Vimarśa: The Concept of Reflexivity in the Philosophy of Utpala and Abhinavagupta

Abstract

The concept of vimarśa is foundational to the philosophy of Pratyabhijñā for multiple reasons. It is not just to confirm thereflexivity of consciousness that vimarśa occurs in this school. It is in this reflexivity that recognition as a fundamental character of consciousness is inscribed. Furthermore, it is due to vimarśa that the mirroring of consciousness is not just self-mirroring but also mirroring the other, the object that it grasps, and it is in this mirroring that consciousness synthesizes different modes, having synthesis its intrinsic nature. While the emergence of consciousness is depicted as non-temporal and non-sequential, the sudden emergence of consciousness underlies the synthesis of different modalities, making conscious event as both non-temporal and temporal, non-object directed and in that sense immanent and transcending its own horizon and reaching out to objects.