Prakāśa is a concept of Kashmir Shaivism

Kashmir Shaivism

Among the various Hindu philosophies, Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism consisting of Trika and its philosophical articulation Pratyabhijña...

 translated by various authors as "light", "splendour", "light of consciousness" (identified with Śiva

Siva

Siva may refer to:*Shiva, a major Hindu God*Živa , a Slavic goddess*A pro-apoptotic signaling protein*1170 Siva, asteroid named after the god*Siva , name of several rural localities in Russia...

) (Swami Lakshman Joo), "luminous and undifferentiated consciousness" (Paul E. Murphy) or "primordial light beyond all manifestations" (Paul Muller-Ortega). Fellow Tantric

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

 practitioners Tibetan Buddhists

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

 practice Clear Light yoga

Ösel (yoga)

Ösel , the Yoga of the Clear Light Ösel (tib. hod-gsal; od gsal), the Yoga of the Clear Light Ösel (tib. hod-gsal; od gsal), the Yoga of the Clear Light (often translated as 'Radiant Light' (Sanskrit: prabhasvara), referring to the 'intrinsic purity' (Tibetan: ka-dag) of the substratum of the...

 based on a similar concept.

Prakāśa is considered supreme, ultimate, unsurpassable, but as such it cannot be described as pure transcendence

Transcendence (religion)

In religion transcendence refers to the aspect of God's nature which is wholly independent of the physical universe. This is contrasted with immanence where God is fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways...

, because even though it is above all, it is still present in the manifestation, in every aspect of it. Thus prakāśa is said to be both transcendent and immanent.

The prakāśa-vimarśa couple

Uncreated light (prakāśa) is the essence of Śiva. Its function is to illuminate, to make manifest. However, Kashmir Shaivism

Kashmir Shaivism

Among the various Hindu philosophies, Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism consisting of Trika and its philosophical articulation Pratyabhijña...

 declares that the nature of prakāśa is "self apprehension", or, to reflect upon itself. "If the supreme light were devoid of this free and spontaneous self-referential capacity, it would be powerless and inert".Prakāśa and vimarśa form a couple at the supreme level, identified respectively with Śiva

Siva

Siva may refer to:*Shiva, a major Hindu God*Živa , a Slavic goddess*A pro-apoptotic signaling protein*1170 Siva, asteroid named after the god*Siva , name of several rural localities in Russia...

 and Śakti

Sakti

Sakti is a town and a nagar palika in Janjgir-Champa district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh.It was the seat of the princely Sakti State.-Geography:Sakti is located at . It has an average elevation of 237 metres .-Demographics:...

.

Related terms and synonimes

Kashmir Shaivism accords a very important role to the concept of consciousness as light, so, repeatedly trying to describe this essentially undescribable experience, has given it a plurality of names:

• sphurattā - twinkling, spark
• ābhāsa - splendour, light, appearance, shining forth
• pratibhā - to shine upon, become clear or manifest, intuition
• - glittering , sparkling
• ullāsa - light, splendour, bright

Subjective experiences of prakāśa

There is no way a personal experience of prakāśa could be fully conveyed into words, but mystics, both ancient and modern, have tried to do so, because such words carry a powerful spiritual charge. Some of the subjective attributes of the light of consciousness, in synthesis, are: "liquid", "blissful", "immaculate", "blinding", "enveloping" and "weightless". Here are but a few of the many accounts:

Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna of India was a yogi, mystic, teacher, social reformer, and writer. His autobiography is known under the title Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man....

, in his first experience of the awakening of kundalini

Kundalini

Kundalini literally means coiled. In yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...

 has experienced luminous manifestations he described as:

• "a halo of light",
• "a stream of liquid light",
• "waves of light" and
• "a sea of light"

Jaideva Singh

In his translation of uses such formulations :

• about consciousness : "the perfect I-consciousness is full of light and bliss"
• about the spiritual heart : " is not the physical heart. It had been called because it is the center of reality. It is the light of consciousness."
• the world as seen from the perspective of the liberated being - "the world no longer appears as mere earth, but as clothed in celestial light".

Ramakrishna

A mystical experience of Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna , born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay , was a famous mystic of 19th-century India. His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda – both were influential figures in the Bengali Renaissance as well as the Hindu...

, representing a turning point for him :

• "Everything vanished, as if there was nothing anywhere! And what was that I saw? A boundless, endless, conscious ocean of light;...; brilliant rows of waves were roaring towards me"

Yogananda

A few accounts of encounters with the uncreated light, by Yogananda :

• "I saw a blinding light, enveloping my body and the entire room"
• "a fluid piercing light streaming from every pore;...; my sense of identity was no longer confined to a body but embraced the circumambient atoms"
• "I gazed at my arms and moved them back and forth, yet could not feel their weight; ecstatic joy overwhelmed me... the illusion of a solid body was completely dissipated, as my realization deepened that the essence of all things is light"

by is an intensely devotional text of Kashmir Shaivism. Here are some quotes referring to the light of consciousness :

• Parameśvara ... "blindingly shining in eternity"
• Śañkara ... "infinite light who's essence is the pure ambrosia"
• Śiva ... "you are the white-shining essence, origin of every intention, unchanged in each reincarnation"

Abhinavagupta

A few selective quotes from Tantraloka

Tantraloka

Tantrāloka is the masterwork of Abhinavagupta, who was in turn the most revered Kashmir Shaivism master. On account of its size and scope it is a veritable encyclopedia of nondual Shaivism, a treasure text containing the synthesis of the 64 monistic āgamas and all the schools of Kashmir Shaivism....

 of Abhinavagupta

Abhinavagupta

Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...

:

• "By the means of the splendid light that shines in the immaculate heart, one obtains union with Śiva"
• "The yogi who has had the experience of the great light enters into the condition of being of the nature of Śiva"
• "The consciousness is formed of light and beatitude"