Pratyabhijna

(“recognition”) Doctrine advanced by
many different schools of tantra, a
secret, ritually defined religious practice, and particularly by the Kashmiri
philosopher Abhinavagupta, the most
influential figure in Trika Shaivism. It
holds that the final realization of the
Absolute is simply a “re-cognition” of
one’s essential unity with the Divine.
This unity has always existed and has
never been altered, the only factor preventing it from being clearly seen being
the obscuring power of false understanding. Final unity with the Divine,
therefore, comes not through doing anything, but simply through realizing what
has always been the case. This doctrine
clearly shows the influence of the
Advaita Vedanta philosophical school,
but with an important shift. The Advaita
school upholds a philosophical position
known as monism, which is the belief
that a single abstract ultimate principle—which they call Brahman—lies
behind all things, and that all things are
only particular manifestations of that
one principle. The “Recognition” school
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Pratihara Dynasty
adopts this general principle but conceives of Ultimate Reality theistically,
as the god Shiva. For Trika Shaivism,
Shiva is the sole true reality, who is
both supreme god, and the source of
the material universe. For further
information see Jaideva Singh, Pratyabhijnanahrdayam, 1982.