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

46 Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta within His own self known as Śiva. His will to create a particular type of phenomenon presupposes its existence inside His aware- ness, because nothing particular could have otherwise become the object of His conation, or creation. The phenomenon appears initially in Him and that is due to His cognitive power. It shines clearly in Him as the object to be created and is thus created there actually through His creative power. Its outward creation is due to the phenomenal growth of His kriyā-śakti. A worldly creator also follows such process. He creates only that thing outwardly which is initially created by him in his own self. A painter creates initially a wonderful form in his own will and then he illuminates it thoroughly while forming a clear idea about it in his mind and afterwards he starts to paint it actually on a board. So does the Lord create the phenomenon in His own subjective self before manifesting it outwardly and objectively. That is the interior creation which the couplet in hand is meant to express. पुनरपि च पञ्चशक्तिप्रसरणक्रमेण बहिरपि तत् । अण्डत्रयं विचित्रं सृष्टं बहिरात्मलाभेन ॥ ४६ ॥ 46. Punarapi ca pañca-śakti-prasaraṇa- krameṇa bahirapi tat Aṇḍa-trayaṁ vicitraṁ sṛṣṭaṁ bahirātma-lābhena. At the next step the Lord created outwardly the complexly wonderful three spheres (of Māyā, Prakṛti and Pṛthvī) by manifes- ting and finding Himself outwardly as well through the process of outward manifestation of His five divine powers. The five divine powers of the Lord are: cit or pure consciousness, ānanda or blissfulness, icchā or conative power, jñāna or cognitive power and kriyā or creative porwer. These powers shine in Him as His own self. Their outward manifestation reflects them as the creation of the objective existence consisting of three spheres of Māyā, the causal creation, Prakṛti, the subtle creation and Pṛthvī, the gross creation. The whole of such creation is complexly wonderful. It is the outward or objective manifestation of the essential nature of God. Here He finds out His own self in an objective aspect and that is His 'bahirātma-lābha'.