महामाहेश्वरश्रीमदभिनवगुप्तपादाचार्यस्य श्रीतन्त्रालोकः- Abhinavagupta's Sri Tantraloka and Other Works: First Time English Translation with Sanskrit Texts (Volume- 8, Chapters 30-37)

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Both Advaita Vedanta and Tantra find their origin in the Vedas, but their detailed analysis, commentary and propagation can be traced back to two monumental figures in our spiritual history - Adi Sankaracarya (788-820 AD) from Kerala and Acarya Abhinavagupta (915-1020 AD) from Kashmir. It is significant that we owe our knowledge of these great systems of thought to savants from the very ends of the Indian subcontinent. Kashmir Saivism or Trika Sastra is a unique branch of Indian Philosophy which occupies a very special place in our spiritual history. It has produced a large number of great gurus and scholars of which Acarya Abhinavagupta was pre-eminent. The astounding quality of his twelve volumes of his work on Tantra and its tremendous sweep remains a significant milestone in our spiritual tradition. Of his many works, his magnum opus is the massive Tantraloka which is virtually an encyclopedia of tantric knowledge, and locates the teaching in the mouth of Lord Siva Himself.

To the best of my knowledge the present is the first complete English translation of this colossal work rendered by the combined efforts of Professor Satya Prakash Singh and Swami Maheshvarananda with their years of practice of yoga and tantra, philosophy Eastern and Western, psychology Freudian and Jungian, Sanskrit and English. This is evident from dozens of their publications and papers ranging over areas like yoga, history and culture on A.N. Whitehead, C.G. Jung. Veda and the history of yoga, linguistics and many more. It was by virtue of deep understanding that an English translation of such a massive work as the Tantraloka could be accomplished lucidly by these scholars after a lapse of almost a millennium from the time of Abhinavagupta himself. But for Tantraloka, the disciplines of Yoga and Tantra would have remained only a dream in its relationship to philosophy and yoga. Tantraloka, indeed, by virtue of its wide and integrative attempt, would have been lost for ever to the modern world getting diminished to the state of a mere cult instead of opening the doors to the mystery of human psychology and physiology.

It would be inappropriate for me to attempt any kind of description regarding Kashmir Saivism. The great acaryas have left this rich tradition to us and it is now necessary to preserve and transmit it to future generations. The last acarya of Kashmir Saivism, Swami Lakshmanji, with whom I had a very close personal association, passed away a few years ago without nominating any successor. Although many scholars and sadhakas are practicing the Saivism discipline, it seems that the gurusisya tradition of Kashmir Saivism has come to a close unless a new acarya emerges, which is always possible. Meanwhile, the publication of the major texts of Kashmir Saivism, especially the Tantraloka, is an important pre-requisite for students of this great philosophy in India and around the world.

I warmlycongratulate Professor Satya Prakash SinghandSwami Maheshvarananda for undertaking the massive task of translating Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka and other minor works into English. Partial translations are available but, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that the entire corpus of Tantraloka is being presented in the original Sanskrit and a lucid English translation, I pay my homage to the great Acarya Abhinavagupta, May Param Śiva bestow His blessings on us all, and thereby redeem mankind from the strife and violence that is plaguing the world. Aum Namah Sivaya.

Tantraloka means light on Tantra which literally means thread. This thread, however, happens to have been used in one of its earliest usage in the Rgveda itself in such a deep sense as understanding binding the entire reality together in a single fold of comprehension so beneficial as to transform the human nature of all its baser kind of tendency into the most idealistic form which is known as the divine. The mantra concerned advises wise men as follows:

While spreading the thread for weaving out into a piece of cloth, follow the illumination of the higher light and safeguard the path having been prepared through meditative effort. Weave out the cloth out of the ideas spun in the form of the threads setting them perfectly in an even form and thus become contemplative humans having the prospect of giving birth to the class of divine beings. (Rgveda, X.53.6)

Remarkably enough, this suggestion of the Vedic seer seems to have found out its best recipient in Abhinavagupta and that also in the form of his Tantraloka, as the epitome of wisdom screened out of the Tantras coming out of the mouth of Siva by way of response to the queries of his consort, the Goddess, an embodiment of His own creativity. Very many of the Tantras whose essence has been absorbed in the Tantraloka have disappeared by this time owing to convulsions of history to be not available to us today. On this account, the Tantraloka become all the more important for the humanity as it has embodied in it the invaluable wisdom contained in them by such a genius par excellence as Abhinavagupta, a yogin, tantrika, psychologist, philosopher and aesthetician all combined in him together.

Abhinavagupta's (950-1020 AD) ancestry goes back to Kannauj to a clan of Brahmanas with Agastya as the name of their lineage. One eminent scholar of this clan named Atrigupta was taken to Kashmir by King Lalitaditya in course of his victory over Yasovarman, the King of Kannauj in 736 A.D. Lalitaditya was not only a great warrior but also a lover of learning. It was out of his love for learning that he took Atrigupta along with him to Kashmir. Kannauj at that time was a great centre of learning as is borne out by their migration to Bengal for conducting certain yajnas by the Sen Dynasty of kings. Atrigupta was provided with a mansion at the bank of the river Vitasta now known as Jhelum in the vicinity of a temple of Śiva. This seems to have been done on account of Atrigupta's devotion to this deity. This event belongs to the eighth century AD.

It was in the lineage of Atrigupta that after a few generations was born Varahagupta. He was the grandfather of Abhinavagupta born of his son Narasimhagupta known popularly as Cukhulaka. Narasimhagupta was a highly learned pandit conversant with several branches of learning such as grammar, literature, aesthetics and the system of logic. Abhinava's mother was Vimala who died quite young in the early childhood of Abhinava. Mother being the centre of affection for a child, her demise at that early stage of Abhinava's life caused the renunciatory tendency in Abhinava left solely to the care of his father for bringing him up as well as for his education.

As regards the aspect of learning, Abhinava has paid glowing tributes to his father in initiating him into all those branches of Sanskrit learning as were mastered by him. With this educational background prepared by his father along with the renunciatory tendency caused by the demise of the mother in early childhood accentuated immense love for learning in Abhinava diverting his mind from enjoyment of the luxuries of life as made available to him ancestrally in the beautiful surrounding of the land at the bank of the mighty Vitasta, particularly close to the temple of Siva with all His cultural background of renunciation and source of wisdom.