About the book

“This book is a scholarly endeavour to comprehend the concepts of Bhairava (Supreme Reality) and bhāvanā (creative contemplation) in the Trika Saiva philosophy of Kashmir. It examines how the process of bhāvanā underlies the means prescribed to experience Bhairava, conceived as Supreme Consciousness in Trika Śaivism.
The book critically analyses the potential role of bhāvanā in its various forms like concentration (dhāranā), power of mantra (mantravīrya), spiritual reasoning (sattarka), and creative visualisation (bhāvanā) in bringing about paradigmatic shifts in human consciousness and to prepare it for experience of higher states of consciousness. Metaphysically, the highest state of consciousness is termed as the Supreme Consciousness and theologically, it is named as Bhairava in the Trika discipline. This book delves deep into the hermeneutics of Bhairava and underscores the significance of bhāvanā as the most vital technique of refinement of consciousness (vikalpa-saṁskāra) on which the whole upāya system of Trika is anchored.
This research is based on close study of the Vijñānabhairava Tantra, the Siva Sūtras, and the Tantrāloka, making it an in-depth enquiry into Trika philosophy with its roots in the non-dual Bhairava tantras.’’

Contents

A Note on Philosophical Terminology and Ancient Theistic Symbolism

Part I: Kashmiri Śaivism

Introduction – Kashmiri Śaivism: Spiritual Tradition and Metaphysics

1. Framework of Ancient Tantric Saiva Traditions

2. Trika Śaivism of Kashmir: One Reality with an Unbroken Proliferation

Part II: Bhairava: The Supreme Consciousness

3. Hermeneutics of Bhairava

4. Bhairava in the Vijñānabhairava Tantra

5. Bhairava in the Siva Sūtras

6. Bhairava in Chapter One of the Tantrāloka

Part III: Bhāvanā, The Power of Creative Contemplation

7. Concept of Bhāvanā in different Texts and Traditions

8. Bhāvanā in Trika Philosophy

9. Bhāvanā in the Vijñānabhairava Tantra

10. Bhāvanā in the Siva Sūtras

11. Bhāvanā in the Tantrāloka Chapter Four Conclusion: Bhairava is Perceiver, and Bhāvanā is His Act of Perception

Part IV: Appendices

Appendix I: Trika Śaivism: A Theological Metaphysics of Consciousness

Appendix II: Emanation of Appearances as Manifestation of Universe on the Screen of Supreme Consciousness: Ābhāsa

Appendix III: Thirty-six Principles of Universal Origination

Appendix IV: Five Faces of Siva

Appendix V: List of Sixty-Four Bhairava Tantras

Appendix VI: Story of Bhairava in the Siva Purāṇa

Appendix VII: Saiva Tantric Traditions

Bibliography

Index