तन्त्रसार (महामाहेश्वर अभिनवगुप्त - तन्त्रालोक का प्रामाणिक सार-संग्रह सटीक)

ix
His Tantrāloka is a dissertation on Tantra in which he
throws enough light not only on many unknown and little-
known matters based on the authority of Śaiva Āgamas., but
discusses the philosophy and practices of them and interprets
them traditionally on the basis of his experience. This monu-
mental work is mainly concerned with the teaching of Kula,
Tantra and Krama systems.
His Tantrāloka is not merely a philosophical treatise, but
a guide for seekers of Truth. He boldly states that the wise
person who studies continuously the entire work of Tantrāloka
consisting of thirty seven chapters becomes Bhairava himself¹.
This is not only true for Tantrāloka but it is equally
true for Tantrasāra also, for the subject-matters as contained
in the former are the same in the present text. The volume
of the present work is quite handy. But it does not mean
that the reader will be able to grasp the entire thought
contained herein without plenty of plodding. The succinct-
ness of language adopted by the author, has made the text a
hard nut to crack. The whole idea is expresssed in a few
words and a broad panorama has been left out of its scope,
with the result that the work is very difficult to understand.
It is more so because there is no commentary which can
throw light on less known thoughts. We have stated earlier
that it is a summerised version of Tantrāloka, hence for the
proper understanding of the text one is to depend on the
commentary of Jayaratha and the Tantrāloka proper.
Yet our learned author has assured his readers at the out-
१. इति सप्ताधिकामेनां त्रिंशतं यः सदा बुधः ।
आह्निकानां समभ्यस्येत्स साक्षाद्भैरवो भवेत् ॥
तंत्रालोक १ म आह्निक, २८८