Kshemaraja


Rajanaka Kṣemarāja was a philosopher and brilliant disciple of Abhinavagupta, who was a peerless master of tantra, yoga, poetics, and dramaturgy. Not much is known of Kṣemarāja's life or parentage. His chief disciple was a sage known as Yogāraja. The Pratyabhijnahridayam, a work in which Kṣemarāja brings the main tenets of the Pratyabhijna system into a succinct set of sutras for those who may not have studied in-depth metaphysics, occupies the same place in Kashmir Shaivite or Trika literature as Vedanta Sara does in Vedanta. Other works of his: Spandasandoha, Spandanirnaya, Svacchandodyota, Netrodyota, Vijnanabhairavodyota, Shivasutravimarsini, Stavacintamanitika, Parapraveshika, Tattvasandoha.
"Man bound in all the phases of waking, dream and dreamless sleep by the body, prana, pleasure, etc. does not recognize his own consciousness which is of the nature of the great power and full of perfect bliss." -- Kṣemarāja