ABSTRACT
According to Yogaraj̄a (second half of the eleventh century), the author of its commentary, Vivr̥ti, the Paramar̄thasar̄a is of the nature of a prakaraṇa, 4 a ‘manual’ or ‘précis’ serving as introduction to the established doctrine of a tradition. 5 The work, appropriately, begins by
1The commentary ad 104 uses the term sás̄tra.2saṃksẹpa or saṃgraha. See 2nd maṅgalac̄araṇa of the commentary (paramar̄thasar̄asaṃ-ksẹpa), Paramar̄thasar̄a [PS] 104 (idam ... saṃksẹpam), 105 (tad idaṃ saṃksịptaṃ sás̄trasar̄am)and the colophon of the commentary (paramar̄thasar̄asaṃgrahavivr̥ti).3See, for instance, Tantral̄oka [TĀ] X 1, XIII 348 and (as the periphrastic expression‘sạḍardha’, ‘half of six’) TĀ XIII 301 (where is established the supremacy of the Trika overall Sáiva currents), XVI 158, XXXVII 26, 68, etc. I use the term ‘Trika’ here in this sense. Onthe historical development of the Trika and other symbolic meanings of the term itself, seeSanderson 1995: 672; 2007. The preeminent concern of this essay, ‘nondualistic’ or ‘non-dual’ (advaita) Sáivism of Kashmir, will be, when the context does not tend to confusion,referred to simply as Kashmir Sáivism or even as Sáivism. On this ‘Triad’, see avataraṇikā[avat.] ad PS 41 (n. 875) and 46.4See avat. ad PS 2-3 and 105, and n. 276 on prakaraṇa.5As YR puts it in his commentary ad 104, the theme underlying the entire text is ‘[thatbrahman], in reference to which a concise summary (saṃksẹpa) containing the essential pur-port (tat̄parya) [of our doctrine] has been stated, and explained, by Abhinavagupta, whosename is to be mentioned with reverence [i.e., celebrated]’. In his gloss of PS 105, YR under-lines as well the esoteric dimension of such a tradition, thus “revealed”, at least in part, to the
featuring a mumuksụ, one who ‘aspires to liberation’, a student desirous of learning from a master the means whereby he may put an end to his dolorous wanderings through the cycles of rebirth. 6
The Paramar̄thasar̄a shares with the vast majority of Indian philosophical texts this propaedeutic purpose that is encoded as well in the title of the work, which may equally be understood as signifying ‘The Core of the Teachings on Ultimate Reality’, as Yogaraj̄a explains in his gloss of the second and third verses. 7
1.1. The Paramar̄thasar̄a of Ādisésạ What makes the Paramar̄thasar̄a of Abhinavagupta unique is the nature of its exposition of the doctrine. It does not in all respects correspond to the ordinary model of a prakaraṇa. 8
In its second and third verses, which recount its “myth of origin”, this Paramar̄thasar̄a is presented as a sáivite reworking of another Paramar̄thasar̄a, attributed to Ādisésạ, also called Ādhar̄a 9 (sixth or seventh censincere adept: ‘This core of the teaching (sás̄trasar̄a), that is, that essence (satattva) spreadthroughout numerous texts, has been condensed by me; that is, has been stated [by Abhina-vagupta] after having mastered it himself, within the small span of hundred verses, thoughit can hardly be explained in a thousand texts. By this is stated [as well] the resourcefulness[of the author’s] luminous consciousness (pratibhā)’.6See YR ad 101, where the gods say, apropos the ‘failed’ aspirant (yogabhrasṭạ): [...]yasya svat̄mani jijñas̄ar̄thaṃ praḡjanmani udyamo ’bhūt, ‘It is he [after all] whose striving in aprevious life was motivated by a desire to know regarding his own Self’.7The polysemy of the term artha makes other interpretations possible: ‘The Essence ofUltimate Meaning’ (see PS 59 and YR ad loc.), or, more pregnantly, ‘Principles essential inattaining the Supreme Goal of life’, namelymoksạ-see PS 103 and YR ad 104, quoted p. 33.The term ‘sar̄a’ (lit., ‘sap’, ‘vivifying juice’) itself participates in the pun, expressing on theone hand the ‘kernel’ or ‘core’ of the Real, from which the inessential has been stripped away,and on the other, the ‘heart’ of the teaching, from which superfluous or ancillary discussionhas been abstracted.8See p. 19.
