The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 51 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Abhinavagupta's Attitude towards Yoga
Open accessAbstract
A major characteristic of the aristocratic attitude —and I would not know how to better define the flavor that pervades the whole of Abhinavagupta's work—is the downgrading of all painful effort, seen as a plebeian feature. The aristocrat intends to show that what inferior people can achieve only at the cost of long and painful exercises is accessible to him promptly and very easily. One of the recurring qualifications for Abhinavagupta's attitude to the spiritual path is precisely absence of effort, absence of exertion or fatigue, easiness. This can be clearly detected in Abhinavagupta's attitude to yoga, or, to be more precise, to Pātañjala yoga. In the summary of the topics of the Tantrāloka (TĀ), at the end of Āhnika I, he lists “uselessness of yogāṅgas.” When all yogāṅgas, abhyāsa, vairāgya, etc., are viewed from the peak of the highest aesthetically marked spiritual experiencer, they are condemned unreservedly (following the lead of the Vīrāvalī-tantra). On the other hand, after delivering such a pitiless death sentence, Abhinavagupta seems to gracefully suspend it, and allow common people to follow pāśavayoga ‘yoga for limited souls’ in the context of the “minimal means” with the motivation that after all everything is made of everything, and, as the MVU teaches, “nothing is to be prescribed, nothing to be prohibited.”
Overview
CoChat Summary
TL;DR
The article argues that Abhinavagupta treats Pātañjala yoga and its limbs as unnecessary for realizing nondual consciousness, while still permitting limited yogic practice for less qualified practitioners. It contrasts this with an ideal effortless, non-constructed Śaiva yoga and with the elevated role of tarka and well-practiced knowledge.
Key findings
- Abhinavagupta repeatedly denies direct soteriological value to Patañjali’s eight limbs: TĀ IV.87 says the five restraints are not directly useful for consciousness; IV.95 says fixation, visualization, and absorption have no use for supreme consciousness; IV.104 says repeated practice is useless for nondual consciousness and can only uproot suspicion about the impurity of duality.
- The internal limbs are criticized for localizing or limiting consciousness: pratyāhāra tightens bondage by suggesting consciousness is present in some places and not others; dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi impose definiteness or leave duality intact. Only tarka is a direct means to consciousness (TĀ IV.86ab; IV.96), while the yogāṅgas serve indirectly to reach tarka.
- Abhinavagupta allows pāśavayoga for limited souls within āṇavopāya or the “minimal means,” because everything is made of everything and the MVU teaches that nothing is prescribed or prohibited. Repeated practice can help extend consciousness to prāṇa, body, and mind (TĀ IV.97), though not to consciousness itself.
- The ideal nondual Śaiva yoga is described as effortless, non-constructed, without means, and ever-present (anāyāsa, anārambha, anupāya, akṛtaka, sadodita). The guru with perfect yoga and well-practiced knowledge is ranked best (TĀ IV.39–40), though prasaṃkhyāna outranks bhāvanā.
Methods
- Philological and interpretive study of Abhinavagupta’s works, especially the Tantrāloka with Jayaratha’s commentary, plus the Parātriṃśikā-vivaraṇa, Mālinīvijayavārttika, Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivṛtivimarśinī, and related Śaiva texts.
- Compares Abhinavagupta’s treatment of Pātañjala yoga with the Yogasūtra, Mālinīvijayottaratantra, Vīrāvalī-tantra, and Advaita Vedānta parallels.
- Analysis proceeds by close reading of selected Sanskrit verses and commentaries, with translations and textual notes.
Limitations
- The author explicitly defers an in-depth treatment of the positive praise of yoga in nondual Śaiva texts to another occasion.
- The author states uncertainty about whether Abhinavagupta’s reading of the MVU definition of yoga is correct.
- Evident from the text: the study is a focused philological interpretation of selected Sanskrit sources, not a comprehensive historical or empirical survey; some arguments depend on contested readings or emendations and on Jayaratha’s commentary.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
Registry
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Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
0 Valid · 1 Not valid · 45 Not checked · 19 Own results and interpretations
In the paper
“At last, it is the turn of samādhi itself to be liquidated .”
§ Abhinavagupta's Attitude towards Yoga > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TĀ IV.93-94
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Yama, etc ., up to samādhi are described as accessory parts of yoga, because they, being each a means to the next, serve for reaching the final [aṅga]: 'spiritual reasoning' (tarka) .”
§ Abhinavagupta's Attitude towards Yoga > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TĀ IV.96
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“For what is internally rooted in consciousness can, through it, be extended to the souffle, the body or the mind thanks to its repeated practice .”
§ Abhinavagupta's Attitude towards Yoga > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TĀ IV.97
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“The uselessness of Patañjali's yogāṅgas (and, more generally, of all yogāṅgas regardless of their specific character and the philosophical-religious context in which they are situated; see below) is restated at several points in the TĀ”
§ Abhinavagupta's Attitude towards Yoga > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TĀ
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“A major characteristic of the aristocratic attitude -and I would not know how to better define the flavor that pervades the whole of Abhinavagupta's work-is the downgrading of all painful effort, seen as a plebeian feature .”
§ Abhinavagupta's Attitude towards Yoga > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Torella forthcoming a
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
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Citations
Cites
Tradition and Reflection: Explorations in Indian Thought
Brockington, J. L., & Halbfass, W. (1992) · Journal of the American Oriental Society · doi:10.2307/603136 · Cited by 231
O'Brien-Kop, K. (2018) · Religions of South Asia · doi:10.1558/rosa.37021
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Brunner, H . 1992 . Jñāna and Kriyā: Relation between Theory and Practice in the Śaivāgamas . In Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism: Studies in Honor of André Padoux, ed . T . Goudriaan . Pp . 1-59 . Albany: State Univ . of New York Press . . 1994 . The Place of Yoga in the Śaivāgamas . In Pandit N. R. Bhatt Felicitation Volume, ed . P-S . Filliozat, C . P . Bhatta, and S . P . Narang . Pp . 425-61 . Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass .
- Thibaut, G ., tr . 1890 . The Vedānta-sūtras with the Commentary by Śaṅkarācārya, vols . I-II . Oxford: Clarendon Press .
- Torella, R . 2013 . Gli Aforismi di Śiva con il commento di Kṣemarāja (Śivasūtravimarśinī) . Milan: Adelphi . . 2015 . Passions and Emotions in the Indian Philosophical-Religious Traditions . In Emotions in Indian Thought-Systems, ed . P . Bilimoria and A . Wenta . Pp . 57-101 . London: Routledge . . Forthcoming a . Abhinavagupta as an Aristocrat . In Cristina Scherrer-Schaub Felicita- tion Volume, ed . V . Eltschinger, V . Tournier, and M . Sernesi . Series Minor, Università di Napoli "L'Orientale ." Naples: Università di Napoli "L'Orientale ." . Forthcoming b . Beauty . In Gedenkschrift Helmut Krasser, ed . V . Eltschinger et al . Har- vard Oriental Series .
- Vasudeva, S . D . 2004 . The Yoga of the Mālinīvijayottaratantra, Chapters 1-4, 7, 11-17: Critical Edition, Translation and Notes . Pondicherry: Institut Français de Pondichéry-École Française d'Extrême-Orient . . 2017 . The Śaiva Yogas and Their Relation to Other Systems of Yoga . RINDAS Series of Working Papers: Traditional Indian Thoughts, vol . 26 . Kyoto: Center for South Asian Studies, Ryu- koku Univ .
Cited by
Cestola, R. (2024) · Journal of Yoga Studies · doi:10.34000/joys.2024.v5.003 · Cited by 2
The Mystical World of the Body in the Bengali Tantric Work Nigūḍhārthaprakāśāvali
Czyżykowski, R. (2020) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel11090472 · Cited by 2
Nondualistic Śaivism of Kashmir
Torella, R. (2021) · The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion · doi:10.1002/9781119009924.eopr0273
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Torella, R.
- Affiliations
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Torella, Raffaele
- Venue
- Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Publisher
- American Oriental Society
- Published
- 2021-09-19
- Volume
- 139
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 0003-0279 (ISSN-L)
- 2169-2289
- OpenAlex
- W2983175639
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 5.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the American Oriental Society (publishedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › General Arts and Humanities › Cultural and Mythological Studies
- Keywords
- Abhinavagupta, Tantrāloka, Vairagya, Indian philosophy, Tantric philosophy
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