Anubhava-nivedana-stotra of Abhinavagupta
dṛṣṭyā niścalatārayā bahirasau paśyannapaśyannapi
mudreyam khalu śāmbhavī bhavati sā yuṣmatprasādād guro
śūnyāśūnyavivarjitaṁ bhavati yat tattvaṁ padaṁ śāmbhavam
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 [is seen to] gaze still on the outer world, in truth his vision assuredly does not rest on its [apparent outwardness]. 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].
ardhoddhāṭitalocanaḥ stiramanā nāsāgradattekṣaṇam
candrārkāvapi līnatāmupagatau trispandabhāvāntare .
jyotīrūpamaśeṣabāhyarahitaṁ caikaṁ pumāṁsaṁ paraṁ
tattvaṁ tatpadameti vastu paramaṁ vācyaṁ kimatrādhikam
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?
śabdaḥ kaścana yo mukhādudayate mantraḥ sa lokottaraḥ saṁsthānaṁ sukhaduḥkhajanmavapuṣo yatkāpi mudraiva sā
prāṇasya svarasena yatpravahaṇaṁ yogaḥ sa evādbhutaḥ śāktaṁ dhāma paraṁ mamānubhavataḥ kinnāma na bhrājate
In that state, whatsoever words may emerge from the mouth of such a yogin are, indeed, transcendentally charged mantras. 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?
mantraḥ sa pratibhāti varṇaracanā yasminna saṁlakṣyate mudrā sā samudeti yatra galitā kṛtsnā kriyā kayikī.
yogaḥ sa prathate yataḥ pravahaṇaṁ prāṇasya saṅkṣīyate tvaddhāmādhigamotsveṣu sudhiyāṁ kiṁ kiṁnanāmādbhutam
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?
P. Muller-Ortega: The "Anubhava-nivedana-stotra" or the "Song of Praise Intended to Communicate the Direct Experience of the Absolute" is a poetic composition in Sanskrit attributed to the eleventh-century Kashmiri Tantric master, Abhinavagupta. It is one of but a handful of short poetic works or hymns of praise (stotras) attributed to this important Tantric philosopher and theologian. Probably written toward the end of his life as a kind of elegant summary of the author's vision of Saiva mysticism, the poem is an evocation of the experience of the ultimate consciousness known as Siva, the achievement of the highest goal of Saiva Yoga.
In the religious and spiritual literature of Hinduism, stotra is a well-known compositional category that is quite varied in its form. It generally denotes a eulogistic hymn of praise directed at a particular object that the author wishes to praise. Any number of stotras of varying length, meter, and style were composed in praise of deities, religious teachers and reformers, and many diverse holy objects of veneration.
The "Anubhava-nivedana-stotra" is unusual in that it was written not so much in praise of a deity as in praise of this Tantric author's own state of achieved mystical illumination. It might be said that the poem forms a conceptual window through which the author, a great master of medieval Tantric Saivism, allows the reader to peer into this state of mystical illumination. Although a complex philosophical theology lies in the background of all that the author says, nevertheless the poem evokes a simplicity beyond all of the philosophical and ritual complexity that encompass it: the Tantric master's direct adoration of the unity of the absolute consciousness called Siva.
Abhinavagupta accomplishes this, in part, by centering his poem on the so called sambhavl mudra, here rendered as the "seal of Sambhu": a sophisticated formulation of the highest stance of the Saivite yogin's achievement of mystical illumination (verse 1). Sambhu ("producing happiness") is a name for Siva, also known as Mahadeva, the great god of medieval Tantric Saivism. Although a personal
theistic reference is not excluded, in this case Siva primarily denotes the state of ultimate consciousness that lies beyond all limitation: the transcendent, ultimate consciousness. Through a consideration of this central idea, the poem unfolds to give expression to the brand of nonduality (advaya) that is fundamental to the Saivite sadhaka or mystic's understanding of reality.
The Author of the Poem
Born sometime between 950 and 975 C.E to a rich and noble brahman family in the city of Srinagar, Abhinavagupta grew up and matured in an atmosphere supercharged with religious devotion and dedication to learning. Abhinavagupta's father, Narasirhhagupta, claimed descent from one Atrigupta, who had been brought to Kashmir by King Lalitaditya (725-76f C.E.). Abhinavagupta's mother, Vimala, died when Abhinavagupta was still young, and there is no doubt that her death affected him greatly.
The family were devout followers of Siva, and Abhinavagupta began his early studies of Saivism with his learned father but quickly began visiting teachers in Kashmir and elsewhere. While he was studying literature and poetry, he was spontaneously overcome with an intoxicating devotion to Siva. In his own subsequent self-understanding, this event would be seen as the initial impulse of Siva's Saktipata or the descent of divine grace. Following this event, he seems to have studied very widely in all of the fields of philosophical, religious, and literary knowledge that were available to him. His love of learning and his spiritual search led him to travel to Jalandhara, where he encountered the Tantric master Sambhunatha, who initiated him into the practices of the left-handed Kaula tradition.
This early period of study and spiritual practice lead to a mature life dedicated to the absorption of knowledge in an atmosphere of extreme religious fervor. Abhinavagupta never married and spent his life living in the homes of his many teachers. At the height of his fame, he was revered as a charismatic Tantric master whose authority as a guru or teacher was enhanced by the fact that he was considered to be a Mahasiddha, that is to say, a highly perfected and accomplished mystic. A prolific writer, he was the author of twenty-one still extant works (and there are references to titles of twenty-three others now apparently lost). We have no definitive information about Abhinavagupta's death. Local Kashmiri legend has it that the great master walked into a cave with 1,200 of his disciples and simply disappeared.
The intellectual context of Abhinavagupta's writings is very broad, in part due to his relatively late date in relation to the earlier traditions of Indian philosophy and religion. In addition to the revealed literature of the Agamas and Tantras, and the texts produced by his predecessors in the Saivism of Kashmir, Abhinavagupta's work resonates with practically all that precedes him in Indian thought,
including the traditional Brahmanical or Vedic literature, the debates of the various philosophical traditions, the mysticism of the yogins, the various devotional (bhakti) traditions, as well as the varieties of Buddhist and Jaina philosophical discourse.
As a result, Abhinavagupta is considered to be one of the most sophisticated and definitive theoreticians of medieval Hindu Tantra. His work as an authoritative interpreter of the revealed scriptures of Saivism was deeply intertwined with his life as a devotee of Siva. His Tantric synthesis - termed the Trika-Kaula because of its skillful melding of doctrinal and ritual elements drawn from these two Saivite preceptorial lineages - is so compellingly accomplished that it became the normative formulation of what is later known as Kashmir Saivism.
Writing in a fluid and often difficult Sanskrit, Abhinavagupta composed a large number of influential works of philosophical theology including the Isvara-pratyabhna-vimarsini (Commentary on the Recognition of the Lord); the Tantraloka (Light on the Tantras), and the Paratrimsika-vivarana (The Long Commentary on the Thirty Verses on the Supreme). Although he must be counted among the first rank of India's greatest thinkers, outside Kashmir his name was practically forgotten until the early twentieth century.
Sambhavi-mudra or the Seal of Sambhu
At the core of the "Anubhava-nivedana-stotra," Abhinavagupta focuses on the Sambhavi mudra, the seal of Sambhu. He does this in order to describe the paradoxical state of the yogin who does not close his eyes to the outer world (verse 1), yet who never loses sight of the innermost consciousness. This description of mystical attainment is characteristic of the Saiva Tantra, and it differs greatly from
the much more rigidly enclosed or purely introversive definitions of achieved mysticism found in earlier traditions of Indian thought.
From a doctrinal point of view, the articulation that Abhinavagupta gives in these longer works of the nondual Saivism of Kashmir is to be distinguished philosophically by its assertion that what is termed "Siva" - the absolute and primordial consciousness - is advaya or nondual. Moreover, this nondualism differs in important ways from the advaita taught in the various schools of the philosophical Vedanta. For the Kashmiri nondual Saivites, the nondualism or advaya of Siva does not in any way imply that the world and all who dwell in it are an illusion or not real. Instead, Abhinavagupta asserts that this world is real precisely because it is only Siva - the absolute consciousness.
However, the assertion of the reality of the world does not fall into "naive" realism - asserting the ultimacy of the reality of the world as world. Instead, it seeks to articulate the enlightened and transformed vision of the mystic for whom the paradoxical omnipresence of Siva has become a tangible experience; this is the abiding in the sambhavi mudra. Thus, Siva's nonduality encompasses without contradiction the arising of duality and diversity within it.
This stance or gesture of consciousness has often also been called the bhairavi mudra, the seal of Bhairava (a name for a form of Siva). An anonymous verse often quoted in the texts of the tradition describes the bhairavi mudra as follows:
antarlakṣya bahirdṛṣṭirnimeṣonmeṣavarjitā |
eṣā sā śāmbhavī mudrā sarvatantreṣu gopitā |
"Even though gazing outside, the eyes neither opening nor closing, one should direct one's attention within. This is the seal (mudra) of Bhairava, concealed as the best secret of all the Tantras."
Curiously, this verse begins with the same term in Sanskrit that begins Abhinavagupta's poem: antar-laksya, literally, that which is to be perceived within, referring to the innermost object of perception. This is Siva, the highest consciousness to be recognized or perceived inwardly by the yogin as the true and deepest nature of both the inner Self and the outer world. Thus, whether it is called the Sambhavi mudra or the bhairavi-mudra, this term describes a kind of bifocal mystical vision that involves the simultaneity of outer sensory perception and inner yogic vision. When this vision is achieved, the Saivite yogin need never repudiate the outer "thisness" (idanta) of the objects of perception in an exclusively introversive, closed-eyed samadhi or meditative absorption.
Instead, his outer vision is transformed so that it does not finally fall on the world's apparent "outwardness" or "manifestness" (verse 1). Rather, what is truly seen is the hidden interiority concealed within the world's apparent objectivity, an interiority in which the separateness and duality of the world have melted into the all-pervasiveness of the paradoxical and boundaryless consciousness known as Siva.
This theme of the melting or dissolving (vilina, linata, galita, mentioned in verses 1,2, and 3) of the world into the unitary consciousness is widespread in Saiva mysticism. Abhinavagupta tells us that it is achieved by the grace (prasada) of the master, and this state is described as affording access to the highest consciousness beyond both the ordinary conditions of awareness, and the states of purely introversive meditative absorption (verse 1). In order to understand more detail the play of meanings that combine in great richness around the notion of Sambhavi mudra, we now examine in more detail what Abhinavagupta means by a mudra.
The Meanings of Mudra
In Sanskrit, the term mudra most commonly denotes a seal in the sense of any instrument used for sealing or stamping. In the ancient Indus valley civilization, there were carved stone seals engraved with a variety of designs and used to imprint this design into the wet clay of a pot or other object. In this same sense, ancient India knew of other seals such as metallic signet rings or other engraved implements that could be pressed into melted wax. The plot of a classical Sanskrit play, the Mudra-raksasa or "Raksasa's Ring" (by the sixth-century C.E. author ViSakhadatta) revolves around just such a signet ring that belongs to the chief minister of a king, and the authority that the signature engraved on such a ring would bring to one who was not its rightful owner.
In the context of Indian dance, a mudra is often understood as a stylized physical gesture of the hands, eyes, or body that carries or conveys symbolic meanings. Many of these same mudras or symbolic gestures of the body are encountered in the textual descriptions of Indian deities, and in the artistic representation of these deities in sculpture and painting. Thus, for example, there is the famous cinmudra or "seal of consciousness" displayed by the hands of many deities. In this sense as well, many varieties of Hindu religious ritual (including that of Saivism) employ numerous hand mudras as an essential element of their ritual performances.
In the traditions of hatha yoga, a mudra carries the meaning of a variety of physical gestures or poses, or esoteric techniques of a specific sort that often include some sort of lock (bandha) on the subtle energy of the body. In this sense, we encounter in the texts of yoga the famous khecari mudra, literally the "seal of flying through the void," which was interpreted as a difficult technique for swallowing the tongue and thus tasting the nectar of immortality that drips down inside the accomplished yogin's skull. Another example from hatha yoga is the aSvini-mudra, the "equine seal," which involves locking the energy in the anal or perineal region. There are many more such mudras in the traditions of hatha yoga.
In a related though slightly different environment, there are the mudras that involve techniques for Tantric sexual intercourse such as the vajroli (dubbed in recent literature in the West the "reverse fountain-pen effect") for reabsorbing ejaculated semen back from the vulva into the male urethra, and thus, it was thought, absorbing as well the female ejaculatory fluids and orgasmic energies.
In the wider ambit of the Hindu Tantra, the term mudra is encountered in the traditional list of the so-called pancamakara or five Ms, the listing of five "forbidden substances" - each of which begins with the letter M in Sanskrit - that were thought to constitute an integral part of the transgressive ritual of the Tantra.
Here, the term mudra referred to a parched grain that was thought to have an aphrodisiac effect (see Bharati, Tantric Traditions, p. 243). However, in Kashmiri Tantra, and especially in the works of Abhinavagupta, the term mudra does appear to have been used with this last connotation. For the Kashmiri traditions, the list of the five Ms appears to have been reduced to the three Ms: madya, consecrated wine; mamsa, flesh or meat; and maithuna, ritual sexual intercourse (Tantraloka 29.96). Mudra does not appear on this list; instead, Abhinavagupta devotes an entire chapter of his summa of the Saiva Tantras and Agamas, the Tantraloka (TA), to explaining the nature of mudra in a different and quite subtle way (TA 32. 1-3). As we will see, Abhinavagupta presents a theory of mudra that is intended to explain both its practice and its origins.
Abhinavagupta first offers a traditional, interpretive etymology of the term mudra. He says - breaking the term apart into two constituent elements - that a mudra is described in the traditional texts or sastras as that which gives (ra) pleasure or happiness (mud). That is to say, Abhinavagupta continues, a mudra is the name for that by means of which one attains the intrinsic nature of consciousness.
Most importantly, he adds, a mudra is that which presents the gift of the Self by means of the body (TA 32.3). Ksemaraja, one of the disciples of Abhinavagupta and an important Tantric author in his own right, adds to these traditional interpretive etymologies of the term mudra. In his comment on sutra 19 of his Pratyabhijnahrdayam, Ksemaraja says a mudra is so called first, because it dispenses joy (muda) as a result of being of the nature of the highest bliss (paramananda); second, because it dissolves or melts (dravanat) all spiritual bondage; and third, because it seals (mudranat) the entire universe into the state of the transcendent consciousness (turiya). All of these interpretations convey different aspects of the tradition's understanding of mudra.
Then Abhinavagupta becomes even more specific and technical. He tells us that a mudra is a pratibimba, a counterpart form or reflected image, in contrast to the bimba or the original image or form. Abhinavagupta goes on to assert a double causal relationship between these two images or forms. He says that the counterpart image or form arises or is produced from the bimba, the original image or form, but that the original image or form can be produced or made to arise from the pratibimba, the counterpart form. In order to understand what Abhinavagupta means by all this, we can begin by adopting an additional terminology of translation and say that, in this definition, Abhinavagupta is telling us that a mudra is a sign, and that the sign (pratibimba) is the counterpart of that which is signified (bimba).
To illustrate: even in English, the term "seal" carries two different meanings. It means either the engraved or otherwise carved or decorated implement or tool, or the imprint that is created by that tool or implement.
In the first case, the design on the imprinting tool might be called the bimba or original image, and the design left behind on the wax might be called the pratibimba or counterpart image or form. In this case, then, the bimba or engraved tool gives rise to the pratibimba or waxen seal. It is this pratibimba that Abhinavagupta wishes to call the mudra.
We also recall Abhinavagupta's claim of a double causal directionality: pratibimba arises from bimba, but also bimba arises from pratibimba. In what sense can the original image be said to arise from the counterpart image? Or, in what sense can a sign give rise to that which it signifies? We here arrive at the first of two important uses of mudra in Saiva yogic mysticism: first, the practice of mudra as strategic method that gives rise to yogic attainments, and second, the spontaneous mudras that are born from the supreme consciousness.
A mudra is, first, considered to be a bodily "sign" of consciousness; by practicing it, the experience of that consciousness can be attained. In this first usage, the context is that of the not yet realized yogin who takes up the practice of mudra as a method by means of which to attain yogic results or transformation. Specific poses, hand gestures, or sensory or mental techniques are practiced by the yogin in the attempt to precipitate the experience of some change or alteration in awareness. In this sense, the mudra is a bodily technique consciously and strategically applied as part of a yogic methodology designed to achieve the goals of yoga.
As Abhinavagupta has told us, a mudra is that which presents the gift of the Self by means of the body. In this sense, Abhinavagupta explains that there are at least four different kinds of mudras: those that are made by the whole body (kaya); those that are made by the hands (kara); those that are made by speech (vak) (or the mouth or tongue); and those that are made in the awareness or mind
(citta) (TA 32.9b).
Thus, by means of the bodily positions, hand poses, esoteric physical techniques of mouth, tongue, or sexual organ, or, indeed, by means of meditative techniques performed by the bodily senses and the mind - all of which are varieties of mudras that are described in the traditions of Indian yoga - there can arise the experience of supreme consciousness.
It is in this sense that the Sambhavi mudra of the poem is first presented. It can be understood initially under this rubric of upaya or yogic method. The seal of Sambhu is a sign of the ultimate consciousness. By "practicing" that sign, that which it signifies can be experienced. Specifically, the Sambhavi mudra itself can be understood as a technique of the breath, mind, and senses for achieving the highest consciousness by means of the kind of "bifocal" vision described above.
A good description of the technique is found in the Vijnana-bhairava-tantra, which describes this form of meditative practice as follows (verse 80): "Fixing the gaze on some outer object and yet at the same time making his mind free of the prop of all thought constructs, the yogin acquires the state of Siva without delay." this mode of understanding, the various practices called mudra are the counterpart images of the original consciousness, an experience of which they are meant to precipitate. Hence, returning to Abhinavagupta's analysis, in this sense, bimba is born of pratibimba. In the poem we can see that Abhinavagupta is alluding, particularly in verses 1 and 2, to the Sambhavi mudra as a technique or practice to be performed.
In verses 3 and 4 of the poem, however, we encounter a different idea of the Sambhavi mudra. Rather than being a technique, the Sambhavi mudra is understood as a description of the highest state of yogic achievement. Here Abhinavagupta seems to insist that he is now telling us about the true mudra (and mantra and yoga), which is spontaneously produced as a result of the yogin's state of abiding in the supreme nondual consciousness. Indeed, this reversal is further emphasized in verse 4 by the verbal play (which verges on punning) in the Sanskrit words of the verse: he tells us about mantras that have no syllables, mudras in which no physical gestures are performed, and a yoga in which no pranayama or deliberate breath control is practiced.
This reversal is significant, for here the poem speaks about the Sambhavi mudra as a spontaneous occurrence in the body, which is precipitated not as a practice engaged in order to attain liberation but rather as that very condition of liberation itself. In this second mode of understanding the nature of mudra, the directional causality has reversed, and now bimba, original image, gives rise to pratibimba, counterpart form. This reversal signals an explanatory Tantric theory for the origin of mudras (just as the previous analysis was an explanatory Tantric theory for their use in yogic practice).
Of the many mudras mentioned in Abhinavagupta's works (and in the wider literature of Saivism), there are at least four that seem especially to fall into this category of mudra as denoting states of achieved mystical consciousness. In addition to the Sambhavi mudra, we find the bhairavi mudra used to depict a state of liberation (as described above). In the Tantraloka, Abhinavagupta praises another important mudra as primary: the khecari mudra, the "stance of moving or flying through the void of the supreme consciousness." Abhinavagupta asserts that all the other mudras of consciousness are derivations or variations of the khecari mudra (TA 32. 6). As we have seen above, the practice of this mudra was understood in a very different sense from that interpreted by Abhinavagupta here.
Nevertheless, it is here understood by Abhinavagupta as describing the stance of the accomplished yogin for whom all possible signs of duality or differentiation have completely vanished. Another important Saiva mudra relating to the condition of liberation (mentioned in several places, including in Ksemaraja's Pratyabhijnahrdayam) is the krama mudra, the "seal of sequentiality" in which there is the sequential movement (krama) of outer awareness into the innermost consciousness, and a countervailing (and sometimes simultaneous) movement of the inner consciousness into outer awareness.
In addition to these, we find mentioned (in TA 32.4-6a, as well as in the Vijnanabhairava-tantra verse 77, and many other places) mudras with such names as the trisulimm - relating to the trident; the karankinim - the skeletal; the krodhanam - the wrathful; the lelihanikam - the seal of tasting or licking, as well as many others. All of these appear to denote "stances" or "gestures" of consciousness of the Saivite mystic in the ascending evolution toward the highest realization.
Thus, the Sambhavi mudra refers to stance of the yogin in which the absolute consciousness is realized in its completeness and totality. It is, therefore, a description of the state of liberation within the body (jivanmukti) and of the impact of that state of absolute consciousness on the limited individuality of the practitioner.
Sambhavi-mudra, the Great Seal of the Absolute
To understand this poem it is necessary to see that the metaphor of the seal as implement is here transposed to the impact (saktipata) of the Absolute. It is like an invisible and transcendent "implement" that emerges from within to "seal" its design on the person of the yogin. Like wax that has been melted, the mind and body of the yogin have been "melted" by dedicated yogic practice. The yogin must be responsive to the impact of this experience of the Absolute. He must not be rigid, contracted, or given over to tightly limiting and constricting activities of the body, the vital energy, and the mind. Such constricted "bodily" activities (representative of those of the ordinary person) would only serve to "harden," as it were, the being of the yogin and to make him unresponsive to the influx of the potency of the Absolute.
All the preliminary stages of yoga thus seem to be meant to prepare the yogin for this condition of responsiveness to the influx of the supreme power or sakti. What is sought, finally, is a kind of existential transparency to absolute consciousness.
Upon reaching the summit of mystical consciousness, the being of the yogin then reveals the shape of the Great "Seal" of the Absolute, like the signet ring that is impressed into the warm and receptive surface of the wax. The resulting shapes and impressions are the mudras of consciousness, even as the force of the impact of the Seal of the Absolute - the state of liberation - is also called a mudra.
Indeed, the body of the enlightened yogin is understood to be continuously forming mudras, some overt, others subtle. Every activity of the enlightened yogin is a mudra: a "gesture" or "sign" that reveals the shape and character of the absolute consciousness that is invisibly impressing itself into the receptive yogin's being. The mudra as pratibimba or counterpart image, then, refers to the responsive molding of the yogin's individuality: the mind, breath, body, and demeanor of the yogin are all shaped by the overwhelming impact of the potency of the Absolute.
It, so to speak, molds the yogin into its own design; it "seals" its imprint on the being of the yogin. In this way, though transcendent, invisible, and beyond the reach of the senses, the Absolute nevertheless, by means of the force or Sakti of its descent into the individuality of the practitioner, reveals its nature in the transformation of the state of the realized yogin. The state of the mystical experience of the absolute consciousness - the sambhavi mudra as bimba or original image or form - can thus be understood to "seal" its effect or invisible design upon the outer assemblage (this is the sense of the term samsthana in verse 3) of the body, breath, and mind of the yogin. This creates the many mudras or physical gestures or responsive demonstrations in the sense of pratibimba or counterpart image or form of the absolute.
Such a double understanding of mudra reflects what the Saivite tradition will call anupaya or "no-practice" (discussed below). It seems to be implicit in Abhinavagupta's definition of mudra that the sense of mudra as yogic practice is subservient to and dependent upon the sense of mudra as spontaneous existential gesture of the condition of liberation. Indeed, in the Tantraloka Abhinavagupta explicitly singles out the spontaneously appearing mudras of consciousness by insisting that "Whatever bodily configuration appears spontaneously in one who has ascended completely to the sphere of the absolute consciousness (khecari cakra), that alone is to be considered a mudra. The rest, which are devoid of the impact of the absolute consciousness, are simply unnatural deformations of the body" (TA 32.65).
This understanding of spontaneously appearing mudras provides us with what amounts to a Tantric theory of origin for mudras. By implication, we can speculate that the strategic practice of mudra appears to be the imitation of such gestures, stances, and poses. What had previously been observed in the posture and demeanor of the enlightened yogin as spontaneous manifestations of deep inner transformation are purposefully imitated by other yogins as a conscious stratagem for precipitating or reduplicating that very state of illuminated consciousness. Although the poem does not explicitly take up these themes, they hover in its conceptual background, particularly in the sharp contrast between the first two verses and the last two.
Sambhavi-mudra and the Nonduality of Siva
This poem sings about abiding in this space of deepest interiority. What is at stake for the Saiva Tantric yogin here is not just a momentary breach or preliminary entry into the supreme consciousness. Rather, the poem extols the state of the most accomplished Saivite mystic for whom the experience of the great Self has matured, stabilized, and become a continuous experience, a quotidian state of being (verse 2).
Such a state is not understood to exclude the dynamic, swirling, and abundant variety of the world. Rather, it is the full revelation of the intrinsic and unchanging source from which this kaleidoscopic drama of samsara continuously emerges and manifests. Therefore, the nonduality of the ultimate consciousness of Siva is understood to be continuous with, contiguous, and subjacent to the differentiated and variegated play of the world. It is the source of all differentiation (srsti), it is that which underlies, supports, and inheres in the variety of differentiation (sthiti), and it is that into which the differentiation finally merges (samhara). In the final state of vision described by the sambhavi mudra, the "world" reveals itself to be only consciousness. It is "sealed" with the stamp of Siva's blissful nonduality. Such a yogin succeeds in tasting the unitary flavor of Siva (ekarasa) in every moment of the apparently differentiated perception of a supposedly separate and objective world.
Whether the accomplished yogin gazes within or without, what is perceived is the boundaryless consciousness of Siva. As a result, for that yogin, the very distinction between inward and outwardly turned perception and, indeed, between self and other, between the supposedly only silent and tranquil absolute consciousness and the apparently only dynamic and active relative world - all of these distinctions collapse.
Because this poem was probably directly addressed to a small audience of initiated disciples, it unfolds against the background of a shared understanding of such philosophical argumentation about the nonduality of Siva, as well as of the complex technicalities of Saiva yoga and its understanding of an ascending path of mystical consciousness. But although the philosophical theology of Abhinavagupta's branch of Saivism posits the notion of advaya or radical nonduality as a fundamental tenet, the Tantric sadhaka nevertheless seeks to actualize fully the experience of this philosophical formulation as the direct and unmediated realization of his daily practice. Indeed, the yogin seeks, finally, a stabilized condition of achieved mystical consciousness that both fulfills and in some significant sense brings to an end all explicit forms of practice.
In the yoga of Saivism, central to such a practice are the forms of samavesa or absorptive meditative merging, of which there are several varieties or degrees of intensity. For Abhinavagupta, the definitive classification of these is to be found in the Malini-vijaya-tantra. There, the yogic methods or means (upayas) for attaining the supreme consciousness are arranged in terms of samavesa. These range from the so-called anava or "minute," to the sakta or "empowered," to the Sambhava or "supreme." Thus, the highest method or degree of yogic absorption is usually termed sambhava: that which relates to Sambhu or Siva. Here, the effort and technique, the dedicated practice and discipline of the lesser modes of Saiva yoga have been left behind. The Sambhava upaya involves the highest states of mystical dissolution of individuality beyond the realm of the thought-constructs.
Furthermore, although effort in any explicit sense has been left behind, such "method" is understood to be empowered by the force and impact of the grace of the master (verse 1). By means of it, the practitioner is led to the ultimately effortless yogic merging into the englobing consciousness of Siva, the absolute consciousness.
The accomplished Saivite mystic is one who - even as his vision falls on the surface play of existence - is capable of penetrating its pulsating layers and continuously discovering, uncovering, and recognizing its ultimate, unitary, and silent source in the supreme consciousness. The seal of Sambhu, the Sambhavi mudra, then, is this paradoxical state of Tantric attainment that is neither exclusive nor repudiatory, nor does it in any way reject the variety of the world's astonishing play.
Abiding in the space that encompasses both inwardness and outwardness in one overarching and paradoxical consciousness, the yogin is capable of seeing that the world now reveals its deeper layers of being, finally laying bare its ultimate and secret source in the resplendent domain of Siva: the silent, pulsating core essence of the supreme consciousness (verse 2).
Although what Abhinavagupta describes in this poem is certainly rooted in the technical practice of Saiva yoga of a complex sort, it enters into the zone of what this and other Saivite traditions characterize as the anupaya or the "method of nopractice." Such a "no-practice method" consists of the summit of the mystical life where the "practice," so to speak, involves abiding in surrender to the Absolute, finally yielding the vestiges of limited individuality to the supreme consciousness. From this vantage point, we can understand this poem as giving expression to that most rarefied of mystical movements: the final transition from the highest practice or method of the Saiva yoga - the sambhava upaya - to the anupaya or "no practice" as the state of liberation and enlightenment itself. Here, the need for yogic practice, method, technique, and effort with regard to mantra, mudra, and breath have all been transcended in the stabilized condition of fully illuminated awareness. Such is the Sambhavi mudra.
In this poem Abhinavagupta, one of the definitive theologians of a branch of the later "high" Hindu Tantra, reveals himself as an ecstatic, mystical poet; Abhinavagupta, the masterly theoretician of Saiva ritual, lays bare his own accomplishment as a yogin; Abhinavagupta, the sober philosopher and capable expositor of the most subtle forms of reasoned philosophical argumentation, allows to be seen as an intoxicated devotee of absolute consciousness. As a result, the poem is less stylistically rigid and formal than many comparable stotras directed toward deities. It is - within the constraints of the rich technical vocabulary that Abhinavagupta employs - quite descriptive and evocative. One senses the extreme familiarity with which Abhinavagupta addresses himself to his theme. As we have seen, in the poem, Abhinavagupta takes features of the technical yoga - in particular the idea of mudra - and transposes them beyond their complexity as practice in order to reveal what he claims to be their true nature.
The poem exists against the background of an immense array of Tantric but finally settles down in the intimacy of the Tantric practitioner's inner state. It is itself an inspired mystical expression, a mudra, if you will, for it attempts to speak in poetic terms of a state of mystical attainment in such a way that carries the weight of that attainment. Finally, the poem is not concerned with philosophical argumentation, nor does it engage in didactic teaching, nor is it instructive about the intricacies of the practice of Saiva yoga - or, indeed, of its complex rituals. It is, in the end, a celebratory exclamation: a stotra or hymn in praise, a true poem in that it gives expression to the direct experience of the absolute with elegance and in a way that opens that experience to others. Hence, Abhinavagupta's title for this stotra: a song of praise intended to communicate (nivedana) the direct experience (anubhava) of the Absolute. Though little known outside Kashmir, the short poetical compositions of Abhinavagupta appear to have been central to the lore of Kashmir for a millennium.
They appeared in published form in 1935 in K. C. Pandey's massive study of Abhinavagupta: Abhinavagupta: An Historical and Philosophical Study, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Studies, vol. 1 (Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1963). Pandey (p. 73) describes finding the Sanskrit text of this poem in a collection of Abhinavagupta's stotras in the possession of one Harabhatt Shastri of Kashmir. He warns us, however, that he finds no other authority for attributing the work to Abhinavagupta. He includes this stotra in Sanskrit (along with a number of other short works by Abhinavagupta) as an appendix to his book. The stotra does not appear in the listing of the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies.
Lilian Silbum tells us that she studied this and other such stotras of Abhinavagupta under the direction of Swami Lakshman Joo. In 1970 she published a translation of a number of them into French, along with a very useful thematic and interpretive introduction and commentary. I have translated the stotra as it appears in Appendix C of Pandey's book (p. 953).
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