Light and Reflective Awareness

Prakasha and Vimarsha are the two inseparable aspects of the one divine Consciousness, forming the most fundamental concept in nondual Shaiva philosophy. Prakasha is the 'Light of Creation' or 'Light of Consciousness' -- the luminous, self-shining nature of awareness that makes all experience possible. It is the fact that things appear at all. Vimarsha is 'reflective awareness' or 'self-recognition' -- the capacity of that Light to know itself, to turn back upon itself and say 'I am.' Without vimarsha, prakasha would be like a mirror with no one to look into it -- shining but inert. Together, they constitute the fullness of Shiva: prakasha is his being, vimarsha is his power (Shakti). Abhinavagupta teaches in the Tantrasara that self-awareness 'is not like conventional thought, but is rather filled with the Supreme Resonance, inseparable from one's essence-nature as pure Awareness.' This concept pervades every Day of the text. In Day One, the goal is defined as recognizing one's nature as this Light. In Day Two, the spontaneously realized person simply abides as this self-luminous awareness. In Day Three, the phonemic matrix shows how vimarsha articulates itself as the alphabet of creation.