Pratyabhijñana Karika: The Sutras of Recognition

In the spiritual process of recognition, because what we recognize is none other than our very Self, we recognize what we already have always known. We remember that we remember. A cosmic amnesia lifts, an obscuration is lifted, an ethereal fog drifts away, and there takes place a penetrating shift in our perception of ourselves and of the cosmos.

This shift, which radically restructures our self-experience, is more than just memory, however. It is the immanent flowering of consciousness that blooms a fresh and liberating bouquet of fullness in which reality is seen as it truly is and always has been.

Transcript

The Pratyopikyan Karika by Kshemaraja Translation by Jaideva Singh Sutra 1 The absolute consciousness of its own free will is the cause of the emanation of the universe. By the power of her will alone, She unfolds the universe upon her own screen, In herself, As the basis of the universe. That universe is manifold because of the differentiation of object and subject. The individual experiencer also, In whom consciousness is contracted, Has the universe as their body in a contracted form. Universal consciousness itself, Descending from the state of uncontracted, Becomes individual consciousness inasmuch as it becomes contracted in conformity with the objects of consciousness. And although she is one, She becomes twofold, Threefold, Fourfold form, And of the nature of seven pentads. The positions of various systems of philosophy are only various roles of that consciousness or self. As a result of its limitation of shakti, Reality which is all consciousness becomes the malakavard samsarin. Even in this condition of the empirical self, The individual does the five acts just as Shiva. These five acts are manifesting, Relishing, Experiencing as self, Settling of the seed, And dissolution. To be a samsarin means being deluded by one's own powers because of the ignorance of that authorship of the fivefold act. Acquiring the full knowledge of it, The individual consciousness itself, By inward movement, Becomes universal consciousness by rising to the status of cetana. The fire of citti, Even when it descends to the lower stage, Though covered by maya, Partly burns the fuel of the known objects. In acquiring the inherent power of citti, The aspirant assimilates the universe to himself or herself. When the bliss of citt is attained, One is stable in the consciousness of identity with citt, Even while the body is being experienced. This state is called jivanukti, Liberation even while one is alive. With the development of the madhya comes the acquisition of the bliss of consciousness in the center. The means for the development of the center are the dissolution of vikalpa, Sankuja, Vikasa of shakti, Cutting of the vahas, The practice of the contemplation of the point, The extremity of the beginning and the end. In vyottana, Which is full of the after-effects of samadhi, One finds the attainment of permanent samadhi by dwelling on one's identity with citt, The universal supreme consciousness, Over and over again. Then, On the attainment of krama mudra, As a result of entering into the perfect I-consciousness or self, Which is in essence citt and ananda, Consciousness and bliss, And of the nature of the power of the great mantra, There accrues the attainments of lordship over one's group of the deities of consciousness that brings about all emanation and reabsorption of the universe. All this is the nature of jiva.