Manifesting the Ultimate: Mystical Prayers and Expressions by Hindu Thinker Abhinavagupta

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Manifesting the Ultimate: Mystical Prayers and Expressions by Hindu Thinker Abhinavagupta

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

             Compcros 

Comparative Cognitive Processess and Systems 

Abhinavagupta's Achievement

The 10th century Kashmiri Hindu Thinker Abhinavagupta is one of the most delightful and accessible of mystical writers, a style complementing the more complex of his writings.

His depth of passion, ideational range and expressive power define a unique place for him.

His poetry demonstrates inspiring expressions that may resonate with anyone, of any religious creed or none, stimulating sensitivity to some of the deepest of human hungers, the desire to understand oneself and one's fellow humans as intimately implicated in the essence, logic and development of the universe.

His work profoundly personalizes the thought of the Trika School of Hinduism, dramatizing it's emotional, ideational and imaginative possibilities by projecting his own actualization of this  vibrance, demonstrating the  intimate significance in his own life of the theology and mythology of the Shaivite ( centred on the God Shiva) and Shakta ( focused on feminine spiritual identities) schools of Hinduism.

Mysticism as the Hunger to Experience Ultimate Reality 

Abhinavagupta demonstrates superbly aspects of the nature and significance of mysticism.

Mysticism may be described as the hunger to experience ultimate reality rather than simply believing in it or relating with it in the various ways developed by spiritualities. 

The mystic aspires to be united with ultimate reality, the essence of existence,  or to perceive this essence, this Ultimacy,  for oneself, rather than relying on the perceptions of others, or limiting oneself to communicating with or being guided by this Ultimacy.

Mystical writing consists in descriptions of this aspiration, mappings of how the goal  may be achieved, depictions of efforts to reach that goal and accounts of the achievement of that vision.

Abhinavagupta's Devotional Mysticism

Abhinavagupta's work is understood as demonstrating all these features of mysticism.

They are all actualized in his wonderfully profound devotional mysticism, cultivating an intensely emotional relationship with a deity in pursuit of union with that deity, a deity understood as the ultimate reality.

His depictions of the unity of the human being and the Ultimate pulsate with a  passion bridging diverse cultural contexts, dramatizing the yearning of the human being to see itself as situated at the heart of cosmos, a participant in cosmic essence and dynamism, even as, according to a Kuba poem, "we walk the goat's earth", mystical culture demonstrating the human being as also "touching God's sky", the complementary line of the poem.

Unity of Self and the Ultimate in Mystical Theory and Practice 

Mystical theory of the kind developed by Abhinavagupta describes the human being as divine in essence, depicting the core of the human person as rooted in the Ultimate.

Mystical practice, in such a context, implies growing awareness of what one already is, rather than becoming something else or something more.

Mystical theory is often derived from conventional religious scriptures but develops the implications of these texts in ways that try to experience for oneself the ideas they express.

Various religious cultures depict the human being as either "made in the image of God"( the Bible) or "Allah as closer to  the human being than his jugular vein"( the Koran) or as an expression of the "one and only Origun in orun( the world of ultimate origins), from which each earthly ori ( essence of self) branches" ( "Ayajo Asuwada",  Yoruba Ifa poem) or projects  the awareness of the unity of the individual self and the cosmic Self as enabling the transcendence of birth and death ( the Hindu Upanishads).

Abhinavagupta's Harmony of Religious and Literary Genius 

One of the most lucid and yet expressively gripping and ideationally rich communicators of such a vision is Abhinavagupta, within the context of his devotion to the Hindu deity Shiva, as known by various names,  and the feminine expressions of Shakti, Shiva's consort.

He demonstrates mastery of expressive rhythms, of the music of words carefully chosen and exquisitely conjoined to project ideas in the context of musical patterns.

He projects emotional depth, giving form to imagined pictures of deities as invoking the deepest human impulses.

He dramatizes piercingly robust sensitivity to the elevating powers of the ideational and imagistic universes he is engaging with.

These qualities bring him into the constellation of the greatest mystical writers, from the Muslim  Ibn Arabi to the Christian St. John of the Cross and more, while ensuring his place remains unique.

Selections from Abhinavagupta's Work

I share here a compilation by myself, from various translations, of different texts by Abhinavagupta.

The sources are indicated after the selections.

"1. The self is Yourself.

My thought is Your consort, Pārvatī.

My vital breaths are Your companions.

My body is Your abode,

my sleep Your ecstasy.

My walk is the accomplishment of Your circumambulation,

and all my words are hymns in praise of You.

Whatever action I perform, O Śiva,

is but for Your adoration.

2. After taking as a support the earth which is forever cleansed by a sprinkling with the essence of amazement, I worship you with flowers which arise spontaneously from the mind, which pour forth their own fragrance; I worship you according as the priceless vessel of my heart brims with the nectar of bliss; I worship you, O God, together with the Goddess, in the temple of the body, night and day.

3. Salutation to the one having the form of ultimate reality, which is the Self, which is consciousness.

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

To You, the transcendent, situated beyond the abyss, beginningless, unique, yet who dwell in manifold ways in the caverns of the heart, the foundation of all this universe, and who abide in all that moves and all that moves not, to You alone, O Sambhu, I come for refuge.

To You, whose form is the god that is my own Self, who are the essence of what is present in every cognizer, Sambhu, whose nature becomes the ultimate goal, who (is) Being, I come for refuge to You as my protector in order to attain absorption in You.

4. The accomplished Tantric yogin, whose mind and breath have been dissolved through complete immersion in the innermost object of perception, the

supreme goal of yoga - such a yogin then abides with a silenced though open

vision, the pupils of the eyes unmoving. 

Though he  gazes still on the outer world, in truth his vision assuredly does not rest on its appearance.

This is the seal of Sambhu - the sambhavi mudra, the Saiva

"seal" of unitary consciousness, the performing of the ultimate "gesture" or

"stance" of Siva's illumination.

This state of true and ultimate mystical vision, O Divine Master, is produced

only because of your potent and illuminating grace. 

This is the domain of

Sambhu, the gracious Lord, the true state of reality which is beyond the experience

of both the fullness [of the conditions of ordinary awareness], as well

as lying beyond even the [extraordinary] void states [of advanced Tantric meditation]

Such a yogin abides with eyes half opened and yet with a mind that is

motionless and serene, his gaze fixed steadily [at the secret portal that opens

to the yogin's subtle perception found] at the tip of the nose. 

The sun and moon [either the "sun" as the means of knowledge (pramana) and the "moon" as the known objective universe (prameya), or the two breaths and the whole world of duality that they stir] have dissolved into the great interiority of awareness that pulsates naturally with the triple vibration [either the vibration of the energies of will, knowledge, and action or the vibration of the supreme Sakti that constantly tends toward the manifestation of the visible reality, the counterbalancing reabsorptive pulsation of consciousness, and the supreme pulsation or adya-spanda that abides beyond such polarizing movements].

Here, the yogin achieves the One reality, the domain whose nature is essentially

the pure light of consciousness, devoid entirely of all externality, the supreme spirit, the true principle, the abode of the highest, the supreme essence.

More than this, what is there to be said of it?

In that state, whatsoever words may emerge from the mouth of such a yogin

are, indeed, transcendentally charged mantras( sacred sounds).

The aggregate form of the body - within which the experience of pleasure and pain are constantly arising - that very bodily form [of the illuminated yogin] is indeed nevertheless the mudra or seal that reveals [the experience of the Absolute].

The spontaneous and natural flow of the breath [which produces the natural

mantric sound hamsa continuously] - that, indeed, is the extraordinary and

highest yoga itself.

Having directly experienced the unparalleled splendor, the illuminating glory of the divine Sakti, in truth, what will then not reveal itself to me?

The [true and highest] mantra that then reveals itself in that state has no

distinguishable arrangement of syllables or phonemes to be seen within it [for

it is of the nature of the potency of the ultimate consciousness aham itself.]

When the entirety of the [separative or contractive] bodily activities have

dropped away or when the practice of all bodily techniques [engaged strategically

by the yogin] has stopped, then the [true and highest] mudra or seal of the absolute rises up to reveal itself. 

As soon as the [separative and dualizing]

flow of the breath has ceased or when the [practice of the] flow of the breath

[that is, pranayama techniques of yoga] have stopped being performed, that,

indeed, is [the true] yoga which then appears.

In the magnificent festival of mystical illumination that leads to the attaining

of your splendor, what, indeed, does not then reveal itself to the enlightened

wise ones as completely extraordinary?

5. O divine Mother Ambika! There is nothing whatsoever in the form of the spoken word, which is not a hymn, or which does not constitute praise to Thee. 

Whether one prays reverently in a Church or a Temple, or whether one is engaged in worldly talk, in reality, it is all praise of You, because all words and all sounds are made up of letters which pervade Your body. 

By virtue of this, whatever forms appear in this universe, or whatever ideas or thoughts arise in my mind, be they good or bad, they invariably afford me the opportunity to perceive You and embrace You.

Thus, O Mother, as the consort of supreme Bhairava, you are ever intent on removing all afflictions and sufferings, without any effort on my part. 

Therefore, there is neither any action, like meditation, or puja(ritual), nor are there any words, like singing praise or uttering mantras, which do not constitute my worship of You.

6. I bow down to the deity, Pratibha,

the ever creative activity of consciousness

the spontaneous supreme Consciousness

Para Sakti [ the feminine identity of supreme deity]

I bow down to that deity who is like lightning

naturally produced from the rainy cloud spread out in the sky

and who rests in the dancing body of Bhairava (the masculine character of the Supreme).

7A.. What is it that should be worshipped?

Women  are to be worshipped.

Who is the worshipper?

Man is the worshipper.

Who invokes the deity?

Their mutual love.

Which flower is offered?

The scratches made by the nails.

What are the incense and the 

oblation?

Embraces and caresses.

What is the mantra?

The beloved’s flow of words.

What is the (sacred) recitation?

The pleasure of the lips.

                 

What is the sacrificial pit?

The womb.

What is the wood of the sacrificial 

ladle?

    

The linga [ religious Sanskrit term

  for the phallus] .

  What is the fire?

 The sprout in the womb.

  What is the clarified butter [used in ritual]?

The seed, the sperm.

 What is, O Master of the Gods, the samadhi? [expansion of consciousness in realizing the unity of self and cosmos]

And Siva [ the male identity of the Supreme] answers:

Sound, touch, form, savor and odor,

just as the flow of bliss is  released,

 what issues from these sensations in a fivefold way,

that is Samadhi[ the exciting and convergence of the senses in sexual climax depicted as a unification of self and cosmos].

Having realized this, let one obtain Siva [ Siva as the unity and transcendence of the cosmos?].

7.B.What is to be worshipped, who is the worshipper, what sort of invocation should there be?

What flower, incense and oblation, which mantra and recitation?

What is the sacrificial pit, what is the fire and what is the stick or what is the ghee? What is the divine rapture?

Tell, O Three-Eyed One!

The young women themselves are worshipped, and the man himself is the worshipper; their joy is the invocation and the scratches caused by their finger-nails is the flower.

The embrace mentioned above is the incense; the ‘oblation’ is produced from their bodies. The confused language of the beloved woman is the mantra and the ‘lower nectar’ is the recitation.

The vulva is the sacrificial pit, the penis is the ladle and the clitoris is the fire itself and the seed is called ‘ghee’.

So it is said in the Bhairava [ an identity of Siva] tradition.

Word and touch, form, essence and smell are a set of five.

 

When bliss is aroused, the five fold universe appears.

8. May my heart, the core of my being which is the core of all beings, the innermost awareness that animates all manifestation, shine forth, the product of the exuberance of emotion due to the mating of my father and mother, embodying the bliss of the ultimate,  one with the state of absolute potential made manifest in the fusion of these two, my father as Shiva, the foundation of being complete in himself, whose zest in creativity is manifest in her, my mother, as Shakti, the universal Divine Energy which expresses its stamina in ever fresh creativity, radiant in ever new genesis,  my mother Vimala, whose greatest joy was in my birth and my father Simhagupta, when both were all embracing in their union. May my heart, which is the emission of vibrance from the couple and therefore  full of the supreme nectar, shine, expand as the totality of the bliss of the Absolute.

Sources

1. "Songs of the Ultimate", Hymns from Shankaracharya and Abhinavagupta, collected and edited by Éric Baret. 1994..

2. From the Tantraloka by Abhinavagupta. Translator unrecalled.

3. From An Introduction to Tantric Philosophy: The Paramarthasara of Abhinavagupta with the Commentary of Yogaraja, translated by Lyne Bansat-Boudon and Kamaleshadatta Tripathi, 2011.

4. From 'The Seal of Sambhu" by Paul Mueller-Ortegs in "Tantra in Practice, Ed by David Gordon White 2000. Notes in brackets by Ortega.

5.  The   "Devī Stotra"  by Abhinavagupta Translated by Swami Laksmanjoo, quoted in Goddess of Ubiquitous Freedom (Contemplations on the Devī Stotra of Ācārya Abhinavagupta)" by Jayadev.

6. From the Tantraloka. Translator unrecalled.

7A. From Kundalini: Energy of the Depths by Lilian Sikburn, translated by Jacques Gontier, 1988. Notes in brackets by myself.

7B.  From Abhinavagupta: The Kula Ritual As Elaborated in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka by John Dupuche, 2003.

8.  Abhinavagupta's lines, presented through integrating various translations, such as Jaideva Singh's of Abhinavagupta's Paratrisika, Mark Dyzkowski, Christopher Wallis, Roger-Orphé Jeanty of his Tantraloka, Bettina Baumer's discussion of the sequence of passages in various books in Abhinavagupta's Hermeneutics of the Absolute and Alexis Sanderson's comprehensive analysis of the meaning of those lines within the religious tradition to which Abhinavagupta belongs in ''A Commentary on the Opening Lines of the Tantrasara of Abhinvavagupta". Notes in brackets by myself.

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Manifesting the Ultimate: Mystical Prayers and Expressions by Hindu Thinker Abhinavagupta

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

             Compcros 

Comparative Cognitive Processess and Systems 

 

                        Abstract

A very short essay, followed by brief selections from his works, introducing  the mystical writings of Hindu thinker Abhinavagupta, emphasizing their ideational, imaginative and literary actualization of the significance of the Trika School of Hinduism as a dramatization of the universal human derive to identify intimately with ultimate values. 

Contents

Abhinavagupta's Achievement

Mysticism as the Hunger to Experience Ultimate Reality

Abhinavagupta's Devotional Mysticism

Unity of Self and the Ultimate in Mystical Theory and Practice

Abhinavagupta's Harmony of Religious and Literary Genius