yajvan
28 January 2009, 08:40 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~
Namasté
I thought to begin a conversation on the first śloka of Abhinavagupta-ji's Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa.
The core of the śloka lies in the subject-matter Śrī Devī is asking Śiva - that of khecarī-samatā. Yet before this idea can be discussed, I thought it necessary to lay a foundation first.
In the next post I would like to take up this conversation on khecarī-samatā to the best of my ability and ask for any insights or corrections from those that have knowledge on this matter.
That said, I thought with the 1st post within the uttara section of HDF it would be worthy of reviewing the first word of the śloka, anuttaraṃ, which contains uttara.
Śrī Devī uvāca
anuttaraṃ kathaṃ deva
sadyaḥ kaulika-siddhidam
yena vijñātamatreṇa
khecarī-samatāṃ vrajet ||
Śrī Devī uvāca - Śrī Devī said
anuttara -अनुत्तर - best, excellent, chief - (yet more discussion to expand this word is below)
kathā कथा - is conversation or talk, yet also means 'what should one say of?' or 'how should one speak of ?'
deva देव - God; hevenly, divine; in this sloka Śiva is being addresses as deva
sadyas सद्यस् - 'at once' ; on the same day , in the very moment
kaulika-siddhi : there are 4 interpetations for this word combination offered in Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa. I will address the
other interpretations in a furture post… best to start with these below:
kaulika कौलिक - belonging to a family or race , ancestral , customary or heritable in a family ; this also means happening within kula
kula कुल - is also defined as the body; also means the residence of a family , seat of a community , inhabited country
siddhi सिद्धि - is accomplishment; skill, perfection.
yena येन - by whom or by which
vijñātamatreṇa:
vijñā - vi+jñā: vi वि -to discern, distinction of + jñā ज्णा to know; tama तम - most desired; in high degree; treṇa I am unsure of this, yet as of today see it as trāṇa त्राण shelter, protection.
khecarī खेचरी - is defined as the power of flying; It means that which moves within kha ख or ākāśa empty space ; This is the area I wish to spend more time on in an upcoming postsamatā समता - sameness
varja व्रज - station or closure; varja can also means roaming, yet in this sloka, it’s the achievement of this 'station' What this says in my words¹ (I look for corrections & amplifications to this view)
Śrī Devī said,
in what way or what means (kathaṃ) O Lord (deva) does the unsurpassible Supreme (anuttaraṃ) can immediately (sadyaḥ) bring about, or by which means (yena) the achievement (siddhidam) of this most desired, or highest (tama) shelter (trāṇa) of wisdom (vijñā) that will occur within this body i.e. within this existing 'i consciousness' to achieve the station (varja) with Universal Divine Consciousness (khecarī-samatā).
Here is how anuttaraṃ अनुत्तर्ं may also be viewed. An+uttara. Uttara उत्तर means superior , chief , excellent , dominant; it also means more, additional, better, more excellent. When the prefix of 'an' is added ( or 'a' , 'an' is used before the vowel 'u') it is considered 'not'. Hence an+uttara means not additional. That is, there is no addition one can make, hence anuttaraṃ cannot be surpassed, no additions to it is possible, therefore it is Supreme.
Abhinavagupta informs us that this anuttara is Supreme¹ Divine Consciounsess and therefore the experient of all that there is. That is, there is no other who can have It as the object of his/her experience - hence it is the Self-Luminious Universal Consciousness that cannot be surpassed.
The truth of this Divine Consciousness is that its continuity is uninterrupted - it is present in everything and cannot be escaped from because it is ubiquitous, there is no place where it is not. This truth will be key to the appreciation of khecarī-samatā ; that is why understanding this anuttaraṃ to the best of our ( my) abilities will assist in the comprehension of khecarī-samatā.
There are 16 ways Abhinavagupta expains anuttara e.g. a+nut+tara, anut + tara, an ' to breathe', etc. but will leave these definitions for another time or application. This is the beauty of this word.
praṇām
words and references
The book is Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa. This tantric text is the work of Abhinavagupta-ji. It is suppose to be the essence of the Rudrayāmala tantra, hence my great interest in this body of work. My copy is called Abhinavagupta Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa, by Jaideva Singh - ISBN number 978-81-208-0472-2
Note this wisdom is stimulated from the works of Abhinavagupta-ji. I take no authorship to its original thought, but am privilaged to have access to this knowledge. Any errors in explanation can only be attributed to me.
Here is how this translation reads by Jai Deva Singh, verbatim:
The exalted goddess said ( to Bhairava) : O God, how dow the unsurpassable divine Consciousness bring about immediately the achievement of the identity of the empirical I with the perfect I consciousness of Śiva which comes about in the very physical body and by the mere knowledge of which one acquires sameness with the Universal Consciousness-power (khecarāī)
Some know this work as Parā-trīśikā, and think it points to 'the thirty verses of the Supreme'. Yet this work has 37 verses.
Abhinavagupta-ji sees the title differently - as The Supreme Goddess of the Three. The notion of tying (sambandha) the title (abhihāna) to the subject matter (abhidheya) is also a learning opportunity for the reader.
Supreme as parama परम - best , most excellent , extreme limit
~~~~~
Namasté
I thought to begin a conversation on the first śloka of Abhinavagupta-ji's Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa.
The core of the śloka lies in the subject-matter Śrī Devī is asking Śiva - that of khecarī-samatā. Yet before this idea can be discussed, I thought it necessary to lay a foundation first.
In the next post I would like to take up this conversation on khecarī-samatā to the best of my ability and ask for any insights or corrections from those that have knowledge on this matter.
That said, I thought with the 1st post within the uttara section of HDF it would be worthy of reviewing the first word of the śloka, anuttaraṃ, which contains uttara.
Śrī Devī uvāca
anuttaraṃ kathaṃ deva
sadyaḥ kaulika-siddhidam
yena vijñātamatreṇa
khecarī-samatāṃ vrajet ||
Śrī Devī uvāca - Śrī Devī said
anuttara -अनुत्तर - best, excellent, chief - (yet more discussion to expand this word is below)
kathā कथा - is conversation or talk, yet also means 'what should one say of?' or 'how should one speak of ?'
deva देव - God; hevenly, divine; in this sloka Śiva is being addresses as deva
sadyas सद्यस् - 'at once' ; on the same day , in the very moment
kaulika-siddhi : there are 4 interpetations for this word combination offered in Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa. I will address the
other interpretations in a furture post… best to start with these below:
kaulika कौलिक - belonging to a family or race , ancestral , customary or heritable in a family ; this also means happening within kula
kula कुल - is also defined as the body; also means the residence of a family , seat of a community , inhabited country
siddhi सिद्धि - is accomplishment; skill, perfection.
yena येन - by whom or by which
vijñātamatreṇa:
vijñā - vi+jñā: vi वि -to discern, distinction of + jñā ज्णा to know; tama तम - most desired; in high degree; treṇa I am unsure of this, yet as of today see it as trāṇa त्राण shelter, protection.
khecarī खेचरी - is defined as the power of flying; It means that which moves within kha ख or ākāśa empty space ; This is the area I wish to spend more time on in an upcoming postsamatā समता - sameness
varja व्रज - station or closure; varja can also means roaming, yet in this sloka, it’s the achievement of this 'station' What this says in my words¹ (I look for corrections & amplifications to this view)
Śrī Devī said,
in what way or what means (kathaṃ) O Lord (deva) does the unsurpassible Supreme (anuttaraṃ) can immediately (sadyaḥ) bring about, or by which means (yena) the achievement (siddhidam) of this most desired, or highest (tama) shelter (trāṇa) of wisdom (vijñā) that will occur within this body i.e. within this existing 'i consciousness' to achieve the station (varja) with Universal Divine Consciousness (khecarī-samatā).
Here is how anuttaraṃ अनुत्तर्ं may also be viewed. An+uttara. Uttara उत्तर means superior , chief , excellent , dominant; it also means more, additional, better, more excellent. When the prefix of 'an' is added ( or 'a' , 'an' is used before the vowel 'u') it is considered 'not'. Hence an+uttara means not additional. That is, there is no addition one can make, hence anuttaraṃ cannot be surpassed, no additions to it is possible, therefore it is Supreme.
Abhinavagupta informs us that this anuttara is Supreme¹ Divine Consciounsess and therefore the experient of all that there is. That is, there is no other who can have It as the object of his/her experience - hence it is the Self-Luminious Universal Consciousness that cannot be surpassed.
The truth of this Divine Consciousness is that its continuity is uninterrupted - it is present in everything and cannot be escaped from because it is ubiquitous, there is no place where it is not. This truth will be key to the appreciation of khecarī-samatā ; that is why understanding this anuttaraṃ to the best of our ( my) abilities will assist in the comprehension of khecarī-samatā.
There are 16 ways Abhinavagupta expains anuttara e.g. a+nut+tara, anut + tara, an ' to breathe', etc. but will leave these definitions for another time or application. This is the beauty of this word.
praṇām
words and references
The book is Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa. This tantric text is the work of Abhinavagupta-ji. It is suppose to be the essence of the Rudrayāmala tantra, hence my great interest in this body of work. My copy is called Abhinavagupta Parā-trīśikā Vivaraṇa, by Jaideva Singh - ISBN number 978-81-208-0472-2
Note this wisdom is stimulated from the works of Abhinavagupta-ji. I take no authorship to its original thought, but am privilaged to have access to this knowledge. Any errors in explanation can only be attributed to me.
Here is how this translation reads by Jai Deva Singh, verbatim:
The exalted goddess said ( to Bhairava) : O God, how dow the unsurpassable divine Consciousness bring about immediately the achievement of the identity of the empirical I with the perfect I consciousness of Śiva which comes about in the very physical body and by the mere knowledge of which one acquires sameness with the Universal Consciousness-power (khecarāī)
Some know this work as Parā-trīśikā, and think it points to 'the thirty verses of the Supreme'. Yet this work has 37 verses.
Abhinavagupta-ji sees the title differently - as The Supreme Goddess of the Three. The notion of tying (sambandha) the title (abhihāna) to the subject matter (abhidheya) is also a learning opportunity for the reader.
Supreme as parama परम - best , most excellent , extreme limit