93. SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS 105

SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS 105

predominance. It is free from all qualities. It is the experience of itself by the Universal. It is the rest of one aspect of the Absolute on the other. It is consciousness, free from all external reference and resting on its in- separable aspect, the "Self", and as such it is "Ananda",

LIMITATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT. In an earlier section we have stated that individuality is due to identification of the Universal Subject with the limited objective manifestations, such as body, vital airs and intellect (Buddhi) etc. and that the powers of the Universal are obscured by Maya. The question, therefore, that arises is "How can the individual know and act if the powers of knowledge and action are completely obscured ?" To answer this the Saiva admits five limiting conditions of the individual subject (i) Kalā (ii) Vidyā (iii) Rāga (iv) Niyati and (v) Kāla. 1. Kalā. (Limited power of action.) Mayā obscures the true nature of the subject. It brings about the state of deep dreamless sleep as it were in him. Under its influence, therefore, his powers of knowledge and action are as it were non-existent. But this would mean reducing him to the level of the insentient object and, there- fore, reign of complete darkness in the world. The Saiva, therefore, admits five categories, which we have stated above. They are the limited powers of individual subject and constitute his limiting conditions. Kala is the first of them. It is the limited power of the subject to act. The subject and his limited power to act are not in inextricable union with each other. They simply embrace each other, so that when a person rises to a higher spiritual level through spiritual discipline, this embrace is relaxed and he attains freedom from it. Kala can, thus, operate only 14