Utpaladeva
Pratyabhijna (Recognition) · c. 900-950 CE
Utpaladeva was a Kashmiri philosopher-saint and disciple of Somananda who transformed the intuitive insights of the Spanda and earlier Shaiva traditions into a rigorous philosophical system known as Pratyabhijna, the 'Recognition' school. His central work, the Ishvara-pratyabhijna-karika ('Verses on the Recognition of the Lord'), argues that liberation is not the attainment of something new but the recognition of what has always been the case -- that one's own awareness is the Lord's awareness. Abhinavagupta considered Utpaladeva's work so important that he wrote two extensive commentaries on it. The Recognition philosophy pervades the Tantrasara: the idea that the Light of Consciousness is already fully present and simply needs to be recognized is the foundation of all four Days' teachings.
Key Teachings
- •Liberation is recognition (pratyabhijna) of one's own nature as the Lord (Ishvara).
- •Consciousness is self-luminous and self-aware; it need not be revealed by anything external.
- •The five divine powers (awareness, bliss, will, knowledge, action) are inherent in every being.
- •The apparent world is real -- it is the creative self-expression of Consciousness, not an illusion.