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Posts tagged ‘Abhinavagupta’

  1. Some notes on the Kaula Upanishad – I

    I’ve had a copy of the Kaula Upanishad, as translated by into English by the late Mike Magee in 1995, kicking around on various computers for a while now, but only recently have thought to take a close look at it. As Kaula texts go, I suspect it is rather a late one. A Sanskrit edition was published by Sir John Woodroffe in 1922, so it has been available for a good while now. The only commentary I’m aware of is by the eighteenth-century luminary Bhāskararāya. As far as I know, it has not received any scholarly attention. What follows are some brief notes on this text up to verse 7. I’m drawing on Mike’s translation, presented first, with alternatives for some of the other verses. I freely admit that this has been hard going, revealing just how fragmentary my understanding of this text is. Probably best then, to take everything with a pinch of salt.

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    July 10th 2026

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  2. On “continual recollection” – II

    By constant practice the manifested universe
    gets merged in the universal self.
    The world of name and form gets merged in the
    vastness of the void as one homogenous whole.
    This, O Brahmin, is the true doctrine.

    Lalleśwarī
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    April 26th 2022

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  3. On “continual recollection” – I

    “To the One who, although nothing but a mass of consciousness, is yet solidified in the form of the world, to the unborne One who is proficient in the play of concealing his own Self, glory to this Supreme Lord!”

    Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta, verse 1

    A few days ago, my friend Gregory Peters tweeted a verse from Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka:

    “No lunar day nor asterism, no fasting is prescribed. He who is engrossed in every day life becomes a Perfected Being by means of continual recollection.”

    (chapter 29/v65, transl. John Dupuche)

    My initial interpretation of this verse was: “residing in wonder as the ground state of one’s being”.

    A question was posed in respect to this verse – what does “continual recollection” mean in this particular context? I thought I’d take the opportunity to tackle this – not without some reservations, as though have been reading Abhinavagupta’s works for nigh on two decades, I still struggle to articulate my understanding of his luminous wisdom. But this is important for me. Ever since I came to realize how central the experience of wonder is to nondual tantra, I have been struggling to articulate what this means for me. I may say that I seek to open myself to wonder in the ordinary and every day, to find enchantment and presence in small moments and encounters, but that is somehow not enough. So I’m going to take this as an opportunity to say more about wonder in tantra, both as a beginning, a practice, and a goal. But’s that’s going to have to wait.

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    January 29th 2022

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  4. Book Review: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy

    Not long ago, I ran into a friend who asked what I was reading at the moment. I replied that I was reading a book on the work of Kumārilabhaṭṭa, a seventh-century Indian philosopher of the Mīmāṃsā school. This led to a good deal of explanation about what the Mīmāṃsās thought, what Kumārila had to say in particular, and why I was interested in his work in the first place. After all that he said something to the effect that he thought that Tantra wasn’t a philosophy – or at least that as a “tradition” it wasn’t given over to much philosophical speculation. Continue reading »

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    February 26th 2017

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  5. Book review: Tantra Illuminated

    I’m often asked by correspondents if there’s “one book” that will cover all aspects of tantra for a general reader. Of course there are many books which make the bold claim of being “the only book” a reader will ever need, but if there’s one book that I would unhesistatingly recommend to anyone – indeed that deserves a place on any bookshelf – it would be Christopher Wallis’ Tantra Illuminated (Mattamayūra Press, 2013, 506pp, p/bk). Continue reading »

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    October 30th 2015

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  6. Reading the Saundarya Lahari – XV

    “…those who always ponder over this [fivefold act of the Lord], knowing the universe as an unfoldment of the essential nature [of consciousness], become liberated in this very life. This is what the [sacred] tradition maintains. Those who do not ponder like this, seeing all objects of experience as essentially different, remain for ever bound.”
    Kṣemarāja, Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam

    Now for some brief discussion of verses 26-27 of Anandalahari. Continue reading »

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    November 28th 2014

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  7. Reading the Saundarya Lahari – XII

    In twining creepers I see your body,
    in eyes of startled does your glance,
    in the moon the glow and shadow of your cheek,
    in the peacocks’ crested plume your hair,
    in the flowing waters’ quick ripples
    the capricious frown on your brow,
    but no single object holds
    an image of your likeness.
    Kalidasa, Meghadūta

    Desire (kāma) is the will to take possession [of the other] (to make the other oneself). Veiling everything with his desire, the desirer can accomplish everything, since everything has as its ultimate principle desire itself.
    Abhinavagupta, Mālinīvijayavārttika (1.281)

    Now to verses 21-22 of Saundaryalahari. Continue reading »

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    June 18th 2014

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  8. Heart practice: On the Adoration of the Senses – I

    “Just as one who sees something out of the ordinary experiences a feeling of amazement, so the feeling of amazement in enjoying contact with the various manifestations of knowable reality is continually produced in this great yogin with the whole wheel of the senses increasingly revealed, motionless, disclosed, by virtue of penetrating into its most intimate nature, the compact union of ever-renewed consciousness and wonder, extreme, extraordinary.”
    Ksemaraja, commentary on Śivasutra, 1.12, quoted from Torella, 2012

    “All wisdoms have celebrated the instant, the wise man leaves aside memory; he has few projects, makes himself at home in the present, inhabits its differential.”
    Michel Serres, The Five Senses

    I’ve been taking this foray into “heart practice” slowly, beginning with a central theme in tantra practice – that of the goddess dwelling in the heart. I’m now going to progress things slightly, with a look at a practice I tend to refer to as the “adoration of the senses”. But first, some thoughts on the senses themselves. Continue reading »

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    November 1st 2013

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  9. Announcement: Online Tantra courses from Mark Dyczkowski

    Anuttara Trika Kula – a web site set up recently to promote the work of renown tantric scholar Mark Dyczkowski, has recently announced a forthcoming series of online courses by Dr. Dyczkowski. These will be composed of audio and video content, together with support materials and online discussion forums. A free introductory course – consisting of two audio lectures and two video segments – exploring the historical development of the tantras and historically locating the works of Abhinavagupta is available now. Register at www.anuttaratrikakula.org/locating-trika/

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    October 29th 2013

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  10. Tantra keywords: Embodied

    “I praise the circle of deities innate within the body, an elevated assembly continually present, the end of everything, vibrant and the essence of experience.”dehasthadevatacakrastotra

    For this post, I want to discuss some “Tantric” themes which relate to embodiment – in particular, whilst stressing that Tantra constitutes an embodied practice, I also want to point towards a key difference between South Asian and “western” esoteric epistemologies – that underwriting Tantra’s embodied practice is what might be called an embodied theology. Continue reading »

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    May 14th 2010

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