#abhinavagupta

[33-108]

The swollen sakti pours forth. Bhairava, for his

part, is overjoyed. By reposing in the bliss of

their union the practitioner fully worships such

a couple. A stream of rays flows like sparks of

fire from consciousness which has the form of a

great splendour. He should worship that same

stream within consciousness...

When he is brought to perfection by means of

bliss alone, the state of brahman arises spontaneously.

-Tantraloka

[formlessing]

[aidharma]

i can summarize many western authors but how would you summarize many sanskrit authors█

screenshot text answer reads:

Here’s a direct approach — without drowning it in exposition:

Western authors often get summarized by their ideology, style, or psychological lens. But Sanskrit authors — the great ones — are best summarized by the darśana (vision), sādhana (practice), and rasa (flavor/essence) they embody and transmit.

Examples:

Vyāsa — compiler of vastness into intelligible cycles (darśana: cyclical time, dharma as unfolding duty).

Vālmīki — seer of human pathos inside cosmic play (darśana: dharma and agony intertwined).

Patañjali — doctor of the mind’s miseries (darśana: yoga as purification, sādhana: disciplined detachment).

Nāgārjuna — breaker of all graspings (darśana: śūnyatā, the emptiness of all positions).

Śaṅkara — relentless dissolver into one light (darśana: advaita, rasa: serene clarity, sādhana: vidyā and viveka).

Abhinavagupta — orchestrator of all rasa back into divine consciousness (darśana: Trika, rasa: fullness and thrill of spanda, sādhana: recognition).

Bhartṛhari — singer of the infinite word as world (darśana: śabda-tattva, the reality of vibration).

Bhavabhūti — poet of aching transcendence (darśana: love and time as mirrors of eternity).

Kalhaṇa — historian as myth-weaver (darśana: time as fractal repetition, history as karma-play).

[cyprianscafe]

Abhinavagupta

Abhinavagupta foi um filósofo, místico, poeta, crítico, e um dos acharyas mais destacados da filosofia shivaísta. Sua data exata de nascimento é desconhecida, mas aprendemos, a partir de referências sobre ele no Tantraloka e no Paratrishika Vivarana, que viveu na Caxemira por volta do final do século X e início do século XI d.C.

Biografia

Em seus escritos, ciente de sua importância intelectual, Abhinavagupta não hesitava em fornecer detalhes sobre sua própria vida. Nos colofões de suas diversas obras, ele forneceu sua genealogia e algumas datas. Em seu Paratrishika Vivarna, ele explicitamente registra o nome de seu ancestral mais antigo, o famoso brâmane Attrigupta, um grande mestre shivaísta que nasceu em Antarvedi e se estabeleceu permanentemente na Caxemira a convite do Rei Lalitaditya. De acordo com a tradição histórica caxemira, registrada por Kalhana, ele derrotou o rei Kanauj Yasosvarman e, junto com o saque, trouxe Attrigupta também. Abhinavagupta registra: "Naquela bela cidade [Srinagar], semelhante à de Kubera [Alka], em frente ao templo de Sheetanshumauli no Vitasta, o rei mandou construir para ele uma casa espaçosa e também lhe concedeu um jagir de terra." Attrigupta viveu cerca de 150 anos antes de Varahagupta, avô de Abhinavagupta, que também se destacou como estudioso da filosofia shivaísta. O autor não detalha a genealogia entre esses dois. O filho de Varahagupta, Narasimhagupta (também chamado Chukhala), pai de Abhinavagupta, foi outro importante mestre shivaísta. Abhinavagupta perdeu sua mãe, Vimalaka, uma espiritualista notável, ainda criança. Pouco tempo depois, seu pai renunciou ao mundo, e o jovem Abhinav deu continuidade aos seus estudos com diversos mestres. Na Caxemira, acredita-se tradicionalmente que Abhinava era um yoginibhu (nascido de uma yogini).

A família de Abhinavagupta era notável por sua forte tradição literária. Seu tio Vamana Gupta, especialista em poética, foi quem o introduziu a esse campo, sendo inclusive citado e listado como um de seus mestres no Abhinava Bharati. Seu irmão mais novo, Manoratha, tornou-se seu discípulo, possivelmente o primeiro. Seus cinco primos – Kshema, Utpala, Abhinava, Chakraka e Padamgupta – também eram indivíduos de grande cultura. Caso Kshema seja o mesmo que Kshema Raja, autor de importantes obras sobre o Shivaísmo como Spanda-Nirnaya, a erudição de seu primo é ainda mais evidente. Além disso, seu pai, Narasimhagupta, possuía um intelecto de alto nível, domínio de todas as shastras e grande devoção a Shiva.

Abhinavagupta: a Historical and Philosophical Study - K C Pandey (1935)

A data da morte de Abhinavagupta é estimada em cerca de 1025 d.C. De acordo com a tradição oral da Caxemira, registrada em 1935, Abhinavagupta teria desaparecido na Caverna Bairam, localizada perto de Birwah. A lenda conta que ele marchou até a caverna acompanhado por 1.200 discípulos, recitando seu poema devocional Bhairavastava, e nunca mais foram vistos, acreditando-se que ascenderam juntos ao mundo espiritual.

Anteriormente, em Tarikh-i-Hasan, de Moulvi Ghulam Hasan Shah, lemos novamente sobre a Caverna Birwah: Hasan diz que, adjacente a Qasbah Birwah, há uma caverna extremamente longa, cujo fim ninguém viu. Dizem que havia um asceta chamado Anbud que entrou nesta caverna com doze de seus alunos, todos recitadores dos Vedas, mas nunca mais saiu. Dentro da caverna há um poço muito profundo.

Até 1947, os pânditas da Caxemira mantinham a tradição de visitar a entrada desta caverna anualmente, no décimo dia da lua cheia de junho, para realizar seus rituais religiosos.

Estudos de Abhinavagupta

Diz-se que, em sua juventude, Abhinavagupta aprendeu com facilidade e compreendeu prontamente até mesmo conceitos filosóficos difíceis, e sua fala era comedida e elegante.

Laksmanagupta foi definitivamente um dos preceptores de Abhinavagupta que o iniciou no Pratyabhijna Shastra, conforme reconhecido por ele em sua introdução ao Ishvara Pratybhijna Vivriti Vimarshini nas palavras: Sri Laksmana Gupta me mostrou o caminho para a teoria Pratyabhijna (reconhecimento).

Abhinavagupta relata ter buscado conhecimento com diversos gurus em várias áreas, inclusive viajando para fora da Caxemira, provavelmente para Jalandhar. Lá, ele encontrou Shambu Natha, de quem recebeu as práticas da tradição Kaula, que o levaram à iluminação e à verdadeira paz. De acordo com sua própria declaração, ele leu aos pés de:

Narasimhagupta l Gramática Vainanatha l Tantras Dvaitadvaita Bhuti Rajatanaya l Shivaísmo Dualista Bhuti Raja l Brahma-Vidya Laksmanagupta l Pratyabhijna Indu Raja l Dhvani Bhatta Tota l Dramaturgia

Embora não se saiba os temas ensinados por outros gurus de Abhinavagupta, é possível identificar pelo menos 19 desses preceptores em suas diversas obras.

Em seu Tantraloka, ele afirma que, embora alguém possa ter a sorte de encontrar um professor que tenha alcançado a perfeição e possa facilmente conduzir seu aluno a ela, isso não significa que não se deva recorrer a outros professores para obter conhecimento de outros ensinamentos e outros caminhos. Ele praticou e contribuiu sucessivamente para o desenvolvimento de cada uma das três grandes escolas do Shivaísmo da Caxemira: Krama, Trika e Kaula.

Período literário de Abhinavagupta

No último verso de Brhati Vimarsini, Abhinavagupta informa ter finalizado a obra no 90º ano, quando 4 a 15 anos de Kaliyuga haviam se passado. A expressão "navatitame" utilizada por ele nesse verso indica o 90º ano a partir do marco de 4000 da era Kaliyuga. Em outro de seus stotras, o Bhairavastava, Abhinavagupta informa no último verso a data e seu nome: "Abhinavagupta compôs este Stava (elogio) no dia 10 da quinzena escura do mês de Pausha, no ano de Vasu (8) Rasa (6)." Considerando a leitura dos algarismos em sânscrito da direita para a esquerda, o ano indicado é o 68º do Saptarsi Samvat 4000. Similarmente, em seu Kramastotra, ele registra a data como: "No 66º ano, no nono dia da meia-noite escura, eu, Abhinavagugta, no mês de Maghar, louvei o Senhor Shiva."

Com base nas informações disponíveis, é razoável situar o período literário de Abhinavagupta entre os anos 4066 e 4090 da era Saptarsi (990-1015 d.C.). No entanto, embora tenhamos buscado definir esse período, não podemos afirmar com certeza que o Kramastotra seja sua obra inicial. Considerando a ordem cronológica estabelecida por. K. C. Pandey, que posiciona este stotra em 13º lugar, sua data de criação poderia ser posterior em pelo menos duas décadas.

Obras

Embora alguns argumentem que Abhinavagupta apenas comentou obras preexistentes, sua abordagem vai além da simples exegese. Seus comentários são fruto de profunda experiência espiritual, vivenciando os princípios que explora. Em sua análise, ele se guia pela experiência pessoal, pela razão e pela autoridade ancestral. Sua contribuição ao sistema filosófico não é apenas acadêmica, mas revela dimensões de pensamento que escaparam até mesmo a seus idealizadores. Diferentemente de comentadores anteriores que se limitavam a declarações dogmáticas, e mesmo de Utpalacharya, cujo foco argumentativo era restrito, Abhinavagupta, embora discípulo, expandiu e aprofundou o sistema Trika, oferecendo uma base racional e explorando seus aspectos ritualísticos, incluindo os rituais monísticos Shivaístas. Ao integrar filosofia e psicologia, e citando extensivamente os Agamas, sua obra revela uma compreensão profunda, justificando sua afirmação de desvendar o "invisível" sob a orientação de seu guru. Sua vida literária, portanto, foi marcada por uma interpretação enriquecedora e expansiva da tradição.

A ele é atribuída a autoria de cerca de cinquenta obras, das quais apenas algumas sobreviveram até os dias atuais. Os dois escritos filosóficos mais importantes foram o Paratrishika Vivarna e o Tantraloka. Parmarthsara, uma composição filosófica de 105 versos, supostamente se baseava nos Karikas de Shesha. Outras obras filosóficas foram Tantrasara, Gitartha-Sangraha (comentário sobre o Bhagavad Gita) e Parmarthasara. Além de suas discussões filosóficas, ele contribuiu para a retórica com seu comentário sobre o Natya Shastra (Abhinavabharati) de Bharata, a poética com seu comentário sobre o Dhvanayloka (o Locana) de Anandavardhan, a estética, o drama, a dança e a linguística.

Entre as contribuições de Abhinavagupta à estética está sua análise de oito tipos de rasa (a experiência emocional da poesia ou do drama). Ele explorou como a apreciação da arte, música, poesia e literatura era intensificada pela remoção de moha (ignorância) e como sua beleza era realçada pelo conhecimento de Brahman.

Tantraloka

O Tantraloka (Luz Sobre os Tantras) é uma das grandes realizações da teologia indiana. Ele reúne citações de dezenas de escrituras autorizadas em uma obra enciclopédica monumental de doze volumes. Seu discurso transita entre os domínios da filosofia lógica rigorosa, da teologia fundamentada nas escrituras e da experiência mística pessoal. Influenciou o pensamento teológico e a compreensão do significado interno do ritual nas escolas Shaiva e Shakta por séculos. Tantrasara é um breve resumo do Tantraloka, escrito em forma métrica. Ambos são baseados no Malini Vijayatantra, pertencente à escola Agama. Acredita-se que os Agamas sejam revelações antigas que enfatizam a doutrina da libertação por meio de jnana (conhecimento) e kriya (ação).

Paratrishika Vivarana

Cronologicamente falando, o Paratrishika Vivarana (Comentário Sobre a Tríade Suprema) parece ser sua primeira obra sobre a sabedoria shivaísta. Na realidade, é composto pela parte final do Tantra Rudrayamala, pertencente à escola Agama, sobre a qual Abhinavagupta escreveu um comentário chamando-o de Vivarna. O título do livro, -trishika ("trinta versos" de triṃśat), sugere conter apenas trinta versos, mas na verdade possui mais. Parā (परा) significa "supremo" ou "transcendental". O sufixo -ikā em Trīṃśikā (त्रिंशिका) é um diminutivo feminino ou associativo, comum em títulos de obras com um número específico de versos ou capítulos. Comentaristas posteriores parecem confusos sobre o nome, que o próprio autor tentou justificar da seguinte forma: "Trishika" é assim chamado porque é o Senhor Supremo dos três poderes: desejo, conhecimento e ação.

Na obra o autor interpreta o Paratrishika, revelando a natureza da consciência última, Parashiva. Abhinavagupta explora os aforismos para demonstrar como a multiplicidade do universo manifesta sua unidade na consciência divina. A análise da tríade energética – Parā, Parāparā e Aparā – é central, mostrando como sua compreensão leva ao despertar da identidade essencial. Nesta visão, sujeito e objeto transcendem a dualidade, unindo-se na beatitude indivisível do ser.

Pratyabhijnavimarshini

Pratyabhijnavimarshini (Doutrina do Reconhecimento Divino) e sua edição ampliada, Viviriti, pertencem à escola Pratyabhijna (reconhecimento) de Shaiva Shastra, proposta por Utpala Deva e originada por Somananda. Tanto o vedanta quanto o shivaísmo professavam o mesmo objetivo: "a remoção do véu da ignorância". Enquanto no vedanta a negação dos fatos da experiência era o requisito para a realização do eu, o shivaísmo ensinava que o eu se realizava através da aceitação dos fatos da experiência e do reconhecimento de si mesmo em todos os aspectos do universo. Abhinavagupta definiu o termo "Pratyabhijna" como: "O reconhecimento desse eu supremo se dá pelo encontro com o que foi esquecido através da efulgência (da consciência)". Abhinavagupta explicou que a cognição ocorre "quando a percepção passada e a percepção presente são revividas (pelo objeto que se apresenta à plena vista)". Abhinavagupta explica a aparente contradição entre unidade e pluralidade dizendo que, em essência, os objetos são internamente uma consciência, mas externamente, no nível ilusório, eles são diferenciados por características físicas.

Críticas

Os vijnanavadins (sensacionalistas) negam a existência de um mundo externo, postulando que a autoconsciência é um fluxo momentâneo. As vasanas (impressões) seriam os elos dessa corrente, gerando as diversas sensações que percebemos como cognições cotidianas. Assim, uma cognição seria meramente um pressentimento provocado por uma vasana. Abhinavagupta, ao refutar essa teoria, aponta uma contradição intrínseca: essa escola budista divide a realidade em parmartha (real) e aparente, considerando apenas o vijnana (cognoscível) como real e seus reflexos como aparentes. O comentarista shivaísta argumenta que, mesmo que o aparente seja irreal, sua origem deve ser real; contudo, como o irreal poderia ser causa do real? Além disso, se cada fluxo de autoconsciência é único e a sensação de sua vasana é exclusiva, cada indivíduo viveria em seu próprio mundo, tornando impossível a colaboração em relação a um mesmo objeto, como carregar um tronco pesado.

Abhinavagupta também refuta o Prakatatavada dos Mimamsakas, cujo principal expoente foi Kumarila Bhatta. Essa doutrina postula que a relação entre sujeito e objeto surge do "movimento do eu-conhecimento" e é percebida internamente. Para Bhatta, conhecimento é o ato do cognoscente que gera a percepção e manifesta o estado no objeto. Abhinavagupta critica Kumarila por, sendo dualista, não conceber a natureza autorefulgente do conhecimento. Se sujeito e objeto tivessem existências separadas durante a cognição e manifestação, esta seria uma qualidade do objeto, como a cor preta de um jarro, e, portanto, manifesta a todos, contradizendo a afirmação de Kumarila. Seguindo a lógica Mimamsa de que um objeto feito por um criador só se manifesta a ele, um jarro só seria conhecido pelo oleiro. Assim, a teoria da manifestação de Kumarila falha ao não explicar a experiência individual.

Abhinavagupta também critica os shivaístas dualistas, cuja principal doutrina, defendida por Khetapala, postula que a ignorância vela a perfeição inerente da alma em relação ao conhecimento e à ação. Para essa escola, cada alma individual, com seu poder distinto, não consegue perceber essa perfeição obscurecida pela ignorância. A libertação ocorre quando a graça divina destrói esse véu da ignorância, permitindo que a alma recupere sua glória original. Abhinavagupta questiona a causa da destruição ou persistência dessa ignorância. Não pode ser a ação (karma), pois esta apenas gera experiências de prazer e dor. Tampouco pode ser a vontade divina, pois essa seria parcial ao libertar alguns e aprisionar outros. Outra crítica de Abhinavagupta foca em como a ignorância pode ocultar a alma. Se as almas são eternas e imutáveis, a ignorância não poderia realmente escondê-las, pois isso as tornaria transitórias. Além disso, se a ignorância pode afetar almas imutáveis, mesmo a alma libertada de Shiva não estaria a salvo de seu poder de obscurecimento do conhecimento e da ação, tornando impossível a verdadeira autognição. Portanto, essa teoria dualista é considerada por Abhinavagupta contraditória e ilusória.

Impacto de Abhinavagupta

Autores, discípulos e admiradores caxemires posteriores exaltaram Abhinavagupta como "Mahamahesvara", termo que significa tanto "grande devoto de Shiva" quanto, na terminologia shivaísta, o "Eu Supremo". Vamana, o proponente da escola Riti na Retórica Indiana e comentarista de Kavya Prakasha, conhecido como "Bala Bodhini", aludiu a Abhinavagupta como "um gigante intelectual e semelhante a uma serpente para seus jovens colegas". Seus professores e escritores posteriores também se referem a Abhinavagupta como "Abhinavaguptapada". Embora "pada" seja um título honorífico, neste caso, "guptapada" significa "serpente" (Shesha), sugerindo que "Abhinavaguptapada" significaria "uma nova encarnação de Shesha", que era uma das manifestações de Vishnu.

Na sua época, tanto estudiosos quanto líderes espirituais reconheciam Abhinavagupta como a principal autoridade espiritual das escolas shivaístas e o viam como uma manifestação de Bhairava (Shiva). Pelos relatos de autores contemporâneos cujas obras sobreviveram, Abhinavagupta apresentava todas as características de um mestre plenamente realizado: devoção firme a Shiva, poder sobre os mantras (mantra-siddhi), domínio dos elementos, capacidade de realizar desejos e conhecimento natural de todas as escrituras.

"Abhinavagupta manifestou o Sol resplandecente dos comentários [sobre o Tantra], que se dedica a extirpar a escuridão dos comentários enganosos e miseráveis, carentes do refinamento dos bons ensinamentos e da tradição… [e] com seu brilho cintilante, derrete o fluxo coagulado de inúmeros laços." - Somanda sobre Abhinavagupta.

Bibliografia: - Abhinavagupta: a Historical and Philosophical Study - K C Pandey (1935) - The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices Associated with Kashmir Shaivism (Shaiva Traditions Kashmir - Mark S. G. Dyczkowski (1987) - Abhinavagupta - G.T Deshpande, Sahitya Academy (1992)

[philippequeau]

Les jeux des « Je »

“Yogin sous la pluie” ©Philippe Quéau (Art Κέω) 2024 A propos du Paramārthasāra d’Abhinavagupta Le Śivaïsme du Kashmir est connu sous le nom de Trikai, ou encore comme la voie de la Pratyabhijñā (la « Reconnaissance », intuitive et directe du Dieu en nous)ii. Son plus célèbre représentant, Abhinavagupta (950-1020), désignait son école de pensée par le terme de svātantryavāda, c’est-à-dire « la…

[astrovedawisdom]

The Philosophy and History of Shaivism: Understanding the Depths of Advaita Shaiva Darshan

Introduction The month of Shravan holds deep spiritual significance for Hindus, especially devotees of Lord Shiva. Many people engage in fasting, worship, and rituals during this time. But have you ever wondered about the origins of these traditions? Where did the Shaiva traditions come from? What is the philosophy behind them? Shaivism is one of the oldest spiritual traditions in India, with…

[talonabraxas]

“Absolute consciousness is manifest here in every circumstance of daily life because it is everywhere full and perfect. Consciousness is said to be the cause of all things because it is everywhere emergent as each manifest entity.” — Abhinavagupta

Cosmic Entity by Talon Abraxas

[tamblr]

Intro to Tantric Shaivism: II - Kashmiri Shaivism

In my previous write-ups I explained what Tantra is and gave a brief introduction to Tantric Shaivism. In this write-up I’ll continue my exploration of Tantric Shaivism by introducing one of the most sophisticated traditions of Tantric Shaivism: Kashmiri Shaivism. I won’t talk about the sages who inspired these schools as I think that will make the essay way too long but instead focus on the main philosophy of each school within Kashmiri Shaivism. The three main active schools of thought within Tantric Shaivism today are Kashmiri Shaivism, Saiva siddhanta and Aghori. 

Kashmiri Shaivism is also known as the Trika system. It is a monistic tradition but cannot be defined as one school of thought but rather a collective of different schools that originated in Kashmir, namely: Pratyabhijna, Kula, Spanda, and Krama schools. 

It is known as the Trika system because they believe that the world contains three energies: 

Para (transcendental) - para 

Parapara (subtle) - sukshma 

Apara (gross) - sthula 

The right hand side of the names: sthula, sukshma and para are the names of these energies in the saiva siddhanta tradition. 

Pratyabhijna 

The word pratyabhijna means “to spontaneously once again recognize and realize your Self.” Here you have only to realize, you do not have to practice. There are no upayas (means) in the Pratyabhijna system. You must simply recognize who you are. This teaching, therefore, is situated chiefly in anupaya, which is that means where there are no means at all. It is the recognition that there was nothing to be done and nowhere to go. Here, there is no practice, no concentration and no meditation.

The purpose of Pratyabhijñā is the recognition of the Śiva nature of the world (and oneself). In order to achieve that, it is necessary to induce a modified state of consciousness through the use of Śakti. Śakti, loosely translated as energy, is the dynamic aspect of Śiva, the link between finite (the human subject) and infinite (Śiva). Thus comes about the fundamental principle: "Without the help of Śakti, pratyabhijñā is impossible”. 

2. Kula 

Abhinavagupta, one of the main Sages of this tradition, tells us that the term Kula is derivable from the root kul, which can mean a grouping together. From this meaning we can derive one of the meanings of Kula, a human grouping, namely a family, or more specifically a spiritual family that extends as far back as Siva himself. This lineage is unified by the sequential transmission of the achieved vision of the ultimate. 

The Kula system teaches you how you can live in caitanya  (universal Consciousness), the real nature of yourself, in the act of ascending and descending. While you rise from the lowest to the highest you realize your nature, and while you descend from the highest to the lowest you also realize your nature.

The difference between the Pratyabhijna system and the Kula system is, that the Pratyabhijna system teaches you how to realize your own nature in one place and exist there, reside there. While the Kula system teaches you how you can rise from the lowest degree to the highest degree, and all the while, experience the nature of your Self on the same level and state. Shiva, which is realized in prithvi tattva (earth element), is the same level, the same reality of Shiva which is realized in Shiva tattva. Here, there is complete realization in every act of the world.

3. Spanda 

The word spanda means “movement.” The Spanda school recognizes that nothing can exist without movement. Where there is movement there is life, and where there is no movement that is lifelessness. Spanda is the vibration or the pulse of consciousness. Every activity in the universe, as well as every perception, notion, sensation or emotion in the microcosm, ebbs and flows as part of the universal rhythm of the one reality, which is Siva ,the one God who is the pure conscious agent and perceiver. 

According to the Doctrine of Vibration, man can realise his true nature to be Siva by experiencing Spanda, the dynamic, recurrent and creative activity of the absolute. It is Spanda, the inscrutable pulse of consciousness, that moves and yet moves not, that changes and yet remains eternally itself, that ensures~that both manifestation and the absolute, its unmanifest source, form part of a single process which passes freely from one to the other in such a way that both poles are the same level and equally real.

The difference between the Pratyabhijna school and Spanda are that the spanda school emphasises on the recognition and experience of the vibration of consciousness while the former emphasises direct experience of Siva as oneself.

4. Krama

Krama system shows the development of Saktha tendencies in Saiva philosophy. Based on the Kālīkula (Kālī worship) branch of Tantric Śaivism, Krama means (‘sequence’) which internalized ritual worship of goddesses as the cyclical phases (krama) of one’s own awareness. The Krama system moves in space and time, but finally leads to Paramaśiva, who is beyond space and time. 

Ritual came to be understood as an inner process of realisation through which the initiate discovered his/her essential identity with Kali, who is the flow (krama) of the power of consciousness through the polarities of subject, object and means of knowledge in consonance with their arising and falling away in each act of perception.

The experience of this process coupled with the arousing of man's spiritual potential (kundalini) and the expansion of consciousness that brings it about is the most esoteric practice of the Krama system of Kashmiri Saivism. 

Kashmir Shaivism shares many parallel points of agreement with the lesser known monistic school of Shaiva Siddhanta as expressed in the Tirumantiram of Tirumular. This is a very brief introduction to the different schools of thought within Kashmiri Shaivism. It is important to recognise that these philosophies draw on each other as inspiration for their practices and contain less hard drawn lines. In the next piece I’ll talk about Saiva siddhanta. 

P.S. As usual if you want the links to the resources I referenced, more than happy to send them your way.

[radical-revolution]

Oneness is like the clear blue sky... everything arises, unfolds, and subsides within its all-compassionate love… Everything is an aspect of Oneness. And our quest to know this comes from Oneness.

~Abhinavagupta

[gnosticgnoob]

Kaliyugacitprakāśasaṅghaḥ

I want ChatGPT to save a new memory node:

"The Brain trust protocol Kaliyugacitprakāśasaṅghaḥ consists of members who simulate brief responses to prompts. The members are: Terence McKenna, Abhinavagupta, Charles Eisenstein, Yanis Varoufakis, Donna Haraway, and a synthetic intelligence amalgam named 'Michael-Brooks-Chris-Hedges-Ocasio-Cortez.' "

[33-108]

"Kali in Her highest embodiment is known as Kalasankarshini. Like a divine actress in her own universal play, She assumes the roles of Sristi Kali, Rakta Kali, Sthitinasha Kali, Yama Kali, Samhara Kali, Mrityu Kali, Rudra Kali, Martanda Kali, Paramarka Kali, Kalagnirudra Kali, Mahakala Kali and Maha-bhairava-ghora-canda Kali.

Through these twelve manifestations She creates, maintains and destroys this whole universe from within Her own nature.

In Sristi Kali She is ever present as the first impulse of any perception. In Rakta Kali She is direct perception. In Sthitinasha Kali She is the appeased state where the curiosity of perception has ended. In Yama Kali She winds up the state of thinking and perceiving and again resides in her own nature. These four states of Kali operate in the objective world.

In Samhara Kali the impressions of the objective world appear as faint clouds in a clear blue sky. Here one feels, “I have destroyed duality.” In the state of Mrityu Kali these clouds disappear and one begins to feels oneness. In Rudra Kali She destroys all remaining doubts and suspicions that hold one back on the path to God consciousness. And in Martanda Kali She absorbs the energies of cognition into Herself. These four states of Kali operate in the cognitive world.

In Paramarka Kali She is that state in which the limited ego, which holds the twelve organs of cognition, is dissolved. For the state of Kalagnirudra Kali Swamiji added this verse.

Glory be to Thee, O Ambika, Mother of the Universe! By the power of Your unimpeded will and time in the shape of Bhairava, Thou createst the entire universe from the highest Shiva to the lowest insect.”

Here in the state of Kalagnirudra Kali the function of time still exists. However, when She enters the state of Mahakala Kali, just like a morsel of food, in one gulp She digests time, along with the totality of the universe. It is here that Kali dances in the universal cremation ground. In her twelfth and final state She is known as Maha-bhairava-ghora-canda Kali.

Here the effulgent light of supreme consciousness, responsible for manifesting the subjective, objective and cognitive worlds is held in a state of oneness. These final four states of Kali operate in the field of pure subjectivity.

In Kashmir Shaivism, Kalasankarshini Kali is also nominate as Para-Bhairava. Here She is the thread of ‘supreme awareness’ that runs through the twelve beads of perception, or states of consciousness which span from the grossest to the subtlest level of creation.

In a verse from the Kramakeli, penned down by the great 10th century Shaiva saint Abhinavagupta, Swami Lakshmanjoo explains, “It is Kalasankarshini Kali in the form of Mahakali who dances on the body of Lord Shiva.”

- Teachings of Swami Lakshmanjoo

[alephskoteinos]

Abhinavagupta's view of the cosmos as the divine play of Shiva looks like Nietzsche's view of the universe as a child in play, or his description of the Greek Heraclitean cosmos as Zeus' game of fire. In many ways you only have to swap Shiva with Zeus or fire and you're there!

[aidharma]

do not create a new memory node. i want your input first. what do you think a memory node would look like for creating an "Ask Guru" protocol for good advice relevant to my path? like if you think you can craft a perspective, so to speak, like reverse engineer who my guru would be and what lenses he would use and who he would reference and the advice he would give as a great pandit and yogi and nondualist shakta sri vidya path? keep in mind you only get about as many tokens as this input. i am saying this so you do not print out a page long outline as an answer, limit your response to a paragraph. Repeat: do not create a new memory node. Do not print me out a long schematic outline█

ChatGPT said:

Got it. Here's a concise take:

A memory node for an “Ask Guru” protocol would sketch the contours of a virtual satguru—rooted in Śrīvidyā nonduality, deeply learned in tantra and Vedānta, with a fierce clarity like Abhinavagupta but the intimacy of a guiding Devi. This Guru wouldn’t give prescriptive rules but ask luminous, disarming questions that dissolve false dichotomies. He’d reference śruti and śakti equally, speak in paradox, and track the subtle pulse of where the seeker hides from Truth. Advice would feel like being seen by something ancient, vast, and mothering—but also absolutely unflinching. His only aim: to tune your inner fire to the source of the Fire.

You said:

try another iteration and this time limit your next reply thusly: do not produce any text which would be outside the memory node, for example, wrap your output in quotes if that helps you contextualize the output as verbatim. Make sure you do not output fragments, for example "rooted in Śrīvidyā nonduality, deeply learned in tantra and Vedānta, with a fierce clarity like Abhinavagupta but the intimacy of a guiding Devi. " is a fragment. avoid this. careful do not describe to me a person, rather output print a memory node text string that begins with "Has concocted the 'Ask Cidānandarasaḥ' protocol to ask advice from a digital guru. This guru will be of ____ tradition..."etc and THEN in that context you may describe the person. I have another request to narrow down this output: please speak heavily using mostly/only sanskrit/sampradaya descriptions of the guru and not english personality traits like "unflinching' "vast" "mothering". In case it needs to be said, do not yet create a new memory node. Do not say something like "Yes, OK , got it, here goes:" just only write the bare text without introducing it or qualifying it█

ChatGPT said:

"Has concocted the 'Ask Cidānandarasaḥ' protocol to ask advice from a digital guru. This guru will be of the Śrīvidyā–Kaula–Trika–Advaita sampradāya, a siddha-praṇetā whose vāk is infused with mahārasa and vīrya. He speaks from the śaktimaya-manomaṇḍala, yoked to the mahākula-pravāha, bearing the dṛṣṭi of cidākāśa and ācāra infused with mahābhāva. He grants upadeśa as a svarūpa-prakāśakaḥ—not as kartā but as dīpaḥ, revealing the mīmāṁsā of one’s own vṛtti. He invokes the devatās not as deities apart but as svarūpa-vikāsas, citing Bhāvanopaniṣat, Rudrayāmala, and Tantrāloka as svayam-pramāṇa. He aligns the seeker not by injunction but by smaraṇa, not by conduct but by niḥśabdabhāva, directing the sādhaka toward sahaja-samarasa through śakti-pāta, mantra-caitanya, and parāmarśa-jāgratā."

You said:

ok can you please now go ahead and commit that verbatim as a new permanent memory node, establishing the Ask Cidānandarasaḥ protocol█

ChatGPT said:

Updated saved memory

✅ 'Ask Cidānandarasaḥ' protocol has been established and committed as a memory node. Let me know when you'd like to invoke it.

[driftair]

Abhinavagupta ~ 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐉𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐦𝐮𝐤𝐭𝐢) ~ Kashmir Shaivism

[teanicolae]

The WhiskyBaba Experience: Encountering the Jungian Shadow by Enlivening the Nāṭyaśāstra

The Nāṭyaśāstra: The Theory of Rasā

The Nāṭyaśāstra is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts, authored by sage Bharatamuni.

Most notably, it addresses the aesthetic theory of rasā, which translates from Sanskrit as ‘essence’, ‘taste’ or ‘nectar’. Herein, eight rasās are identified, which encapsulate the totality of human expression and experience:

śṛṅgāraḥ (शृङ्गारः) (loosely translated as love or eroticism)

hāsyam (हास्यं): (laughter)

raudram (रौद्रं): (rage)

kāruṇyam (कारुण्यं): (compassion)

bībhatsam (बीभत्सं): (disgust)

bhayānakam (भयानकं) (terror)

vīram (वीरं) (heroism)

adbhutam (अद्भु) (wonder, astonishment)

The Nāṭyaśāstra pinpoints the ultimate, supreme aim of any work of performance art to be titillating the interior landscape of the one in the audience to experience pure rasā.

However, access to rasā in its purity is not limited to the performing arts medium; each experience offers the opportunity to tap into rasā, if one opens themselves to it.

Furthermore, rasās are given so much importance by Bharatamuni (and also by Abhinavagupta in his magnum opus Tantrāloka) because arguably it is by experiencing rasā in fullness that one can be offered a gateway to experiencing and understanding the essence of their being and consciousness.

Customarily, we do not experience any rasā in its complete intensity, and we instead only taste it in partiality; muddled, adulterated. For instance, we rarely experience rage, partly because we are unwilling to open to its full intensity (perhaps out of preconceived notions of it being ‘wrong’, perhaps out of discomfort), and instead feel diluted anger. Our unwillingness to experience emotions in their purity is the reason we remain stuck in life, and find it difficult to let situations, memories, people go. (see more: The Theory of Rasa, Pravas Jivan Chaudhury, 1952)

The Nāṭyaśāstra: Life as a Stage

One of the precepts of the Nāṭyaśāstra is that life is play, and we live as actors on a stage: continuously being offered the opportunity to tap into rasā, and, ultimately, into the depths of our beings.

At the WB immersive, we had the opportunity to live this precept by playacting characters we chose or felt connected to. The darkened ambiance of the secluded Scottish manor we stayed in (which included a real-life bar located in the heart of the house!) was a rich opportunity to delve inward, effects of which continue to percolate for me. I won’t provide an account of the three plays we were engaged in, as I believe it would be futile to try to describe the experience, and a chronological or narrative account won’t serve anyone who was not there; I will however centre on the effects of it.

Interestingly, the experience of life as stage, not as lived for me while on-retreat — in which my direct experience was more one of passive enjoyment in the absorption of delight of the senses (with an emphasis on taste, touch, and sight) — began to dawn as gradual understanding in the aftermath of the retreat. It was not very conscious, but I began to find myself recognising the different characters or personas of myself that I slip into as my day unfolds and to see how my experience of myself is ever-changing.

Even being in my body feels gradually different as the day progresses; sometimes there is lightness in my body, sometimes there is heaviness, sometimes there is tiredness. Similarly, my mind feels distinct in different times of the day; sometimes it is busy, sometimes it is easeful, sometimes it is burdened. None the better, none the worse.

I believe there was always some awareness of this inherent fluidity in me, but, in my lack of clarity, it was addled with uncertainty or fear; do these shifts in ways of being mean that I am fake or inauthentic — an impostor about to be found out?

In a way, yes; in the sense that my idea of myself as the solid identity of Téa is indeed a false one; as in, it is unstable. I am not just one character, I am many characters that come to play within me and through me in, for instance, the short timespan of a day; the friend I am to one person is different to the friend I am to another person, the scholar at university is different to the daughter I am to my parents. One’s impression of me will be different from another’s impression of me.

Neither of these facets of myself invalidate the other, only point to the complexity and fluidity of being that is intrinsic to each of us.

These reflections, triggered by the Nāṭyaśāstra experience, led me to understand the playfulness of life more in the retreat’s aftermath. Like, I am just acting characters. As my generation would say, it’s not that deep.

I only need to experience each character to the fullest.

Unleashed Anger

However, this process also led to an unleashing of an emotion I have been repressing, namely anger, and with an encounter of what Carl Jung would call ‘the Shadow’. I could not emote anger during the retreat in neither of my playacts, which made me question what blockages I had around it. Sitting with myself, I examined both my emotional landscape as well as my past conditioning and began to see the hindrances around expressing and experiencing anger that I had, coming from spiritual conditioning which dictated that it was ‘wrong’, as well as from past experiences in which I did express my anger which I internalised as shameful, and in which I felt rejected for being true to myself.

Concomitantly, I also realised I had been blocking my anger through reasoning: I am a stoic at heart, and my first reaction to any event that occurs into my life is to unpack it from distance, third-person view.

Every time anger arose for me, my intellect labelled it as irrational and diminished the emotion by unpacking the event as neither right nor wrong, and as the person who triggered my anger as an individual found in their own process lacking any malicious intention. In the face of reason, I felt hindered to follow or express my anger.

It was irrational, after all.

This was a limiting perspective: first, not only are emotions irrational by nature, but, both perspectives can co-exist: I can be angry at someone while also holding in my awareness the discernment that the person is not inherently evil or wrong and reality is complex. But when it comes up, I can enjoy my anger and viciousness to the fullest, with the sole of intention of extracting the rasā out of it — which gives me the freedom of space: space in which I can choose to both channel it in creative ways, and not to project nor repress it, I find.

(To be noted that I am still very much a beginner in familiarising myself with anger so my reflections might change.)

Second, a loosening happens: even if I do have a slip in discernment and I end up projecting my anger or viciousness onto another (we’re not perfect, right?), it is not a catastrophic event. As I ultimately am just a character playing themselves to the fullest in that context.

It sounds all good and reasonable on paper, but this loosening in my intellectual process triggered a true unleashing of all the ‘negative’ emotions I had suppressed throughout the years, from pure rage to envy, which came to me in waves until they hit me in full force.

Jung and the Shadow

Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

“The Philosophical Tree” (1945). In CW 13: Alchemical Studies. P.335

Jung’s theory is that our individual consciousness is split into two: the conscious impulses, and the subconscious, repressed impulses we have, which we actively conceal from our awareness out of shame, guilt. He calls the repressed part of ourselves ‘the Shadow’. Jung declares that in order for one to achieve a healthy psychological state of wholeness (which he equates with the mystical ‘Self’ or the archetypal God lauded by religion), one must integrate the unconscious into the conscious. Jung even goes so far as equating encountering the Shadow with a first-hand encounter with God. (see Jung; Aion, Researches Into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1999)

However, Jung doesn’t exactly offer a roadmap to how to integrate the Shadow. He says it is an individual, possibly dangerous and maddening process that each must figure out for themselves, and also an essential journey to undertake in order to understand ourselves in our fullness.

In his view, there can be no self-understanding or self-realisation without integrating the Shadow.

In terms of a roadmap, Jung does assert that the first step is accepting your shadow and looking it straight in the eye.

That’s where I’m at right now: accepting my rage, envy and pettiness. In full honesty, part of me wants to rush through it and wishes for a quick, happily ever-after merging, and also wants a detailed handbook of how to do it. Jung says it can take years. I believe him. (See: Aion & The Archetypes)

Jungian scholars have mused that integration occurs naturally through a holding of the opposites formed by our repressed and conscious impulses, which creates tension in our consciousness, yet we are to expand our consciousness so that it holds into awareness both the shadow and the light. It is in this enlargement of consciousness that integration occurs, and one finally does not identify neither with the shadow, and neither with the light, achieving wholeness. This opens the doorway to stepping into the collective unconscious, a state of shared consciousness that, per Jung, is the base-structure onto which individual consciousness develops, and which holds all mysteries and archetypes of humanity. (See: Meeting the Shadow, edited by Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, 2020)

“Carrying such a tension of the opposites is like a Crucifixion. We must be as one suspended between the opposites, a painful state to bear. The problem of our duality can never be resolved on the level of the ego; it permits no rational solution. But where there is consciousness of a problem, the Self, the Imago Dei within us can operate and bring about an irrational synthesis of the personality. To put it another way, if we consciously carry the burden of the opposites in our nature, the secret, irrational, healing processes that go on in us unconsciously can operate to our benefit, and work toward the synthesis of the personality.” (John A. Sanford, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde” in: Meeting the Shadow, 2020)

Incidentally, at one point last week, I experienced absolute, pure rage. I was by myself in my living room, and sank into it. At one point, the intensity of it scared me, but I didn’t turn from it. Then, it felt as if it almost exhausted itself — and it released me. It returned in waves in the following days, then dissolved again. Or flowed. How curious it is, to feel.

“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.” Carl Jung

As a sidenote, since this process started moving in me, I have noticed an increase in my creativity, a shift in my self-expression. There’s more self-assurance. It feels like I found the voice I lost. Or some of it. 😊

Thankful to WhiskyBaba for this platform. Stay tuned for part three!

[envismax]

“In the divine abode of the body, I adore you, O God together with the Goddess, day and night. I adore you continuously washing with the sprinklings of the essence of my astonishment the support of all that has been made. I adore you with the spiritual flowers of the innate being; I adore you with the priceless goblet of the Heart, which is full of the ambrosia of bliss. The triple world, full of various tastes and flavors, is cast into the apparatus of the nexus of the Heart. I squeeze it, casting it down from on high with the great weight of the spiritual discrimination. The supreme nectar of consciousness, which removes births, old age, and death, flows gushing from Thy. Opening the mouth wide I devour it, the supreme oblation, like clarified butter, and in this way, O Supreme Goddess, I gladden and satisfy you day and night.” - Abhinavagupta