78. SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS 85

SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS 85

one half of which represents Siva and the other half repre- sents Pārvatī (Ardhanārī Națeśvara). CONCRETE MONISM OF THE SAIVA. The Absolute of Abhinavagupta is not a pure unity. For, such a conception of the Absolute, would make the manifestation of multiplicity impossible. If there is no multiplicity in any form in the Absolute, how can it proceed from it ? The multiplicity, however, which is admitted in the unity of the Absolute, is not gross or actual, but subtle or potentia !. It is in the form of absolute Free Will (svatantrya Sakti), which, in the state of non-manifestation, is simply subtle self-consciousness (Sūksma Aham Vimarśa). The multiplicity of the manifestable, is in as potential iden- tity with the Absolute as the images, which figure in the dream of an individual subject, are with him in the wakeful state. Or if we take up a more realistic analogy, the potential manifestable multiplicity is as identical with the Absolute as the creation, that a great Yogin brings about, is with him before he actually creates. VOLUNTARISM OF THE SAIVA.

Śaiva Voluntarism (Svatantryavāda) holds that the Ultimate,1 as universal free will, manifests all from itself, in itself and by itself. All that constitutes the world of experience whether unity or diversity or unity in diversity, whether subjective or objective or the relation between them, such as that of causality or action etc., is the manifestation of the Absolnte free will. The Free Will is the ultimate reality of all. Thus the position of the voluntarist comes to this :- 1. The entire world of experience is in identity with 1. I. P. V. V., Vol. I. 3.

86 OnanTa CHAPTER II ICAE AVIAC

the Absolute, just as the object of desire of an individual subject, who is responsible for initiation of action, is identi- cal with him.

2. What is identical with the Absolute is manifested as distinct from the same.

od 3. The so called cause of manifestation in diversity and distinction is the Will.

4. The manifested diversity rests in the Ultimate itself and is essentially identical with it.

This position gives rise to the following questions :-

1. How do we know, how can we prove, that the entire world of experience rests in the Ultimate, as the voluntarist holds ?

2. If the Will manifests the world of experience externally from itself, the statement that it manifests the diversity in itself or that diversity rests on it, ceases to have much meaning. For, is it not self-contradictory to say that the world of experience is manifested as external to the Ultimate and yet it is within the Ultimate or rests in the same ?

3. The voluntarist maintains that the manifested diversity is in essential identity with the Ultimate Unity. But how can that, which has diversity, be in the relation of identity with that which is essentially a unity ? For, unity and diversity are fundamentally opposed to each other.

4. Why does the Will manifest the subjective and the objective variety ? Is the manifestation due to some cause ? If not, the diversity of manifestation should be endless or it should not at all arise.