तन्त्रसार (महामाहेश्वर अभिनवगुप्त - तन्त्रालोक का प्रामाणिक सार-संग्रह सटीक)

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sandhenātmā ) as regards to the essential Reality. For the purpose of keeping the essential Reality ever luminous in his view, the yogin takes resort to this form of Vikalpa for the maturity of his awareness. Parameśvara is by nature pure consciousness and is ever full. His fullness is His Śakti, the Divine I-consciousness. By the grace of Śuddhavidyā one has to take resort to Cit Śakti which finally leads the aspirant to Śambhu, the Lord. V When vikalpa cannot by itself becomes pure and there- fore one has to depend on other means for its purification, in that case the aspirant is decidedly staying in the lower stage of spiritual development, or in other words, Śaktipāta has occurred in him in a lesser degree. Therefore, for the purification of vikalpas, he, being limited himself, takes resort to such means as are limited. Hence the individual takes up buddhi, prāṇa or body itself for this purpose. Among the aspirants who is more advanced, proceeds on the path of dhyāna. The Tantrasāra has given briefly how this contemplative meditation is to be performed. Though it is called dhyāna yet it is quite distinct from dhyānas as are found mentioned in various holy texts. In short, it is unlike those in which the aspirant imagines his desired deity as having a face and limbs. The Tantrasāra describes dhyāna in the following manner. The self-luminous essential Reality who abides in all, is to be meditated upon by the aspirant in the core of the cons- cious heart. The meditation is to be performed in such a way that the three, namely, the Subject, the instrument of knowledge and the object representing the fire, the sun and the moon respectively, have coalesced together and have become the unity of a single mass. The meditation is to be