p tcher etc. appear in a clear mirror; everything flows out from
me, just as the manifold variety of the dream world emanates
from the dreaming person.”
A successful 3ivayogin, realizing his real nature, feels all pheno­
mena as the wonderful reflections of his own divine powers. He
48 Paramdrthasfira o f Abhinavagupta

sees them as emanated from his own self just as dream world ema­
nates from a dreaming person.

ii ii
49. Ahameva visva-rupah kara-caranadi-
svabhava iva dehah
Sarvasminnahameva sphurami
bhavesu bhasvarupamiva.
Such a yogin feels further like this:
“Just as it is the very nature of a body to be its limbs like
hand, feet etc. so is the whole phenomenon my own form. Just
as it is light which shines in the form of all existent substances,
so do 1 myself glitter as all existence.”
A body is one though its limbs are many. So in one Atman
alone the whole existence of diverse character. To have limbs is
the very nature and character of a body; to appear as all pheno­
mena is the basic nature of the self. Just as every existent entity
shines within the light that illuminates it, so does everything shine
within the psychic light of the consciousness of the Atman. In
fact it is light that takes up the forms of all material substances
against which it is focussed and shines as such substances. In the
same way the Atman assumes the forms of all phenomena and
shines as everything phenomenal in character.
Such arguments are put up to prove the correctness of the
supreme monism or Paradvaita principle of Kashmir ¿aivism.
5 B 2 T «ftcTT a i m |

50. Dra§|a Srota ghrata dehendriya-

varjito’pyakartapi
Siddhantagama-tarkamicitran-
ahameva racayami.
He feels further like this:
“ Though in fact I do not have any body or senses or organs,
and do not commit any deeds, yet I see, hear, smell and I alone
compose wonderfully different Sostras like Siddltdntas, Agamas and
logical treatises.”
The Atman is pure consciousness that transcends all insentient
entities like bodies, senses, organs etc. and yet all such entities
Parainârthasâra o f Abhinavagupta 49

are driven into their respective functions by the Âtmart which alone
conducts thus such functions resulting in works like the com­
position of éâstras.

HfvRÎ ^ ^Ç îT T rf II II
51. Ittham dvaita-vikalpe galite
pravilanghya mohanlm mâyâm
Salile salilam kçîre ksïramiva
brahman i laylsyüt.
When all the dualistic conceptions are dissolved thus, a being
having crossed over the deluding Mâyâ, becomes one withÆrtfA-
man, just as water becomes one with water and milk with milk.

«F: V* ^ II Vi M
52. Ittham tattva-samOhe bhavanaya
§iva-mayatvamabhiyate
Kah Sokab ko mohah. sarvam
brahmavalokayatali.
The whole cluster of tattvas, having become thus one with Siva
by means of such contemplative practice in constant conceptions
of absolute unity, what can remain there as sorrow or delusion for
a yogin seeing everything as Brahmanl
The viewpoint of diversity is a prominent basic cause of all
delusions and sorrows. An aspirant, who sees Brahman alone, is
automatically freed from all such misery even while he is yet
living in a material form. Such viewpoint of absolute unity can be
easily developed by means of jnanayoga called Bh&xana, a practice
in constant contemplation of perfect unity of the divinely potent
self with the whole existence.

53. Karma-phalam Subhama§ubham

mithya-jnanena sahgamadeva
Vi§amo hi sahga-dosas-taskara-
yogo’pyataskarasyeva.
Good or bad fruits of one’s deeds are to be tasted by a person
only on account of his companionship with incorrect knowledge.
50 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

The evil of bad company is indeed very dangerous. It is like an

honest man’s company with a thief.
Deeds are actually conducted by bodies, senses and organs of
finite beings under invariable and invisible direction from God.
But, being under a deep effect of incorrect knowledge, v/c feel
that we are ourselves doing them. A deep impression of such feel­
ing makes us responsible for the results of such deeds; otherwise,
if we see things through the correct angle of vision, and feel con­
sequently that the divine powers of God are directing and driving
the senses and organs of all living beings, we will not develop
any impression of our responsibility for any deeds.

^ H SO ni
54. Loka-vyavahara-krtam ya ihavidyam-
upasate mudhah
Te yanti janma-mrtyu
dharmadharmargala-baddhah.
Deluded people, adhering to incorrect knowledge based on
mundane transactions, undergo births and deaths on account of
their being bound by the chains of piety and sin.
A yogin, having developed correct knowledge, and feeling con­
sequently that all deeds are being done by the divine powers of
God, is not at all involved in the chains of karman , because it is
the egoistic conception of one’s having done such and such deeds
that makes him responsible for their fruits. The impression of
such conceptions is known as karmasamskara. It gives rise to a
natural disposition towards rebirth to reap the fruits of such
deeds.

^ 'Ts^tTcTfrapretfcPRffii u stst u
55. Ajftana-kala-nicitam dharmadharma-
tmakam tu karmapi
Cira-sancitamiva tulam naiyati
vijhana-dipti-vasat.
Good and bad deeds, accumulated during the period of ignor­
ance, are destroyed like heaps of cotton collected since long, by
the power of the burning effulgence of actually correct knowledge.
Jilana is the knowledge of the Truth at the level of one’s under­
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagnpta 51

standing and vijHdna is its actual experience in practical life. A

person may be thoroughly convinced at the level of his intellect
about the correctness of the principle of theistic monism, but may
still feel himself to be a finite being different from God before he
experiences actually his divinity and absolute unity through the
vijhana of the truth. Such vijnana alone can annihilate all accumu­
lated deeds known as sancita-karman.

tTrfh TO vtiofaftn u 11
56. Jfiana-praptau krtamapi na phalaya
tato’sya janma katham
Gata-janma-bandha-yogo bhati
Sivarkah sva-dldhitibhih.
Deeds committed by a person after the development of correct
knowledge cannot in any way bear him any fruit. How can there
be any rebirth for him? Sun-like Siva, having annihilated the
very relation with the bondage of rebirth, shines eternally through
His divine rays.
The past actions of a Sivayogin become annihilated. His
present actions are reduced to ineffectiveness. No cause for any
more rebirth remains existent in his case. Shedding off his physi­
cal form at the end of his current life, he frees himself from the
finitude of individuality as well and, realizing himself as none
other than the absolute Siva, he starts to shine eternally through
the lays of his divine powers.

57. Tu$a-kambuka-kim$aruka-muktam
bljam yathankuram kurute
Naiva tathSqava-maya-karma-
vimukto bhavankuram hyatma.
Just as a paddy seed, shorn of the outer husk, the inner yellow­
ish covering and the germ of the plant, cannot sprout into a
seedling; so does not the Atman, freed from the impurities of
finitude, diversity and past deeds, undergo any rebirth.
The yellowish thin covering of rice, which is often rubbed off
with the help of polisher in a husking machine, is called kambuka.
A small round particle, stationed in one corner of the grain, and
52 Parantarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

falling off in the process of husking, is called kimiaruka, lsyur' in

Kashmiri. That syur is the germ of the seedling. Tufa is the name
o f the outer chaff of a rice grain. If these three elements are re­
moved from a paddy seed, it cannot sprout into a seedling. The
three impurities of a finite being have been compared here with
these three elements of a paddy-seed.
a rrcw t * $ tn x R ^ i
^ tTFTTcT T rfe r n *«; u
58. Atmajilo na kutaScana bibheti
sarvam hi tasya nija-rupam
Naiva ca ¿ocati yasmat
paramarthe nasita nasti.
A person who realizes his real nature does not feel any dread!
from any quarters because everything is his own self. He does n o t
experience any grief because, in reality, there is no death or
destruction.
A person can be afraid of some phenomenon other than his
own self. When everything is experienced as one’s own self, what
can become a cause of fear? A person is overwhelmed with grief
on account of either the death of some near or dear or the destruc­
tion of some property. How can there be any grief when there is
neither any death nor any destruction in the view of a Sivayogia
who has realized the real nature of his self?

frfa: qtFi u it
59. Ati-gudha-hrdaya-ganja-praru<Jha-
paramartha-ratna-sancayatati
Ahameveti mahe^vara-bhave
ka durgatih kasya.
W hat can be taken as a misery or misfortune and for whorrr
can it be taken like that when the heaps of the jewels of the^
Absolute Reality are fully accumulated inside the deeply hidden
treasury of one’s inner self and when the supreme and universal
Godhead is realized as one’s own nature?
Hrdaya is not the fleshy organ known as heart. It is the inner
self, the main centre of all the functions of animation. The boun­
ties of supreme Godhead are the jewels of paramartha.
Paramârthasâra o f Abhlnavagupta 53

ErmTfer * i
3T5TH*fa5rfa3T f^l^Pfl^qcTcTT Il II
60. Mok$asya naiva kincid dhâmâsti
na capi gamanamanyatra
Ajftâna-granthi-bhidâ sva-éaktya-
bhivyaktatâ mokçah.
The state of liberation is not confined to any special abode
(like Vaikun(ha), nor does it necessitate any ascension (towards
any celestial abode). Liberation is the illumining of one’s divine
potency attainable by means of resolving the knots of ignorance.
Fully liberated beings have not to ascend to any divine abode
like BraJimaloka or Vaikuntha. Ignorance regarding one’s real
nature, consisting of supreme and divine potency, is bondage and
as soon as such ignorance is annihilated, one’s really natural
purity and divinity shine through the spiritual lustre of his own
pure consciousness and that is liberation. Such a being is libera­
ted even while living in a physical form.
«TTTfiçnsnfàT: i
sref t orgmjqpft fin iç itâ s c iR ft n ^ n
61. Bhinnâjnâna-granthir gatasandehah
parakrta-bhrantib
Prakslna-punya-pâpo vigraha-
yoge’pyasau muktah
A person becomes liberated even while residing in a mortal
form when the knots of his ignorance are resolved, his doubts
are removed, his delusion is eradicated and his piety and sin are
perfectly consumed.
When the impressions of the correct knowledge of one’s real
nature become deeply impressed on his person, his ignorance, his
doubts, his delusion etc. become annihilated and his good and
bad deeds lose their power of fructification. Since it is ignorance
wi t h its results which is bondage, such a person attains liberation
even while living in the mortal world and is consequently known
as a jïvan-mukta.

62. Agnyabhidagdham bijam yathâ

prarohâsamarthatâmeti
54 Paramdrthasara o f Abhinavagupta

jnanagni-dagdhamevam
karma na janma-pradam bhavati.
Just as a seed, parched in fire, loses its power to grow, so do
deeds (of a person) lose their power to cause rebirth when these
are burnt (from within) by the fire of correct knowledge (of the
real nature of his self.)
VtffftRTVnM'rarCTraT I
HSffsRTt f a f t f t a f g a f o rf^TT II II
63. Parimita-buddhitvena hi karmocita-
bhavi-deha-bhavanaya
Sankucita citiietad-deha-dhvamse
tatha bhavati.
An individual finite I-consciousness, having a deep rooted con­
ception of finitude with regard to itself, is lead by the impression
of its future body, formed in accordance with its deeds, to the
consequent position after the end of its current form.
The impression of the deeds done by a person create in him a
consequent disposition that drives him, after the end of his current
life, to such a future life in which his deeds can bear fruits. It is
such disposition, working in each and every soul, that runs quite
automatically the whole system of transmigration of beings from
birth to rebirth in endless cycles.
irfsr after i
fkrTrm^rrftTrftfarT-mWtf II^H

G *s O on
facTcTFT fcT: II %.%.U
64. Yadi punaramalam bodham sarva-smuttlrna-
boddhr-kartr-mayam
Vitatamanastamitodita-bha-rupam
satya-sankalpam.
65. Dikkala-kalana-vikalam dhruvama-
vyayaml^varam suparipurnam
Bahutara-iakti-vrata-pralayodaya-
viracanai ka-kartaram.
Paramorthasara o f Abhinavagupta 55

66. Srstyadi-vidhi-suvcdhasamatmanam
Siva-mayam vibuddhveta
Kathamiva samsarl syad
vitatasya kutah kva va saranam.
But how can a person move about in transmigration when he
knows definitely and feels actually that he is that pure consciousness
which is the (absolute) ‘know-er’ and ‘do-er’ at the plane that
transcends all phenomena, is infinite, consists of the unsetting
and unrising light (of consciousness), the will of which is always
fruitful, which is free from the concepts of time and space, which
is eternal, changeless, all powerful and perfect in all respects, which
alone brings forth the rise and fall of so many multitudes of
divine powers and which is Siva, the perfect master of all divine
functions of creation etc.? From where and to which place can
an infinite entity move?
When an adept aspirant develops a thorough realization of the
real nature of his self, he feels that he is the absolute truth which
is free even from the conditions of time, space and causation, and
becomes sure about the fact that he is none other than the Al­
mighty God Himself, Who is the only absolute truth. He does not
only take such truth as a mere theory, but actually feels himself
to be God. A deep impression of such an experience liquidates
the effects of all the previous impressions of finitude, impurity,
involvement in deeds and so on. It annihilates thus the very mental
dispositions that drive finite beings towards rebirth. Such an
aspirant becomes liberated even while living in a mortal form.
>3 ScTN cTcT
N I

67. Iti yuktibhirapi siddham yat karma

jAanino na saphalam tat
N a mamedamapi tu tasyeti
darfhyato na hi phalani loke.
It can be proved through logical arguments as well that the
deeds committed by a jnaniu can not bear him any fruits. A reli­
gious rite, done in this world through a firm attitude of not being
one’s own, but belonging to some one else, does not bear any
result to itsdo-er.
It is a principle of dharmai'istra that a priest, performing a
religious rite for the sake of his yajamana, is not himself entitled
56 Paramdrthasdra o f Abhinavagupta

to get the result of such rite. It is the person for whom it is per­
formed who gets its fruit. Similarly a jiidnin, having a firm belief
in the fact that all deeds, being committed through his body,
senses, organs etc. are in fact being done by God Himself with
the help of His own divine powers, does not become involved in
the result of such deeds.

68. Ittham sakala-vikalpan pratibuddho

bhavana-samlranatab
Atma-jyotisi dlpte juhvaj-
jyotir-mayo bhavati.
An aspirant, enlightened by such realization, and offering all
his conceptual functions and ideas to the sacrificial fire of pure
consciousness of the self, kindled highly by the winds of the self-
contemplative yoga, becomes one with such fire.
Bltdvand is another name of the method of Saktopdya. It is a
practice in constant contemplation on the pure and divine nature
of the self. A practitioner of such yoga has to think constantly like
this, “ I am infinitely potent and absolutely pure consciousness. All
this is my own divine play. It is being manifested by me through
my divine powers. I am all this and so on.*’ Any of such conceptions
is to be repeated again and again under a regular time-table, till it
becomes so deeply impressed on one's person that he feels it to be
his essentially real nature. Regular practice in such yoga results in
the realization of the absolute unity between one’s pure 1-conscious­
ness and the whole phenomenon. Then the practitioner feals him­
self to be none other than the divinely potent, infinite, eternal,
perfect, independent, playful and pure consciousness aware of its
such nature.
«1ST ?T£T I

VJ CN
69. Ainan yadva tadva samvlto
yena-kenacicchantah
Yatra-kvacana nivasl
vimucyate sarvabhutatma.
Clad in what so ever clothing, eating what so ever eatables, and
residing at what so ever places, the tranquil jrldnin, feeling h im ­
Paramarthasdra o f Abhinavagupta 57

self to be the inner soul of each and every being and thing,
becomes automatically liberated.
The person, who realizes his real divine nature, does not after­
wards remain bound by any laws of religious discipline in food,
shelter, clothing etc. He sees his own self in every being and every­
thing and feels himself to be liberated from all bondages and
restrictions. He may, very often, still observe some previously
practised discipline either on account of his habit or for the sake
of setting an example for the common man, but he is not at all
bound to do so.
g w to ra 'ra g K iw ift i
* qiq: fiPT?r: IIV90 II
70. Haya-medha-iata-sahasranyapi
kurute brahma-ghata-laksani
Paramarthavinna punyairna ca
papaih spr^yate vimalab.
A vogin freed from all impurity and possessing the correct
^knowledge of the Truth can never be touched either by piety or
by sin, even if he performs hundred-thousands of horse-sacritices
or commits as many murders of brahmins.
Both piety and sin drive a being towards rebirth for the sake
of their fructification, but these become ineffective in the case of
a yogin who possesses the correct knowledge of the exact reality.
He becomes thus liberated from the results of all piety and sin
and consequently does not undergo any more rebirth.
f w a if i

71. Mada-harsa-kopa-manmatha-visada-
bhaya-lobha-moha-parivarjl
Nih-stotra-vasatkaro
jacja iva vicaredavada-matib.
Avoiding intoxication, joyfulncss, anger, sexual passion, grief,
dread, greed, delusion etc.; not performing any recitation of
hymns, not making any offerings to sacrificial fire, and not
having any interest in debates and discussions, he may move about
posing as an idiot.
A yogin attains freedom from the effects of all passions. Per­
formance of any religious activities is not compulsory for him.
58 Paramarthasaru o f Abhinavagupta

He may or may not perform them. It does not make any differ­
ence for him.

IIVS^U
72. Mada-har$a-prabhftirayam
vargah prabhavati vibheda-sammohat
Advaitatma-vibodhas
tena katham spfsyatam nama.
The group of emotions like intoxication, joy etc. rises out o f
delusion caused by the viewpoint of diversity. How can it touch a
person having the revelation of the monistic self?
A yogin, who sees only his self in each and every phenomenon,
does not come under the effects of emotions like pleasure, pain
etc. Even if such emotions appear in him, these can not touch his
inner self shining beyond all diverst;y of mental and physical
existence.

icftenfoTT X U \9^ II
73. Stutyam va hotavyam
nasti vyatiriktamasya kiftcana ca
Stotradina sa tu$yen-
muktas tannirnamaskrti-vasatkah.
Having none other prayable or worshipable besides him whom
he could please by praying etc., the liberated one has neither to
pay any salutation nor to offer any oblations to any one.
It is not obligatory for a liberated person to pray or to offer
oblations to any deity because he does not see anywhere any one
other than his own self. But such performances are not totally
prohibited for him. He is free to perform them as his spiritual
play. He may perform them just to establish an ideal for the
common man and very often a yogin does it to set a good example
for others.

II w II
74. Sattrimiat-tattva-bhrtam
vigraha-racana-gavaksa-paripurnam
Nijamanyadatha ¿ariram
ghaladi va tasya deva-grham.
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta 59

Either his own body or that of any one else, being consisted o f
thirty-six tattvas, and being fully equipped with organic outlets as
its windows, or even an object like a pitcher, is his temple where
to worship.
Such a yogin sees his infinite, all pervasive and pure 1-conscious­
ness as the only worshipable deity and finds it in all bodies and
all outward objects, all of which can serve him as the temples
where to worship such deity.

IIV3* II
75. Tatra ca paramatma-maha-
bhairava-siva-devatam sva-sakti-yutam
Atmamar&na-vimala-dravyaih
paripujayannaste.
There in he goes on worshipping whole heartedly the great God,.
Lord ¿iva, known as the supreme Bhairava, along with his divine
power Sakti with the pure offerings of self-contemplation.
The deity to be worshipped by an advanced Sivayogin in such
temples is his all pervading pure I-consciousness, seen as the
Absolute God, endowed with divine power called Sakti. The obla­
tions to be offered consist only of the contemplation of the unity
of the self with respect to all phenomena shining in its pure and
divine nature. That is the worship by means of jnanayoga known
in Saivism as Saktopaya. It is a symbolic worship in which the in­
dividuality is merged in the universal self and that is taken as the
offering of oblations. Several other methods of such worship that
will follow are also symbolic in character.

rrr^nfg’in n n
76. Bahirantara-parikalpana-
bheda-maha-bija-nicayamarpayatah
Tasyati-dlpta-samvijjvalane
yatnad vina bhavati homah.
His automatic lioma goes on by means of the offerings of the
huge grain heaps of diversity, appearing as the conceptions o f
interior and exterior objects, into the highly blazing fire of pure
consciousness.
The self luminous pure I-consciousness is the sacrificial fire for
60 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

a Sivayogin practising Saktopdya. All the mental conceptions of

diverse character arc the heaps of grain to be offered into it as
oblations. Such a homa of a Sivayogin proceeds on without any
effort on his part as all his objective ideas become dissolved auto­
matically into the monistic conception of the pure and infinite
I-consciousness, which alone shines afterwards through its own
psychic lustre.
f^f^ W T T far I
*J3Tf?T IIV3V3II
77. Dhyanamanastamitam punar-
e§a hi bhagavan vicitra-rupani
Sfjati tadeva dhyanam
sankalpalikhita-satya-rupatvam.
Such a master of divine authority goes on creating objects o f
multifarious character (inside his understanding sense) and that
becomes his constant meditation, forming conceptions of his (pure
and divine) real nature.
The word dhyana is meant here to denote a special type of self-
contemplative meditation called Saktopaya. Such a yogin does not
meditate upon anything like the form of a deity or some nerve
centre in the physical body, as do the dhyanayogins of the school
of Patanjali. Successive rise of a chain of objective ideas in
his mind is visualized by him as his own independent creation,
suggesting his divinely potent and pure nature of Godhead. The
flow of such conceptions, resulting in the realization of the divine
nature of the self, is the meditation practised by a Sivayogin in
the process of Saktopaya.
o s
3T?crafer q f ^ f a f c T a t s w w j s f e a : u v»« n
78. Bhuvanavallm samastam
tattva-krama-kalpanam-athak§a-ganam
Antar bodhe parivartayati
yat so’sya japa uditah.
He turns round, within the thread of his inner consciousness,
either the whole series of bhuvanas or the arrangement of the
order of tattvas or the group of the instrumental elements and
that is said to be his japa.
Japa is ordinarily a constant repetition of a religious formula
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

along with turning round of a series of beeds. A Sivayogin catches

hold of the series of one hundred and eighteen bhuvanas etc.
through his imagination and visualizes them, item by item, as
being contained inside his I-consciousness through a relation
o f unity or identity. Such repetiton of the conception of his unity
with certain regular series in the phenomenal existence serves him
as repetition of a Mantra.
> «
ii^ ii

T srafa ^ ^ g s m ^ u s o 11
79. Sarvam samaya dr§tya
yat pa.tyati yacca samvidam manute
Visva-sma^ana-niratam
vigraha-khatvafiga-kalpana- kalit^m.
80. Vi^va-rasasava-purnam
nija-karagam vedya-khancjaka-kapalam
Rasayati ca yattadetad
vratamasya sudurlabham ca sulabham ca.-
He sees everything through a viewpoint of equality and takes
his I-consciousness as residing in the whole universe as (the
necessary) cremation ground (to live in). Having his own physical
body as the necessary human skeleton, holding the broken jar of
objective existence filled with the wine of universal tastefulness in
his hand and tasting it, he observes his wonderful (Pdstipata)
vow which is very easy but, at the same time, very rare.
The vow of a Pdsupata monk involves elements like living in a
cremation ground, wearing of human bones as ornaments, using
the scullbone as a bowl to drink wine and so on. All such elements
of the vow of a Sivayogin are only symbolic in character as depic­
ted above. The firm viewpoint of equality is his vrata. The whole
objective existence, filled with everything mortal, is the cremation
ground for him. There he lives in the form of pure and universal
I-consciousness. Seeing everything as self, he drinks the wine of
self-bliss filled in the whole phenomenon. Such a vow is spon­
taneous but can be observed by very few. It is thus easy but rare.
62 ParamSrhasara o f Abhinavagupta

81. Iti janma-naia-hlnam paramartha-

mahc§varakhyamupalabhya
Upalabdhrta-prakaiat
krta-krtyas-ti§thati yathe§tam.
Having realized thus the beginninglcss and endless real Lord
of the whole existence, the yogin rests as he likes in perfect satis­
faction brought about by the awareness of his being such realizer.
Realization of the Truth is not itself as full of taste as the
awareness of one’s having attained such realization. No other aim
of life remains to be accomplished after the rise of satisfaction
attained through such awareness.

82. Vyapinamabhihitamitthrm
sarvatmanam vidhutananatvam
Nirupama-paramanandam
vo vetti sa tanmayo bhavati.
The all pervading truth, as depicted above, is the self of all,
has shed olT all diversity and is the uncomparable infinite bliss.
The person who realizes it like that becomes one with it.
rfc? r e q x m ! 3T qfrctrsH t f n r i
srrmHqnvTRqrT: m fa n ^ \\
83. Tlrthe svapaca-grhe va
na?la-smrtirapi parityajan deham
J nana-sama-kala-muktah
kaivalyam yati hata-Sokah.
The yogin, having become liberated at the very time of his
self-realization, may (afterwards) shed his body o(T at any sacred
place like a tirtha or at any dirty place like the house of a pariah.
In both the cases he is freed from all misery and attains perfect
liberation even if he loses his alertness at the time.
Being completely alert and conscious about the reality at the
time of death is not so essential for a person who has fully reali­
zed his real nature of absolute purity, unity, divinity etc. Shed­
ding off of his body at a sacred place like Ka£I or at a polluted
place like the house of a pariah does not mean any merit or de­
merit to him.
Paramarthasara o f Abliinavagupta 63

§ fa f a i u y i i
84. Punyaya tlrtha-seva-nirayaya
svapaca-sadana-nidhana-gatib
Punyapuoya-kalanka-
spariabhave lu kim tcna.
Homage to a sacred place results in piety and death in the
house of a pariah leads to hell. But of what avail shall these be
when the stains of both piety and sin do not touch a person?

85. Tu§a-kambuka-suprthak-krta-
tandula-kana-tu$a-dalantara-ksepah
Tandula-kanasya kurute
na punas tadrOpa-tadatmyam.
If a grain of rice, separated well from its inner covering and
outer husks, is covered again with some other pieces of chaff, it
does not again become the same thing.
That is to say that it does not become again a paddy seed cap­
able to sprout if sown well in soil.
cTgtT HS^TTTcT I
iJfcnfHT rTCTCqSTffafam lle^u
86. Tadvat kaficuka-patali-
Pfthak-kfta samvidatra samskarat
Tisthantyapi muktatma
tat-sparsa-vivarjita bhavati.
Similarly, an I-consciousness, separated from the coverings of
kailcukas, is liberated from bondage and is not affected (lit. touch­
ed) by them, even though it continues to stay in this world on
account of past momentum.
A jivanmukta continues to live in the world of mortals on
account of the momentum created by his past impressions; but he
is not at all involved in any limiting elements like kancukas. He
lives like that till the prarabdha karrnan becomes exhausted.

Mt;V9 II
64 Paramartliasára o f Abhinavagupía

87. Kuáalatama-áilpi-kalpita-
vimalí-bhávafi samudgakopádheh
Malino’pi manirupádher-
vicchede svaccha-paramárthah.
Though a jewel polished by the ablest artist, does not show out
its clean brilliance when put inside a casing, it does shine with
such brilliance on being freed from such covering.
* N« C\
iwiTd « .- ^ r f a c n w r f a fira w r usku
88. Evam sadguru-áásana-
vimalasthiti vedanam tanüpádheb
Muktamapyupádhyantara-
sünyamivábháti Siva-rüpam.
Similarly, an I-consciousness, having been purified (from with
in) by the precepts of a right preceptor, shines as Siva and does
not take up another body as an upádhi after it is freed from the
existing one.
A person who realizes thoroughly his pure and divine nature
through the precepts of a right perceptor, does not get involved
in any more rebirth and shines as infinitely potent, pure and
divine consciousness freed from all external attributes like physi­
cal form, mind, functions of animation and the void of dreamless
sleep. That is the state of his final and perfect liberation termed
as Videha-mukti.

snt*: S ^ ?SPT T V * II cfc II

89. Sástradi-prámányád
avical ita-áraddhayápi tanmayatám
Práptafi sa eva pürvam
svargam narakam manusyatvam.
It was in fact he who had previously taken lives in heaven, hell
or human world as a result of his such respective identification
built under the impressions of firm faith in scripture etc.
The impressions built by a person on the basis of his belief
identify his inner soul with the consequent forms of life and drive
him to different types of existence for the fulfilment of his flair
for the respective taste of objective experiences possible in parti­
cular abodes like heaven, hell or mortal world etc.
Paramfirthasara o f Abhinavagupta 65

a g a t f ' TT'tf * ? n gO Ff 1
»TOTri »I^ffT »left § ?TH!§: U€.0 U
90. Antyab k§anastu tasmin
punyam papam ca va sthitim pu§yan
Mticjhanam sahakarlbhavam
gacchati gatau tu na sa hetub.
The last moment in a life, giving rise either to a pietyful or
to a sinful situation, becomes the immediate cause of some
particular type of rebirth of deluded persons, but it can not cause
any transmigration of a jhanin.
A particular disposition of mind, created by the psychic situa­
tion of a person at the last moment of his life, carries him to
rebirth in some particular species where he can satisfy his parti­
cular flair for the taste of objective experiences. A person who
realizes his nature of purity, divinity, perfectness etc. docs not
become a victim to any such mental disposition. He is not there­
fore driven to rebirth in any abode or any species.

?*sf<T y iaw«fttw>{sdwdt u s.* u

91. Ye’pi tadatmatvena vidub
pa§u-paksi-sarlsrpadayab svagatim
Te’pi puratana-sambodha-samskrtas-
tarp gatim yanti.
Even such lower animals as beasts, birds, snakes etc. who, having
deep impression of their previous right knowledge, do visualize
their future spiritual evolution and go on moving towards that.
Some times even some spiritually elevated beings are bom as
lower animals on account of some curse etc. They do not often
forget their previous position and, visualizing it at the time of
ueath, they build a suitable career and do finally attain spiritual
evolution.
w w it 3^ : \
^ c rc o h m v ttfc T iurii
92. Svarga-mayo niraya-raayas-
tadayam dehantarala-gab puru?ab
Tad-bhange svaucityad
dehantara-yogamabhyeti.
66 Paranwrthasara o f Abhinavagupta

A soul residing in this mortal form may have affiliation either

with heaven or with hell. He takes up the next body accordingly
when the present one comes to an end.
Deep impressions of piety and sin, committed by a person, and
also his consequent mental dispositions, drive him after his death
to such an abode and to such species where he can get the results
of his deeds.
^ 5 T R T ^ *WTc*TT mCTWTcT: 1

93. Evam jfianavasare svatma

sakfd-asya yadfgavabhatah
Tadr^a eva tadasau
na dehapate’nyatha bhavati.
In the same way, the self as it shines, once for ever, at the,tipie
of actual self-realization, remains like that for ever and does not
become otherwise even at the time of the end of the mortal form.
The deep impression of the right self-realization carries a being
to the position of pure, potent, eternal, infinite, playful, perfect
and blissful I-consciousness and even the death of his mortal form
can not shake him from such position. Such is the effect of a deep
impression.
i^fcTCTCT: I
T O iftta i: w t o a 'w r c a f t *rt*r: n u
94. Kaiana-gana-sampramo§ab
smfti-naSab Svasa-kali latacchedah
Marmasu ruja-vi$esah
¿arlra-saipskarajo bhogah.
Incapacity of senses and organs, loss of memory, laboured
breathing, looseness in vital joints and particular types, of pain
there in, all these are bhoga, the fructification of one’s deeds, based
on his impressions of the physical form.
A person has an egoistic feeling of I-ness with regard to his
physical body. He takes all the troubles of his body as his own.
All such troubles are due to such egoistic feeling with regard to
one’s body. Even a jnanin cannot ordinarily escape them.
 paramarthas&ra o f Abhinavagupta 67

95. Sa kathaqi vigraha-yoge sati

na bhavet tena moha-yoge’pi
MaraOavasarc jnani
na cyavate svatma-paramSrthat.
How can such bhoga (fructification of deeds) be avoided by a
person having self-realization while he is yet living in a physical
form and is still, on such account, retaining the impression of his
previous delusion? But (even then) he does not swerve from the
real nature of the self at the time of death.
Even a jnanin has all the mundane experiences of pleasure, pain
etc. while he is yet living in a physical body. But that does not at
all mean his swerving from the reality. Such things deserve to be
taken as outward behaviour based on his life long egoistic feel­
ings of I-ness and my-ness with respect to his body, organs, senses
and mind. From within he is pure and has a firm belief in his
purity and divinity. Such belief is not at all slackened by such
mundane experiences or even by the experience of death. A
jilanin remains firm in his real nature at the time of death and
th a t results in his absolute and perfect liberation after death.
TOUiHHlM srfifcT W
"9TSTTcT
v) > I
3Tfacfan?rfacnTcTTcT ^ f?R : II II
96. Paramartka-margamcnain jhatiti
yada gurumukbat samabhyeti
Ati-tlvra-Sakti-patat
tadaiva nirvighnamcva Sivah.
When, as the result of a speedy and highly forceful (tivra) grace
o f the Lord, an aspirant gets quickly an initiation in such path
leading to the Absolute Reality, he becomes quickly one with
¿iva without any hindrance.
Liberation of a being is the final part of the divine play of God.
He bestows playfully His grace on us. Playfulness results in a
complex variety in the divine act of the bestowal of His grace.
The person, on whom He bestows tivra anugraha, a speedy and
highly forceful grace, gets quick initiation in Sambhava-yoga,
the direct and quick means of self-realization, from a right pre­
ceptor. Regular practice in such yoga yields a quick realization of
the real nature of the self. That results in liberation in this very
life and perfect unity with ¿iva after death. This is the depiction
o f the results of the highest means of liberation.
68 Pdramarthasnta o f Abhinavagupta

'T T cT T ^ferrir q iN t f t i w f h T R : i u o i i
97. Sarvottlrnam rupam
sop&na-pada-kramcna samSrayatah
Para-tattva-rQdhi-iabhe
paryante Siva-mayl-bh&vah.
An aspirant, heading towards the transcendental position
through the successive steps of a ladder, attains Unity with Siva
when Anally the impression of his being the transcendental Truth
becomes firmly deep.
The middle path of the Saivite sadhana leads to the transcen­
dental position by stages and steps. That is the case of a madhya
type of the grace of God. The aspirant goes on ascending from
step to step through the ladder of divine abodes of super-gods
and becomes finally one with the Absolute.
rTFT § M W I'tai! «U jftisnK t: I
VtnfarT FTlrT II €.«; II
98. Tasya tu paramartha-rrtayhn
dharam-agatasya-madliya-viirSnteh
Tat-pada-labhotsuka-cetaso’pi
maranarn kadacit syat.
Sometimes such a yogin, though desirous to attain the highest
position, may rest at some intermediary step and die before reach­
ing the highest one in the series.
This is the case of a person on whom Gdd bestows andther
type of madhya-taktipata, a middle type grace with mild force.
Such a yogin proceeds slowly and step by step and may die before
becoming certain to attain after death. Some such pure ahd higher
abode o f highly divine and pure beings that could serve him as-
a definite step towards the final step in still higher spiritual evo­
lution.

fonfcfW H W IIil II t i l l
99. Yoga-bhrastah ¿astrfe
kathito’sau citra-bhoga-bhuvana-patib
Vifrartti-sthana-vasad
bhfltva janrr.antarc SivT-bhavati.
Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta 69

Known in sastra as a yoga bhrasta, an aspirant fallen from the

path of yoga, he becomes the master of some (divine) abode
(bhuvana), rich in wonderful enjoyments. That becomes the place
o f relaxation for him. He attains Sivahood in the next life.
The next life of such a yogin takes place generally ip some
higher abode of superior gods. He enjoys for some time the plea­
sures available in such heavenly abode, proceeds thereafter, once
again, on the path of yoga and attains both jivan-mukti and videha-
•mukti, one after another. That is the case of an aspirant who has
still some longing for enjoyments known as bhoga-vasatia.

nfecirpTT g f e r * n ?oo n
100. Paramartha-margamenam
hyabhyasyaprapya yogamapi nama
Sura-loka-bhoga-bhagi
mudita-mana modate suciram.
The case of an aspirant whose longing for enjoyment is stron­
ger than his desire for liberation is depicted through this cpuplet.
A practitioner, not reaching the climax of yoga-practice, haying
even tread regularly the path of the eternal Truth, obtains superior
pleasures in some divine abode of gods and enjoys them with a
joyful mind for long long ages.
O ne year in this mortal world is equ^il to one day (24 hours)
in the heaven of gods. The days in still higher abodes of divine
beings are hundreds of times longer in duration than the years in
the heaven of Indra. A Sivayogin, desirous of enjoyments, tastes
them for aeons of our mortal world, but finally he takes up the
path of real and perfect liberation. Even bhoga attainable through
the path of Saivayoga, leads finally to mok$a. That is the great­
ness of the grace of Lord Siva.
HTsNfar: w$r t t s t t w

$53: Jl II
101. Vi§ayesu sarva-bhaumah
sarva-janaih pujyate yatha raja
Bhuvane§u sarva-devair-
yoga-bhrastas tatha pujyah
Ju st as a great monarch is respected by all people in the tcrri-
70 Paramarthasara o f Abhinavagupta

tories under him, so is the yogabhratfa worshipped by all divine

beings in the abodes of gods.
VTvTC gqqftjeq FTR tftWWIFT I
snwftfa nwwwiift f g*: n u
102. Mahata kalena punar raanutyatp
prapya yogamabhyasya
Prapnoti divyamamj-tam
yasmadavartate na punab.
After a long time he is born again as a human being, practises
yoga and attains such a divine immortality from which he never
returns to this mortal existence.
Such a position of non-return to the mortal world is either the
perfect unity with the Absolute God or such a divine position
wherefrom the aspirant goes on moving step by step towards
such absolute unity. Sometimes such yogins are selected to take
up certain authority in the hierarchy of the divine administration
and they enjoy divine administrative powers of very highstand­
ard for several aeons of our mortal world. Finally they shed off
their individuality and become one with the Absolute.
c F F T c T> H R R S f o R S O R r f t F : H f i t M P K Ix I I
f f a FRT R P FFT cRTfa SWtEiUm II II
103. Tasmat sanmarge’smin nirato
yah kaicideti sa Sivatvam
Iti matva paramarthe
yatha tathapi prayataniyam.
Therefore who so ever moves with interest on this right path
of the Truth, attains Sivahood. Keeping this thing in view, one
should, how so ever, try to take up such path of paramartha, the
real truth.
ETTTORT: * R S ig I
3ifw T T ^ t o H?oVU
104. Idamabhinavaguptodita-sanksepam
dhyayatah param brahma
Aciradeva Sivatvam
n ija-hfdayaveia m-abhyeti.
An aspirant who meditates on the great Brahman, as discussed
Paramârthasâra o f Abhinavagupta 71

above quite briefly by Abhinavagupta, attains quickly a samavefa

of Sivahood in his heart.
Samâvefa is a psychic situation in which the finitude of a prac­
titioner becomes merged in the infinité self and he feels himself
actually to be none other than Paramaüva> the Absolute God.

WT II Il
105. Âryâ-Satena tadidam sankçiptam
¿âstra-sâram-ati-gü(j[ ham
Abhinavaguptena maya
Siva-caraça-smarana-dîptena.
I, Abhinavagupta, having become illumined from within through
meditation on the feet of Lord Siva, drew this gist of the highly
mysterious essence of êàstra in about a hundred couplets in âryâ
metre.

«TTmW T: I
Iti-mahâ-mâheévarâcârya-Abhinavagupta-viracitalt
Pararnarthasarafo
Thus comes to conclusion the Paramârthasâra of the great
Mâheivara teacher Abhinavagupta.
 G LOSSARY OF SANSKRIT WORDS

Ahankara—'Ego. Conception and feeling of I-ness with respect to

insentient elements like physical body, understanding sense,
system of animation etc. False and fake I-ness.
Ajnana (general)—Ignorance. False knowledge. Incorrect know­
ledge. Imperfect knowledge.
Ajnana (i) (particular)—Notion of I-ness with respect to insen­
tient entities like body etc.
Ajnana (ii) (particular)—Taking every thing except body etc. as
non-self.
Akala (being)—A being who sees and feels only the monistic, pure,
limitless, perfect, independent, blissful and divinely potent
I-consciousness, containing all phenomena, as his self. A being
who dwells at the monistic plane of Siva-Sakti-tattvas.
Anantanatha—TSvara, the relative God, descended to the lower
plane of pure vidya (known as Maha-maya). He conducts the
activities of Godhead at the level of Maya and creates kahcuka
tattvas, puru§a and prakfti for the sake of bonded souls having
a flair for objective sensual enjoyments.
Anda—A sphere containing in it several phenomenal elements or
tattvas and serving as an exterior covering to hide the real
nature of the pure, infinite and divinely potent consciousness
known as Parama-Siva.
Anja-caitiff aya—Four exterior coverings of Parama-Siva, viz. (i)
earth or gross covering, (ii) Prakj-ti, the subtle covering, (iii)
Maya, the finer covering, and (iv) Sakti, the pure covering.
Anu—A finite being with limited capacities to know and to do.
A being reduced to finitude by Maya. A bonded soul residing
in the plane of Maya or Prakrti or PfthvI, the three impure
ancjas.
Anugraha (kftya) —'That gracious activity of God which drives
bonded souls towards the path of self-realization and conse­
quent liberation.
74 Glossary

ASuddha-vidya—The limited knowing capacity of a finite being.

One of the five limiting factors known as kaftcukas.
Ananda-fokti— One of the five primary powers of God. The bliss­
fulness of the infinite consciousness. That natural power of God
which makes Him playful towards His divine activities. It
shines predominantly in Siva-tattva, and Sakti-tattva is the result
of its outward manifestation.
Anava-mala (i)—That type of the impurity of finitude on account
of which a being takes insentient and finite entities, capable
to do just a little, as his self. It becomes manifest in Sakalas and
Pralayakalas.
Artava-mala (ii)—That type of the impurity of finitude on account
of which a being takes pure but inactive consciousness as his
self and forgets his divine potency.
Avarapa-traya—Three Coverings of the absolute and divine cons­
ciousness, (i) Anava-impurity, (ii) Maya and other kancukai
and(iii) physical form.

Bhairava—The absolute and pure consciousness that creates out

of itself, bears, sustains, rears, grasps and absorbs in it all
phenomena. Almighty God. Siva.
Bhavana—Contemplative meditation by means of constant repe­
tition of the correct conceptional knowledge of the truth.
Practice in correct and pure vikalpa knowledge. Jfianayoga-
Saktopaya. Bhavana is practised even in Anava upaya by means
of contemplation on the exact reality about an objective ele­
ment. Sambhavopaya alone is free from bhavana.
Bhuvana—An abode of beings. Kashmir Saivism maintains that
main bhuvanas are 118 in number.
Brahman—That infinite reality which evolves into all phenomena.

Cit-iakti—The power of consciousness. The first and the nearest

one among the five primary powers of Parama-§iva. It shines
predominantly in Parama-siva, the Absolute, and is the source
of the manifestation of Siva-tattva in which Ananda-Sakti be­
comes predominantly evident.

Jccha-iakti—The power of will. One of the primary powers of the

Almighty God. It is a sort of an urge that makes Him inclined
to conduct the five divine activities of Godhead. It shines
Glossary 75

predominantly in áaktí-tattvas and manifests itself in the

creation of Sadášiva-tattva.
livara-Bhatfdraka—Parama-šiva descended to Išvara-tatlva as an
avatára. He rules over that tattva and is worshipped there
by Mantrešvara beings. One of the five Kárapas or super-gods.
Ihara-tattva—That stage in the process of phenomenal evolution
at which the pure and divine consciousness bears a clear and
predominantly shining reflection of objectvity and appears as,
“ This is myself.”

Jůgraí-avasthd—The waking state.

JTva—A bonded being. Pašu. Anu. Puruja. Purusa-tattva.
JTvan-mukti—The state of liberation while one is yet living in a
mortal form. Such a liberated being conducts all necessary
transactions of this mortal life but is not lead away by them.
He sees the world and all the happenings around him as a
dramatic show.
Jňána—Perfect knowledge of the exact reality.
Jilčna-šakti—One of the primary powers of God. The power o f
knowing. That power of God through which He visualizes
in Him the phenomenon that He wills to manifest externally.
Such power shines predominantly in Sadášiva-tattva and be­
comes the source of the evoluion of Išvara-tattva.

Kald-tattva—The limited capacity of a finite being to do some­

thing.
Kala-tattva—The conception of successiveness of actions and events
and consequent imposition of past-ness, presentness and future­
ness by a finite being on himself, his activities and the objects
around him. Conception of time rooted deeply in a finite being.
One of the interior finitudes of a finite being. One of the tattvas
of limitation. A particular kaScuka-tattva.
Kancuka-tattvas—Five limiting tattvas of a finite being; viz., kalá,
impure-vidyá, rága, niyati and kála. All the five are extensions,
of M5yá which is the sixth kaňcuka.
Karma-mala—Impurity of actions (good and bad). Egoistic feeling
of a finite being that he is himself the subject of all actions
being done by his body, senses and organs in accordance with
the divine will of the Lord: and also such deep impression o f
such feeling which creates such a consequent disposition in him.
76 Glossary

that urges him to take birth after birth to reap the fruits of such
actions.
Kriya-takti—The active power of God. One of His primary divine
powers. That power of the Lord through which He manifests all
phenomena as different from Him even when everything is He
Himself. Kriya-£akti shines predominantly in Tivara-tattva and
its extroversion results in the creation of Vidya-tattva and the
tattvas that follow.

Maha-m&ya—The lowest step in Suddha-vidya. It is governed

by Anantanatha. Beings residing in it see themselves as pure,
infinite and divinely potent I-consciousness but even then take
every thing else as different from them. They are known as
Mantras or Vidyeivaras.
M ala—Impurity that hides the pure and divine nature of the self.
Mala-trayam—Three impurities named Aoava, Maylya and Karma
malas.
Mantra-beings—Beings residing in Maha-maya. Such pure and
divinely potent beings who have the only impurity of Maylya
mala, the viewpoint of diversity.
Mantra-mahefvaras—Beings residing in Sada£iva-tattva and
having an awareness as “ I am this’*.
Mantreivaras—Beings residing in T^vara-tattva and having an
awareness as “ This is my self” .
M aya-tattva—The first impure tattva created by Parama-iiya
Himself. The tattva that serves as the substance for the crea­
tion of next seven impure and insentient tattvas, viz., fiye
kancukas, purusa and prakfti.
Moya-Sakti—The divine power of the Lord through which He
makes a show of diversity while continuing to stay on eter­
nally as the only monistic reality. The power that makes the
impossible possible.
Mdyiya Anda—The sphere o f Maya containing in it the group o f
kancukas as well as prakrti and puru$a. A fine covering o f the
Atman.
M ula-prakfti—The root substance that serves as the material
cause of all instrumental and objective elements. An absolute
equilibrium of three guijas. The undiversified objective element
before purusa.
Glossary 77

N irvrtH akti—The same as Ananda-iakti

NiyatH attva—That law of nature on which stands the law of
causation in the whole phenomenal existence. That tattva of
limitation which binds a being by the law of causation in all
doing, knowing and feeling interested. One of the five kaficuka-
tattvas.

Paflca-krtya—Five divine activities of God viz., creation, preser­

vation, absorption, obscuration and revelation.
Panca-iakti—Five primary divine powers of God viz., cit, ananda,
iccha, jnana and kriya.
Para-brahmart—The absolute reality having complete Godhead
as its basic nature. That reality which is absolutely infinite,
consists of pure consciousness alone and becomes evolved
into all phenomena by virtue of its divine potency and natural
tendency towards five divine activities.
Paramaribo—The actual reality. The eternal truth. The Absolute
God.
Pdrafndrthd-mSrga—'The path that leads to the position of Abso­
lute Godhead.
Parama-iiva—That reality out of which thirty-six tattvas evolve
and into which all of them get absorbed. The infinite, eternal
perfect, all-COntainlrtg, independent, divinely potent, blissful,
playful and absolutely monistic pure consciousness aware of
itself and its basic nature.
Para-tattva—Parama-siva, the absolute reality.
Parthiva an4a—The sphere of solid and gross matter. The outer­
most covering of the pure and divinely potent consciousness
consisting of pfthivl-tattva. Nivrtti kala.
PaSu—A bonded being bound by the chains of (i) finitude, iii)
diversity and (iii) deeds (good and bad). A being entangled in
the courses of the cycles Of transmigration.
Piddhana-kftya—God’s activity of obscuration. A person under its
effect loses faith in ¿Sstra, guru, his teachings and sadhanS.
That activity of God which pushes down beings into deeper
and deeper regions of bondage.
Prajfia—A being in the state of dreamless sleep (Susupti).
PrakdSa—That psychic light of consciousness which makes it
evident to itself and which brings to light the objects coming
into its contact. The self evident consciousness.
78 Glossary

Prdkrta-Antfa—The sphere made of root-substance and its finer

(non-solid) evolutes. It consists of tattvas from mQla-prakrti to
water.
Pratibimba-nydya—The manner in which a reflection appears and
exists.
Pratibimba-vada—That philosophic theory which maintains that
the phenomenal universe is merely a reflectional manifestation
of the divine powers of God brought about by Him by virtue
of His playful nature.
Pratyabhijdd—Recognition. Recollection of one’s forgotten divine
nature of Absolute Godhead.

Raga-tattva—Limited interest of a being in some such particular

object of its knowing or doing for which he has a high estima­
tion. Attribution of high merit to something particular. It
limits the scope of knowing and doing of a finite being.

Sdkta-Anfa—The sphere of ¿akti containing the three tattvas

from Sadajftva to ¿uddha-vidya. The finer and pure-covering of
the infinite consciousness.
¿ a k ti—Power. The divine power of God; His Godhead.
¿akti-cakra—The wheel o f twelve divine powers o f the Atman.
Sakti-dasd—The state of absolute unity containing the two tattvas
named ¿iva and ¿akti.
¿akti-pancaka—Five primary divine powers of God, viz., cit,
ananda, iccha, jftana and kriya.
Sakti-pata—Bestowal of His grace by God.
Sakti-tattva—That stage of phenomenal evolution at which God
is as yet only charged with a strong will to manifest His God­
head externally. The second tattva in phenomenal evolution.
Sdktopdya—Constant practice in the contemplation on one’s own
pure, infinite and divine nature, Practice in the correct concep-
tional knowledge with an idea about the exact truth.
Suddhatattvas— Pure elements. The elements from ¿uddha-vidya
and Maha-maya to ¿Wa-tattva.
Suddlia-vidyu—The viewpoint of unity In diversity belonging to
beings residing in the plane of Vidya-da^a.
Saddttva-bhattciraka—'The super-god ruling over Sadaiiva-tattva.
Saddsiva-tattva—That stage in phenomenal evolution at which a
faint reflection of objectivity appears inside the infinite subject
 Glossary 79

who has a consequent awareness of it in the form of “ I am this.’’

Sakala-being —A bonded being infested with all the three types of
mala (impurity) and revolving in the cycles of births and deaths.
A bonded being, a pašu.
Samáveša—A sudden charge of Godhead. A psychic state in which
one’s individuality becomes one with the infinite universal self.
The state of the merger of one’s jivahood into ¿ivahood.
Samhara—Absorption. Dissolution. That divine activity of God
through which certain phenomena become absorbed into their
causal elements.
Spanda—The spiritual throbbing of consciousness. Such a vibra­
tory activity of consciousness which brings about the manifes­
tation of its extroversion and introversion. That divine active
nature of God which manifests externally His divine nature and
results in the show of His five divine activities.
Sf f f i —That divine activity of creation through which all pheno­
mena, contained in God in the form of pure consciousness, be­
come manifest in their phenomenal aspect.
Sthiti—That divine activity of preservation through which the
whole phenomenon is sustained for long aeons and is run as a
cosmos in acordance with niyati, the law of nature.
Sutupti—The state of deep sleep.
Svapna —The states of dreaming, deep thinking, meditating and
so on.
Svát ant rya—That perfect self dependence of God by virtue o f
which He manages the whole show of His five divine activities
without any external help of any element like the Maya of
Vedanta, Vásaná of Buddhism, Prakrti of Sámkhya and atoms
of Nyáya-Vaišesika.

Taijasa —A being in dreaming state.

Tanmátras—Five undifferentiated subtle objects of five senses,
viz., šabda, sparši, rflpa, rasa and gandha.
Tirod/tána -The divine activity of oblivion. The act of pidhána
or vilaya. Such divine activity of God through which He pushes
down beings into darker and darker species and also in stronger
chains of bondage.
Trifca—The best system of yoga patronized by the authors of the
PratyabhijSá šástra. The trinity of (i) áiva, (ii) Šakti and nara
(the bonded soul and his insentient phenomena).
80 Glossary

Trtfvla—The trident as the symbol of three divine powers of

knowing, doing and willing.
Turya—The fourth state of animation. The state of revelation o r
the self.
TuryatUo—The absolute transcendental state lying beyond Turya.

Umapatlnotha—Siva of the Epics and PurSnas. An active counter

part of Srlkan|hanatha.

ViSva—Beings in the waking state of animation.

Yoga—Union of a worshipper with the object of his worship.

Yoga-bhrafta—An aspirant who dies before completing the pro­
cess of yoga.
 Index

A bhinavagupta 1, 4, 7, 8,11» 13,14, blissfulness 28

16 Bodhapaiicadasikd 13
A bsolute 18, 22 Brahman 44, 49
Absolute will 25 Brahmagupta 5
absolutism 6, 18 buddhi 33
activity o f awareness 18 Buddhism 27
adhára 21 Buddhists 23
ÁdhárakárikŮ 21 Buddhist absolutism 17, 18
Adisc$a I, 2, 3
Advaita Vedanta 18,38 Cfinakya 5
aharikára 33 C araka 4
A m rtánanda 3, 14, 15 Caraka-sarphitd 4
A m rtavágbhava 4 Cidvitasa 15
A nan tan fu h a 30, 31, 33 a t 28
and a 21
anu 31 Devinumaxildsa 15
Apabhrarpša 14 divine activity 25
Ardha-tryam baka-m afhiků 8 divine grace 24
Atreya 4 divine play 17
A trigupta 4, 5 divine powers 24
Avantivarm an 9, 10 divine will 28
A vatar as 29 D hySnam 60
A vidyd 23, 26, 27, 30, 40 Durvasas 8
“ duti" 9
Barnett, L.D. 3 dynamic aspect 17
basic creation 23
Bhagavadgitů 11 ego 33
b h a kti 6 exterior limitations 32
B hairava 26, 59
Bhairavastotra 4, 13 five katicukas 32
Bhůnukácárya 14 forceful grace 67
B h a u a BhSskara 11, 13
Bha(fa Divúkara-vatsa 11 Gau(japada 25
B h atta Kallaja 8, 9, 11, 16 G od 19, 28
B h a u a NSrSyapa 11, 13 G odhead 16, 17, 18, 28
B h a |ta Pradyumna 10, 14, 16 Gonardtya 4
Bbávanú 49, 56 G orak?an§tha 14
bhoga 66, 67, 69 G ovindaraja 14
bhutas 33 grace 67
 82 Index

gunas 33 Kramakeli 12
Gurunčtha-parumarsa 5 Kramastotra 4, 12
Kriyá 18
highest means o f liberation 67 kriya-šakti 28
homa 59, 60 K$cmarúja 2, 3. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
H r dav a 52 13
hypothetical supposition 27 Kula syslem 9

impure Vidy ft 31 Lak$managupta 5

impu: ities 30 Lalitáditya 4
I-ncss 29 Lallešvarí 16
infinite blissfulness 25 liberation 5, 53
instrumental elements 33 Lord Išvara 29, 33
interior limitations 32 Lord Sadailva 29
intuitive revelation 23 Lord Se§a 21
intuitive self-experience 18 law of karman 18
intuitive self revelation 18 law o f nature 18
Iivara 33
Iš v a rap ratyabhijňá 2, 10, 28 M ad h u rája 5
Isvarapratyabhijna vimaršim 12 Madhttvahinl 9
lévarapratyabhijtld-vivpti• vímaršini 4, m adhya— grace 68
12 Maltárnu yd 29
Išvara-tattva 28, 29 Mahúnayaprakáša 15
Maluirtha-mafljarJ 3, 15
Jálondltara-piflia 8 Mahešvaránanda 3
Jay arath a 8, 13, 14 Maliní (tantra) 9
jiv a 3 1 Malinl-v¡jaya-vártika 7, 12
jiv a n m u k tď fá M antra repetition 61
jivanm ukti 63 manas 33
jňana 6 manifestation 17
jňána-šakti 28 manifestation of Godhead 22
jndnin 56, 65, 67 Mandra 5
Joo, Lak§marja 3 M antra beines 29
Mantra-maltešvara 29
ko la 30, 31,32 Afan tref vara 29
kála 30, 31 material transformation 18
kála tattva 32 M ává 17, 18, 23, 30
K alhana 9, 13 M áyá Šakti 30
K ali 14 M áyá tat tva 30, 31
Kalinaya 14 middle grace 68
K alyániká 14 middle pMh 68
Kama-kalá- vildsa 15 M uktákana II
kaňcukas 31, 32, 33
Karma»sarjtskclra 50 Námaka IT antra) 9
K arna 5 Netra Tan tra 13
Kaula 14 niya/i 30
Kaulism 15 niyati tat tva 32
Kramadaršana 14 Ny5ya-Vaise§ika 1&
Index 83

Objective element 33 Sakti 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 2 2 ,2 8 ,2 9

Suktic Saivism 15
Pdncardtra 11 Suktism 15, 16
pantheism 6 ¿ a ktip lta 24
pantheistic 6 Saktitattva 28
pantheists 18 SuktopAya 14, 59, 60
jjar a mar tita 2 1* 52 Sumbhava Yoga 4
Paranuirthasdra 7, 8, 13, 21 Sambhu 21
Paramasiva 28, 30 S3rtgamüditya 8
Pnrdprdvesikd 13 sahcita karm an 51
Pardtrimsakd 10 Sartkara 26
Pardtritpsakd-vivarana 12, 14 scttva 33
Parimala 15 self dependence 30
parlndma 23, 27 self realization 18
p a tu 23, 31 S idJhanätha 11, 12
Pdiupata vow 61 Siddhas 6
P aiupata vrato 61 Siddhä Tantra 9
Patanjali 1, 2, 3, 4 Siddhitrayl 12
phenomenal manifestation 23 Sitikanjha 15
PrabfidcvT 3 Siva 15. 17,29
Prakrti 33 Sivadftii 2. 1°, 12, 18
primary powers 27 St'vaji vadasakarn 15
Prthvi-rtr.i/tf 22 SivAnandanätha 14, 16
pratyabhijtld 6 , 1 5 Siva of the Epics and purdnas 33
pratyabhijnit- hrdaya 3, 8, 13 Sivaitotravali 11, 13
psvchic luminosity 25 Sivasittra 8. 9. 11
P unarvasu 4 ¿ivasu travdrfika 11, 13
PunyAnanda 14, 15 SivasOtravimariitiJ 13
pure tattvas 21, 22 ¿ivafattva 22, 28
Purn^a 30, 31, 32, 33 Sivopndhyüya 13
Sivayo?in 59, 60
Rojas 33 Smrtis 6
R om akaniha 10, 11 Som ananda 9, 10, U , 14, 16
recognition 6 Sonuhcsa 1 1
reflection 17, 26, 27 Spandakdrikd 9, 10, 11
reflection of d.vine powers 27 Spandanirnaya 13
relativities 31 Spandopradipikd 11
Rudraydmala 9 Spandasarvasva 9
Spandavivrti 11
Sadd.iivatattva 28, 29 Spandavrtti 9
S o d hand 6, 8, 12, 14, 15 Static aspect 17
Sad vid yd 29 Stava-cintdniani 13
Sahib K a u l a 15, 16 titiddhavidya 29
Saiva m o n ;sm 10, 11, 12, 13 sttfupti 6
Saiva sddhand 68 Svacchanda Tantra 9 ,1 3
Saiva yoga 12 Svasvab/tdva-sambodhana 9
Saivism 15, 16 Svdtantryadarpana 16
S a k ta view 14 system of transm igration 54
«4 Index
Tama s 33 Vaiçoava philosopher» 8
Tantrûloka 5, 8, 9, 12, 13 Valiabha 1
Tantrasâra 7, 12, 14, 28 Vâmakatantra 9
Tantric Yoga 6 Varadarâja 13
Tattvagarbha-stotra 10 Vâsanâ 17, 23, 26, 27
Tattvârthacintâmani 9 Vasugupta 9, 10, 11
Tattvaviccira 9 Vedânta 27
Theistic absolutism 6, 27 Vedântic absolutism 2
thisness 29 Vedântins 23, 26
Tim e 31 Videlta-mukti 64
tlvra anugraha 67 Vidyù 22, 32
transcendental reality 25 vijilâna 51
transformation 17, 19, 27, 33 Vijnâna - bftairava 13, 14
transm utation 18, 22, 27 Vimaréini 12
T/VAra scriptures 9 Vîraèaivas 6
7r/Â'rt system 8 ,1 1 , 12 Viçpugupta 5, 11
Tryam bakâditya 8 VHuddhâdvaita 2
Tryambaka m athikà 89 Viva ran a 14
Vivartavâda 2
U db hata 14
U jjata 14 Yoga 69
U m âpatinâth a 33 Yoga-bhra$(a 69, 70
Unity-cum-diversity 29 Yogaräja 1, 2, 3, 7 , 8
Utpaladeva 10, 11, 12, 13 Yogtnihrdaya 15
Utpala Vaiçnava 11 Yoginîhrdayadïpikâ 3
Yojanikâ 1
Vaiçnavism o f Patanjali 1
Paramarthasiira of Abhinavagupia (in Sanskrit couplets) is the foremost
work on Kashmir Saivism, meant for beginners. It throws clear light on the
most of the philosophical principles of the subject without involving in
logical discussion.
The work clarifies the significance of the principles of Kashmir Saivism
which are as follows: (1) cosmogony (1 -9); (2) metaphysics and ontology
(10-13); (3) process o f creation (14-22); (4) bondage and liberation (23-
33); (5) exact reality about phenomenon (34-38); (6) correct knowledge
(39-46); (7) self-realization (47-67); (8) A yogin after self-realization (68-
88); (9) process of transformation (89-93); (10) character of a liberated
yogin (94-96); and (11) liberation of steps (97-102). The last two concepts
conclude the work. The translation and notes furthcrclarify the principles
discussed in the couplets.
Dr. R.N. Pandit is an authority on Kashmir Saivism. He was Reader in
Sanskrit in Jammu University. He has published several works in English,
Sanskrit and Hindi. His Encyclopaedia o f Kashmir ¿aivism shall serve
scholars for several centuries.

ISBN 81-215-0523-0 Rs. 80

Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi