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

lvii the great light of consciousness which shines in multifarious forms, is really His Śivahood (Śivatā)¹ After consecrating the body the worshipper then per- forms Śūlābjanyāsa in the vital energy. One should think of the earth, the water, the fire and the wind above ādhāraśakti which is situated four digits below the navel. One digit each is occupied by the earth and the others. Kanda is supposed to be like a boat to help crossing the ocean. The air is functioning there and the sky is lying within them. Then the worshipper thinks of a staff named Ananta going upto lambikā, the aperture below the palate (tālurandhra). It contains all the tanmātrās and others. It terminates in kalā. Above it there is the knot of māyā where four legs of the Siṁhāsana in the forms of the lion stand. Dharma, jñāna, Vairāgya and aiśvarya have taken these forms, whereas adharma, ajñāna, avairāgya and anaiśvarya are the joining planks. They occupy south-east, south-west, north-west and north-east respectively, adharma and others occupy the east, the south, the west and the north. Above māyā and below the trident the siṁhāsana is covered with two sheets of cloth---the lower one represents māyā for veiling the real nature and the upper one is for the purpose of covering māyā itself. The worshipper then medi- tates on the vidyā Kamala, that is Śuddhavidyā as a white lotus. Its petals are oceupied by Śaktis known as vāmā and others which Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra representing creation, maintenance and dissolution, meya, māna and mātṛ superin- tending on three maṇḍalas one above the other from lambikā onward. Above Rudra Īśvara is located and further above Sadāśiva is lying, like a corpse, but he is everawake and is of

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