Foreword ix The thinkers of this school point out that its diff- erence from that of Vedanta consists in this: The Lord who is of the nature of Consciousness is const- antly engaged in fivefold sanasya brahmavadibhyaḥ pancavidha-krtyakäritvam - activity-Isvaradvayadar- ayam eva višeşaḥ - sadā cidātmano bhagavataḥ (Kṣemarāja, Pratyabhijnahrdaya). Siva is the substratum as well as the sole possessor of infinite powers (ananta- śaktiratnānām ekāśraya'), which constitute His very nature, (svabhäva); and so, He is unlike the insentient- like, powerless and quiescent Brahman of Vedānta- Na punaḥ santabrahmavādinām iva saktivirahitam jadakalpam (Abhinavagupta, Paramarthasara). The world is not at all different from Consciousness, for it is the pure and free Consciousness which flashes forth as the world of infinite multiplicity-Nanu jagad api Cito bhinnam naiva kincit--Cideva bhagavatī svaccha- svatantrarūpā tattadanantajagadātmanā sphurati (Pratyabhijnahrdaya) Power is the freedom (svatan- trya) of Consciousness. One's own awareness, logic and scripture establish that the nature of the self is of the form of the supreme Lord. Svasamvedanopapatty-agamasiddham mahesvararüpam atmasvarupam (Bhaskarī on Isvara- pratyabhijnavimarsini). Liberation is the manifestation of one's own power through the destruction of the knot of ignorance, and the attainment of the Supreme Lordship through the removal of ego-sense (abhi- māna)- Ajñanagranthibhida svasaktyabhivyaktatā mokṣaḥ (Paramarthasara). Paramesvaratālābho muktih (Isvarapratyabhij navimarsinī). 1. Abhinavagupta, Isvarapratyabhijnavimarsini, intro. Gita-2
