परमार्थसार (महामाहेश्वर अभिनवगुप्त - त्रिक-दर्शन, अद्वैत शैव साधना एवं सान्वय सटीक)

2 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta monistic view but even he comes closer to mythology and pushes to background the absolutist character of the monistic reality. Therefore his Viśuddhādvaita is different from the advaita of Patañ- jali which comes closer to the Upaniṣadic Vedānta. Patañjali's views are highly theistic in character and therefore fall apart from the Vivartavāda of the philosophers in Śaṅkara's line. Paramārtha- sāra of Patañjali is thus the most ancient philosophic treatise on the theistic absolutism of Vaiṣṇavite character. Abhinavagupta, being attracted very much by the style, the method and the technique of Ādiśeṣa, adopted it, made sufficient changes, additions and alterations in the text of the work and presented it as a very good textbook of Kashmir Śaivism, useful for beginners. The language of the work of Abhinavagupta is very simple and its style is sufficiently lucid and clear. It avoids discus- sions on many controversial topics of philosophy and does not touch the views of any antagonists, but presents, in stead, the main principles of Kashmir Śaivism alone. It does not resort to the method of dry logic, but states the principles and doctrines in a simple style. Higher philosophic works like Īśvarapratyabhijñā and Śivadṛṣṭi adopt a method of subtle logic, but Paramārthasāra avoids logical discussions. It throws light on all the important and basic principles of the philosophy of Kashmir Śaivism and is thus the best available textbook to start its study. It is highly helpful in understanding the works of higher standard like Īśvarapratya- bhijñā of Utpaladeva. The basic principles of Kashmir Śaivism, dealt with in Paramār- thasāra of Abhinavagupta, include those listed below: Metaphysical reality, ontology of Śaivism, the theory of the basic causation, the source of the objective creation, the wonderful nature of the phenomenon, its manifestation in the manner of a reflection, the process of the evolution of the thirty-six tattvas, the universe as it runs, bondage and its causes, liberation and its means, varieties in liberation, practical paths that lead to it, the position of an imperfect practitioner, his delayed spiritual evolu- tion and so on. It deals thus quite comprehensively with the sub- ject and that is its important merit as a textbook. Kṣemarāja was a disciple of Abhinavagupta. His disciple was Yogarāja, who wrote a detailed commentary on Paramārthasāra. That commentary explains fully the couplets of Abhinavagupta and discusses in detail many subtle principles of Kashmir Śaivism.