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

34 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta
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 Śrīkaṇṭhanātha.
श्रोत्रं त्वगक्षिरसनाघ्राणं बुद्धीन्द्रियाणि शब्दादौ ।
वाक्पाणिपादपायूपस्थं कर्मेन्द्रियाणि पुनः ॥ २० ॥
20. Śrotraṁ tvagakṣi-rasanā-ghrāṇaṁ
buddhīndriyāṇi śabdādau
Vāk-pāṇi-pāda-payūpasthaṁ
karmendriyāṇi punaḥ.
The exterior senses, helpful in grasping objects like sound,
touch etc., are: srotra, the auditory sense, tvac, the sense to feel
some touch, akṣi, the sense to see, rasanā, the sense to taste and
ghrāṇa, the sense to smell. The exterior organs helpful in outward
actions are: vāc, the organ to speak, pāṇi, the organ to grasp,
pāda, the organ to move about, pāyu, the organ to discharge and
upastha, 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
and embraces as well. All these senses and organs are produced
through a process of the transformation of ego in its different
aspects.
एषां ग्राह्यो विषयः सूक्ष्मः प्रविभागवर्जितो यः स्यात् ।
तन्मात्रपञ्चकं तत् शब्दः स्पर्शो महो रसो गन्धः ॥ २१ ॥
21. Eṣāṁ grāhyo viṣayaḥ sūkṣmaḥ
pravibhāga-varjito yaḥ syāt
Tanmātra-pañcakaṁ tat
śabdaḥ sparśo maho raso gandhaḥ.
The finer undiversified objects to be caught by the five senses
are: sound, touch, light, taste and smell respectively. These are
known as five tanmātras.
Tanmātra means "that much". For instance, śabda tanmātra
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 feelings and ideas and not as any inde-

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 35
pendent entities. It is the ego which takes them up as its parti-
culars and shines itself in these five forms.
एतत्संसर्गवशात् स्थूलो विषयस्तु भूतपञ्चकताम् ।
अभ्येति नभः पवनस्तेजः सलिलं च पृथ्वी च ॥ २२ ॥
22. Etat-saṁsarga-vaśāt
sthūlo viṣayastu bhūta-pañcakatām
Abhyeti nabhaḥ pavanas-tejaḥ
salilaṁ ca pṛthvī ca.
The gross objective existence, evolved through the mixing up
of these five subtle objects, appears as the five gross physical ele-
ments called pañca-bhūtas 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 viśeṣa-
guṇas. The creation of gross objective elements is something like
the coagulation of the subtle ones.
तुष इव तण्डुलकणिकामावृणुते प्रकृतिपूर्वकः सर्गः ।
पृथ्वीपर्यन्तोऽयं चैतन्यं देहभावेन ॥ २३ ॥
23. Tuṣa iva taṇḍula-kaṇikāmāvṛṇute
prakṛti-pūrvakaḥ sargaḥ
Pṛthvī-paryanto'yaṁ
caitanyaṁ dehabhāvena.
Just as husk covers a grain of rice, so do all these created
elements, right from prakṛti to earth, become the subtle and gross
bodies of the finite I-consciousness and cover and conceal it
completely.
Both subtle and gross bodies of a being are evolved out of an
admixture of elements from prakṛti to earth. Such bodies form the
outer covering of I-consciousness, which takes them as its self.
But kañcukas, constituting the very finitude of the finite conscious-
ness, shine as its essential part and parcel and are therefore its
interior covering.
परमावरणं मल इह सूक्ष्मं मायादि कञ्चुकं स्थूलम् ।
बाह्यं विग्रहरूपं कोशत्रयवेष्टितो ह्यात्मा ॥ २४ ॥
24. Paramāvaraṇaṁ mala iha
sūkṣmaṁ māyādi-kañcukaṁ sthūlam

36 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta
Bāhyaṃ vigraha-rūpaṃ
kośa-traya-veṣṭito hyātmā.
Mala, the basic impurity, is the finer covering of pure conscious-
ness. Six cloaks from Māyā to Niyati are its subtle coverings and
the external physical body is its gross covering. The Ātman 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 the
very nature of his inner being and appears as his part and parcel.
It is termed in Śaivism as mala or impurity. Māyā, along with its
five evolutes called kañcukas, limiting the scope of the powers of
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 Ātman 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.
अज्ञानतिमिरयोगादेकमपि स्वं स्वभावमात्मानम् ।
ग्राह्यग्राहकनानावैचित्र्येणावबुद्ध्येत ॥ २५ ॥
25. Ajñāna-timira-yogād-ekamapi
svaṃ svabhāvamātmānam
Grāhya-grāhaka-nānā-
vaicitryeṇāvabuddhyeta.
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 suffering 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.
रसफाणितशर्करिकागुडखण्डाद्या यथेक्षुरस एव ।
तद्वदवस्थाभेदाः सर्वे परमात्मनः शम्भोः ॥ २६ ॥
26. Rasa-phāṇita-śarkarikā-
guḍa-khaṇḍādyā yathekṣu-rasa eva
Tad-vadavasthā-bhedāḥ sarve
paramātmanaḥ Śambhoḥ.

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 37
Just as thin juice, thick juice, still thicker molasses (राब), 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 Śiva 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.
विज्ञानान्तर्यामिप्राणविराड्देहजातिपिण्डान्ताः ।
व्यवहारमात्रमेतत् परमार्थेन तु न सन्त्येव ॥२७॥
27. Vijñānāntaryāmi-prāṇa-virāḍ-
deha-jāti-piṇḍāntāḥ
Vyavahāra-mātrametat
paramārthena 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-
ṣadic thinkers take the power of animation as the ultimate truth,
while other such thinkers say that one universal Ātman, 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.
रज्ज्वां नास्ति भुजङ्गस्त्रासं कुरुते च मृत्युपर्यन्तम् ।
भ्रान्तेर्महती शक्तिर्न विवेक्तुं शक्यते नाम ॥२८॥
28. Rajjvāṁ nāsti bhujaṅgas-trāsaṁ
kurute ca mṛtyu-paryantam

38 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta
Bhrānter mahatī śaktirna vivektuṁ
śakyate nāma.
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.
तद्वद् धर्माधर्म-स्वर्-निरयोत्पत्ति-मरण-सुख-दुःखम् ।
वर्णाश्रमादि चात्मन्यसदपि विभ्रमबलाद् भवति ॥ २९ ॥
29. Tadvad dharmādharma-svar-
nirayotpatti-maraṇa-sukha-duḥkham
Varṇāśramādi cātmanyasadapi
vibhrama-balād 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 Ātman as reflections shine in a mirror. All this
appears to a bonded being on account of the delusion caused by
Māyā. Śaivism, taking in this way the phenomenon as a mere
apparent entity, comes very close to the Advaita Vedānta. But Māyā
the basic cause of such reflectional appearance of the pheno-
menon, has been taken in Śaivism as the divine power of the
Ātman, while it is being accepted in the Advaita Vedānta as a
foreign entity coming into contract with the Ātman and manifes-
ting it falsely as God, soul and insentient substances. Śaivism
propounds thus a highly theistic absolutism, while the fundamen-
tal principle of the Advaita Vedānta is sufficiently nihilistic in
character.
एतत् तदन्धकारं यद् भावेषु प्रकाशमानतया ।
आत्मानतिरिक्तष्वपि भवत्यनात्माभिमानोऽयम् ॥ ३० ॥
30. Etat tadandhakāraṁ yad bhāveṣu
prakāśamānatayā
Ātmānatirikteṣvapi bhavatya-
nātmābhimāno'yam.
The darkness of delusion is this that all existent phenomena

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 39
are 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 prakāśa, the psychic luminosity of consciousness. In fact
it is such prakāśa itself which, taking up the forms of such entities,
shines like that. How can then any such entity be different from
prakāśa known as Ātman? But still all this is taken as non-self
and that is the darkness of ignorance.
तिमिरादपि तिमिरमिदं गण्डस्योपरि महानयं स्फोटः ।
यदनात्मन्यपि देहप्राणादावात्ममानित्वम् ॥ ३१ ॥
31. Timirādapi timiramidaṃ
gaṇḍasyopari mahānayaṃ sphoṭaḥ
yadanātmanyapi deha-prāṇādā-
vātma-mānitvam.
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.
देहप्राण-विमर्शन-धीज्ञान-नभःप्रपञ्च-योगेन ।
आत्मानं वेष्टयते चित्रं जालेन जालकर इव ॥ ३२ ॥
32. Deha-prāṇa-vimarśana-dhījñāna-
nabhaḥ-prapañca-yogena
Ātmānaṃ veṣṭayate citraṃ
jālena jāla-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 Paramārthasāra of 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.
स्व-ज्ञान-विभव-भासन-योगेनोद्वेष्टयेन्निजात्मानम् ।
इति बन्ध-मोक्ष-चित्रां क्रीडां प्रतनोति परमशिवः ॥ ३३॥
33. Sva-jñāna-vibhava-bhāsana-
yogenodveṣṭayennijātmānam,
Iti bandha-mokṣa-citrāṃ
krīḍāṃ pratanoti Paramaśivaḥ.
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. Paramaśiva, the Absolute God, plays thus His
wonderful game of bondage and liberation.
Bondage is not basically due to any foriegn element like Avidyā,
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.
सृष्टि-स्थिति-संहारा जाग्रत्स्वप्नौ सुषुप्तमिति तस्मिन् ।
भान्ति तुरीये धामनि तथापि तैर्नावृतं भाति ॥ ३४॥
34. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-saṃhārā
jāgrat-svapnau suṣuptamiti tasmin
Bhānti turīye dhāmani tathāpi
tair nāvṛtaṃ bhāti.
All creation, preservation and absorption, as well as the states
of 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.
Turyā, the fourth state of animation, is the state of such intui-

Paramārthasāra of 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.
जाग्रद्विश्वं भेदात् स्वप्नस्तेजः प्रकाशमाहात्म्यात् ।
प्राज्ञः सुप्तावस्था ज्ञानघनत्वात् ततः परं तुर्यम् ॥ ३५ ॥
35. Jāgrad viśvaṃ bhedāt
svapnas tejaḥ prakāśa-māhātmyāt
Prājñaḥ suptāvasthā jñāna-ghanatvāt
tataḥ paraṃ turyam.
The waking state, being full of diversity, is known as viśva, 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 prājña, the possessor of knowledge of the finite
self. The state of Turyā 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.
जलधर-धूम-रजोभिर्मलिनीक्रियते यथा न गगनतलम् ।
तद्वन्मायाविकृतिभिरपरामृष्टः परः पुरुषः ॥ ३६ ॥
36. Jaladhara-dhūma-rajobhir malinī-
kriyate yathā na gagana-talam
Tadvan-māyā-vikṛtibhiraparā-
mṛṣṭaḥ paraḥ puruṣaḥ.
Just as clouds, smoke and dust do not at all pollute the sky, so
remains the transcendental self unaffected by the evolutes of Māyā.
Five kañcukas are the direct evolutes of Māyā. They narrow
down to the utmost the scope of the powers of a finite being. But
since these five elements, along with Māyā 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 Paramarthasāra of Abhinavagupta
all phenomena. That is the strange pantheism of the Śaiva philo-
sophy of Kashmir. It is pantheism combined with absolutism.
एकस्मिन् घटगगने रजसा व्याप्ते भवन्ति नान्यानि ।
मलिनानि तद्वदेते जीवाः सुखदुःखभेदजुषः ॥ ३७ ॥
37. Ekasmin ghaṭa-gagane rajasā
vyāpte bhavanti nānyāni
Malināni tadvadete jīvāḥ
sukha-duḥkha-bheda-juṣaḥ.
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 are these finite beings mutually different
in the matters of pleasure, pain etc.
शान्ते शान्त इवायं हृष्टे हृष्टो विमोहवति मूढः ।
तत्त्वगणे सति भगवान् न पुनः परमार्थतः स तथा ॥ ३८ ॥
38. Śānte śānta ivāyam hṛṣṭe
hṛṣṭo vimoha-vati mūḍhaḥ
Tattva-gaṇe sati bhagavān na punaḥ
paramārthataḥ sa tathā.
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 guṇas. God, being the abso-
lute reality that transcends guṇas, 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.
यदनात्मन्यपि तद्रूपावभासनं तत् पुरा निराकृत्य ।
आत्मन्यनात्मरूपां भ्रान्तिं विदलयति परमात्मा ॥ ३६ ॥
39. Yadanātmanyapi tadrūpāvabhāsanaṃ
tat purā nirākṛtya
Ātmanyanātma-rūpāṃ bhrāntiṃ
vidalayati paramātmā.
The great God, having first eradicated the delusion of taking
the non-self and insentient substances as self, shatters afterwards

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 43
the other delusive conception of taking the (all inclusive) self as
non-self.
The self of a person 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.
इत्थं विभ्रमयुगलक-समूलविच्छेदने कृतार्थस्य ।
कर्तव्यान्तरकलना न जातु परयोगिनो भवति ॥ ४० ॥
40. Itthaṁ vibhrama-yugalaka-smūla-
vicchedane kṛtārthasya
Kartavyāntara-kalanā na jātu
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.
पृथ्वी प्रकृतिर्माया त्रितयमिदं वेद्यरूपतापतितम् ।
अद्वैतभावनवलाद् भवति हि सन्मात्रपरिशेषम् ॥ ४१ ॥
41. Pṛthvī prakṛtir māyā tritayamidaṁ
vedya-rūpatā-patitam
Advaita-bhāvana-balād bhavati hi
sanmātra-pariśeṣam.
The trinity of the objective existence, consisting of (the spheres
of) earth, cosmic substance, and Māyā, is reduced to the position
of the simple and pure basic existence by means of practice in the
contemplation of non-duality.
Bhāvanā is a contemplative practice in thinking constantly
about the exactly pure and real nature of an entity, self or non-

44 Paramārthasāra of 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.
रशनाकुण्डलकाटकं भेदत्यागेन दृश्यते यथा हेम ।
तद्वद् भेदत्यागे सन्मात्रं सर्वमाभाति ॥४२॥
42. Raśanā-kuṇḍala-kaṭakaṁ bheda-
tyāgena dṛśyate yathā hema
Tadvad bheda-tyāge sanmātraṁ
sarvamābhāti.
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.
तद् ब्रह्म परं शुद्धं शान्तमभेदात्मकं समं सकलम् ।
अमृतं सत्यं शक्तौ विश्राम्यति भास्वरूपायाम् ॥४३॥
43. Tad brahma paraṁ śuddhaṁ
śāntamabhedātmakaṁ samaṁ sakalam
Amṛtaṁ satyaṁ śaktau
viśrāmyati bhāsvarūpāyām.
That Brahman, the transcendental, pure and tranquil reality,
being of monistic nature, is evenly everything. Being immortal
and real, it relaxes on its (own) Śakti which has consciousness as
its form.
Brahman is never involved in the disturbance of anything like
Māyā, 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 Avidyā or
vāsanā in its universal play which is played by it through its own
divine power which is playful in its essential nature and that is
the absolute Godhead of Brahman as maintained in Kashmir
Śaivism.

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 45
इष्यत इति वेद्यत इति सम्पाद्यत इति च भास्वरूपेण ।
अपरामृष्टं यदपि तु नभःप्रसूनत्वमभ्येति ॥ ४४ ॥
44. Iṣyata iti vedyata iti sampādyata
iti ca bhāsvarūpeṇa
Aparāmṛṣṭaṁ yadapi tu
nabhaḥ-prasūnatvamabhyeti.
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 Paramārthasāra.
शक्तित्रिशूलपरिगमयोगेन समस्तमपि परमेशे ।
शिवनामनि परमार्थे विसृज्यते देवदेवेन ॥ ४५ ॥
45. Śakti-triśūla-parigama-yogena
samastamapi parameśe
Śivanāmani paramārthe
visṛjyate devadevena.
Initially the Lord of the lords creates the whole phenomenon
within His own divine, potent and eternally existent aspect named
Śiva, by handling the trident of His divine powers.
The conative, cognitive and creative powers of God are His
three primary powers known as icchā-śakti, jñāna-śakti and kriyā-
śakti. The symbolic trident of Śiva is suggestive of these three
divine powers which constitute His essential nature. Śiva, 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 icchā-śakti, which is depicted in Upaniṣadic passages
like “Tadaikṣata, bahu syām, prajāyeya iti”. (तदैक्षत, बहु स्याम्, प्रजायेयेति)
(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 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'.

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 47
इति शक्तिचक्रयन्त्रं क्रीडायोगेन वाहयन् देवः ।
अहमेव शुद्धरूपः शक्तिमहाचक्रनायकपदस्थः ॥ ४७ ॥
47. Iti śakti-cakra-yantraṁ krīḍā-
yogena vāhayan devaḥ
Ahameva śuddha-rūpaḥ śakti-mahā-
cakra-nāyaka-padasthaḥ.
Putting 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 Śaktis 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) cit, (2)
ānanda, (3) icchā, (4) jñāna, and (5) kriyā. Their amalgamated
unity appears in twelve forms in the process of all psychic
activities of all beings and are known as Śakti-cakra or the group
of twelve Kālīs. Such Kālīs 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 Śaivism realizes and visualizes such fact through
his personal experience.
मय्येव भाति विश्वं दर्पण इव निर्मले घटादीनि ।
मत्तः प्रसरति सर्वं स्वप्नविचित्रत्वमिव सुप्तात् ॥ ४८ ॥
48. Mayyeva bhāti viśvaṁ darpaṇa iva
nirmale ghaṭādīni
Mattaḥ prasarati sarvaṁ svapna-
vicitratvamiva suptāt.
Having a direct realization of his dynamic Godhead, an adept
practitioner of Kashmir Śaivism feels like this:
"The whole universe appears in me, just as objects like a
pitcher 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 Śivayogin, realizing his real nature, feels all pheno-
mena as the wonderful reflections of his own divine powers. He

48 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta
sees them as emanated from his own self just as dream world ema-
nates from a dreaming person.
अहमेव विश्वरूपः करचरणादिस्वभाव इव देहः ।
सर्वस्मिन्नहमेव स्फुरामि भावेषु भास्वरूपमिव ॥ ४९ ॥
49. Ahameva viśva-rūpaḥ kara-caraṇādi-
svabhāva iva dehaḥ
Sarvasminnahameva sphurāmi
bhāveṣu bhāsvarūpamiva.
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 I myself glitter as all existence."
A body is one though its limbs are many. So in one Ātman
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 Ātman. 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 Ātman 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 Parādvaita principle of Kashmir Śaivism.
द्रष्टा श्रोता घ्राता देहेन्द्रियवर्जितोऽप्यकर्तापि ।
सिद्धान्तागमतर्कांश्चित्रानहमेव रचयामि ॥ ५० ॥
50. Draṣṭā śrotā ghrātā dehendriya-
varjito'pyakartāpi
Siddhāntāgama-tarkāṁścitrān-
ahameva racayāmi.
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 śāstras like Siddhāntas, Āgamas and
logical treatises."
The Ātman is pure consciousness that transcends all insentient
entities like bodies, senses, organs etc. and yet all such entities

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 49
are driven into their respective functions by the Ātman which alone
conducts thus such functions resulting in works like the com-
position of śāstras.
इत्थं द्वैतविकल्पे गलिते प्रविलंघ्य मोहनीं मायाम् ।
सलिले सलिलं क्षीरे क्षीरमिव ब्रह्मणि लयीस्यात् ॥ ५१ ॥
51. Itthaṃ dvaita-vikalpe galite
pravilaṅghya mohanīṃ māyām
Salile salilaṃ kṣīre kṣīramiva
brahmaṇi layīsyāt.
When all the dualistic conceptions are dissolved thus, a being
having crossed over the deluding Māyā, becomes one with Brah-
man, just as water becomes one with water and milk with milk.
इत्थं तत्त्वसमूहे भावनया शिवमयत्वमभियाते ।
कः शोकः को मोहः सर्वं ब्रह्मावलोकयतः ॥ ५२ ॥
52. Itthaṃ tattva-samūhe bhāvanayā
Śiva-mayatvamabhiyāte
Kaḥ śokaḥ ko mohaḥ sarvaṃ
brahmāvalokayataḥ.
The whole cluster of tattvas, having become thus one with Śiva
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 Brahman?
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 jñānayoga called Bhāvanā, a practice
in constant contemplation of perfect unity of the divinely potent
self with the whole existence.
कर्मफलं शुभमशुभं मिथ्याज्ञानेन सङ्गमादेव ।
विषमो हि सङ्गदोषस्तस्करयोगोऽप्यतस्करस्येव ॥ ५३ ॥
53. Karma-phalaṃ śubhamaśubhaṃ
mithyā-jñānena saṅgamādeva
Viṣamo hi saṅga-doṣas-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 Paramārthasāra of 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, we 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.
लोकव्यवहारकृतां य इहाविद्यामुपासते मूढाः ।
ते यान्ति जन्ममृत्यु धर्माधर्मार्गलाबद्धाः ॥ ५४ ॥
54. Loka-vyavahāra-kṛtāṁ ya ihāvidyām-
upāsate mūḍhāḥ
Te yānti janma-mṛtyu
dharmādharmārgalā-baddhāḥ.
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 karmasaṁskāra. It gives rise to a
natural disposition towards rebirth to reap the fruits of such
deeds.
अज्ञानकालनिचितं धर्माधर्मात्मकं तु कर्मापि ।
चिरसञ्चितमिव तूलं नश्यति विज्ञानदीप्तिवशात् ॥ ५५ ॥
55. Ajñāna-kāla-nicitaṁ dharmādharmā-
tmakaṁ tu karmāpi
Cira-sañcitamiva tūlaṁ naśyati
vijñāna-dīpti-vaśāt.
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.
Jñāna is the knowledge of the Truth at the level of one's under-

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 51
standing and vijñāna 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
vijñāna of the truth. Such vijñāna alone can annihilate all accumu-
lated deeds known as sañcita-karman.
ज्ञानप्राप्तौ कृतमपि न फलाय ततोऽस्य जन्म कथम् ।
गतजन्मबन्धयोगो भाति शिवार्व, स्वदीधितिभिः ॥ ५६ ॥
56. Jñāna-prāptau kṛtamapi na phalāya
tato'sya janma katham
Gata-janma-bandha-yogo bhāti
Śivārkaḥ sva-dīdhitibhiḥ.
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 Śiva, having annihilated the
very relation with the bondage of rebirth, shines eternally through
His divine rays.
The past actions of a Śivayogin 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 Śiva, he starts to shine eternally through
the rays of his divine powers.
तुष-कम्बुक-किंशारुक-मुक्तं बीजं यथाङ्कुरं कुरुते ।
नैव तथाणवमाया-कर्म-विमुक्तो भवाङ्कुरं ह्यात्मा ॥ ५७ ॥
57. Tuṣa-kambuka-kiṁśāruka-muktaṁ
bījaṁ yathāṅkuraṁ kurute
Naiva tathāṇava-māyā-karma-
vimukto bhavāṅkuraṁ hyātmā.
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 Ātman, 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 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta
falling off in the process of husking, is called kimśāruka, 'syur' in
Kashmiri. That syur is the germ of the seedling. Tuṣa is the name
of 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.
आत्मज्ञो न कुतश्चन बिभेति सर्वं हि तस्य निजरूपम् ।
नैव च शोचति यस्मात् परमार्थे नाशिता नास्ति ॥ ५८ ॥
58. Ātmajño na kutaścana bibheti
sarvaṃ hi tasya nija-rūpam
Naiva ca śocati yasmāt
paramārthe nāśitā nāsti.
A person who realizes his real nature does not feel any dread
from any quarters because everything is his own self. He does not
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 Śivayogin
who has realized the real nature of his self?
अतिगूढ-हृदय-गञ्ज-प्ररूढ-परमार्थ-रत्न-सञ्चयतः ।
अहमेवेति महेश्वरभावे का दुर्गतिः कस्य ॥ ५६ ॥
59. Ati-gūḍha-hṛdaya-gañja-prarūḍha-
paramārtha-ratna-sañcayataḥ
Ahameveti maheśvara-bhāve
kā durgatiḥ kasya.
What can be taken as a misery or misfortune and for whom
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?
Hṛdaya 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 paramārtha.

Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta 53
मोक्षस्य नैव किञ्चिद् धामास्ति न चापि गमनमन्यत्र ।
अज्ञानग्रन्थिभिदा स्वशक्त्यभिव्यक्तता मोक्षः ॥ ६० ॥
60. Mokṣasya naiva kiñcid dhāmāsti
na cāpi gamanamanyatra
Ajñāna-granthi-bhidā sva-śaktya-
bhivyaktatā mokṣaḥ.
The state of liberation is not confined to any special abode
(like Vaikuṇṭha), 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 Brahmaloka or Vaikuṇṭha. 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.
भिन्नाज्ञानग्रन्थिर्गतसन्देहः पराकृतभ्रान्तिः ।
प्रक्षीणपुण्यपापो विग्रहयोगेऽप्यसौ मुक्त ॥ ६१ ॥
61. Bhinnājñāna-granthir gatasandehaḥ
parākṛta-bhrāntiḥ
Prakṣīṇa-puṇya-pāpo vigraha-
yoge'pyasau muktaḥ
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
with its results which is bondage, such a person attains liberation
even while living in the mortal world and is consequently known
as a jīvan-mukta.
अग्न्यभिदग्धं बीजं यथा प्ररोहासमर्थतामेति ।
ज्ञानाग्निदग्धमेवं कर्म न जन्मप्रदं भवति ॥ ६२ ॥
62. Agnyabhidagdhaṃ bījaṃ yathā
prarohāsamarthatāmeti