Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Indian Philosophy v2.c27.s3: IV The Pratyabhijñā System

Indian Philosophy v2.c27.s3

Language
English

IV The Pratyabhijñā System

v2.c27.s3.2

Though the Āgamas were also the basis of Kashmir Śaivism, the later works show a distinct leaning to Advaitism.

v2.c27.s3.3

Vasugupta (eighth century A.D.) is said to have found the Śiva Sūtra and taught it to Kallaṭa. Spanda Kārikā composed by Vasugupta or Kallaṭa, Somānanda's Śivadr̥ṣṭi (A.D. 900), Utpala's Pratyabhijñā Sūtra (A.D. 930), Abhinavagupta's Paramārthasāra and Pratyabhijñāvimarśinī, Tantrāloka, Kṣemarāja's Śivasūtravimarśinī and Spandasandoha, are some of the important works of this school. They accept the Śaiva Āgamas and the Siddhānta works as authoritative, and modify them in the direction of Śaṃkara's Advaita. These works, which show differences of opinion and are said to represent three distinct kinds of monistic idealism, are collectively called Trika.⁵ Śiva Sūtra with Bhāskara's Vārttika and Kṣemarāja's Vimarśinī represents one tendency; Vasugupta's Spanda Kārikā, with Kallaṭa's Vr̥tti, expound an idealism which is not much different from the first. Somānanda's Śivadr̥ṣṭi and Utpala's Pratyabhijñā Sūtra and Abhinava-

v2.c27.s3.4

⁵ They are so called since they treat of the ultimates, God, soul and matter.

v2.c27.s3.5

Of my whole being that cry out—all are Thyself!
Thou art my way of strength! The trembling thrill that runs
Through me is Thee! Myself the whole of ill and weal!
None other here . . ."
(Pope's trans. of Tiruvāśagam, xxxiii. 5.)

v2.c27.s3.6

gupta’s works support non-dualism.¹ Of these the last seemed to Mādhava the most important, for he brings the other two under it,² and the supporters of the doctrine also held that all other systems were preparatory stages for it.³

v2.c27.s3.7

¹ See Paramārthasāra, pp. 34 and 36, 48–50, 54.

v2.c27.s3.8

² S.D.S., viii.

v2.c27.s3.9

³ Tad bhūmikāḥ sarvadarśanasthitayaḥ (Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya Sūtra, p. 8).

v2.c27.s3.10

The only reality of the universe is Śiva, who is infinite consciousness and unrestricted independence. He has many other features like omnipresence, eternality, formlessness, though independence (svacchanda) is peculiar to him. Śiva is the subject as well as the object, the experiencer as well as the experienced.⁴ “As the consciousness on which all this resultant world is established, whence it issues, is free in its nature, it cannot be restricted anywhere. As it moves in the differentiated states of waking, sleeping, etc., identifying itself with them, it never falls from its true nature as the knower.”⁵ In the strain of Advaita Vedānta, it is said, “That in which there is no pleasure, no pain, no known or knower, nor again unconsciousness, alone really exists.”⁶ The reality of the subject does not require proof, since all proof assumes it.⁷ A second to Śiva there is none. The world exists within consciousness, though it seems to be outside. “The Lord, of the form of cit (intelligence), being under the influence of desire, causes the totality of objects to shine, as if existing outside, though without a substratum, like a Yogi.”⁸ The existence of a prompting cause, like karma, or a material cause, like prakṛti, for the creation of the world is not admitted. Nor is māyā the principle which creates illusory forms. God is absolutely independent, and creates all that exists by the mere force of his will. He makes the world appear in himself as if it were distinct from himself, though not so really; even as objects appear in a mirror. God is as unaffected by the objects of his creation as the mirror is by the images reflected in it. By his own wonderful power (śakti) inherent in him, God appears in the form of souls and constitutes objects for their experiences.¹ The only reality is the unlimited pure self, the one and only substratum of the universe, whose activity (spanda, vibration) is the cause of all distinctions.

v2.c27.s3.11

⁴ Spandakārikā, p. 29.

v2.c27.s3.12

⁵ Ibid., pp. 2–4.

v2.c27.s3.13

⁶ Ibid., p. 5.

v2.c27.s3.14

⁷ Śivasūtravimarśini, p. 5.

v2.c27.s3.15

⁸ Īśvarapratyabhijñā Sūtra, v. 6. Paramārthasāra says that the Lord, compact of thought and bliss, brings into being Śakti, māyā, prakṛti and the earth (see 4). The Lord assumes the semblance of gods, men, etc. (6).

v2.c27.s3.16

¹ Paramārthasāra, pp. 48-50.

v2.c27.s3.17

While Śiva is the changeless reality underlying the entire universe, his energy or śakti has an infinity of aspects, of which the chief are cit (intelligence), ānanda (bliss), icchā (will), jñāna (knowledge), and, kriyā (creative power). Thirty-six tattvas or principles, are recognised. When Śakti functions as cit, the Absolute becomes the pure experience called Śivatattva. So soon as life is introduced by the operation of the ānanda of Śakti, we get the second stage of Śaktitattva. The will to self-expression brings about the third stage of being. There is next the conscious experience (jñāna) of being, the Īśvaratattva with its power and will to create the universe. In the next stage there is the knower, as well as the object of knowledge, when action (kriyā) commences. It is the stage of Śuddhavidyā. Thus the five transcendental tattvas are the expression of the Śakti of Śiva with its five powers.

v2.c27.s3.18

The phenomenal world arises through the force of māyā, from which the limitations of space (niyati), time (kāla), interest (rāga), knowledge (vidyā) and power (kala) arise. Through the force of māyā, the infinite experience manifests itself in a number of limited experiences or puruṣas. But all limitation implies a somewhat which limits. The distinction between puruṣa and prakṛti arises. Further evolution is on the lines of the Sāṃkhya scheme. All the stages of evolution are traced back to the one absolute Śiva. The cyclical appearance and disappearance of the world are admitted. The process of the manifestation (ābhāsa) of the universe does not stain the purity of the absolute Śiva, who transcends his own manifestations.

v2.c27.s3.19

As the soul is of the nature of consciousness, and the individual soul is the same as the universal soul, the doctrine of an ultimate plurality of souls is denied. The pure consciousness dwells in each of us, though it is obscured by unreal upādhis. Our bondage is due to ignorance (ajñāna).² Kṣemarāja observes: “Being infinite consciousness, the soul thinks ‘I am finite’; being independent, he thinks ‘I am the body.’³ It forgets that the world is wholly unreal apart from Śiva and that the soul is identical with Śiva.”

v2.c27.s3.20

² Śiva Sūtra, 2.

v2.c27.s3.21

³ Commenting on Śiva Sūtra, i. 2.

v2.c27.s3.22

Recognition (pratyabhijñā) of the reality is all that is needed for release. If the individual soul is one with the universal soul, it may be asked, why is the recognition of the fact necessary? Mādhava answers the question by an analogy. A love-sick woman is not consoled by the mere presence of the lover, she must recognise him to be so. The bondage of ignorance is overcome only by this recognition. When the soul recognises itself as God, it rests in the mystic bliss of oneness with God. According to the Spanda school, the soul gains knowledge through intense yogic contemplation, realises the supremacy of Śiva in the universe and becomes absorbed in the mystic trance of peace and quietness. The three methods of gaining release mentioned in the Śiva Sūtra belong to the Śaiva, the Tantra and the Yoga.

v2.c27.s3.23

According to Abhinavagupta, there are three classes of liberated souls: those assimilated to the Supreme (paramukta), those united to him in his manifested phase (aparamukta), and those still in the body (jivanmukta). The delivered soul becomes one with the Supreme, since it is admitted that " there is nothing distinct from the redeemed to which he should offer praise or oblation."¹ " When thus the imagining of duality has vanished, the individual has surmounted the illusive māyā, he is merged in Brahman as water in water or milk in milk."²

v2.c27.s3.24

¹ J.R.A.S., 1910.

v2.c27.s3.25

² Paramārthasāra, p. 51.

Cites (9)