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THE
TANTRASARA
OF
ABHINAVA GUPTA.
Edited with notes by
MAHAMAHOPADHYAYA
PANDIT MUKUND
RAM
SHASTR1,
Sir
Q. C.
I.
E.,
BOMBAY:
PRINTED AT THE 'NIRNAYA-SAQAR' PRESS,
1918.
PK
313/
ft
51
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808994
Mukund Ram
Jammu
II
II
PREFATORY.
Before introducing the reader to the most abstruse and technical contents of this philosophical work I take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the
owners of the manuscripts which have been made the main bases of this edition of the Tantrasara, appearing for the first time as volume XVII of the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies.
there were three manuscript copies used in preparation of this work for the Press. The first of
In
all
these belonging to RajanakaSodarshana of Srinagar consisted of 72 leaves of Kashmiri paper written in Sharada
characters,
a copy was made in this office. It is a transcript of another older manuscript and bears 1903 anno Vikrami (1846 A.D.) as the date of its trans-
and of
this
cription.
it is,
how-
Raman
Kashmir
of Southern India got copied during his visit to On his for acquisition of rare manuscripts.
death here in Kashmir these books fell into the hands of his servants, and from one of them I bought this
my personal use. characters and consists of 48 leaves Devanagiri of old Kashmiri paper. Three more leaves which this
in
lost.
It is
and
full
of omissions.
The
third
the Tantrasara
and the most useful manuscript copy of was the one presented to me at Agra in A brief history of its acquisition would not
It is as old as
and
leaves
II
PREFATORY,
very
old
of
collection of
It Kashmiri paper. belongs to the books which one Manmohan Chandra of Srinagar received as a heritage from his ancestors. During the tenor of the Emperor Shah Jahan the great Moghul's reign the aforesaid Manmohan Chandra left
Kashmir
Court,
Emperor's
precious books of Manmohan Chandra's only about one fifth were available when in 1895 A. D. on my visit to Agra I saw them
settled
there. in a
down
Of the
of preservation with the widowed wife of Kidar Nath, the source of all this information, being
state
through her husband's side, one of the relatives of Narayan Chandra, a descendent of Manmohan Chandra.
When
I revisited
this
city
in 1912, the
widow-
ed wife of Kidar Nath who had no male issue by her deceased husband, found the further preservation of the few remaining books a burden and willingly
presented them to
utility
the Tantrasara written on very old Kashmiri paper in Sharada characters is bound in one cover with ten more
in
some
me way
hope of
their
Of
these
books. 1
to have been copied by one Krishna Swami, as stated by himself at the end of Mahanaya Prakash, one of the books of this collection, in two Shlokas which run thus:
All of
them appear
scribe,
II
II*
Janma Marana Vichara; (b) Amaraugha Shasan; (d) Kama-kala-Vilas; (e) Vatula (c) Mahanaya Prakasha; Natha Sutra Vritti (f) Munimata Vartikam, (g) Bhavopahara1.
(a)
stotram Savivaranam, (h) Spanda Vivriti by Ram Kantha, A jada Pramatri Siddhi, (j) Spanda Vritti by Kallata. (i)
PREFATORY.
It is generally
Ill
correct
and abounds
in marginal
notes.
It
has been
made
it is
a great pleasure to
me
to say
among
Maheshvara who
proofs, has
my
promptitude and efficacy Nirnaya-Sagar Press, Bombay, carried this work through
the Press.
But
in
it
is
policy Literature
Dated
Officer I/O
ABSTRACT.
the Supreme Self or God Himself, but with the only difference of being enwrapped with the veil of ignorance resulting from Mala or imindividual self
is
The
purity (classified under three heads, viz. Anava or littleness or limitation as regards self-knowledge; Maylya or that caused by illusion; and Karma being the outcome
of our deeds, good or
ill ).
That the individual self should realise himself as the Supreme Self, the All-powerful Lord ( Parama Shiva ), who is beyond time and space, dwelling in all beings
but unaffected withal, like a crystal reflecting various hues, sets forth in Agama Shastras or revelations of
divine authorship what is called Jnana or knowledge of oneself as the Supreme Self. With the obtainment of Jfiana the trammels of
are cut asunder
Mala
as
alluded
to above
by dawning
on the
individual
self.
Agama
Shastras forms a short cut towards the approach of Advaita Jnana or knowledge of the Supreme Self
(
Parama Shiva
as identical
self.
Just as the renaissance of the Vedanta system of Philosophy was brought about by the great expounder of the system, Shankara, generally known as Shankara -
of the
Tantra, a leading
voluminous work
plies, is
down in the Malinivijaya of Shaivagama, composed the of Tantraloka which, as the name imwork
Considering the
a cyclopaedia of Shaivagama.
ABSTRACT.
generations the aforesaid Abhinava is called Gupta epitomised the contents thereof in what In a discourse. the Tantrasfira, the subject of our out the prelude to the Tantrasara the author points necessity of the work in a verse which runs thus:
u'
It will
know
that
the present
lays down two ways by which the individual self can realise how he is identical with the
work
Supreme
1
Self.
One way
is
leads to this
end irrespective
as such its
"My
Tantraloka
will
be trying to people of less assiduous thorough study habits. The Tantrasara which is an epitome of the Tantraloka
will
on a small
scale be as
useful to
the
reader
as
the
latter work."
"Ignorance
is
worldly trammels.
in
It has
the Shastras.
With
Mala
Supreme
Self such
stage thus arrived at is called Moksha or freedom from miseries caused by Mala. I expose the means for obtaining
knowledge
whereof
is
VI
ABSTRACT.
of the performance of religious rites and ceremonies, while the other constitutes the three Upayas or means
(
Shambhava, Shakta and Anava ) based respectively on Ichchha, Jnana and Kriya Shaktis of the Supreme
In this connection the author adds
:
Lord.
divided into 22 ahnikas (ahnika, the work done in a day ) and for the signifying literally reader's facility the author finishes each ahnika or
is
This book
chapter by one shloka, giving therein a gist of his detailed discourse. For the reader's information a very brief
summary
of the 22 ahnikas
first
is
given below
The
or
The second shows how by stability of meditation on the significance of the all-important word, Aham, the individual self can realise his oneness with the
Supreme
Self.
The third emphasises the Shambhavupaya means for attainment of the highest Bliss.
as
the
The
fourth dwells
as the
way
Himself,
were,
to
self
identity with
the Supreme Self brings to light the path of Jiiana in the three ways named above."
ABSTRACT.
In the
the author deals with the
VII
fifth
Anavupaya
giving a detailed account of the functions of the Prana and the Apana, the two vital spirits of the body, in the
The sixth contains an elaborate description of the Kaladhva or the significance of Kala or time, beginning from the second, the minute, the hour, the night, the day, the tithi ( time from one moon-rise to another moon-rise ), the month, the year, in short up to the Maha Pralaya ( dissolution of the whole universe ) as based on the working of the Prana, and shows thereby
the
way
of recognition.
stability of meditation significance of the Tattvas, ( viz. from Prithvl Tattva to Shakti Tattva ), enwrapped as they are with
on the
Shanta and Shantyatlta and on the relation existing between them and the
Nivritti, Pratishtha, Vidya,
Kalagni-Rudra and other representatives of the Lord's supremacy as also on the extent etc., of all the Bhuvanas, the individual self can realise oneself as the Supreme This is known as kaladhva. Self.
The
way
of contemplation on
how by attainknowledge therein, the vision of the Highest Reality dawns on the mind of the individual self.
In the ninth the forms of all the Tattvas, taken one by one, are described and it is distinctly stated that stability of meditation thereon is the way to recognition
of oneself as
Parama
Shiva.
describes the three ways Padadhva, Mantradhva and Varanadhva as penetrable in Kaladhva referred to above, and laying special stress on their relation with the Lord's five-fold power and glory, points out the means for Self-knowledge.
The tenth
VIII
ABSTRACT.
In the eleventh
it
is necessary for one to which is another way for attainment of Moksha by means of knowledge of the
become worthy of
Highest Reality.
initiation
The twelfth deals with the ordinances of bathing, so to speak, in divine waters, as preliminary requisites of initiation. The
thirteenth ascertains
disciple,
means
as to test of effici-
ency of a certain
tion as also
of
therewith.
The
another disciple by
The fifteenth contains the"Samut Kramana Diksha", or initiation, by his descendants, for one about to die but desirous of being initiated by grace of the Lord.
The
sixteenth shows the
way
of initiation for
him
inidead or missing in another country. tiation can alone be made by the special grace of his guru or preceptor.
is
who
Such
enjoins how a man of another redenomination can, if he so desire, be initiated in ligious Shaivaism after being freed from his former belief.
The seventeenth
in
which an
The nineteenth
initiated but
beyond
on
his
death,
for
the other
who may
may
ABSTRACT.
IX
the various
religious
The twentieth
lays
down
ordinances for an initiate, such as recitation of the Mantras, study of the Scriptures, redemptions for
regulation of his conduct, adoration of his guru etc., etc.
The
the Shaivagama
internal
"Kula
and modes of
work,
is
silent as to the
date of
its
composition.
But
as, in his
great
from
Tshvara Pratyabhijna Vimarshin!, which, he himself says, was written by him in the year 4115 of the Kali age, corresponding to 1014 A. D., it follows
that the
A. D.
former was composed after the year 1014 Now the date of composition of the Tantrasara
which is an epitome of the Tantraloka must necessarily be some time later than 1014 A. D.
to the lineage of Abhinava Gupta and a brief history of his age as well as of his literary activity, as recorded by himself in his Tantraloka and other books,
As
is
invited to
my
introduction on
this Series.
SRINAGAR,
KASHMIR,
The 20th Nov. 1918.
i
)
Jammu
and Kashmir
State.
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