Utpaladeva (c. 900–950 CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian from
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
. He belonged to the Trika Shaiva tradition and is the most important thinker of the Pratyabhijñā school of
monistic
Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
idealism
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...
.Torella, Raffaele (2021), ''Utpaladeva: Philosopher of Recognition'', pp. 1-3. DK Printworld (P) Ltd, His ''Īśvarapratyabhijñā-Kārikā'' (IPK, ''Verses on the Recognition of the Lord'') were the most important and central work of the Pratyabhijñā school. Utpaladeva was a major influence on the great exegete
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, pag ...
, whose works later overshadowed those of Utpaladeva. However, according to the
Indologist
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') i ...
Raffaele Torella "most of Abhinavagupta’s ideas are just the development of what Utpaladeva had already expounded."
Philosophy
Torella characterizes Utpaladeva's philosophy as a "unique blend of
epistemology
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Epi ...
,
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
,
religious experience
A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense ...
,
linguistic philosophy
__notoc__
Linguistic philosophy is the view that many or all philosophical problems can be solved (or dissolved) by paying closer attention to language, either by reforming language or by better understanding our everyday language. The former po ...
and
aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
speculation."Torella, Raffaele (2021), ''Utpaladeva: Philosopher of Recognition'', p. 10. DK Printworld (P) Ltd,
Theology
For Utpaladeva, the supreme reality,
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...
, is "an absolute I", the
atman Atman or Ātman may refer to:
Film
* ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto
* ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo
People
* Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...
consciousness
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
.Torella, Raffaelle (1994). ''The Ishvarapratyabhijnakarika of Utpaladeva with the Author's Vrtti: Critical edition and annotated translation.'' p. xxix. Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente erie Orientale Roma LXXI As Torella notes, Utpaladeva constantly works to prove, contra the
Buddhists
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
, that there is "a single, dynamic subject that unifies and animates the discontinuity of reality and constitutes the substratum of every limited subject, as well as of every form and activity of everyday life."
Utpaladeva's view of God is stated in the ''Īśvarapratyabhijñā-Kārikā'':
There is only one Great Divinity, and it is the very inner Self of all creatures. It embodies itself as all things, full of unbroken awareness of three kinds: “I”, “this”, and “I am this.”
According to Torella, another important and original contribution of Utpaladeva is his doctrine of "abhasas" (light, radiance, manifestations), which sees everything as radiant manifestations of the ultimate consciousness of Shiva which is their necessary foundation. Each "manifestation" is a kind of
universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
and is connected with a specific Sanskrit word. Torella also notes however that the term abhasa was not a new term "but was commonly used in the Vedantic and Buddhist schools."
Torella explains Utpaladeva's view of God as follows:
This I or Consciousness is, on the religious plane, Siva. In his highest form, the supreme divine personality is solely 'I' - consisting of consciousness and beatitude - in whom all the principles are contained though in a state of complete dissolution. He is present throughout the IPK as the ultimate essence of every reality and is also directly mentioned here and there, even if the stage is generally occupied by a less extreme form of him, which balances between transcendence and immanence. In fact, being an expository work, which requires an object to teach and a recipient of this teaching; it cannot but deal with that form of the God which is open to the world of manifestation, whilst firmly remaining its sovereign. On the supreme plane there is only the I resting in his fullness and no trace of the knowable remains...this more accessible form of the God is connected with the second level. It is mainly indicated as Mahesvara, Isvara, Isa, Prabhu, whereas the supreme form is often given the name of Siva or Paramesvara, but there certainly are exchanges between these two series - which indirectly points out the fact that it is a question of a sole reality and that every distinction of degree and figure is purely instrumental to the expository requirements.
This supreme reality expresses itself through a scale of tattvas (reality) in a manner similar to that of Shaivasiddhanta philosophy (all the while remaining thoroughly monistic in character).
Utpaladeva also provided an argument for the existence of God (Ishvara) which was at least partly drawn on Nyaya sources. According to Isabelle Ratie, this argument states that "the universe is an effect consisting of a specific arrangement that must have been created by an intelligent agent considered as its efficient cause." Furthermore, for Utpaladeva, given the complexity and harmony of the universe, this creator must be omniscient and
omnipotent
Omnipotence is the quality of having unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as one ...
.
Recognition
As Torella notes, the key element in Utpaladeva's theology of liberation is the idea of "recognition" ( pratyabhijñā) and how to achieve it. This is none other than the act of recognizing that oneself is the supreme Shiva himself. As Torella explains, recognition is:
merely the triggering in the devout of an act of identification, which does not reveal anything new but only rends the veils that hid the I from himself; a cognition is not created but only the blur that prevented its use, its entering into life, is instantly removed. The way by which the master creates the premises for this to occur may, on the contrary, be gradual: this is what Utp. does with his work, which aims through a series of arguments at bringing to light the powers of the I and those of the Lord, until identification is triggered. The practice of such a linear (avakra) path is enough to enter into the nature of Siva and achieve the condition of liberated in life, which may also be accompanied by the extraordinary powers...This occurs within everyday reality just as it is. The light of liberation does not cause its colours to fade, does not cover them but brightens them, performing the miracle of eliminating otherness whilst maintaining the richness of individual flavours.
The influence of Buddhism
Utpaladeva's philosophy extensively draws on and at the same time criticizes the work of the Buddhist Vijñanavadaschool of pramana, particularly that of
Dharmakīrti
Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 6th or 7th century; Tibetan: ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་; Wylie: ''chos kyi grags pa''), was an influential Indian Buddhist philosopher who worked at Nālandā.Tom Tillemans (2011)Dharmakirti Stanford ...
. Torella writes that "the criticism of their positions is to Utpaladeva of a substantial help in building and refining the Pratyabhijñā philosophy." While Utpaladeva agrees with the Buddhist critique of the
Nyaya
(Sanskrit: न्याय, ''nyā-yá''), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment",Torella, Raffaele (2021), ''Utpaladeva: Philosopher of Recognition'', p. 6. DK Printworld (P) Ltd.
Torella writes that Utpaladeva's lengthy examination and criticism of the Dignaga-Dharmakirti school of Buddhism "resulted in, or at least was accompanied by, the peculiar phenomenon of a more or less conscious absorption of their doctrines and their terminology, that was to leave substantial traces in the structure of the Pratyabhijñá."Torella, Raffaelle (1994). ''The Ishvarapratyabhijnakarika of Utpaladeva with the Author's Vrtti: Critical edition and annotated translation.'' p. xxii. Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente erie Orientale Roma LXXI This may have also been a way for Utpaladeva to increase the prestige of his school by adopting some of the ways of a respected opponent. Some of the Buddhist ideas which are borrowed and developed by Utpaladeva are the theories of anupalabdhi and
apoha
Buddhist logico-epistemology is a term used in Western scholarship for ''pramāṇa-vāda'' (doctrine of proof) and ''Hetu-vidya'' (science of causes). Pramāṇa-vāda is an epistemological study of the nature of knowledge; Hetu-vidya is a system ...
.
The linguistic nature of reality
Utpaladeva also draws on the linguistic metaphysics of the grammarian Bhartr̥hari, which sees knowledge and reality as pervaded with language. Thus, for Utpaladeva, ultimate reality is a free consciousness that is also linguistic in nature. As Torella writes, Utpaladeva sees an "inevitable presence of language at the heart of every cognitive activity."
As Utpaladeva states in some of the most famous verses of his ''Īśvarapratyabhijñā-Kārikā'':
The essential nature of light is reflective awareness; otherwise light, though ‘coloured’ by objects, would be similar to an insentient reality, such as the crystal and so on. - I.V.11
Consciousness has as its essential nature reflective awareness; it is the supreme Word that arises freely. It is freedom in the absolute sense, the sovereignty of the supreme Self. - I.V.13
Other contributions
Utpaladeva also had a universalistic view of scripture and religion in general. According to Torella, for Utpaladeva, Āgama (scripture) is ultimately the voice of Shiva, and "it comprises all the existing Āgamas, from the Vaiṣṇava to the Buddhist (the Śaiva included)."Torella, Raffaele (2021), ''Utpaladeva: Philosopher of Recognition'', p. 9. DK Printworld (P) Ltd
Utpaladeva also wrote on aesthetics. According to Torella, "Precisely to Utpaladeva we do owe the entrance of aesthetics into philosophical–religious speculation. His concept of camatkāra (wondrous enjoyment) marks a higher level of experience, which leaves the reality and beauty of the manifested world intact, but at same time projects it into a totality whose centre is Supreme Consciousness."