परमार्थसार (महामाहेश्वर अभिनवगुप्त - त्रिक-दर्शन, अद्वैत शैव साधना एवं सान्वय सटीक)

46 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta
within His own self known as Śiva. 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 kriyā-śakti.
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.
पुनरपि च पञ्चशक्तिप्रसरणक्रमेण बहिरपि तत् ।
अण्डत्रयं विचित्रं सृष्टं बहिरात्मलाभेन ॥ ४६ ॥
46. Punarapi ca pañca-śakti-prasaraṇa-
krameṇa bahirapi tat
Aṇḍa-trayaṁ vicitraṁ sṛṣṭaṁ
bahirātma-lābhena.
At the next step the Lord created outwardly the complexly
wonderful three spheres (of Māyā, Prakṛti and Pṛthvī) 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,
ānanda or blissfulness, icchā or conative power, jñāna or cognitive
power and kriyā 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
Māyā, the causal creation, Prakṛti, the subtle creation and Pṛthvī,
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 'bahirātma-lābha'.