This excerpt is a very important lecture on the qualification of Parabhairava, as revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo in the Essence of the Supreme Reality: Abhinavagupta’s Paramarthasara verses 10-13.
Yat paratattvaṁ, that para tattva, that supreme element of Lord Śiva, that is the supreme element, that is, para tattva means exactly Parabhairava.
Now the qualification of Parabhairava is described by Abhinavagupta in these two ślokas, 10 and 11.
[Swamiji repeats śloka 10.]
Bhārupam, who is bhārupam, who is prakāśa, who is filled with prakāśa; who is pari pūrṇam, who is pūrṇam, full; svātmani viśrāntito mahānandam, who is residing in his own way, and is filled with ānanda, bliss, blissful state. Bhārūpaṁ pari pūrnaṁ is who is cit, who is the embodiment of cit śakti [energy of consciousness]. Svātmani viśrāntito mahānandam, when he resides in his cit śakti, he becomes filled with ānanda.
Icchā-saṁvit-karaṇair, icchā nirbharitam, he is also filled with icchā śakti, saṁvit, jñāna śakti, and karaṇair, kṛiyā śakti. Icchā means the energy of will, saṁvit means the energy of knowledge, and karaṇair means the energy of action. He is filled with these three energies.
So he is filled with cit śakti, ānanda śakti, icchā śakti, jñāna śakti and kṛiyā śakti. And exclusively he is ananta-śakti-paripūrṇam, he is not only filled with five energies, he has got numberless śaktis. Ananta-śakti-paripūrṇam, he is filled with all energies, which are offshoots of these five energies.
Sarva vikalpa vihīnaṁ, who is sarva vikalpa vihīnaṁ, all varieties of thoughts have taken their end there. Śuddhaṁ, who is clean; śāntaṁ, who is appeased; layodaya-vihīnam, who has rise and fall, and who is absent from rise and fall. He neither rises nor falls down.
And that para-tattvaṁ, that supreme state of God consciousness, supreme state of Parabhairava, tasmin, in that . . .
śivatattvaṁ, tāsmin sivādidharāntaṁ jagat viśvam4
. . ṣaṭtriṁ-śadātma, all this universe, which is from pṛithivī to śiva tattva, it is existing in that para tattva.5
One śloka (in this there are two ślokas), one śloka is the example and the other śloka is the actual state of Parabhairava; how is the actual state of Parabhairava existing. And for this, he gives an example.
Darpaṇa bimbe yadvat, take outside mirror, keep mirror in your room here, darpaṇa bimbe, and see, but keep this well-cleaned mirror; nagaragrāmādi citram avibhāgi, nagaragrām, whatever is reflected in it, you see everything is reflected in the mirror which is only two feet by two feet, two feet length and two feet height . . . bas, only this much. And in this, you will feel the reflection of this house, the reflection of that house, the reflection of those trees, big trees, the reflection of everything, whatever it is reflected on this. Citram: citram means it is not put in one ball there, because the dimension of this mirror is only two feet by two feet. It can’t come in two feet by two feet; it seems separate.
You can’t [understand], after investigation, what has happened to this, how these trees seem to exist away from the space of mirror, back. But after investigating what is in the back, there is nothing. There is nothing. Only distance is seen, distance is observed. And at the same time, there is no weight also in this.
For instance, a big tree trunk has reflected in a mirror. If the weight of the mirror was one kilo, after the reflection of this tree, which weights 100 kilos, it does not create . . . the end of the
JONATHAN: Extra weight.
SWAMIJI: . . . extra weight. It is the same weight.
You couldn’t move it. Then you couldn’t move it . . .
dharmaṇo ’pi achālasyat
He has said, Abhinavagupta has said, dharmaṇo ’pi achālasyat, you could not move it. In weight also, it is the same weight; it is only one kilo.
So this is the glamour of reflection. It is separate from each other and separate from the mirror also, what is reflected in this.
This is an example.
Now the main thing which is to be understood.
In the same way . . .
In the same way, that which is absolutely most pure, purest element–Parabhairava (Parabhairava is the purest element of the supreme mirror)–and in that supreme mirror, which is the purest element of Bhairava, in that Bhairava, vibhaktama jagad etat, from Śiva to pṛithvī, all this universe, it seems, you perceive that universe, absolutely separate from Bhairava, from that mirror, from Parabhairava. It is absolutely separate from Parabhairava. And not only that, it is separate from each other. Pṛithvī [earth] is separated from jala [water], jala is separated from agni [fire], agni is separated from vayu [wind], vayu is separate, ākāśa [ether] is separate, antaḥkaraṇas [mind, intellect and ego] are separated, śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and ghanda; prakṛiti, pṛithvī, jala, and māyā, śuddhavidhyā, īśvara and sadāśiva, are all separate; vibhaktamābhāti, in the same way this whole universe shines in the mirror of Parabhairava.
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4. This handwritten quote appears next to verse 11 of the text.
5. Note: at the end of the commentary to these ślokas Swamiji had the following handwritten note. “This universe is the manifestation of Bhairavā [bheda-bhāva or differentiated state], and Bhairavā is at the same time one with His own nature in [abheda-bhāva, undifferentiated state]. So in both ways, there is no difference in His nature.”
(source: Essence of the Supreme Reality: Abhinavagupta’s Paramarthasara verses 10-13.
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